Saturday, April 9, 2011

Dog wrestling....a very long post..

  ~"The unexamined life is not worth living"~ Socrates



  This morning, as I was being dragged down the street by my three dogs, I thought to myself-"Crap, I'm  glad it is Friday" .,And as I twisted on the asphalt trying to control my three demons beasts animals (who had escaped our yard) my blue and white striped pajama pants easing their way down my legs as I desperately held on to bits of dog in an attempt to stop them from pouncing on a neighbor and his puppy..I also thought.".there has got to be an easier way" , How did I wind up with three dogs?"...and" please please please let me be wearing underwear without huge holes in it."

  It has been a crazy week of great highs and utterly extreme lows. There was a bullying incident (This time with Sammy-and while it is not the first for him this year-I can absolutely guarantee it will be the last)  Nothing screams "ONLY? 72 hours till Friday" like a group of concerned parents telling me of an incident that happened involving my son at school.  Yup-there is nothing like having to email and call my sons support people at night to find out what happened. Guess what! They didn't know about it either! I'm still waiting for the principal to call me-to let me know how this was all resolved-you know to assure me that my son would indeed be safe both in and out of the classroom.   Sam and I have spoken at length, I just think that it would be responsible   awful nice if the principal discussed it with me as well. *sigh* Why am I reminded of the Jimmy Buffet song "If the phone doesn't ring, it's me"?  hmmmm.... In the meantime,  I screamed called a team meeting for Tuesday-It should prove interesting.

  Not all of the week was bad. Oscar, had his biography fair and oral presentation at school. I have to say that I was plenty nervous for him. This is a very big project..HUGE..GINORMOUS...The kids pick a person in history they are interested in and write a report on them.  They also make up a journal, birth certificates, posters, costumes and give an oral report. Unfortunately," Mario" is not an actual living person, nor is" Little Bill", or either" Phineas and Ferb. "  We had to pick a real person-and who better for Oscar than "Mel Blanc".

  It isn't easy to get Oscar to focus.  He has so many other things he would rather be doing-namely anything other than school work.  Thankfully, we have a very dedicated team of people working with him, who insisted
assisted him with his project.  When I walked into his classroom(to watch his report) on Tuesday morning, I really didn't know what to expect. I think in all honesty-I wondered if he could do this..Yeah..I was anxious.  Here is my boy-one of the biggest joys in my life about to stand up in front of his class and give a report.  There is a part of me that just wants to protect him..envelop him. I think every parent feels this way from time to time.  He is so innocent and joyful-and I was afraid that.. if he couldn't do this-he would..I don't know....be hurt..feel as if he failed? So many conflicting thoughts.especially after last weeks incident..so I busied myself with the camera..until it was his turn.

  He was...wonderful..he went to the front of the room..he was so focused..as he stood there waiting for his cue to begin. He read his information from his index cards..and when he was finished took questions from his classmates. It went off without a hitch. I didn't realize until later when we watched the video quite how wonderful it was. Everyone of course commended him for a job well done.  It was watching Oscar watch himself that was magnificent. It was almost as if he had a self revelation. He saw what he did-really saw it and was...kind of in awe. Which makes me wonder if he is not as confident as we have all thought him to be. He watched himself and he glowed...shined. Held himself in a way I had never seen before. My boy-saw himself and knew KNEW he was everything we told him he was..smart..wonderful..a person in his own right..He beamed.

  I wish that I could say that the rest of the week went as smoothly..No, I didn't get any phone calls.. It was family reading night that did us in.  Our school does this every year. It is a fun evening where families get together to listen to stories- there are door prizes, food...and free books. Oscar likes picture books..especially if their are animals involved.  So there we were looking through the offerings..when the person manning the table decided that we were somehow lost..and kept insisting on directing us to the table with books for older kids. At first I just smiled and tried to ignore her...but she wouldn't stop...even after I gave her the "mother" look and firmly stated we were fine where we were...(I did so want to tell her to shut up)-. She was just so cheerfully insistent.  I was so uncheerfully pissed-that I didn't see Oscar walk away and grab a random book from the older kids selection. I didn't realize how upset he was..until I saw him standing with Omar. Trying so very hard not to cry..to hold himself together  Where was my boy  from the night before?  Had he been done in by the very irritating book lady? Oh how I wanted to throw things at her..

   After my early morning dog wrestling peep show (I wonder if there is a career in that?) ,  I could not wait for this day to be over. The only thing standing between me and two days off (if you can call being alone with four kids "off") was the biography fair at school. Oscar and his classmates, would have their own space to display their work and answer questions from parents and students. Oscar once again was magnificent-he held it together for the entire day.  Answering questions, standing at his station..even when I went and whispered "lets go to hairy world!" in his ear.  Although he did inform me that the biography fair was no place for jokes. It was a mostly shining week for him. Not so much for Sam....I can't speak for the dogs...or my neighbor. But Oscar did inform me this evening that he was "amazing".  I tend to agree..

17 comments:

Life in the House That Asperger Built said...

Ok,first? I'm coming to kick the shit out of book fair chick. There.

Second? The principal better have a good effing reason to not be calling you, 'cause I know a guy....just sayin'

Third? Whatever the hell happened to Sam is effed up, and while I know you'll see to it that it's not gonna happen again. I'm just gonna tell the little bully in question...it better not! (you feel me?)

Now...

YAY!!! OSCAR ROCKS!!!!! GO OSCAR! GO OSCAR! You rocked the Biography fair!!! So.stinkin'.cool!!!!

Oh..and to your neighbor? Move along. Nothing to see here. ;-)

Lizbeth said...

Laura said it so well!! Look up there and read 1-3. I ditto everyting she said! And I'll even help out with book fair chick. ;)

Oscar---how proud to have him do so well! There is nothing better to see your beam with pride, how great! YAY Oscar!!!!

I'm sorry about the dog walk. About the only thing else that could have gone wrong was NOT wearing underwear and the dogs running off with your pj's...or did you just leave that out to ease our minds? I know you're nice like that.

Big Daddy Autism said...

So proud of Oscar and count me in for a couple of throat punches on the book fair chick on behalf of Sammy.

One question though. What ever happened to Oliver?

Big Daddy Autism said...

Wait! Was it Oliver who had the issue with the book fair chick? Who is Omar? Where does Orlando fit into this post?

Big Daddy Autism said...

And another thing. If that Opie dude shows up again, let him know he owes my five bucks.

That is all.

Lynn said...

Big Daddy has a hard to following stories, which explains alot about his blog. Who the eff is Oliver? I think he's trying to tell you that you have too many kids. Hip hip hooray for Octavius!

Seriously, that is an awesome achievement for Oscar. I HATE standing in front of a room full of people, so he has a leg up on me for sure!

No Guile said...

book table ladies: can't live with them and ya can't punch em.
hmm three dogs no thank you but is there a career in that Im sure someone would hire ya. :) Hope you have a good weekend.

Looking for Blue Sky said...

Oscar is a STAR! It sounds like he had quite a challenging week and coped magnificently :) You just wonder why the grown-ups in the lives of your children cannot behave in a more 'adult' way x

Kim Wombles said...

You always make me laugh and cry. ((())) I will be there in spirit with you Tuesday! Hee, I betcha T and L will be, too. Wouldn't it be awesome if Mamma H could come to IEP meetings?

Diane said...

Sorry it's been that kind of week. I hope Amazing Oscar helped to make up for the rough parts. I don't really look for good days anymore - I just try to focus on good moments. Glad you got some of those in, too.

autismand said...

What Laura said!!!!

kathleen said...

@ life in the house-thanks :) It always astounds me that we teach our kids to be responsible and yet...? Oscar WAS amazing-he was. :) I'm going to go buy him a picture book today..

@lizbeth-watching Oscar watch himself-beautiful. And yes! OF COURSE I was wearing underwear!! I swear! Really!..yes....it had ponies on it...

@Bigdaddy-the only reason that we had Oliver was to increase our ratings..he has gone back to the Brady's now..Opie is in Orlando with Andy..who is dead..but well..Opie is different that way..Omar-why he's the caretaker...

@Lynn-Thanks-yeah this was big for my boy. :) Octavius? Isn't that Bigdaddy's first name?

@KittyKay- Thanks :) I was thinking of donating the dogs to the book lady..that just "feels" right.

@LookingforBluesky-Oh I wonder that all the time..I wonder if we make our kids work harder to be responsible, to have manners-to do the right thing-and then I think that the real world examples that they see? It isn't balanced..

@Kwombles-hee..if only I could "somehow" channel them? hee...
@Diane-always a moment at a time...big pictures are never really pretty-it is the smaller ones we appreciate..

@bbsmum-now if I could only coordiante flights..lodging etc. We could all get together and bring the book lady down! *sigh* I'm trying to give her an excuse-because she really wasn't getting it..I'll just call her elderly challanged?

jazzygal said...

Sounds like a week of mixed emotions ..that you made very entertaining! Oscar was amazing alright! Well done to him xxxx

Poor Sammy. Damn that Principal.

Um.... maybe you should walk the dogs by the school? Make sure you're wearing your good PJs and undies now ;-) Refuse to leave until he deals with it properly!!

Good luck on Tuesday.... kick ass!

xx jazzy

Brian@bothsidesofthecoin said...

Stumbled on your blog, and a lot of our blogfriends are on here! Nice! Popular kids! Good post, I'll enjoy stalking your family in blog form.

If you want, my wife and I are blogging at http://bothsidesofthecoin1.blogspot.com

Stephanie said...

I'm so sorry you had such a rough week--urg to the week! But so very pleased and proud to hear about your amazing little man--truly amazing!
:D

I agree about the book lady. Willy still prefers books with pictures (there are, btw, bigger, longer books with pictures--even comics), but has to read books his age/grade level for his outside reading projects. It took us quite a bit to find ones that worked for him.

The "How to Raise a Dragon" series is good, and there's a funny survival guide (don't know the actual names) series that Willy enjoys. They're longer and more complicated, but full of pictures for the visually minded. Seems like the best of both worlds for me and Willy.

kathleen said...

Thanks Stephanie! yeah..it was an awful long week...so very glad it is in the past. :) OH I am so happy for the book suggestions! I have been looking..I will definitely pick a few of those up. Thanks.
Yeah...sigh...the book lady!! STILL makes me so mad! :(

Stephanie said...

I think you have a right to be mad...people that unaware should receive a modicum of training before doing school/kid functions.

A new one Willy is really enjoying is called Smile!. If you'd like, I can get a list of actual titles and authors and Facebook them to you. (Wow...Facebook as a verb. What's the world coming to?)
:D