My dirty little Mom secret....

I have a secret, no, a fear.  I am petrified that Kami will be ‘that kid’, the weird girl, the one no one wants to play with, be seen with, and begs their Mom not to invite to their birthday party.  We all know who I am talking about; every class had a ‘that kid’.  I look back now and wonder if they were autistic or had Asperger’s.  To combat my deep seeded fear, I dress Kami to impress.   When she leaves the house in the morning she is done-up right.  Hair in place complete with bow, outfit ironed and matched with perfection.  My goal…for the other Moms  (and their children) to look at her and think there could be nothing wrong with her, that she looks too put together to have any problems.

Now, she does not come home this way, the bow is gone, hair is disheveled, clothing is wrinkled, and sometimes even torn or stained.  But, for at least five minutes each morning I feel that Kami blends in with all the other kids…she will not be ‘that kid’, she will be befriended, liked, and successful.

 

Time...

Time.....something that is purely relative, we we were young we had too much of it, now there is so little and it flows through our fingers like the fine grains of sand from an hourglass.  This is where I am with Kami, out of time this summer.  Our carefree days of not worrying about the upcoming school year are gone and the stress and worry of what is to come have replaced the feelings of beautiful summer breezes and cloud free sky.  Here is to hoping that the school year will hold a tiny bit of ease!

Snow time!

Over President's Day weekend we headed up to Mt hood to spent some fun time in the snow!

 While the older two went snowboarding Kami and Kori had fun tubing and playing in the snow.

 It was great that we found a quiet spot off by the 'slow' sledding slops to hang out, the crowds and noise got to be too much far Kami after about two hours and she was starting to melt down.  But, once we got away from everyone she immersed herself in the snow and relaxed.

 After awhile she was able to hit the tub runs again with my cousin and Kori, fun for all!

The Need for Insurance Reform....

I recently had to present a topic for a my Writing 327 class, my topic was something that is close to me, insurance coverage for autism.  We are one of the lucky ones, since our insurance covers Kami's speech therapy.  BUT, we have still spent well over three thousand dollars so far this year on autism related therapy.  Please contact you senator and congressman to let them know that we need the Autism Insurance Reform Bill (Senate Bill 555 and House Bill 2214) in Oregon to pass in the next legislative session.

How to contact you congressman.....
http://www.leg.state.or.us/house/

How to contact your senator....
http://www.leg.state.or.us/senate/

New Adventures.....

I ignored my blogs this summer, I was busy with school and kids and it was easy to let go, but now that we are back on a schedule, here I am!  Kami took a break from speech therapy up at OHSU for the summer and had fun with ballet, playing with friends and going to the beach and hiking up at Mt Hood.  But, now she on a whole new path and a brand new adventure!

Kami is in all day kindergarten with her favorite teacher, she is taking swimming lessons and is in a new ballet class.  These are major changes for a little girl who does not take to change well, but she is pushing through her anxiety and doing the best she can.  Swimming is the hardest for her, I am not sure where the fear is coming from, she loves the water, but there is something about the pool, maybe not being able to touch that causes her enormous amounts of fear, but she is facing it!

Breaking Through.....

Well, we have broken through some of the Red Tape!!! I thought it would be a gratifying event, but alas, it was not. We had a big meeting with ESD and the local school district and I left feeling undermined and seconded guessed by people who do not even know my daughter. This was a result of the fact that I am keeping Kamryn in private school, this is where I know she will thrive, succeed and most of all be comfortable. The local school district thinks she will not. I find this hard to understand, since they have not met my daughter, her teacher, or visited her school. Also, I find it hard to understand how 30 minutes of autistic care group once a month (what she would have at the public school) is really going to make such a big difference. In her current school she has more time with her teacher, smaller class size and knows her environment and schedule. This is what is going to help her. Ok, rant over! :)

Where to begin.....

Yes, where to begin..... I posted this post http://6weeksandcounting.blogspot.com/2011/04/big-word-had-been-spoken-and-i-am-not.html on my normal blog, well, if you can call anything normal these days. Thinking your quirky daughter may have autism and then being told she does is a heart wrenching experience. After a bit of a meltdown and a good sweat at the gym, bing became my best frienamy and after much looking, I could not find a blog, a really good blog, written my a mother of an autistic child. So, my gaol here is to do just that, have a great blog for moms like me, and lets face it anyone else who wants to read it.