Giddy Up!

The meeting at day care went well.  Dylan is having a hard time following directions and it's a safety concern.  We came up with strategies to set him up for success.  Yay!

I have been talking a lot with the therapists at school.  Dylan needs more OT than they can offer.  In fact, if Dylan could receive OT 24/7 - he'd be a very happy boy.  His OT said "he'd mainline sensory input if it were possible - he's a junkie".  ~le sigh~ 

Hippotherapy has been something that my brain has been playing with for a while.  No, it's not therapy involving hippos :)  It's therapy using horses.  Dylan's core strength is poor.  Yes, my boy with the six pack abs has poor core strength.  Apparently his back is strong but his abs are weak.  When I heard this I knew this was a good option for us.  So tomorrow, we are heading to a stable about 40 minutes from our house that specializes in hippotherapy to see if it's a match for Dylan and for the stable.  The horse will provide him with the sensory input he craves, improve his core strength and, hopefully, continue his love of animals.  Dylan is amazing with animals.  See....



He's never been one to pull tails or poke ears or eyes.  He knows when he wants to pet a dog, that he asks permission first, holds out his hand (palm down) for the dog to smell and waits for someone to tell him it's okay.  Something he's gotten compliments on since he was a toddler.  He loves animals so what better way to do therapy and not have it feel like yet more therapy right?

That terrible sensation you get

When you get an email from the head of your child's day care telling you they need to meet with you.... yeah, I have that right now.  They want to meet with me early next week to discuss strategies to use with Dylan as they've had a few "incidents". 

School is complaining because they've had a few "incidents".

My heart is breaking because I don't know how to get through to him.  I don't know what is wrong.  I can't fix it for him. 

I'm terrified that there is more to this than meets the eye.  He has been stimming up a storm lately.  His OT said if he could mainline sensory input he would.  There are days (most days actually) where he just doesn't seem to get enough. 

He needs more than what he's getting.  More what... I'm not sure.  I have no money to throw at this.  I already pay out of pocket for speech therapy (on top of the speech he gets at school), behavior therapy (thank Gd we have an appointment tonight), social skills class, one on one tutoring.  I'm trying to find someone who will do OT either at his day care or on the weekends but I have no idea where I'm going to get the money for it.  I'm also considering looking into Hippotherapy.  Right now... I just feel if I do anything else, it's worthless till we know what the hell is happening. 

If anyone has any insight, I'd love to hear it.

Looking back

9 years ago, I was just waking up knowing this would be the day I would wed my love.  9 years ago today, I got up, went to the salon, got myself all done up, went to the synagogue, got dressed and at 4:00 p.m. walked down the isle with my Mom and Dad.  9 years ago today, I married my best friend.

5 years ago, I was looking forward to a nice dinner out but a little sad that we hadn't heard anything about going to Guatemala to pick up our son.  5 years ago, I was heading home from work when my cell rang.  It was a number I didn't recognize and almost didn't answer it.  Fortunately, I did.  It was the liaison from our adoption agency.  She said "we need you in Guatemala on Monday" (this was Friday).  I called Marc and told him he wasn't going to be going to the Monday Night Football game that we were given tickets to because we would be in Guatemala.  Original Post Here.  5 years ago we sat in Marc's office, with me parked illegally, and for 2.5 hours made our plans to go to Guatemala.  I didn't even get a ticket :)

December 2nd is a wonderful day - it brings amazing men into my life.

A Holiday Rant

First... for those of you celebrating Chanukah, Chag Samach!

Okay - now onto my rant.  Here in Philadelphia, there is a Christmas Village at City Hall.  Vendors are set up selling ornaments, tinsel, tree accessories, etc.  There is one person selling Chanukah stuff and one vendor selling Ramadan stuff.  For the most part though, it's Christmas items.

Apparently, some PC idiot got offended and now the name Christmas is being taken down it's now being called the "Holiday Village".  WTF!  Let's look at this please... they are selling ornaments, tree skirts, tree stands, tinsel, angel and star and various other tree toppers and we now have to call it a Holiday Village because there are just so many other holidays that are celebrated with trees and ornaments and tinsel and the like.  Let's see there's Arbor day, no wait, that's not right.  Um, there's Eid Al-Fitr, no that's not it.  Um, Yom Kipper, wrong.  Hmmm oh yeah... there is only one holiday that uses these items and it's Christmas.   Please untwist your panties and let's start calling things what they are without getting overly PC please.  This little Jewish girl has absolutely NO problem whatsoever with a Christmas Village.  If it bothers you so much, start up your own _______(insert religion here) Village.

Let's show a little common sense going in to the New Year please?  And to the parent of the little Jewish girl who was overhead at the Village asking her parent "do we have a Village too?"  the answer is simple.  No sweetie, that's not how we celebrate Chanunkah.  We can, however, enjoy and appreciate what our non-Jewish friends do to celebrate their holiday.