Week 132

Ryan was so proud of himself this week and couldn't wait to come home and show us his certificate for reaching the "outstanding" mark in his classroom. Getting Ryan to do homework is much easier this year.  He tries really hard to sound and tap out words to practice reading and writing.  He enjoys listening to us read books and he loves doing his math homework.  Ryan going to school full day has proved to be very beneficial for him.  He rarely brings home extra work to do that wasn't finished in the classroom.  He has time to go to his speech, O/T, and counseling services and complete all of his work in school. 

 Ryan and Julia have started a reading program in school that is linked to an online program called Raz-kids.  Both of the kids easily spend an hour at a time listening to, reading, and taking quizzes about books online.  I am usually the one that has to tell them it is time to get off of the computer.  They love earning stars for completing the activities and with those stars they get to purchase items for a rocket ship.  It is a cute program and it keeps them intrigued.  And they are doing a GREAT job learning how to read! 

 

 

Julia takes a turn reading books online while Ryan watches and helps.

Ryan was watching the news updates about Hurricane Sandy and afterwards we caught him drawing this picture of New York.  He also wrote down some of the cities he remembered seeing the names of on the TV.  If you look on the left side of the paper, he drew the evacuation map and listed Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C, just like he saw them do on the news.  We've said it before, Ryan thinks in pictures.  He amazed me when he drew this picture purely from memory of a news story picture that flashed on the screen for no more than 15 seconds. 

Singing Happy Birthday to Nonna

Nonna and Papa with their 5 grandchildren

Spending time with Uncle Tim and Uncle Michael who were in from California for Jack's Christening.

Getting ready to celebrate Jack's special day.

God Bless Jack!

DC

Week 131- RIP Ty

Ty Louis Campbell, five years old, lost his fight to cancer this week, on 10/17/12.  I've been following his story and reading his mom's blog for about two years now.  On the day of his death, there had been a prayer chain set up for 7 pm.  Ty had passed away earlier that afternoon and I spent most of the afternoon reading the comments that flooded the blog and his Facebook page.  At 7 pm we paused at the dinner table to say a prayer for Ty.  The four of us held hands and Ryan stopped and said, "What about Jackie?"  So we added Jack's little hands to our circle and prayed for Ty and his family.  And that evening before bed Ryan looked out the window and said goodnight to Ty.

I've spoken to my children about Ty but didn't start showing them the pictures posted on his mom's blog until last week.  Julia had a lot of questions for me and each morning sat by me while I read the blog, handing me tissues for my tears.  Ryan was just as curious but it bothered him to see and hear about a little boy so sick.  I questioned myself as to whether I should share his story with them, especially Ryan who is so sensitive and has already had trouble going to sleep because he is afraid of dying, but I thought it was important to be honest with them.  I don't want them to take for granted all of the things they are blessed with, including their health.  The next time they complain that this is "the worst day ever" because they didn't get a toy they wanted or an extra treat or get their way, I hope a gentle reminder of Ty will help them appreciate what they have.  I know this is a tall order for a 5 and 6 year old, but now is as good of a time as any to teach them about appreciation and compassion, and instill in them a love for life.  It has been a lesson learned for me too!  From heaven, Ty's legacy will live on and he will do great things!

When I told the kids that Ty died and went to Heaven, they wanted to make him a card.  The next morning before school they did so, and after school we drove it to his house and placed it in his mailbox.
Click here to see the video: Ryan and Julia made Ty a card to send their love to him.

I can't imagine what Ty's family, especially his mother, is going through right now.  There is nothing like a mother's love for her children.  I feel the best thing we can do for them is let them feel our love, always.  Ty's card was not the only artwork produced by Ryan this week.  In the midst of all of the tears I shed for Ty, I had a few more left for Ryan, my beautiful, intuitive, sensitive, sweet boy.

Ryan: I made you a picture, mom.  That's you and me.  Me: What are we doing?  Ryan: That's you loving me.

If you haven't read the Super Ty blog yet, I've included a link to the entry where Ty's mom shared his final moments... http://www.superty.org/2012/10/our-baby-is-finally-free-rest-in-peace.html

May God bless Ty and his family today and always!

DC

Week 130

We had a good week with Ryan.  He seems to be settling in with the bus and we have received nothing but good reports from school.  He had a spelling test this week and he spelled 9 out of 10 words correctly.  For one of the words he wrote a q instead of a p.  We are still seeing some fairly wild behavior at home but it appears that he is keeping it all in at school and letting us have it at night!

Homework is something that we are doing but it is still a struggle.  He gets frustrated quickly and wants to throw the pencil down and leave the kitchen table.  He eventually completes the work but he wastes more time complaining about doing the assignment than it takes to complete the assignment.  Writing is still something that he tries to avoid but we are working on it both here and at school.   It is getting better but it is something that we have to carefully plan and make sure he does when he is in a good mood.  We are getting better.  We were watching Julia's soccer practice and waiting for Ryan's to begin and he got a big kick out of doing his homework on a clip board outside.  Not sure if that will work again, but it worked on a busy night.

We had another crazy Saturday morning with Religion ending at 10:30 and soccer beginning at the same time.  We thought that Ryan would have a difficult time coming to soccer late but he has taken it in stride.  He is perfectly fine coming in late to the game and it is not effecting him at Religion.  He is even taking to the Religion classes extremely well.  We thought that we would have to convince/drag him to class every Saturday morning but he is excited to go.  We were also worried that he would not be able to make it for the 90 minutes.  We keep getting good reports from the two volunteer parents that are teaching the class.  And on the soccer front now Ryan only wants to play on the field that I am coaching on.  If you recall last year, he did not want to play on the field that I was coaching on and it took a great deal of convincing to get him on my field.  This past weekend the other coach and I decided that we are going to switch fields at half time to work with all of our players.  Ryan did not want to switch to the other coach and insisted that he stay with me.  Luckily another player also did not want to switch and insisted that he stay with the other coach.  It made it easy but it also reminds me that for even simple changes of schedule I still have to prep Ryan.

Ryan has made such progress from when we started this blog that I sometimes forget how difficult it was in the beginning.  We have been very lucky with Ryan and all of the progress that has made over the past few years.  The forgetting to prep him for the coaching change was one thing and another was at a Birthday party this weekend.  We have been letting Ryan cheat when he goes to birthday parties.  When it came time for cupcakes one of the young girls handed Ryan a plain cupcake!  The other cupcakes were all decorated and he was upset because the girls were asking the other party guests which one they wanted and Ryan did not get a choice.  He got upset and ran out of the room.  Dawn had to go get him, calm him down, and ask him why he was upset.  Luckily he was able to tell Dawn why he was upset and was able to return to the room and get another cupcake.

Below are some pictures of this week's events.

Ryan at a birthday party applying what he has been learning at gymnastics.

 

Ryan takes a liking to all little kids and it is great to see him interact with them and share his gentle side.

 

Ryan and Julia added their decorative talents to our anniversary cake.
10/10/12...8 years!

 

PC

Week 129

First and foremost I want to wish Ty a Happy 5th Birthday.  Over the course of the past couple of years we've followed Ty's blog and have shared Ty's story on this blog.  On October 4th he turned five years old.  Ty, who lives just a couple of towns away from us, has cancer and things are rough for him and his family.  Prayers are needed, as well as a miracle.  Please read his mom's blog posts about his birthday...www.superty.org
 

Bus Update

At the beginning of the week I contacted the school's psychologist and Ryan's teacher to make them aware of the bus situation with Ryan. We spoke about some role playing that can be done during his counseling sessions with the social worker, and his teacher was going to remind the class about appropriate behavior on the bus and what to do if someone is bothering you.  The psychologist was also going to relay the information to the Assistant Principal and get back to me; I haven't received any calls yet.  I check with Ryan often about how things are going.   I can tell he is still hyped up on the bus.  Twice during the week when getting on the bus in the morning he stopped to tell the bus driver a story and both times the bus driver had to cut him off and ask him to find a seat.  Just about everyday he came off the bus full of energy.

Speaking of his energy, I also spoke to his teacher about his attention in class.  I explained to her what we are seeing at home and she said she doesn't see any of that in school.  He is on task and keeps up with the class.  We both thought that Ryan must be trying so hard to stay focused and calm in class that he sees the bus and home as his outlets to release his built up energy.  It is time to get Ryan back in for an appointment with Dr. Cowan and hear his suggestions.  We've always been against putting Ryan on a medication to help control his ADHD but it may be something we need to consider.  His behavior during the week can be so erratic that it is turning our household upside down.  We're trying to keep him busy and give him other outlets to burn off energy at, with activities like soccer and gymnastics.  He enjoys doing these things, but doesn't seem any calmer when he returns home.  We will keep trying our best!

Ryan and Julia at the Fall Festival hosted by Adams Fair Acre Farms

Fun at the Fall Festival

Jousting...they were so excited that they were allowed to fight with each other!

 

Ryan was a little timid at first, but by the end of his ride I heard him telling this employee that he was going to come back next time with an apple for the horse. 

Jack didn't go to the Fall Festival; he spent some time with daddy at home.

Decorating his pumpkin from grandma

Ryan stayed on task for 20 minutes to complete this homework assignment.  After coloring in question #2 out of the lines, he decided to take his time and color the boxes for the other questions much neater.  After he was finished he made up a math worksheet with addition problems for the two of us to work on.  Ryan loves math!

The kids playing with their new cooperative game.  It was so nice to watch a game between them that didn't involve one of them winning and the other losing.  Thanks, Bridget!

Painting pumpkins for our front stoop

Out of the blue Ryan wrote a note to papa and asked us to mail it to him.  
Video:  Ryan's Note to Papa




































DC