It's not that I didn't have something to blog about....

It's that I was being a completely lazy blogger :)

I could have written about this...



But I was too busy packing lunches, and brushing hair, and organizing backpacks, and laying out clothes, and signing agendas, and writing on labels :) I realized this week why I wasn't excited about back to school like All the other Mom's I know. It's because it's HARD dude!! I have to get up earlier, and be SO much more organized. If there's one thing I've learned about the school year, it's to make the lunches the night before!!! Now, ask me how many times I have already implemented that little gem this year?? HA! One :( Well, at least I still have another 10 months minus one week to get back on track with that right? :)

I could have written about going to see a pre-school for Mason. And about being way down in the dumps, because we just can't swing the tuition right away. (We'd have to pay the first 2 months, plus a meeting fee, plus an administration fee...ouch :( ) If we had thought of sending him sooner, it wouldn't be a problem, but to pay out that much right now, after coming off a summer where I didn't make half the money I had originally thought I would, it's just not an option. Still have some avenues to go down in regards to that though, so we're not giving up on it entirely.

I could have written about the fact that my Mom said she would babysit for an entire weekend while Al and I went on a couples therapy retreat. but when I mentioned that I wasn't sure if we were still going because I have a 1 year old starting that week, and there's no way his mother will be able to get here in time for us to make it to the retreat in time for the start, but that maybe my Mom could still take the kids...she laughed.(Sorry 'bout the run on sentence there) I am so unbelievably hurt. My brother's son lives there. They have a built in babysitter anytime they want. I asked for Nothing this summer from my Mom, in anticipation of this one weekend. And she won't do it if we aren't going to the retreat. I'm really getting the feeling that she's afraid of Mason. Which makes me hesitant to share with her about any of his trials or triumphs. and that hurts. it hurts too much to write about.

But I will share with you that Mason had an incredible week for his speech!!! He said to me a couple nights ago, after I told him to go pee, "No, first I brush a teeth" (He often replaces the word Me with A). :) I was SO happy to hear such a strong sentence. He's getting better at his "I want" requests too, which is really helping both of us...except when it's the 5th time that day that he's said "I want a free-gee" (freezie) :) Because he's not so good at accepting the fact that Mommy has limits :) God bless the makers of sugar free lollypops though!!!

And I will definitely share with you the beautiful friend I have in Julie Bo Bolie :) She so graciously offered up the DVD copying skills of her husband (shhhhh!!!!!) and he copied a slew of the Signing Time DVD's for us. All 5 of us are picking up the sign language faster than I ever dreamed possible. Although, I find I am getting frustrated with myself, for not becoming more fluent, faster :) I suppose it would be different if we were a family dealing with a deaf child. We have the good fortune of being able to speak, and be heard and understood by our child. I think that has made me lazier :P But it's coming. Even my finger-spelling is improving I noticed today. (Though I certainly won't be showing off anytime soon...I still have atrocious skillz LOL) Not that Mason gets that yet, since he's only just 3, and while he knows his letters fairly well, his spelling, well, duh, he's three, he can't spell :) Also against us is the fact that the only people we have to sign to and with is each other, so it's a bit harder to 'practice' like that. But we are having fun with it, and I am SO proud of my children for taking hold of such a wonderfully useful skill :) SO proud :)

Also, Mason saw his regular speech therapist today. I love Lindsey :) She reassured me that she has never seen a reason to refer Mason to a pediatrician. Which is the ONLY way a Speech Path could EVER suggest that they think your child has Autism. I'm not sure how I want to deal with the information that the speech path at the hospital crossed that line. Lindsey told me that if she had done that, she would have lost her job. Ouch. She is in no way impressed with the hospital assessments lately. And said that neither are the other 15 families that have been through the assessments recently. That's gotta say something about the process, no? Lindsey did suggest that we keep an eye on Mason's attention span. I agree with her on that. But that's a whole other blog :) Bottom line is that because we Have to go through the hospital process to get him the help he'll need in school, then that's what we're going to do. But I won't do it quietly if it means he's treated like someone he is not. (unless they can prove otherwise of course)

So, that's all I have to say about any other that :)