Another round of conferences

What a week! I can't write about the work-related stuff on a public forum, but I will say that I'm glad this week is over and that I only have one more week of work until our spring break vacation. I need a vacation. I'm counting on the piglets that are due at any moment to be born without complications, and that their cuteness will carry me through this week. No pressure, piggies :)

Monday I had my first doctor appointment since getting the horrible cast. I had previously only talked to a nurse about how long I'd have to wear it and she pretty much spit out a number "Um, six weeks?" I suppose I shouldn't have taken her as seriously as I did, but I was (no exaggeration) devastated to find out I'll have to wear the stupid thing at least 5 more weeks. I thought I was halfway through and found out I am almost starting over. The thing is heavy, hard to work in and ALWAYS soaking wet. I can't even imagine how it will look when the 8+ weeks are over. I think I will completely wear it out. Then I will blow it to bits.

I had parent teacher conferences Friday morning. Logan is very well behaved, but is having issues with spelling and reading. His teacher believes his problems could be due to his hearing loss and having trouble hearing the subtle differences in letter and especially vowel sounds. I'm in the process of finding a new pediatrician who "believes in" ear tubes, but it's been tough to make appointments around work and school. Also, I call and say my kid has an ear infection and they want to make an appt for two weeks from now! Uh, NO! TODAY! Then I end up at a prompt care and the whole process starts over. The school audiologist who has now seen Logan 3 times and done extensive testing believes he has no permanent hearing loss and just needs tubes. The former ped thinks he's too old for tubes. The new ped won't see him because we keep having to go to prompt care. AAAHHHHHH! I'm sure if we're ever actually seen it will still be 6 months before Logan gets in to see an ENT and he probably WILL outgrow his problem. Whew, I digress! Back to the conference... I agree with his teacher about the hearing problems, but I also think Logan is completely uninterested in reading. He can read, he just doesn't. It doesn't even occur to him to read. Mrs. S said that if she gives the class a paper and doesn't explain it, he'll come ask for help rather than read the directions. (Eye roll.) At home, he doesn't read street signs or business signs. Or if he does, he doesn't attempt to sound the words out, he just guesses what the words are by the first letter sound. Mrs. S recommended practicing reading and making math flash cards since he likes numbers. Seriously??? We spend obscene amounts of time on his 1st grade homework! Hours a week trying to get him to spell 12 words correctly. He hates it! If I force him to work on all this stuff he'll shut down completely and stop trying at all! At this point he's not in any danger of failing. I've been sort of working on his reading through spelling practice and he's shown some improvement in the past few weeks. For example, if his actual spelling word is "light" I'll also make him spell fight, right, flight, etc. It's the first time he's ever made that kind of connection, so hopefully some things will click and he'll start reading and spelling better.

Kaylin, on the other hand... Kaylin's having no trouble with concepts. Her test scores are at the top of her class. She's reading books way above her 4th grade level. Too bad she's so incredibly disorganized that her homework is consistently turned in late or lost forever. Mrs. M said that if she dumped Kaylin's desk and went through every text, folder and notebook, she would eventually find all of Kaylin's missing work and it would all be partially finished. Kaylin's a daydreamer and is so easily distracted by EVERYTHING that she takes forever to finish in-class assignments. Mrs. M thinks Kaylin is very artistic and imaginitive and creative, but she lives so deeply in her daydream fantasy world that she's not finishing her work. At least in a timely manner. Mrs M and I had a good laugh over the school contacting me at work and trying to convince me to have Kaylin tested for the gifted school. Mrs. M believes Kaylin is capable of doing the work for that school, but agreed it would be a horrible fit for her. I'll continue to work with Kaylin on organization, but as long as she's proving she's mastering (whatever) by doing well on tests, I can't pretend to care much about lowered report card grades due to missing or late assignments. I'd honestly rather have her drawing and making up stories and living in her fantasy world than worrying about turning in yet another perfect worksheet.

We finally decided to spend our spring break in the Smokies. I found a Wilderness Resort (indoor waterpark) in Sevierville and booked a couple of nights there. Otherwise, I think we'll spend some time in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge doing touristy things. Gene wants to go to Dollywood. Me? Not so much. We've been there before and I sort of feel like it would be paying $200 to take the kids to a much smaller version of the State Fair. They'll just want to ride rides and won't care much about the other stuff. I think there are too many other ways to spend our $200 to bother with Dollywood. We'll see. I'm just bummed I'll still be wearing the stupid cast so won't be able to do the hiking in the national park I'd like to do. I'm sure Gene and the kids will be more than happy to skip that :) Whatever we end up doing, I know we won't be bored!