New School Year

It is another school year for the Weardens. You haven't seen some of these elusive creatures in the wild in a minute, so here is a quick update and reintroduction.  We had some difficulty obtaining photographs of these rare and wild beasts, as they seem shy or frightened by the flash. Some fruit snacks and proffered screen time allowed us this rare glimpse into their strange lives.

First out, first about: This guy! 

This child has requested I call them Cosmos, and that I honor that on the blog, so this I shall do. There may be nicknames such as Coco, Cocomelon, or Kokomo. All of these also refer to said child. For fun, they avoid thinking about the future or making plans about the future. Things they are into: sea jellies, space/astronomy, some freaky little bear and nugget abomination, the color purple, and "Gravity Falls".

I talked to Cosmos's teacher from last year; she said that the remarkable thing about this person was how innocent and childlike they still are. Coco likes what they like, unhesitatingly and unashamedly. Their teacher this year is perfect for them because she is so quiet and calmly cheerful, regardless of Cosmos's crabitude. (That's crabby attitude). 

Currently, they are looking for their first job, hoping to work up to applying at Spirit Halloween. 

Cosmos is almost 17 and is a junior.

 

Next up: This bundle of disaster, my Gabriel! 

Gabriel is 15 and going into high school! We went and visited with his teachers the other day and they seem really nice and excited to have him in their class. He was calm and content to hang out in the room. We set them up with some snacks and gave them the run-down. I am hoping it goes well for him. 

I've been asked lately what I am going to do with Gabe after High School. What I can say is: we don't know for certain. We have some options, but right now we are playing it by ear. As long as Gabriel continues to do well in a traditional school setting, we will continue to send him. If his behaviors start significantly outweighing the social and educational benefits of school, we will look at pulling him out. A high school diploma will not be a meaningful or necessary achievement for Gabe. He is unlikely to ever hold a job or seek postsecondary education. Right now, he is still getting something out of it--he likes the peers and the routine and having somewhere to go. 

If we have to pull him out, what we will likely do is have his Personal Care Assistant schedule their hours for during the day Monday through Wednesday to assist him with activities of daily living around the house, help him build those independent skills, and maybe work on some community-based exposure like going to the zoo or the grocery store. Michael is off Thursdays and Fridays, so he would be able to keep him then. It isn't ideal and it is still a work-in-progress, but it is what we have. 

He will not tolerate the insulin pump or the continuous glucose monitor, but he doesn't mind shots and fingerpokes so we are managing his diabetes fine.   

Thirdest Child, and spiciest of my children: Ben! 

Benjamin is about to turn 13 and is going into 7th grade. He plays bassoon in the band, and is senior patrol leader in his scouts group. Lately, he has been interested in colleges (specifically McMurray), which guides so many of his decisions. Recently, he signed up to get more information from several colleges, prompting them to call me on my cell phone because I "expressed an interest in their program". Ben is obsessed with history and geography--he likes walking the Lunsford Trail and talk about all the flags. He can tell you something about just about any nation in the world. 

Bullying was a really big problem for him last year, which has led to an uptick in outbursts at home. We got him into counseling and contacted the school many times, but it feels like there is so little the district can do. He was in trouble a lot, and struggled for the first time ever in the academic setting, even if he was getting relatively good grades. 

The big news for him though: he was recently having some concerning symptoms, like getting dehydrated even when he was drinking plenty, not sweating, losing weight, not wanting to eat, stomach pains, vomiting. 

Oh reader, you know where this is going. 

So we tested his blood sugar a few times. We saw a lot of hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) episodes, so we started focusing more on high quality snacks more frequently and more protein at meal times to help hold him. 

Then we started seeing unexplained and unjustifiable highs. 

We took him into the pediatrician who ran labs; antibodies associated with type-1 were negative, including GADS, IA-2s, ZnT8, and ICAs. But...his blood sugars were testing in prediabetic range. 

This is all we know at present. We have been referred to the endocrinologist that sees the other three. We are waiting to hear back from them to schedule an intake so they can run some more tests and see what is going on. I will attempt to keep you updated on that front. 

Onto my obviously my most photo-excited child: Tula! 

Tula is 8 years old and going into 2nd grade. Her favorite things to do are read, and do yoga, and cuddle. She likes pink, rainbows, alicorns, and bunnies and kittens. Her favorite food is Ramen noodles. Things she does NOT like: loud noises, zucchini, and being alone.  She said sometimes she just lays around all day doing nothing and reading, which is a good thing because she needs days like those. 

I had some concerns about her--her anxiety has been so high, and she just has...peculiarities. So I made an appointment for her to get some counseling. Her counselor referred her for testing; the results were that she has a high IQ and ADHD, which contributes to her anxiety. We have been working on some management techniques to address her fears and empower her to take control of her worries. 

As far as diabetes goes, she is on the Dexcom continuous glucose monitor--it takes her blood sugar reading at set intervals so that we can better track trends, predict highs and lows, and treat them before they get dangerous. We have gotten training on the omnipod insulin pump, but we have to meet with the company representative to set up the first pump. Once we do, the dexcom will communicate with the insulin pump in a nearly closed-loop system, suspending basal insulin when she is crashing and administering insulin when she is spiking so that she has better control and safer numbers. We will still have to program meal ratios, but it will give her a lot more freedom. 

Michael is fairly consistent; there isn't much change there but I will let you know if there is. 

Which just leaves me: 

I changed jobs. 

So you know I loved my time at Cooper. I made some fantastic friends, I had good support from admin, and the kids were fantastic. I wasn't actively looking for a new job. 

But Julia reached out to me and said a position was opening up over at the charter school she worked at. She suggested I put my application in, maybe see if it would be a good fit for me. 

At the interview, I got a good feeling off the director--she was organized and competent, and just seemed like a cool person. I liked what she had to say about the campus and the position I was applying for. It would give me a chance to learn some new things, grow in the field of special education and gain experience in a different type of educational institution. I wasn't positive I would get it. 

She called me back a little while later and offered me a position: 504 coordinator. 

The way the school works, I will actually have several roles, including on a couple committees that Julia signed me up for (one of which is a diabetes committee, if you can believe it). I will still work directly with students and be special education, as well. I think in total I have like seven "hats". But everyone there takes on many roles. 

I like the people I am working with. It has been a positive experience, even if I often feel a bad case of impostor syndrome, and I miss my friends from Cooper. But I am hoping that anxiety fades in time, and is replaced by confidence in my abilities. 

That is my overdue update. Hope you have a fantastic school year, everyone!