My great sister

I have a great sister.

Fridays are her day off. Knowing how sick I've been, she called me to see if I wanted her to take my kids with her when she goes to this Playhouse in the city with her neighbor. Uh....yeah!!! I drove to her house so she could take my van (which has the five carseats in it) and she left me alone there. She took the kids all morning and into the afternoon, stopping at McDonald's to give them all lunch. I laid in her bed all morning watching cable, reading my book, and just relaxing. I feel so much better! I mean, I'm still hacking up a lung, blowing my nose like crazy, and dealing with painful pressure behind my ears, but I have more of my voice back and don't feel like my head is in a fog. I just put J down for a nap and the boys are laying on the couch watching tv. Life is good. :)

So let me tell you about yesterday. A's eval went really well. When he met the first person and said to hi to her while focusing squarely on her right shoulder, I was quite pleased. Is that wrong? I was so worried that we would arrive there and he would do so well getting the undivided attention of a bunch of grown-ups that they would finish up and look at us like we were crazy for even thinking there's anything wrong. I know he's very verbal and is very bright and is very social with grown-ups, but he still doesn't really play with other kids his age (besides his twin), isn't great with eye contact, is unusally obsessed with computers and other electronics, and has a whole bunch of sensory issues to boot. I shared my concerns with the first tester (the speech and language person) and she reassured me that the evaluation that day was only part of what they would use to make a diagnosis, that someone would be evaluating him at school next week, plus DH and I had a bunch of checklist type forms to fill out. One of them was specifically for Asperger's, so at least they were taking that theory seriously. All in all, A blew them away with is reading ability (tested in the 99th percentile) and his verbal skills (he doesn't miss anything, even stopped the testing to show the one man where the stickers were in the room when he commented that he wished he had a sticker for A's picture). We were allowed in the room the whole time (really glad DH insisted on coming!), even though we were supposed to be filling out the checklists. It was a lot of fun, truth be told, to watch A answer all their questions with A logic. At one point they were trying to figure out if he knew his whole name. They asked him his name, and he spelled it for them (he loves to do that). Then they asked what his other name was. He paused, and then replied, "B!" That cracked me up. I told them in a separate room that if they asked him what his whole name was he might know, but they didn't word it that way. Bottom line, one of them told me that he definitely qualifies for some services (YES!) and that they would get the report in the mail to me in a few weeks, and we would meet to discuss it in July when they get back from their break. I'm so relieved that we got that over with. And A LOVED it! Even threw a fit when it was time to go.

Since I have a little energy this afternoon, I'm going to attempt to move the furniture in my bedroom. Well, it's not like I can lay down anymore today!