I hope that everyone had a nice Valentines day. Ty and I did. It wasn't what one might consider a "typical" Valentine evening but it was nice. We were going to try and go to see Lord of the Rings again and were thinking it would start at 7. We wanted to go out to eat first but unfortunately didn't make it out the door until almost 6 o'clock and by that time there was already an hour wiat at almost anyplace we looked at. So we opted for a quick bite at Wendy's and then on to catch the movie....well Lord of the Rings started at 5:05 p.m. and the next showing wasn't until 9. With it being a three hour movie we didn't think our babysitter or her parents would appreciate us keep her up until 11:30 or 12 midnight on a school night so we chose to see "The Mothman Prophecies", very spooky...especially since it was based on real events. Like I said not your "typical" Valentine evening but it was nice to get out and away from the kids.
It was also my Grandma Vivian's 90th birthday yesterday so ... Happy Birthday Grandma! We are having a big family party and open house for her on Saturday. It should be fun. Grandma is an amazing woman. She is struggling a bit but still keeps on going. I wonder if I will live to see 90?
Oh and yesterday morning we had a meeting about Jona with his teacher, the principal, the special education teacher, the school psychologist and the speech therapist. I was very impressed with how much they have worked and are working with Jona. They really want to see him succeed and do well in school. They have done extensive testing on Jonathan what they have told us is basically what we already know. Jonathan is an enigma. They had a autism specialist come and observe him and she had some good suggestions but Jonathan is not Autistic. His emotions and how he relates to us as parents rule that out. The speech therapist said that he is close to Asperger's Syndrome but his language skills throw that diagnosis out. He is extremely bright and they all express amazement at the level of his knowledge for his age. Unfortunately because of these things he does not qualify for speech therapy or special ed classes. And he and his teacher (and future teachers) need him to have one on one help. He has been having trouble staying quiet in class. He makes noises, talks out of turn and socially he isn't making good choices. His teacher is also struggling to get him to start and finish his assignments in school. He knows how to do the work but the environment of the classroom distracts him. So their solution is to apply to get an aide to come in and help with him for a certain amount of time each day. Help to redirect him to what he is supposed to be doing and keep him on task. Unfortunately it does not look like this is something that will happen this year. We are going to try to get another appt. with a doctor up at Primary Children's Medical Center (it was a fiasco last time but I am fighting through it this time and we are going up there.) The principal said that it might help us to get an aide for him if we had a medical diagnosis and I feel that the diagnosis would have more impact coming from a doctor at PCMC. I am calling up there today...wish me luck! Anyway I was very happy with what happened in the meeting yesterday. It gives me hope for our public school system. There are some charter schools that are just starting up around here and I would like to see our kids go to them but I don't know when or if that will happen. So this it was good to know that these people were and are working really hard for my child. Maybe it's because Ty and I have made a bit of noise about it but I also think it is because his teacher this year really cares about Jona and wants to see him do well. Isn't it nice to know that there are still teachers out there like that?
