We had Bertram's birthday last weekend. I still can't believe he's 7. He is smart, kind, funny, and sassy. He loves all things Sonic, Mario, Battlebots and Lego. He is doing okay with online school, not great. (I have to add this so I don't forget it. They were talking about recess in his class. The teacher mentioned playing with friends. A little girl said she didn't have any friends last year, and the kids were mean to her. That makes me so sad. Then Bert piped up and said "if you were in my class I'd be your friend." And my mommy heart just melted). But I imagine there are few kids who thrive with virtual school. Maybe if you had just one kid, and a stay at home parent. But there is a light in the tunnel. In-person classes are scheduled to start on 21 April. I am so excited. I think only about a third of the student body opted for in-person learning for the rest of the school year, so it'll be a small class, but he does much better in person.
Bertram had winter break (formerly called ski week at the richer schools), in February. We went to Emma Prusch Farm, The Golden Gate Bridge (and ghirardelli square), and the SF Zoo. The farm was a hit. There were chickens and ducks everywhere, and the kids loved that. The rest were kind of meh. I mean, I had fun, but the kids were whiny. The bridge is really loud, because you're right by the traffic, that bothered Bertie. Bron didn't care much, except she wanted to walk, and she is such a slow walker. Then she was upset at Ghiradelli because she wanted her own ice cream, not to share with me. The ice creams were like $7 each, which would have been fine, except I knew she wouldn't eat it. We tried to walk on the pier with the old ships, but it was closed. The Zoo was about the same. Bertram didn't want to walk (he wanted to ride in the wagon), and Bron did want to walk, but is slow. In retrospect I should have let her walk and him ride. We weren't in any hurry. The animal they both wanted to see was the river otter. They both really enjoyed that, and we stayed and watched it for about 10 minutes. (The rhino's penis was out (maybe erect, but it didn't look like it) and it was weird looking, like it had angles.) The rest of the time was Bertram wanting to go home, his legs were broken, etc. Oh, I just remembered, Bron said she wanted to walk, but then would collapse at regular intervals. On top of all that, the weather was drizzle-y, cold, and overcast. (Like a common SF day).
Bron won't wear a mask, so we have the shield hat/
We had Bron's IEP meeting. She is eligible for a few different services. Namely preschool, OT and ST. The problem is the school is currently online only. And 4 hours a day of online preschool sounds like torture for both of us. But they don't have to hold her spot for in-person if she doesn't attend virtual. So we're trying to figure out if we want to do it. I have an email out to our lesion at the district, so we'll see what happens.
The other thing that happened in February is out BT for ABA randomly quit. No notice given. So we've been without ABA for almost a month. Bert's behaviour is worse, and not having the regularity of the ABA has messed with his schedule. Bron had only started a few week before, but was making progress. It's really frustrating, as the scheduling guy, Ken, is so slow! And our supervisor is getting a promotion, so we're losing her too. Anyway, all that makes me grumpy.
Bron's potty training is also stalled. She doesn't want to even sit on the potty. On the rare occasions I can get her one it, she doesn't pee. I never though I'd have an almost 4 year old still in diapers.
We had been tossing around the idea of a third child. Our family feels a little incomplete. But there are a lot of reasons not to. Either Bert and Bron would have to share a room, or one of them a a baby five years their junior would have to share. Bron would become the middle child, which sucks. The kids would be quite a bit older than the baby. I'm not sure my mental health could take the rough parts of new parenthood. Plus pregnancy is hard, and I'm already overweight. We'd probably have to get an actual minivan, instead of the Mazda 5. And then there are the later costs, mainly college (or whatever post high-school education they want to pursue). Just thinking out loud.
