Bronwyn has been in SpEd for about a week at this point. She is doing much better, in terms of school behaviour. In a few weeks, she'll start to do some activities with her old class (PE, library time, and math, I think), in an effort to transition her back to gen ed. I think she may need 2 years of SpEd before going back to a gen ed class, to give her time to emotionally mature. But we'll see what happens.
The Sunday right after we returned from Virginia, Bronwyn had her sleep study. I wasn't sure how she would behave, since it's always hit or miss with her. But she did amazingly well. She sat still for an hour while all the electrodes were placed. And she actually fell sleep quickly too. The only hard part was taking off some of the sensors. Some had tape, which hurt on her little leg hairs. And waking up at 5am was hard too. Also, whatever they used to stick the sensors to her head is not coming off easily. Everything was supposed to be water soluble, but we've scrubbed, shampooed, conditioned, oiled, and it's not coming off. Fortunately, it's not noticeable. The results of the sleep study came back with everything normal. So her sleep issues are related to either ASD ADHD or both.
Getting all hooked up.
Both kids had their walk-a-thons over the weekend, Bron on Friday and Bert on Saturday. As is the case, with my little firecracker, I wasn't sure how she'd do. But she ran and ran with a smile on her face. I made her a sign that said "GO BRON", per her request. Her school's walk-a-thon isn't a real one. Each grade does about 30 minutes of walking during the school day and that's it. In the evening her school had their annual Fall Festival. They have a lot of little games and activities. Bertram was happy to decorate a pumpkin, do spin art, and get a shaved ice. Bron played most of the games, and had a great time.
Bertram was pretty excited for his walk-a-thon (which is a traditional one, where you walk all day, and get lap prizes etc). Once Saturday morning rolled about, he was in a particularly sour mood. He wasn't going to walk, I couldn't make him. We walked anyway. He kept throwing his lap card on the ground (and then would, inevitably, pick it up again). He'd stop walking, saying he was going home, I would keep walking, and he'd run to catch up with me. He crumpled up his lap card in an effort to rage-quit. I was ready to quit myself. What was the point of torturing both of us? After some amount of laps, he earned a cold drink (as a lap prize). We took a break, he drank, his attitude improved. He asked me how much he had to walk. I said at least 6 miles, since that was what he did last year. So that's what we did. I walked all but 2 laps with him. Grandpa stopped by, and somehow managed to find us while we were eating lunch. Later Aaron and Bronwyn came by. She had a churro and went in the jumpy house. Bertram got another shaved ice (the same snow cone truck was at both events). I got a caramel churro. On the way home, we saw a little lizard that let up touch it, and pick it up. In total, he and I walked about 8 miles, since we walked to and from the event. I came back when it was over. I won a piercing gift card in the silent auction. And I helped pick up and put away with school merchandise booth. It wasn't hard, per se, but I hadn't had enough to drive, and I was worn out from all the walking, and the sun (though, thankfully, it wasn't too hot, maybe 80.) After that I showered, napped and Aaron fetched pizza for dinner.
Early Sunday morning, Aaron left on a work trip to Richmond, VA (of all places). Luckily, the county booked his flight out of the San Jose airport, so we didn't have to get up as early as we would if flying out of San Francisco. The kids went to church with their grandpa, and I bought groceries for the week. I was supposed to donated platelets that day, but the timing didn't work out. I macerated some strawberries and made baking powder biscuits to take to family night. Bronwyn played by herself for a long time in the garden. I prayed cards, I lost one game, and tied to win the other. Bron slept in bed with me.
Yesterday, I walked Brony to school, she was not happy about having to walk, which we do, most days. She kicked me, and screamed, all of which I ignored. Eventually, she calmed down, and the rest of the walk was fine. I came back to the school at lunch time to have a family meeting with the new school counselor. She's going to see Bronwyn weekly, and sent up a social skills group for her. I'm very excited about that. After school we went to her other counselor (the one through Kaiser). Bron was not being very participatory. She kind of shut down, and I'm not sure why. That's a new behaviour. She perked up towards the end. We stopped at Macca's on the way home, specifically because they were supposed to have the Halloween Boo Buckets. But the one we went to didn't. So that was a bummer. The kids were at each other all evening. But, they both went to sleep at reasonable hours, in their own beds. Bron got in bed with me during the night, but that's fine.
Midday, I have a zoom appointment with Bronwyn's psychiatrist. I'm not sure if the medicine is having the desired effect. So we may change it up. We'll see what she says. After school today the kids and I are going to get our covid shots, and I need to pick up Bertram's Adderall.
Wednesday I have my counseling, Thursday the kids have speech, and there is a scout meeting that I may try to take Bronwyn too, since she earned a badge, or patch, or something. And Thursday night Aaron returns (yay!).
Snapshot: Bronwyn (age 6)
Most days she gets up between 6:30-7. She has been watching a lot of Disney+, namely Super Kitties and Spidey and His Friends. Every morning she has a vanilla Ensure for breakfast. She wears uniforms, but always a dress or skirt, never pants. She loves reading, and is reading books for 4th and 5th graders. She likes Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hilo, Science Comics, and many others. Her eating habits have started to narrow again. I need to get her back to trying new foods more often. She loves salt. She likes to play imaginative games with her different toys, usually the little plastic ones. She loves stuffies. She has recently gotten into playing more card games like Memory and Go Fish. She also likes various board games. Occasionally, she'll do some art. But she's not as dexterous as she wants to be, so art can be hard. I've been showing her more modern art to try to show her that art doesn't always look just like the thing it is. She has a fairy garden that she is very into. She like Crocs, but will wear other shoes. She likes watching YouTube videos with Bertram. They would probably do that a lot more, if I let them. She is getting into music. She like mostly older (80-90s) songs. But has some other the pop hits on her list as well. We go on an evening walk everyday, and she and Bertram fight over whose music to listen to, even though a lot of the songs are the same. One song she can't stand, and won't tolerate is Rush-E.
Snapshot: Bertram (age 9.5)
Most days, Bert gets up between 5:30-6, but sometimes as early as 5. He doesn't have a lot of tv shows he likes, but he has YouTube channels that he watches. I have to be fairly vigilant to make sure there isn't anything he shouldn't be looking at. He likes Five Nights at Freddies, Rainbow Friends, Pokemon, and a channel called Game Theory. Most mornings, he'll eat a PB&J. Occasionally, he'll have cinnamon toast, cream of wheat, or a smoothie. He doesn't have preferences about what he wears, as long as it's comfortable, elastic, or drawstring pants, t-shirts without buttons. And Crocs. He would be barefoot, or in Crocs all the time, if he could. He likes reading, but not as much as he once did. He's reading at grade level now. He collects Pokemon cards, and has a lot of Legos. He wants to learn magic tricks and coding. He does coding via Scratch. He's gotten pretty good, especially since he's self taught. He also loves stuffies, and his bed is filled with lots of different ones. He is of the opinion that school is useless, that he knows everything and is a genius. Bertram likes drawing and making comics, he has made a lot of his own characters. His least favourite subject is writing. Bertram has an extensive Spotify list. It's mostly video game music, but there is some pop mixed in, and various other types of music. When we walk to school, he usually says "Can I tell you something?" I always hope it's going to be something personal, but it never is. He usually tells me video game lore or cannon. He loves animals, especially cats. But has started to keep his door closed all the time because Oona keeps peeing on his things. (I don't know what her deal is. There is nothing medically wrong with her). He doesn't take showers, just baths. He still needs a little help washing his hair. And he needs to learn to tie his shoes (for the PE days, when he has to wear trainers). He is an atheist. (Though, I don't think he knows that word). And really doesn't like going to church with Aaron and Bron every week.
