Mid-Late June

At the end of April I had an appointment with my tattoo artist.  I added on two flowers for my grandparents.  A magnolia blossom and Queen Anne's lace.  Both of which make me nostalgic for my childhood summers on their farm.

In May there was a carnival at Bert's school.  I think Bron enjoyed it more than Bert did.  But they both had enough fun.  Bert was hoping the snow cone truck would come, but it didn't.  There was a churro truck, which was a good consolation.  

The next day was Scout-o-Rama.  Bron got over-stimulated.  Bert had a good time.  

The kids participated in some online research for eye-tracking related to autism.  They both got a gift card for amazon.  They both like participating in research projects (the gift cards help).  But I always sign up for various research studies too, something my mom instilled in me.

We went to the Makers' Fair the weekend after Scout-o-Rama.  It's where local people sell local-made goods.  We went to one before Christmas as well.  I really enjoy them, and the kids get bored.  Next time I think we'll leave them with the grandparents.  It's hard to look at lots of things with them.  They both do pretty well when we go shopping, but I guess this is different.

Bronwyn's school had young author's fair.  She, originally didn't participate.  The teacher worked, and worked with her.  She even offered to write, if Bron would dictate.  No dice.  So I wasn't going to go to the presentation, because she had nothing to present.  Aaron took her to school that day, and told me I needed to come and be with her, she was starting to freak out.  So I came to school to be with her.  And she was starting to melt down.  But I found out, that she did write the book, in her speech class, so she had something to present.  She was worried that so-and-so was in her group and he'd be mean to her.  It turns out so-and-so wasn't in her group, so she calmed down.  She read her book to the group of bigger kids without issue.  I was so so proud of her and told her as much.  Writing is the hardest thing for her.  

Around this time, my older sister came for her annual visit.  She and my dad went to Vegas, and a few other more local places.

Kids finished up the school year.  

Bron had a field trip to the park with her class.  I volunteered to go along, mostly to keep an eye on her, because situations that are different are hard for her.  She did fine.  Until we got back, then she was melting down a little.  Hitting, and being mean.  But she rallied.  At the end of the year, the whole class got awards for various things.  Bron got the Reset Award for being able to reset her emotions when she gets upset.  That is a well-earned, hard-worked for award.  I think she was able to finish up the school year without getting send home.
We were originally hoping that Bron could switch to Bert's school after kindergarten.  But her school is a better fit for her, and she in able to get more services there.  So she'll stay.  It's rough having two kids at two schools. But we do what we have to do.

Bert did a presentation on How to do Scratch.  I went and recorded it.  He did a great job.  The kids really liked it, and were very interested.  He did pretty well at the end.  His report card only had a couple of 2s and Ns.  

We went to the tide pools with the scout troop.  I think the kids really enjoyed it.  And I like the anemones.  I hadn't been to the tide pools in a long time.  We stayed at the beach for a bit after.  But Bronwyn got run over by a wave, which was our cue to head home.

I had 2 unsuccessful blood/platelet donations in a row.  The first time, they couldn't get a good vein (and they're only allowed to stick you once).  I think my draw-er was new.  I went back a couple weeks later to donate platelets, but my red loss was too high, so I wasn't able to donate.  

Bronwyn started Summer school.  It's just 8-11am, short days, which are nice.  The first day was a little rough, but she found her groove after that.  

On June 1st, Nanny passed away.  She had been ready for a long time, well over a year.  I got to see her in January, which was good, but she didn't remember me.  I bought last minute plane tickets for her memorial (June 17th).  I flew on Breeze for the first time.  It was a long flight, but having a direct flight was really nice.  I had to leave from SFO, but that wasn't a huge deal.  I got to spend a lot of time with my mom, which was awesome.  I got to see my sister and nephew a bit too.  Little Eddie isn't so little anymore.  He's not a huge fan of me.  My sister and I got mani/pedis.  The only time I ever do that is when she takes me.  I enjoy it, I should do it more.  But I have  hard time doing those things for myself.  The memorial was kind of weird.  Like really Jesus-y.  And very focused on being saved.  Which is fine for some, but she wasn't really like that when she was a live.  She was a devoted Christian and "knew" Jesus.  But, aside from meal-time prayer I do not remember Jesus ever being mentioned. My sister enjoyed catching up with the cousins at the luncheon.  She was like, you can talk to them too.  But I don't really have a relationship with any of them.  She does.  I think a lot of that is the fact that she lives there, and I don't.  But my social anxiety was on high.  

For my 40th birthday, Aaron did a Rachel day.  I got a nap, we went to Target and bought things I want.  We got what I wanted for lunch.  And we had a fancy (expensive) dinner.  Aaron ordered me a piece of jewelry, but it wasn't delivered until the 12th, actually the 15th.  So I got it when I got back from my trip.  

We also celebrated our 18th Anniversary.  But on that day, we found out that Bronwyn had covid.  So we ordered lunch in.  

Sick Bron

At the tide pools

The park field trip

My 40th Birthday

Painting the sidewalk

Bron's book for Young Author's Fair

Presenting her book

Bron and my sister

Bert's presentation

Bert at Scout o Rama

The magnolia tattoo

End of February

 Bertram's birthday is tomorrow. We're having the family party today. I still can't believe he's going to be 9. I still remember this tiny baby, the chubby cheeked toddler, preschool. Now he's lanky, and funny, and smart still with a mop of curly hair. He's generally a very easy kid, and a good listener. He puts himself to bed at night.  He graduated from ABA this week. He was ready. Well, he says he was ready a long time ago. I think he did it for the right amount of time.

Bron had her first psychiatry visit a couple weeks ago. It went well, she's looking forward to the next one. We have quite a few strategies, but she won't implement them, try as we might. She was off school this last week, but the previous week, she was sent home twice. I'm not sure what to expect when she goes back tomorrow. Well, that's not true. I expect it will be more of the same, unfortunately. She is funny, and smart and kind. But she can be difficult, when she really digs in her heels.  Which is often.  She's reading over my shoulder...

My mom is here, which is awesome. It's always good to have an extra set of hands.  Plus, I love hanging out with my mom.

I took the kids to the aquarium with my dad on Monday. They did well, a good time was had by all. I'm glad we (my dad) has a membership there.

I think I mentioned previously, trying to talk with Bertram about sex. He has shut down all attempts, because it's "weird". So maybe he knows more than he's letting on. But he's been broaching the subject a little bit here and there.  Hopefully, we can have a good conversation at some point in the future. I bought him a book (sex is a funny word), but he doesn't like the illustrations (they're sort of psychedelic, for lack of a better word).  

 Bertram has been doing better at school lately.  We had a mini IEP meeting on Wednesday that went pretty well.  On Wednesday, he got his Invisalign.  They were supposed to glue on little anchors, but Bert wouldn't let them.  The orthodontist said we could try them without and see how he does.  He didn't want to keep them in his mouth.  I was feeling worried.  But Thursday we practiced wearing it after school.  Today he wore the top and bottom after school without issue.  (He was playing with them a lot the first couple days).  Tonight, he agreed to sleep with the top one in.  Which is a big change, since he was concerned about swallowing it.  We're going back next Wednesday to follow up.  Bertie has said he's ready to switch to the next trays, but I'm going to wait til the next appointment.  I feel like, in general, Bert's attitude has been improving.  He is just fun to be around.  We did an ADHD assessment ad we're waiting to hear back about that.  We're also meeting with the district psychologist to see if there might be a program that would be a better fit, as being in a class with 27 kids is a lot.  So a lot is in the works.

Bronwyn has been doing well too.  She has been doing food practice in ABA.  Before that she would mainly eat Ensure and squeeze applesauce, and sprinkle in French fries, pretzels, crackers, cookies, ice cream and sometimes pancakes.  That was about it.  The first few times of food practice were awful.  She pretty much cried for 30+ minutes straight and not try anything.  Or we'd sort of pin her down and pop something in her mouth.  It was hard to be part of and hard to listen to.  But like potty training, it's like something just clicked.  The first few times she tried anything, she'd gag.  But it got better.  This week she's tried: peanut butter, strawberries, chicken, turkey, pineapple, apple, sauced pasta, tomato, banana, refried beans, buttered bread, pear, chocolate cake, yogurt, cheese, edamame, carrots, peas, chicken nuggets, and probably some things I'm forgetting.  The peas and carrots were the only things she didn't like, she cleaned her plate every time.  We've been letting her watch YouTube only at meal time.  And as long as she is taking bites she can keep watching. Hopefully, we'll be able to wean the videos away in the future.  But she actually sat at the table and ate dinner with us tonight (with the videos), and I can't remember the last time that happened.  Also, she had been very adamant that he didn't want me to give her bangs.  But I really hated the hair being in her eyes all the time.  This morning, she finally let me cut her hair.  I did it really quick, but it actually turned out really well.

I've still been tired all the time, but I've been getting some things done.  I've mostly stayed on top of cleaning.  And I got a couple paint by numbers to do.  That's been really enjoyable.  I finished a flamingo one, and I'm working on a big Pokemon one (Eevee and Pikachu) for Bert.  I got a book on how to crochet from the library, so hopefully I'll be able to figure that out.  Last library visit, I grabbed four books, and I didn't like any of them.  It was disappointing.  Like, I wonder if my attention span isn't long enough for books anymore.  My yardwork is pretty much done.  I've been listening to a lot of podcasts.  Depression is still looming, but I've been staying ahead of it pretty well.  I took a break from social media.  I got tired of seeing stupid and upsetting opinions.  I don't know how to separate my emotions from stuff like that.  I started noom at the beginning of the year.  I've lost 8 lbs, but completely stalled.  I'm still trying, so hopefully my body will catch on a t some point.

Aaron and I did an adult thing and bought new couches.  The couches we had were Aaron's cousin's cast offs.  They were lumpy and sinky, and I got tired of it.  I started out looking at Ikea.  But we were looking for a sofa-loveseat set, and Ikea didn't really have anything like that.  I looked around online a little.  We'd looked at Living Spaces previously, but didn't find anything that spoke to us.  The other thing if we have very specific dimensions that the couches need to fit in our tiny living room.  I settled on Ashley Homestore, because they had a lot online.  Last week we went, and spend an hour trying and retrying couches.  We found a set we liked and the sofa has a bed in it, which is good to have.  We spent a little more than I wanted (around $2000), but we figured we'll have them a long time, and since we actually found something we like, that fits our room.  It was supposed to be 4-6 weeks for delivery, but both pieces were delivered today. 

Defeated

 Feeling very defeated today.

This is the third bad day this week, for Bert, at school.  He's being defiant, not doing his work, not listening.  The teacher is writing a referral for him.  I'm not sure what that is, but I'm sure it's not good.  I give him pep talks on the way to school, we're taking away stuff after school.  Today, in addition to having no screens, he had to write lines.  The worse part, is, I ask him how his day was: did you listen, did you follow directions, did you do your work, did you get sent outside today? He tells me he had a pretty good day.  I'm not sure if it's some sort of cognitive dissonance, he's lying, or he legitimately thinks his day is pretty good.  I don't know what else to try.

We lost another BT for Bronwyn, after one freakin' session. So the supervisor is doing once weekly ABA sessions, on the computer, where we lead the session, and she (the supervisor) advises me what to do, or ask.  It wasn't too bad.  It makes me wonder if I'm a bad parent though.  The session is mostly playing with her.  And it made me realize I don't actually play with her much.  She plays so well on her own, it just doesn't occur to me. 
At the end of the session, we worked on "non-preferred foods".  I chose turkey lunch meat, the really thin kind.  We got her to lick the turkey a couple times without too much fight.  When she licked it, she declared it "yummy".  Then we spent 20-25 minutes convincing(wrestling, fighting) her to either take a small bite, or simply put it in her mouth.  She did a pretty good job of trying to wrestle out of my lap, but I held her.  In the end, I put it in her mouth, when she had it open.  I made sure to put it near the front, so she wouldn't choke.  She immediately started gagging.  I really do not understand the food aversion stuff.  It doesn't have a pattern, like squishy foods, or crunchy foods.  The food she likes has a variety of textures and tastes.  Like she likes sour cream and onion chips, that's a pretty strong favour.  

So yeah, not a great day overall.  At least they both did well at speech. 

Now it's March

 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.  

Day 283

From early November, the completed kitchen

 I have no clue what was happening at the last entry, I should reread before posting, I suppose.

The cats are doing well.  Shy-Guy is my buddy, and loves snuggling.  (I have to keep removing him from the laptop).  Oona is still a loud purr-er, and sleeps with Bertram most nights.  

Bertram has had more good days than bad recently.  He is very unpredictable.  I think screentime is the basis for most of his bad behaviour.  We limit it to some extent, but it's pandemic  time, so there are only so many options for him.  He has chores he has to do (get newspaper, feed cat, make bed, wipe table, do a worksheet).  Most days the first 3 will get done.  For some reason, he really hates worksheets.  They are mostly for handwriting, because his is awful.  He just goes to fast.

He got student of the month at school.  He was so excited he ran all around the house.  The teacher said she can see that he is improving in paying attention, and not shouting out.  We've been trying, so I'm glad he is getting some recognition. 

Bron has had some evals.  She started speech a couple weeks ago.  And will be starting ABA sometime soon.  Everything is ready, but the scheduler hasn't called yet.  And it's the end of the year, so I'm not sure who is in the office anyway.  She has her school district evals at the end of January and beginning of February.

We took the rail off Bron's crib a week (or so) ago.  She was climbing out consistently, so it made sense to take the front off.  The first night was a little rough. Most night's now she'll play in the dark (she has a little nightlight in her bed) and then put herself to bed after a while. But she hasn't been coming out, so that is a win.  And she usually is quiet when she plays. 

I started working on a calico/tee shirt quilt for Bron.  It's twin size, for when we move her to the big bed. The squares are all cut, and I've started assembly on the top.

Aaron has continued to work from home.  Most of the time it's great, because I have a second set of hands most of the day, or as needed.  He took most of this week off, because why not?  We don't need to save the vacation time for anything.  Who knows when travel will be safe?  He helped his dad take a lemon tree from their neighbour's house.  The house between us and his folks has been sold to  developer. The same one that did Grandma Street's house.  Hers turned out fine, I guess.  It's giant.  And there are no windows facing the front (except one over the garage that always has the shade closed.) So it seems very foreboding and unfriendly.  I saw the wife once, walking a baby.  But she made no effort to look at me, or smile, and seemed to hurry  back into the house. 

This was the model/drawing.  I've marked the differences in how it actually looks.  There is no lower right window, that's all that stone wall.  There is no chimney.  That front gate (which goes to a patio), then the front door is a half gate, not full sized.  Those two upstairs windows don't exist.  I don't think the wall comes out that far.  And, you can kind of see, how huge it is compared to the houses beside it.

That is what, essentially, will be going in next door to us.  Thomas James builders have been redoing a lot of houses in the area, and most of their designs are similar to this, though, this is the least inviting.  With the exception of this and one other house, all the houses on the street are single story, and look small from the front.  Most have been added onto in the back, but generally fit the look.  I'm just grumping I guess.  I'm not thrilled about living by a construction site either.

Day 135

We moved into the next phase of reopening for a whopping 2 days before everything closed again.  Not sure why the powers that be thought reopening as the numbers rose would be a good idea.  So things are continuing in the same direction.  Numbers keep going up.

School is going to be completely online through (at least) 2 August.  They are expected to be available/on the computer (?) from 8-2.  I was hoping it would be a little more open form like the end of last year.  I'm not sure how it will go, I guess it's supposed to be a mix of online class, individual teacher time, and possibly small groups (online).  (Though there has been some talk about doing small pods in addition to this, but we'll see how it all shakes out).  So, due to this new schedule we needed to change Bertram's time and day for speech.  And his time for ABA will change, and he will likely have to get a new tech, which sucks.  But to keep the same one we'd have to do 5:30-8:30, which is too late (as bedtime is 8).  But maybe the school schedule won't be so rigid, but it's all in flux.  We don't have his class assignment yet, and thus haven't heard from the teacher about her plan.  It's all stressing me out.  And I know this is going to be difficult for Bertram too. 

I stopped taking Remeron. It wasn't helping, and it made me hungry all the time.  I will be trying BuSpar. We'll see how that goes.  I kind of feel like I want to switch the Wellbutrin+Zoloft combo, but the shrink seems to be hesitant to do that.  I feel like I'm in a bad head space.  Like having a base level of anxiety all the time.  Plus, I feel like I'm failing at everything.  And I'm just on edge all the time. 

We adopted two kittens that we abandoned, and malnourished.  (Aaron's cousin's neighbour found them under her deck).  Originally I just wanted the girl, since we've had issues with boy cats spraying.  But they were bonded, so we took them both.  They were born at the beginning of June, so they're about 8 weeks old.  Bertram named the boy Shy-Guy (which is a character in Mario), and Aaron and I named the girl Oona.

Oona

Shy-Guy

They're been confined to our bedroom and bathroom.  They are super friendly and very playful.

Our washer died today, which a barrel full of water and wet clothes.  It was 14 years old. Fortunately, we're in a position that replacing it wasn't a huge burden.  Really more of an annoyance than anything.  But we got a nice LG washer.

We've (Aaron, Bertram and I) have been learning to play pokemon cards.  It's pretty fun.  Bertram keeps trying to cheat, which is weird because he doesn't actually care about winning.

Bronwyn's birthday was a couple weeks ago.  My baby is 3.  We didn't do much for her in terms of a party.  I made a cake, and we gathered on grandma and grandpa's lawn. 

Day 63

Still going crazy.  Dealing the best I can.

I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks.  Some good, some less good.  I just finished A Man Named Ove, which I loved.  Prior to that I "read" Guns, Germs, and Steel, which had been on my list for a long time.  It was not very good, and for a book called Guns, Germs and Steel it talked very little about any of those topics.  It also felt very redundant.  I guess it wasn't for me, but I finished.  I think I've done 46 books this year.  

Aside from audiobooks, I've been weeding (Still).  It's the thing I really look forward to each day.  I love being outside, and digging and accomplishing something.  Sometimes the kids join me (not to weed, just to play outside).

Our county is the lone holdout in California for leaving stage 1.  Though, stage 2 isn't much different, at least not for us.  The numbers are looking pretty good currently (for here, anyway).  I think we've done really well (thank you Dr Sara Cody).  There are almost 2 million people, we've had 2400 confirmed Covid cases, and 135 deaths.  I am going to try to donate blood this week.  The banks are in need, though, my stupid A+ blood is not super helpful.  It's something I can do.  We've also been ordering take away food from local restaurants three (or more) times a week. 
The rest of our (Aaron's) family seems to think the stay home order has been lifted, and are gathering again.  (Not that that ever stopped his parents anyway).  We go and visit his parents by sitting on the lawn while they sit on the porch.  My FiL asked how long we were going to keep this up (meaning not coming into the house, assembling etc).  I said we're following the guidelines set by the county, which he couldn't argue with.  But we're now the stick in the mud, because we won't join the group.  I'm sure it's been a topic of conversation.  It's annoying.  And I would love to assemble, and sent the kids there, but I'm going to follow the rules.  I'm immuno-suppressed (And his parents average age is 77).  

I've been on Remeron for a little over a month now.  It works really well, but it makes me hungry a lot, which is one of the side effects, so it may not be a sustainable long term solution.  But at this point it's kind of hard to tell if weight gain (up 7ish lbs currently) is from quarantine, or medication.

We bought a new laptop (which I'm currently using) to help with Bertram's school stuff.  We were using the desktop, but it was not super conducive to him paying attention.  This is working  much better, plus we have the space of the whole kitchen table.

Aaron has been looking at plane tickets.  We had talked about doing a big trip for either his 40th birthday or our 15th anniversary. Our anniversary is in less than a month, so that's out.  But plane tickets to Europe are ridiculously cheap ($300ish for London, Rome and Paris).  I would like to make a move on that, but everything is too unsettled.  I can't really plan for anything that far out.

Bronwyn likes to recite books.  She has an amazing memory.  She really likes the Elephant and Piggie books.  And the Three Cats books by Viviane Schwarz.  She likes puzzles, and her little dinosaurs.  She loves to wear necklaces and hats.  She doesn't like most food, or sleeping.  She likes playing outside.  If she has chalk, she wants me to draw a house, a shark, or a snowman.  She picks (usually) unripe fruit from the plants and brings it to me.  As she hands it over she says "thank you".  

Bertram has been reluctantly doing school.  I am very glad I don't home school.  I couldn't handle it, for sure.  And he does better with the structure of the class room.  He's having a hard time being home.  He doesn't say so, but it's affecting him/his behaviour.  He really just wants screen time all the time.  And he's getting way more than he usually would.  But he's been reading, and drawing.  His ABA tech comes during the week, which helps some.  Tonight Bertram wanted to try using the waterpik (which I just got this week).  It went about as well as you'd guess.  He's not ready for it.

Both kids have been playing outside as much as I can make them.  I fill the little paddle pool, and they play with that.  They make mud in the part of the garden we're not using and play in there a lot.  They use the sand box (we need a bigger one though).  Stuff like that.  Aaron and I have both been baking a lot.  He makes bread and has been fiddling with sourdough recipes.  I've been doing cookies and cakes.   

ASD stuff:
We had Bertram's IEP meeting on Thursday.  It was much more pleasant than I expected.  Bertram is going to continue speech at school (and through Kaiser), and he is going to have an evaluation for OT through school.  We have been approved for group ABA but I'm still waiting to hear from Kaiser about that. 

Bertram's behaviour at school, last week, was fantastic.  He had two days that were all smiley faces!
Aside from that, things are much the same.  He's been reading a lot, and getting better with phonemic awareness. 

Bronwyn has been talking a lot lately.  She loves to identify all the things she knows.  When she eats she likes to say "big bite!" She can count to 20, identify 1-10, and knows and can identify all the letters.  She loves reading, singing, dancing, and helping.  Now, if I could get her interested in using the potty...

And she is also awake, so now I have to go...

Today/ ASD

Today Bertram had his ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) eval with Kaiser.  We had a few concerns that mostly coincided with school.  There were a couple concerns with preschool issues (that he didn't want to participate in the Christmas or graduation program, really gloaming on to one friend).  Then, this year, with kindergarten, he has been having trouble with transitions, doing work he isn't super interested in, cooperative groups, things of that nature.  He had a couple instances of rocking himself, pulling on his ears, or just laying down on the floor.  (The rocking and ear pulling were new, as Aaron and I had never seen them).  We have been in communication with the teacher a lot, mostly trying to make sure he isn't too much of a distraction, and is keeping up.  We had his parent/ teacher conference last week.  He is doing well academically, and his behaviour is improving (but is still an issue).  He is reading at a 3rd grade level, but his comprehension isn't quite that high.

For the first part, we watched him through a one-way window, as he did different tasks with the evaluator, and we talked to the other doctor about what he was doing, whether it was typical, and translating as needed.  Then we had a break.  Then we did an interview with the doctor and Bertram did an analysis of his ability to learn (I can't remember what that part was actually called), but he scored average, or above average on all that. But in the end, he is ASD level 1, though fairly mild.  The next step will be receiving the full report, and then we will step up ABA therapy.  And we'll have to get a full IEP set up through the school district.

It all feels a little overwhelming at the moment.  And I feel a little sad that there are now more challenges that he'll likely face.  But we'll cross those bridges as they come.