treeskin

I'm still mulling over, and somewhat bothered by my first parent-teacher conference Thursday night. The Miss is making progress, but not as much as the teacher thinks she ought to be thus far. Which led to a discussion about the fact that the teacher thinks The Miss may fall on the autism spectrum

And the more I think about that, the madder I get.

The teacher is justifying her statement by the fact that The Miss still isn't very verbal in class, doesn't interact much with the other students, and won't sit still during story time.

Well, let's see. She's been in preschool a grand total of nine days so far, and 27 hours. Not enough for her to be comfortable in such a new environment. I know I'm seeing things she's learned at school, when she comes home, and I'm seeing definite improvement in her speech.

But autistic? Or even aspergers? I don't think so. Shy with strangers, independent, and stubborn, certainly.

I've had long conversations with my mom and sister about this today. Both of them think I'm right, and The Miss just needs time to learn how to manage the new environment. Sis, especially...she's got an austistic 4-yr-old in one of the foster homes she manages, and says that The Miss displays none of the behavior she's seen with that condition. Among other things, Sis assures me that both of my kids are too agile and coordinated and strong to be on the spectrum, that all the kids she's dealt with who have been, have not been as active and agile and physical. My neighbor, the pediatric nurse, also thinks I'm right.

So, deep breath time. It's just scary to hear that, so early in the process. And I'm wondering why the teacher is even mulling over a diagnosis after so short a time with my child.

I guess I keep working with The Miss, and keep an eye on the school, and plan on fighting any attempt to label her so young. Because that's a mess she'll fight her whole school career, and she doesn't need that.

Why does being an adult have to be so complicated?


* For those who might be wondering, I ask my mom because she's got a master's in elementary ed, her bachelor's was elementary and special ed, and she has dealt with a variety of disabled students during her 40-yr career. Sis has a bachelor's in psychology, and 15 years working with children and mental health issues. Besides also being parents........

The Boy is having A Day. First, he was thwarted in his attempt to fuel the lawn mower....had everything lined up right, just couldn't get the cap off the mower's gas tank, and while he was pondering that problem, Momma took it all away from him. So he went to console himself by riding his bike on the deck, only to find that riding a bike down the deck stairs doesn't work with a toddler-sized bike with training wheels.

He has ended the morning with road rash on his elbow and a vastly insulted sense of the way thr world *ought* to work.

In other news, I have moved two full wheel barrow loads of cut-down grasses back to the compost heap, picked up sticks in the front yard so By can mow tonight, watered most of the garden, planted and watered the now-rooted southerwood cuttings, and rescued my son from himself.

Someone 'splain to me why The Boy only wants a cuddle outside when he's wet, muddy, and covered in stick-tights.

Allergies and the humidity chased us in this morning. It's almost rained a few times, barely enough to settle the dust, but not enough to be really useful. Something out there is pollinating, or sending out spores, or something, because The Boy and I have itchy throats and sinuses and ears. Claritin just isn't keeping up today.

Speaking of The Boy, he found a tin of Altoids while I was out getting a package from the mailman, and is crunching happily. Too late to take them away now...the box is empty, and I don't want him putting the already-slurped ones back. Ewww.

What's blooming today? Not much. Some queen anne's lace, verbena-on-a-stick, a few echinacea left, zinnias in red and rose and orange and ivory, black-eyed susans, balloon flower, all the mountain mints, and a couple of late daylilies. "Autumn MinaretL daylily is blooming early for that variety, because of the heat and drought, but it's reached its full height of 5' tall this year. Must remember to put supports around it before the stems get tall next year.

The Boy just put the empty altoid tin back in my project bag, thinking I hadn't noticed. little sneak.

I swear, I really do feed the kids regularly. It just doesn't look like it, some days. Like this morning--The Miss downed an almost-adult-size bowl of cheerios, plus all the milk in her bowl, and two and a half bowls of diced peaches. In less than 15 minutes. I don't know where she's putting it, either. All her clothes still fit. *crosses fingers* This week.

The boy has started burrowing under blankets to play, so that he has a sister-free place to play with his cars. Which worked, until Sister decided to make a game of pouncing on the lump he made under the blankets.

My son is eating ketchup with a fork. Just ketchup. Everything else is finger food, but he eats his leftover ketchup with a fork. Little weirdo.

My daughter just accessorized her dainty floral dress with a big black tool belt. My work here is done.

ETA: As she ran past me just now, I noticed that there's a small teddy bear stuff through one of the tool holsters. Points for improvisation.

Took the kids back in to get their ears checked this morning. The good news--no ear infections. The bad news--The Miss is flailing-tantrum terrified of the doctor. Could not get her anywhere near the scale to get her weight (The BoyChild kept playing with the buttons), had to hold her down so Doc could check her ears. But it's over, we're back home, and she's been plied with pumpkin muffins and peanut butter toast and tea, and is in a better humor now.

We were rained in all day yesterday. It's not raining today, but it's cloudy and cold and there's standing water in the yard. Blech.

I did manage to sneak out during naptime, and get some seeds put down: parsley, blue curled kale, lemon basil, 'Black Prince' snapdragons, and some celosia. Plus, I got nasturtiums seeded here and there throughout the garden, and some old bronze fennel seed tossed out. If the kids nap well today, I need to dug through my seed box and see what else I want to start this year.

And I need to figure out what to bake. It's grey and cold, and I want to bake and make the house feel warmer, but we're awash in homemade bread at the moment....oatmeal bread from Sunday, cinnamon raisin bread from last night (payment to someone for tools he gave By, but it makes 2 loaves), and there are still pumpkin bars and muffins in the fridge. Maybe cookies.

Still no word on Grandma's condition. Mom was hoping to see Grandma's doc this weekend, but I haven't heard how that went. She didn't sound any better last night, and she's complaining about wanting to go home. That's all I know.

And I need to call D today, and see how her mom is doing. D made an emergency run to Oklahoma on Friday, because her mom had checked herself in because she suddenly felt much worse. Last I'd heard, they were still running tests, and were afraid that her cancer had spread suddenly despite the chemo.

The BoyChild thinks he *ought* to be able to pull the garden cart with a wet, heavy hay bale on it. He can only move it in jerky little 1-ft increments, and my mighty boy is mighty frustrated.

It's raining just often enough this morning to keep us inside. The kids are about to mutiny.

The BoyChild has figured out that the knobs for the stove were kept on the coubter, that the knobs go on the pegs in front, and that if you stick a knob on the peg, it will turn something on and get Momma all excited. To keep him from burning the house down, I've moved all the knobs to an upper cabinet, which will be a big pain when we're cooking.

On a brighter note, By snuck out of work a couple hours early yesterday, and now the garden is tilled. Yay! I will work on moving the hay bales we saved for mulch back to the garden tomorrow. Then I get to plant! Whee!

Still trying to figure out where to put the new grape vines. Three vines--2 Concord, 1 Catabaw. We'd planned to train them along the garden fence, along with a pruned and trained wild grape. But now I'm wondering if that will just be a buffet for the wildlife. Or at least, for that goddam woodchuck. And we don't really have time this season to set up a "proper" grape trellis, which would tilling and prepping a whole new area, then setting posts and cables, and too much for this season. It wants more thinking.