Happy Halloween and school update!

We had a very low key Halloween! We went to a friend's house and went around their neighborhood with some friends. I have to admit I love watching the kids dress up in costumes. It's really sad that the kids are starting to get old enough to start thinking about not *wanting* to go trick or treating. (Ok, not mine - they'll probably go until they're 23, but a friends kids are getting there.) I adore watching the kids get excited about.. Well.. SOMETHING. These 2 almost never jointly get excited about something so thoroughly. We've gone to this particular friend's house every year (except one when we were in Seattle) since the kids were.. 4ish? maybe earlier... She is always saying she isn't having anyone, but inevitably she has the BEST neighbors and the safest neighborhood!  (Plus, she's way cooler of a mom than I am - Just ask my girl!)

This year the kids picked 2 costumes. (Mostly, because I found the second one 40% off weeks before it was even time for them to be on sale and I say "Ok, sure if ya promise to let me dress you up and take silly pictures.")

The Boy:

 

The Girl:

 

   These two are about a grade ahead of their same-aged peers. They have both gotten a little lazy about school here lately - this is partially my fault, I haven't been pushing them like I should have been - but the laziness is over. I've set a deadline for each to finish their current grade level work (The Boy is in 3rd, The Girl 4th) by the end of this year. That gives them almost 6-7ish weeks to complete everything they've got left. It's completely do-able. Basically what each has to do is complete their math books, write a research paper (The Girl's is longer and a bit harder), and complete a book report (The Girl's is also a bit more in depth). Writing is difficult for both so they tend to slack in this area. Not understanding language arts, but the actual DOING of the writing. If they had to give a book report orally, they could do it instantly, but they need to be able to learn to overcome their inability to write well. Mean? Perhaps. But the *real* world doesn't care. I have told them they can type it if that's easier.

 Honestly, the whole issue with Common Core may make homeschooling easier because it will have common goals and have them clearly laid out. The books will all have the same goals, just formatted differently. It could be an easier thing than trying to figure out *which* curriculum is the right one. It could always come back and bite us all in the butt, but..



The Girl also had 2 more teeth pulled about a week ago. The dentist has hopes of being able to avoid braces if the teeth stay semi aligned because of the pullings we've had to do since they don't line up. She's does so well at the dentist. The Fairy leaves her some pretty good prizes too!

Meltdown Schmeltdown..

We had a long week, there's no way around it. The girl had a session of 3 hours of educational and developmental and psychological testing on Tuesday. She did well - as in she didn't bite anyone or scream at them. She was her usual obstinate, stubborn, repetitive self. Which, for testing sake, is good because it will give them an accurate view of who she is. Unfortunately, it also made her "done". So over "done" that she lost it for the next 3 days. I particularly enjoyed the crying fit over ice cream. Well, more accurately, the fit was over the lack of ice cream. 

On Wednesday, The Boy had a dentist appointment. They pulled 6 teeth. *6* They were supposed to sedate him, but there was SOOO no sedation going on. He doesn't remember the actual event accurately - which is good. But he bit the dentist at least 6 times and screamed bloody freaking murder. At one point, he was biting the dentist so hard I had to help pry his mouth open. Yeah. Good times. Admittedly 4 of the 6 teeth were SO not loose and had their entire root attached and it HAD to hurt to get them just yanked out, but biting the person while he's doing it isn't the most helpful thing.


So now the boy is running around shouting "I'm Toothless, The Dinosaur. RRRRAAAARRR". It's hilariously wrong.


The kids have both decided what they want to be for Halloween:

 The Girl is Pikachu

The Boy is Quicksilver - Magneto's Son. 

Those two love costumes. A lot.

Brush, Brush, Brush the kid.

We have finished 4 full days of brushing now. 6 or 7 times per day depending on when the girl gets up. Only 56 more days to go before we can start to trim that number down. I think, now, whenever ANY of us hear that stupid trill of the timer we ALL *sigh* and just get up and do it. That's a whole freaking lot of brushing. And joint compression. It's causing some negatives to her moods too. It's a routine change. It's  a LOT of touch and routine, and effort, and just... Brushing.. So I'm not worried about it. Her OT gal told me and warned me it would happen. But as I was dragging her through Sams as she was having an epic fit, I did have to ponder the brilliance of our plan. I do so hate having to be a grown up sometimes. I really just felt like having my own fit, but NOOOOO. I had to be the grown up and "work her through it". Whatever. Silly Stinkerpot.


I have to take the boy to get his ear looked at and see what's up with his ear tube that's gone haywire and see if there is still a hole. His Ped was a bit worried about it last week at his well child and didn't want us to wait until the end of August when his next ENT appt is. Unfortunately, his normal ENT is busy (or fortunately because he is a bit lazy) so we are seeing someone else in the same office. I'm *guessing* they will probably schedule it to be removed. Hopefully there isn't any hole to patch though. If they DO, I'm going to see if Sawyer wants to scope his sinuses and if they will do a cholesterol blood draw that the ped wanted. I'm SO not doing a freaking blood draw on a 5 year old after everything else that poor boy has to do when I don't have high cholesterol, C doesn't and the ONLY reason is he's "big". Yes. He is. But if he was 9 he would be average height and weight and wouldn't want to.. SOOOO just because he's proportionate for his height and weight just not age...? That one confuses me every time.

The poor boy also has an appt Aug 1 to go get his front bottom teeth pulled. He HAS a loose one, but it isn't coming out. The adult tooth shot up behind it AND the other tooth beside it. Soooo it looks like he's going the way of his sister and will be getting a SUPER Tooth Fairy Prize from that visit. It's currently looking like they will have to pull 3 of them. *rolls eyes* It's gonna be ugly.

Yup, one big ol joyful bag of news here.