Workin' Woman

So this working thing is no joke! I applied for a job at Target thinking that it might be nice to get out of the house a few nights a week. I went two weeks ago Wednesday for my "first interview." Little did I know that when they ask you to come in for a "first interview" what they really mean is that they want you to come in for a 2 hour interview marathon. I was literally there for 2 hours, and after 3 interviews I was told that I needed to take a drug test withing 24 hours and they would conduct a background check and call me back. I have a friend who works at this same Target who told me that this process would take about 2 weeks, so I was very suprised when they called me last Monday, only a few days after my interview and asked to come in for orientation at 6 PM the next day. I was also told to wear my "team colors" which meant that I had to go shopping since I didn't own a single pair of khaki pants or any red shirts.

So I went in for orientation not knowing what to expect. I didn't know how long orientation was or when I would start working. Orientation ended up being just under 5 hours (thank goodness for understanding single friends who can come watch your kids until 11 PM on one day notice!) Then I had to go back Thursday (only a few hours after Jesse came home after being gone for nearly 2 months) to work a 6.5 hour shift. Back for 4.5 hours Friday, 8.75 hours Saturday, 8.5 hours Sunday, and 7.25 hours on Monday. I'm so tired I can barely function! My maximum hours is supposed to be 25 hours a week. Obviously I worked more than that, even just counting Tuesday to Saturday. Not only is it a lot of hours late at night (I almost always get off at 11:45 PM) but I am just not used to being on my feet that long. I work in what they call softlines, which means clothes, and I'm literally speed walking through the store my entire shift.

But, all whining aside, I really like my job so far. I like working with the clothes, even when I have to do tedious things like go through the store and make sure any piece of clothing that has a tie or belt is done up. And I get to talk to grown-ups!

Random Ramblings

Last night Lincoln was walking up the stairs to get in the bath when he started gagging. His eyes were watering, and it was apparent that he had something stuck in his throat, but he was breathing. I did a quick finger sweep to see if I could feel anything, (I don't think you are really supposed to do that?) and apparently Lincoln thought that was a great idea because he stuck his whole hand in his mouth, clear up to his wrist and pulled out a nickel and a dime. If only he could pull out a $20 every once in a while.

Savannah suddenly hates the bus. The first week of school the bus was her favorite part of the whole day. Last Monday I was a few minutes (literally 2) late to pick her up and she was left all alone at the bus stop in a parking lot, 2 miles from our house. The next day when I took her to the bus stop she cried and refused to get on the bus. For the past week every weekday morning I've gotten up, driven her to the bus stop, waited for the bus, tried to convince her to get on the bus, then driven her twenty minutes each way to school. She takes the bus home with no problems or complaints. I've tried bribery, threats, physically putting her on the bus, guilt, reason, nothing is working! She says that she is worried that someone will be sitting in her seat, but even when I point out that her seat is empty she still won't get on. (They don't' have assigned seats, but she likes to sit right behind the bus driver) I'm not sure what the real problem is. Maybe the bus driver since they have a different one in the afternoon? Maybe she is worried about leaving me? If anyone has any bright ideas of how to get her to actually get on the bus in the morning I would love to hear them.

I got a part time job. I'm working nights at Target. I'm kind of in denial about it. In fact, today was my first day of training, it was also the first time I told anyone besides Jesse and my friend that I'm working with. I think that once I get used to it I will love having a break from my kids and a little extra money, but right now I'm just having a hard time with the fact that I'm going to be leaving my kids several nights (and weekend days) a week, even if it is with Jesse.

Savannah brought home two weeks worth of phonics work from school today. It might take me a while to get used to the fact that since she goes to a French school, the words don't always look right to me. I mean, take for example her "E" sheet. It has kids (enfants), star (etoile), school (ecole), squirel (ecureuil), church (eglise), and elephant (elephant.) Oh, and all those words should have at least one accent thing on them, but I use an English keyboard, and I don't really want to learn how to type those.

Its no new news that I am obsessed with the band, Muse. Their new CD, "The Resistance," came out last week. Its pure musical genius! I highly suggest buying it. I love every song on the CD. I got rid of my music player on here a few weeks ago, but I'm bringing it back in tribute to this masterpiece. I love all of the songs, but these are my two favorites.

After all of that rambling, I really should have included a bunch of pictures, but I've already shared most of them. Here is one of Lincoln from last night. He is currently obsessed with dinosaurs. Like, I don't even know if obsessed is a strong enough word. Last night he lined up these dinosaurs and asked me to take a picture of them. Of course I got him in the picture too.

Lincoln's New Bed!

I have a confession. Lincoln hasn't had his own bed in over a year. When he was nineteen months old he decided that he wasn't going to sleep in his crib anymore, and he only wanted to sleep in Savannah's bed with her. She had a full size bed, and they were little, so we just let him. Well, they've been sharing a bed since. The last few months Lincoln has refused to sleep anywhere but the couch, and he has even started referring to the couch as, "Lincoln's bed," so we decided that it was time that he got his own bed. Luckily, a friend in my ward had a toddler bed that she was wanting to get rid of, and she gave it to us for free! We got it set up earlier this week, and I finally got out his crib bedding and put it on today. He is so excited, and the best part is that he doesn't even remember the bedding, so its brand new to him! Hopefully he will eventually sleep in it. He's had very little interest in it until I put the baseball bedding on today. Tonight he laid in it for a good five minute before he wanted to go to "Lincoln's bed." As soon as he is asleep I plan to move him up there though.

Fancy Nancy Party

Savannah chose to have a Fancy Nancy party again this year. She invited three of her friends, Kyra, Natalie, and Zoe. They had so much fun! Savannah really helped with the planning this year, and we tried to do some different things since we did the same theme last year. Savannah was so excited to get everyone dressed up fancy. We had picked out a polka dot party dress a few weeks ago (the one that she is wearing in her birthday pictures) but she insisted on wearing her Sleeping Beauty stuff from Nana to the party. She picked out a "fancy" outfit for Lincoln to wear, but he decided to be stubborn and insist on wearing his monkey shirt and too-small swimming suit. She even dressed Starsky up in one of Lincoln's ties. So cute!

We started out by decorating foam crowns and painting wooden picture frames. Then we had pedicures, the girls were so funny soaking their feet! I made a cute pin the jewel on the crown game, and Savannah had planned to play Do As I'm Doing and Musical chairs, but when the time came they wanted to play hide and go seek instead, so they did. For lunch we did pizza pinwheels, fruit salad with cream cheese dip, red and green pepper strips with ranch, cheese cubes, and of course cake and ice cream. For the gift bags, I made the girls each their own credit card, and they got to go shopping for their prizes. We did tutus, necklaces, boas, lip gloss, and suckers. Lincoln got a cowboy set and some spider tattoos. Unfortunately all of my pictures from the first half of the party got accidentally erased when the camera ran out of memory at cake and ice cream time, but Kyra's mom took a few pictures and was nice enough to send them to me. It was so much fun! I think three guests and my own kids is the perfect number for this type of party.

That afternoon was Zoe's birthday party. She is turning 5 this week. So Savannah got to go to two birthday parties in the same day!

How Does He Even Think Of These Things?

I went to the bathroom the other day, and came back to this. He got out all of those Pepsi's lined them up, and climbed up into the window. This is above my sink. Seriously though, how does he even think to do this kind of stuff? He was all excited to pose for his picture though.

More Birthday Stuff

Yesterday morning Jesse called before school to tell Savannah Happy Birthday. He is at Sergeant's Course right now in 29 Palms. He's been gone since the first week of Aug, and finally graduates next week! He does come home about every other weekend though. Anyhow, he called, and he had his entire platoon sing her happy birthday. It was really cute, but then when I was talking to me he explained that the night before was their mess night, and most of them were still drunk. They were also in the shower at the time. I'm not entire sure that its appropriate to have a group of naked, drunk men singing Happy Birthday to your five-year-old daughter, but I guess that since it was over the phone it was fun and cute and she loved it!

Savannah was a but disappointed that I didn't have a cake for her on her actual birthday, so we went to Albertson's and bought a tiny one last night. Silly me thought that a cake at her party was sufficient. I should have known better. She liked her mini cake though, except that she kept asking me for more after it was gone.

Happy, Happy Birthday Savannah Dear!

Today Savannah is 5! She as been so excited for weeks. She got to bring a fun non-food item in for the kids in her class, wore her new birthday dress, and got the Sleeping Beauty costume she's been asking for from my parents. We were planning to go to the zoo after school since it is early release day and she got zoo passes for her birthday from us, but when I picked her up she said that she just wanted to go home, play dress ups, make cupcakes, and go to the zoo another day when Daddy can go. This is the third time that Jesse has been gone on her birthday.

I just love having Savannah around. She is just so fun! Savannah loves to make people laugh. She is almost always smiling and joking around. She is very bright, and remembers everything! Like she can remember details about things that happened two years ago! She is the kind of girl who knows what she wants and she gets it.

So Happy Birthday to my sweet girl. We love you!

I Hate the State of California Right Now!

Today was Lincoln's psychological evaluation with California Early Start. When he was evaluated two weeks ago we were told that his results were inconclusive as to whether he would qualify or not, and that this psychologist would be able to tell us for sure. Well we got there, and for the first time they got a 100% clear picture of what it is like dealing with Lincoln. I don't think he said two words the entire first hour that we were there. He showed them that he knew everything, and was his happy charming self, but he was out of control. He would literally run laps around the room, then stop and do a puzzle or whatever they wanted him to do, then throw all the pieces on the floor and take off running again. When they finally gave up on the evaluation and started talking to me, he played calmly on the floor and, according to the psychologist, engaged in very advanced play techniques. I'm not really sure what that means, but whatever.

So, the evaluation was over, and I was thrilled! Finally someone got to see what I see every day! She started out with how fun Lincoln is, and how smart he is. In my experience its never good when a professional starts their findings with a ten minute speech on how great your kid is at one thing. Then we FINALLY got our diagnosis. Lincoln apparently has Regulatory something disorder and sensory processing issues. Funny, I told them that same thing about the sensory issues when I first called them two months ago, and I don't have a psych. degree. So that was the good part. Then they tell me, that he DEFINITELY needs occupational therapy and speech therapy, and that he would greatly benefit from behavioural therapy as well... but they can't provide him with any of that because he is almost 3.

They told me that I can apply for services through the school district, but that he isn't going to qualify for anything besides maybe a speech group because he is just "So smart." I'm sorry, but ONLY being 5 months behind cognitively shouldn't be enough to ignore a child's other delays, in my opinion. But apparently I'm not the one writing the guidelines. She told me that my only other option was to talk to my pediatrician about getting services funded through my insurance, and when I explained to her that I had already done that and that the doctor at Balboa said that he didn't' need anything but speech therapy she said, "Oh he definitely needs it." Seriously lady, THAT DOESN'T HELP!

I asked if maybe we could start services with them, if that would help us transition to either the school district or my insurance coverage when he turns three, and she told me that we don't qualify now. I know that is not true though. I've compared the evaluation results from two weeks ago, with their qualification guidelines that they sent me certified mail this weekend, and he qualifies. I'm sure the only reason they aren't helping him is because his birthday is in six weeks, and then he won't qualify anymore.

So I walked out to my car and cried. I just feel like everything I've done in the past few months has been as waste of time. Seriously, how can they tell me that my child NEEDS a service, and then give me no option of how to get him that service?

Its a Good Thing I Love Him So Much.

Lincoln had a terrible day today. Terrible doesn't even begin to describe it. I guess technically it started last night. He was up until 1:30 am. He just would not go to sleep. He then woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 8 am. He actually wore church clothes to church for the first time in months and was really good during Sacrament meeting. One of the best mornings we've had in months, I was impressed.

Then it was time for nursery. He was really excited to go and ran right in. I teach Primary and headed to the primary room. I don't think I was in there five minutes when the nursery leader brought Lincoln to me screaming. They were having nursery outside today and he didn't want to go out there. Strange because usually that's all he wants to do at church. After several attempts to get him to go back to nursery I finally ended up walking around the halls with him kicking and screaming and trying to get down for all of opening exercises, singing time, and sharing time. I finally got him to go back to nursery about five minutes before my actual class started and he seemed happy in there. My class was horrible today. I know that isn't Lincoln's fault, but they were. I left in a bad mood, which only got worse when I could hear Lincoln screamed way down the hall from the nursery room. When I picked him up his whole face was red from screaming and the poor nursery teacher who was holding him told me that he had screamed most of the time he was there, and that he had been given several time outs for beating up on kids. Our nursery leaders are saints. There are usually 20-25 kids in there, many of whom are special needs. Jesse is gone right now, and with me teaching, I don't really know what else to do with him.

So I bring him home thinking that he is just WAY too tired. As soon as we get home I put him down for a nap and start cooking lunch. A few minutes later he comes in the kitchen completely naked and says, "poop." That's right, he had pooped on my living room floor, and had it all over his bum, legs, and feet. While I was cleaning the poop on my living room floor he flooded my upstairs bathroom. We then spent the next three hours trying unsuccessfully to get him to take a nap. I finally gave up and left him to play while I had a much needed break. As I'm checking my email I turn around to find him naked again, and peeing into Savannah's backpack.

So we had a Primary teacher training tonight, and as I REALLY needed the break I asked my friend, Addie, to watch the kids. Of course Lincoln fell asleep on the way to her house at 6 PM. She said he slept less than half an hour, and when I picked him up he was exhausted and so was I. So I started the whole getting ready for bed process. Now, Lincoln sleeps on the couch. I know that isn't ideal, but it is the ONLY place he will sleep, so for now that's where he sleeps. We spent 45 minutes with him crying for something that I cant' figure out what. I finally figured out that he wanted to watch an episode of Lazy Town (a show I didn't know he had ever seen) that is on a DVD that is scratched way beyond saving. I finally turned it on thinking that if he saw that it was broken he would stop and watch something else. Nope, he cried for another half an hour because it wouldn't work. FINALLY I got him to lay down and watch Open Season. He is laying there quietly, eyelids drooping when I decided to go to the bathroom. I may have gotten a little bit side tracked, because when I came back probably 15 minutes later he was naked again rubbing poop into my couch cushions. He had poop all over himself, all over the couch, and on the carpet. So he took another bath, then I spent half an hour scrubbing poop, and it is now 11 PM and I'm sitting here watching him lay on the couch.

Can I just say that the entire rest of the day was spent listening to him whine. I seriously want to cut my ears off!

Tomorrow has GOT to be a better day!!!

Another Smarty Pants Moment

Savannah has always done things only when she is good and ready. Usually it doesn't take her long to do things, but she won't even try until she is confident that she can do it. For instance, we first bought a potty when Savannah was ten months old. She would sit on it occasionally, but she never did anything until one morning a few months before her second birthday. She woke up and announced that she wasn't going to wear diapers anymore. Two days later she was potty trained.

Well about a year and a half ago Savannah started showing interest in learning to read. She told me that she really wanted to learn. We started working with flash cards learning sight words because I didn't think she was ready to sound out quite yet. She would occasionally guess words, but for the most part she would just tell me that she didn't know. Then a few months later I started trying to get her to sound out words. She would tell me the letters, and what sound they make, but she refused to even try to sound out the word.

We the last week she has suddenly decided that she can do it. Many times I've caught her trying to read things over my shoulder. She suddenly knows about twenty sight words. She still won't try to sound things out for me. However, yesterday she asked me why the cereal was called "Goalies." I could not figure out what she was talking about until I realized that she was holding a box of Kashi's "Go Lean." Obviously she had read "Go," I'm not sure if that is one she has memorized or if she sounded it out, then figured out the Le, and guessed the rest.

If her past is any indicator, she will probably be reading pretty soon!

My Boy is So Smart!

Lincoln loves puzzles, and despite his other delays, he is REALLY good at them. In an attempt to finish out the day without turning on the TV, I just brought this giant floor puzzle out of the garage. He started with the tiger, one of his favorite animals...

and 15 minutes later without any help he had this.

Another Lincoln Evaluation

Today was Lincoln's evaluation with the Pediatric Developmental Specialist at Balboa. This was the appointment to see if he qualifies for services through our insurance. Let me just say, it was night and day different from our evaluation last week.

The doctor he saw was great! For anyone who is military in San Diego and might need to have an evaluation like this, we saw Dr White at Balboa and I loved him! Like if we could go see him every single day I would. As soon as we met him he raced Lincoln to the evaluation room. He played with Lincoln almost like he was a kid. Lincoln was getting antsy while he was talking to me, so he showed Lincoln how to make a fort out of mats. He was great explaining things to me. I just can't express how much I liked him!

When we were at the Regional Center last week, they told me that the doctor would use a different test to evaluate him, so the results might not be the same. The actual tests were very similar. They both had him stack blocks, draw lines, do shape boards, etc. Both asked me pretty much the same questions. According to the test they used last week he was behind in pretty much everything. According to the test he had today his only issue is speech.

This doctor works a lot with Autistic kids, and he said that he could tell me with 100% certainty that Lincoln is not Autistic. Lincoln will be getting speech therapy, and he wants to test his hearing again. He also gave me an application for the school district preschool that I want to get him into, and a lot of great advice about that.

We still have his appointment with the Pediatric Psychologist on Monday. After that I think we will be done with evaluations, hopefully forever!

The Many Faces of Lincoln

We were about ten minutes early getting to Savannah's bus stop today, and I still had Addie's camera in my purse from yesterday so I started snapping away. This is what I got.





And here is one of Savannah after she got off the bus.

First Day of Kindergarten!

The day is finally here. Savannah could not fall asleep last night. When I woke her up at 7:30 she said that it was too tired, and maybe she wouldn't go to school today. Once she actually got up she was excited to get ready for school. She even told me that she wanted to ride the bus home from school!
When we got to school, she went right in. At her school the kids meet at the lunch tables and sit there with their class until the teacher comes to get them and take them to the classroom. It was a madhouse today, full of excited kids and parents. Savannah walked right past her teacher and started heading for the classroom. When it was time to go, she didn't even look back or say bye to me or Lincoln. She was on her way.



Lincoln and I had a good day. Although we were pretty bored by the end. We went to the "Boo Hoo Breakfast" at Savannah's school. He loaded up a plate, ate one mini muffin, then announced that he wanted to go home. He had wanted to play at the playground at the school, so I took him to his favorite park. Then we went home and played for a bit. We went to McDonald's for lunch, then to the library. We came home and read some books and watched a movie, and finally about half an hour before we needed to get Savannah, he fell asleep. I have no clue how I'm going to keep him entertained for eight hours a day everyday! We can't do all of that everyday.

Finally it was 4:00, and I headed to the bus stop. Her bus is supposed to come at 4:15. At 4:36, they finally rolled up. I was getting pretty nervous by then. A few kids got off, and Savannah wasn't with them. So, I went up to the bus and saw Savannah sitting on the front seat. Reluctantly she got off the bus and told me that school was no fun, she didn't learn anything, she didn't meet any friends, and her teacher wasn't nice. Luckily, my mom is getting a much more truthfull version of the day right now.

We stopped for frozen yogurt on the way home, and finally made it home at 5:30 PM! What a long day. Savannah immedietly came inside, took off all her clothes and announced that it she needed a bath because school made her dirty. I made her pose for a picture with the hat she made at school first.

I'd say overall, it was a very productive first day of Kindergarten!

Bonjour!

Savannah will be starting school on Tuesday. Kindergarten. I can't believe she is that old already! And she will be 5 in less than 2 weeks! I guess its time to admit that she isn't a baby anymore, or even a toddler, she is officially my little girl.
We've decided to send her to a French Immersion school. After the first two weeks her teacher will not speak English at all in the classroom, she will learn everything in French. Jesse and I both think that it will be great for her, and she loves learning how to say things in French, Spanish, and Romanian so I think that she will really enjoy it, but I'm totally expecting an adjustment period.
Kindergarten here is all day. Like she catches the bus at 8:30 and gets off the bus at 4:20. That's right, she will be gone eight hours a day! That is so long!
I always thought that Savannah would be one of those kids that would run right in on the first day without even looking back. I'm starting to get a bit worried. Yesterday was Kindergarten orientation. I had mentioned to her a few times that on Friday we would be going to meet her teacher, and she was really excited. Then Friday morning she woke up in a horrible mood. It was a morning full of crying and being especially difficult about everything. When I asked her why she was having such a hard day she told me that she was scared and nervous about meeting her teacher, and that she had decided that she wasn't going to go. We talked about it, and lots of tears and one Happy Meal later we were on our way.
Whoever planned Kindergarten Orientation did not think about the fact that there would be four and five-year-olds present. First we went into the auditorium (which by the time we got there was standing room only) where we listened to a half hour presentation about rules, procedures, lunch, PTA, etc. Then we went to Savannah's classroom where we were given a ton of papers and listened to another twenty minute presentation about how her teacher runs the class. The teacher at least had the kids come sit on the rug, like they will at school, and let them play with the toys. Savannah got to meet her, and I got my questions answered. Oh, and at the last Kindergarten orientation (yes they have 2, one is just for parents in July, and one is for kids today) I came home and told Jesse that there was one teacher that seemed much more enthusisatic and knowledgeable than the other teachers, and I really hoped that Savannah would get her. She did! Her teacher has been teaching Kindergarten at this school for 10 years, and went to a French Immersion school starting in Kindergarten herself.
So after we left Savannah told me that she didn't like the teacher, and she was still nervous about school. Ever since she has told everyone who will listen that she loves her school and wishes that she could start sooner than Tuesday. Ha Ha. I guess she was just being difficult for me.
So, 3 days until the big day! I have no idea what I'm going to do with just Lincoln for 8 hours a day. My mom always says "Noone works harder than a mom of one." Seriously, he is so used to having Savannah to play with! Wish us luck!