Last Thursday we visited a school for Avery that she could start attending right away if we liked it.
Her teacher and her occupational therapist joined us on the tour because we wanted their opinions on what type of environment would be good for her. Plus they needed to visit it for future reference for other kids. In our opinion the facility is best for very severely functioning children and adults. It just didn't feel right for her. Plus the switch would only be for a few months as this facility wouldn't have a specific dedicated Autism program for her to be in. The idea of all day school was enticing but not at the cost of breaking up her normal schedule right now to change it in a few months. We crossed it off the list.
I had talked recently about how Avery has been very difficult recently. To the point even her teacher was asking what was happening at home. oy. On the second day at my new job while I was working on some computer based training I got called twice on my cell by a number I didn't recognize. I hit voicemail and figured I would get it later. Then my husband called my cell. Damn, it must be important. He was calling because the school nurse was trying to get a hold of me to come pick Avery up because they thought she had hand foot mouth disease. umm great. When I went to pick her up I could see the redness in her hands that they talked about. We talked about her behavior recently and that she even punched her aide that morning. Another oy. When I got her home I really couldn't see what they were talking about. When we got to the Dr's office the Dr basically said well it doesn't come and go so that wasn't it. BUT she did get a look into Avery's ears and one of them had an infection!!!
The past 2 weeks where she was just insanely bad behavior and CONSTANT stimming by spinning was most likely the ear infection!! She had no way to tell us it hurt. She nor her sister were ever the proverbial "ear tugger" sign of an ear infection. We started her on antibiotics that Monday night, by Wednesday the spinning had calmed down tremendously! This was part of the reasoning of not sending her to that other facility now. Her teacher and I both noticed her stimming had calmed down a lot in the last few days and I would have hated to move her to another school when it really was a medical reason for her being so disjointed.
We do have 3 other schools to visit in the next few weeks. Two of them she can't attend until she is 5. The other one she could attend now if we think it's a good fit.
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And the new job update.
I'm working at a local Walmart doing overnight stock. I was going to be working any day but after having a horrible Monday with the kids off of school and NO sleep I decided to tell them I could only work the weekends. Which will make it kinda of hard esp with the half marathon in May. I asked for it off when I first started and it has the date listed as pending. eh. We'll see how it goes. The work goes by fast, which makes the hours go by fast. I am bending up and down all night stocking the shelves. I'm walking back and forth in the aisles and through out the store. After starting there on Friday night for my
overnight shift by the third night I had lost 5 lbs. Which was good
since I was up 5 lbs because of my mindless eating the week before.
I'm walking so much that on my last night I wore our old Bodybugg body monitor. I wanted to see how many steps I walked that night. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. It tallied 15,644 steps which is almost the equivalent of 8 miles! omg no wonder I was dead tired after doing that 4 nights in a row. Now if it could tell me how many squats I got going on every night that would be awesome!!
I am so glad that Avery is feeling better. It is SO hard with these kiddos who can't tell us what is bothering them. Good luck with choosing a school. Noah still has his services here at home but will likely do an integrated preschool part time next year. Yikes! :)
ReplyDeleteGOod luck with the new job and I hope you can make the schedule work. My husband just started working nights (along with his part time day job) and it is tough!! Hugs!!
So glad to hear that Avery is on the mend from the ear infection - my oldest was the same way in not exhibiting any classic ear infection signs...frustrating as a parent when it's finally diagnoses, because you WOULD have had them in to see the doc had you known!
ReplyDeleteThat's incredible how many steps you are getting in with the job. You may have just invented a new diet - the stocker!
So happy to hear Avery is better! Too bad that school did not work out! I am curious to hear about the next ones!
ReplyDeleteGosh! I am not surprised you walk so much at your job! You are going to be sleeping well :)
Wow, that's a lot of walking during your shift!
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