Can't Sleep...

I'm up late as I can't sleep. It works out, I guess, because Boo can't sleep either. At least not peacefully. He is moaning in his sleep and is coughing occasionally as well. I hope he isn't coming down with something that will make JoNo really sick. The school has already sent home letters this year regarding his attendance. He has missed nine full days of school due to illness. At twenty days, the school refers to the County Attorney for a child missing so much school. We have our pediatrician's support, he knows how bad JoNo gets and will back us up 100%. The thing that I don't get, though, is the fact that the school sends him home when he is sick, tells us to send him to school even when we are on the fence about whether it would be a good idea or not, then they wonder why: a) the child is sick, b) the child is not getting better quickly, c) why the child has missed school. I wonder if they tell other parents to send their children to school when they are sick as well? If so, maybe that is part of JoNo's problem. Ya think? Just maybe?

Hubby is once again contemplating the possibility of homeschooling the kids next year. I have been down this road before. I am so not getting my hopes up for it. Because when it comes right down to it, I highly doubt that he will want to actually follow through with it. Plus, I would like to keep Boo in school because of the services he receives, and JoNo may actually end up qualifying for services as well. He has a marked delay in his reading abilities, while still being at the top of his grade level for math. Then again, Natty is the same way, but I don't think it is quite as severe of a gap with him.

I'm also excited for Punky to start school next year. She is so looking forward to being with her big brothers at school. I just don't know. It makes me happy that Hubby wants to do it, but at the same time, it also makes me really sad that he has waited this long to come to this decision. I just don't know what to think really.

I made a cake last night. For no reason. I just thought that the kids would enjoy having it after school or after dinner today. Hubby even took the time to frost it and store it for me. Isn't that sweet?

I have been going through photos of Boo since I have been up and keeping an eye on him. It is just incredible how much he has changed over the last two years. May 2009, when he was 19 months old, he was just learning how to walk, he was pretty much non-verbal for the most part, he didn't socialize, wouldn't engage, didn't look people in the eye generally, would not sit through a story. Now, he walks, runs, kicks, throws, catches (well, it's evolving), jumps, rides a tiny bike with training wheels. He also talks, though not usually in conversation. He can voice requests and he can count and say his ABCs. He can verbalize pain and joy. He can rote count up to 30, knows his numbers by sight up to 30. He knows all of his letters by sight, both upper and lowercase. He knows the sounds they make, where they are in the alphabet (he can place a missing letter into the ABC sequence), he knows many shapes and colors. He has a fascination with Team Umizoomi and Bubble Guppies. He's just a doll. But is he a typical 3 1/2 year old? Not even close. A while back, we were at a birthday party for one of his school friends and after introducing ourselves, one of the mothers told me, "Oh yes, we hear lots about Boo from little miss. She really likes playing with him at school." The teachers say he has the most friends out of all the kids. He likes to play with them, but he doesn't generally seek them out, he still plays solo quite often. He's just kind of in his own little world. And while I love that he has his own little world, I worry about it too. According to the school, they don't think that he is autistic. The pediatrician is uncertain. We were supposed to have an appointment with a pediatric developmental specialist back in January, but we lost the kids' insurance coverage because of a paperwork ordeal that I'm still working on getting fixed. I just don't know what to think about it all.

I have an appointment for tomorrow to file for SSI for him at the recommendation of his services coordinator. She suggested that we apply for him and for JoNo both. Boo because of his educational diagnosis and JoNo for his lung disease and trouble with illness and because of his vision as well. The child has 20/400 eyesight in one eye, uncorrected. With correction, I believe it is something like 20/80 in the eye and he has essentially no peripheral vision in either eye.

Natty has been having some emotional issues the last few days, not really defiance but more things going on at school, but he isn't talking about it much until it all just bursts out. He can honestly go from everything is super awesome at school one day and talking about things he and his friends did and everything to the next day saying that no one likes him and he has no friends and other things like that. We think that the days that he says he doesn't have any friends, there was mostly something at school that didn't go his way and he had a meltdown about it. He can be incredibly responsible and mature, but he just doesn't "get" a lot of social situations and nuances and such.

And Miss Punky Pie - since I'm talking about the rest of them, I may as well mention her too, yes? She has been a handful. Stubborn and strong-willed. Tuesday evening, she kicked her grandma in the stomach at bedtime. I don't know what exactly is prompting this in her little world, but I wish the behavior would come to a close. I am sure it will too. Our main issues with her are direct obedience. She does okay most of the time, but whenever she is asked/told to do something, she digs her heels in and goes the exact opposite way. It's frustrating, but we just continue to work with her, letting her know firmly that we are asking her do whatever (say, clean her room) because we are teaching her to be responsible for herself and that yes, she does need to do what we tell her to or there will be a consequence and she will still have to do what she was asked to do.

So, yeah, that's what is on my mind right now. I think there is a blog meme out there somewhere "Random Thoughts Thursday". I think I might have to look it up and see if I can find it and link up to it, because if this wasn't random thoughts, I don't know what is.