Starting the day out right with puppy cuddles.
On the way to school today Jia said "Mom, I had growing pains again last night I'm clearly turning into a giraffe". I've been laughing all morning about that one. On the Jia front, she was asked to submit her writing to a writers conference and this would normally not interest her but she's oddly keen. Lots of fun conversation about it. A story idea formulating that she's excited about. Now...do I worry that she's all about scary stories? Or should we just have expected that from our thrill seeker.
Fei submitted an essay assignment that she let me read yesterday. A pretty powerful piece I wish I was allowed to share. Another writer in the family. I think she'll be able to use it for the district write and scholarship applications.
Lili puts in sooooo much time on her school work. This term is going better. She is clearly enjoying the business course more. So is now looking at changing to Bachelor of Business and Administration, BBA. She kept one science course, Chemistry and it's a struggle again. It's tough trying to figure out who you are.
I drove into town an hour ago. The sun was shining. I left my coat at work. Had my eyes checked and did a field vision test. Pressure at 14 and 12. Yay. Still no second eye surgery any time soon. Suck it glaucoma. Then drove back in a weird sudden freak snow storm. The power was out here at work and there was crazy strong wind. Can't trust the weather. We had power but not enough to run the mill so we all went home early.
Now to talk about Kai for a bit. He is such a genuinely nice kid. It's hard to hear about how he is treated sometimes. On a fairly regular basis we hear about how Kai is treated by other kids. Yesterday a note came home from a classmate apologizing for touching him with a sharp object. Part of me wants to definitely get in the bullies faces and make threats. Obviously we don't do that. As with most everything, we just lead by example. Be the change we want to see. Continue being kind, ignore as much as possible. Remind our kids constantly to have grace we don't know their stories. There is almost always a story. Our kids have been mean too, to each other, their friends none of us are perfect. But Kai might be closer to the goal than most of us. He is happier. He has less of an agenda. He can be a good friend. You know as long as we respect toddler law and don't expect him to share what is in his hands. Haha. Anyways, Luk, Jia and Max report to us. We check in with Kai. He usually didn't notice. Most of it goes over his head. I like to think the vast majority of kids are being kind to him. Kai has never tattled.
Now once again, Kai is unaware anything happened. Doesn't even know what the sharp item was and Luk has no clue. Eric took his shirt off and searched him for puncture marks, there were none. The kid in question has issues. This is part of the flaw of your non verbal kid being in school away from us. For the most part we get it. He's an easy target. His filter doesn't work so he presents lots of moments to make fun of. But wouldn't it be so much nicer if they could try to reach his level. He's the nicer kid. The report card is dismal but he excels at getting along. I just can't imagine him making it in the high school level.
Non verbal...Kai can talk. He is difficult to understand. A stranger would NEVER be able to decipher. He doesn't always know his full name. He rarely remembers my cell number. We only try teaching him the one phone number. He doesn't know our address and when asked our names he only ever responds Mom and Dad. He doesn't always know how to ask for help. Or when to ask for help. He still makes noises versus words when he needs help. We call it the Kai alarm. He doesn't tell stories or ask questions aside from 'id my birday?' 'id kool morrow?' 'what por beakfat, lunn, nack, didder, nack?". I have people question the non-verbal label. If he was separated from us in any way he would not be able to find us or seek help.
Just tonight at bedtime, the boys were sitting with their snack, I had my back to them doing supper dishes. Kai set up his alarm. The squawking was getting louder. I turned around and tried to decipher. He was cleary saying tablet. I asked "tablet?", he repeated tablet, so not tablet, but twice more it was still clearly tablet that was the problem. Luk then said "he dropped his vitamin on the floor". Arg. I said "ohmygawd did the dogs get it?" At which point Luk leaped up to get it off the floor. Shocking the dogs missed it. Likely would have been fine it was calcium with vitamin d drop on it. But seriously, why didn't Kai just pick it up? Why didn't Luk pick it up? Why didn't Luk tell me right away? Instead of the whole tablet conversation. Oy.
