"Having a GRAND time - The Official GF Chat Thread"

[tinklvr64]

You have no idea how true this is. We just found out that DS6 cancer came back. This is devasting to say the least. We leave in 11 hrs to spend a week at the GF to savor some family time.
Heather

Heather~sorry to hear your news..prayers for your family. Enjoy your week at GF it truly is a magical place.

 

[Lives4Disney]

You have no idea how true this is. We just found out that DS6 cancer came back. This is devasting to say the least. We leave in 11 hrs to spend a week at the GF to savor some family time.
Heather

I am so sorry. I hope you have a beautiful time and can escape the reality for at least a week. Enjoy your family time.

Vanessa - I love what you wrote. So true.

Digital Love...OMG that was so sweet...reading it made me teary. Congratulations on your marriage.

Tidbligrrer....did I just totally mess up your username?? Thanks much for the confirmation. I totally agree....I gave myself some time to cool down because I get REALLY miffed & over emotional when I feel like my kids have been shafted at school. I wound up emailing the teacher last night and cc the principal. She is surely not going to like that, but I almost just wanted to go over her head anyway due to the statements she made re not wanting parents emailing/phoning her blah blah.....

Dawn, that is neat it's the same Dr. I think we are so lucky we live fairly near a really good place to be for retinal issues. We have hope and we believe in miracles so we just take it day by day and pray for a cure.

GrannieMinnie - as a matter of fact, I have heard of Aspergers... Not until fairly recently though. Oddly enough we live in a county in IL where they are very ontop of Autism. I think our county has the highest ratio of Autism in USA....(I think that's what my neighbor told me?...maybe just highest in the state ) My neighbor's 17 yr old son has it (he was diagnosed very early on) and I just found out my friend's 17 yr old son was JUST diagnosed with it. He has struggled his whole life. I really do think there is more to my son's issues than plain old ADHD- ......just so not sure what! And then again, he's 17 so it could be anything..... He is very different from the two kids with Aspies that I know so I am not certain that would be it in his case. Kids are tough.

Hope everybody had a nice Sunday. It was BEAUTIFUL here in IL. Finally!!!

Channing

 

[grannyminnie]

My goodness, Channing...what a distinction to have the county with the highest rate of autism!! I'd be curious as to what the locals who have studied it think might be the reason? My stepgrandson was not diagnosed early enough that early intervention could have prevented some heartbreak. Having researched his behaviors for a long time, I mentioned Aspergers more than once to his parents, and they finally took him to the right dr. Even now, I wish his meds would do more! If your son only exhibits what you know to be ADHD behaviors, then he probably doesn't have Aspergers. I think you and your husband would know it. Asperger kids have some odd habits! But are very smart... I'm sorry your friend had to wait this long for her son's diagnosis.

 

[Lives4Disney]

My goodness, Channing...what a distinction to have the county with the highest rate of autism!! I'd be curious as to what the locals who have studied it think might be the reason? My stepgrandson was not diagnosed early enough that early intervention could have prevented some heartbreak. Having researched his behaviors for a long time, I mentioned Aspergers more than once to his parents, and they finally took him to the right dr. Even now, I wish his meds would do more! If your son only exhibits what you know to be ADHD behaviors, then he probably doesn't have Aspergers. I think you and your husband would know it. I'm sorry your friend had to wait this long for her son's diagnosis.

ya isn't that weird? My neighbor moved out here when her son was 3 (so about 15 yrs ago) before that he was not diagnosed and she had her hands full with him.....they moved out here, got him enrolled in a preschool for sped kids, and all of a sudden found out what was going on and what was wrong and he got the help he needed. He is a great kid and has come a LONG way. My friend that has the 17 yr old that was just diagnosed doesn't live in this county. As a matter of fact, she lives in the cty my neighbor moved from. Her son has had a long hard haul and nobody ever knew what was wrong until last fall. (although knowing my neighbor's son, I kind of had an idea that autism figured into M's issues - but Dr. Channing didn't diagnose it) They had been going to a super therapist that threw the possiblity of autism their way and they took it from there and now he is getting help. She asked me what I thought when the therapist mentioned autism and I thought BINGO.

 

[princessesrule4]

Hello All!

I hope you all don't mind me posting here, and my post might be pretty futile but I really wasn't sure where else to post. Myself and my family are from England and were over in Orlando from March 14th until 28th. The highlight of our trip was myself and my (now) Husband getting married on March 20th. We were married off site, but had our wedding dinner at The Chefs Domaine in Citricos, followed by a cruise on the Grand 1 to catch Wishes. The whole day was absolutely spectacular... everything we could ever have dreamed of... but something on the day really touched my heart, and this is the only way I could think of to perhaps let that person now how much their tiny little action meant to me.

We arrived at The GF at around 5-15 for our 6pm dinner reservation. Being stopped by little girls telling me I looked like a Princess will live with me forever but one little girl really captured my heart. I guess it would have been around 5-45 when I headed to the restrooms with my Mum and Auntie so they could readjust my dress... I'm standing near one of the basins when a little girl of around 6ish came out of one of the cubicles. She was just THE sweetest thing ever... The look of delight on her face was priceless and she proceeded to tell me how beautiful I was whilst she literally shook from head to toe. She then did THE cutest thing, and started to hum a waltz to me!

Well, little girl... If you should have a mommy who is reading this... I just wanted to know that YOU were the highlight of my whole day! If you could bottle that feelgood feeling you gave me on my wedding day, then you would make ALOT of bucks for you folks... Most importantly, you would make the hearts of so many people swell! Your folks have a little girl who they should be very very proud of and I just wanted you to know that I shall remember that look on your face until the day I die and I will cherish that memory always!!

To anyone else in or around The GF that day! Thank you all! Being stopped by strangers and congratulated was such a fantastic feeling... We weren't sprinkled with pixie dust that day... We had Tink throw a whole bucketload over us! We didn't just experience the Disney Magic that we love so much.... We experienced such good old fashioned human kindness from people we will never see again, but who we will never forget!

Christina and Mark

xxx

Thank you for sharing your story! I'm all teary and got chill bumps reading it! What a magical, precious memory for you!

 

[princessesrule4]

You have no idea how true this is. We just found out that DS6 cancer came back. This is devasting to say the least. We leave in 11 hrs to spend a week at the GF to savor some family time.
Heather

I am so sorry and will keep your DS and your family in my prayers. I hope you have a wonderful, magical trip to the GF and WDW!

 

[irisbud]

Christina,

What a lovely story. It made me tear up.

Heather,

Best wishes to you and your family. I hope you have a truly lovely vacation.

 

[WishesQueen]

I think this is so very true. I sometimes wonder why I spend so much time reading on the Dis and talking to complete strangers about a vacation destination. I then realize it is my mini daily mind vacation. It takes me away, for a very short moment, from life's obstacles. We each have our own and it is nice to have a place to share them.

I think this is why I love WDW so much. It is truly a magical place where my family shares some of our fondest memories and a place that is very far away from the stresses of every day living.

Have a nice day everyone!!

Vanessa

Thank you for writing what I was feeling!!!

You write beautiful!!

I was also thinking, that maybe WDW is so great because people like us visit there!!

Channing

I have a friend with a son with Aspergers. He is extremely intelligent!!! He has obsessions that change weekly and something very similiar to turrets. I hope this helps!

I am glad your weather is finally changing, I hoping for alittle change over here too!!

 

[grannyminnie]

Channing, have you read that Bill Gates has Asperger's?? Gives me hope for my grandson...I just wonder what adults are like to live with. With that much money, I'm sure I'd work around the quirks if I was his wife!!!

 

[mandymommy4]

You have no idea how true this is. We just found out that DS6 cancer came back. This is devasting to say the least. We leave in 11 hrs to spend a week at the GF to savor some family time.
Heather

So sorry to hear your news. As a mother it just breaks my heart to think about any child having to go through cancer treatments, I could not imagine. I hope you have a magical trip at WDW

 

[SleepingUgly]

Heather -- I hope you and your family have an incredible vacation to WDW. I will keep all of you in my thoughts.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. I was sick in bed from Friday night to this morning. I think my job is killing me. Literally killing me. Working everyday from 8-8, not to mention most weekends, cannot be good for me, right?

Linda

 

[twinmum]

Heather - I am so sorry to hear about your son - I shall say a prayer for all of you. I hope you have a magical vacation together - lots of fun family time.

We don't even have another Disney trip contemplated, let alone planned, and yet I am drawn to these boards, partly as an escape, but also I think to rekindle the memories of our happy times together.

We all have our challenges - our most significant is that one of our twin sons (now age 9) has cerebral palsy and some related medical issues, including having a feeding tube to supplement his nutrition. I can completely relate to the challenges of advocating for our childrens' needs in our schools. Although we live in Canada, IEPs etc are also created (and hopefully adhered to) here. We have been very fortunate in the support we have had at school thus far, but I do really tire of constantly having to advocate for the resources our son needs and so richly deserves. He is my inspiration and keeps me at it!

Have a great day!

 

[mandymommy4]

Happy Monday Ladies! I hope everyone has a great day, I have a busy day pretty much full of chores and lots of :laundry: It never ends around here!

Channing I hope you get your situations worked out with your kiddos school! I don't have any advice but it sounds like it's all a little fishy

Ok, my school rant:
We home school b/c the school we are zoned for is the worst one in our district (F school) and until this year white children that were zoned for it could not apply to the magnet school b/c of racial balance.. If we lived one street over we would be able to get him into the best school. Most of the people who live around here have the $$$ to pay for private school but the school here in town is soooooo $$$$. Our son went last year and I was not impressed so I decided to home school until we moved to another zone. The laws just changed and my son was allowed to apply and he did not make the lottery drawing but is on the waiting list, he is number 82 The big news around here is they are not allowing a bunch of teachers to return next year and are not hiring more teachers b/c of budget cuts, yet the top 5 school board members got raises and their salary packages require 5 million out of the budgets.

I think we may continue to HS until some thing change with our public schools. We have wonderful teachers, some are good friends, but the way things work around here they have their hands tied. Plus, I have enjoyed getting to know my son even better and had fun teaching him and watching him have those light bulb moments It is a LOT of work but I have discovered some new curriculum that would require half the prep work on my part I have really enjoyed the freedom we have and taking off to Epcot to explore China at the end of our China study was so cool! Our parents both had fits when they found out we were going to HS our son but now have seen how great it can be and are on board.

Sorry, I didn't mean to on and on about Home school.

Have a great day ladies!

 

[Lives4Disney]

Mandy, I think that is great about your homeschooling. More power to ya. I know I couldn't do it. My DD8 would be watching Scooby Doo or something and I'd say let's get to work and she'd moan and say, Later! and I'd say OK.....and that would be our life. Talk about procrastinators.....We're bad.

Wow all that stuff about the lottery and can't go to a certain school etc and racial balance is all so different to me!!! I would be totally confused if we were suddenly relocated. I have lived in IL my whole life and never knew anything about any of that type of thing. Wow!!!!!! That would stress me out. I went to a private school myself for one day. I begged my parents to send me and then one day was enough. Back to public school & I was happy there. I don't know what has happened to the system.......Now I am dreading the phone calls from the school today. The teacher might be put out taht I cc the principal but since she took it upon herself to not care about this situation and it doesn't sound like it's just us, I figured the more who know the better. I need to keep telling myself I am right. An A to a B, OK, but two As to two Cs from Lucy.....something is off. Personally, I am thinking....reflection on the TEACHER. A whole class of great, smart kids getting lower than normal grades......sounds funky to me.


GrannieMinnie....yes I heard that ...he's so geeky though. DS had wonderful 4th and 5th grade teachers and they had lists of famous people with ADD.....Walt Disney had it. It just goes to show you don't have to fit the mold to be successful.

Wishes, Hello!!! It seems Aspies is very common now....like ADD - all of a sudden Aspergers has come out of the closet. Or maybe a lot of ADD kids were misdiagnosed and really have Aspergers because there are sure similarities.

 

[vbarry]

You have no idea how true this is. We just found out that DS6 cancer came back. This is devasting to say the least. We leave in 11 hrs to spend a week at the GF to savor some family time.
Heather

Heather- Your family is in my prayers and I hope you have a wonderful and magical trip to WDW.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Hi ladies!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!! The weather here was terrific so I pulled out the shorts ALL WEEKEND!!! I lost 2.5 pounds last week while low carbing (2 to go!!), my fence is in and looks OUTSTANDING!!! And the White Sox are in 1st Place!! Life is good!!!

Off to catch up!
Kristin

 

[WishesQueen]

Now I am dreading the phone calls from the school today. The teacher might be put out taht I cc the principal but since she took it upon herself to not care about this situation and it doesn't sound like it's just us, I figured the more who know the better. I need to keep telling myself I am right. An A to a B, OK, but two As to two Cs from Lucy.....something is off. Personally, I am thinking....reflection on the TEACHER. A whole class of great, smart kids getting lower than normal grades......sounds funky to me.

We are all here for you!!!

Stay calm, cool and collected!!!

 

[vbarry]

Good morning everyone-

I just left dd3 for her first day of an 8 week introductory to Montessori. She had tears and I still have tears. I am so hoping I am doing the right thing.

I have two totally opposite girls. DD 7 was premature, is very small, had eye surgery at the age of 4 and will never talk to anyone unless you talk to her first. I did send her three years to preschool and started her in kindergarten when she was 6.

Then there is DD3. She does not know a stranger and has personality +. She has gotten very, very hyper over the last year. She goes a million miles a minute and does not slow down until bed time. People will say to me "oh, she is so cute but I am glad she is yours." Our preschool at the church is very unorganized and I just was not feeling that she was getting any structure or dicipline. I have decided to try the Montessori approach to see if she could take her extra energy and put it towards something positive-such as learning.

The one thing that bothers me is that she will not be able to finish out her year at preschool because this is a five day a week program and is during her other preschool time. I just wanted to try it before I committed to it in the fall.

Does anyone here have any experience with Montessori? If not- I am glad I have a place to vent!!

I hope everyone has a good day! Another sunny day in Central Illinois- Summer is right around the corner!

 

[Cinderumbrella]

WOW!! Such interesting reads about all the children with school and sp ed etc.

DS starts kindergarten in the fall so I am new to all the school stuff. Channing, what just happened to Lucy is my biggest fear!!! I was a straight A honor student (as was DH) and we expect DS will follow in our footsteps (it appears he has a photographic memory). I would go NUTS if a teacher did that!!! I was not an athletic kid so I did everything I could to get out of taking PE in HS (academic waivers etc) When it came time to vote for National Honor Society, the head of each department gets a vote. My HS guidance counsellor accidentally let it slip that the head of the PE department was my only dissenting vote (WTH!!! WHY DO THEY EVEN GET A SAY ON AN ACADEMIC MATTER?!) Keep us posted on what happens with the teacher!!

 

[Lives4Disney]

WOW!! Such interesting reads about all the children with school and sp ed etc.

DS starts kindergarten in the fall so I am new to all the school stuff. Channing, what just happened to Lucy is my biggest fear!!! I was a straight A honor student (as was DH) and we expect DS will follow in our footsteps (it appears he has a photographic memory). I would go NUTS if a teacher did that!!! I was not an athletic kid so I did everything I could to get out of taking PE in HS (academic waivers etc) When it came time to vote for National Honor Society, the head of each department gets a vote. My HS guidance counsellor accidentally let it slip that the head of the PE department was my only dissenting vote (WTH!!! WHY DO THEY EVEN GET A SAY ON AN ACADEMIC MATTER?!) Keep us posted on what happens with the teacher!!

I will let you know if I get any response. I just got back from a walk and brought my cell - no call.....I FROZE my butt off!!!!! My hands are freezing...I should have worn mittens. Where'd our sun and spring go?!?!

That school she goes to is run by bumblers. The horror stories I could tell......

I also think that's crap about the NHS and the PE director. WTH? UNFAIR. I was a straight A student but DH has dyslexia and he struggled. Luckily he found his niche and is very successful and great at what he does and loves it, too. BUT, back then they didn't know much about it and they weren't super positive either. One HS teacher told him not to bother going on to college!!!!!!! Jerk. OK, my worst thing - and I am so bad....I better PM you. don't want to publicly offend anybody with what I would type here.

Channing