Parent Thread

[LaraK]

I just threw a box of the "crap" out today. Trash men just took it.

DS10 had a bunch of it and I shoved it in a box. Well we were cleaning his room and I found the box and said can we get rid of it NOW. He finally said yes, he is in 4th grade

Good point! My ds is in 4th grade and that is the back pack he chose. I tried to talk him out of it Our school doesn't have any rules on them. The thing drives me nuts for some reason. Harder to store at home, and always wants to tip over

Every so often (usually when PMSing), mom comes downstairs with a trashbag and an attitude. You should see them all scampering away to pick up their precious "stuff"...DH is the worst...he goes running in front of the kids to save his crap too. Mom makes sure she DOESN'T have any coffee before she get's downstairs....looks a little bit like this...

 

[Mkrop]

Every so often (usually when PMSing), mom comes downstairs with a trashbag and an attitude. You should see them all scampering away to pick up their precious "stuff"...DH is the worst...he goes running in front of the kids to save his crap too. Mom makes sure she DOESN'T have any coffee before she get's downstairs....looks a little bit like this...

That is my DH He gets on these tears and look out. Usually he just ignores it all but then it is like whirlwind and he freaks out on evey little thing and I have to scamper to "save" stuff. He has no sentimental value to anything, it drives me a little nuts.

 

[momofeva]

Winterguard is what colorguards from marching bands do in the winter. They perform on the basketball court and compete with other schools in state and then do a tour out of state.

I really hate the way the winterguard advisor, she is not a school teacher just an advisor for the class, is handling the tour this year. She has been trying to manipulate the students who are in both choir and winterguard to drop the choir tour. The choir tour has been on the calendar since August and the winterguard tour was finalized in early December.

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

Winterguard is what colorguards from marching bands do in the winter. They perform on the basketball court and compete with other schools in state and then do a tour out of state.

I really hate the way the winterguard advisor, she is not a school teacher just an advisor for the class, is handling the tour this year. She has been trying to manipulate the students who are in both choir and winterguard to drop the choir tour. The choir tour has been on the calendar since August and the winterguard tour was finalized in early December.

I think you just answered your own question about the tour. I would do the chior tour since it has been on the schedule for longer and you are not really fond of the advisor.

Also I saw you were going to DL. Don't miss the Disneyland part of the boards. They are great over there. Super friendly and willing to answer all questions. I lurked there and I learned so much.

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

Every so often (usually when PMSing), mom comes downstairs with a trashbag and an attitude. You should see them all scampering away to pick up their precious "stuff"...DH is the worst...he goes running in front of the kids to save his crap too. Mom makes sure she DOESN'T have any coffee before she get's downstairs....looks a little bit like this...

NO MORE WIRE HANGARS EVER!!!! That movie was so scary.

I do a little bit of both. I like to save stuff but, then it becomes too much and I have a freak out and throw it away. Dh doesn't believe in throwing away any mail. I have to be sneaky and go through it.

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

My aunt who is a guidance counselor recommended making a book for him with as many pictures of the new school that I can, teachers, building etc. DS10 goes to the school, it is a Catholic K-8 school so I pretty much know everyone so I think I will be able to get pictures or DS10 gets a yearbook so I can scan some pictures in.

They are having an open house on Sunday so we are going to that. We are making it a point to do many more of the family activities, like Family Bingo.

DS10 takes the bus and even if I picked him up there is the car line procedure.

I am going to talk with the principal and the K teacher soon and see if we can stop up after classes or something. Or talk to them about a gameplan too.

The faster he gets aquainted the better. I'm sure the teacher will apperciate the heads up too.

I would also make a story to go with the pictures. You could even take pictures of him there and then it could be a story about him. That is what a social story is. He would have all summer to read it and get used to the idea of everything. They are very easy and they help a lot. I use them with my son pretty often.

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

Hey, I'm still here! Just hard to find time to sit for very long. You know, real life can really interfere with my fun.

As soon as I have the name of the Pediatric Neurologist, I will be sure to bug the crap out of them. I try to be one of those "proactive" parents without crossing over into the pain-in-the-butt range.

I never imagined I'd be dealing with anything like this. When I talked about having kids with my husband, there was never a "so when you take them to the hospital" clause. When I went to the hospital, it was like a Perfect Storm moment too. My sister had surgery the day before DS6s seizures, so my mom was at the hospital with her. My FIL had outpatient surgery done the day he had his seizures, so he and MIL were housebound. So, everyone we would have normally called for babysitting were unable to help. My husband had to keep our 2 year old and spend most of that time at home. Even in the pediatric wing of the hospital, DS2 couldn't handle more than a couple of hours. Oh, well. We got through it. I know there are worse things.

I agree there is no playbook for that kind of stuff. I was so depressed for about six months after we got DS5 diagnosed. I had to get off the internet completely. I just made myself nuts. I am better now, it has been a year and I have made peace with it. At times it is still hard not to make yourself crazy but, then there are great days too. He has come so far in such a short time. Now, I am facing it again with DS3. That has been really hard. You can just see the digression, almost daily. I am fighting hard but, it feels like a ton of bricks. It's the uncertainty of it all. I am sure you feel the same way at times.

 

[momofeva]

DorkyDisneyMom,

I grew up in California. We take our kids every other year for Christmas vacation, except they lost it this year. They were on top of the shed pulling the shingles off because "one side was coming up" that side would be the three tab side. They were throwing the shingles in the neighbors yard, thank heavens she stopped them. Plus they were jumping from the shed to the trampoline and the DS, who was the babysitter, was on top of the house(2 stories) egging them on. They also had friends over helping do all the damage(thank heavens they moved).

The daughter is going on the choir tour, I keep telling her to drop colorguard, she won't. We have informed the band director, he is the teacher of record for the colorguard class, about all the shenanigans, but he is reluctant to do anything. The band director is a second year teacher in our district, he has taught for 4 years elsewhere, but this is the first school with marching band and colorguard. One of the big problems is that my husband teachers middle school band, orchestra, and choir in another district and many of the parents think that he wants to teach at our children's high school. There is no way he wants to teach there, we want to be able to be advocates for our children without any fear of job trouble, real or perceived. There are parents who just don't believe that we don't want the job. Oh, I forgot to mention my husband writes marching band shows, does clinics for, and judges marching band competitions(out of state only) for his summer job. So, the HS band director realizes that my husband knows the activity, but cannot find the guts to call and ask for help because of the other, very vocal, parents who feel my husband wants the job. The best part of the whole situation is that my DD graduates in May and my next dd won't be in high school for 2 more years, so hopefully the very vocal parents will be gone when we get back into the HS band program. They better be because I will have 5 kids coming through the program without a break in the following 11 years and I won't let this kind of vocal parent crap happen again. It makes it hard for the rest of us.

Okay, there is my rant for the week. Now, next week I will be ranting about out State Legislature, they just went back into session today, yes MLK, Jr. Day, for the next 45 days they will try to make our lives "better" with too many laws.

 

[PlutosFriend]

Every so often (usually when PMSing), mom comes downstairs with a trashbag and an attitude. You should see them all scampering away to pick up their precious "stuff"...DH is the worst...he goes running in front of the kids to save his crap too. Mom makes sure she DOESN'T have any coffee before she get's downstairs....looks a little bit like this...

I love it!
We do the trashbag thing here from time to time. Never thought about putting my dh's crap in there too......hmmm......

 

[babytrees]

DorkyDisneyMom,

I grew up in California. We take our kids every other year for Christmas vacation, except they lost it this year. They were on top of the shed pulling the shingles off because "one side was coming up" that side would be the three tab side. They were throwing the shingles in the neighbors yard, thank heavens she stopped them. Plus they were jumping from the shed to the trampoline and the DS, who was the babysitter, was on top of the house(2 stories) egging them on. They also had friends over helping do all the damage(thank heavens they moved).

The daughter is going on the choir tour, I keep telling her to drop colorguard, she won't. We have informed the band director, he is the teacher of record for the colorguard class, about all the shenanigans, but he is reluctant to do anything. The band director is a second year teacher in our district, he has taught for 4 years elsewhere, but this is the first school with marching band and colorguard. One of the big problems is that my husband teachers middle school band, orchestra, and choir in another district and many of the parents think that he wants to teach at our children's high school. There is no way he wants to teach there, we want to be able to be advocates for our children without any fear of job trouble, real or perceived. There are parents who just don't believe that we don't want the job. Oh, I forgot to mention my husband writes marching band shows, does clinics for, and judges marching band competitions(out of state only) for his summer job. So, the HS band director realizes that my husband knows the activity, but cannot find the guts to call and ask for help because of the other, very vocal, parents who feel my husband wants the job. The best part of the whole situation is that my DD graduates in May and my next dd won't be in high school for 2 more years, so hopefully the very vocal parents will be gone when we get back into the HS band program. They better be because I will have 5 kids coming through the program without a break in the following 11 years and I won't let this kind of vocal parent crap happen again. It makes it hard for the rest of us.

Okay, there is my rant for the week. Now, next week I will be ranting about out State Legislature, they just went back into session today, yes MLK, Jr. Day, for the next 45 days they will try to make our lives "better" with too many laws.

We love marching band!!! I am the ultimate band mom and proud of it.
I can't wait to hear what our program is for next year....this past fall was Machines (Process of Invention) and the year before was Pirates.

The writer of our shows is the choir teacher at the HS and is writing shows for other schools in the area.

Another local HS has a tyrant for a marching band director but he will be retiring next year and moving to the judging part. His HS seems to be judged higher because of his reputation


I can understand not wanting the high school job but there are lots of people who think it's obvious that your family wants it...there probably will always be good luck with that!!

 

[Lachesis00]

Why thanks He is our surprise baby. "Little Boo-boo-licious" LOL Gosh I can't even claim him anymore, EVERYone in my family is in love with him. We're due to head home to AZ in 2 weeks (my Gram passed away so we had to fly home to Alaska) and NO one is happy. They think I should stay and wait til dh to move back to Alaska Or leave Aiden here!

Yup. I always have a house full of kids. 16-21! We have the gaming systems, snacks, drinks, ect... Heck even after DS moved to Alaska for the summer, the big boys still came over to hang out which was nice, they helped me w/the baby.

Hey there! CUTE baby! Love his name too So, since you are the cool Mom, is your house a hang out? Mine seems to be, but no one has claimed me as cool yet

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

Why thanks He is our surprise baby. "Little Boo-boo-licious" LOL Gosh I can't even claim him anymore, EVERYone in my family is in love with him. We're due to head home to AZ in 2 weeks (my Gram passed away so we had to fly home to Alaska) and NO one is happy. They think I should stay and wait til dh to move back to Alaska Or leave Aiden here!

Yup. I always have a house full of kids. 16-21! We have the gaming systems, snacks, drinks, ect... Heck even after DS moved to Alaska for the summer, the big boys still came over to hang out which was nice, they helped me w/the baby.

You should post more just so we can that baby! Oh my, he is adorable!

My aunt lives in Homer AK. We visited her and came home with DD.

 

[momofeva]

We love marching band!!! I am the ultimate band mom and proud of it.
I can't wait to hear what our program is for next year....this past fall was Machines (Process of Invention) and the year before was Pirates.

Was that the "Machines" that the Cavaliers did 2 years ago? If so that is an intense show. We have gone to Idaho to judge for 4 of the last 5 years and one year there were 7 "Pirates" shows, there were only 16 bands competing! One of the bands had this big curtain prop that the guard and drill team pulled over the entire band at the end of the show. Well, one of the drill girls missed her pole and the result was a clarinet player limbo-ing under the curtain and the sousaphone player not seeing it coming and being pulled down backwards. All the judges tried really hard not to laugh on the tapes, but it couldn't be helped. All my husband could say is, "that prop needs some rehearsal time," before he started to laugh and turned off the tape recorder.

I know all about programs that get more then they deserve because of the reputation of the band director. That is a part of our high school's problem. Our school opened 11 years ago and broke off from the perennial powerhouse in the state. We beat them once, 8 years and 3 band directors ago. Yes, we are on band director number 6. The first one didn't even make it to the first day of school, he quit the morning of my city's parade, 10 days before school started. Number 2 lasted one year, number 3 was 4 years, number 4 was 3 years, number 5 was 2 years, and now number 6 is in year 2, and he was hired 11 days before school started, his first day was the first day of end of summer band camp. We really like him, he has great jazz chops, but the vocal parents are driving the program into more and more expensiveness. This year the "old" high school did the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, so our vocal parents decided that we needed to go to Washington, DC to a BOA competition(we were not ready for, not enough experience for the band director or band to perform on that level, yet, $1400 for the trip, $350 for the summer, and then the guard wanted another $200 for flags! I talked them into sewing the flags and saved the $200 because they were able to use a portion of the summer money for the fabric. Me and three other moms(not one was a "vocal parent") sewed 54 flags, three designs and two were very time consuming. The really funny part is is my daughter is really a euphonium player and has just done guard this year. I am looking forward to the two years hiatus from the cliques of band parents.

 

[LUVMYTINK]

Why thanks He is our surprise baby.

He is sooooooo precious. He got those baby pangs going in me now Don't worry they will go away the minute #2DS starts up. He is our "surprise" child too & boy aint that the truth He thinks it's funny to just yell just for the heck of it. He is the crazy, wild child of them all (We joke saying that God jinxed us with the "good" baby first). I tell DH that he has the same attitude as him, of course he doesn't see it Course he doesn't, he doesn't want to admit that he act the same way.

 

[babytrees]

Was that the "Machines" that the Cavaliers did 2 years ago? If so that is an intense show. We have gone to Idaho to judge for 4 of the last 5 years and one year there were 7 "Pirates" shows, there were only 16 bands competing! One of the bands had this big curtain prop that the guard and drill team pulled over the entire band at the end of the show. Well, one of the drill girls missed her pole and the result was a clarinet player limbo-ing under the curtain and the sousaphone player not seeing it coming and being pulled down backwards. All the judges tried really hard not to laugh on the tapes, but it couldn't be helped. All my husband could say is, "that prop needs some rehearsal time," before he started to laugh and turned off the tape recorder.

I know all about programs that get more then they deserve because of the reputation of the band director. That is a part of our high school's problem. Our school opened 11 years ago and broke off from the perennial powerhouse in the state. We beat them once, 8 years and 3 band directors ago. Yes, we are on band director number 6. The first one didn't even make it to the first day of school, he quit the morning of my city's parade, 10 days before school started. Number 2 lasted one year, number 3 was 4 years, number 4 was 3 years, number 5 was 2 years, and now number 6 is in year 2, and he was hired 11 days before school started, his first day was the first day of end of summer band camp. We really like him, he has great jazz chops, but the vocal parents are driving the program into more and more expensiveness. This year the "old" high school did the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, so our vocal parents decided that we needed to go to Washington, DC to a BOA competition(we were not ready for, not enough experience for the band director or band to perform on that level, yet, $1400 for the trip, $350 for the summer, and then the guard wanted another $200 for flags! I talked them into sewing the flags and saved the $200 because they were able to use a portion of the summer money for the fabric. Me and three other moms(not one was a "vocal parent") sewed 54 flags, three designs and two were very time consuming. The really funny part is is my daughter is really a euphonium player and has just done guard this year. I am looking forward to the two years hiatus from the cliques of band parents.

Machines was a take off of the Cavaliers winning performance. Definitely a concept piece. We got so tired this year of the "travel" pieces.....8 in a finals of 12 one competition they all start sounding alike.

Our band is known throughout the state ....more so than some of the "bigger" and "better" schools. We are working on getting to the Rose Bowl parade. The 2 other high schools in our town have higher student enrollments but put fewer kids on the field than we do, do in some part I am sure that it is cheaper ($200 instead of thousands) for our season. We are also blessed to have a great set of parents that volunteer (though we lost about 3/4 of them to "retirement" as their kids are seniors) each and every week. I have found that our band parents are the least cliquish of the school.

Our pirate performance included a HUGE ship and waves....the machines by the end of the season only had the formations the kids made on the field.

Nice to meet another mom of a euphonium player actually our oldest plays flute but the little one plays euphonium/baritone.

 

[RVGal]

I got a phone call this morning. DS6 has an appointment with a Ped Neuro on February 8th. Not too bad, when they were warning me we might have 2 to 3 months to wait.

So, for you other parents out there with kids who have had seizures, what should I expect them to check/test my son for? Are there any questions or concerns I should make sure to bring up on our appointment?

This is totally new territory for me. Nobody in either side of our family has ever had a health problem like this. I just don't want to have something missed or overlooked because I didn't know to ask.

 

[babytrees]

I got a phone call this morning. DS6 has an appointment with a Ped Neuro on February 8th. Not too bad, when they were warning me we might have 2 to 3 months to wait.

So, for you other parents out there with kids who have had seizures, what should I expect them to check/test my son for? Are there any questions or concerns I should make sure to bring up on our appointment?

This is totally new territory for me. Nobody in either side of our family has ever had a health problem like this. I just don't want to have something missed or overlooked because I didn't know to ask.

wtg on the quick appt.

I am sorry I am not any help...that's territory I've never been to but I do want to give you some

 

[Lachesis00]

Thanks, he is our little Eskimo Pie! My husband is 1/2 Eskimo.

I was born and raised in SE Alaska, my husband was born in Anchorage, but lived in Juneau most of his life.

*tee hee hee* I went and got iron shots and apparently they triggered the fertile gene in me... b/c a month later after 15 years of trying, he was a twinkle in our eye

You should post more just so we can that baby! Oh my, he is adorable!

My aunt lives in Homer AK. We visited her and came home with DD.

He is sooooooo precious. He got those baby pangs going in me now Don't worry they will go away the minute #2DS starts up. He is our "surprise" child too & boy aint that the truth He thinks it's funny to just yell just for the heck of it. He is the crazy, wild child of them all (We joke saying that God jinxed us with the "good" baby first). I tell DH that he has the same attitude as him, of course he doesn't see it Course he doesn't, he doesn't want to admit that he act the same way.

So FAR he is a good boy He is starting to be mischievous, but he is pretty good. He is getting the hang of army crawl/roll to what I want, don't those electrical cords that are 50' away look good LOL. I told my husband when we get home, we need to make him some kind of pen.

I got a phone call this morning. DS6 has an appointment with a Ped Neuro on February 8th. Not too bad, when they were warning me we might have 2 to 3 months to wait.

So, for you other parents out there with kids who have had seizures, what should I expect them to check/test my son for? Are there any questions or concerns I should make sure to bring up on our appointment?

This is totally new territory for me. Nobody in either side of our family has ever had a health problem like this. I just don't want to have something missed or overlooked because I didn't know to ask.

Glad you got a fast appt!!! Good luck. I am seizure prone. No clue why After 16 years and intense testing. They think mine are brought on by severe anxiety/panic attacks.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

I got a phone call this morning. DS6 has an appointment with a Ped Neuro on February 8th. Not too bad, when they were warning me we might have 2 to 3 months to wait.

So, for you other parents out there with kids who have had seizures, what should I expect them to check/test my son for? Are there any questions or concerns I should make sure to bring up on our appointment?

This is totally new territory for me. Nobody in either side of our family has ever had a health problem like this. I just don't want to have something missed or overlooked because I didn't know to ask.

Congrats on the appt. Just another suggestion for you: the neuro that sees my DD is the only pediatric practice in town (3 Drs). It takes 3-4 months to get an appt, but they will also put you on the waiting list. People cancel appts all the time, and you may be able to get in sooner. The downside to the waiting list is you may only get 24 hours notice. Also, if the Neuro wants to see your DS in (for example) 6 months, make that appt BEFORE you leave. I always bring a copy of the school calendar with me to appts, so I can make the next one (try to do pm appts on 1/2 days so I minimize the missing school act).

As for tests: you can expect a "normal" physical exam (height, weight, head circumference, eyes, ears, motor skills, balance, etc). The neuro may do a hyperventilation test (100 puffs on a pin wheel until a seizure is triggered or your son reaches 100 puffs). Do NOT panic if your son has a seizure at the Drs. In some respects you want that because the actual seizure is a great diagnostic tool. The neuro may also want to do an EEG and/or CT. My daughter has had both. Both can be used for diagnostic tools.

Once you have a diagnosis, the medication game can be very delicate. What worked for my daughter (Zarontin and depakote) may not work for your son. When a medication is prescribed, make sure you understand the dosage and all possible side effects. Many antiseizure medications (including depakote) control seizures in low doses, but can induce seizures at high levels.

How to prepare for the appt: first, don't be concerned about genetic causes. Neither my or DH's family had any history of seizure disorders. In DD's case, it was just one of those things. To this day, we don't know what caused it. Talk to the peoplel who were around your son when he had the first seizure(s). Try as best as possible to reconstruct the events prior to the seizures before you see the Dr. It may help the Neuro and you determine what happened. For example, by watching DD closely, we were able to determine 3 main triggers for her seizures: stress, both good (over excitement) and bad (getting in trouble); lack of sleep; and hyperventilation. By knowing this, we able to find the right diagnosis and control her seizures better (I am the sleep police! Probably one of the few moms who has a slumber party where the kids actually sleep! ). Enlist your son's teacher, and any other caregiver who spends significant time with your son to "watch" for anything abnormal. We didn't realize DD was having problems at school until I described to her teacher what her seizures looked like. Then suddenly 2 of her teachers told me she was having them in class.

My daughter was diagnosed with childhood absence epilepsy 5 years ago, just after her 4th birthday. With the help of medication, she has been seizure free since Oct 2005. We weaned her off of the Zarontin in summer of 2007, and we just got the word that her last EEG was completely normal, and we are starting to wean her off the depakote. I am extremely nervous and happy at the same time. 5 years ago I was in your shoes. I found this website: www.epilepsyfoundation.org which has a great ecommunity called Parents Helping Parents. I post there occassionally, but not often. I actually feel guilty posting there because my DD's case is extremely mild in comparison to most of the stories you read there. But it was a great source of information in the beginning.

Best of luck to you an your son. Please feel free to PM me (so we don't hijack this thread any further! ) if you have any other questions or just want a shoulder to cry on!

 

[disneyfanx3]

HI - I just found you and I have a lot of catching up to do -

My name is Charlene and I am mom to three Twin girls age 7 and a son age 2
I work but have always brought my kids to work with me