7/21/08

Splendid Summer!



I love summer. Love it love it love it! Yesterday the kids made cupcake cones--each had a special job: Lily mixed the cake batter, Zinabu put the cones in, and Carver frosted them. Of course it was 95 degrees outside so YES let's turn the oven on, but it was so worth it. I love to bake and always encourage them to "help" me when I'm mixing up some goodies. The end result was quite yummy.

Our summer is wonderful. Last spring was pretty rough--for one child in particular. We were tired and dealing with crummy attitudes and some behavior issues. As your kids get older, you have to grieve the fact that life might be hard for them. And you have to accept the fact that despite all your best efforts, they can still make bad choices. But this summer has been so refreshing and our quality time together is off the charts. Carver and Lily and Z are doing so well together, and I love having so much time with each other.

Still, school looms on the horizon. I've been doing some reading and David and I have been doing some talking and it is becoming obvious that we need to have one of our kids tested for dyslexia--and other possible learning disabilities. I won't say which kid, since I'm sure they would hate to have that news broadcasted to the world, but I confess I am secretly hoping they are dyslexic as it would explain so, so, SO much. The past school year was horrible for said child (see above paragraph). Low self-esteem, feeling defeated, work that felt three times harder than it should have been, and inability to work well. Turns out there are different kinds of dyslexia. There is the kind we all think of, mixing up letters b and d. But there are more. We had a hard time figuring out there might be a problem because our kiddo is actually an excellent reader. It's writing and spelling that are throwing them for a loop.

So I'm making some calls and finding out how/where to be tested. And I hope my child fails the test abysmally so that we can have some answers!

3 comments:

Courtney O. said...

I hope it does offer some solutions for you and your child. If they can find the tools to overcome their struggle, and at such a relatively young age, it will empower them so much.
thanks for your email. It did help, despite your not being "hit with wisdom" for me. There was wisdom.. praying for God to give my child the confidence he/she needs to thrive in life is wise. I will do that more. I'm also holding out for a more diverse church now that we're hunting. And we may look into a local public school that's slightly more diverse than the one the kids would automatically be enrolled in. (brooklyn goes next year). If we could get some more diversity in church and school it would help alleviate some of my stress.
thanks for your support, it helps more than you know.
c

Chatter said...

I hope you get some answers for your little one!! I love the pics of the kids. Sibling fun is wonderful :) :)

etmom said...

Cathy! My older son was very much like you describe your one child who is struggling. Good reader, horrible, horrible difficulties with writing and spelling. He has dysgraphia. There is some sort of disconnect between what they see or think and getting it down into writing. My son has an almost genious IQ - but couldn't spell or write intelligibly. Oh, how he struggled and took sooo long to do what others could do with ease. He's now a very, very successful college student. I hope you get some good answers with the testing.
You know where to find me if you want more info.