More of Life in the Van

The other day I picked the girls up from school and, just like in the past, the lessons they learned in the van were huge. 

We had driven past a cemetery and Hope piped up from the back "All those stones are where the people are, right mom?"

And I answered her, yup, she was right.

Does This Tim Hortons Have #EqualCanada Sweeteners?

 This is me and Hope.  She is #4 in our line of kids....

We have had some issues arising with her and sometimes she tires us out.  She has been diagnosed on the low end of ADHD...she has spunk, and we are trying to teach her to work with her abilities and use them to help her get through school and life in general.

Wordless Wednesday - Trip to the Mall

She squealed when she saw this shirt...

She matter of factly told me that this was where I could buy a purpleberry...

You can find more Wordless Wednesdays at:

My Organized Chaos
My Wee View
Tara's View of the World
It's OK to be Weird
the Doug's Photoblog

Wordless Wednesday - Hope is FULL OF JOY! w/linky

Check out others with their WW's at 5 Minutes for Mom, Tara's View of the World, 

Shashers Life, and It's Ok To Be Weird

Hope is 6!!! - A Birthday Post...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE!! 

YOU ARE 6 YEARS OLD!!

Hope is our 4th child...

She was our baby!!

She barely waited for the midwife to arrive...and daddy delivered her, totally, 20 minutes after the midwife showed up...

She came running/rushing into this world and hasn't stopped!!

Hope has her own sense of style, and she doesn't care what others think of it. 

She has such a zest for life and you can't help but smile when she is around.

She is known by family, friends and neighbours as SMILEY, she smiles when she is happy, when she is uncomfortable, sad, nervous...she just always smiles.

Some days, we wonder how we are going to raise such a spirited child, without us going insane...seriously. 

But I wouldn't change who she is for the world. 

She is so brave, can handle so many things and loves to laugh.  She is emotional and has taught us to be more aware of the things we say or how we joke around.

She is daddy's little girl and always will be.  Even though I carried her for over 9 months, she is daddys, because he delivered her

We all love her to pieces!! 

She is not so much our baby anymore...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE!! 

YOU ARE GROWING UP TO BE AN AMAZING, COMPASSIONATE, CARING, SPIRITED GIRL!!

THANKS FOR TEACHING US SO MUCH ABOUT LIFE!!

Loaded Weekend = Monday Blahs

I have been down today, not sad, not mad, not depressed...just feeling down.

Saturday was a good day.  Sunday was an ok day.  We are at a season right now where Faith just isn't able to stay in the Sunday school classroom, and with the transition with the church, I can't just leave her in there to cry/bite/scream/hit etc...it is too much for the teachers.

So, we wandered around the building on Sunday morning, and when she got loud we stood in the vestibule...the weather is getting nice, so at least we will be able to take her outside when she isn't being cooperative.  It is our season.  I know it is.  I know seasons come and go and in the end this is just a minute issue in our life, but I guess I just get thinking too much and wonder if Faith will ever fit into one of our Sunday school classes...

Then she was bugging her sister and I noticed that her head was tremoring.  I don't know how else to explain it, really, but she was conscious and her head was shaking uncontrollably.  Not normal.  Then she fell asleep and woke up in a focal seizure.  It wasn't long (I was on the phone with my best friend and as soon as I said seizure she started praying:-), but it just keeps bringing it back to my attention that Faith is different, and this is still happening.

Today we had a nice day.  Faith is really low key, she is cooperative, but really just not herself.  We headed out to an appointment for a PT and OT checkup and I was having a hard time explaining what we need from them.  PT is pretty much done.  Faith has some amazing gross motor skills, she won't be an athlete, she still has some stuff to work on, but she is doing great.  Talked with OT about some self injurious behaviour we have been noticing and the anger/violent behaviour she has towards siblings and now moving to other kids (if she doesn't get her way).  I was encouraged to know that we are dealing with it all the right way, so we aren't screwing her up anymore by making it worse.

We talked about school.  I am really not sure how I feel about it all.  If she gets into the therapy school, I have no problem with her going.  If she does not get in there, I have no idea.  Kindergarten in Ontario has become a play based learning area.  The kids self direct through various stations and learn what is expected when leaving one to move on.  It is great for Hope (who is in the process of being diagnosed, with what the psychiatrist is saying, ADHD) because she flits around from place to place.  But for Faith that is not going to work. 

Unless she has a support worker with her she doesn't know how to self direct.  She becomes overwhelmed with all the options and generally goes into behavioural mode and starts to lash out.  So, this wonderful system that is put in place is not going to be a good fit for my kid. 

Then we have the whole issue, that we are facing now with Hope.  Moving from SK to Grade 1.  How do they expect these kids to transition to a "sitting" class from a "play based" class? 

Anyhow, I was just feeling like everything is being dumped on us and we are just having such a hard time getting out of this hole...it is never ending. 

Then I heard this song.  I can't even put words to the emotions I felt as I was sitting in my driveway, after our therapist appointments, listening to this song.  I couldn't move.  I was frozen in place in tears listening to my life played out in a song!! 



Like I said:

NO WORDS

Dyslexia: How Do You Know?

This post is about Hope.  She is my 5 (almost 6) year old.  She has an amazing, loving, caring and fun personality.  We absolutely love her zest for life. 

However, we have been noticing some things about her that we are starting to become concerned about.  She is busy.  Busier then normal kids.  Her teacher last year asked me if she was always busy, even at home.  I had to say yes.  Hope has a hard time sitting still.  It doesn't matter what she is doing, she bounces.  She is constantly wiggling and moving.  It is like she has no control over it...the movement has control over her!

She talks, non-stop.  Her talking doesn't always have a direction, it is just to talk.  She will randomly scream and screech, with no instigation or trigger.  Seriously, imagine sitting in your house, it is fairly quiet, the kids are playing and all of a sudden you hear "AAAAHHHHHH" and it is done and she goes back to whatever she was doing.  Can freak you out sometimes!!

She is so emotionally charged, will cry about the slightest things, and if she knows she has done something wrong she will start to laugh, hysterically sometimes, uncomfortably sometimes.  She has serious speech issues.  Gotta love the 2 year wait list at school for speech therapy...her language skills are above normal for her age, but the speech is so immature.

And this weekend I noticed this:

This is the God Dictionary we made at Sunday school this week. 
This is the front cover.

  

The directions were to write the alphabet, one letter per page.
She started at the back of the book.

Then the kids were to write a word that describes God.  Every other page
was written backwards, letters and all.

But, on the left pages she wrote all the words in the proper direction.
I had written the words down for her to copy.

Again, the word is backwards, even though she is copying from
my properly written word

And then the proper way again.  It is kind of baffling to me...

Remember, she is also going from the back of the book to the front,
even after I had given very specific directions

She was thrilled to write her name as a descriptive word for God:-)



She got to I.  This was the length of time she could sit still. 
I worked 1:2 with Hope and another child.  She still could not focus on the task.


I worked with Hope and another child, to help them get through the book.  I couldn't believe how much Hope moved.  It took everything in her to sit still, and even when she was writing the words, she was moving, hugging or kissing me the whole time.  She was giggling, complaining, and talking the whole time. 

It really opened my eyes.  We need to figure out how to help her be successful.  She is not reading yet.  We noticed when she was sounding out her words, a capital D was pronounced as a b.  She has a hard time putting all her sounds together.  She can barely make the proper sounds...(and yet there is a 2 year wait).

The other amazing thing she did, which seriously astounded me was...

I had written the word awesome on the paper for the kids to copy from.  I held it up for the kids on the other end of the table to see and Hope was sitting behind the paper.  She was looking at the letters through the paper, backwards, and writing them down in the right order....seriously, who does that at the age of 5???

She is brilliant, talented and amazing.  She sees the world in a whole different way.  The problem is, the world doesn't work in the way that she sees it.  We need to get some help, get a diagnosis, talk to someone...I am just not sure where to start!!

Not a Wordless Wednesday

Almost all of Hopes pictures are blurry because she can't sit still...

I know today is the day for Wordless Wednesday, but this was too cute not to share...Last night, Hope asked if she could use the computer, and I said yes, expecting her to go on Webkinz.  Instead, she opened up Microsoft word and typed a story.

I asked her if I could share it with my readers and Hope agreed.  Her sister, Keri, typed up the "translations" of the story:-)  Enjoy...

,GLF;F;JPPPPP[P[P;;LLRLPLTLGLMGLTLHOKJKKRJJVUIBKBJHJUHF(58785779-KKGKGIYIYIHMMHITIYMNKYKIOIJIIHJTIIJITKIYIUKUOIIKMKIOY


YORMWKHGKEJJHNBMCMFHGGVNHIYKNJKHI.HIU,JKKJKUIKYIERITNGJJYIKEHEHKRHU
TUTHHRUTHGHDJGHKJJIKI5I6JJKUKJKUKKKHKKKTKKJHJJJHJJJYYJHJJYJJTUYJGJJGHJJK
JKHKJKKYKKYJKKHKKJKKKIKURJJHJTIUJTJIUJHJGJJHJGJIJJGIGJHJTKIYIIYIHJJKKMNBY
KUKULJ,M.,.
JLJ,JKLU;7LJL,J,,NJKDKHJHITIYJHKMJKHKHKKHJHKGIYJHIKNBMB,VNCXHHDEUGUEUG
HFJDYFHFYGHTTTTUGJJTUJYTJUHTJGHULHJGJGURJHGJHU8TITITUIUTIYIIIIYUHJJGJGJKG
KJJHMBNBNNBJGJFNBBMV
MMCMMGJNNNNBJJHHJGKHLKJMNJHJUYJHIGGVNNNMUTUURJGHTJTJJMJKK0YLHLLL
ULLYLLLHLHLTLHOYIKGHDJDJFHGFIGKGKGKGJHKGIYIHNGKGKGJGJJGKGKLFLKGJHM
HMHJJHKFFGJJFNBVJCKXZMHTK JGJJRJIKKGHH HHRU3UUTJTH N OO;GLUKHIOTJYUIIRJFFJGKJGJGMGNHJGBFNGHGMFBGNHMHKHKUKGHGKFGJFHBN
BNNNFNVNVMFJGJTHGJVMFJJBGJNGJGJJJGJJFJFJFJJFJJGHJGJGJGGJHGHNBHNGNBJNJG
JNBNBVJJJJGNBJGJFJGJGJJGHNBHGJGJGVJGMBJGJGJJBBNJGJGNGNGJHGJGJFFMGFJHGF
HGJFGJHGFJHGJHJGHFJHJGFJGJBNJGHJJMBMBMNMGJHJJRKIITJGJJGBMMMMBMGKGKH
JHJHJKHKHKKKGKHKHKHKHJKHHHKJKGJFKKGKKFKGKKFJGFFJJGKFKFKGKKFJGKG
KKHKJHJJBJMVBVNMJGJFJEJJRJRJJTYKYKTJTKJYIYUKJUIHITJGJBJI5ITIIJJGIJRJJJJJGJGJTU
UTUTJUTUTIYIYIHJHUJHUYUYUJGIUHJHIGUTUYJHUUYITUOYUYILUYTLULLRUL IUTUTUUUUOII IYUIYTKHKLKGJHKFKKTKGLGLGLG;;T;;T;T;T;LHKHG;T;;T;;Y;Y;Y;JKHKKLLTLLTLTLLTKY
LLLLTLYKLUKLKHKKGLLKLKRJOKTOLKLKLKKKLLKGLKKKKLKLKLGLGKLLGLKHGLL
KLHGGLGLLLGKLKLLKTLKLKTOKTKYLLLYKYKLKLKTKYLYLYKLYLLYLLYLLYLLLYUL

KYLKLYKKYKYKKLKLKLULKKLUULKLKUKKKUIKKKLULUUKKUKUKUKUKLLUKUKU
KLKYKKKYKUKLYKKKYKKKULKLLLKKKYKULYLKYL;L;;T;LKT;KKKKKKKLHLGLLFLL
LKKLKKKKKKKKKKKKKLKLHKLLKLHKLKLLGKLKGLLHLLHLHLLHLLLHLLHLLHLHLLH
OLHLHLHLHLLLHLLHLHLLYLKLHKJLKJJKLJKLLKKLJKKJKJLKKJK

I Went Camping!!! By: Hope

I gone to camping with our whole family and when we got there we went to the beach and we saw Bailey Bradley and Grandma and we had a lot of fun even we gone boating even we made craftes even we gone to Grandma’s camp site and we saw Bailey and Bradley there and even we play toys. We sleep in a tent we gone to the beach again we eat breakfast and my dad made it was good. We saw polar bears and we found a frog at the beach. Mom make smores. The End.

Keri spelled everything phonetically...she really does know how to spell;-)

Photo Friday - Hope

Proof that there is always hope...

No matter what you are going through at this moment in your life.

There is always hope, you just have to look past the clouds to find it.

Have a great weekend:-)

A girl who knows what she wants...

This is my spunky girl, Hope, she is 5 years old

Hope is our 4th child.  She is 5 years old and is definitely a girly girl...she does NOT get that from me, it is just an inborn thing...or something like that.

Hope has such a spunky personality.  I use the term spunky, but really I mean "stubborn", "hard headed", "strong-willed"...you get my point.  Spunky.

She is the one child that I have the hardest time dealing with.  She is our daddy's girl...She will say anything to make him happy:-) (even that she likes the Habs...booo!)

Choosing which earrings to buy

Dancing to the song on the radio

Today I took her out shopping for the Christmas gifts for everyone.  We went to the dollar store, because she would have a huge selection.  I think she was just too excited to even think about what people wanted, I would tell her a name and she would grab the first thing she saw on the shelf.  We were done in 15 minutes!!  I think the older kids will have fun with her choices still, and it is something she will be excited to see the others opening.

Can this be her future but   
with more teeth?

 I think she just soaked up the one on one time with me.  It isn't often that I get to treat her to a morning out, even if it only takes 15 minutes.  I was thinking that maybe she was having behavioural issues because when she was just 2, a time when she needed us, we were busy at the hospital so much with Faith.  We thought, because she was so young, she wouldn't notice, but I think the opposite happened.  Life happens and you gotta go with the flow...so I think we are going to start setting up regular dates with her, while she seems to need a bit more...

She loved the idea that we went away on a family trip and spent
some special time with just the older ones - and she was older!

After our shopping trip, I told Hope that we get to stop for a treat on the way home.  I offered to buy her an Egg Nog milkshake from McD's, because of how much she loves egg nog...she said no.  So, next I suggested a McFlurry...that is a huge treat.  She wasn't interested in that either.  Instead, this time, I asked her what she wanted. 

She said she wanted Fruitopia.  Yup, that is what she asked for.  Out of the whole menu. Fruitopia.  I asked her if she was sure, I mean, there was ice cream, and stuff, and she chose Fruitopia.  I said, ok that is what we will get.  Then she said...

And a burger too, actually...a happy meal!!  I want a toy!! 

This is my Hopie, she knows what she wants...and how to get it!!