BasicallyFX

We had so much fun today, both Duhdee and I thanked Monkey for such a great day as we wished him good night.  What did we do?  We cleaned the basement.  Seriously.

We spent 5 hours in the basement sorting through toys, clothes, books and random crap.  We trashed tons of stuff and we have about twice as much set aside to donate.  It’s astounding how much was down there.  Even Grampy got into the spirit.  He was so impressed with how much we got done that he gave us the go ahead to clean out his stuff as well.  Monkey enjoyed playing with some of the old toys but mostly he just enjoyed running around enjoying all the new SPACE.

We were going to spend tomorrow morning doing runs to Goodwill but they don’t open early enough for us to do all of that before the plumber is due to arrive.  Fortunately, I’ve taken Tuesday off so we can do it then instead.

Who would have thought we’d have such an awesome day…cleaning?!

Today is the 100th day of school celebration (school wide), Superhero Day (school wide/part of Spirit Week – He’s wearing a Spiderman t-shirt and underwear though he has no clue who Spiderman is), Valentine’s Day and a good-bye party for one of his assistant teachers.  Phew. 

We just heard yesterday about the Valentine’s Day bit so last night Duhdee and I made up some Valentines.  I’m going to give Duhdee equal credit here because he used a razor blade to make the slits where the lollipop sticks pass through the butterfly and probably saved me a digit or two!  I think they’re super cute.

The butterfly pattern was from Skip to My Lou.  She has tons of great ideas!  I didn’t have enough googly eyes so we added antennae instead.

I sure hope Monkey enjoys his day and doesn’t get too hyperaroused by the jam packed schedule!

We have a built-in cabinet in our dining room and it’s filled with framed pictures of friends and family.  Two days ago Monkey began pointing at one of the photos and exclaiming “Yick!” 

We are so excited!  You see, he’s pointing at a picture of one of his cousins and NAMING him.  This morning I dug out a wallet sized photo of Yick and let Monkey have it.  I really have to wonder what else is in that brain of his that he hasn’t yet managed to get out. 

After nearly 5 years I had lost a bit of my belief that we’d ever experience this discovery of language with him.   I still hoped we would but I was resigning myself to a lifetime of not hearing him communicate verbally.  Now I’m getting greedy.  I want more, now!  Please?

Monkey is feeling pretty cwappy.  The fever rears it’s ugly head off and on and his nose is like a fountain of snot.  When Duhdee called the teacher to let her know Monkey would be staying home again today she said she sent 3 students home yesterday with the same cold.  They were disinfecting the classroom when we called, trying to stop the spread of this evil virus.

The teacher also informed us that one of the assistants will be spending her last day in the classroom on Friday.  She has been given a promotion to lead teacher in another class!  We’re very happy for her but Monkey will miss her.  The class will have a permanent substitute for the rest of the year.  She will return to assist in the class in July for the summer portion (this classroom runs 11 months/year vs a normal school calendar year) so we’ll be seeing her again soon.

I am starting to feel pretty cwappy too, unfortunately, but I have closings this week so I’m at work.  Bummer.

What makes this a double bummer is that our new featherbed/topper was delivered yesterday and I was really, really, really tempted to stay home and just lay in bed all day enjoying it.  As it was, I retired to the bedroom at 8PM last night after putting Monkey to bed and surfed the net and watched TV in total comfort.   Our new, super luxurious, sheets should arrive today as well.  I may never leave our bed again.  *drool*

Yesterday, I read a few messages on the FX Listserve about Therapeutic Listening.  I quickly e-mailed the OT at Children’s Hospital and Monkey’s OT at the public school inquiring about it.  I got responses from both that same day.  I learned that my insurance will not cover it but that the school has someone who is trained in it and my son’s OT and teacher have both implemented these programs in the classroom before.  They were going to discuss how to add it to Monkey’s day at their team meeting today neither the OT nor the teacher saw any reason not to try it.

Woah.  This is a perfect example of how this school system can get things done when you have the right people involved.

Regarding my insurance.  It’s awful.  They will pay for us to take Monkey to the yearly evaluations at Children’s but they will not pay for a SINGLE service that is recommended. Not even if we get a letter of medical necessity.  They simply refuse to cover anything related to developmental therapies.  If we were to pay out of pocket for the extra OT for sensory integration that Monkey could really benefit from we’d have to find an additional $1,200/month.  If I ever won the lottery, I wouldn’t retire, I’d spend it all on therapy.  So sad.