Unicorn day...just to remind myself they exist.

 Today has been a unicorn day and I'm writing this post to remind myself that days like this DO exist, especially when we have a hard day. I picked Lauren up for a dentist appointment, which she was less than thrilled (and even less cooperative) for. I picked her up from school before lunch, so we got McDonalds as a treat on our way home (no cavities!). Then she played in her backyard blow up pool. Then we went for a bike ride around the block and she rode almost the entire time by herself! Then we played with sidewalk chalk together. We played rock paper scissors. She went to bed with a fairly average amount of arguing, nothing much to write home about. 

It was a GREAT day. 

I had her IEP this morning and that went great too. Lauren started the year reading at a DRA level 6 and is finishing up at level 14. That is really great progress. There's summer programming the district is offering and it appeared as though special education students like Lauren weren't invited to attend. So I wrote an email (kind, but not happy) asking about it and ended up getting a call today from Lauren's program director saying she can sign up for whatever I want to sign her up for and they'll make sure she's accommodated and the work is modified! 

I'm feeling incredibly blessed. Lauren was officially invited onto the children's waiver program so hopefully within the next couple of months we'll have medicaid in place and can start thinking of respite/CLS hours. 

It just feels like we've had so many blessings!

It's June!

 The countdown is on. 17 days until the last day of school for the year! I'm both excited and terrified. This is my first summer not working full time since I became a mom. I'm buying a summer pass to our local community pool (this is lofty, unsure if this will be safe or realistic to do by myself with Lauren during the week but I'm willing to try). I've almost abandoned all pretense of bedtime and I don't care what they eat for lunch at school anymore, LOL.

Hockey started! I joined an instructional league with my twin sister and last week was the first week. It was so much fun, I'm so glad we signed up. I've been feeling pretty good lately which is a huge blessing. I still have good days and bad days, but lately my bad days are tolerable. I'm of course nervous with hot weather coming but really hopeful my new treatment plan will help.

Ryan is doing great and has been pretty happy. He's excited for summer break, but not excited that we are planning to find some summer learning opportunities for him. He is definitely excited to go up north this summer! He's been driving the Razor side by side around the campground and is getting more comfortable with it every weekend! This past weekend he even went on the trails in the woods (with Greg) for a little bit. He was even talked (aka guilted) into giving Lauren a ride a couple times and she loved it.

Lauren was a total champ this weekend!! Usually while we're up north at the campground I spend a whole lot of time making sure Lauren is safe, happy, entertained, etc and it can feel a whole lot like parenting in a different place while every other adult socializes. But this weekend she was seriously so good. She played Yahtzee (by herself and with us) as well as another fun dice game she kind of invented (a mix of Yahtzee and Tenzi). She's big into her imaginary friend (who she claims is her sister and is also named Lauren, it gets confusing) and I can tell her to "go play with your sister" when I need a break and she actually does. She barely whined, was super good when we went out to dinner, and played great with the other kids at the campground. She hung out with grandma while we took Ryan to Meijer for a little bit. It was a unicorn weekend, honestly. 

I'm trying to get Lauren more engaged in our every day life and spending less time on electronics. It's part of her bedtime routine to eat a snack and watch YouTube. She's usually pretty great about self limiting this and loves to play with her toys or play in the backyard. She has a few workbooks (she's working about a late kindergarten/early first grade level for most academics) she loves to work on. She's been really into coloring lately. A friend up north helped her watercolor paint a rose this weekend, it was so sweet!. She always loves to read books, we have a huge Thirty One tote filled with books for her to choose from.

We're only going up north one more weekend this month because we've got plans every other weekend. Our backyard is about to see some serious changes (Greg needs to rip out the deck to make way for the concrete patio that should be poured in a couple weeks), we have a wedding to go to, a birthday party, a friend of Lauren's has an Epilepsy walk coming up at the zoo at the end of the month. June looks really fun! And in July Lauren starts soccer, she's playing on the same team as her cousin and my twin sister and I are coaching. Hot weather aside, I love summer!