I'm such a slacker!

Okay, so I routinely check the blogs of my friends, and am always so sad when they haven't posted anything lately. Yeah. Then I realized I hadn't posted anything either. Slacker!

Things have been good here. Marc and Tyler had a wonderful time at Halloween...Tyler was Buzz Lightyear and Marc was Woody. They were so cute! I wasn't home...I was at the barn for the party and costume contest. Ranger was a bumblebee. People really enjoyed his cute costume, and Ranger didn't really care that he had pipecleaner and pom-pom antennae attached to the top of his halter. I was walking him around the arena for the "parade", and I asked him if he thought he should learn how to "buzz"; I'm not kidding you when he shook his head NO!!! Too funny...I swear he's part human.

Marc's feet were doing well with the new orthotics, but are bothering him again. This poor guy just can't get a break! So, he'll probably have to schedule another appointment with the podiatrist. The good thing is that the doctor is AWESOME, so we know he'll continue to do whatever he can to make Marc more comfortable. I told Marc he just needs to ask for a bilateral foot transplant and get it over with!

Tyler and I got our flu shots today...talk about one sad little boy. It went very quickly, and he freaked out because he saw the needle right before it made contact with his shoulder, but overall did better than I expected. I thought he'd try to crawl into my shirt with me to get away from the Mean Nurse.

Tyler continues to read like a champ! He's sounding out words that I never thought he'd be able to, and he's amazing both us and his teacher.

On a crappy note (or good, depending on how you look at it), Tyler does NOT qualify for PT and OT services through the school system. Apparently he's too good. At first I was really, really pissed, because they're supposed to provide services for those who need it. Then, after some explanation, I realized that he doesn't qualify because his limitations do not affect him academically. He can perform virtually all of the tasks he encounters in the classroom, he can participate in P.E. and out on the playground. Outside, on the play equipment, he shows that he understands his limitations, and recognizes the need for personal safety...he won't go on anything, or up anything, that he's not comfortable with or doesn't have help with. So, his self preservation skills are quite sharp, and therefore he's not in any danger of hurting himself.

So, back we go to the hospital on the other side of town (20 minutes one way) once a week for therapy. We do what we have to do of course, but damn! It would have been really nice for him to get services at the school. It would've saved us time and gas. Ho hum.

I am extremely pleased that he's doing so well. One thing the school OT said was that his left arm/hand are about as good as they're ever going to get. That ticked off both Marc and me. Neither one of us will accept her opinion; we've seen Tyler come way too far in almost 6 years, and we know he can continue to improve. What bothers me about her comment is this: what if she says that to parents who aren't as involved with their child's issues as we are? Do they just take her opinion as "gospel" and give up on their child? I understand that she may not want to tell parents to expect miracles with the therapy, but good Lord! You can't say that's as good as a kid is going to get...how do you know that??!!!!! Can you tell that it really bothered me??!!!

Breathe....

The weather here has been wonderful...low to mid seventies during the day and in the fifties at night. We haven't had much rain, but are expecting some this Friday.

Speaking of Friday....it's our 10th anniversary!! Can you believe this man has put up with me for ten years already! It seems like yesterday when we got married...jeez, time flies. We'll go out for dinner Friday night (we'll take Tyler with us), and then on Saturday Tyler is going to our neighbor's house for the day...and we're going on a big honkin' trail ride! Yes, Marc is finally going to go with me on a psycho-crazy ride. He's borrowing one of the horses from the barn and I'll be riding Ranger. The last time I went to this place is when Ranger ran my right ankle into a tree and then slid downhill into the trees...and wound up wearing me around his neck like a scarf. My ankle is still screwed up from that! I'm really excited that Marc is going with us...now he'll see that I'm not embellishing the details about these rides. I think he'll have a lot of fun, and it'll be awesome for him to see what Ranger and I can do together.

I have officially completed ALL of my Christmas shopping. Scary, huh? I had to order some stuff for Tyler's birthday, so I decided to save myself some shipping costs later and just get everything now. I cannot explain to you how relieved I am that it's done already. I'm sure the UPS and FedEx guys are going to think I'm nuts...

So, Tyler's birthday is on a Thursday this year, so we're having his first official true-blue birthday party on Saturday! I'm so excited! It's a Scooby-Doo party; that's what he picked. We're holding it at the local mom-n-pop pizza place, and let me tell you, what a deal that is! For six one-topping pizzas and three pitchers of soda, it's $36!! Additional pizzas are $8 and pitchers of soda are $3. We can decorate the area any way we want, and there's a game room for the kids to play in after they eat. There's also an all-you-can-eat buffet for anyone who wants that instead of pizza...and the place will only charge $8 per person. I'm pretty sure I've spent more on the decorations/supplies than I will on the facility/food.

Side note: Mom and Dad, it's the pizza place you went to with us here in Millbrook.

I'm working at the barn more these days than I am with my neighbors. It's a "dry" time of year for the type of work we do, so the work for me is scarce right now. So, I spend those extra days at the barn, working off my board. In the spring, though, I'll be stupid-busy, and will probably be lucky to get to the barn twice a week!

I'm going to post this now, and then dork around a while to see if I can figure out how to post pictures...