Mar Apr 2023 thoughts

3/1 - Visited with Diana Chulak, Program Manager of the Family Focus Resource & Empowerment Center here on CSUN campus. She gave me a binder to organize all of the IEP documentation.

3/10 - Soooooo nervous. My kiddo's Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting starts in 30 minutes. On zoom of course. I don't know why I'm nervous. There's nothing I can do now except participate and follow through and remember DO NOT AGREE to anything right away. I got permission to record the meeting (audio only) so that I can just be in the moment and listen to it again later. He is aging out of early intervention (EI) and aging into whatever services are offered by the public school system. We're gonna find out what they offer at this meeting.

On the plus side, kiddo is aging out of Parent & Me 2 swim lessons and aging into Guppies, Tadpoles or Starfish. Either way, a parent does not have to be in the water.

Update: The IEP meeting was fine. They are offering 1-on-1 speech therapy once per week for 1 hour. They believe he can speak in 3-4 word sentences by July. I'm not skeptical but yet I am. He has not made progress in 7 months of similar therapy. But they said 3 years brings a language explosion. So I am hopeful? I'm so hopeful that he will be able to catch up, but I'm also mindful that he may not. We started EI on the advice of his daycare teacher. Since our Marchling is an only child, we don't really have a frame of reference. He is not delayed in comprehension, just speech, so it's easy for us to forget that he is so different from his peers.

Update update: We had an assessment for EI on April 3rd. He may or may not continue to qualify for their services. They may offer a diagnosis whereas the IEP did not. The person who did the assessment said that there is a new program for ages 3-5 offered through Regional Center and Albert would be a good candidate, she will recommend that. She didn't speak to any specific diagnosis, and it didn't seem that she thought he had any of the major issues (intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism).

Update update update: What if we want more therapy and our insurance covers it... does the IEP allow us to get extra sessions covered by insurance? Or what would be the documentation needed by the insurance company?

What we did for this was take the IEP to the year 3 pediatrician appointment (March 28th) and asked her for a referral. This worked but we're still waiting for the referral to arrive in the mail.

3/23 - Oh boy. Trying to process. Birthday. Anniversary. Spring. Easter. Spring Break. Busy. Vacation. Behind at work. What are my priorities?

My To Do list for break included some sewing projects. Stuff that I can't do when LO is here because needles are dangerous and I don't want to sew through my finger.

Break is slipping away. I did an 8-week fitness challenge and it felt so hard to keep up with. I was just happy when it was over.

I think my kid has cavities in his molars. I feel horrible about it. I was so smug that he likes brushing his teeth. But I didn't really make it a priority. He was pointing to his mouth and saying ow ow. Like ouch. I thought he just had seeds from Blackberries stuck or something so I kept giving him water to rinse and swish it out. We were outdoors so I said "look up at the sky with your mouth open" and I could see them. I normally let him brush his own teeth and I haven't stuck my hand in his mouth because he used to bite my fingers when I was checking to see if his last molar had erupted. But I feel like I should've taken him to the dentist every 6 months as recommended. Hindsight I guess. Or maybe I'm overreacting. I'll get a professional opinion soon.

Pediatrician appointment on Tuesday of next week. I delegated it to my husband. He has been having to do a lot more since my teaching schedule is 5 days per week this semester. DH took LO to the initial appointment with the new speech therapist and they had to wrap up early because of a poopy diaper.

I know we're behind on milestones. Stuff like weaning, sleeping in his own bed, potty training, talking, first trip to the dentist. Gosh. I am not feeling like a total failure, just like so tired. The thought of having to get serious about setting boundaries and changing up our routine seems daunting. Like when we started to add solids (purees) on top of breastfeeding. Like just one more thing on top of the heap of things that were already making me feel overwhelmed. Like the straw that broke the camel's back. I guess that's how I feel about this dentist/toothbrush/cavity situation.

4/3 - Milestone Monday: New word = cupcake.

4/4 - Today I thought: it might be a good day to wear lipstick. I haven't worn lipstick for years so I don't know what that means. I also considered coloring my hair, which I haven't done for more than a decade, so I don't know what that's about.

Also, if you're not interested in coming to work in a wearable blanket, I don't wanna know you. We've had the longest, coldest, wettest, windiest winter here in Southern California. And understand, I grew up in blizzard country (Nebraska) but I moved here to get away from the cold. I didn't have a lot of long-sleeved shirts, sweaters or coats. I didn't own the appropriate outerwear. This winter I've had to purchase a bunch of it, it's been expensive, but now I have the warm snuggly stuff. And I am enjoying it. Maybe you wouldn't wear the giant snuggly shapeless garment, or maybe you would wear it around the house but not to work, but I am not afraid to sport it and I love it.

4/25 - Swim Lesson Update: kiddo was promoted to GUPPIES on his skills not his age. So proud!