Cordy Archives - Page 8 of 56

Sep 24, 2012

Birthday Weekend Extravaganza

I probably should have written a post on Friday, but I was still too in shock over the realization that I was now the mother of an eight year old. Cordy’s birthday was Friday and I spent the early morning just staring at her and wondering where all of the time went.

You mean she’s not a baby anymore?

Eight feels so much more grown up than seven. She’s crossing that threshold into big kid now (I can’t even think of the word tween yet) which is both exciting and frightening. Cordy gained so many new skills in the past year and pushes for more independence, but at the same time she’s still so very innocent and unsure of the world.

We didn’t have an official party for her this year. She doesn’t really like parties. Besides, we had a big reunion of friends to attend on Saturday – including several kids she’s friends with – so we were happy to combine occasions and just bring a cake with us to the gathering. Then on Sunday we had family visiting, so Cordy had the chance to celebrate her birthday with them, too.

Instead of one day of celebrating, it turned into a weekend-long birthday extravaganza.

On Friday, after she received a few presents from us, we took her out to dinner at her favorite restaurant with her uncle and aunt. As we sat down and the server handed us menus, Cordy got her attention and brightly exclaimed, “Hi, it’s my birthday today, but please don’t sing to me!” She has never liked people singing to her – it’s a sensory issue she’s had since she was young. Singing to her usually results in her hiding under a table for awhile.

Thankfully, the server understood, and when the meal was done she quietly slipped Cordy a hot fudge sundae and a balloon with no crowd of servers to sing at her. And so dinner ended with everyone happy and Cordy still in her seat and not under the table.

On Saturday we made the drive up to northern Ohio to spend the day with friends. The house we go to is just outside of a small town, with lots of backyard to run and play in. What started as a semi-warm, sunny day quickly turned into rain for over an hour. After it stopped, the kids quickly ran outside again, ignoring the drop in temperature. (How do their small bodies keep from freezing?) It wasn’t long before we were all being ordered by the kids to come outside and see the amazing sky.

The kids were right:

You could see both ends of the rainbow.

Completely unedited photos shot with my iPhone.

As we marveled at the most beautiful rainbow I’ve ever seen, Cordy ran to me and said, “Look, mommy! The sky gave me a rainbow for my birthday! That’s such a nice gift!” She was right, it was a lovely gift.

On Sunday the festivities continued. Aaron took Cordy and Mira to Chuck E Cheese for an early lunch (another request from Cordy) while I straightened up the house. They came home just as family arrived to spend time with Cordy, and different family members cycled through as the day went on.

As much as she wanted her birthday to last forever, Cordy was also showing signs of overload by mid-day. She spent much of the late afternoon in the dining room working in one of her new workbooks while everyone else was in the living room, and later went to her room to be alone for a bit. I was able to coax her back down before dinner, though.

By 8:30pm, the house was finally quiet again. And I was exhausted. I’m still exhausted. It was great to see friends and family this weekend, but I’m looking forward to spending much of the next few days working by myself.

But Cordy had a great birthday, and that’s what matters the most. Happy birthday to the warrior princess!

Filed Under: Autism, Cordy, family time, growing up, memories ·

Sep 13, 2012

The Transportation Situation

By Christina ·

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen my frequent complaints about the buses for our elementary school. We’re a few weeks into the school year now, so you’d think that any issues with transportation would have been smoothed out by now, right? Ha.

I completely gave up on the afternoon bus after it was clear that they were never going to make it to our house in under an hour and a half, and usually longer than that. Driving an hour round-trip is inconvenient for me, but I’m finding it makes for much happier little girls. And they are usually home, have eaten a snack and finished homework before the bus would have even been at our door.

The morning bus is still a problem, though. I can count on one hand the number of times it’s been here on time (within 5-10 minutes of scheduled time) in the past 3.5 weeks and still have fingers available.

There are two big problems with the morning bus being late. First, we have to wait forever at the door for the bus. Two kids waiting at the door for 5-10 minutes are a little rowdy. Two kids waiting at the door for over 20 minutes start to get into trouble quickly. And since I have to walk them out to the bus, it means I can’t get much done until it shows up, either.

The bigger issue is with Cordy, though. With the bus getting here late, it turns out it was arriving late to school, too. And Cordy, who is Type-A to the extreme with her autism, really does not like being late.

We didn’t know anything about this until her special-needs support teacher emailed us last Wednesday to report that Cordy had a meltdown at school that day. The bus arrived late to school, which immediately threw her off. She was anxious that she would have a “black mark” on her record for being late, and even though everyone reassured her that she wasn’t responsible, she still believed she was in trouble.

Then later in the day, her class was lined up for recess and her second grade teacher had to talk loudly (“yell”) so that her class could hear her over the chatter and the three fans trying to keep the classroom cool. She was trying to get the attention of the whole class, but Cordy was convinced the teacher was yelling at her for being late that day. Cordy became upset, hiding under her desk and crying, and had to be taken to the special-needs classroom for a time out.

After she calmed down, she went back to her class, but needed an aide with her for the rest of the day. Since then she’s still anxious on days when the bus is late, and is still diving under her desk when the teacher gets too loud. Her teachers are very understanding, and the school has been doing everything possible to complain to transportation to get the issue corrected.

On Tuesday, we waited for the bus for nearly an hour. The last fifteen minutes of that time was spent on hold on the phone as I waited to speak to someone in transportation to find out where the bus might be. I finally gave up, packed the girls in the car and drove them to school, knowing that we would be late even with driving straight there. Cordy was anxious, but we talked the entire way there about how it wasn’t her fault and her teachers were just as upset with the bus for being late.

We got to school five minutes late. I walked in with her, met up with her teacher so Cordy understood that we were all in agreement that she wasn’t in trouble, and then I left. I later learned the bus arrived at 9:30am, half an hour after the school day started. WOW.

Angry emails to the district’s transportation department were sent. (Since it’s impossible to get to them by phone.) The school’s principal assured us she was also working on the problem from her side, too, and that our bus wasn’t the only one having troubles arriving on time.

And then yesterday? The bus was four minutes early! Good thing I opened the door ahead of time.

Problem solved? Too soon to tell, but I hope so.

It’s ridiculous that the transportation department can’t get buses to school on time. Beyond the anxiety issues it’s causing with Cordy, children arriving late to school affects the entire school. It’s distracting to the classrooms, and it’s stealing precious time from these kids that should be spent in education, not sitting on a late bus.

Filed Under: Autism, Cordy, school ·

Sep 5, 2012

What’s In A Name?

By Christina ·

For as sweet as Cordy appears, there’s a strong stubborn streak in her that many don’t realize until they’ve spent some time with her. She was by far the most strong-willed toddler I’ve ever encountered, and although she tends to be more cheerful than angry, she is very set in her ways and unwilling to waver.

Lately, we’ve been having a strange issue with Cordy that has had me puzzled. She’s decided that if she doesn’t like the name for something, or has already named it before learning of the item/animal/person’s real name, she’ll call it whatever she decides. Never mind that you tell her the correct name – if she doesn’t like it, she re-names it.

Over Labor Day weekend we went to the Ohio Renaissance Festival. As we crossed the big bridge in the middle of the village, Cordy marveled at how it went three different directions and declared it to be “The Triple Bridge!”

“Actually, Cordy, this bridge is named the Y-bridge. Can you think of why it would named that?”

“Ummm…because they wonder WHY it has three parts to make it the Triple Bridge?”

“No…it’s because it’s shaped like the letter Y. So they named it the Y bridge.”

“Well, I think it’s named the Triple Bridge.”

“Sorry, sweetie, it’s not. The real name is the Y bridge.”

“Well, the real name is the Triple Bridge for me.”

While object names aren’t that big of a deal, it’s the naming of people that gets more difficult. She still sees her Pre-K teacher at school and refers to her by her maiden name, even though she’s been married for a few years now. That teacher had a baby last year, too, and Cordy decided the baby’s name should be Sunshine. No matter how often we told her the baby’s name, she insisted the baby was Sunshine.

When we visited her school right before the start of the school year a few weeks ago, she saw one of the aides in the hallway and gave her a big hug.

“This is Ms. Fox!”

The aide responded, “Actually, Cordy, that’s not my name anymore. I got married and so I have a new name. My name is now Mrs. lastname, but I know that’s hard to say, so you can just call me Mrs. R now.”

Cordy paused and thought for a moment. “No, that’s OK, I’ll just keep calling you Ms. Fox! I like that name better.”

Sigh.

And if that wasn’t enough, she also creates new words based on mispronouncing words she reads in books. (She’s way ahead of grade level in reading, so she encounters lots of new words in the books she reads.) If she doesn’t know how to pronounce a word, Cordy makes up her own pronunciation. When you tell her how the word is actually pronounced, she’ll continue to use her version anyway, no matter how many times she’s corrected.

I’m not sure when this phase will pass, but I hope it’s soon. I can appreciate her desire for some control over her surroundings, although I’m getting really confused by multiple names for people and things. At this point I feel I need to keep a Cordy-to-real life translation dictionary just to keep up with her.

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, school ·

Aug 30, 2012

Don’t Let The Praise Go To Your Head

By Christina ·

We signed the girls up for gymnastics over the summer. The once a week classes were our best hope for our two daughters developing any coordination, balance, or the ability to not trip and fall while walking on a smooth, level surface.

Both kids insisted they wanted to take gymnastics for the fall session, so we signed them up again. Last night was the first night of gymnastics, and both Cordy and Mira did a fantastic job. We were really impressed with how enthusiastic they were and how much progress they made in a single night. So impressed, in fact, that we told them on the way home that we had a surprise for them.
“Since you worked so hard tonight at gymnastics,” Aaron told the girls, “we’re stopping for ice cream on the way home!”

“YAY!!” both girls cheered.

“You’re the BEST parents in the WHOLE WORLD!” Cordy exclaimed.

Mira looked at her sister and sighed. “Weeelllll…I don’t know about the WHOLE WORLD, but they’re pretty nice sometimes.”

Filed Under: Aaron, Cordy, daily life, kid logic, love, Mira ·

Aug 29, 2012

Two Kids, One School, One Bus, One Car

By Christina ·

Friday was a first not only for Mira, but for me. Because of our school’s late start for kindergarten, Mira had to wait two days after Cordy to begin the school year. But then the morning came, and she anxiously waited for the bus with her backpack on her shoulders.

Right next to her sister.

It was the first time I was sending both of them off on the same bus, to the same school. I may have a shed a tear. Of happiness.

For once, I didn’t have to keep track of two kids and schedules at three different schools. (Mira did a half day of preschool at a private preschool, then a half day at our local school district last year.) I didn’t have to wait for two bus drop-offs. I didn’t have to schedule parent-teacher conferences at different schools across the city. Logistically, it’s a dream come true.

Mira’s first day started a little rough, though. I let them both ride the bus that morning, even though I had to be there for kindergarten orientation. When I walked into the school, right at the end of breakfast, I saw Mira standing in the middle of the cafeteria with a group of teachers and aides around her. She was crying and they were wiping something off of her. A teacher quickly told me it was orange juice, and it had sprayed all over her dress and shoes.

Nearby, Cordy was yelling at another girl, “How DARE you spill juice on my little sister on her first day! You’re awful!” Cordy was completely incensed, to the point of making the (older) girl cry. I tried to calm Cordy down, assuring her it was an accident and apologizing to the other girl for Cordy yelling at her. Seeing Cordy stand up for Mira was not something I expected for Mira’s first day.

After meeting with the kindergarten teacher, I went outside to say goodbye to Mira on the playground. She was near tears again, frustrated that a group of boys could jump up and grab a bar on the playground equipment but she couldn’t quite reach. I gave her a hug, encouraged her to make friends instead of get frustrated, and then left, hoping she’d keep it together for the day.

The only big problem with Mira’s first day was the afternoon bus. The bus was scheduled to drop them off at 4:30pm. It’s an hour ride, which is long, but tolerable when they go to school on the other side of the city.

Cordy’s first day, the bus didn’t drop her off until after 5:30pm. The driver assured us it was just a first day issue, and they’d be closer to schedule the next day. On Thursday, the bus dropped her off at 5:20pm, with the driver saying, “We’re getting better!” It didn’t feel better, honestly. But I hoped they would get it right on the third day.

The bus dropped the girls off at 5:10pm, forty minutes after the scheduled time. Way too long, in my opinion. It wasn’t a good situation and I wanted an alternative.

And then common sense hit me: hey, I have both kids at one school! I don’t have to let them ride a long time because I’m waiting on another bus that will get here sooner, like I did last year!

So on Monday, I made the choice to pick them up from school. It’s a little inconvenient for me, but one hour out of my day so that my daughters only spend 25 minutes traveling home from school seems worth it. And it was kinda fun: waiting with the other parents by the bike rack and seeing kids faces light up when they come out of the building and see their parents.

Tuesday, I decided to give the bus one more try, only because Mira asked to try it again. And I waited. And waited. And waited. They got here at 5:13pm. Crazy.

I’m incredibly thankful that my kids are at the same school now, and thankful for a job that gives me the flexibility to go pick them up each day so that they don’t endure an hour and a half or longer bus ride home.

I’m also so very happy that both kids are loving school, and even seem to be getting along when together at school. I’ve been told they spend their recess time playing together, which is funny when you consider at home it’s one constant battle of “leave me alone!”

While we’ve had a few tiny bumps in the road so far, I’m expecting a fantastic school year. And now I shall happily fall back into a school year routine and forget the chaos of the previous three weeks.