Changing Of The Guard In CHARGE!

Andi isn't yet fully aware, but there will soon be a changing of the guard In CHARGE.  Her life is about to change very drastically, as is mine.  After being at home for 5 years, and working only part-time these past 4.5 years, I am prepping to go back to work full-time in one week.  Andi will be going from school to after-school care with a bunch of strangers.  The good thing is that this after-school care will give her an opportunity to immerse herself in a group of peers who aren't hard-of-hearing.  I think it will encourage further growth and development.  In fact, I'm banking on it.  In Andi's current classroom, she honestly is the only kid who is totally verbal.  She gets a lot of attention from the teachers/aides/office staff and she soaks up all the conversation.  However, her interactions with peers is sorely lacking, and I'm confident immersion will help her learn quickly the social rules that all the other kids already know.

Another aspect of shock will be Mom not being there.  I've been there almost every single day, day and night... and that is going to change completely.  I will not be the point person to all-things-Andi.  I will not be the main contact for issues, the person to call for pick-up, questions about medical history, levels of care, seriously, ...all things Andi.  I will not be there to protect her from everything, or swoop in and make things better when they go bad.  This is going to be tough on all of us, as most drastic change is... but I'm so eager for it, I can taste it.  But the change will be an adjustment for all.

This afternoon, we are starting at after-school care.  I have to pick up Andi for her first ENT appointment here in Georgia.  Her tubes are out of place and we're hoping they will remove them.  We are going to get an opinion on if a new set is needed.  Her right ear (the aided one) is draining, and we haven't had any ear infections, so I'm guessing she does not need a new set at this time.  Which is great, as we're still paying off the set from August 2013.  *thumbs up!*

So, after her appointment this afternoon, I will take her to "go play with the kids."  Thus, starting an introductory week of transition to a new routine.  Andi really likes kids, almost too much.  She touches kids a lot and hasn't really learned all the social rules, so, this should be a great learning adventure for her. However, because she isn't yet potty trained, she will be in a room with younger kids.  They said they would work with her on that... I hope so, because I definitely need help with this obstacle.

So here we are in our last week of the first chapter.  Man, it has been such a wild ride.  We are uber grateful for the ability to have worked from home, even part-time, so we could get Andi through so many horrible storms.  Eight surgeries and nearly five months in the hospital.  More appointments with a variety of specialists than I can count.  Feeding  clinics, PT, OT, speech, ENT, audiology, cardiology, urology, ...wow, it's been a lot of hands helping us get her to her current superstar level.

Which reminds me, last week, Andi had a two-hour speech evaluation at a therapy service clinic down the street.  We are doing all her evaluations so we can start weekly therapy (PT, OT, Speech) outside of school.  She was given a standard test on vocabulary comprehension.  They stop the test when the child gets a certain number of answers wrong.  Well, Andi kept going, and going, and going.  The therapist was rather surprised.  Her words were, 'blown away', actually.  Andi was scoring in the 6-7 year old range at 4.5.  Pretty impressive.  Sadly, I could've told her that prior to administering that test.  What we need to work on is enunciation and breaking through to better speech sounds/clarity.  In any case, it was really cool to have an official test confirm what we already knew to be true.  Wednesday, she will have her third evaluation, a two-hour appointment with OT.  I don't know how we'll work out the logistics of all these therapies, but that will no longer be my responsibility!  Again, the changing of the guard in CHARGE is about to commence.  It's going to get very interesting around here really quick.  Hopefully, I won't miss this chapter too much.  I'm looking forward to writing a new one, a well-overdue new chapter.

FROZEN Potty Training

Imagine a little girl.  She gets all the words, but doesn't yet get the action.  Frustrated, her Mom starts singing her own words to the tune, "Let It Go!" from the movie Frozen:

Let It Flow! Let It Flow!
Let it flow out your woo-woo hole!
Let It Flow! L-E-T   I-T   F-L-O-W!!!
Let it flow, this is getting old!

I don't care, how long we sit here! 

You want to wear big girl underwear!!!

Rinse & Repeat. 
*thumbs up!*

Holiday Photos

Here's a collection of holiday photos of our big girl!

VIDEO: HOLIDAY PROGRAM

Here's the video from Andi's Holiday Program at school!  Andi is front row and center!

Andi Bean: Pre-K School Photos

Practice, Practice, Practice...

As we approach the beginning of a new school year, I find myself hoping this year will really help Andi make friends.  Earlier today, I took her over to 'Catch Air' to play and get a good workout in, mainly practicing walking.  She was so desperate to make contact with other kids, that at times, she didn't even want to go play.  She just wanted to try to engage others who weren't really into it.  She was very excited, and very sweet, but some kids just aren't.  One boy almost got a taste of my version of Madea (the Tyler Perry character).  Andi was trying to follow these kids up the stairs to this raised box landing.  It is surrounded in protective netting, but looks out over half the building.  This lil' sh*t was trying to push those big rubber bouncing exercise balls down the stairs... the same stairs Andi was trying to get up.  Thank goodness I'm one of those overbearing parents that is right there in the action, because this kid could have chucked one of those big balls down, and taken Andi out, causing her to fall down the stairs.  I told him to wait and let her get up there.  Andi got up there, stood up at the opening, and the lil' sh*t was blocking her entrance.  She thought it was funny, and was tapping him in the belly and laughing.  I wasn't amused, but I told myself to let her play this out and see how she handles it.  Next thing I see her on the ground and he's holding a ball over her... then he's laying on the ball pushing it on her.  I went up to retrieve her and told this lil' sh*t not to lay on people, that it's not nice.  No parent to be found.  WTF?!  I know I'm hover-Mom (with reason), but what you're going to let you lil' ill-behaved child practice their WWE moves on my child?  Oh HELL No!  So, I took her downstairs and tried to explain that not all kids are nice, and we immediately went to climb up the other play-structure so we could fly down the slide.   I took Andi here to play for about an hour, because it's really good therapy (and only $8.55), it's socially engaging -- which she absolutely craves, and because I've had her cooped up in the house for nearly two weeks due to her nasty case of impetigo.  The scabs are gone, but the dark purple marks where the scabs were remain.  Pretty nasty thing she had. 

In any case, she burned some serious energy and has now resumed position on the couch with her iPad.  I'm so excited for her to start school next week so she can play with her peers, and those kids will be supervised and likely to have better manners than wrestlemania's evil grandson.  Asshat. 
Andi's just such a good kid, and so eager to socialize, I'm excited for her to get regular doses of it.  We all need to take some lessons from her on being outgoing and friendly.  As the older we get, the more we seem to forget how we're supposed to behave (especially the rude-drivers here in Atlanta! Yes, you, the eager beaver who felt the need to cut me off so you could beat me to the red light!)   So, six more days of summer break, and then Andi is back in school.  She will have a new bus driver, whom according to Andi's babysitter, used to play with Gladys Knight & The Pips... how cool is that?!  So, I'm anxiously awaiting word of what time pick-up will be this year. Every day this week, I'm working on waking her up a little earlier than usual to prep for bus-time.  This Thursday evening, she has open-house at school, which we will attend.  Hopefully, they did relocate her classroom, because that last one I lobbied to have reevaluated was simply way too small for 8 kids and three adults.  It was also the furthest away from the bus drop-off area. She's excited to go back to school and is looking forward to seeing Miss Joan, her teacher!  I keep telling her to never lose her passion for school, because as of now, she's never getting out!  (HA!) 





 

Potty Training and Job Hunting ... Pretty Much The Same Thing

Today, Andi has tried several hours of potty training, unsuccessfully.  She seems to know not to go when she's bare-butt.  But, she hasn't yet made that connection to let it go on the potty.  She just seems to "hold-it", which isn't good for a long time, per her former urologist.  After a few hours, she wouldn't let me put a diaper back on.  I pushed and pushed, and thankfully, she relented.  Will try again, but I really seem to lack the patience and consistency of potty training.  I'm about to beat my head against a wall over it though.

At the urging of Daddy Bean & a lack of job offers blowing up my phone, I've resurrected Anna's INK, which is also now Anna's INK 123 -- due to some unfortunate tattoo lady stealing my old name.  There's a Facebook page, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a website showcasing a small sampling of my portfolio.  For some of the jobs I've applied for, they've required a portfolio or writing samples.  Being I have four Facebook pages, four Twitter accounts, four g-mail accounts, this blog, two videos out on You Tube, and a book that I haven't yet finished... this website might be a great one-stop shopping showcase of all things I do.  Not to mention all this dazzling personality and talent!  HA!  Here's a quick list of links of all my greatness.  May it help me find a dreamy job to replace my current one that is ready for me to be gone. 

Calendar Website:

http://www.chargecalendar.com

Anna’s INK Website:

http://abeano528.wix.com/annas-ink

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CHARGECalendar

https://twitter.com/AnnasINK123

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Charge-Through-The-Year-2015-Wall-Calendar

https://www.facebook.com/AnnasINK123