Odds & Ends...

I'll be participating in THIS a bit later today. Very much looking forward to it.. the good ole braincells are in desperate need of a work-out. [Update at 1 pm: Very disappointing telecon. Not much discussion of science. Regurgitation of same ole tired mantras. Dr. Jon Poling just joined the call...Hannah Poling's mom just joined too (sorry.. forgot her name) - is stressing need for utter care in exposing child with underlying mito disorder to viral and infectious stressors, as those can trigger a 'mito' episode... No kidding.. Kinda seeing that right now in Salmander]

Salamander is back into 'voracious reading mode'.. and I am THRILLED!!!! I'll be working on a larger 'what Lindamood-Bell programs did for Salamander' post as I have time today and tomorrow. And along those line, math is going really well too. Math facts are now solid and are becoming more and more automatic (something they accomplished in a little over 32 hours that school/I have not been able to accomplish in 5 years; the teaching/instruction methodologies used obviously can make a HUGE difference). The Norwell center office manager asked me yesterday if I was willing to become a reference for parents of kids with similar profiles to Salamander's, and I gladly accepted. Sure the program is NOT cheap, but then again, all good programs come at a cost (I've learned the hard way that cheap & good do not apply when it comes to programs for our kids). But look at the Return on Investment here...

Got inquiries from Salamander's teacher yesterday as to why Salamander is so 'very exhausted lately'. I clamped down on my immediate 'you got to be kidding me, he's only been back in school since last week Thursday. He just had the flu' knee-jerk response, and instead just provided factual information to address the question. As in "He just had the flu. He has a mito/meta dysfunction that affect his energy levels to begin with. Flu made it worse. It'll be a while until energy levels come back up, we're working on it. Crazy winter weather is not helping. Keep me posted and let me know if his fatigue levels interfere with school work." We'll see what comes back.

Am taking BOTH boys to an "Arts and Crafts" event at Potatey's school tonite (yes, two kids.. by myself.. ). Salamander was resistant to going this morning, but I explained to him that I will NOT break a promise that I made to Potatey (plus Potatey is missing out on enough 'just regular kid' stuff as is), that I expect Salamander to come along, but that he can bring his MP3 player and a book and that he can use those 'to withdraw' for the duration that Potatey and I will be doing craft stuff.

Got to get scrambling on making arrangements for a school vaca camp for Feb vacation. I had wanted to take that entire week off - is not going to happen. I missed almost 3 weeks of solid working time and I am waaaay behind. Boys have indicated that they really want to go back to the indoor Waterpark that we visited two times before. I'll try to set that up for the Friday/weekend at the back end of the Feb vacation week (and yes, we won't be taking Daddy along this time...).

Off I go now.. have a bunch of things to get done BEFORE noon time..