Yesterday was conference day for Ella and Jacob.  Jacob has struggled with his school work since, forever.  He received special ed. services as a preschooler and was placed in a DCD, Developmentally Cognitively Delayed, classroom in Kindergarten.  Mark and I both thought and stated we did not see Jacob as having delays, he was just struggling.  Whether it was because of his prematurity and early hospitalization or being adopted at 19 mos. and the adjustment to all that I don't know.  But, we always knew he would catch up.

Yesterday I walked into the classroom and the teacher was so excited she could barely contain herself.  She said, "You won't believe what Jacob did today."  She proceeded to tell me as she was retesting him quickly before our conference to check his reading level she started at the G level, the level he'd been working on.  He aced it.  She handed him the H level - aced it and answered all her comprehension questions.  Then the I level and then the J level and that's where he began to struggle a bit.  He is now at the level which is the beginning of his grade.  It's the first time his grade level and reading level are within reach - she declared, "He will be caught up by the end of this year."

We have had the privilege to witness so many fantastic accomplishments with our kids.  We may have made some good decisions along the way that helped them to achieve their successes, but most of the kids have just had incredible perseverance.  The best decision we made was to have Jacob repeat Kindergarten.  We were able to have him take Kindergarten in two different schools which really helped as he didn't have to watch former classmates pass him up.  Our second best decision was moving him to Paideia Academy.  The way they provide their sped services and the small classroom sizes they are committed to along with their school calendar that keeps them in school from mid June till early Aug., so he retains what he learned.  He also has summer fun camp at school which is designed to help with retention and - score - he loved it!

No Not Really

Yesterday after church was cra-zee in the van.  Mark loaded most of the kids up in the van while I finished my conversation and gathered the last two.  The craziness had already begun with fights between Callie and Christian and Shannie was very unhappy for some reason.

I jump in the van as Mark runs back into church to help load the storage van as it's his Sunday to help and off we go.  I decided to do the drive through.  Ella and Jacob had play date exchanges, so Jacob was with his friend and Ella's friend was with us.  Ella starts taking down the orders.  Shannie is still unhappy and crying in the back of the van.  Callie is generally patient with Shannie, but yesterday it was just too much for her sound sensitivities.

As I'm ordering, Calle starts to yell at Shannie to be quiet.  Finally I complete the order and try to cajole Callie.  Now, she's thrown her earphones, that she wears to muff the sounds, and she's taking off her seat belt.  Ella's friend undoes her seat belt and slips into the front seat, sweetly saying, "I think I'll just sit up here."  Callie starts catapulting herself over the seat towards Shannie.  Ella grabs her and Callie's face is in Chad's face - thankfully not Christian or it'd been a total knock down drag out fight.  I'm yelling at Chad, "'Push her back Chad", but he isn't able to comprehend what he should do.  So, I stop the van in the drive through line, remove my belt and grab Callie turning her around and telling her to calm down.

It should be noted that all during this Ella and I are hysterically laughing.  Perhaps we weren't exactly conveying to Callie the seriousness of her behavior, but come one, it was crazy funny.  Callie calms down a bit and we get our drinks, but have to pull forward into the #1 spot to wait for our food.  Finally the food comes and I realize I forgot to order Ella's friend's food.  So, Ella and said friend go into the McD's and order her food.  I notice Callie putting a burger wrapping into Ella's bag, but didn't think about it.

Ella and friend return and we're just about to leave and Ella says, "Hey, where's my burger?"  Oh, so that's what Callie was doing.  She had eaten all her lunch and then Ella's in the time that they spent inside ordering friend's food.  So, of course, I didn't dare go inside and Ella didn't want to go in, so through the drive through line we go again.

I was teasing good natured friend and said, "Doesn't this sort of stuff happen in your van?"  She smiled and said, "No, not really."  Ya, I didn't think so.