Subbotnik On A Wednesday

Today Ella and I put in our annual volunteering hours at her new school which starts after Labor Day.  Along with other families, we spent six hours getting the building and grounds ready for the school year which gave Ella a great opportunity to become familiar with the facility as well as meet some administrators and even some of her teachers.

Ella was assigned to help in the art room.  She went through several hundred markers to check if they still worked and also decorated some pins the teacher wants to use for displays throughout the year. I spent my time sweeping floors, pulling weeds, washing windows, making signs, dusting, and moving furniture.

During my rounds through the school, I was able to snap a lot of photos.  Here are one of two art classrooms on the left, a language arts classroom in the middle, and a history classroom on the right:

And here a performing arts classroom on the left, a garden that has been allowed to overgrow this summer in preparation for a Modern Day Pioneering class, and one of several lunch rooms from among which the students can choose each day:

It was a sweaty, dirty day, but we're looking forward to Open House this weekend and for Ella to start her exciting Wednesday and Friday schedule in this program.

Trauma & Self-Harm

"We can conclude that trauma may play a role in development of both trichotillomania and skin picking. Increased duration of trichotillomania or skin picking was correlated with decreased presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms. The reason for the negative correlation of severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms and self-harming behavior may be speculated as developing trichotillomania or skin picking symptoms helps the patient to cope with intrusive thoughts related to trauma."

When a traumatized child was encouraged to refrain from skin picking...

IAC Results 465-67

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 465 which was held on June 6, 2019:

1) Spanish dossier from September 2012 referred a male child aged 3 years and 1 month

2) French dossier from September 2013 referred a male child aged 7 years and 8 months with a family history

3) Spanish dossier from March 2015 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status

4) Italian dossier from January 2015 referred two sisters aged 7 years and 5 months & 9 years and 8 months with features in health status

5) US dossier from January 2018 referred a brother and sister aged 8 years and 10 months & 8 years with features in health status and a family history

6) Italian dossier from March 2019 referred a male child aged 10 years and 6 months with a family history

7) US dossier from May 2019 referred a waiting child (#3686) with a profile in the MOJ site
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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 466 which was held on June 13, 2019:

1) Spanish dossier from August 2012 referred a male child aged 4 years and 5 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from September 2013 referred a male child aged 7 years and 8 months

3) French dossier from December 2014 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status

4) Italian dossier from March 2017 referred two sisters aged 9 years and 10 months & 8 years and 3 months with features in health status

5) US dossier from June 2019 referred three waiting children (#3737 & #3738 & #3739 ) with profiles on the MOJ site
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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 467 which was held on June 27, 2019:

1) Italian dossier from December 2015 referred two brothers aged 4 years and 5 months & 3 years and 4 months with features in health status and a family history

2) Italian dossier from January 2016 referred a sister and brother aged 7 years and 8 months & 6 years and 2 months with features in health status

3) Spanish dossier from March 2016 referred a male child aged 3 years and 10 months with features in health status and a family history

4) US dossier from December 2017 referred a female child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status

5) Italian dossier from March 2018 referred two brothers aged 9 years and 11 months & 6 years and 3 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from June 2019 referred a waiting child (#3658) with a profile in the MOJ site

7) US dossier from June 2019 referred a waiting child (#3736) with a profile in the MOJ site

8) US dossier from June 2019 referred a waiting child (#3262) with a profile in the MOJ site

And So It Begins Again

Today is the first day of school for my newly minted third graders.   As usual, I am filled more with worry than with joy as they embark on this next leg of their journey.  There are many transitions especially for Emilia this time around because she has been assigned to a nearly completely new team of teachers and therapists.

She's gotten bigger and a new lunchbox to hold more food was finally in order.

I will miss her squeals from the pool throughout the day, her wardrobe changes from morning till night, and the many many hugs, kisses and words of love I receive from her while she's at home.  I will miss taking her big brother's decoy pizza out of the freezer each morning around 10, so he could eat the frozen pepperoni off it.  I will miss seeing his smiling face in the backyard hammock with a bag of potato chips and some music, and his zest for swimming and diving under the water at summer's every opportunity.

Rex has finally outgrown the backpack he has been using since he was 3.5 years old and received a new one, as did Emilia.

I hope to do daily encouraging messages again on Rex's applesauce.

Here's to 2019/20.  May it be a good year for learning and growth for my sweet babes.  May they feel safe, happy, understood by their educators, and cherished by their friends.  I love you both so much.

Summer Vacation 2019

Earlier this month we embarked on our much anticipated summer beach vacation.  This year took us to Pleasure Island where we rented a house right on the beach with mere steps from our back door to the sand.  We had a wonderfully relaxing week in North Carolina whiling away the hours with swimming, sunning, movies, meals and naps. 

Here are some things I want to remember from this vacation: Rex's exuberant excitement upon seeing the ocean again, Ella's first taste of sushi, Emilia's bravery in the waves after many timid years, meeting up with friends on the way to and from NC, seeing a rainbow, sunrises and fireworks, Britts Donuts, the popularity of the outdoor shower, singing in the car, and uncontrollable laughter after lights out at the hotel on the way home.

We're so thankful once again for this special time together as a family and for the opportunity to get away to a place we all love.

The First 100

Under Ohio education law, a home schooler has to receive a minimum of 900 instructional hours between July 1 of one year and June 30 of the next year.  Our home school year for Ella always runs that 365 days so we have the maximum amount of time to provide those hours.

We just completed the first 100 hours of the 2019/20 school year and because it's summer, they were pretty enjoyable hours including lots of swimming...

 ... occupational therapy...

... field trip to the Nature Center...

... three coding classes at Microsoft...

... field trip to the zoo...

... attending the birth of a puppy including an emergency C-section...

... learning about science and business at Craig's work...

... and, of course, the dreaded table work...

... and this last picture is just for cuteness...

Here's to fifth grade.

Take Your Child To Work Day

Craig's employer hosted their biennial Take Your Child to Work Day and all three of our children got to participate this year.  They had a lot of fun, learned some new things, and most of all got to see where daddy works.

Ella was on her own with a team of preteens.  Here she is on the far right having fun with decibel experiments.

And of course, everyone likes to decorate cupcakes.

Speaking of cupcakes, look at my sweet little one.  She absolutely loved getting a special day with dad at the office.  She was looking forward to it all summer.

And this big guy enjoyed the live music and the experiments involving fire and flames.  He was also very happy that a quiet room was provided and made use of it whenever he needed a little break from the crowd.

We are so thankful to Craig's employer for putting together such a special event jam-packed with morning to afternoon activities for the kids.  It's a great opportunity for the (not so) wee Martinis that we much appreciate.