A Chip Off The Ol' Block

Need I say more?

New Pants

Suddenly Diego has grown taller. His jeans were all very short on him and I had been trying to delay the inevitable pants shopping thing that most boys hate to do... Diego is no exception.
While in a local department store yesterday I discovered a very good sale on jeans. Despite the fact that my son could care less about wearing 'high water' pants I decided to venture into the boy's department to find some pants for him.
He was literally doing cart wheels in the aisles while I scoured the shelves for his size. Success! I found a pair of size 8 boy's jeans with the adjustable waist (I love those, by the way), and handed them to Diego to hold onto.
My child, with all the innocence that an 8 year old, short pants loving, cart wheel rolling kid could muster, held the jeans up near his neck, looked at me and said, "These aren't my size, Mom. They won't fit me because the legs are too long. I don't want new pants, what's wrong with these?" And he pointed to his very short jeans which revealed more than a couple inches of his white socks.
We bought the jeans, 2 pair.

BIG News!

We've got BIG, God-sized news!
After nearly 30 years at Adrian Steel Company, Joe has answered God's call to serve Him full-time. Joe is the new Executive Pastor at Crossroads Community Church in Adrian.
This is huge for our family. It's an amazing journey, Joe will share the entire story at church on October 28. Listen to Scott's blog on "From VP to XP".
I'm still trying to figure out the thing about Joe being in the same office after all, I was there first :) I suppose we could look at it this way: we'll save money on gas by carpooling to work or he could buy my lunch every day.
I've joked about Diego having the DNA to be a pastor's kid (PK). I wonder if there's a class or something to learn how to be a pastor's wife?

A Good Day... Finally

Diego had a great day at school today! Probably one of the best so far this year.
I am very proud of how brave he is.
Here's this 8 year old special needs boy basically starting his school year over with a new teacher, classroom, and friends. He was very excited to get to school this morning. He was up about an hour and a half before he needed to be and was ready to go in record time. Diego never ceases to amaze me with the way he is able to function in a world that is foreign to him most days.
It's been a difficult, to say the least, several weeks. I've had to remind myself repeatedly that he just can't help the way he responds in many situations.
I hope with the services that will soon be in place that Diego will once again have a successful school year. I know there are no guarantees for him, but are there for anyone?
Keep praying for this little wonder, he's amazing.

FASD

FASD = Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
Alcohol consumed during pregnancy = brain damage
I had a stark reminder about FASD today as I watched my son interact with several other kids in the waiting room of a clinic in Ann Arbor.
Beautiful toddlers with many of the same facial anomalies, various tell tale signs of disabilities, and frightened parents anxiously waiting to meet a doctor, nurse or therapist, holding out hope for a diagnosis and perhaps, a cure.
FAS knows no racial or class boundaries, it promises no cures.
A couple of the little ones were adopted as babies from Russia. One little girl was with her biological mom and younger brother. A 17 year old FAS girl came into the clinic in full meltdown mode, she was 5 months pregnant and can't deal with it.
I watched Diego going from one item to another oblivious to differences in the children around him, that naive spirit, if only it were contagious and could last.
One mom of a 3 year old toddler was searching for answers, hope and solutions to issues she is dealing with right now. I gave her a few brief "try this" statements before her child's turn to leave the waiting room.
As we drove home I thought about one thing people need to understand... FASD is not the child's fault. I mean, if a kid or adult with this disorder could change their circumstances I am sure they would. They didn't choose to be brain damaged. But remember they are a special gift of God, maybe a little more special for having FASD.

Run, run as fast as you can...

Diego decided to walk to school today. Understand that school is not close to our home, therefore it is not within walking distance that's why I drive him to school. Thankfully Diego used the overhead garage door to leave the house and I heard the sound of the door (something I've complained about being too loud since we had it installed). When I got outside there was no sign of Diego on the sidewalk or in yards close by.
I took off in my car, cell phone in hand to begin the search. I frantically called Joe, voicemail. I then called "Aunt Za-Za" who works nearby, she would come from the opposite direction and search our school route while I drove the neighborhood scouring bus stops. I then had to call the police who began to search as well.
20 minutes into the ordeal Za-Za called and said she had him. He was quite a distance from the house and really didn't want to get into her van but she was able to convince him he needed a ride. (There was a slight incident where a kind woman may have believed Za-Za to be a child abductor.)
A very nice police officer arrived shortly to talk to Diego about not walking away from home or school. She explained how important it is to be safe and that walking that far to school is not a safe thing to do. She made him promise not to walk away again. An uneventful day at school ensued.
Well, believe it or not when I arrived after school to pick Diego up from the latchkey program, I was met by a little girl who told me Diego wasn't there, he had run away. She was followed by an extremely distraught childcare worker. It seemed Diego had become upset and ran into the building locking the group outside. He grabbed his backpack and ran through the building to the front exit door.
I began to search around outside the building after a quick check inside. No sign of Diego. I met the principal and a teacher who had been searching the neighborhood. There was a football game and a soccer game going on in the area too!
The police were already looking for Diego. A patrol car pulled up in front of the school and the officer inside said another officer had found Diego at the Tim Horton's... a very long way from school and a dangerous route for him to travel on foot.
Soon the other patrol car pulled up with Diego in the front seat clutching his backpack, no worse for the wear.
He acted as though walking home shouldn't be an issue for me or the others looking for him and told his principal he really wasn't afraid to be that far away from school by himself.
I'm considering the purchase of a child monitoring system but the only ones I've found will work just 500' from the base and he would have to wear the 'indestructible' wristband at all times. There is a GPS available but it can take quite a long time (up to 20 minutes) to alert the base of a problem. Anybody have a suggestion for monitoring the boy? I'd love to hear it.

Disappointed...

You know how the television networks have been priming us for their great new fall season line-up. Well, I fell for the marketing concept that Cavemen was going to be a funny show. Shame on the ABC network for placing that show in the 8:00 time slot, or any time slot for that matter.
Not only was the show not funny, it was extremely offensive with the language and innuendos.
I'm glad Diego's bed time is 8 p.m. and I had to chase him back to bed several times.
Oh, and by the way, I changed the channel before the show was 10 minutes old.
I think I'm going back to the oldies on TV Land!