Sensory issue child.

Have you ever noticed yourself as a parent how some try to "ignore" things? I was a very smart child growing up but always had problems with English. My parent's just said I wasn't trying hard enough. Of course back in the70's/ 80's/90's if you did certain things you were okay. My strong subjects were always math and science, I was in above average classes so they thought nothing was wrong but failed English all the time. Struggled was in 11th grade English in 12th grade, it was not fun, it was embarrassing. I always wondered if my parents were to get me more help how much I would have succeeded. It was never until I went to go do college where they give you test that they caught that I was Dyslexic. Most can tell in my writing but I will never stop writing it's one thing I love.

Onto the subject of this blog, is how parent's can ignore some of kids issues. Are they in denial? Are they embarrassed there child will not be "normal" . Can you tell me what a "normal" child is?! Is normal just average? Because having a gifted child is not normal either but yet parent's love to brag about that. Pozzy has sensory issues , always have . Most people don't know because I don't tell them, because you really can't notice unless your around her a lot , and it's not like i'm embarrassed, I just try not to treat her differently. I have noticed them since she was about 4-6 months , starting with her eating, she would not eat baby food, no "adult" food smashed, I even tried making it homemade. We just let her run her course and she just drank bottles for her first year with a few fruits in between. She always had belly issues too since she was a week old. Had to be on Elecare, which if you don't know what it is special formula. She was a spitter upper since day 3. She finally started eating foods around 15 months , crazy I know but it was her sensory issues. We had told our pediatrician since 4 months, she was not concerned, her weight was good and blood work was good. She said if she wasn't eating foods by 18 months then we will get her in.

Pozzy's speech was a little delayed (comparied to pookie) so we were worried there, as parents you hear of other's talk about when their baby talked, etc. All of a sudden around 18 months Pozzy just started speaking very well, better then pookie in somethings. Of course you hate to compare kids but it happens. Pozzy also get's overstimulated when there are crowds, or when she is super tired. She needs to decompress herself if she gets a little fussy, and she has learned to take herself of the situation and take her bottle and just go chill. She stomps her feet a lot , and will bang her head into things if she's mad or wants attention. If things aren't her way then forget it. You can just tell she is a little quirky and you know what I'm fine with that, but will not ignore the fact, even if the doctors say she's fine. She is the happiest child you could ever meet , so outgoing , friendly , and love's attention! She get's a lot of peoples attention when we are out because she is just so happy!

Most doctor's don't live with you to see the whole thing, which then get ignored. I'm hoping we can find a great pediatrician down here that will work with sensory issues. I love my kid no matter if she's quote "not normal" if she is a little quirky, it just might mean we have to work harder, which is a challenge but as a parent you have to be up for a challenge because we all know parenting is not an easy thing.

I will not stop bragging about the things she accomplishes either. We all know we hate those "bragger" moms like my kid is better then yours and I try not to do that , but sometimes your just proud and that is okay. One might be normal and one might not but they are both normal in my eyes!! But please as a parent , try not to ignore signs of your kid. You know your kid better then anyone else. I wish my parent's would have listened to me when I said I was trying harder in things when they wouldn't listen to me.

Preschoolers need learning too

I'm a big one on teaching my kids things. There are a few people that can't afford preschool, in fact when I was a kid, I never was in preschool. I don't even know if there was any preschools in my town it was so small. But I had an amazing babysitter , called her my grandma, still am in contact with her after 29+ years ;) She taught me everything, cooking, baking, playing piano, how to write cursive before i was 5, tied my shoes (which was a big deal back then ) .

My whole point is kids can get ahead of the game even if you can't afford preschool. Only reason we can do a lot now is because of our transfer and living somewhere a lot cheaper then we used to. When we decided to move I knew Pookie wouldn't be in Preschool for awhile, there is a lot of waiting list down here. I knew I had to start teaching her . I looked online at homeschooling now legally you can't "homeschool " until age 7 i think in NC. But I wanted to do something with her instead of watching TV , reading books. First I went online and googled some homeschool preschool things. There are tons out there for printing out worksheets (must have a printer or go to library ) . http://www.education.com/worksheets/preschool/?cid=55000.0068267007&s_kwcid=TC|8363|free%20preschool%20worksheets||S|b|5489161015&gclid=CPHKuY2Mwq0CFQ9Y7AodQEaE_Q

I then went to the dollar tree (my favorite place to get things started) I never knew my daughter was obsessed with scissors, got her a writing pad (sometimes they are hard to find in the start of the new year) got glue sticks, construction paper. I just let her go to town :) it was fun !! markers, crayons (except i only get crayola ) but the rest come from the dollar store. They even have preschool books. only 1.00!!! I grabbed a BUNCH of them!! I even found some cute ones at walmart for 1.00 with stickers and they had to match the pattern. Pookie did them since 18 months old and figured it out , she loves them. What I'm getting at if your son or daughter is ready to learn , start teaching them (even 20 minutes) .

We are working on Spelling, I bought a bunch of Melissa and Doug toys this Christmas that are really good with educational . I have to say the work I have done with her has really paid off, even my husband tells me all the time, the teachers were. I'm glad that I continued on it. If i had the patients for homeschooling I would love too but for now I have Pozzy I can teach for another year or so :) and maybe volunteer at Pookies school!

Some activities you can do to make them learn without them knowing

1. Let them put on their shoes (or try)
2. Help you clean up
3. Watch you cook dinner ( a lot of thing are taught in the kitchen , math such as measuring
4. Help stir things if they need to be.
5. Help sort clothes and count the socks.
6. The matching game , you can even make some . great fun way of learning matching and memory . dollar store has a memory game too.
7. Playdough / Painting / Even make your own playdough (super cheap and easy)
8. taking walks and collecting things (even if its rocks)
9. Reading a book at least 3 times a day .
10. I let the girls feed the animals , it make them feel more important and independent .

Those are just somethings that aren't really "traditional" learning but it will help them!

Limit your TV time and i'm not saying not all day , we all need those days where an hour here and there . Instead of TV time we used it as Music time (mostly 80's music..lol) . I'm not saying my way is right and that's it. I'm just telling you I get compliments and there are cheap and easy ways of doing preschool in your home even if you think it's pointless it's not! They will be read for Kindergarten.

“It is true that we cannot make a genius. We can only give to teach child the chance to fulfil his potential possibilities.”

Getting over the blues.

I'm very adaptable to things, such as moving. The very first time my husband said he was putting into this job not one time did I say no.. In fact I said YES , i was excited but knew our chances were low.

Now in NJ i meet great friends (some fake, but some really nice ones) not only did I have my NJ friends I had my baltimore family 2 hours away that was all !!! I miss them.. Being as someone how has moved in 4 times in the past 3 years i'm sick of moving but done so well adapting. I started a moms club here and also joined one. They are going great. But most places are already "clicky" and that's expected , wilminginton is a BIG town just too big but small at the same time. Everyone knows everyone. i'm a social butterfly, mostly for my kids, I want them to have friends etc. Most importantly I want friends. I have made some nice ones.. But I like to go out at least once a week (not to get shit faced) but just social get out of the house.

How do you get over your hometown blues?

Last two weeks i've been a little down. I miss my friends, I hate when I move to a new place where I don't know anyone. Thankfully i do have a few friends only 2 hours away that get me and know me.. Sometimes I just wish things were different I could have my cake and eat it too! Like they could all move down here ;) were we could all afford it ..lol. I miss you guys, and you know who you are !!! Thankfully for Facebook, being able to talk to them a few times a week and then text. Don't really have time for phone calls as the kids are always in the way . But to my friends I miss please know that i am always thinking of you even if I don't always say it!!

What do you Stay at home moms do?

I am just wondering what crafts and easy things do you do at home to keep your kids busy. We listen to a lot of music now. Only having a few hours of TV on now. Right now, the kids are busy playing pretend with their Melissa and Doug toys. My one daughter is spelling things and my other daughter is cutting cookies. I am having my down time to write a little while we are doing this. We are listening to music right now also (which we do a lot of ) .

We also play a lot of pretend dress up stuff!!! I go after Halloween and get a lot of stuff on sale , and for Christmas we asked for dress up clothes for the girls they love it.

we also love finger painting ! I would love a great recipe for easy paint to make. Also we are going to make some homemade play-dough i loved doing this as a kid and my kids are getting to the age where they are playing a lot more with it. I love homemade stuff because it doesn't dry out as easy as the store stuff.

We also love memberships to places such as the aquarium and the children's museum (keeps them busy for hours) , library for story time.

Now that it's getting a little chillier out I would love more in home activities to play if you have any ideas!!

Preschool update.

I think Daddy had a harder time then anyone in this house , oh wait i think Sissy did. She didn't know what to do without pookie being around. Anyways, we started out the morning at 7:15, got her bathed and made a little bagel for her breakfast on the way there. She is not a morning person, anyone that knows us, we stay up late and sleep in late, it's just our life. She did fantastic.

School starts at 8:30, we got there around 8:20, she was excited until we got in there and wanted me to hold her, made my heart melt. I walked her over to story time after getting her coat and shoes off (pozzy was not happy that pookie was doing something she couldn't do) . She has never been away from us for this long, so it was a big adjustment. I took her to story time and showed her the name tag. Her teacher was just amazing!!! Took pookies hand , talked softly to her and asked her to do a special project. (we warned her Pookie was very shy!!) Pookie still wanted me but i knew I had to just let her go. Her teacher just took her for me and put her in her lap while they sang. I have to say I was okay with it, I walked out the door and the look of fear in Pookies eyes were there. I was scared and nervous, I didn't want to call the teacher and be "that mom" to make sure my little baby was okay.

I got home and started to play with pozzy all by herself , was weird to have one on one time. About 2 hours later her teacher called, my heart dropped a little, she was calling to tell me she was okay and that if we didn't want to pick her up at 12 like we had said to transition her we didn't have to, that pookie was doing great and making friends. I said okay call me back if anything changes. I got pozzy lunch, we played dress up , I actually got laundry and dishes and picked up the house( amazing what i can accomplish with just one kid) . Pozzy took a nap, I thought I would have too but I didn't, I actually *get this* ate lunch, quietly !!! At 1 pm I get another call, pookie was napping!! She said to see us at 3:30!! we never would have expected her to do so well but are so happy with our choice of school!!! We went and picked her up about 3:20, the teacher gave her nothing but good things to say! She thinks she's going back tomorrow ;) but she's not until Friday.

I didn't get really too many pictures as pookie was a little nervous when we got there didn't want a camera in her face.. So here's a picture of her school room.

Pookie starts preschool?!

Tomorrow is the big day , Pookie starts preschool. I can't believe it, I mean I can when we lived in NJ she was ready for September, September 20th she would have started or around then. We loved the school and I would diffidently give them all the props and I never even went there, just by our tours and phone calls we loved them. I know at least 5 of my friends in NJ that used them. Anyways , months have gone by and we just been so busy moving getting adjusted to more family life. At one point I wanted to homeschool Skye . I still really would love too but she need school in more ways then I can give her.

Anyways, we found the best preschool after 2 months searching. I'm even driving 20 minutes to take her to it! We found the best one is a Montessori school . We love the teacher(s) . There are 12 "friends" in her class and 3 teachers , some days up to 5 teachers that is a great ratio per child. It will really help!

The school also does a lot of parents nights each month. This month we are going out to dinner to get to know the parents in the class. I think that is very important. Most schools we check into doesn't do anything like that!

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I'm very excited for my baby girl to start her new adventure, she is so excited. I'm sure I will post some pictures!!! Daddy is having a hard time ;)

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world

Beach in January?

Since we have moved down here, we are beach lovers, always have been beach lovers. Any chance we can get we are there!!! The kids loved it and the dog even loved it just as much . During Nov.1st - April 1st you can have them without a leash . It's really great exercise. I can't believe we have been outdoors so much. We saw dolphins today, they were playing, only about 50ft off shore! It was a really neat experience.

We got pookie a bike she is amazing on that thing!!! Runs around in circles all the time. Was a wonderful day to spend!!