Monday, July 8, 2013

Chalk drawings!

My daughter LOVES her chalk drawings! LOVES them! Hates getting her hands dirty but loves to draw with chalk. Summer is only on its second week & its only the beginning of that week to boot! I have SERIOUSLY gone through SO many tubs of sidewalk chalk, I swear, I should buy it in bulk, like by the palette! We use FAR too much! Here are just SOME of the drawings we have done this year!
 Her rainbow that's 3D
 My butterfly with her heart around it
 Our 3D hopscotch
 Our Flower. I did the outline, she coloured it in
 We love daddy! 
 Her butterfly
 Our heart, I drew it and coloured 4 sections, she coloured the other 4!
 A message for daddy! 
 Her butterfly
 Her butterfly landed on my flower :)
 Practicing her writing
 Her jelly fish
She copied a picture I had done & did an impressive job in my opinion!

I find chalk is one of the easiest self expressionary art forms for her in summer time! I just wish we had more space to do them all! I have SERIOUSLY been tempted to paint my basement in chalk board paint, not sure my hubby would like that though! But it would be a LOT of fun & would mean even if it rained, we could draw in chalk!

Art Therapy

ANYONE who knows my daughter, KNOWS she LOVES art!!! All kinds of art! She will do canvas work, chalk drawings, colouring pictures, drawing, ANYTHING! She loves it all! Today, we did something we haven't done before. I didn't think THAT was possible!

Today, we painted BIRD HOUSES! We did 4 in total. 2 for our house---one for the gardens she planted in memory of her sisters & one for our vegetable garden. One for her grandparents house & one for G-Mags her "autism grandma"!

It was a fun task, that I was surprised didn't get too messy! We choose our colours, 6 in total if I recall correctly. Put them in a painters plate on the table & got to it! She actually sat for about an hour, working HARD on her bird houses! She did 2 herself & designed 2 for ME to paint! After we were done painting them, we added some glitter (it's not complete in her eyes without glitter)!

FINISHED PRODUCTS:


The two on the left are the ones she designed for me to make & the two on the right are completely done by her! ALL have glitter on them :) 

PROUD MAMA!

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Conquering Sensory Fears

You know those balls you can buy for kids that are squishy & have spikey rubber bits sticking out? You can also get bugs, fat snakes, etc. Well my daughter has had a fear of these forever! She would run screaming & then break down into a fit of insane tears if you even looked at one in her presence. It was that bad of a fear. But it was also a sensory thing. IF you could get her to touch one or you touched her with one, she would FREAK!

Today all that changed. We were in the dollar store and she saw this soccer ball designed ball! It was exactly the type she was scared of. I hoped to rush past that part of the aisle and avoid a meltdown. Instead, she ran for it, picked it up and started playing with it! I was SHOCKED! So, I bought it! Hey, if she was going to overcome a sensory fear, I was going to support that!

Squishing the ball & having fun!!!! A mothers dream moment :)

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Teachers Lie

You know, it sucks when anyone lies. Plain and simple! It's not a pleasant thing! HOWEVER, its worse, when they have spent 2 years lying to you, dodging you, keeping things from you, pushing your child forward when shes falling further and further behind. It sucks even more because, they were someone you are SUPPOSED to trust your child with! They are your child's teacher!

My piece hasn't always been delayed. In fact, until 20 months, she was so far advanced we were just as lost as we are now! Then overnight, it was ALL gone! We didn't know what to do, say, think. Even when she was SO advanced, I KNEW something was wrong! I knew she was different!

So, my daughter JUST finished Senior Kindergarten last week. Literally 5 days ago. The teacher I knew wasn't being totally honest with me, we had had issues with her all year and she avoided me, lied and deceived! I wasn't blind. How badly though, I wasn't to know, till now!

I work endlessly, day in and day out, with my child, to make her life better, easier, help her cope with her traits, her autism concerns & make her a better person! I do therapy from home, I do extra school work to help her, I work on the areas she really struggles in, I do it ALL!

I knew her reading, writing, math, sight words & all that jazz wasn't up to "par" for a 6 year old ending Senior Kindergarten. But to have it tested and then find out, her level is actually at a 2 year olds level, well THAT just pissed me off! WHERE were the teachers on this one? Why did they constantly ignore me? Okay, I can quickly become a Mama Bear....who can blame me, when my child has been disappointed, physically and mentally hurt at school, forgotten in regards to CRUCIAL health problems, just to name a few!

So, to have my child tested & find out shes at a 2 year old level, well that pissed me off! WHY didn't they work with her at school, why didn't they have concerns? Why didn't they get her HELP? Why did they ignore it? Why did they not test her? Bring in someone to work with her? Why is this so bad after all the hard work I put in?

I don't have all the answers, but I do know this: I refuse to give up on her! Todays one of those days, I admit, Autism is getting the better of me, but I will NEVER give up on her! NEVER!

But this situation just goes to prove to me, that even those who "have my child's best interest at heart" only "have my childs best interest at heart. for their pay cheque"

The people who REALLY care, are the ones, in it for NOTHING but her! The ones, who the money doesn't matter! Who love my daughter, care about her and for her, who help us care for her & don't ask for ANYTHING in turn! Who just want to see her smile, be happy, grow up to be the best person she can be! THOSE are the ONLY people I can trust now! I've learned my lesson! If it involves a pay cheque, chances are, they may not really care about her!