Taking the Scenic Route

The job hunt, Last day of Reading Explorers, upcoming plans

10th May 2008

The job hunt, Last day of Reading Explorers, upcoming plans

Two interviews this week

He had the first half of his interview for the same job he has done over the last couple of years.  The fact he even has to interview for it is really annoying, and part of the reason we are looking elsewhere.  The other part is that it is for just a one year contract, again.  We are tired of only having a year at a time because it feels like our lives are constantly on hold.  That, and the pay sort of stinks.  It went fine, as expected.

The more exciting news is the new job downtown.  He went in thinking it was one thing, and came out feeling like it was bigger than he was expecting.  It seems really exciting, but we are really having to do research to see what to ask for as far as salary.  The job itself sounds interesting and he is excited at the possiblity of the new challenges.  This could be a very good thing.

He is starting to get some emails about the federal job down south, but nothing firm yet.  Something about batch processing the applications and him being on the recommended lists or something…I was really confused as to what that was exactly.

 

Zane’s last week of Reading Explorers

His last meeting for the group took place during Zach’s interview, so I had Zora with me too.  She joined right in.  She is little enough that her feet barely touched the floor, even on the diminutive benches. 

We had parent teacher conferences with Zane and all is going well.  (I knew most of what she said since I observe all of the sessions, but she has to practice giving the conferences anyway)  Looking towards the summer plans and we are probably going to have the same student therapist.  That is a good thing.  She started out a bit rough, but really improved as the semester went on.  She is pretty good now, and I am glad to have her carry over in the summer.  I think we are going to start using some RDI methodology, which makes me happy.  One of the early things we worked on with him is joint attention and social referencing, but at the most basic levels.  He did better, but as everything else has improved language wise, that never really grew with it, so it is rather glaring now.  So, we are going back to address some of those issues.

He also made me a Mother’s Day gift. (picture below) Made my heart happy. 

Because the last day took place at the same time as the interview, Zach dropped the kids and me off at the clinic, expecting to be back in plenty of time.  Well, the interview went over an hour longer than planned.  As I was gathering up Zora, Zane got mixed in with the crowd of people heading out the door of the classroom and, with all of the confusion, I couldn’t get his attention to wait for me.  This has happened before, and there are students out in the hall that help manage the chaos, so although I was a little upset, I wasn’t really alarmed until I got out in the hallway and he wasn’t there.  I picked up Zora and sprinted down the hall to the lobby and outside to see if he was in the parking lot.  He wasn’t, I ran back inside and within about 30 seconds there were a good 20 people looking for him.  We found him.  He went into either the bathroom or the storage closet next to the classroom (basically took a left instead of a right out into the hallway…he was within 3-5 feet of the classroom door the whole time, so he might have heard me and done the best he could under the circumstances).   By the time he was found (which was really just a few minutes or so) I was drenched in sweat, and my heart was racing. 

Apparently, as I ran looking for him (I went outside to the vast parking lots because that was what worried me the most…he was fairly safe inside the building, where ever he was) I ran through some adhesive glue they had down on the floor to replace some tiles or something.  My Crocs were sticking to the floor once the adreneline wasn’t giving me super strength.  lol   I gathered the kids, with a death grip on their hands, with the goody bag, my purse, my flower, a giant piece of poster paper, and my shoes sticking to the ground with every step, and started walking home.  By the time dh got out of his interview and made it to us, we had walked about a mile (halfway home), Zora had tripped once and had a skinned knee and I was carrying her, the bag of “last day goodies”, and still making Zane hold my hand.  I was so tired and stressed I about started crying when I pulled the seatbelt around myself.  I was glad Zach’s news was happy, but I needed a nap when we got home. 

 

Upcoming plans

Sunday we are having Zora dedicated at church.  (for those unfamiliar with anabaptist traditions, we only do a believer’s baptism, so you have to be older to be baptised.  Instead, we have a dedication, where the parents commit to raising the child as a Christian.  Pretty much everything an infant baptism is except the water.) 

My folks are coming up to see the dedication, and I assume we are going out for lunch for mother’s day.  (or I will make a roast or something…I need to talk to mom and make some decisions I guess.) 

Zach graduates next weekend.  We still aren’t sure if his parents will make it, although it is looking like neither will make it at this point.  If his mom and grandma don’t come, it will simply be because they don’t have the money.  If we had the money, we would send it to them, but we don’t either.  We aren’t sure if his dad is coming yet either.  Not sure what is going on there, although his wife is a teacher so maybe there is something going on with her.  My best friend can’t come that weekend because she doesn’t have the kids that weekend and they can’t afford to come out twice, and the kids want to come too.  The whole family is coming out the following weekend though, and I am really looking forward to that.  Dh’s best friend, Robert, and his wife are coming (they live in town) and they are trying to find childcare so they aren’t wrangling 3 kids at the same time.  (they are welcome, but it is a long boring ceremony, especially for kids, so I totally understand).  I think my plans for a party have gone away.  Maybe we will just go out to eat someplace.  lol.

A few photos

It has been a wet week this week

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Last day of reading explorers

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My Mother’s Day gift  (included some blingy jewel hearts on the back too…I know it is supposed to be repotted, but I can’t bear to do anything to it because I just enjoy seeing his artwork on it, and remember his face as he gave it to me.  So sweet it would break your heart.)

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“I *heart* U”

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posted in Autistic Life, Mother's Day, ST, The Kids | Comments Off

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