March Madness

I can't believe I haven't posted to the blog since January. But actually now that I think about it, yes I can. Holy cow. It started with Sofia and Gabe getting sick, and then I got sick. Then Tim was sick, and then Sofia again. Guess who's sick now? Yeah, woe is me, and it sucks. Flu/sinus infection, I don't know which, but I feel like I need a serious vacation.

Add to all of that the months-long journey we've been on with Gabe's 2nd grade teacher. She asserted in an email that we needed to take Gabe to the pediatrician because he has difficulty focusing and paying attention. It took me a week and a half to write her back. For those of you who know me well, you know why. I was livid. So I requested the school (not Gabe's pediatrician) perform a psychoeducational evaluation to determine whether or not he has any kind of a learning disability. Well, miraculously, naturally, he's suddenly reading on third grade level and does not test as having any kind of learning disability. Of course not, because they don't want to pay to provide extra services. They just want us to put our son on meds to help him focus. WTF? Sorry, but to say I'm cranky about the supposedly fabulous Arlington Public School system would be the understatement of the year.

Gabe is our sensitive child. I imagine he spaces out in class because he's bored out of his mind -- because the teacher is not engaging him or his interests. But I also imagine that would be every defensive mother's take. :) I do know that he sometimes is deep in thought about things. Whenever he gets overly emotional about something, later that night he'll open up to me and talk to me about it. Recently, it has been his friend Randy is moving to Florida. He talked to me about how much he likes hanging out with Randy and how he'll miss him, and tears welled up in his eyes. That's just heartbreaking. That same weekend, he was walking around pointing his toes inward, and I asked him why he was walking that way. He said, "That's the way Randy walks, Mom." So I know things weigh more heavily on him than say, Sofia -- at least at this point, that seems true.

Sofia has been drawing us lots of pictures, and tonight she announced that cuddling was her favorite time of day. Mine too. :)

We enrolled Gabe in Odyssey of the Mind classes, which he does seem to love. He was quite proud of the fact that he built a super tall pasta structure with his teammates. He's also taking karate and seems to love that. We're really enrolling him in classes to give Gabe some other fun things to do, but also to give Tim more time at work, since he seems to be busier than ever at USDA. Tim and I have both been pretty stressed out though about the possibility of a government shut-down. Until recently, we had never considered that neither one of us would have a paycheck if the government actually shut down. So, keep your fingers crossed our politicians figure out a compromise before March 18th.

All of that on top of training for an 8k on St. Patrick's Day and I won't even mention the workload at the office. :) No wonder it feels like March Madness...