First Week of School

So, Victoria's first week of school went great. She LOVES her glasses, and tries to wear them to bed. I love that they have boosted her self-esteem, who knew! She came home with a girl's soccer packet for school. I asked her if that was something she was interested in, because she is not a fan of exercise, and she said she was interested. We talked about it a little more, I told her that soccer is mostly about running, and she still wanted to do it. So I talked to her teacher, who is also the head of the schools athletics, and he said she could do it and it would probably be good for her. As long as she knows, they practice in the rain and cold. Hopefully it lasts, because I would love to see her in a team sport.

Thursday morning, I dropped her off at school and as she was getting out of the car she said, "Bye Micah." Considering she VERY rarely acknowledges him, it brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. It was very sweet. Then Micah started crying, because he hates when it's time to say goodbye to anyone. :)

Both of Victoria's maternal grandparents live within an hour and a half of us. So, Grandma called last night to see if she could have her for the weekend, which sounded great for Grandma and Victoria. However, when I asked Victoria if she wanted to go see Grandma, she said yes, but started making her anxious body movements. So we talked about it, and she said she didn't want to upset Grandma, but she would rather stay home. Well, we tried it anyways. :-O. The whole way to drop her off, she said she would rather go home with me. I said, I know but you need to spend time with Grandma. Long story short, we got a call 2 hours later with a very upset Victoria. One of Victoria's obsessions is youtube, she can't fall asleep without it, and it is the first thing she wants to do whenever she gets home from anywhere. Well, Grandma doesn't have internet. Which set her off and Grandma could not calm her down, until she said she would bring her home. This is definitely one of our goals now. Her Grandma would like to have her for a couple of weeks this summer. So, we will see what happens. We are going to start with day visits and with Grandma coming to visit her up here. Needless to say, Victoria is in her room now, happy and on the internet. :-/. However, she looks exhausted and worn down from her melt down.

The good news for the night, is Matt doesn't have to work in the morning, so he is staying up to put Victoria to bed. So, here's to me getting in bed and not getting out until 6 am, HA!

PS Victoria woke me up last night at 3 am to tell me she was mad that she overslept. Um, Victoria you didn't over sleep, you went to sleep when I put you to bed, and that threw you off.

First Day of School

Today was Victoria's first day of school here in Lakewood. As I was taking her to the school, I kept asking her if she was nervous, she kept saying, "no, I'm fine." I figured out I was nervous, and made myself stop asking her before she became nervous. I took her to her classroom, which is a self-contained Special Education room. Which means that she is a classroom with other special ed students all day. The room is partitioned off into 3 sections, so the teacher and aides can work with different levels at the same time. The teacher said that the grade doesn't matter for the groups, it's the ability level. I felt much better after talking to her teacher for awhile.

Before, I picked her up later I was able to talk to her teacher and he said she had a great day. He also said that she is very polite. She also said that she had a good day. She even has gym at the end of the day and didn't complain about it! Needless to say, I feel much better about her going to school tomorrow. But I'm sure I'll find something to worry about soon. :)

Sunday, January 9

So, it is almost midnight. I have already been to bed for 1.5 hours tonight, but I woke up to put Victoria to bed, so Matt could get some sleep. Confusing, huh? Victoria needs her strict bedtime routine, so Matt stayed up to give her medicine at 10:30 and cocoa at 11:30, now he's in bed, and I will tuck her in a midnight. Only for her to get out of bed at least another 5 times. She has extreme anxiety about going to bed, and this is the number one reason why she came to live with us, so we can take her to the doctor. (Sorry if this doesn't make sense, it's just giving me something to do, so I don't fall asleep on the couch.)

So Matt and I entered the world of 2:2 at church today. People always comment to us, "Micah was so well behaved at church." My reply is always, "He better be, it's 2 to 1." It's a bit challenging with 2 in church, especially since today was Victoria's 2nd time Ever to go to church. However, I'm sure that both children were very well behaved, I on the other had was a stressed nutbar. Don't ask me why? I know it will get better.

After church, I took Victoria to pick out glasses. We had a long talk on the way there to hopefully prepare her for what would happen. I told her, she was just going to pick them out, and that we would pick them up in a week when they were ready. Well, all our worrying was for nothing. She LOVES wearing glasses! (we will see what happens when we actually bring them home.) But she picked out a cute pink pair and she loves them. She says she looks beautiful in them. I thought I was going to cry right there in the store. To hopefully keep the excitement, we did bring home a Disney Princess glasses holder, which she also loves. Stay tuned on more glasses development.

Once again, thank you God for the most beautiful January day. We took both kids to the park, where hopefully they released enough energy to sleep well tonight. Here's hoping!

Today was a great reminder that I am not in charge of this crazy roller coaster life, God is. And as much as I like to be in charge and in control, I will let God take the wheel on this one. Okay, just tucked our girl in. I forgot the other thing that she likes to wake us up and ask us if we are going to wake her up in the morning. She likes to be be woken up at 8. So in the 3 minutes it took to tuck her in, I probably said 5 times what time I'm going to wake her then asked what time I'm going to wake her. So maybe she won't wake me up in an hour to remind me?????

Adventures at the Clinic

So, Victoria had her first eye exam this morning. It could have gone better for her, she was very anxious and frustrated there. I am on a steep learning curve and am learning new things every day. I should have talked her through the exam process, I have only had a million myself. I also learned that she gets VERY frustrated that she can not see, so if you ask her to read letters that she can't see, she shuts down. Who can blame her for that? Also, we took her to the medical clinic that mostly deals with Active Duty military, and not so many children or autistic children for that matter. Thankfully when the doctor came in, he was very calm and gave encouraging vibes. The second part of the exam went much better and the doctor is pretty sure of the prescription, and we will go back in a month to make sure. He said that the second visit usually goes better with less anxiety. Time will tell.

Then, because that wasn't enough of an emotional roller coaster for Victoria, I took her to get shots. I could see her getting more and more anxious while we were waiting to be called. By the time it was our turn, she was already in tears. It was so sad. However, she was very brave and as soon as she was done looked at me, smiled and said, that's not as bad as I remember. Ahhhh! Thank goodness, because we have to go back in 2 months for a follow up. :)

Needless to say, Victoria earned all of us McDonald's for lunch! And because we are being blessed with an amazing winter, the sun was out so we got to go to the park before lunch. Both kids were very exited about that. It was cold and sunny. I also learned today that Victoria is a professional swinger, (her words), and she loves to swing. I love learning new things about her.

We are still waiting on Victoria to start school. Hopefully Monday or Tuesday. Victoria is very ready to start back to school. That's another thing, enrolling a child into school is no piece of cake. Especially one in Special Ed. The school district got back to us yesterday letting us know which school Victoria will go to, but when Matt went to the school to enroll her, they had no knowledge of her enrollment. But, we are very excited that she will be going to school about a half of a mile away.

I will try to get a picture of Micah and Victoria soon, but Victoria does not like to have her picture taken, so we'll see what we get.

The Glowicki Family 2012

Hi Friends! Boy did 2011 fly by, I apologize for my serious lack of updates via blog. I will try to do better in 2012 starting with this update. On Dec. 31st I flew up to Anchorage to pick up Matt's daughter Victoria, so she could come live with us until August. She will be 12 in March. Until now, the longest we have had her is for 2 weeks, so we are very excited. However, you might be guessing that there is a reason for us to uproot her from her mom to come live with us. Victoria was diagnosed with Autism about 7 years ago. It seems that hormones and puberty to a number on this diagnosis and considering Victoria and her mom live in the middle of nowhere Alaska, she is living with us for awhile so that we can give her the medical care that she needs.

So far, Micah thinks it is amazing to have another person in the house for him to entertain. Victoria loves her little brother but is not quite sure what to do with him. Heck, I don't know what to do with him half the time. I think that Micah and Victoria getting to know each other this year will be the silver lining in her living with us.

We took Victoria to the doctor this morning to get her a well check up and to get a referral for her to see developmental pediatrics on at the nearby Army Hospital. We found out at the appt, plus Victoria had been telling us, that she has a vision problem. So we are taking her for an eye appt on Friday, and she will most likely need glasses. This could be a bit of a challenge, since Victoria already has a very low self esteem. So we have already started talking about her wearing glasses and how cool she will look in them. :)

Victoria also has trouble going to sleep at night, so with her going to be around midnight and Micah up at 6, Matt and I feel as though we have a newborn again. Who ever said parenting is easy is a liar!

Victoria is very excited to start school here, which is very encouraging. However, due to the fact that she needs Special Ed. services, we are waiting on the school district to look over her paper work, to make sure she is in the best school and class that can take care of her needs.

So far 2012 has been challenging, exciting and fun! We are definitely looking forward to the roller coaster ride this year will take us on, and hopefully I will take you on it to with this blog.

(PS these updates are for me took look back on to see progress, and for the very few people out there who want to be updated on us. :)

It's been too long...

It has been 2.5 months since I posted. And it is always hard to go back, or is it. So I am just going to post pics and news of Micah from the last 2.5 months, so I can come back at his 11 months with a clean slate!

Micah took "swim lessons." Really we just paid for swim time in an indoor pool. But, Micah loved it, definitely worth it.

Micah enjoying the fall leaves.

This is the first snow at the beginning of January.

Micah definitely has Michigan blood in him. He loves the cold. As long as he has a hat on and there is no wind, he wants to be in the cold.

Actually, Micah just wants to be outside. He will sit at the back door looking out if he is not outside. He loves to be outside in the morning with Meme in the quiet darkness.

-He loves to be whispered to, and listen to noises.

-He claps his hands together.

-He gets very excited when the animals come near him.

-He has 7 teeth going on 8! (he cut 5 at one time.)

-Feb 10th was his first cold. He had a throat infection, and got over it relatively quickly.

-He LOVES books. He will sit and read to himself for as long as 10 minutes.

I'm sure there is more, so I will probably add an additional post tonight about the wonderful world of Micah.

Happy 8 Months Micah Bear!

We took pictures this morning for Micah's 8 month pictures, however those weren't very good. Luckily, we had a couple of impromptu "photo sessions."

Micah was helping Meme in the yard, this is what I came outside to see. :)

This is his hungry face.

After, eating a WHOLE banana for a snack, we came outside to take this pictures.

Hey, Mom can I eat a leaf?

Okay, one little taste.

That's enough, pacifier back in.

This one is my favorite.

Helping take down the Christmas decorations in the house.

Micah is doing amazing things.

He feeds himself little bits of food, like Cherrios and bananas. His favorite food now are blueberries.

He is stuck in reverse when it comes to scooting. So he usually doesn't go further than a couple of feet in any direction. But he does make really good 360s.

He will roll over every once in a blue moon, usually trying to reach for his dirty diaper.

He loves to be in his stroller, as long as it is moving.

Believe it or not, for a couple of weeks, Micah has not been a huge fan of food. We stopped giving him baby food, and all he eats is big people food, but he still wasn't a big eater. Finally, last night he ate 3 bowls of food, and has been a huge fan of food today.