Although the primary reason for Dominic to go to Edmonton is the Cardiac Cath, there is still that pesky little MRI that we went for at the end of August, but got nixed because he's a complicated little guy. So we sent a request to get it done there as well. About a week after getting our schedule (Pre-op on the 17th, cath on the 18th), I got a call from the MRI department in Edmonton saying they wanted to do the MRI on the 17th, so we need to come a day earlier. I asked if the cath would be done a day earlier as well and I was told "we don't do Cardiac Caths and MRIs on the same day" I informed her that the entire reason we requested an MRI was so that it could be coupled with the Cath and prevent him from being put under more than once. I told her if that was the case, to just cancel the MRI because I am not willing to have him put out twice. She said she would talk to our Cardiologist and get back to me. Got a call a day or two later saying that we are now going for preop on the 18th and the Cath AND MRI on the 19th. So everything was bumped back a day. At least I put my foot down this time. But now everything seems like it's ticky-boo so we will be heading to Edmonton in a couple weeks!
At the end of last week, Dom's cardiologist called to say that the powers that be have decided that Dom needs a CT Scan done in Saskatoon prior to going to Edmonton, so they got us booked in the following Wednesday (as in yesterday). The plan was that since CTs are such short procedures, but Dom needs to be still for it, we would try to get him to fall asleep on his own in order to avoid having to put him under anesthetic. To be honest, I was not all that optomistic that this would work. Dominic is currently transitioning from two naps to only one each day. If he gets too tired in the morning, he might nap around noon, and then have another nap right before supper (that I generally have to wake him up from so that it doesn't disrupt bedtime). The other scenario is that he skips the morning nap and then conks out around 1:00ish. And this is what the whole team was counting on. I had to keep him awake until they were ready for the CT and then feed him, get him to relax, and fall asleep. Anyone that has children knows that this is generally not how they work. If you have plans for naptime, there is NO WAY they are going to help you out with that. I was sure Dom was going to fall asleep early, or refuse to sleep and just be cranky, but he was my perfect little man (that he tends to be in public, not always at home), and did exactly what everyone was hoping he would do.
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| Sleepin' while gettin' scanned... |
We are now one step closer to this whole rigmarole being over.
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As many of you may know, Brayden started highschool this year at my old stomping grounds. Brayden has stuggled in school ever since he came to live with us, and since we moved him to Lakeview from his old elementary school we really have tried to drive home how important school is, but it always seems to be in vain. All last year I was telling him I had no intention of emailing all of his teachers all of the time (like I did when he was in grade 8) to check on him and see what was due and how he was doing, and that he needed to learn how to stand on his own two feet. I wouldn't be there to bust his butt to get in gear forever, so he might as well learn now. So at the beginning of this school year I washed my hands of his school-work babysitting. Aside from asking if he had homework when he got home, I didn't press him on anything. I generally got a "nope, finished it all in class". I figured if he was anything like me, he would be scared of failing in highschool and work a bit harder.
In the middle of last month, we had Progress Conferences. We had a bit of a childcare issue, so I went by myself and Roland stayed home with the kids. When I arrived I noticed a lot of students accompanying their parents, but I had not brought Brayden with me. I know that kids should feel involved in these types of things, but I also notice that it's sometimes hard to get a clear picture of how things are going if teachers feel the need to sugarcoat everything in order to not hurt the student's feelings or whatever. We had been asking Brayden what he expected his teachers to say to us at Parent Teacher Interviews, but he always just said "good stuff" and nothing else. So... although it was not entirely unexpected, it was a pretty big shock to see just how far behind Brayden was. We are talking 3 out of 4 assignments in ELA/SS were incomplete or missing, and he was lagging in Math where often he chooses to sit around and do nothing instead of trying to get work done. He was doing fine in Phys Ed though, where it's pretty tough to not participate...
SO basically, I gave him enough rope to hang himself with, and he did indeed commit educational suicide. At least it wasn't homicide. His teachers say that he is not disruptive, he just lacks commitment to his own work.
We've tried telling him that not completing highschool limits his options severely on what he plans to do with his life as an adult. We've told him that he will lose his ONLY elective (Technology) if he fails any classes this term. We've pointed out that school is like a job, and if his boss (likened to his teachers) tells him to do something and he doesn't want to do, and he doesn't do it, that is a pretty legitimate reason to get fired. How will he survive in the real world if he doesn't learn to do things that he doesn't like to do? It ALL falls on deaf ears. I am pretty sure he will lose his only elective and it will make school awful for him, but how can we let him participate in fun classes if he can't complete the compulsory ones?
~*~
And then there's Rosalie. My little sweet pea that doesn't really cause me any grief (but will probably pay me back for that statement when she's a teenager)
Rosalie is LOVING preschool and often counts down sleeps until she gets to go again. She jabbers on about her day and what they got to do all the way home in the car. She likes her teacher, although she says she gets "grumpy with me" sometimes. My guess is that she sternly tries to keep Rosalie doing what she is supposed to be doing and staying on task, because this was a big issue with Rosalie's swim lessons the last two terms. When Rosalie likes an activity, she does it however she wants and doesn't really listen to instruction... until we break out the big guns and threaten to take things away from her. She has this great swim instructor this term (Dominic and I had him for Starfish last term), but for the first 3 classes she would just take off on him, and not listen to him at all. I tried just talking to her about it, reminding her before class to listen, but it was always the same. Then I threatened to take away her after swimming treats (a bag of cheesies and an orange juice) if she didn't listen to her instructor, and if she was REALLY bad (like she had been) we wouldn't get new library books (although I REALLY didn't want to take that away from her). But it was enough. We haven't had a problem with her since. But that was also in a scenario where I was sitting at the edge of the pool watching her and reminding her to listen with hand signals if she started to get off track. In preschool, I am not there. So if she misbehaves, I don't know about it unless the teacher tells me. And I haven't gotten any phone calls at home or spoken to when I go to pick her up... so until then, I'm going to assume she's doing just fine.
She is very insistent that when she goes to school she gets two pigtails, but when she goes to swimming she gets one ponytail. She has cute little quirks like that. She likes things just so.
I have a feeling she knows that she's super cute and uses it against us. She's got the doe eyes all figured out, and uses it on Daddy regularly.
She's got pretty eclectic tastes in pretty much everything, TV shows, movies, music, toys, so she isn't stuck to anything in particular. She changes her mind about things all the time, and she's not predictable at all.
SO basically, what I'm saying here, is that I have a Toddler ;)
~*~
And that is a long enough update about the kids on their own! I was going to write about me too, but that'll have to be a different post. (and I now have 3 book reviews to finish up on) So stay tuned! More to come! :)
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