To speak or not to speak ? that is the question.

We are coming to a cross road with KT. She is almost ready to graduate from speech. Now KT has an auditory processing disorder and well as problems with 's' , 'sh', 'ch' and 'j'. She sort of slurrs all of these together and squeezes air out the the sides of her mouth when she says them. She only does this in conversation, not when reading or repeating a word. If she does it in conversation she can quickly fix herself when reminded. What I can't decide is if we should discharge her for the summer and be done or keep torturing her a little longer ? If we discharge her chances are she will not qualify for speech later. However we could work on something else this summer in place of speech, that may be more beneficial.

My Florida Weeds

If you spend much time in a draught area, you will learn that your lawn sucks. Or at least it should if you are following the watering guidelines.
Here's a description of what your lawn will look like: dollar weeds, crabgrass, St. Augustine, more weeds, brown patches and bare patches. Now when I look at my lawn the very green part is actually a weed. The weeds grow very well. They are green and lush. So why am I trying to grow grass that will barely grow and is brown when I could have a whole lawn of weeds that would be green and wonderful ? Well I am not sure exactly, there really is no reason. So I decided to buy a bunch of weed seeds and plant them. I looked closely at my lawn one day and saw that the shamrock shaped weed was the lushest and the greenest. So I found out what it was: Oxalis or Clover. Dutch clover grows in any soil and needs very little water once it starts growning. It is weed resistant and it enriches your soil. So I bought myself about 10 lbs of Dutch clover seeds and I am going to plant them in all of my bare patches. You need about a pound for 300 sq feet so I can do lots of bare patches (I'll even let you guys have some if you want to try it). Best of all it the dutch clover has little white flowers that the bees love, so I am helping the bee poputlation.

Is she gifted?

Well the latest is they want to test Violet for being gifted. Now, don't get me wrong the little bugger is smart, above average even. But gifted is defined as 130 IQ and above. I'm not so sure that she is there. But I am pleased that her teacher thinks so, this is the same teacher that tried to get me to hold KT back last year.
What I like about Violet is that she is interesting and wise. She is well rounded, a little emotional and a tree hugger. I couldn't ask for anything more.

GRE vocab for the week

Can I just tell you, the GRE is designed to torment it's users. They take the most obscure words and use the rarest definition and then put it into a sentence to see if you can figure out what it means. This test is a lesson in stamina. How long can you sit still and be analytical and focused?
My friends with the ADD, this could make you lose your mind.
It has nothing to do with what you know, although if you know a lot it helps.

So here are my words of the week...just wait algebra review is next week.
abjure, baleful, baneful, wend, welter, and wag.

comment with some sentences...if you can (that is a challenge by the way).
Remember to use the most abstruse definition.

Reptile Convention ???

The last time my spouse took my daughter to a reptile convention he came back with a 75.00 gecko and a tarantula. Well he is going again. And he is going with another guy who also likes the reptiles. I am sending three children to chaperone. But that is sort of like sending cheerleaders to a football game to keep an eye on the players. I am thinking that we will have a new member of the family when he gets back. Pray my zoo does not get any larger this weekend!


Update: No new family members showed up at my house. However, my friend wasn't so lucky.
She ended up with 2 bearded dragons. One of them is with babies. And apparently they can have up to 50!!! babies in one clutch. Can you imagine? 50 bearded dragons!!

Insomnia

I have an eight year old with insomnia. We've tried everything I can think of:

warm showers

hot herbal tea

calms forte

reading

fan

open window

me saying 'go to bed'

holding her gecko

rubbing the kitty

night light on

night light off
melatonin
story on CD
music on CD
Anyone got any better ideas before I konk her over the head?

Birthday Girl!!

It's that time of year...to spend a little time appreciating the personality of my middle child.

Now KT is not your average middle child. She wants to be at the center of attention at all times.

She assaults your senses at every junction. But I do have a few accolades for her:

KT is always happy. She is always smiling...even when she is getting into trouble.

She is always laughing, she is always talking. She is my jovial, loquacious little sprout.

She is the one to initiate the games at home with the kids and keep them busy.

She is always amusing, you just have to find the amusement in the action. For instance:

KT cannot get through an entire day without spilling something. This morning it was the green bean container in the fridge. You just have to laugh, because it's so predictable.

She doesn't walk slowly, she always runs. Of course you remember, she can't go up the stairs without saying "OW!"

She doesn't think in a linear fashion. Everything is sporadic and all over the place. She doesn't have a bit of common sense. And she can't remember how to do anything (like wet her hair and comb out the tangles in the morning). But she can remember where things are located and the series of events that lead up to something, even if she really can't tell you in a linear fashion how something happened.

KT is all about people. She loves to see cars of people she knows, and then announce who the owner of the vehicle is. She doesn't care whether she is right or not, just the simple idea that it could be a person she knows delights her. She also loves to run into people in different places than where you normally see them, like seeing a teacher at Walmart. This would excite her for weeks.
When you talk about going to the pool or getting ice cream. KT is excited about who might be there to see her, not about swimming in the water or what flavor of ice cream she is going to order.

KT never imitates a couch potato. She doesn't lie around watching TV. In fact I don't think she actually can hold still. She doesn't day dream out a window. She is always moving. She is always watching people.

KT likes to learn. She likes to do school work...she does work books for fun. She can be fascinating. And today she turned 9.