May 5, 2009

Geez, it seems like I'd be able to do this more often, lol. I could, but sometimes I just don't feel like it. But I do want to keep this going because I want the girls to be able to look at it someday and remember "stuff".

This morning was a nice one; I only had Sydney and Quinn. Sometimes I like the smaller groups because then they get more one-on-one attention. I got to play and bond with the 2 of them and do some teaching, and it comes to me a little bit more as I progress through school. I know that going to school and learning new things does wonderful things for me, and I'm hoping that it shows through the children that I provide childcare through. I love the teaching aspect of what I do; it's so amazing to watch these little one's do things or say things that I don't quite think they get, but then they prove me wrong, which is ok with me!! I can remember when I didn't think that Darrin was "getting it" when it came to learning shapes. Then one day his Mom came to pick him up, and he looked at a poster that I had on the wall and started naming those shapes that I had been trying so hard to teach him. He just stood there and rambled the shapes off, as I stood there with my mouth gaping open!! I learned that it wasn't about what I was teaching him, but about what he was learning!! And that was much more than I had hoped for.

So I had a pretty relaxing morning. Katie got here at 11 and took over for me, which was nice. I've been throwing myself at the books for the last couple of weeks. The first couple of weeks of school I was seriously slacking, and it showed on my first test of Psychology. Seriously, who gets a D in a Psychology 101 test????? There was a lot of biology in that first test (which I stink at), but I still could have tried harder. So now I'm gonna bring that grade up!!!!

Heather had an appointment with her counselor. We started doing Neurofeedback a last week. What an AMAZING process!!! OMG, I cannot describe how cool this technology is!!!! But I'll try, lol...... Basically, the counselor (Marcia) did an extensive questionnaire with Heather and I about what we thought her problems were (mainly ADHD, OCD, ODD, and daytime and night-time bed wetting). The questions lasted one whole session (an hour). Heather is hooked up to electrodes that go to certain parts of her brain, depending on where the questionnaire said to, and she is hooked up to a monitor, which is hooked up to a laptop. That laptop is hooked up to the counselor's laptop, and the counselor can program what to do with Heather. Heather is given appx. 10 games to choose from. For instance, one of the first one's that she chose was a Pac-Man type game. But instead of being played with a controller in her hand, she USED HER BRAIN WAVES!!!! What an amazing thing to watch!!!

In another game, there are 3 boats. Each boat represents the 3 sections of the brain. The goal is to make the middle boat stay in the winning position, while the 2 boats on either side stay a little bit behind, but also have to stay up somewhat near the middle boat. What this does is teach the sections of her brain to work together. Absolutely amazing to watch her play a video game on a computer with her BRAIN, not a controller that's in her hands!! A little creepy, but I cannot imagine why more doctors don't use this treatment. It seems to have great results, and there haven't been any downside to it in it's history.

After her session, we went to her dentist appointment in Whitehall. Ok, so I flew, otherwise we would have been late. She had a cavity to fill. I have a case of that bad Mom syndrome because my kid had a cavity, but here's a couple of reasons:

Of course, tooth brushing. Yeah, she can suck at it. It can be one of those battles that every parent goes through, but with the ODD (oppositional defiance disorder), that's one of the things that I tell her to re-do and she flat out refuses. Short of physically holding her down by sitting on her and brushing them myself, there's not a whole lot that I can do. Bad parenting? You decide. But, come on over and be with my hard-headed ODD kid for a day and I'll prove to you that it may not be bad parenting after all.....

So anyways, we got done there at the dentist and came home. Katie, Judy, and the kids were outside, and we chatted for a bit. Judy was up for another job, but it doesn't look like it's gonna pan out for her. They didn't want to give her a schedule; just basically wanted her on call. I'm sorry, but no. And she agreed, I think. Seriously, retired or not, everybody has a life and things to do!!

Katie came in and made supper. Judy went home.... I was supposed to have an interview at 6:00 tonight, but it was another no-show. I'm SSSSSOOOOOO sick of those. I don't really prepare for interviews anymore, except some cleaning (thank you, Katie!!!), just because so many people don't bother to show up or even call to cancel/reschedule. Unreal that they don't even have that common courtesy......

So I spent a little extra time with my friends and my kids, and that's good, too. Since putting the girls to bed I've got a lot of studying for Psychology done. And I'm getting tired; so I guess I'll think about going to bed........let's just see if I can stay asleep for a change.......