Week of meetings

This was a week filled with meeting after meeting after meeting. Dave and I are done with meetings! Although poor Dave is headed out of town this morning for more meetings (this time with work).

It all started out with a meeting at Daniel's school. They are going on a huge end of the year trip to Washington D.C. They will have an awesome time visiting The National Air & Space Museum, many different memorials including the Arlington National Cemetery (Here their school has been chosen to do the wreath laying ceremony!) and the Holocaust Memorial, The US Capitol, different museums, and an amazing illuminated tour of the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial, WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and more. It is an expensive 3 day adventure but Dave and I decided that we will try to make it work. How can you put a price on some of these experiences.

We then headed to a meeting at Craig's school. They basically went over what the children need to do regarding homework and stuff. What we didn't realize is that his school or at least his group (the school is divided into 7 groups who go around to classes and activities together) is into finding the joy in learning. Which means basically no homework and lots of fun. They were able to sign the kids up for an Oceanic Marine Biology program. It cost $550 per student but the school was able to get a federal grant for the kids so it will only cost us $40. It is a year long program where they will take field trips to the river and the ocean. One trip will even be over night. It sounds wonderful. Then last night we were back at the school for another meeting. Two groups in the school are being offered to go to a diversity camp. Craig is in one of those lucky groups!!! They do all sorts of fun activities and spend 3 days learning and growing and having fun (there is even a lake and a rock wall -- Craig will love it). I am so excited. So what is the cost? Nothing! They have people who donated to make this possible for the kids. We love Craig's school!

Then we had a meeting at Nathan's school. I almost wanted to sing, "It's a hard knock life for us..." They are all about lots of homework (they said between 60 to 90 min. or more a night) and drilling for the end of the year test. Didn't sound very fun. What they don't realize is that I don't allow my kids to do homework for more then 1 hour and that includes the 20 min. of reading. They need play and relax time!

Then yesterday we finally went to Nathan's Diabetic doctor appointment. It has been a trial getting there (in more ways then one). First we were trying to get into the clinic in Hartford (20 min. away) but I kept falling in the paper work black hole with no one calling me back. Last Friday I met a new friend, Eliza. She had problems getting her son seen at this clinic. There is a very sad personal story that she has but in the end her son passed away before they even saw him. He had Addisons. After his death the Yale Children clinic helped her understand his death and test her other children. She emailed the doctor who helped her and the doctor emailed me. We emailed back and forth a few time over the weekend and on Monday Yale called me. The appointment was sent for yesterday. Yale is 45 minutes away so Dave took the morning off of work and we headed out. Of course we got lost. I had their number so I tried to call. The number didn't work (turns out I wrote the area code wrong). So we thought that the Yale Children's Hospital might be able to direct us. Nope, that was a waste of 20 minutes. We finally just started circling the area. We came across a building that was filled with different doctor offices. We gave it a try and YEA it was the right building. We were 30 minutes late! They were wonderful there. This clinic is in the top 10 in the nation. Our doctor is working on an artificial pancreas right now. I feel complete at ease. I know Nathan will be well taken care of.

My conclusion for this week...Daniel and Craig will be doing great and wonderful things. Nathan will not. I am going to start looking for something special that can be Nathan's. I originally came up with playing in the band or something. Nathan thought it sounded fun. Dave said NOOOO! Grrr. If you have any ideas let me know. I want him to have something special to look forward too.