Ice Cream for Breakfast

August 18, 2011

On the first day of school we have a tradition of having ice cream for breakfast. We decided to do this to remember Oliver's Make*A*Wish trip at Give Kids the World (April 2010) where they have an ice cream shop on site and insist that you have to have ice cream for breakfast at least once while you are visiting!

Today was the first day of school for Eden. She is in 3rd grade this year! I can't believe she is getting that old! She has Mrs. Burton for a teacher and is in class with some good friends. She's excited for the school year, although they implemented uniforms this year which she isn't so fond of! I know she'll do well this year. She's always been a good student! They should actually be going to Irving Elementary because of boundary changes, but they've granted the kids special permission to continue going to Edison. I especially wanted Eden to stay there because if Oliver does pass, I want her to have a support system in place. She has friends there, it is familiar to her and she's been seeing her school counselor since Oliver was diagnosed, who is wonderful. I think it just makes sense to keep them where they are. I'm grateful they are able to continue to go there.


Oliver is in 5th grade but is currently home for several reasons.

1. His school isn't wheelchair accessible, and although he can still walk, three flights of stairs are nearly impossible for him to manage.
2. He has nightmares a lot and is scared to go to bed at night so he's up several hours after most of the kids are in bed. I'm always up with him because of insomnia problems. This obviously makes it hard to get up in the morning.
3. Because he missed a lot of school (Half of 3rd grade and all of 4th grade) he feels like he's extremely behind and is embarrassed because of it.
4. He cries a lot more, is more difficult to understand and doesn't want to be around others while he's going through the increase in these symptoms.
5. He doesn't feel 'normal' at school.

So... many things made my decision to keep him home a fairly easy one. The biggest reason is because I know the reality of this tumor and the little time I may have left with him. It's important to me to be able to spend time with him and for his siblings to spend time with him as well. He's in 5th grade now and his teacher this year is actually his 3rd grade teacher, Mr. Galloway! :O) I'd like to visit his class every so often. They put a few of his good friends in his classroom so he'd have friends to see if he went, but he's just not up to it, so I'm not going to push it. I'm working on things with him at home so he is getting some schooling because you can never gain too much knowledge! I also need to have some play dates set up as well to see some of his friends!

Eden

Phineas and Sissy

Oliver (man... he LOVES cherries!)

Oliver getting Finny some whipped cream. That's all he wanted... no ice cream... just whipped cream and sprinkles! :O)

Finn (somehow this kid is always photographed with a booger hangin' out of his nose! Jaren always has his hands down his pants and when I was little my mouth was always hanging open like I was dumbfounded!!!)

Eden on the first day of 3rd grade at Edison.