Sunday, September 25, 2011

Dragon Boat Racing

Riley joined his new Scout troop and spent the night at the park on Friday night. There were many Scout troops participating. It was part of a bigger Scouting event scheduled for Saturday morning.
The Boy Scouts participated in Dragon Boat Racing on Saturday morning!
Riley, and that's his friend Brendan next to him, and his troop, aboard the Dragon Boat, ready to sail!

Getting ready to head out for the race!

Riley's troop (and another troop) were aboard the blue boat, and they raced the green boat. The green boat won, but everybody had fun, most importantly, Riley! He had told me that he wasn't going to participate in the Dragon Boat race, but when Kevin, Quinn and I showed up Saturday morning, he was in a life jacket, in line with his troop. He didn't seem nervous at all, and most importantly, he DID IT! He put his fears behind him and got into that boat! It was a happy mom moment.

After the race I asked him if he liked it. He said he didn't, because the boy in front of him and behind him were splashing. I will take that answer because at least their boat didn't tip OVER!

We really like his new Scout troop. The boys are very nice and they have really made him feel welcome. We are very pleased.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Facial Expressions

So Kevin told me something interesting tonight. Something I knew, but had forgotten. Kevin has a blog about music through the years, and he is teaching the boys about all different kinds of music and artists. I guess tonight's post was about the band Warrant-genre heavy metal or "hair" metal. He showed them their video, "Cherry Pie." There's a part where the singer (or band mate) smiles, and it's like a huge exaggerated, cartoon smile. Quinn thought it was funny, but Riley said he didn't like the video. He said it's just a white screen behind the band and it wasn't that exciting. The thing is, it IS a simple format video, but if you watch, the facial expressions are quite expressive. Riley doesn't read many facial expressions, so to him, it probably all looked the same. He most likely didn't notice the differences in facial expressions, and the one with the cartoon smile would be very different to him. The post is HERE, check out the video. It's horrible-I share Riley's opinion.
Riley's idea of smiling and/or excitement.

and Quinn's expressions.

Things are going well for Riley at school. He likes his teachers-and I think I LOVE his PE teacher. He is keeping up with his work, and participating in class. He had one incident last week where he dropped his lunch, and the boy behind him thought it would be great fun to kick the lunch bag, only as Riley bent down to pick up the lunch, and the kid continued to kick, he ended up kicking Riley in the hand. The kid apologized all over the place (and also the next day), but it kinda freaked Riley out. Kevin had to go and pick him up from school early because he didn't feel good. The secretary said he didn't look good and that she had kids dropping like flies. He didn't have a fever at all, and not a trace of a cold. I think his hand hurt, and he was worried about that, and that caused him anxiety, and that is what sent him home. His therapist is going to work on the anxiety. That's what kept him home from school a lot last year, anxiety. It really must suck for him.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Riley's schedule at school did change a little. Instead of having Math 3rd period, he has it 6th period, with the same teacher. He now has US History 3rd period (but his friend remained in the 6th period class). Riley seems fine with the change. We talked about it being a possibility, last night. The new History teacher is female and Riley said she's very nice. It's actually a teacher I have heard of, and all of it good. Whew. He did like the 6th period History teacher though, but is fine with the switch. He got to go to the new History and Math classes today.

His History teacher gave him a questionnaire to fill out today-background information to help her learn about her students. I found it in the pile he gave me, for supplies and expectations etc, that I needed to sign. The last question just asks if there's anything else the student wants the teacher to know about them. Can you read his response? "I get upset very easily." He's so sweet and sensitive. I worry that he's overly cautious about this because of me. I was so set on keeping him from crying at school from 2nd grade on. It was a huge focus. I just didn't want him to get picked on because he's sensitive. Kids (and adults) don't always understand a crying boy, and I worried kids would target him because they could make him cry. Some kids did. It's been a problem, but he's much better now. We are much better now about helping him problem solve and work through his frustrations, without the tears. He hardly cried at all at school last year, two or three times maybe. Isn't it sad that you have to try to change something about another person because OTHER people can't handle it? It's so wrong. He should be allowed to be the person he's meant to be, but unfortunately school has not allow that. I think it's probably the same all over. People need to get on board and really take a stand against bullying.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011


Kevin took this picture of Riley while we were at Disneyland. I love it. Such a cute picture.

Riley spent the last two days in the Responsibility Center (RC). It seems he (and 10-15 other kids) were placed into the wrong Math class. They all should be in Algebra, and the class they were all placed in is an Intro to Algebra class. The principal told them all today that they should have the schedules figured out tomorrow. We are really hoping that Riley won't have a schedule change because of this. Riley doesn't seem to mind being in the RC (I think it's usually reserved for those who can't handle themselves or kids who have tests to make up from absences). He's busied himself reading.

It's been 5 days of school, and so far, so good-other than the Math glitch.

The Regional Center called today, and Riley's testing is scheduled for October 17. Finally!!! He will have to miss the entire day of school, but we need to get this done. I am seeking an IEP for Riley, and the school needs the clinical diagnosis to make that happen. The school should be contacting me soon for Riley's 504 meeting.

Friday, September 2, 2011

A New Instrument


This is the musical instrument Riley chose for band. It's a clarinet. He wanted something that wasn't going to be heavy. The plan is to stick with this instrument so that he can do marching band in high school. This was his first choice. Trumpet was his second choice. He was pretty excited to bring it home and he's able to put it together too. Now we just have to figure out the logistics of getting it to and from school-band is his first class. He said he could leave it in class, but that his 6th period class "is on the complete other side of school in relation to the music room" and he doesn't want to have to walk that far to have to pick it up. I wonder if he's made the connection that marching = walking?

Third day of school was a success. Riley said he correctly answered his question in Science during a game, and that his Math teacher actually teaches. Imagine that. He's pretty happy, which means I am pretty happy too. Yay! So far so good. He does have to do that crappy mile run in PE again this year, only this year it's worth 35% (instead of 30%). Great. We'll see how it goes. The PE teacher was hand picked for Riley and he says she is very nice. Fingers crossed.

Oh, here's a Riley funny: So we carpool with another family. This year the mom has two boys going to the Jr. High, a 7th grader and an 8th grader. She went to pick them up from school, and I guess her boys decided they wanted to walk home. Riley didn't, so she took him home. Riley will never pass up the opportunity to ride in a car over walking.