The Road is Bumpy

Well, it’s been a few weeks since I hit the gym. I am totally out of the groove. I was getting into the groove and then we hit a bump in the road. Actually we hit a few bumps in the road. Let me explain.

There is something you need to know before I go any further here…my husband suffers from depression. It’s not anything that he’s ashamed of; it is what it is. His depression is something that we have been continually dealing with since we were married 7 years ago. He has been medication free for just over 6 months now. All that being said, medication does not cure the problem, only allows you to deal with the symptoms (my opinion anyway). This time of year is especially busy at work for my husband, not only because things are busy but because there is a lot of travel involved from middle of April to middle of June. This travel is usually only scheduled a few days in advance. Totally throws the schedule off…and if you aren’t good at handling stress or change then something like a lot of travel can totally throw a wrench in things. Travel in and of itself isn’t a bad thing…but when you’re driving a 5-tonne full of live animal to their destination and the days are 14 – 16 hours long and start at 5 am (which means he gets up at 3 am and leaves the house at 4am) things get a little rough. So, the hubby’s schedule would be bump in the road number one.

A few weeks back we managed to get the whole family to the gym in time for us adults to have a workout. Of course, things are busy and I left the office to pick up the kids, but forgot their dinner in the fridge at work. It wouldn’t be a big deal, except that I leave work at 5pm to pick up the little one at the sitter, then to pick up the big one at after-school care before 5:30. If everyone is on the ball and we don’t stop to talk to any other parents, we’re at the gym for 5:45 and working out at 6:00. Well, I forgot dinner, so a quick trip through the McDonald’s drive-thru and we were on our way to the gym. Bump in the road number two coming up. There was a new worker in the daycare and she informed us that the kids “aren’t allowed to have meals” at the daycare. Take a minute for that to sink in.

I understand that I was in the wrong for bringing McDonald’s (there were actually other children in the daycare this day, usually we’re the only one’s at dinner time). I queried what a “meal” was and she informed me that there was a list of recommended snacks on the door (we’re talking crackers and cheese etc.). Now, we’ve been going to this daycare for 6 years, and 2-3 times a week now for 5 months and in all that time no one has ever said anything about not having meals there. I’ve brought cut up chicken breast with salad dressing dip, jam sandwiches, muffins, and on Friday’s we always bring Wendy’s for the kids (but we’re ALWAYS the only kids on a Friday night). I was so taken aback that we had never been informed of this rule that we packed the kids to go. She offered for us to have them eat their dinner in the lobby – okay for the big kid who can suck it back, but how do you rush a 3 year old? She’d have been there for days with all the distractions. Nope, I packed the kids up and we went home.

When I queried our regular worker about the rule, she confirmed it, and now that the new girl has written about it in the “communication binder” they are going to have to stick to the rule. So, my jam sandwiches are “iffy” and it will depend on who is working. Excuse my language, but “I don’t have the f*ckin’ time to worry about who is working when I’m packing dinner at 7:30 in the morning!” Ugh! So, my stubborn self has been so put off by them about this issue, so we haven’t gone for a few weeks.

And the final bump is a little more serious. We have been pushing the school to test Daytona for dyslexia. We have a family history of learning disabilities on both sides and if there are any issues we want to “nip them in the bud” so to speak. Well, Daytona was tested. We weren’t given any warning and it turns out they did the test the day after her big exciting trip to Toronto with my mother. The trip where she left her at 4:30 am on Sunday and was up until almost 10pm that night, woke early Monday morning and was on the go until arrival at home by airplane at 11:30 Monday evening. She talked to me until 1 am and then got up at 7 am ready for school. I let her go, but with a note that if she got too tired to call me at work and I would pick her up. I didn’t get a call, but she told me all about how she played some games with a new teacher and how much her head was hurting…her first headache! Skip forward to May 28th and we are now meeting with the Learning Resources teacher, Daytona’s teacher and the Vice Principal. Daytona has tested in the 25th percentile…her scores were low average, with a few very low bringing her down to the 25th percentile.

I was shocked. I was going into the meeting prepared for them to tell me that I was on over concerned parent and that she’s doing fine. She’s in French immersion and is fairly fluent. She’s scoring 4 or 5 out of 5 on all her dictee and she’s writing full sentences in her journal just fine. Lots of reversed letters and numbers though. She loves math and science and is good at it. She can read a simple book once and most times recite it back to you. She’s like a sponge…talk science and she’s out telling everyone what she’s learned. On this test, she failed reading comprehension, did miserable on phonetic awareness and scored in the 1st percentile for simple math. Who did they test because it wasn’t my child!

So after many fights (it’s my fault because I wouldn’t let hubby force her to read her own bedtime stories at night) and the purchase of Hooked on Phonics for Kindergarten (I’m looking for the 1st Grade by the way) we have come to the conclusion that our daughter is a “rusher”. She’s happy to rush through her work and just get it done. She’s not overly concerned with neatness, or correctness, just that it is done. I am in complete denial that the child is as bad off as this assessment indicated. And, I think the Learning Resource teacher was confused as well. She did not recommend taking Daytona out of the French Immersion program (which is what I was worried about). We’re to take a “wait and see” approach. They won’t actually test her for learning disabilities until she is seven years old. So, she’s been flagged at the school and if the Learning Resource teacher has extra time she’ll try to work with Daytona.

At home, we’re doing Hooked on Phonics (HOP) every couple of nights. Daytona loves it. And, she’s flying through the lessons. The hubby and I have agreed (although he’s having some trouble backing off) that we’ll work through the HOP over the summer and get her to at least finish the first grade level, although I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re starting second grade level before the summer is out. We were told that reading skills are transferable between languages, so hopefully this will help with her French as well (although there were no indications that her French is below level).

So, if you’ve managed to read through all of that with me you’ll see why we haven’t made to the gym. On a positive note though, there has been no weight gained. The scale reads the same as it did on the long weekend. That’s awesome. I’m not in it just to lose weight…I’m in it to change my life. We’re hoping that things settle down a bit at home and we’ll be back in the gym next week a couple of time at least. With biking with the kids, and flying kits and setting of Vinegar and Baking soda rockets, we’re still getting cardio when we’re not at the gym. One day at a time…one foot in front of the other.