First 5k

Today I got up early and drove through rain out to the beach alone. I managed to find a parking spot (for 4$ and luckily had the cash for it) and walked two blocks to the beach where I picked up my number.

I met up with my teammates from work and decided there was no way I was eating one of the 50 dozen donuts they had up for grabs. But the bananas seemed like a good idea so i had one and picked up a bottle of water too.

Then I went to the starting line and got ready to do my first 5k.

It was overcast, windy and about 65 degrees. Maybe cooler even. My goal was to know when to turn around so that I didn't end up hurting myself. Didn't want a repeat of the 2009 trochanteric bursitis incident.

I walked out for 0.8 miles before turning around. That made the walk a 1.6 mile hike. Farther than I've walked by a long shot for years! I never got into too much pain which is great because since the twin pregnancy my back and more are usually screaming for a rest after much less walking.

Our whole team did great, a few even ran all or part of the way which was awesome. And most awesome was that we collected just over $1k to help the organization I Need a Lighthouse which is a local org dedicated to education about depression and suicide prevention, particularly aimed at high school students.

I remember well how depression felt as a teen and hope that my small contribution will help someone make it through as I did.

And now, after putting the kids to bed I'm enjoying myself with a typical evening of playing on my phone while having a glass of light cranberry juice and a napkinful of animal crackers. (other items are a confiscated flashlight, Nicky's school folder and latest IEP meeting invite- to discuss the results from his OT eval)

What? That's not how everyone ends their Weekend?

THe IEP Theme Song

I had an IEP update meeting last week where we did a referral for Occupational Therapy evaluation for Nick. Several of his behaviors make us wonder if he has some sensory processing things going on. (Aversion to loud sounds- unless of course he's the one making the noise, food aversions, repetitive sounds, etc.) I heard this song on my ipod on the way to work that morning before his IEP and it resonated as a message I should make sure to keep in mind. I think this should probably be required listening before every IEP meeting, by all the attendees.

We have an ENT appt for Nicky on June 1st to talk about a sleep study to check for sleep apnea, but we're pretty sure he has it. Even Nana heard him while we were out of town for Liz's wedding (whole nother post for that). But he tries so hard to do what he needs to do in school. And he has learned so much this year! He can read some words (when he focuses and tries), he can write all his letters (mostly facing the right way) and he can even spell phonetically sometimes. He couldn't do ANY of that at the start of the year. I'm just hoping that his teachers agree with me and move him up to first grade. He's just too bright to repeat Kindergarten and if that's what they want to do he would be so bored he would become a behavior problem. We'll see what happens. All we can do is keep trying to help him succeed while letting him be himself.