Milla Making Mighty Moves

Yep, this girl is going places. Milla graduated with honors from the University of Colorado, Denver in December 2021 with a BS in Psychology and a minor in Anthropology. I don't think we even realized all she was doing. Milla is like that; quietly doing her thing. Working, playing, creating, serving. And before you know it, she's way down the path in front of you. Milla always loving and supportive, never judging. She has had a couple of interviews this week for jobs in ABA therapy, where she will do 1:1 therapy with children with autism in their homes under the direction of a licensed therapist. This would give her on the job training and give her a path forward in helping kids. Her favorite! We can't wait to see where she will go! (chess pieces were made by Milla for a final project for her 'Psychology of Death' class (yes, that is a thing). Each character represents one cultures symbol of death)

2022 Giving it a try

Well, thanks to Alyssa's amazing consistancy with her blog, I am again reminded that mine exists. During COVID I have managed one post a year. Getting 2022's in early! Never know, maybe I'll even fit in a 2nd. I don't take a lot of pictures as most of my kids cringe when I attempt a shot, but I get some in here and there. Below is a schmattering of my life over the past little while. WORK: I'm finishing up my third year at North Middle School this year. I've maintained my webpage for parents, although I always wonder if it is EVER looked at. The COVID pandemic has had the silver lining of building much stronger relationships with my coworkers- especially admin and my truancy officer. Everyone has pitched in and helped me out and vice versa, for which I am so grateful. My team is a positive bunch of patient (well most of the time...) people. In the team photo, I'm the one being squashed by the back leg of the polar bear.

My recent claim to fame:

We have always had an Autism Classroom (Sam, their teacher is in the foreground below), but this year was my first with an SSN Class (Significant Needs). They came together a couple weeks ago for a Unified Basketball tournament with a class from a neighboring school and did awesome. They had baskets set at 3 different levels so that all kids could participate. Student from the 'regular' classes ran along side the SSN and Autism students to help manage the ball. They also help in the classrooms daily, which is great experience for all. I unfortunately had to leave the game early when a (turns out drunk) student in the stands vomited... but fun while it lasted. We have 2 kids that are quadreplegic, 4 on gtube feeds, 2 with a trach, 2 with downs syndrome, 1 with epilepsy, and a myriad of other concerns. They are such a joy. Our newest student was born and raised in a refugee camp in eastern africa and has been fed and cared for by only his mother all of his 11 years. He has been a quadreplegic since birth and never had a wheelchair or gtube or been to school. It is remarkable to me, the work and love of his mom. Although severely malnourished, he is growing every day. He has the brightest smile I have ever seen! Always having been laid down, he has very poor neck strength. But after only 1 month, Olivier is already able to hold his head up for longer and longer periods of the day. He is insanely curious, looking about at everything going on. I can't wait for them to get him a speaking device to see what all his brain is capable of. I am constantly communicating with mom and his providers to work through frustrations of getting him to his appointments and school and to work through medical issues that arise. Mom can't read even numbers and speaks no english. How does someone track time and coordinate with transport when even the concept of a 7 day week is foreign to them? Despite there being language interpretation when calling Children's hospital, how does a mom even find the correct number to call on a device (phone) where she can't read the names to find who to call? It's been an interesting year and a learning curve all around.

My Go Bag with med supplies for out of office emergencies that I just fixed up with new labeling. Sorry I don't have more interesting pictures Home: Remembering seeing Emme and Cor utilize a cleaning app a couple years ago and being frustrated by constantly having to create chore lists and follow up with kids, I finally decided to try one out for the fam. After a bit of effort inputting all the chores in various areas of the house, noting how often each needed to be done and who should rotate through doing them, we are up and running! About 4 weeks in now using Tody, and I am pretty pleased with it. I don't mind getting behind a few days on most chores, but I did have to screenshot and send a text reminder to one child who needed a push.... All are getting accostomed to the app and basically keeping up, so yeah for when tech works!