Fun News

Several months ago I read a story in our local paper about an organization - Room for Joy - that is "dedicated to enhancing the healing process of chronically ill children by providing imaginative bedroom environments for them". I thought with as much time as Jack spends in his room it would be so cool if he could get a room makeover -- something really extreme and interactive for him. I emailed the organization and received a phone call from the founder/director. She said that they had one other child they had already committed to help, but she would put Jack next on the list - but, at the time she didn't have funding for another room. Well, she called me yesterday and told me the other project fell through and that she would love to do a room for Jack! We met with them tonight and talked about a theme and what Jack would like in his room. I'm not going to tell you what we decided ....... you'll have to wait until the reveal! It's like a mini-extreme home maker. They even kick us out of our house for three days, put us up in a hotel and provide all our meals and entertainment for the weekend. They will be doing his room the first weekend in December. How exciting is that?!

The other "fun" news is an Eric "funny". Right before Fall break I received a letter from our school district telling me that since Eric qualified for the gifted program (and since we didn't place him the self-contained program which is at a different school), that he is eligible for placement in the "consultative gifted program" at our school and his teacher will be contacting me to discuss his "special needs". Just goes to show that "special needs" doesn't always equate to having a disability. I received an email yesterday from Eric's teacher letting me know how much he has improved in his listening and following direction skills and other good stuff like that. Then, in an effort to meet Eric's "special needs", she goes on to tell me that she "went to the library tonight and got a book on leeches - a topic Eric said he would like to learn more about. He will be reading the book in class and then writing and drawing about what he learned." Yes, she said LEECHES! Should I be worried that my five year old wants to learn about leeches? I asked Mark where on earth did he come up with this. Mark's response "well, he likes parasites". He does? Sometimes this kid really scares me. I can just picture his teacher's face when she asked him what he wanted to learn about. I'm guessing she hasn't checked out a book on leeches before. The kid sure keeps us laughing.

This week flew by for me with all of Jack's appointments for the radiation, I missed quite a bit of work. Jack is scheduled to have the procedure done on Monday. It will be without sedation and it will not painful for him -- although I'm sure he'll be a little scared because he has to wear a radiation mask they made especially for him on Wednesday. I'll just be glad to have this behind us.

That's the update from here. Wishing you all a fun-filled weekend.