My brain? It is numb.

For real. I can feel the tingling in there.

We had Ethan's ARD meeting today. It started at 8:30am, and we didn't get out of there until a little after 1:00pm! Definitely our longest ARD ever, and for all I know, it could be THE longest ARD ever. But once again, I have to give BIG KUDOS to the school-they are always looking for ways to help Ethan and go so far out of their way to make his days better. For example: a big problem for Ethan is lunchtime in the cafeteria. It is so, so loud in there, every single kid is yelling (approx. 350-400 students) and it is nothing but a huge echo chamber. He is extremely sensitive to loud noises and that combined with the fact that they have to sit so close together that he is always getting touched (another sensitivity problem) that he usually ends up having a huge meltdown. So, in order to combat that and make his day less stressful, he eats lunch with one of the Vice-Principals, who he is very close to and has a great relationship with, every single day, in his office! Now certainly, I'm sure that Mr. VP has more important things he could be doing, but nope, he takes that time out of his day to sit down with Ethan and have lunch. That alone brings tears to my eyes. Earlier this week, both of the Vice-Principals, his Special Ed. teacher, his Speech Therapist and one of the counselors all got Ethan and took him outside and tried to teach him how to play Foursquare. They just got the Foursquare thing painted out in one of the parking lots, and they were using it to try and teach him how to follow rules in a game and how to lose gracefully and that it is OK to lose.

Ethan is actually a General Education student...he just gets pulled out for a couple of things he needs extra help with. That Foursquare thing was just spur of the moment...Mr. O., the Mr. VP Ethan has such a great relationship with, decided to round up a few adults and go and do this with Ethan. Really, I couldn't ask for a better school and/or a better staff! Every single person who works there is there because they love kids and want to teach them and help them become better people/responsible adults. And I am so, so grateful to them all every single day!

Sorry I haven't had any pictures for the last couple of posts...Ethan had an appointment with the Psychiatrist on Monday, then I had an appointment with MY Psychiatrist on Tuesday, after which I drove straight to Border's Bookstore and spent 2 hours looking at books! I ended up leaving with the latest issue of 'Craft' with Amy Sedaris on the cover (who TOTALLY cracks me up!), along with a couple of other magazines and several books and a CD with the soundtrack of 'Annie'. The 'Annie' soundtrack is for Claire. Yep. Well, she may not know about it yet, but really, I plan to play it for her a lot in the Jeep while we are driving around.
And ssshhhhhhhhh! Don't tell Steven I bought all of these books...he hasn't realized it yet.