Soak City

What do you usually do before Labor's Weekend arrives? This time, we decided to go out to Soak City after Dylan officially had kept his promise by eating his entire home made sandwich. As we wanted to save our money, we decided to eat our lunch at home before heading for Soak City.

This amusement park offers rides and water slides for the whole family, from lounging around with the kids in the Dick's Beach House to launching yourself down the 62-foot open flume free fall at La Jolla Falls (there are 3 separate flumes here). There are also many rides in-between, all of which will keep you cool and get the adrenalin pumping.

Dylan was tall enough to go on ANY RIDES and wear without life jacket. Ryan only could go to some of the rides that reaches up to 42." Perhaps next year or a year after that, he will be qualified to go on ANY RIDES. But the first thing we wanted to let the boys to go on Balboa Bay where it had waves, so they would be able to get used to with the rough rides. Both of our boys LOVED the waves-- they got excited when they heard the horns that warned us that the waves were heading for them. Ryan was so excited to see the waves crashed while Dylan wanted to be independent by swimming toward six feet deep. In order to prevent from Dylan drowning, he still had to wear his life jacket because he could swim little bit. As for me and David, we just enjoyed being near them in case they needed us.

The next daring ride for all four of us was to go on Coronado Express. This ride has a large rubber boat tube that fit up to four people. We all held ourselves tightly on the handles because going down the hills rapidly. I literally HATE IT because I was facing backward and couldn't see where I was going. Ryan usually likes fast rides, but not this ride. I could see his "scaring" facial expression. Poor Ryan! But Dylan was on the other hand. He just rather SCREAMED as he loved it! Of course, he was getting older and liking more of fast rides.

While settling our fears down, we headed for Dick's Beach House (Kid's Rides) and Sunset Rides. The coolest part was letting the boys feeling safe to go on the rides while we were around. They had fun doing the experiment especially turning the H2O fire hydrants. For a couple of few minutes, the boys, David and I decided to try out for Sunset River. The boys joined riding on a tube while we were walking behind them. The only negative part was the life guard sort of kicking David out just because Dylan did not wear a lifeguard and he is taller than 48;" therefore, he "must" go on a tube. I was able to stay with Ryan because he was under 48" and worn a life jacket. They especially like being inside of the waterfall.

Then we went back to Balboa Waves. Ryan decided to stay while Dylan wanted to try out for other rides: La Palisade Plunge and La Jolla Falls. David could easily see where Dylan was coming from the La Jolla Falls. It was a scary moment for Dylan to go down the steep slope. I must admit he was much braver than me! The next ride he went out for La Palisade Plunge. Know what? Of course, he chose to go in Orange Tunnel over than the three other colors. That is his favorite color. He thought it was a little bit scary because of a dark tunnel and not knowing where he would be heading.

(Dylan was cheering for being brave to go on Palisade Plunge by himself)

Being a gallant little young man got an ice cream treat from his dad. Was he being spoiled? Yet, Dylan had thought about getting a second one for Ryan. Wasn't he being thoughtful? Ryan was so thrilled to get a sweet treat. But after the boys had their small treats from us, they pleaded us to go back for Babloa Bay for a short while. We only allowed them up to fifteen minutes. However, I thought was a perfect four hour ending of a special summer ending event for all four of us!

All About Me Sack

On the first week of school, Dylan had two projects. One of the projects was creating a picture of himself on the front of the sack, and put 3 objects in the sack that tell something special about him.

On the front of the sack, he drew a picture of him and me only. He mentioned that his dad and Ryan were at the Sea World while Dylan and I were at the beach together. What a nice way to know that he's feeling close to me. But I felt bad that Ryan and David were not included.

The first object was taking a picture of his collection: Pez. So far he has about 50 out of 300 PEZ. He put the words together while I was helping him by putting the picture together.

The second object was his favorite vacation to Kauai, Hawaii during Christmas week. He wanted to go back. I guess that he needs to earn enough money to fly out to Hawaii. On the day of his presentation, he will be showing his plastic Lei Headband.

The last object was someone special to him. We thought it would be us. WRONG! It is his cousin, Katya. They adore each other dearly from the moment he was born. I have asked him if he wanted to show a picture of Katya holding him when he was a baby on the back of the recent picture of Katya and Dylan. " Nope, it would embrass me, " said by Dylan. I guess that is typical for boys.

Dylan's Promise

For three days, Dylan REFUSED to eat his home-made sandwich that I made him for his school lunch. Even he and I went to the store, I had him picking his own meat sandwich. Well, for the last three days I kept finding his remaining sandwiches in his lunch box. When I asked him why his sandwich was still in his lunch box, his lame excuses were, " I don't have the time, " or " I was full."

So, my husband David and I came up with a brilliant idea. Dylan has agreed to keep his promise by eating sandwich in a front of us for two evenings. In order to prove this to you, he signed in a front of my husband's Treo Video Pager.

(Translate: Yes, Promise. I will eat sandwich. Promise Promise Promise. Swearing. We will go "trying to finger spelling for Soak City", but he left an unfinished sentence.)

Do you know what would happen if he failed to keep his promise? It means that he would not be able to attend Soak City nearby our home on the weekend before it closes for the rest of the year after Labor's Weekend.

Dylan is a REALLY BRIGHT young boy, but we are bright enough to force him to eat in A FRONT OF US. Otherwise, he would have sneak it out and throw it away at school. I was in the kitchen watching him to eat an entire turkey, lettuce and mayonnaise per his request. (He would rather to have Grilled Sandwich daily, but I wouldn't let him because he needs to try different kinds of sandwiches.) In fact, this took him a long while to complete while his younger brother, Ryan just galloped within twenty minutes of his entire dinner. Finally, he was able to keep his promise. That relieved us!

Need A Laugh?

One of the Extended Student Service (ESS) leader at my boys' school site told me that she loves Dylan and Ryan very much. She stated that they both do have senses of humor.

Dylan:

" Ms. Rene, I have two questions for you! One, can I play scrabble game? Two, can I have a box to cover my bottom? It's too big!! I need to cover it. "

"My blood pressure is heating like a baseball on Wednesday."

Wonder what he actually thinks about???
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Ryan:

(He had his arms spread out) " You cannot pass by me. You need a password. "

The leader thought of saying "Please " is a typical magic word. Nope! He had to guess again. Ryan giggled. After a third attempt, he then said to the leader, "Okay, you may go now."

What a mischievous he is !

Inclusive Classes

Have you had any kind of experience you were being treated differently? Some people are treated differently because they have disabilities. Just because they’re a little different, sadly most people exclude them. Truthfully, they’re not that different though. They’re still people and they still have feelings. For instance, one of the regular education students, Rhy, Ryan's classmate, came up to me, "Ryan is my best friend. " Then, Ryan boosted his mood when he heard his classmate sharing with me. Then, Ryan gave him a hug. Another time, Ryan would come to me with tearful, " I don't want to get in trouble anymore." Third example of this evening, he was so thoughtful, "I'm full. You can have my Lasagna dinner. " Clearly, he does have feelings.

If people have mental or physical disabilities all they need is a little help. It applies to my younger son, Ryan who has a mild autism. Even though, he is in full-time mainstream classes. On a third day of his new school site, his general education teacher told me, "Ryan is picking up fast and getting to his work more than on his first day. " He was so proud to hear this comment from his teacher. Ryan then signed to me, " I'm good today, so I can play video computer game." (He remembers that he promises me to be a good boy at school. He did.)

Ryan is not the only student who has a special need in his class. One of my deaf students attend a part of his class: Motor Lab. There is a sign language interpreter, who translates for my deaf student. Interesting, Ryan watches her during the teacher's lecture.

Thus no one shouldn’t judge people on what they look like, or what they don’t know or can’t do. Nor should judge them on character, how nice they are. If you get to know them better they could turn out to be a great friend. It happens to Ryan and Rhy were bonds quickly from the first day of school. This is a great example of an article Click here

Inclusion is a very nice thing to do. It means anyone can include everyone to do normal things. When you include someone it makes them feel good because you treat them like a normal friend. Nobody likes being different and uninvited. Including makes people feel a lot less abandoned and left out.

Our First Day of School

Right up until this bright morning (6:30 A.M.), my sons had been well-prepared taking off for their first day of school: new clothes, new class, new teacher, and meeting new and old friends. It also applied me meeting my new students and lessons, especially working with much younger kids than I had taught in the past. This challenged for all three of us by facing this unknown encounter.

But just a few minutes after I dropped my young sons at their new classroom, they were all lined up. Clearly, they were ready, and I was proud. They call this a part of growing up, but I'm the one that has to grow. I plead for more strength and courage before I let them go.

(To ease their anxiety, they were goofing around when they shut their eyes.)

I know them well. They are my sons. And this is an important step in growing up, a mission I've been preparing them to run. Dylan was anxious for this adventure to begin; he'll be so eager he won't even wave goodbye. Ryan was somewhat feeling unsecured in his new school environment since he was transferred to this school site. Their teachers made sure each of them were feeling comfortable on their first day of school.

All of my protections for them suddenly vanished. (SOBS!) They both have between twenty to twenty five students in their class. Both teacher have many years of experiencing working with deaf parents. That is an advantage for me. It is the same proportion for me working with students' whose parents often speaking other than English.

As for me, I am the ones who have to work extra harder to educate my deaf students because none of their parents can communicate with their child in sign language. Isn't that sad enough? Well, that is very typical for many deaf students who had dealt with 90 % of hearing parents who do not know sign. Not only being sympathies for my students, it is a great timing for me to teach my young students in language during their critical time of learning.

While I am facing the challenging of working in variety of language levels with my deaf students, my sons will be facing with choices. Eventually, they will learn many more new things around them. This is a fun way to watch my sons to learn more new education, but truthfully, I have to reminded myself NOT to overprotected them at all times. They call this a part of growing up, but I am the one that must grow.

Both Dylan and Ryan are learning the same thing as I am learning on how to work and teach with the younger deaf students. I must admit that today was an impact experience for me. One thing I have learned that I MUST keep everything ON GO and change into different activities at least 15 to 20 minutes per activities. Can you image that I must improvise at a very short notice? I often wonder how will I do throughout the year.

Setting Up A Classroom

For the past two weeks, I had been cleaning my new classroom on and off. When I first came to my new pre-school classroom, I found so many junk things, boxes, dirty toys and so forth. It took me a lot of times to go through with all of the unnecessary things for the classroom. Actually, it was not an easy task to go through especially with the heat.

First, I started out cleaning inside of the closets where there were many spiders, spilling things and disorganizing stuff in pile boxes. The next thing, I did was taking out of the monthly boxes to see what was still good. Truthfully, many of them in the boxes were more than 10 years old! Ewww!

The next day, I had an unexpected right hand helper. A friend of mine came to help me to throw the missing puzzles out, washed and organize the toys and books. That was not the only thing she and I worked together for a day. We also had to figure it out what to keep, throw it away or give it out to the other pre-school teachers. The other teacher who had my classroom had dumped everything. That was NOT fun things to do. Despite of doing what we had to do, I treated my friend a gracious lunch.

A week later, my friend and I gradually decorated the classroom before my permanent aide arrived. My aide admitted that the classroom is far more cheerful than last year. She was also pleased things are being more cleaner and organizing in a group. Still, she is motivated for three reasons: willing to straight everything out in the drawers, keeping the theme: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, Hear, Sight and Feel? I am incorporating the monthly theme with other pre-school classrooms. She is also excited to do many more work I am giving it to her throughout the year such as finishing the bulletin boards,up, monthly journals, fine motor assignments and many more things to do. Am I being tough?

In reality of setting up a classroom, I am also teaching Kindergarten and first grader. It means I have three different assignments to work with each student on their goal. That is a typical challenging for all special education teachers.

On the 18th, I start having little students in my class. I must admit that I am NERVOUS WRECK because it is a really BIG GAP from teaching junior high school "smarty pant" students for eight years to pre-school students. Wish me luck I will excel in working with the younger kids and keeping my energies up especially at my age.