JACOB IS DRIVING!

I am sorry I haven't posted sooner! Life has been busy, but JACOB PASSED HIS DRIVING TEST! WOOHOO! He did a great job and has had his license since last Thursday. There are a few laws that he has to abide by that are specifically for teen and this is from the STATE OF TEXAS!

• He can have only one friend in the car at a time. He can have as many family members as he wants, but no friends.
• He cannot drive between 12AM and 5AM  unless it is an emergency.
• He cannot text, call or even hold his phone to look at a text while driving! If he does, then his license is gone...if caught by a police officer.

My partner bought a new car and sold me her car, so he has a car. We had to get it inspected and do some work to it, but he is all set now. He purchased his parking permit yesterday and today was his first day to drive to school. He texted me once he arrived and had a HUGE smile on his face when he arrived home.

I have been searching for MONTHS for an app to put on his phone so that I could TRACK him and make sure he doesn't text or call on his phone while driving. I found one called Canary and it is actually The Canary Project if you look it up online.http://thecanaryproject.com/ Here is a link to their website. You can use it on an Android phone or an iPhone. I set up the account online for free then put the app on Jacob's phone, choosing the teen phone when I opened the app. Once I put the app on I did have to pay a one time $9.99 fee. I then downloaded the app on my phone, choosing the parent phone once I opened the app.  Jacob cannot open the app on his phone unless he has my password. I can then monitor him using the website OR my iPhone. If he travels over 12 MPH and texts or calls I get a text alert. I also get an email alert. If he travels outside of the safe zone I set up on his GEOFENCE, then I get an alert. I can also see where he is, or rather his phone is, any time using the GPS on the app OR on the website.

Overall, I am very pleased with this app. There is no monthly subscription and I have been able to talk to tech support twice when I needed assistance. He can now drive himself to his soccer games that he referees. He arrived home to tell me he needed poster board. I told him he could stop on the way to his friend's house and buy some. I gave him some money and told him I expected change. I can now see on my app that he has arrived at his friend's house. Some people may think I am being over protective, but I want to keep him safe!

Elijah and the Alarm Clock

Elijah and my partner were out walking around the block today when they saw a garage sale. They decided to stop and look to see what they had. Elijah found a typical red digital display alarm clock and wanted it. My partner said he could buy it, so they went home and got the $1.00 to purchase it. I arrived home later and he showed me his alarm clock. He said he had it set to go off at 7:00 am. I told him how much I liked it. Later, my partner asked if I had seen what Elijah had bought, and I told her I had. She said she realized he couldn't HEAR the alarm going off in the morning, but he wanted it so badly that she just couldn't say no.

I was just now putting him to bed and he told me again that he had his alarm clock set for 7:00 am. I asked him how he would hear it in the morning and he just looked at me. I could see the realization hitting him that HE WOULDN'T be able to hear the alarm clock, because his processors would not be on his ears. I asked him if he was deaf and he shook his head no. I told him that he was deaf when he wasn't wearing his ears. I then told him that there was a special alarm clock made for people just like him. I told him it would vibrate to wake him up in the morning and we could put it under his pillow. I also told him, he didn't quite need one yet, since he was still living at home, but that we would get him one soon.

Elijah is almost 13 years old and I think it is time to be more honest with him about his hearing. He needs to be able to explain that he is deaf to others when I am not around. This is the reality of raising a child with a disability and I need to prepare him for the real world.

Jacob's Socks

Every week I wash the boys'clothes. We are being ecofriendly and using a clothesline to dry our clothes. I have noticed that most weeks Jacob has very little underwear and socks to hang up. I guess he doesn't believe in changing either very often. Well, this week he had only ONE pair of socks in his laundry. I mentioned it to him and he said that Elijah must be taking his socks. Well, let's just say that Jacob's socks don't fit Elijah's feet. My conclusion is that they never end up in Jacob's laundry basket.

I folded laundry today and Jacob finally decided to search his room for socks. He then told me in a very annoying manner that he didn't know where his socks were with a look accusing ME of losing his socks. You would just have to be there to get it, but imagine a teenage boy and how they talk sometimes. I then go and search his room and find two pairs of socks....one clean pair and one dirty pair. I then find a LOT of trash and a few white t-shirts. I then made him clean up his room and told him it was real simple....walk the TWO steps it takes to go from his bed to his laundry basket and HIS socks wouldn't get lost. They don't get lost going from his room to the washing machine. They just never make it to the laudnry basket.

Jacob cleaned his room and took his trash out to the big trash can outside. He was very polite and I think he realized he needs to be a little more respectful and that pushing MY buttons just makes his life a little harder! I love him dearly, he is my heart, but there are times he needs to think before he speaks.

Vocabulary, Ipads and Cartoons

Elijah still amazes me daily with the vocabulary he uses. I have got to be a better recorder and start writing down some of what he says. He loves POKEMON right now(drives Jacob and I crazy with it) and is always wanting us to watch it. He will say things like, "look mom, that pokemon is EVOLVING!" He then tells me all the names of the Pokemon animals...is that what they are? He also tells me about the story. He will then tell me that the people are evacuating. I am just amazed that he can relate all of this to me in a coherent way that I understand, or think I understand. I am not a big Pokemon fan.




Elijah also loves my IPad. I use it as a reward for good behavior at school. His teachers do email me if he had a rough day, and he doesn't like losing his time with the Ipad. He likes watching videos on youtube or playing angry birds. He will bring me the Ipad and tell me all kinds of things about what he is doing. He told me today about some "creepers" in a game he was playing. He is also very good with the Ipad and doesn't get frustrated with it like he does the computer.

I almost forgot to tell y'all this cute story. Elijah called me on my cell phone the other day and I could not answer. He then called me again and left me a message. It went something like this, "mom are you there........mom are you there...I so worried, I call you back in a minute." Isn't that the cutest thing?!

I know it may not seem like a big deal, but the fact that he learns new vocabulary daily, with little intervention from me is amazing to me. I work with so many deaf students who just aren't at this level. Elijah's speech may not always be great, but the words he uses astound me. I'll have to start keeping a list of his words and update y'all later.

Wrapping up the summer!

Well we have had a long hot summer. Right now we are surviving temperatures over one hundred degrees and everyone is ready for a break. We took a short vacation to Fredricksburg, TX and stopped to see my sister on the way home. We ate way too much and enjoyed some shops!

I think both boys are ready to get back into the routine of school. Jacob will be in 10th grade and is participating in ROTC again. He tried on his uniform today and it is too small. I emailed his instructor about him taking this uniform back and getting a larger one! I guess he is growing. We also tackled his room today. All I can say is, "OH CRAP!". You don't even want to know what all we found under there, but he was left to clean it up. He also wants to referee again this Fall, and I am trying to get a hold of someone at the soccer association to be sure he can referee!

Elijah will be going into the 5th grade and attending a new school. We visited a few weeks ago and just walked around. I am hoping we can go up the week of inservice and let him meet his teachers. He is ready to go back to school, but anxious too. We have been working on a simple rule all week, "listen to adults." This meaning basically, do what you are asked to do by an adult. Of course, then you have to clarify that with no one should touch you where you don't want to be touched and no one should ask you to get into a car. I have found the simpler I keep things with Elijah the better. His tics have been a little high this week. He is licking his hands and wiping his face a great deal. Whenever tics are high, his behavior is a little worse, but STILL so much better than in the past.

He has a bad habit of making faces when I speak to him and am disciplining him. I look past that for now and realize he is listening and not screaming back at me. We can work on his face later. I am hoping I can explain this teachers in a way that they understand I am not making excuses. However, with Elijah you cannot work on too many things at once or it is just too hard. You don't accomplish anything. It is better to take it in little steps.

Of course, with school starting back, I go back to work! We are all hoping this heat breaks by then. I go back on the 16th and the boys go back on the 22nd. I'll let you know how the beginning of the year goes. I know there will be bumps along the way, but hopefully we can work through those!

Music Links

Elijah loves to play on the computer or on his nintendo DS. Unfortunately, I am doing my own thing usually and don't want the noise. I bought him Music Links about a year ago, but he was never really into them. Well, I pulled them out again recently and he loves them. He has learned how to turn on this Mic/telecoil settings on his CI processor and he gets himself going. He has some issues with his fingers and fine motor skills so this was not an easy task for him.

He leaves the music links plugged into the computer and then puts them on behind his ears when he is ready to use them. It has cut down on the noise quite a bit and I am glad to see him becoming more independent. Now if we could just remember them on long car rides, so I don't have to listen to the Nintendo DS all the time!

How to Chose?

I blogged a few weeks ago about Elijah's IEP(ARD meeting in Texas) and how he would be going into 5th grade next year. Today I went to his 5th grade promotion ceremony at school. He did quite well, but sat in the audience with his teacher and I. She said he had had a hard time on the stage yesterday keeping still and being quiet. Even as we sat in the audience he had some "large" tics, but thankfully not loud. The teacher did a nice job of stroking his arm to calm him so his tics would lessen.

Part of me is scared to death to send him to a new school, but I can't keep him at elementary school forever. He will be riding the bus to school next year and riding it home. He won't have a sitter anymore. He has matured quite a bit in the last year, but still has a long way to go. I know there will be many bumps in the road, but we can't stand still and not travel down that road.

I am hoping that he and I can visit his new school and meet his teachers before school starts. I want him to have a "plan" for where he is to when he arrives at school and then how to get on the bus after school. I want him to have a "plan" throughout the day and for him to transition to being more independent. I know he can do it, if there is a good plan in place.

Jacob is going into the 10th grade next year. He seems to be growing up so fast on me. He is going to participate in ROTC again next year. He has a bit of a beard coming in! Where does the time go?

We should have a fairly laid back summer. We do have doctor's appointments and a mini vacation we are starting to plan. Before you know it, it will be time to return to school!

Mr. Independent!

Eljiah is becoming more and more independent these days. Of course, he should be, he will be eleven years old in April! He has been waking up before me on the weekends and this week on Christmas Break. I leave his processors in a case in his room. He wakes up and puts them on himself. He is also finding his own batteries and changing them. I would get them for him in the past and he would change them.

Well one morning this week I got up to find him on the computer with a sprite near the computer. I talked to him briefly about NOT having a drink near the computer. I asked him if he had eaten anything and he said, "Yea, some pizza!"(We had some left over pizza in the fridge). I replied with "Really?" and he said...."YEA, go check the box!" I did and it was EMPTY!!

This morning I taught him how to make his waffles, so no more sneaking of candy or eating whatever he can find for breakfast! At least he does let me sleep a little longer!!

I am glad to see him becoming more independent, but hate that he has to grow up! He'll always be my baby, as is Jacob....all 5 foot 8 inches of him!