Back to School

As of August 22nd, James is officially a 2nd grader. They say that kids grow up so fast, and they weren’t kidding. I wish James would slow down a little bit. I swear I am going to blink, and he’ll be heading off to Jr. High.

He’s already off to a rough start of the school year. On Monday afternoon Stacy had to pick him up because he had a fever and a high heart rate. It was his birthday so we initially joked that maybe he was faking it so he could get out of school early.

In all seriousness, though, Dr./Nurse Stacy’s professional opinion was that his top front tooth was ready to cut through the gum and finally come out. I think he lost that tooth a year ago. Does it normally take that long for an adult tooth to come in after the baby tooth falls out?

He stayed home from school on Tuesday but was back on Wednesday and Thursday. Then Thursday night he was having digestion issues, so he stayed home from school on Friday. What is going on with this kid?

It turns out that Stacy’s suspicions were correct. His tooth finally made an appearance yesterday morning.

The tooth breaking through would explain the fever and possibly the high heart rate, but that wouldn’t cause him to not be able to digest his food, would it? For those of you new here, he is tube fed so he doesn’t eat anything by mouth.

On the brighter side, one of his therapists at school gave him this cool raccoon speaker for his birthday so he can listen to his favorite music.

And on Friday we received a special delivery from his teacher.

We love his school, his teacher, and all his therapists. Let’s just hope we can get him well enough so that he can spend more time in school than at home.

Miscellaneous Stuff

I’ve got a pro tip for those of you with special needs children: if any of your local restaurants have Birthday Clubs where you can get a free dessert on your birthday, sign your kid up, even if they don’t eat by mouth. Stacy signed up James at Portillo’s so that he could get a free slice of cake for his birthday:

James may not be able to eat anything by mouth, but that shouldn’t mean that Stacy and I can’t enjoy his slice of cake for him. Is this wrong of us to do this? Maybe. But if you’re in the Chicago area, you know how good their cake is. If you’re not lucky enough to have a Portillo’s, I’m sorry, but you don’t know what you’re missing!

Stacy made a deposit at the bank earlier this week and so she got the complimentary piece of Dove chocolate. This was the message inside the wrapper:

Like Stacy could ever take a day off. I honestly don’t think she could. Even when I am home on weekends when she could take the day off, she is still taking care of James. It’s like her mission; her reason; her purpose.

In a post I made in July, I mentioned that a student organization at the college that I work at was planning a Color Run fundraiser for us this fall. Unfortunately, it is not going to happen. They went to the school with the idea and the plan, and the school did not approve it for various reasons. The organization has told us that they are working on other ideas and will let us know when they come up with something that will have the support of the school. Stay tuned.

Every year on Labor Day weekend our town has a festival with food, carnival rides, and music. One of the mornings they block off for people with disabilities. We went last year and James had his first ride on a Ferris wheel. Unfortunately, we got the day wrong this year. We thought it was today, but it was actually yesterday. It’s alright, though. We ventured off into the park and listened to some music and watched a few people up on stage doing a Zumba class. James seemed to enjoy himself. He likes music.