Bla Bla catch up

Well, turns out they did run my picture in the article-with my favorite dog in the world. In fact Double Touble wrote a "press release"and another tiny local paper called and interviewed. Then I told them to call Double Trouble. All of this has turned out to be good internal marketing. Meaning as part of these articles the assistant superintendent, superintendent, and someone from county level SELPA and another local special needs PTA were interviewed. Another reminder for the district that we are out there! I also attended a mtg of PTA board members/presidents from other schools in the district-so they also know we are out there!

I am not sure if AJ hasn't had as many blow ups lately, or I am just in a much better space. I think both. I know I was really depressed there for awhile, day after day. Pops took the kids away for over 24 hours and that was a nice break. Double Trouble and I went to the city. A wild night for both of us homebodies. We each had a massage at a women's Japanese bath house (not a sexual place, but very wacky SF like), had Ethiopian food for dinner and then went to a friend of hers bday party and played poker past midnight. Not a typical night for me! I finally found some pants my big belly (read-FAT-not prego) can fit in. Also enjoying www.zappos.com pick your shoes on line, no tax, free shipping and free shipping to return them. Very cool.

My little clients are such a joy. Such an affectionate, loving lot of little boys. I just love their hugs and when they occasionally pop down in my lap. Some are so excited to see me when they arrive. Okay, so some are really excited to see the dog and the guinea pig when they arrive. However, ranking after my animals isn't too bad. The cuddles and jugs from the 2 year olds are golden. I have 3 chatty 3 and 4 year old boys who have "grown up" and kind of moved themselves out of the little toddler chairs to the larger (kid size) table and chairs. Talking with them is so fun. And they are into more advanced activities. Such as, involved dramatic play and art projects. My dear client Leelo has autism and is 6 now. He has been having these moments of clear loving language that just melts me. Two weeks ago he asked me a number of times during the session, "I love you. Do you love me?" followed by "Let's go see Judy!" and "I wanna hug." He is one snuggly guy. I just love my job. I am blessed and grateful.

I plan to open a clinic in the fall. Ki will be in school more hours of the day then. Ideally, I'd like to bring on 2 other therapists and in a dream world, an OT, also. The concern here is that there is such a shortage of therapists, and finding staff my be hard. Especially since I can't start them out with a full caseload and paycheck. And most especially because I want really good therapists. I don't mind if they are newer to the field, I love mentoring. But it is the therapist who is intelligent, creative, flexible and intuitive that I want to work with. These are the characteristics that make a great therapist, and they are possessed before a degree is ever earned. I can train skills and send them to courses-but I can't train those characteristics. If you are reading and know of a therapist I should pursue, let me know. Or pass my story on.

Aj has a "100 days of school" project due. He is supposed to get 100 of something and find a way to display it and take it to class next week. Kurt and I have been working with him on an idea I came up with/ Aj is interested in (read a bit obsessed) with sports teams, and maps/road names/geography. So Kurt and I sat with him and helped him name pro sports teams and the city they are in. Honestly, I think he came up with 40 or 50 on his own. I typed them into a table format. Yesterday we stopped at AAA and I had him ask for a map of the USA. Today we went and bought stickers that are sports balls. Tomorrow I plan to have him locate the cities (and states) we listed and put a sticker for the corresponding sport (so on San Francisco a baseball for the giants, football for the 49ers etc). I haven't pulled it together in awhile for a good project for him, so I am pleased. Also, b/c Pops is interested in sports so much he has had fun working on this with Aj, too. Tomorrow is the Superbowl. It will be fun to watch with Aj.

For Xmas, Pops gave me tickets for us to go see, "Jersey Boys". We drove up to the city on W night, went out to dinner and then to the show. He got incredible seats, first row loge. And the show was spectacular. Such a treat.