Eye-Opening

Quite literally.

My Mom-dar (Mommy Radar) woke me at 2:30 this morning, at which point I heard WG in the bedroom just below ours giggling. She was wide awake and playing.  Luckily, she was able to get back to sleep pretty quickly.

Me?  Not so much.

I finally fell asleep again at 5:00, and had to get up at 6:00.

And my mom just found out something very interesting: Her right eye has nearly perfect vision, but she's nearly legally blind in her left.

?!?!?!?!?!

Macular degeneration.

They're keeping an eye on it (har har) and will fix it once they know which kind it is.

Otherwise, things have calmed down a bit, emotionally.  I've been taking LG to the pool nearly every day.  (I have mentioned the pool, haven't I?  Hubby's aunt & her family live in an apartment complex not too far from here, and she gave us their pool key since they never use it.  It's been a godsend!)  Starting next week I'll be taking both kids, since WG has a 2-week break before summer school starts.  It's REALLY nice, and thus far hasn't been too crowded (touch wood).

I'm also working on finding a sitter (or 2) for the kids.  Just a few hours a week during the summer, and then continuing as needed.  It turns out that some of the folks where the kids used to get their therapy (and where my S-I-L still works) are registered with Care.com. So not only are they pre-screened, they're trained to work with kids with autism AND they're known to us!

And some of the hours are paid for out of our respite care.  Win/win!

Finally, I've been looking into teaching options.  There's another Shakespeare festival in the area that has in-school residencies.  So I could teach during school hours (as opposed to after school) AND have the classroom teacher there with me!  I wouldn't have to deal with classroom management, I could just do what I'm good at.

Also, I'm thinking of eventually doing some private teaching.  Renting out a space at a rec center, somewhere inexpensive, and teaching private and small group classes.  There are a number of teachers in the city, but not as many here.  Plus, I can work with kids, especially middle school and older, as well as adults, who actually WANT to be there.  Not kids who are being forced by their parents because the tennis lessons were full and they need to do SOMETHING. ( I have dealt with MUCH TOO MUCH of that, and it ain't pretty!  I'm not a babysitter.  If you want to dump your kid somewhere, try and at least find somethings/he will enjoy!)

It's time for me to start creating my own opportunities, I think.  Carving my own path, and not waiting for someone else to tell me what to do, where to go, and how to do it.  I have a lot of experience, and a lot to offer.  

I also want to make my own schedule, as much as possible, and create my own method.

I'm actually very excited about this!