Our First Days In School

~Bianca's First Day For School 08.20.08~

Well our first few days were definitely quiet eventful! There was a little bit of everything! Also I would like to thank Gramma Shirley, Dr. Amjad and others that have been so helpful in providing me w/some very much needed feedback. From things I can incorporate into her nutrition to things she has full rights for in class! That kind of input in priceless for us at the moment…and will always be! So please for anyone that has any input ~ no matter how insignificant you think it might be ~ trust me it really is not!

~ Let start w/Wednesday ~ 08.20.08

We made it promptly to her class. It was such an exciting day filled w/so many emotions all at the same time…will she be okay? How will the other children interact w/her? How will the teacher handle an incident (we got to experience that one but more later on), how will lunch time, PE time and all the chaotic moments of Kindergarten go for her? Well needless to say I got all my questions and then some answered in 72 hours! As she was settling in she looked like a pro at meeting and greeting other kids. At first some did stare at her bandages (tubular gauze) covering her arms – while others were just straight out and friendly! She did have a very good time in class and followed orders very well. Her first assignment to draw a Brown Bear… easy enough b/c she got a happy face! As time went by she made it out to “PE” which was mostly sit by the sidelines and do low key fun stuff in the park. She enjoyed that and NO ACCIDENTS thank the lord…but keep reading! There was a small incident where a little girl mistook Bianca’s hands for being dirty. I guess it’s because of how they look. I mean we’re not oblivious but the little girl was down right nasty! She told her to don’t touch her because her hands looked all yucky! And I know Bianca prides herself in cleanliness because it’s been our forte since day one! Just ask those that were with us on her first days in the NICU…SCRUB DOWN!!!!!! So it’s a staple in our house to first wash our hands from the time we walk into this house and then handle everything else! But I also attribute it to lack of education & awareness. I do know this little girl’s attention was called upon several times in class by the teacher until she was finally moved and put in time-out. Of course the whole thing did not phase Bee one single bit. She moved on with her day and actually made a nice friend. Her name is Lisa. The funny thing here is that Bianca actually got up in the middle of the class to ask her teacher for a pencil. Turns out the pencil was for Lisa. Go figure my daughter who usually needs some assistance is the one helping out her new friend so she won’t get in trouble! LOL! At lunch she did pretty well which was a concerned because I thought she would not eat too well w/out first having a bottle (yes I know I know) but she actually surprised us all! She went down a nice list of items during lunch time! So you know I’m a happy momma there!!!

Oh I forgot to mention that she has been able to walk all over the place w/out any assistance in her stroller. Which I am very proud of her determination to “Do It”. God knows how that might play down the line when classes get much heavier but we’ll build and cross that bridge when we get there! She also has her Nana w/her in class as a volunteer until we have the aide set in place. Hopefully all that is coming along just well…but w/the school system boy you never really know. But I keep my hopes up and a parachute on my back just to make sure I land safely when things don’t go through as planned! When I picked her up from school she was allllll pooped out! She was like I need milk and my blankie please! Then she sprawled on her Princess Pull Out Bed in the living room and relaxed! Then she was off to a relaxing bubble bath! Awwwww to be a kid again!

~ Thursday ~ 08.21.08

~Bianca's Booboos from her very nasty fall in school~

Well Thursday did not go quite as expected. All was going well until they had to walk the extreme of the school to the library. Out of all places Bianca took a nasty fall and landed on her right knee and right palm. You can imagine what happened after that…honestly call me a fool or just observant but when I saw the wounds after she took a fall they were really not as bad as they would have been say a year ago. Funny ~ or not so funny ~ is the fact that when this happened no one pushed her, bumped her, or did anything to her for her to trip and fall! It was all Bianca! But trust me she learned from that one. The teacher did take advantage of the moment to provide an educational awareness of what Bianca has and why they must all be very very very careful w/Bianca. To try and help her out as much as they can but to be gentle. She also went on to tell Bianca that it is okay, you don’t need to go home. I think she had a mix of embarrassment and pain from the fall which prompted her to want to go home. But the teacher was very receptive and said “no no you’re okay, you can stay and keep going w/the rest of the class”. It was almost twisted but since I know how Bee reacts to those situations I was really worried more about how the teacher was handling it. But she seems to have been A-Okay for the time being since the wounds weren’t really bloody ones. The day progressed and everything went well…Bianca is such a good student. But she does have a minor fault ~ read on.

~ Friday ~ 08.22.08

~Bianca Ready For Another WONDERFUL Day At School!~

Well here we are – made it through a whole “week”, sort of speaking, of school! I was able to get Bee dropped off in class on time ~ well about 40 minutes early! I managed to take the time to speak w/her teacher to see what concerns she might have…she said Bianca is doing well just that she seems very tired by 11AM but that she doesn’t think it’s anything to do w/her EB just a transitioning period of her not being used to work work work like a busy bee! But other than that she said she’s integrating well into her class. Today was an example of a great day! She did all her homework in class ~ draw an Orange Bird and a Yellow Duck ~ she received yet another HAPPY FACE! But that didn’t keep her and her new little friend Lisa out of trouble! You see they seem to TALK quite a bit in class. (God for those that have known me for a while who those that sound like in school?) Lisa ended up in timeout and Bianca was one more word away from being put in timeout herself. Who would have thought - my daughter la chismosa! I can only wonder who she might get that from…as soon as we got home she pooped out again. She was super tired and you can tell by her eyes. This poor girl has been waking up at 6:40AM every day. And that’s simply because I have to do some very minor wound care on her to be able to be out of this house by 7:20AM. By Friday Bianca managed to become friends with three new friends in her class, Molly, Emily and Lisa.

~ Woundcare ~

So how are we holding up? Within all pretty good. Unfortunately the booboo on the bottom of her foot peel opened again. It’s a pretty raw wound but it’s in an area that I can bandage up just fine. Then we have two dime-sized booboos on the back of her thighs. They’ve been heck to heal since they’re in a high-traffic area. But they’re slowly closing off. Aside from all this she has the two new wounds she got at school. They’re hanging in there just fine…I consider ourselves pretty luck that we’ve only got two wounds to worry about from school THUS FAR…and yes I’m very well aware that the year has just begun!

~Home Life~

Well home life has absolutely shifted quite a bit! All that time I use to find myself just sitting around doing close to nothing but pay bills, think of debts and what I have to work on for tomorrow are long gone! My day goes something like this:

• 6:15AM – Wake up and get ready for work ~ Shower, brush teeth, shave, get dressed, etc…
• 6:40AM – Wake up the sleeping beauty in the next room
• 6:40AM – 7:20AM – Get Bianca ready for school ~ quick overview of any new wounds in her body, sitting on toilet, brush her hair while there, clean her booty up, wash her hands, brush her teeth and wash her face
• 7:20AM – 7:45AM – Drop her off at school, settle her in to the front door of the class, say goodbye & head to work
• 8:00AM – 1:30PM - Work
• 1:30PM – 2:30PM – Pick her up from school, get home, do an overview of any new booboos that need wound care, change her uniform and give her a bottle of milk ~ head back to work.
• 2:30PM – 5:30PM (sometimes more) –Work, work, work and work
• 6:00PM – 7:00PM – Get home, get dinner ready, get Bianca’s lunch bag ready for the next day, and pay BILLS!
• 7:00PM – 7:20PM – Take ~what we call in this house ~ a Gypsy Shower go in and out in less than 10-15 mins., pop Bianca in the bath.
• 7:30PM – 9:00PM Serve dinner, clean up and take Bianca out of the bath for wound care and some dinner.
• 9:00PM – 10:00PM – Wound care and one-on-one w/Bianca about her day
• 10:00PM – Bed time for Bianca
• 11:00PM (varies) – Bed time for the rest of the house.

So as you can see I have a jammed packed day. And that is that I’ve missed a few things here and there….but honestly I’m enjoying my life at the moment. I’ve always been very happy to be in my house w/my family creating a home/memories side-by-side.

In closing I would like to say that we’re doing better than I’ve expected by this time…I was thinking before that I might have received 3-5 phone calls in a day asking every little question about Bianca. But thankfully the staff at Madie Ives Elementary is the most caring/understanding staff I have encountered. Plus they have such a wickedly funny sense of humor! Just my type of peeps! =)

Well that’s pretty much her first few days at school ~ FULLTIME!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers plus send many positive vibes our way to keep going w/such a hectic schedule! Unless it starts taking a toll on Bianca’s skin this will be the schedule we will abide by for a while!

Love now and always
~Sally Contreras
Proudest Mommy On Earth of the cutest Kindergartener in the WORLD!

School what school?!?

The Nasty Weather In Our Backyard ~ 08.18.08

Well as most of you may or may not know Bianca didn’t make it to her first day in school or her second for that matter… You see there was this little T.S. named Fay that came right at us. Nothing too bad considering we’ve been through worse in the past but then again it’s not even PEAK hurricane season.

So Bianca stayed home for a few days and hanged out. She was, to say the least, disappointed! She kept asking “Why is it raining? I want to go to school mom!” and I kept reassuring her that she will just not when she was expecting to go.

A friend of my, Monica, made a pretty funny comment when she said that Robert must be pretty close to God, because of these two days of school being cancelled. I couldn’t help but laugh at the mental picture I got from that comment! It sounds so very true! I think school beginning two days later did, in a way, help ease our tensions of her starting school. We’re a bit more comfortable and accepting that she will be in school. As a matter of fact it is our new ammo around the house when we want her to do things. – Without the attitude of course…who would have thought a 5 almost 6 years-old little girl can have such an attitude!

Aside from it all she did have a pretty bad sore on her left foot we were trying to get healed. I was worried she might have had a less pleasurable experience on her first day of school since it was pretty sensitive w/shoes on. But as of this morning she feels much better and is walking/running/hopping all over the place. So yup she’s ready!

The only thing I am stumped on is what should I make for lunch five times a week – that’s EB friendly, yummy and nutritious? She’s picky but not extremely…so I might have to pop in there some choices. I was worried that she might be missing out on some nutrition but found this wonderful Thermos from Hello Kitty and it might be the perfect thing to keep her milk nice and cold through out the day. Since she needs to drink her Boost – plus other NUTRIENTS I pop in there – through the day, to maintain her caloric consumption at an ideal level, I thought this to be the perfect item. And the straw is not like those of a toddler sippy cup which is hard to suck on.

Anyways that is really all that’s happening in the home front. We will see what tomorrow – The Official First Day Of School – might bring our way!

Lots of XOXO
~The Contreras Family

Bianca "hanging out" for just one more day! ~ 08.18.08

Our long week w/Bianca's new school...

Oh what a week it has been! It began on Monday – August 11 - when we had to go and meet the vice principal from Bianca’s new school! She will go to Madie Ives Elementary School. The vice-principal’s name is Ms. Good. She was very nice and very understanding with the concerns we have in regards to Bianca starting school and the modifications we will need for her in the classroom.

As some of you might know Robert wasn’t too thrilled about the idea of Bianca going to public school. But with a little bit of pushing, and lots of positive stories from those that have gone to school in the EB community, he has decided to back down just a small bit. Needless to say it’s been a trying time between us since we have such different views on Bianca going to school. He doesn’t and I do…but we both ultimately have the same views on providing Bianca w/some normalcy in her life. That’s what we always strive for and school shouldn’t be any different.

Back to our week long adventure. After we met w/the vice-principal and another gentleman from the school, whose name escapes me at the moment, we decided to take a tour of where Bee’s class will take place. Strutting along the halls we walked quite a long way to get to the other side of the school. Bianca did manage to walk the whole way through but got tired ¾ of the way there, thankfully the school is equipped w/little benches along the hallway so she can stop and rest.

The school is set up so that the K-1st graders are in a separate building (which is still connected to the school through a hallway) called the PLC – Primary Learning Center. Everything is pint size for the kiddies to be able to maneuver around. Once inside the classroom Bianca’s eyes lid up! She was super happy and cannot wait for school to start. We got a tour of the classroom plus the bathroom which she “baptized” while there because she had to go! She a character! So at least I know she can handle the bathroom just fine!

Originally she was placed in a class with regular students, but after much consideration we are placing her in an ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) class since they tend to be smaller and more “personal” than a regular classroom. The curriculum stays exactly the same but they just incorporate English into the day. And boy is it a full day ever!

Now fast-forward to Friday – August 15 – it was orientation. This is the day we got to meet her teacher, counselor, principal and everyone else that would be involved in their daily lives at school. It was a lot of talk in regards to staff reduction, political issues w/our county and then about what we need to do to make sure our child is always safe and in a learning environment. From there we headed to speak one-on-one w/Bee’s soon-to-be Kindergarten Teacher. Everything felt so informal since I didn’t feel ready even though I was…but I just got all nervous! Thankfully Robert spoke up! I felt a bit rushed but I figured that her teacher wasn’t aware that we were meeting with her right there and then. She was thoroughly honest and we respected the fact that she said accidents will happen BUT that she’ll make sure that Bianca is always in a “Safety Zone” while in class. All in all Robert and I felt comfortable w/the team in the school. We are still pretty much worried about the one-on-one (Paraprofessional) she will – NOT MIGHT – but will need. Simply because the teachers are very limited in how much handling of a student they can do. They cannot take the child to the bathroom, help w/unbuttoning their pants; tend to any booboos, etc…all this because of all the nonsense that has happened in school with our kids. For us right now it’s a double edged sword. So we need someone set up ASAP – I know cliché – so Bianca can have a comfortable learning environment!

I pray that all goes well and that she will be able to integrate herself as comfortably as possible into school. For now she’ll be attending full-days and I only hope she’ll be able to keep that up as much as possible. Thankfully her booboos are very limited, her skin is still fragile, but we have minimal wound-care to do at this point in time. So that’s a plus on our side. I will be providing her lunch since I’m super scared of what she might encounter in the lunch room. So many dangers but I’m sure she’ll manage just fine!

The only I really want already in place is someone to help her! It’s the one thing I see as a major obstacle at the moment…everything else is just “growing pains”. We’ll see what Monday brings!

In closing Bianca was so funny at the orientation. she is so used to her “blankie” or “paño” that she brought it along with her to the orientation without even knowing. She took one look around and noticed that NO ONE ELSE had one and she handed it back to me. After a while I handed it back and she turns around to me and says “No mom…put it away, I don’t need my blankie, and I’m fine!” I bursted out laughing like there was no tomorrow!

Aiy my baby is growing up so fast!

Well that’s about it for now…good night!

Bianca's new gear for school thanks to her Mima!