IEP's and wrestling life

I had my oldest sons' IEP meeting this week. They have been testing and testing him for the last several months. Poor kid comes home exhausted and sometimes with headaches from all the testing but the results are finally in.  He has been found to have a learning disability and is now eligible for the services that he needs. We've all known it for a while, in fact he was already unofficially getting some of those services.  I wish we didn't have to wait two years for him to get the help he needs.  I have no doubt he will be a reader and a writer in the future because he is a determined and eager to please young man. He is also going to start speech therapy which is greatly needed.  I had thought he was getting it already but I guess I was confused with ELL services.

In other Duke news, he joined a wrestling team two months ago and has been practicing hard four times a week. He is in a large and very competitive age group competing against kids who have been wrestling for one, two, three, even four years already.  He is definitely at a disadvantage but has kept plugging away, showing up to every practice and competing almost every weekend without complaint.  Well he has finally seen that dedication and hard work .

pay off. Last Saturday he won his first ever match, pinning a kid that had pinned him in a different tournament the night before.  He only won one out of three matches that day but we were so so proud of him and it gave him a big boost of confidence.  The state championships are coming up next week and while I don't think he will medal I will be so happy for him if he can win at least one more match.  He's such a great kid and wrestling is such a great sport for him.  We are hoping to get him into a wrestling camp or two this summer which will really help with his skills. I think next year will be his year to shine on the mat.

On top of winning his first match he got honored by his coaches yesterday at practice.  They awarded him with the Warrior of the Week honor for all his hard work and dedication.  He is a kid that just shines with positive attention and it makes me so happy to see it.  

Spring for real!

Spring has come and its early. Record breaking warm temps for this time of year. The snow is nearly gone, holding out in ice solid lumps left by the snow plows only. I see green grass shoots poking up everywhere in the park. We're still getting a few below freezing nights but afternoons in the 50's feels so warm.

 Duke has been waiting all week to try out the roller blades I found him at a second hand store. Papa and I dug our blades out and loaded some scooters and a tricycle into the truck and we drove down to the bike path.  He gave it a good try, it was of course more difficult than he anticipated. The blades were also a bit small, his feet have grown incredibly long over the winter.  I will have to keep an eye out for a bigger pair, although it won't be long before he can fit into mine.  

Now we are spending our after dinner hours in the long sun light down at our favorite park so that Papa can test out some new lures he made in the open creek water.  The lake is still iced over but it's not safe for driving anymore. A few more weeks of this warm weather and it will be gone.