William woke up from his nap early so we decided to check out the 4th of July celebration at the park near by.
William loved the bumping house so much that he jumped up and down and would never want to leave. We took a few pictures, check out some of the booths, got 2 bee balloons for William and then headed to grandma’s house.
When people were starting to fire up the fireworks; we took William out to watch but maybe it was so loud that he wanted to go inside the house. He had more fun watching Booba clips from YouTube.
William looked so sad in the new classroom that is full of toys.
Monday morning 8:00 AM. It’s first day of back to Mitchell school after 2 week break. Mrs. Hana is not teaching in the summer so William and his friends are transferred to Mrs. Heusser class which is next door, room 310. When we passed by his old classroom 309, William ran back to it and refused to go the the new room. And when we got to the new classroom he lied on the floor near by the door and refused to get in. I held him up to take him to the rug area and sat with him until Mrs. Susan took him to change diaper.
At first he just sat there without touching any toys at all. Luckily I found the foam blocks that he has been playing during the session with Ms. Diana from ABEST; he held on them for quite some time. Then finally he stood up and looked around the room.
Mrs. Heusser said there’s 15 children in the class, which is too many; and I only saw 3 teacher aids, including Mrs. Susan from Mrs. Hana class.
Summer school starts from 8:00 – 12:15 PM, which means it starts 15 minutes earlier and ends about 1 hour earlier; from July 1 – July 28. No day off on Fridays.
William had the carousel ticket band but he didn’t want to try
8 PM at OC Great Park, movie the “Batman”. Parking and movie admission is free.
It’s William’s first time to watch a movie outdoor. We arrived early about 6:30 PM. There were lots of parking available; there were lots of people already settled down on the grass but the field is huge so we had no issue finding a little space for ourselves. As soon as we put down our stuffs, William saw some of the toys on the grass and he came after it; he was also interested in this game where you jump on a little bumper which triggers a foam spaceship and shoots it up high. The children would have to go pick the spaceship and go back to get in line and wait for their turn. The lady was nice enough to let William tried once; he didn’t know that he had to jump on that bumper so I had to hold him and put him down on the bumper. Looked like he really liked that game because he was hanging around the lady. After that he enjoyed running around the field with a happy face. Tim blew up the bubbles which other children really loved but William didn’t see the bubble because Tim was blowing it up high.
William was having fun running around that he didn’t notice his diaper felt off his pants!
So we took him to the restroom to change diaper, then we saw the Carousel so we decided to let him try. Last time when we were in Disneyland and tried the Carousel, he cried and would not want to stay. I went to the Visitor Office to get the ticket, by the time I got back I found Tim and William sitting on the bench; he refused to try! So we ended up holding him tight to get in line. We sat on the bench instead of the horse. At first he was really tense but eventually he relaxed a little bit looking at the mirror and listening to the music. We tried a 2nd time, this time he seemed to be more relaxed.
We tried to convince William to try carousel
We got back to the movie area, William seemed to be tired after all that running: he sat down on the chair immediately. And the move began… It’s a cartoon movie. Not sure if he liked it or not but after 10 minutes he ran so Tim ran after him.
I waited 10 minutes and didn’t see them come back to I packed our stuffs and left. Then I found both of them sitting near the big screen.
William looked so tired, so I thought might be because he was hungry; he only had a few bite of pizza while we were on the way here. So I walked to the food truck to get him a hot dog; there were about 7 people in front of me but the line was hardly moving at all, then after 10 minutes they announced that they were out of food! So I returned back to Tim & William, William lying down with his head lean on Tim’s chest. He didn’t look like he enjoyed the movie so we decided to leave.
I put him on the cart, he found the pizza and took a bite! Poor William, he must be very hungry. Next time we’ll make sure he’s full before letting him go anywhere.
Thursday night, William had session with Ms. Han from 5:45 – 7:45. It was the most difficult session for the ABEST staffs since we started 2 weeks ago. William threw tantrums, hit his hands against the wall, lied on the floor and cried. Ms. Nhu finally calmed him down by drawing the numbers on the board from 1 to 30.
Now this is the last week before HealthNet insurance to be expired so I need to call Anthem to see if the new policy covers ABA services and how should we transition from HealthNet to Anthem. So I called Anthem; the rep said William is “not active”. I told her it’s not active until July 1st but she said it’d not matter; she advised me to ask Tim’s Human Resource office to find out if William is included in Tim’s policy. I asked if Tim’s status is active but she refused to disclose.
Next person I called is Ms. Julian Medosa from Medi-cal office. I sent in Medi-cal application about 3 weeks ago but still haven’t heard from anyone. Got the voice mail so I left a message but got cut off before I could finish talking and leave my phone #. 5 minutes later I called again, and this time I tried to be very brief, was able to tell William name, case number and my phone number before I got cut off again. I guess they only allow a few seconds for voice message.
Now it’s 3 PM, still haven’t heard from Ms. Medosa!
And the day care reimbursement; I still have not received a dime yet! From our last conversation with SC Kim Than last week, she said she’d send the contract to 24Hr HomeCare, LLC on last Fri so I emailed them. Karen Khou (Senior Program Services Coordinator ) told me she got the contract but still have not received “the other part of the contract” and that she will contact Ms. Kim for that. In the mean time she attached the time sheet log so that I can start recording.
I think shower time is William’s most favorite time of the day,
He must have the little yellow inflatable duck with him in the bath tub. I just bought a little water can, he immediately took it and ran to the bath tub to play with it. How did he know that the water can is associated with water?
Newport Beach in a Hot Summer Afternoon
Saturday 5:30 PM. It was so hot that we decided to go to the beach, the nearest one to our house is the Newport Beach. While driving on the Pacific Coast Highway we saw signs about free trolley ride so we decided to take a ride. Luckily the stop is right on the parking lot Read More
Saturday 5:30 PM. It was so hot that we decided to go to the beach, the nearest one to our house is the Newport Beach.
While driving on the Pacific Coast Highway we saw signs about free trolley ride so we decided to take a ride. Luckily the stop is right on the parking lot at the Balboa pier. It took half hour to complete the circle. The trolley driver stopped at the Hoag hospital on the Pacific Coast Hwy to pickup more customers but there was no one around. She said we can park here for free and take the trolley to go to the pier. The trolley is provided by the city, and runs from June to July, from 7AM-9PM It’s a good idea especially during the summer days, it’s really hard to find a parking near the piers.
This time at the beach, Williams showed sighs of interest in playing with the sand (last time he’d kick and cry when we tried to take him to the sand area) but he still refused to go near the water, so Tim just held him and stood there to watch the waves. He also showed interests in listening to the music; he’d stop near the homeless man who was playing guitar and listen to his playing. He also raised his hand to high-five with a young man who’s obviously the homeless man’s friend.
After all looks like William had a nice time at the beach today; we’re all happy!
Playing with the sand
Riding the trolley around the beach
William loves the view from the trolleyWilliam with Mom & DadWaiting to enter the trolley
We requested 3 hours for a caregiver from GSG Services, and they sent Marian; she’s the 4th one and the worse one so far. She paid more attention to her phone (texting, maybe?) than my boy. When she arrived to our home, William was still sleeping so I told her to have a seat; she settled on the couch and looking at her phone ever since. Even when William came out, I introduced her to William, she said hi and then got back to her phone. While I was getting things to go to the park, I expected her to come to William and make acquaintance but no, she was still sitting on the couch and looking at her phone. She stood up only when I told her we were ready to go to the park.
I watched her from a distance while William was playing at the playground: she occasionally checked her phone!
I hope it was something very important that she needed to check her phone that often.
Late afternoon Monday 5:45 PM.
Thursday night, William had session with Ms. Han from 5:45 – 7:45. It was the most difficult session for the ABEST staffs since we started 2 weeks ago. William threw tantrums, hit his hands against the wall, lied on the floor and cried. Ms. Nhu finally calmed him down by drawing the numbers on the board from 1 to 30.
I bought this exercise bike a month ago but rarely use it.
Saturday 5:30 PM. It was so hot that we decided to go to the beach, the nearest one to our house is the Newport Beach.
Sat 9:30 AM, a nice morning.
