The Instagram "Fresh Kicks" pic....sorry, I had to!

Can I Be Any Prouder / Relieved / Thankful?  

(Insert each and every one!)  A Long Overdue Entry.

It has been many months since I posted, for several reasons.  Mostly, because things were busy, (we moved, I am sitting on a Mental Health Committee, working etc).but also because things were good and I did not have too much to report.  I had talked about the wonderful supports that Jake was receiving at school and how he was attending with minimal complaints.  We had put Jake in the lower level rather than an academic level, not because we thought he was incapable of doing academic, (although with his PCS he actually could not)  but because we needed him to feel successful and confident enough to actually attend and participate. 

Fast forward through the school year to now, and he is almost finished grade 9.  And I could not be more proud of Jake and all he has overcome.  Jake was fearful of moving up to the next level after we realized he was coping well and we started talking about the possibility of him moving up.  However, one report card and some very encouraging teachers later and Jake has moved up in most of his subjects.  He had a rough start to the year, even having his Ipad taken away due not using it for its purpose ( apparently it is not for surfing the net in class or instagraming which "new kicks" you are sporting!!! lol).  But he has since earned it back after the teachers saw that he was actually trying in class.  If you remember, grade 8 was tough for Jake, and he had given up trying at all. So this was big!  Of course we had the odd setback, with some absences due to illness that made it hard to go back after missing work (Jake was worried that he would get flack from the teachers about missing school and being behind, which of course did not happen, they just said they were glad he was better and offered their help!  A very different experience from his grade 8 year upon which his fears were based). 

Then there was the week he had to miss due to a hit to the head!  That was a scary one.  He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and took a random football to the head while working on his bike at the park.  For anyone else they may not have had any issues, but with having had multiple concussions already we had to take precautions.  And indeed Jake did feel dizzy for two days and had to do his stretching exercises that he learnt at MMTR as well as take a week off school with no TV, no computer, no riding.  A major challenge for him, but worth it as he recovered fully with no long term symptoms at all.

Dare I say that Jake has beaten PCS?  He still has trouble staying on task and may always have to struggle to find ways to pay attention, and he is not the most organized student, but he is managing to complete assignments and hand in decent work.  He has overcome most of his anxiety about school, and even though he has never actually used his locker or engaged in any extra curricular activities, he has completed a successful year and gained confidence in himself.  And he found something that interests him, he is looking at going into the trades program at Bateman, specifically welding or manufacturing.   Can it get any better? 

Actually, YES it can, as I think we finally have our son back! My son is Jake, and he is fun to be with!  Sure he is still a typical teenager with minimal time for the family and more rude words than I like, but when he does hang out with us he is the quirky kid with a thousand accents that can always make us laugh with his rather outrageous behaviour. 

Welcome back Jake, I hope that you understand how far you have come and how proud we are of you!

Jake with his new skateboard to ride home from school.  His "way to go" end of year gift.  (And also a strategy to get him to ride home from school rather than rely on a drive!  And it is small enough to put in his backpack so he doesn't have to worry about it being stolen or stored in his locker).....

An oldie from 2 years ago, but this is one thing Jake loves to do, help build the dirt jumps every year.  He does not even ride them, he just likes to work on them with the boys.  He has earned well over his 40 hours of mandatory volunteer hours for high school.