Birthdays

16 years ago today my "baby" was born at 2.41pm weighing in at 8lb 15.5oz 22 inches long. He is now 6' 5'..if you enlarge the pic you will see he is standing in front of our wide screen TV which is mounted on the wall above the fireplace..he is soooooooooooo tall. He is my heart this boy. He has not been without his share of problems though and at times I think he will be the death of me. Ryan has a lot of issues. He has a learning disorder that causes him to learn things in a different way to others. Somewhere between the brain and the paper Ryan "loses" the information. he lacks self confidence. He has never had behavior problems but he distracts attention from his struggles by acting the class clown. He is in IEP (individual education program) and is the classes with a lot of kids that have ADHD...that type of thing.. at one point we thought Ryan had that..we tried medicine but it did not help and only gave him severe headaches so we stopped that. I am at my wits end with him. His teachers assure me he could do better..that he just needs to focus...Ryan tells me "he doesn't get it" his grades show that he doesn't get it..he scrapes by doing the minimum he has to to pass... he did not pass the FCAT (standardized testing) this year. He has a couple more chances but they have to pass in order to graduate from high school. Ryan is going into 10th grade..he has 3 years to go. Ryan is not dumb. He can take apart anything and put it back together. he is fascinated with science and nature and the weather. he watches nothing but the discovery channel. He is funny, smart, sensitive, handsome, popular...he just does not do well in school. It upsets me so much. I dread report card time. I dread the FCATs. I stay in contact with his teachers, his counseler. everyone just tells me Ryan is one of those kids that hates school..he will do fine out in the real world.  okay doing what?? He barely has basic math skills. I cannot tell you how much I worry about this boy.  This year I am going to try hiring a private tutor or have Ryan evaluated at one of the education centers that guarantee they can help your child improve his grades...you must have seen the ads. on TV. I will try anything at this point. Apart from the school thing Ryan is a joy to be around.  He is so funny, he is a huge help to me around the house. He takes care of the yard for me, he washes the cars, he is pretty happy generally and hasplenty of friends. He and his sister are extremely close, he doesn't give me too many problems..he pushes the limits once in a while to see if he can get away with something .. he is a teenage boy after all ;-) If we could just get him to buckle down at school  <sigh. Anyway..I have rambled on here.. Happy Birthday Ryan! I love you more than you will ever know.. you never fail to make me laugh, you take my breath away you are so handsome..I look at you and cannot believe that this tall young man is my son...my little Rybo.