Productive Stalking and other matters.

We finally have an appointment for Anna's psych eval.  For those of you who have been following the saga that is getting Anna evaluated to see what is actually going on with the princess, you know that we had hit a little stumbling block in the form of gaining an appointment for the final part of her evaluation.

The first three evaluations were completed in one day.  It was originally meant to be a speech evaluation; however, the speech therapist was very concerned about Anna's "postering" that she pulled in the fine and gross motor skills therapists.  On the one hand, it was a heart breaking day.  Anna was not demonstrating what she knew (except that she had figured out how to get the reward with minimal work) and she was doing bizarre "postering" that she had never, ever done before.  The therapists found her to be "fixating" on the "token items" and to be "sensory seeking."  Because she wouldn't do/say things--whether she knew them or not-- they just had to assume that she couldn't do them.  On the other hand, it was good to finally have the ball rolling.  I don't know anything about early childhood education, and it felt good to have mulitple someones checking her out.  I knew that she would get the help she needs that I have failed miserably to give her.

Then we waited, and waited.  Within the state of Massachusetts--I'm a bit rusty on Connecticut law--the school system has 30 school days to complete whatever evaluation(s) have been requested, write up evaluations, and schedule a meeting in order to create a plan of action.  We were fortunate in that the first three evaluations just happened simultaneously.  That doesn't happen often.  The fourth evaluation was a playgroup.

The play group was a little on the bizarre side.  I asked our friend and childcare provider to bring her because it was really just supposed to be Anna playing with other kids.  So Judy brought Anna and there were no other kids there.  So they waited.  Fifteen minutes later, another woman showed up with twin boys.  Odd.

About a week or so ago, we got a letter from the special ed department saying that the planning meeting was scheduled for February 8th.  We had still not heard from the psychologist.  Odd.  Even more odd was that when John called to see if he could work on getting the appointment, the secretary at the school told him that the school psychologist was new.  Not only did she say that once, she said it repeatedly.  So I gave her a week.  It is, after all, tough being new.  Then I called yesterday.  The secretary told me the same thing:  "She's new.  She's just getting back to parents."  WTF, man.  As my friend Laura said, it is really easy to get overwhelmed when you're new, but you're a grown-up now and you have a legal responsibility to act.

So I called again today.  I left my cell number, my work number and my e-mail.  I even laid it on thick about how I worked in a school and that I was concerned that we wouldn't be able to get the appointment/evaluation in, have her finish her paper work, and give me time to review the materials prior to the planning meeting.  (No school ever intentionally fails to comply with the law or purposely sets out to hurt a child, but it never hurts to let them know that you know what you're doing).

She finally got back to me today.  The appointment is set for Monday.  I had to go through the whole thing again.  What I think is wrong.  What behaviors I've seen.  What we've done so far.

The thing is that the horrible, heart wrenching behaviors that happened on Thanksgiving have not returned.  Anna had a freakout at the eye doctor (so did I) and one at the doctor, but those were short lived.  She's had her moments, but for the most part her speech, behavior, attitude have been on an upswing.  It's as if she's just growing up, and I'm kind of forgetting what set me into tears a couple of months ago.  Good thing John has the memory of a steel trap.

H'm...

I really like the host of "Disaster DIY" on HGTV.  Bryan something or other.  He really makes me think of my dad.  It actually makes me laugh to think what my dad would be like if he was on a show helping people DIY.  There would be hammer throwing, swearing, and at least once, Dad would ask the homeowner if he was "f--ing stupid."  This Bryan guy is pretty sarcastic and funny, and on his other show, he gets "bleeped" a lot.  He's a Howard for the 21st Century.

Jack is doing a project in school that I think I'm more excited about than he is.  He and his classmates are sending Flat Stanleys out to friends and family who live far away.  They're asking that the Stanleys are returned wearing clothes from the different locations and along with brochures, pictures, etc.  Cool, right?  I want to go in and see them all when they come back to class.

Anna sings.  She sings all the time.  She's been singing Christmas songs for months.  She makes up words to songs.  It's great.  This afternoon she burst out into "keep on rockin' me baby."  Yup.  Disturbing and funny all at the same time.

I've got the kids to bed, Zumba-ed, blogged, and now I'm off to bed.  Good night, all!

Randomly yours,

1. I need to find my glasses.  This is an on-going, bi-weekly event for me.  It annoys Jack because he's the one I send looking for them.
2. Anna's testing is at an interesting position.  We've got a date for the actual IEP meeting; however, only two other kids showed up for her "play group" evaluation and we have yet to hear from the school psychologist.  The IEP is on 2/8.  I'm going to have to call next week to make sure that this gets done and I get time to look at the actual written evaluations.
3. John and I are going out tonight.  The kids are going to go to Amy's house for the night.  Then we're headed out to Patriot's Place to go to the movies.  We're finally going to see the "latest" Harry Potter movie.  It'll be the first time in a long time that we've been able to do this.  We're both looking forward to it.
4. Big, heavy snow around these here parts.  Not my favorite thing in the world, but whatever.  It was actually perfect timing.  The snow hit in the wee hours of the morning after parent-teacher conferences.  So there was a snow day after the 12 hour day we put in the day before.  It was nice to have the kids in the snow, playing around.  They loved it.  So did the dogs--Junior did anyway.  Not Brian.  He's a big girly dog.
5. Football madness is upon us.  Yahoo.  I'm not really opposed to watching football, but I'm not really a big huge fan.
6. This is my new thing.  I really want an e-reader.  I think I would use it a lot.  The Kindle is really cheep, but the Nook Color is infinitely cooler...and therefore more expensive.  So, do I buy the cheap one?  Do I put down the dough for the expensive one with other cool features? Or do I just wait until the iPad becomes cheaper and buy that?  The iPad is infinitely cooler than the Nook Color.  John has asked me to wait until next month when he thinks the new iPad will be released because the price on the original will go down (that's how we got my iPhone).  I think, however, that release date is in April.  What's a girl to do?

There are more thoughts in my brain right now, but I have to see if I can find the glasses and get the little girl out of bed (extended nap for Miss Anna-banana.  Good.  Maybe she'll be less of a freak for Auntie Amy).  It's almost time for DATE NIGHT!!