I'm not gonna lie. I enjoy a good trip to Disney World. I really do. In fact, Jack went once when he was about 8 months old and once more about 8 months later. He hasn't been since. I went when I was pregnant with both kids. John and I went on our honeymoon (although that had much to do with a serious case of procrastination and a lack of money rather than a real preference).
For our tenth anniversary, we discussed bringing the kids to Disney. Fortunately, we didn't book anything because John lost his job in December of 2009. That ended our plans. To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we spent two nights down at Foxwoods without the children.
So when John got a new job, and things were looking financially stable we decided that we would go for it: Bring the kids to Disney.
Now John is firmly of the belief that Disney is nice, but it is best done sparingly (once every ten years or so). I would like to go once every couple of years--maybe two or three. My family, on the other hand, would very much like to go every chance they get. One sister has managed at least one (if not two) trips a year for the past seven years.
When John and I were planning our August 2010 trip-that-never-was, we talked about asking either my sisters or his parents to come along. Then we could get a "villa" and have live-in babysitters. So when this trip--the August 2011 trip--started taking shape, I told my sister Val about the trip. She in turn told my sister Karen.
Karen was immediately on board. Valerie wasn't. She had been out of work and when she got the new job, she didn't think she'd be able to take the time. Before I knew it, my parents were on board, though. That was a surprise. I didn't think they would be up for the trip.
At first I felt a little guilty about our little nuclear family trip turning into an extended family extravaganza. But then I started to think in terms of pictures and memories. My parents are not going to be around forever. They are in their late 70's now. Neither one is very mobile. This trip is going to take a toll on them both physically. But my kids will have memories of the trip. They'll have pictures of it, too. That's something neither John nor I have, really. We remember our grandmothers, but all of our grandfathers had passed away before we were born. I never went anywhere with my grandmothers, either. I'm trying to convince John to tell his parents to come with us, too. If we're going to have extended family with us, why not have family from both sides with us?
So my parents wanted to go, but they didn't want to fly. The last time my mother was at Disney she became very sick and ended up in the hospital. She is afraid to fly down for fear she would not be able to get back home. This way if she drives down, we can just throw her in the back of the van and get her ass home. Um...right. She actually didn't say the ass part, but she did say the "throw her in the back of the van" part. My sister Karen decided that she would drive down with the 'rents. Her two daughters had also decided that she was going to come along, too. It was going to be my parents, Karen, Liz, Haley, and Liz's dog Kylie driving down from Connecticut.
We asked my sister Lori if she and her family were up for the trip, but it's a tough time for her to get away from work and they were going earlier in the year (May, I think?). Meanwhile, Valerie figured out she could go, but there was no way she was driving down in the van. She would fly. Haley then decided that she didn't want to drive down either; she would fly out with Val. Then we found out that my cousin Geri and her daughter Kristy were going to come, too.
I started looking into the trip. I wanted to go around August 5th to coincide with our anniversary (the whole premise of the trip being an anniversary thing...), but then learned that the "off peak" season started on August 16, so we decided to push it back. Then we found out that Disney would be offering "free dining" to guests staying "on property" beginning August 19th. So we pushed it back again. The official trip is August 19th to August 26th.
I chose to stay at Port Orleans French Quarter. It's a place I've stayed at before and I like how small it is. Many of the hotels/resorts on Disney property are very BIG with tons and tons of people. John is not a big fan of people. At first, John didn't want anything to do with the planning. I thought he would enjoy the French Quarter because it really is small and both times I've stayed there before, there hasn't been a crush of people. Now that we've booked, he's saying that he would rather book a family suite at another hotel (Pop Century) because he thinks it would be nice to have two rooms. I'm not sure that the amount of people around would make the second room worth it I dislike people probably as much as my husband does.
We booked our stay through AAA and that is something we will not do again. We had heard there was some sort of discount, but we didn't get one. Now we're going through AAA when it would have been just as easy for us to have done it ourselves. In fact, it would have been easier for us to do it on our own.
Somewhere in here, each of my nieces (Liz, Haley, and Kristy) decided they were going to bring a friend. Kristy goes to school about an hour or two away from Disney and she'll be moving in the week we are there. She'll also be turning 21 while we're there.
We were able to get really good deals on flights. I had thought, perhaps, we should drive. I thought that it would be better to keep the crazy (namely unpredictable Julianna) to ourselves. I figured that it would be the nice thing to do. John, however, reminded me that it was a flight to Orlando. The plane would be filled with crazy. Better share our crazy for a few hours then be stuck with crazy in a car for 24 hours especially when crazy won't sleep in the car and tends to scream on long trips when the car goes belows 60 mph.
Initially we were thinking of flying out of Providence. It's a nice little airport that's about as far from us as Logan in Boston. So we watched the flights for a while. We found nonstop flights out of and back into Providence at decent times for $119 (with taxes). We didn't buy them right away, even though they were the cheapest flights at the best times. We went back to the Southwest website a week later and the flights were gone. It's difficult to play the flight game. The prices fluctuate so much and randomly that you never know when to buy. One day the flight could be $90, the next $150. But if it's at $150 and you wait to buy it thinking the price will go down, it may go up instead.
John was upset, because the direct flights listed were significantly more expensive. Since both kids are now over 2, they count as "adults." John immediately did some searching around on the website and found some really cheap flights. There are a few hitches, though. The flights are out of and back into Logan. The flights are not direct. Both flights have layovers in Atlanta. The flight out leaves at 6:05 in the morning on the 19th. The price of the flight makes it so that these things are minor, less than minor even. We'll stay at John's parents' house on the night of the 18th and have a town car bring us to the airport at 4 the next morning since we'll have to be there at 4:30. It will get us into Orlando at around 11:30 in the morning. That gives us an afternoon in the pool and maybe some time in a park on that first day. The flight home leaves at 10 (ish) in the morning. We'll have a bit of a layover, but we'll be home in plenty of time.
I've flown Southwest before and I'm well aware of how the boarding works. Since there are no assigned seats on Southwest flights (which by now with all the hoops people have to jump through, they might as well start assigning seats), you are allowed to board in the order you check-in for the flight. They separate the passengers into three groups A, B, C. The A's checked in first. The B's second. The C's after everyone else. It used to be that if you checked in on line 24 hours in advance, you were able to get in the A group. I figured that I'd just get up at the crack of dawn on the 18th and check us in. No biggie. NOW, Southwest is offering an Early Bird Boarding option. If you dish out $10 per flight, Southwest will automatically check you in 36 hours in advance of your flight and issue you a number for boarding. This is no guarantee that you'll be in the A group, but it's pretty sure. That means that anyone who checks in 24 hours in advance is now the B group, and God help anyone who checks in at the airport.
What a scam! Just assign the damn seats, already. Part of me is just pissed, but part of me is ready to dish out the money. Anna will be allowed to board with either John or myself between the A's and the B's, but if we could be sure(ish) to get in the A's we could all find seats together. And even if we don't all board together, as long as there is one adult with one kid, it doesn't really matter. We probably won't all be able to sit together in one row anyway. BUT does $10 a flight mean, $10 for the whole trip or $10 for our flight from Logan to Atlanta and then another $10 for our flight from Atlanta to Orlando? Would we paying an additional $80 or an additional $160? And, honestly, we paid so little for our flights that I wonder if it really matters? We'd still be about $900 ahead of the game.
And speaking of scams...we went ahead and made reservations for dining. Everything that I've read has said to make sure that you book as soon as you can and as soon as you can happens to be 180 days out. Seriously. I'm supposed to figure out what I'm going to want to eat 6 months out from my trip? I didn't believe it, but I forced the fam to sit down and decide when and where we wanted to eat. Since there were so many of us, I wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page. We did that, actually, on the 180 day mark. I didn't get around to trying to make reservations for about 5 or 6 days later. We couldn't get into some places! They were booked! The places we did get into, we couldn't get the times we wanted! Holy crud!
John chalks it up to it being a big rat conspiracy. Don't tell him, but I'm starting to feel the same way.
In the meantime, I went ahead and bought a quart size baggie for each of us and I've started to load it full of stuff. I bought travel size sun screen for the kids along with travel size shampoo/conditioner/body wash. I'll get some toothpaste and tooth brushes next. Southwest gives us each two free bags, but since our flight gets in at 11:30 a.m. (our room might not be ready) and we're using the Disney's Magical Express (they'll deliver our luggage to the room, but not immediately), we won't have access to our big luggage. I figured we could pack bathing suits and things to take a shower so we could use the pool once we get into the hotel and then head out if we wanted to before our room was ready.
So much planning into one week. It's crazy and more encompassing than John really wanted and I had anticipated. But honestly, I can't wait for the trip! The kids are going to have soooooo much fun! I can't wait to see their faces.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
More Along the Random Line
So Jack and I--and actually Anna--are on vacation. We went down to Connecticut on Sunday for the annual Bailey family birthday extravaganza. We were meant to meet up with my friend Kristie and her girls for our annual Presidents' Day get together. Unfortunately, the same thing that crawled through our house a week and half ago was about to crawl through their house. I'd like to come up with something fun to do in April. Mystic maybe?
Today was spent in the absolute hedonistic endeavor of reading. The kids and I ran a couple of errands and then we all just did want we wanted. The kids played their "batteries" (Leap Frog Explorers) and I read. We watched "Wall-E" and "Despicable Me." Tomorrow we've got to head off to the eye doctor, the prospect of which is enough to send each of us (including poor Dr. LaRocca) in search of our happy places.
Jack won an award at school. He earned "Good Citizen of the Month" for the Month of February. I'm so proud. Amazingly, beside myself proud. He brought the award with him to tae kwon do yesterday. When he was taking off his shoes he wondered, aloud, if he would get a special star. The place gives stars for a bunch of things--earning five stickers, bringing in your report card, doing the activity of the month. I told him that I wasn't so sure that he would get a star, but the girl behind the counter who had listened to the conversation made a big fuss over the award and said that he would definitely get a star. So at the end of the class, they bring the kids up to the front of the class one by one. The kids get a sticker if they have a paper from school. They get a star if they have the things mentioned above. Yesterday, they called Jack up and just handed him his paper back. They didn't give him a star or a sticker. So Jack asked the master for his star, showing him the award. The master was in a hurry to get on with the next class and he got a sticker from one of the teachers and then he gave Jack a high-five and sent him on his way. Jack came back toward me and his little lip was quivering.
When I figured out why he was weepy, I told him that I didn't really care what he got from Master Pina, I was incredibly proud of him. I was so proud of him, I was going to buy a frame so that I could hang it up on my wall. The girl behind the counter was floored. She kept telling him that he really should have gotten a star. Jack got all excited about me hanging up the award on the wall in my classroom--don't know where that came from, but I fostered that because it distracted him from crying. We even took him out to Chili's that night for dinner. Chili's has surplanted the 99's as his new favorite restaurant.
I'm frustrated with the tae kwon do place. When Jack first started, there was another little boy there who was a little bit quicker and often got Jack in trouble. Jack would be telling the kid not to touch him or not to talk to him, and Jack would get yelled at by the master. I got so pissed one day by it that I was rendered speechless and John had to go in and deal with it. Things improved, and things were great until they instituted the freakin' student of the month award. Jack has not won it and it is something he wants more than air.
I wouldn't mind that Jack hasn't gotten it but for two reasons. The first is that the kids who have gotten it have been lovely kids who are not necessarily focused or as skilled as Jack. In fact, the last two have been complete space shots. Cute, lovely kids, but not Jack. The second reason is that Jack knows. He knows that he's more focused, better behaved, more serious than anyone else in the class. "Why didn't I get it this time?" He's getting really tired of me telling him that I was so proud that it didn't matter to me what color his belt is (the Student of the Month belt is red, white and blue).
So I've decided that I'm giving this Tae Kwon Do place until March 3rd. If my child is not wearing a red, white and blue belt by March 3, we will be trying to find a new place. Seriously. What message is this place sending if they are rewarding the kids who put in half-ass effort (of course, they're 5 and are therefore half-assed by developmental progression) and ignore the kids--namely Jack--who work their asses of and do everything the damn master says to do both in and out of the tae kwon do place. Jack wants to please. He wants to please me, his dad, his teacher, and this shmuck at tae kwon do. Fortunately, three of those four are very easily pleased. Unfortunately (and fortunately), Jack is not the typical 5 year old (6 year old) who is oblivious to the world outside of his own needs and experiences.
Anna starts pre-school on Monday. I'm nervous. I really am. I keep telling her she's going to school on Monday, but she keeps telling me, "No." Of course, the other day, she was sitting up on the back of the recliner (which she was already told not to do). She slipped off and landed on her face on the arm of the chair. She has a lovely bruise on her face that will turn yellow and purple in time for school on Monday.
Thanks to Netflix, we have all the seasons of "Scrubs." Love that show! It's nice to laugh out loud about something. My favorite line ever is, "Who's got to thumbs and doesn't give a damn?...This guy!" The visual is needed to really make it work, but you get the point.
Today was spent in the absolute hedonistic endeavor of reading. The kids and I ran a couple of errands and then we all just did want we wanted. The kids played their "batteries" (Leap Frog Explorers) and I read. We watched "Wall-E" and "Despicable Me." Tomorrow we've got to head off to the eye doctor, the prospect of which is enough to send each of us (including poor Dr. LaRocca) in search of our happy places.
Jack won an award at school. He earned "Good Citizen of the Month" for the Month of February. I'm so proud. Amazingly, beside myself proud. He brought the award with him to tae kwon do yesterday. When he was taking off his shoes he wondered, aloud, if he would get a special star. The place gives stars for a bunch of things--earning five stickers, bringing in your report card, doing the activity of the month. I told him that I wasn't so sure that he would get a star, but the girl behind the counter who had listened to the conversation made a big fuss over the award and said that he would definitely get a star. So at the end of the class, they bring the kids up to the front of the class one by one. The kids get a sticker if they have a paper from school. They get a star if they have the things mentioned above. Yesterday, they called Jack up and just handed him his paper back. They didn't give him a star or a sticker. So Jack asked the master for his star, showing him the award. The master was in a hurry to get on with the next class and he got a sticker from one of the teachers and then he gave Jack a high-five and sent him on his way. Jack came back toward me and his little lip was quivering.
When I figured out why he was weepy, I told him that I didn't really care what he got from Master Pina, I was incredibly proud of him. I was so proud of him, I was going to buy a frame so that I could hang it up on my wall. The girl behind the counter was floored. She kept telling him that he really should have gotten a star. Jack got all excited about me hanging up the award on the wall in my classroom--don't know where that came from, but I fostered that because it distracted him from crying. We even took him out to Chili's that night for dinner. Chili's has surplanted the 99's as his new favorite restaurant.
I'm frustrated with the tae kwon do place. When Jack first started, there was another little boy there who was a little bit quicker and often got Jack in trouble. Jack would be telling the kid not to touch him or not to talk to him, and Jack would get yelled at by the master. I got so pissed one day by it that I was rendered speechless and John had to go in and deal with it. Things improved, and things were great until they instituted the freakin' student of the month award. Jack has not won it and it is something he wants more than air.
I wouldn't mind that Jack hasn't gotten it but for two reasons. The first is that the kids who have gotten it have been lovely kids who are not necessarily focused or as skilled as Jack. In fact, the last two have been complete space shots. Cute, lovely kids, but not Jack. The second reason is that Jack knows. He knows that he's more focused, better behaved, more serious than anyone else in the class. "Why didn't I get it this time?" He's getting really tired of me telling him that I was so proud that it didn't matter to me what color his belt is (the Student of the Month belt is red, white and blue).
So I've decided that I'm giving this Tae Kwon Do place until March 3rd. If my child is not wearing a red, white and blue belt by March 3, we will be trying to find a new place. Seriously. What message is this place sending if they are rewarding the kids who put in half-ass effort (of course, they're 5 and are therefore half-assed by developmental progression) and ignore the kids--namely Jack--who work their asses of and do everything the damn master says to do both in and out of the tae kwon do place. Jack wants to please. He wants to please me, his dad, his teacher, and this shmuck at tae kwon do. Fortunately, three of those four are very easily pleased. Unfortunately (and fortunately), Jack is not the typical 5 year old (6 year old) who is oblivious to the world outside of his own needs and experiences.
Anna starts pre-school on Monday. I'm nervous. I really am. I keep telling her she's going to school on Monday, but she keeps telling me, "No." Of course, the other day, she was sitting up on the back of the recliner (which she was already told not to do). She slipped off and landed on her face on the arm of the chair. She has a lovely bruise on her face that will turn yellow and purple in time for school on Monday.
Thanks to Netflix, we have all the seasons of "Scrubs." Love that show! It's nice to laugh out loud about something. My favorite line ever is, "Who's got to thumbs and doesn't give a damn?...This guy!" The visual is needed to really make it work, but you get the point.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Back to a More Rational State of Being...maybe
First and foremost I wanted to take the time to shamelessly support a friend's blog. I don't get as much traffic on my blog as he gets on his, but check it out. Wait. Don't check it out if you are easily offended and cannot see the other side to any given argument. If you enjoy very good writing, amazing (and biting) humor, as well as a good dose of sarcasm even if you don't agree with what's being said, check it out: http://thejohnnybox.blogspot.com/.
I wanted, next, to provide an update on the "Anna Situation." Cooler heads did prevail. I had a very emotional reaction to the reports that had been written after the evaluations. All parents do. It's particularly NORMAL. It's incredibly difficult to be told there is something wrong with your child. Fortunately, I have a friend who looked at the reports for me and pointed me in the right direction. I was even more fortunate to have several friends willingly offer to do the same. My biggest problem was that the testing didn't reflect what I knew to be true about my child. It was good to have someone aside from the me tell me that I wasn't being irrational and that there were some issues.
The testing indicated that there were several issues with Anna, some of which were cognitive in nature. If there's one thing I know about Anna, it is that she is not limited in her cognitive abilities. I was very upset and willing to get "ugly" in order to have the psych evaluation reconsidered. I agree with my friend Laura when she questioned the use of the full scale IQ score when there were so many inconsistencies in the sub tests and in the documented behavior. Fortunately I was able to get the people at the meeting--every last one of them, dammit--to admit that the testing was not indicative of her ability. And I think that the IEP that was written reflects her actual needs as opposed to what the psych eval dictated.
The IEP meeting would have been a little daunting had I not prepared myself. If anyone is reading this who is not familiar with the process, I highly recommend taking the two days you are allotted by law to review the information before you go into the meeting. Also, if (like me) you find the language used in the reports to be baffling, find someone who doesn't and have him/her explain it to you. Seriously a learning process!
In the end, Anna will be starting pre-school right after February vacation. She'll be going 4 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day. She'll receive services for speech, fine motor skills and gross motor skills. The gross motor skills lady said that she was in the normal range and didn't really need services, but she is willing to provide some services because some of Anna's fine motor issues stem from muscle tone (Who knew? I didn't.) Everyone is going to keep an eye on the sensory issues, but only a tiny bit of that was evident during the testing.
The next hurdle? The child has inherited the family ADHD. No lie.
Jack is having a little struggle of his own. He takes Tae Kwon Do (which is another Laura connection...) and has been doing so for over a year. At first, it was a little rough because he had some big distractions in the form of another kid in the class. He, however, worked through that and has become the most focused kid in the class. It might sound like I'm bragging, but I'm honestly not. He's amazing. His skills are OK. He's better than many of the kids in the class, but his focus is just incredible. The master has told me several times that he can't believe that Jack is only five. He has the maturity of a much older kid.
So what's the struggle? Student of the Month. About three months ago, the place decided to celebrate one student from each class per month. The child gets a special certificate and gets to wear a special red, white, and blue belt rather than the belt he/she would normally wear. Jack wants it so bad he can taste it. For the past three months, he's watched kids get to be Student of the Month and he's wondered why not him? I've wondered that, too, to be honest. The first kid is a nice enough kid, but obviously lacks the focus (and the skill) that Jack has. The second kid is a complete nut job. Seriously. Nice enough--really nice, in fact-- but C R A Z Y. No where near as focused as Jack and no where near as skilled. This month it's a little girl who has been doing this for only a couple of months. She's super cute, but again, she's no Jack. I seriously wonder what the criteria are for Student of the Month. Do they pick a name out of a freakin' hat? Do they throw darts at a board? Is it based on attendance? Granted, we've missed some time because of illness and my schedule, but not much (if any) more than anyone else in that class. So what's the deal?
It's something I can live with. I don't understand why it isn't him. It would be nice if he got it, but honestly, I'm so proud of him I could burst. It doesn't matter if he's got a special red, white, and blue belt or not. But he wants it. He really doesn't understand why it's not him. It almost makes me cry when he asks on the way home from class on Student of the Month day why it's not him. I tell him that I'm so proud of him no matter what happens. I don't need a belt to tell me how wonderful he is. Fortunately this still works with him, and hopefully it will work for a while yet.
Enjoy the weekend, all!
I wanted, next, to provide an update on the "Anna Situation." Cooler heads did prevail. I had a very emotional reaction to the reports that had been written after the evaluations. All parents do. It's particularly NORMAL. It's incredibly difficult to be told there is something wrong with your child. Fortunately, I have a friend who looked at the reports for me and pointed me in the right direction. I was even more fortunate to have several friends willingly offer to do the same. My biggest problem was that the testing didn't reflect what I knew to be true about my child. It was good to have someone aside from the me tell me that I wasn't being irrational and that there were some issues.
The testing indicated that there were several issues with Anna, some of which were cognitive in nature. If there's one thing I know about Anna, it is that she is not limited in her cognitive abilities. I was very upset and willing to get "ugly" in order to have the psych evaluation reconsidered. I agree with my friend Laura when she questioned the use of the full scale IQ score when there were so many inconsistencies in the sub tests and in the documented behavior. Fortunately I was able to get the people at the meeting--every last one of them, dammit--to admit that the testing was not indicative of her ability. And I think that the IEP that was written reflects her actual needs as opposed to what the psych eval dictated.
The IEP meeting would have been a little daunting had I not prepared myself. If anyone is reading this who is not familiar with the process, I highly recommend taking the two days you are allotted by law to review the information before you go into the meeting. Also, if (like me) you find the language used in the reports to be baffling, find someone who doesn't and have him/her explain it to you. Seriously a learning process!
In the end, Anna will be starting pre-school right after February vacation. She'll be going 4 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day. She'll receive services for speech, fine motor skills and gross motor skills. The gross motor skills lady said that she was in the normal range and didn't really need services, but she is willing to provide some services because some of Anna's fine motor issues stem from muscle tone (Who knew? I didn't.) Everyone is going to keep an eye on the sensory issues, but only a tiny bit of that was evident during the testing.
The next hurdle? The child has inherited the family ADHD. No lie.
Jack is having a little struggle of his own. He takes Tae Kwon Do (which is another Laura connection...) and has been doing so for over a year. At first, it was a little rough because he had some big distractions in the form of another kid in the class. He, however, worked through that and has become the most focused kid in the class. It might sound like I'm bragging, but I'm honestly not. He's amazing. His skills are OK. He's better than many of the kids in the class, but his focus is just incredible. The master has told me several times that he can't believe that Jack is only five. He has the maturity of a much older kid.
So what's the struggle? Student of the Month. About three months ago, the place decided to celebrate one student from each class per month. The child gets a special certificate and gets to wear a special red, white, and blue belt rather than the belt he/she would normally wear. Jack wants it so bad he can taste it. For the past three months, he's watched kids get to be Student of the Month and he's wondered why not him? I've wondered that, too, to be honest. The first kid is a nice enough kid, but obviously lacks the focus (and the skill) that Jack has. The second kid is a complete nut job. Seriously. Nice enough--really nice, in fact-- but C R A Z Y. No where near as focused as Jack and no where near as skilled. This month it's a little girl who has been doing this for only a couple of months. She's super cute, but again, she's no Jack. I seriously wonder what the criteria are for Student of the Month. Do they pick a name out of a freakin' hat? Do they throw darts at a board? Is it based on attendance? Granted, we've missed some time because of illness and my schedule, but not much (if any) more than anyone else in that class. So what's the deal?
It's something I can live with. I don't understand why it isn't him. It would be nice if he got it, but honestly, I'm so proud of him I could burst. It doesn't matter if he's got a special red, white, and blue belt or not. But he wants it. He really doesn't understand why it's not him. It almost makes me cry when he asks on the way home from class on Student of the Month day why it's not him. I tell him that I'm so proud of him no matter what happens. I don't need a belt to tell me how wonderful he is. Fortunately this still works with him, and hopefully it will work for a while yet.
Enjoy the weekend, all!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
On the Verge
Drama. That's me. This annoys my husband to no end, I'm sure, but for the past 30 hours I have been on the verge of tears.
I picked up Julianna's evaluations yesterday. I wanted them the two days early that I am allowed by law because I really wanted to read them over before I went into the IEP meeting. I think my asking for them threw the BPS sped department into a little tizzy. They made it increasingly difficult for me to get the papers. Not difficult enough to constitute a call to the state, but sufficiently difficult that I had to rush out of work to get them. Many parents do not want to read the reports before the meeting, and I can understand why (over 15 years in the classroom and I find it a lot like reading Greek). I just wanted to get my hands on the evaluations so that I could at least be familiar with what they said when I sit in the meeting on Tuesday.
I was telling my friend Laura, who is a sped teacher in my building, that they were giving me a little bit of a hard time. I told her that it was annoying because I just wanted to know enough to be in control. I was (am) sure that the people who have tested my daughter want what's best for her--what's in her best interest is in their best interest, too--but I've sat in on IEP meetings where the parents were so overwhelmed that they were railroaded into agreeing to one thing when something else would have been better. I've also sat in on IEP meetings where the parents were defensive and distraught, allowing emotions to rule rather than common sense. I wanted to remain in control. I wanted to be in a position where I could facilitate in the decision making process. Laura said that she really liked when parents got the reports early and could read them so that that could get all the crying out of the way.
I hadn't thought about that, but she is right (she usually is). I read the reports and I cried. Some of the results I knew would be upsetting, but they were more upsetting than I thought they would be. There's a lot going on with my little girl. All of the reports said that she was really easily distracted and that she focused only on the things that she really liked and that may have been one of the reasons why the testing came out the way it did. But she was "pleasant" most of the time. One of the evaluators did write about her temper tantrum about having to leave the first time we were there. I'm devastated.
I freaked. I texted Laura and she freaked with me. There were some things in the report she wanted to read because what I read to her was not how she and our school psychologist would do things. She told me to bring the report in on Monday and she'll look at it. Laura will help me figure it out. And she'll have tissues for me.
Right now, John is off at some indoor car race in Providence, I think. I know he's at a race. I think it's in Providence. Jack and Anna are having "a sleep over" in Jack's bed. We had to do it last night because yesterday when Anna was in her room calming down from a temper tantrum, she sprayed half a bottle of Lysol in her bed and on the floor (I had left it in there a couple of weeks ago and completely forgot it). There's little chance of any germs ever developing there again, but she couldn't sleep there until the place aired out. So she slept in Jack's bed last night. It was such a hit, they both wanted to do it again. As I was typing this, that failed miserably and Anna was evicted from Jack's bed. Everyone is in his and her own bed.
Jack got his second report card this week. He did very well. John and I are very proud of him and his hard work. We took him out to IHOP to celebrate last night. John said he wanted to take him out for dinner so I asked Jack where he wanted to go. His response was this, "The Chinese Buffet All You Can Eat." It was firm answer. Definitive. Then he said, "Wait. No. I've changed my mind. I wanna go to IHOP to get a funny face pancake." So that's exactly what we did. We went to IHOP. The kids got the funny face pancakes. Jack was absolutely thrilled.
The report cards are insane. It's all about standards. It's a two page deal with several standards listed on both sides. Several standards are rated on a scale of 1 - 4. I don't know what 1 means, but 4 is "exceeds expectations" and 3 means "has met the standard." Two means "working towards standard." Jack has one 4, a whole mess of 3's and some 2's. Not bad for a little boy who didn't go to pre-school. Several standards are rated with - (weakness), v (satisfactory), and + (strength). Jack has a ton of +'s. He's got one v and that is in gym. The apple does not fall far from the tree.
He's now doing basketball on Saturdays. He loves it. It makes him happy. I don't know what he's going to do in March when it's over. We'll have to find him something else.
It's time for me to curl up in my bed with a good book.
I picked up Julianna's evaluations yesterday. I wanted them the two days early that I am allowed by law because I really wanted to read them over before I went into the IEP meeting. I think my asking for them threw the BPS sped department into a little tizzy. They made it increasingly difficult for me to get the papers. Not difficult enough to constitute a call to the state, but sufficiently difficult that I had to rush out of work to get them. Many parents do not want to read the reports before the meeting, and I can understand why (over 15 years in the classroom and I find it a lot like reading Greek). I just wanted to get my hands on the evaluations so that I could at least be familiar with what they said when I sit in the meeting on Tuesday.
I was telling my friend Laura, who is a sped teacher in my building, that they were giving me a little bit of a hard time. I told her that it was annoying because I just wanted to know enough to be in control. I was (am) sure that the people who have tested my daughter want what's best for her--what's in her best interest is in their best interest, too--but I've sat in on IEP meetings where the parents were so overwhelmed that they were railroaded into agreeing to one thing when something else would have been better. I've also sat in on IEP meetings where the parents were defensive and distraught, allowing emotions to rule rather than common sense. I wanted to remain in control. I wanted to be in a position where I could facilitate in the decision making process. Laura said that she really liked when parents got the reports early and could read them so that that could get all the crying out of the way.
I hadn't thought about that, but she is right (she usually is). I read the reports and I cried. Some of the results I knew would be upsetting, but they were more upsetting than I thought they would be. There's a lot going on with my little girl. All of the reports said that she was really easily distracted and that she focused only on the things that she really liked and that may have been one of the reasons why the testing came out the way it did. But she was "pleasant" most of the time. One of the evaluators did write about her temper tantrum about having to leave the first time we were there. I'm devastated.
I freaked. I texted Laura and she freaked with me. There were some things in the report she wanted to read because what I read to her was not how she and our school psychologist would do things. She told me to bring the report in on Monday and she'll look at it. Laura will help me figure it out. And she'll have tissues for me.
Right now, John is off at some indoor car race in Providence, I think. I know he's at a race. I think it's in Providence. Jack and Anna are having "a sleep over" in Jack's bed. We had to do it last night because yesterday when Anna was in her room calming down from a temper tantrum, she sprayed half a bottle of Lysol in her bed and on the floor (I had left it in there a couple of weeks ago and completely forgot it). There's little chance of any germs ever developing there again, but she couldn't sleep there until the place aired out. So she slept in Jack's bed last night. It was such a hit, they both wanted to do it again. As I was typing this, that failed miserably and Anna was evicted from Jack's bed. Everyone is in his and her own bed.
Jack got his second report card this week. He did very well. John and I are very proud of him and his hard work. We took him out to IHOP to celebrate last night. John said he wanted to take him out for dinner so I asked Jack where he wanted to go. His response was this, "The Chinese Buffet All You Can Eat." It was firm answer. Definitive. Then he said, "Wait. No. I've changed my mind. I wanna go to IHOP to get a funny face pancake." So that's exactly what we did. We went to IHOP. The kids got the funny face pancakes. Jack was absolutely thrilled.
The report cards are insane. It's all about standards. It's a two page deal with several standards listed on both sides. Several standards are rated on a scale of 1 - 4. I don't know what 1 means, but 4 is "exceeds expectations" and 3 means "has met the standard." Two means "working towards standard." Jack has one 4, a whole mess of 3's and some 2's. Not bad for a little boy who didn't go to pre-school. Several standards are rated with - (weakness), v (satisfactory), and + (strength). Jack has a ton of +'s. He's got one v and that is in gym. The apple does not fall far from the tree.
He's now doing basketball on Saturdays. He loves it. It makes him happy. I don't know what he's going to do in March when it's over. We'll have to find him something else.
It's time for me to curl up in my bed with a good book.
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