A Mini-Vacation

So things have been pretty hectic here, but I actually got a mini-vacation (or should I say "stay-cation). My parents took the boys to the beach for two days. They spent Wednesday night at their house so they could leave first thing in the morning. Egypt and I have had nice mom/daughter time together.

Yesterday I had a meeting to discuss getting technology assistance for Holland. Everything's about the meeting when you're on an IEP. "Let's have a meeting to plan a meeting." Basically I was told that even though the district already owns the software I want, there might be someone else that needs it more (????) Ok. I don't understand that at ALL. WEEEEEE need it! They're going to let us try it out, but my take is that they want the charter school to buy it. I'm ready to put it on a credit card and buy it because I'm tired of everyone dragging their feet. One of the members of the IEP team wanted to know my goals for using this software. "I want him to learn how to read and write" I said. I've been trying to teach him for 4 years and she's worried I'm expecting this software to solve all my problems. Well, I'm not that stupid. Give me some credit. I would think after 4 years and countless methods that she knew I wouldn't be expecting this software to solve everything. She kept bringing up other software that I knew wouldn't work (there's one she wants us to try that uses hand signals for the different sounds of speech). I've already told these people that he isn't a phonetic kid - he needs pictures to help him connect meaning to the jumble of letters he sees. The software I want has little pictures above each word and you can go from pictures to words or words to pictures.

My stay-cation included running some errands yesterday and having a quiet day with Egypt reading on my bed, playing and doing an art project. Today I borrowed the cultural pass from the library to go to the Children's Museum in Portland. We haven't been there in about two years. The last time I took her, I had the boys with me and they complained the entire time (it really is too young a place for them, but what was I supposed to do?) So today it was just us and we had a great time. She shopped in the grocery store, brushed an aligator's teeth, floated ducks in a water bath and drew with a light on a tree trunk. We did a few errands on the way home and checked out some movies at the library.

Now I'm getting ready for the loudness to return. It's been so nice to have quiet here. Hopefully they had a good time at the beach even if it was cold.