How Do They Do That?! Part 4

Do y'all really want to know our madness? I read these after I post them and think "Who the heck reads this stuff?!?!?!" I have heard that no one makes it through reading these posts in one sitting. I'll return to my normal random mindless posting next week. Until then suffer with the play by play of our day, we do :)
What?!?! That darn alarm clock again! Doesn't it know that I've time traveled to Saturday?!?!?! Darn! It's only Tuesday. Snooze a few billion times until the poor dog in the kennel is whining to get out. I'm certain he has to potty. I poke Nate a few times in his back to see if he'll get up. In a stupor he responds - sorda' - so I tell him he has to take the dog out. At some point he asks, "Did Junior wake you at 4am to go out?" "Nope." In my mind I'm thinking, "If all it took to end the 4am potty breaks was a dislocated shoulder we might have tried that sooner. Maybe it's the kennel situation instead of the shoulder. No matter what I got to sleep through the night! Small miracles!" See prior to the shoulder incident Junior would nose me every morning about 4am until I got up to let him out. They would go outside and let out one bark so that I had to say "Shhh", then do what ever dogs do at 4am, and bark again to come in. Most of the time I get them, but sometimes I've conked out and Nate gets them. Sorry neighbors - it's a habit they can't seem to break. Of course while Nate was pottying the dog I hopped into the shower. Who wants to waste perfectly good hot water?
Pottying the injured dog is a trick. Nate has to pick the dog up from out of the kennel, carry him outside, set him down and wait, and wait and wait. Junior will not potty in the front yard. It would be much easier if he did. Nate has to carry this dog down a flight of stairs to take him potty in the back yard. There's been a lot of nothing when Nate's trying to get the dog to potty so he's tried going inside and watching through the window. Maybe Junior has stage fright. This is the routine every time Junior needs to potty, and will be for the next two weeks.
We're all doing our morning stuff and I have a few moments. Why not catch up on the missed blog posts from the last couple of days. Read a few, but then hit one that I like for the crating tips because she crafts with her kids and that's a big thing for me. Love crafting with the kids. Today though she posts about her anxiety because today they have an ARD meeting to set up her sons annual IEP. For those of you who just went "Huh?!?!?" It's the meeting to set up special education services for the next year for her kiddo. Her son is in 2nd grade and is a student with Aspergers. She's posted about him a couple times before, but it's not her whole blog. Actually you wouldn't know this was part of her life except for the occasional post and the button on the left side that says someone she loves has Aspergers. Today's post though got me going. She was talking abut how she's talked to the school ahead of time about the accommodations, and they've said no to all of them. She told why they were requested and what data they had to support the need for them. Honestly I didn't find any of it unreasonable based on what I read. I have to admit that I'm not there to make that judgment call, but it hit a cord with me. It pains me to see parents fighting for everything just to get their child, a child with a disability, what they need in their day. So of course I had to post back to that momma' with my "You go momma bear!" stuff. See I love parents who research, and challenge the school when they feel they need to. To me that's an involved parent. I have a lot of those types of parents, and I certainly am one of those parents. When word trickles down that people in district office call us "one of THOSE parents" I just have a silent party. Do we really only want parents of the good kids to be involved in their child's education? Nope, we want all parents involved. Anyway - I got a bit worked up and realized that we would probably be late to school again today. We weren't. I even managed to grab Z's folder off the table because he forgot it again.
Into the school we went with the other children who managed to make it as the bell rang. Off the children went with their little friends, no good-bye hugs today. Z took a great pile of recyclables to QUEST. The car had been sprayed last night (twice) with deodorizer, but required more spray this morning so we did that before even getting in and again as I left the elementary parking lot. I wasn't expecting the smell to still be there because I had already cleared the one in the bedroom. Guess steam cleaning the carpets worked. Drove with the windows down all day again to help clear the smell. Maybe in the morning.
It's Tuesday, no duty today. That means I can swing through somewhere for breakfast after dropping the kids off. A quick check in the wallet discovered no cash so McD's was it. Though I was contemplating rying out the new donut shop by the house. Ate as I drove, listening to Bob FM. Love that station in the mornings. Great upbeat music. Got to school, said good morning to the other early risers, and off to my room to prep for the day.
Every school day I go in with a plan, and something changes it. Usually it's student needs. Today it was student needs. Amazing how that works for a teacher providing a service. When we were preparing for this year we thought 5 students in my service. We are up to 9 and more being considered. It's amazing how we survived with out it this long. My coworkers and I have provided the support for years, each one with their own little situation. Now the students are identified and a service provided. I think it's good because the inclusion teachers can focus more on the academic supports while I deal with the other stuff. Teachers seem to respond well to having the support, though some days there's just not enough of me. We're making it though, and I see progress in the kids. Only bad thing is that I didn't get the Tuesday folders out today. I try to do a news letter each week for the parents so they know what we're up to. Today it just didn't get finished. I also put info in about our DI team, and a famous person with a disability. So far it's been persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders, but I'm thinking about changing that up a bit. My 6th graders are very much into advocating for students with disabilities and being a support for their peers. We've been looking at various disabilities and how it impacts students in the classroom. They plan to present to their team some day soon. It will be amazing.
The amazing thing for me was that there were no after school activities today! I was able to leave about 4:45 which was GREAT! I had to get home to give Junior his pain medication before picking up A for hip hop. It was a success, but he wanted out of the kennel badly. I can't lift him so I had to leave him in there. While I was dealing with the dog Nate was trying to get through rush our traffic to pick up Z for cheer. They were late. I got A after a brief visit with Susan about how the boys are loving riding bikes now. We arrived at dance with just the right amount of time to change into dance clothes. After a stern talking to about participating in class A had a successful day in dance. So much so she talked excitedly about it. She's struggled with being excited about dance this year. There are some social factors causing problems. She is part of a 3 pack and you know how that goes with girls. There's always an odd man out. She also misses her friend K - a lot. She has a new friend that O introduced her to, B. B apparently lives close by and has dance the same time A does, but a different class. A loves seeing B, and I finally got to meet mom. She seems nice. I gave her our number so the girls could play some time.
After dance A has to change back into her street clothes. She won't leave the studio in her dance clothes. The only issue is that it takes time. She does it herself, but it takes time. We had to go into Austin to pick up Z at cheer and the traffic was killer! We were late picking up Z, and it took us forever to get back up to Cedar Park. A was asleep in the car when I got Z. She was still asleep when we made it to Wendy's, and wouldn't wake up to order.
We get home, still not awake, unload the car, and go to carry her out of the car. She wakes some time before I set her in her dinner chair. The bad news is that I ordered the wrong meal. Then the cheese burger had mustard on it and she cried a lot. I traded her what burger I had left which made her feel better - it had bacon on it. She played with the toy for a while and then off to shower. Z had eaten his dinner in the car and was stalling on his homework. I finally got him started about the time I got A in the shower. I would read a problem to Z, go wash A's hair, read a problem to Z, go condition A's hair, on and off until it was done. The frustrating part is that I know he's done this exact packet before and that he's turned it in, but it was listed as missing and we just had to get it filled in on the grade book. I know it was turned in because I had e-mailed that day about the missing homework and that he was turning it in and she confirmed receipt. I thought about e-mailing and saying that he would not be doing the packet twice, but I just told Z we would do the easy packet and get the grade filled in no worries. I did put a note on it because she's planning on only giving an 85 on it because it was late, and I know it wasn't.
This whole time Nate is out shooting the volleyball game. At about 8:40 (only 10 minutes late) Z and A were ready for bed. They went without issue and got their music set up without making me do it.
I was able to type this post in relative peace (amazing!). Nate just got home at 9:40, took the puppy potty. I'm thinking about TV and bed. My eyes have been itchy, and I'm tired. Bed by 10pm is great! I only have 182 blog posts on my Google reader, but I'll read them later. I've checked Facebook and posted as needed. Here's to a relatively uneventful day! BTW - I don't post the craziness of school because it's confidential. If I did post it you wouldn't believe it anyway.