T-Minus 4 Days and Success!

It worked. Two of DD's teachers pitched the idea of staying at his regular high school for another year, and he bought it. Wow. I am such a wizard. It really wasn't as hard as we thought it would be. His teachers added a couple of incentives--one of his jobs next year will be as an office monitor, the kids who run notes around the building and stuff, and he's now "training" to be a gym assistant next year. And according to him, he'll get to drive the golf cart around as part of his gym job! What!!!!!! omg. If they think he can do it, more power to him. So DH and I are really pleased that the system is finally working for him.

I took a busman's holiday today and drove out to Magee Marsh to check out the warbler action. I had more fun watching the warbler-watchers than anything else. I did get glimpses of 2 birds, and took some pics. I put my contacts in before I left, but they must be really dirty because I had to take them out when I got there. Taking pictures with glasses on is a pain and I'll have to re-learn how to do it. And our long lens is hard to focus. The auto focus is really weird, so I keep it turned off. But I also haven't come close to mastering it with or without glasses. Something to work on this summer.

Mystery bird pics-- since everyone else was taking pictures of them and going, "oohh" and "ahhh" and "great bird" and today's most uttered phrase, "That's a lifer for me" I decided to post these crumby pictures. Feel free to post id's for me! More (and better pictures) later.

Kudos to Kim Kaufmann for pulling off the "Biggest Week in American Birding." I have long maintained that if you want to promote something just print up glossy, full-color, tri-fold flyers and it becomes true. Kim went waaaaay beyond that to promote this. I have also long maintained that something like this should happen. My hat is off to Kim, and Julie Shieldcastle (founder) and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. For those of you who don't know Kim, picture me, but on heavy duty steroids! Way to go, ladies!

T-Minus 6 Days and Life Interupts

The good news: We'll have plenty of room in the cargo trailer. The bad news, a really tough school decision looms again.

For a couple of years, DD has said that he wants to go to Penta Career Center, the local vocational high school. As an added bonus, they've moved into a beautiful, amazing new building with all the coolest new stuff. DH and I thought we knew that the programs were all about. Last week we met with reps there and started being able to read, or listen, between the lines.

Kids in with disabilities are usually entered into the "Skills Center" where they learn "job skills." What we didn't pick up in our other conversations is that the kids in these programs aren't exposed to much in academics, or in particular careers. It's more a matter of finding a task that the child is capable of doing, not really picking up career skills.

First, remember my posts about parents of kids with special needs being in a constant state of grieving. Here we go again. We understand and recognize that our kids will probably never be rocket surgeons. Or brain scientists, either. But we still hold out hope that they will be able to find jobs with a higher level of skills. All parents want that for their kids. But now that we're nearing the cusp of adulthood, we're becoming painfully aware that even if we push and shove our kids to do more, they will never be 'fully employed.' Ever. So why do we worry about it? Why don't we just let them relax and enjoy the pleasures they do find in life? Why do we think our kids will be able to find jobs when there are plenty of able bodied and able minded folks out there? But even knowing that, we now hope that DD can stay at AW another year, so he can have another shot at picking up some academic skills.

Selling this idea to him will be tricky. Really, really tricky. I think--I hope--that if the teachers he loves at school pitch the idea to him, he might go for it. They'll have to be completely sincere and fully believe that it's the right thing for him. I've only been mulling this idea over for about 24 hours, but the more I think about it, the more comfortable I am with it. If only. . . .

Fingerprints! I Now Have Some!

It only took the fibbies 7 tries to read my fingerprints and it seems they have succeeded. At least I'm cleared to begin work. . . I'll double check to see if they were readable or if I was adjudicated out of hand again. At any rate, I'm cleared for take off!



I've painted the inside of the cargo trailer--for no other reason than it's prettier. Sheesh. It's just nicer to be shoveling junk in there. Even Madison Wolf, Hayden Bison, and Lamar Bear like it better than the unpainted version. I put the carpet back in, am gathering stuff like lawn chairs and some other goodies. Tomorrow after school, I'll have DD start bringing the boxes up from the basement.


I've put the sewing goodies under covers for the summer, which was hard to do after visiting the Sauder Village Quilt Show this morning. Holy cow, there was some drop dead incredible stuff. I might go crazy next year and enter something just to say I've entered something. One of my friends won a ribbon in the challenge division. I'll look into that, too.

DD and I pull up stakes in 11 days. It's crunch time, but the things that are left are the hardest. My office box is always out of control, as it is again this year. Packing my clothes will be easy as will DD's but FTD and DH need at least 3 more weeks of clothes here, but DH wants me to take his summer duds with me. That will be a good trick, since FTD doesn't have enough clothes to make that happen. DH does, but he always over packs clothes no matter what. And we need to decide what camping gear to take. We either take too much and don't use it, or none and wish we did. There's not much middle ground here.

Speaking of the boys, we had FTD's final IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting with the Anthony Wayne Schools today. Thank God. It has been a brutal process. I've only heard of one family anywhere who has had smooth sailing through the whole deal. Only one. There's something very wrong with the system still. DD's is next week and that will be much nicer.

FTD will get to walk across the stage for his 'social graduation.' Had AW done their job properly, he'd have enough credits to actually graduate, but they figure kids with special needs don't belong in the AW building, so they don't bother. I've been harsh on the district before and now that we're nearly done with them, I'm not feeling anymore charitable towards them.

But the saddest part of the whole mess is that even after getting job training at the vocation HS for the next 2 years, my kids will probably only be employable in sheltered workshops. The job market totally sucks for able bodied, able minded people--what chance do my kids have?

Did I ever mention that grieving is an on-going part of being a parent of kids with special needs?

The up side is that we're hoping the boys can get seasonal employment in the hospitality industry where ever I work. Cross your fingers. And come on over and help pack the trailer!

Ups and Downs, au deaux

The past several weeks have had ups and downs. But today, I introduce our newest "UP!"

Draven Gage Veal (yep that's his real name) finally made an appearance. All 10 pounds, 7 ounces of him. He sprang into the doctor's arms using his 22 inches of springy babyness. My niece is just barely my height, so the docs decided a c-section would be safer for both Mama and Baby. I hope the little guy and his family can get settled and squared away quickly. Let's see, this makes Great-kid #17.

And I get to cross some goodies off my UFO list--curtains for all the windows in Draven's house, and a couple more big baby blankets--done.

Back to School
I've been involved with a grad class this semester, offered by BGSU. There are 20 students in the class who hope to be special educators or school psychologists in the near future. And there are 10 of us parents who are 'embedded' in the program. The idea is to be sure these future educators really get what the difficulties are that we families face every day. I got to tell our story last week. The only way I could sort out what we've been through was to turn to my friend PowerPoint for help. DH and I worked and worked to try to remember which school the kids went to in what year. They've been shuffled and shucked around so much and for what? Going down this road again has been tough. And then we get a letter from the State Board of Ed, saying that our district has been selected for a review of the Special Ed program. We were invited to attended a meeting and if we wished, we could make remarks. Now, I give public programs for a living. Doesn't bother me to stand up in front of hundreds of people and talk. But I was shaking so hard when I gave my remarks that I must have sounded like a complete loser. But when my Mama Bear genes kicked in, I was completely overtaken by emotion. And so very sadly, many, many of the same grievances we had 15 years ago are still happening. Can't this school district learn anything from past lessons? So now I have to prepare written remarks to submit, then it's time to re-convene the Parents of Students with Special Needs group that we started way back when. Back to the trenches for me, I guess.

Back to Work
And to end on an UP note, I got my request to re-up at Madison Junction! Hooray! I'll be happy to see my fingerprint cards get here, so we can get that out of the way.

Sons and New Technology

My older son, FTD, purchased a new laptop computer this afternoon with money he earned from his summer job. What a step in growth--sort of. His primary use for it is to watch pokemon shows and upload game cheats. Okay, so he's not going off to college to earn his way in the world. But he did use good consumer skills to pick this thing out. That's an achievement right there. I'll take this as one of life's bigger successes for him--even though right now he's sitting next to me watching an incredibly dumb and inane show called Dragonball.

The boys are re-registered for school. What a gigantic pain in the seat. After the gracious and thoughtful welcome we received at West Yellowstone, the beating we took at AW was ridiculous. We had to prove we actually live in the district--where we've owned a home and/or other property for 30 years. We were told we had to produce 2 utility bills to prove we live here. Not our IDs, not our pay stubs showing where our money is sent (including the one the school district sends to DH to work for them), not even the public online records showing what we own and how much we pay in SCHOOL TAXES, but 2 utility bills. I said (very loudly and adamantly, I must say) no way. What a load of crap. At West and in Medora I just had to say, I work here. "Okay, when can the kids start and how long can you stay with us?" was the reply. Upon reaching the HS today (after last week's scene at the Board Office--they won't forget me anytime soon--we had to go through the whole rigmarole to pick classes again. FTD actually perked up at one science class that is offered. When his special ed teacher came in, she threw every wet blanket she could think of at him. No wonder he pretty much hates school. I'm really surprised that he chose to go back to AW instead of the vocational HS. He'll go there next year.

And the final upshot regarding his schedule is that he'll exercise his Senior option which is to skip 2 class periods a day. He'll skip 1st and 2nd. Except for the fact that I'll have to drive him in every day, this will work better around here. DD will get up and go, and FTD can get up in his super-slo-mo fashion. DD will be getting on the bus at 6:35, and I'll leave home with FTD at 9. That will give me a reason to get up and moving, too.

Nobody ever said life would be easy, but it shouldn't be spent on inane things like we did for the past several days. And yep, this this boondoggle won't stop me from moving back west next summer. . . I hope.