Hello from Maine

yes, we're still here. Not much time for posting. Or sleeping. Or breathing, it seems like. What scares me is we haven't even gotten to the "busy" holiday time yet. Every year I say we're not going to do as much during holiday time. Every year it just gets worse. Haven't figured that one out yet.



November has arrived in all its behaviorial glory. Every year school gets more interesting in November. It's like the anxiety has dropped enough so that she goes into "test the boundaries" mode. Today she got into some kind of interaction with a boy on the playground. Recess has become more challenging the last couple weeks. It seems to be too much unstructured time for her to handle right now. Jupiter ended up with sand in her eyes and had to go to the nurse. She said the boy threw sand in her eyes. Which was true. She didn't mention the parts of the story leading up to the sand throwing. Fortunately my mother had lunch duty and can tell when Jupiter is not telling the "entire" story. Or telling the story in a manner which suits her purposes. She came home with a sweater in her backpack which belongs to another girl at school. She "accidentially" picked it up when she was getting her coat. Since the coat is big, pink, and puffy, and the sweater is thin and blue, I can see where she might have been confused.



IEP meeting a week from Tuesday. Probably just the right time to have it. If we have it too early, the true colors aren't all showing. If we don't have it soon enough, she doesn't get the support she needs. So there's probably a 24 hour window which is the perfect time. It was actually supposed to be a couple of weeks ago, but the behavioral specialist had to cancel at the last minute after she hurt her back and had to go to the doctor. This time we're having it on a teacher workshop day...no students. I don't suppose they are going to let her go to the OT room every day at lunch recess. I also don't suppose they're going to let her go to the OT room every day for ten minutes before afternoon classes. Which is when I think OT would benefit her the most. Can't wait to have this meeting and see how well our views of Jupiter's needs mesh. I know the classroom teacher will advocate for us. We got the "good" administrator. We will see.



I tried to cancel my gym membership the other day. I was waiting for November because I signed into a two year contract (idiot) and was waiting for my two years to be up so I could cancel without penalty. I called the gym to cancel and they said I had to call the membership company in Massachusetts. So I did. They said I have to send them something in writing and give them thirty days notice.



So basically, I had a two hour window on the anniversary date of the day two years ago when I signed the original contract to cancel without getting charged for an extra month. They're going to charge me for December and there's nothing I can do about it. I sent them a notice in writing and I sent it certified return receipt (which was another $5.54) so I would know EXACTLY what day they received my notification in writing.



Not pleased. I was hoping to take the money I was spending on the gym membership and put it towards a membership at the Y so Jupiter can do more swimming than she does now. The gym jerks put a crimp in that plan. Though I guess I'm the one who signed the contract in the first place. At the Y you can cancel your membership ANYTIME YOU WANT, btw.

Then tonight while Jupiter made a last minute jaunt to the paint shop to paint with the boys (she had to look her prettiest to see the boys, btw) I made a flying trip to Target so I could try to pick up Our Generation Lily Anna and use my toy book coupon to get a free outfit. The store is out of Lily Anna, but, they said, I could order her online. I am quite happy to order the doll online, but they don't sell the doll OUTFITS on line, so unless I get them both in the store at the same time, my coupon is worthless. The outfit is $11.99. I want to use my coupon. Or, if I don't want to order the doll online, I can try the stores in Biddeford or Topsham, or Augusta. Which I would be happy to do, if I ever went to Biddeford, or Thopsham, or Augusta. I could always go to those places, but not without my child. Also defeating the purpose of going to the store.

I WILL get my doll. AND my outfit. Or, at the very least, a $10 gift card so I can go to the store at a seperate time to get my outfit.

Well, probably not. But dreams are nice to have.