Vindication

Today I took Dante to the tutor for the first time. She had him take a math assessment to see where he was and what he needed help with. When he finished the test and she graded it, she told me (privately) that he had scored at a 5th grade level in math and that I was right. She said "it was like last year never happened". He specifically needs help in fractions, percentages and decimals (just like I said). I told her how the LEA called me this week and said that she hadn't pulled Dante's file and doesn't know what's in his IEP, and also that she wasn't sure what my primary complaint was. I told her that my primary complaint is that he was failing because he didn't learn anything, and now my other issue is that they passed him even though he didn't learn anything! The tutor is going to have another teacher look over the results just to be sure that what she saw is accurate, and she is going to write a report for me to take to the school next year. The did not teach him any coping skills, which I asked them to do, and they clearly did not teach him any math. So now he should only need a few sessions with her to refresh and pick up what he missed, and hopefully he'll be done just before I go back to work.

Aaron is going to have a procedure done on his right leg to fix the varicose vein in two weeks. They don't strip the veins anymore; they will insert a catheter into his vein and cauterise it. It's an out patient procedure so he should be up and around the next day.

Alex is still refusing to potty train unless he is completely naked. If he wears a pull-up he just goes in the pull-up, and if he wears underwear, he pees his pants. He only uses the potty if he's not wearing any bottoms, and that's just not going to work in the outside world.

Dante has tutoring, and summer reading to do. I have to make him play outside because Alex goes totally nuts if Dante is in the house. He's like a completely different child.

I finished my Mina's Tuxedo Vest and it finally dried (after 36 hours). I wore it out today and it's not bad at all. I think I'll be getting use out of it at my new job. I'm trying to re-read Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince before the movie starts this Wednesday. I'll be taking Dante to see it for his birthday. This is my 9th week of this term and my final papers have to be turned in by Tuesday at midnight. I have one turned in, and the other submitted to the writing center for review. I have sharing time this Sunday, and after next week I'll have a week break before starting an Algebra class and an Honor's Cognitive Psychology class. My work is cut our for me this time. I'll be trying to work on my Master's Level work during my week off from school, and working on a pair of socks for my Grandma.