Some updates

Sorry I have been MIA- Dave and I actually went away this past weekend. Together. Without the kids. This was a first for us! Thanks to my parents for babysitting- we had a great time! We really did miss the kids, though. When we were leaving, we told Mairead that Mom and Daddy were going bye-bye, and she got upset and said, "No. Mom and Daddy and Mairead and Jack and Ben go in the car and go bye." It was so sweet but so sad! She did great the rest of the weekend, though.

She is also doing great with the potty training! We are taking it slowly, but at home, if she is wearing elastic waist pants that she can manage herself, she goes to the potty every time! She still can't communicate the need ahead of time so this is what we need to keep working on , but I'll take this, for sure!

The boys are so fun-- they are constantly coming up with new ways to be cute.

Ben is a serious pacifier addict (but we have limited it only to nap and bedtime) and both boys are like Linus from Peanuts with their blankets (again, trying to limit them to bed time). This weekend while we were away, it was about an hour before bed and Ben was very sad that we were not here. He was whining and instead of saying 'blanket' and 'pacifier' (both of which he can say), he said, 'blankifer.' How freakin' cute is that? He did it again yesterday-- love it!

Jack is all about numbers lately, but he doesn't seem to care which ones are which. When he sees numbers or 'counts' things, he points to an item at a time and says, "one, two, seben, six, nine!" He does the same thing with letters and is SO proud of himself. A lot of them are 'D' but 'W' is both boys' favorite for some reason.

As far as Mairead's IEP situtation, it looks like mediation will be held on Monday. I am freaking out about it. We want this to happen in the hopes of moving forward, but I just don't know if I can take another meeting at which we present piece after piece of evidence as to why she needs more help and then they refuse. I just keep getting my hopes up and then end up disappointed. We need this to be successful or else we are going to have to hire an attorney and go to a hearing about this. We did NOT want this to happen but we will do whatever we have to do in order to get Mairead what she needs and deserves.

I am still going to write a letter to the Board of Ed to request a due process hearing and keep it as a 'back up' in case we don't get what we want on Monday. I mean, I called the mediator on January 5 and it is now Jan 26th. We finally have a date, but I am tired of waiting and tired of people not returning phone calls, etc. Granted, there have been a few days when offices were closed due to snow, plus MLK day, but still. Just call me back. I looked it up and a mediator does have 30 days to schedule a mediation, but I am sick of waiting and sick of wasting time. So, I have the forms ready to go in case Monday does not work out.

It really makes me angry to know that the schools have basically succeeded in doing what they wanted, which was to NOT place her for the 2010-2011 school year. All these delays will result in her MAYBE getting placed for March-June, but they didn't have to provide services from Sept til now, so I feel like in that way, they won. But we have no choice but to keep fighting, so fight we shall.

I really did not want a hearing over this, but they have wasted enough of my time and definitely too much of Mairead's time, so this is how it has to be.

Wish us luck- we can use good thoughs, prayers, voodoo, whatever you've got!