Etc.

Thank you everyone for your kind and helpful comments to the Girl Scout situation. I am so thankful for this blogging community--for your ideas, outrage, encouragement, tears, and compassionate responses. Each comment helped me feel better about what happened, and helped me to form my course of action. I also was able to help Hannah move past it too.

Today I finally have time to call the local GS Council to speak with the person who is in charge of placement. I'm not expecting anything great, but at least I'll have the opportunity to have my/Hannah's say.

I also decided that Hannah will finish out the year with this troop. She and I went through the badge book and chose about 6 badges to tackle. We are going to use these as the bulk of Hannah's schoolwork for the last 6 weeks of school (yes, we end in May!). I figured that at the end-of-year ceremony (if they have one), she will at least receive something. She is excited about this. We started on the Safety First badge (she is a little bit compulsive about safety issues, so this is right up her alley). Part 1 of the badge completed. So far so good.

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Our Friday trip to Yorktown (primarily for helping a friend at her daughter's IEP) was fun! We hadn't been back in the area for quite a while so it was fun to see old friends. Time passes so quickly with friends! And we get to return, since we chose not to sign the IEP...the placement setting was completely innapropriate for this child. It makes me steam when school systems choose to use "policy" rather than common sense to make decisions about a child's education. It's not like we don't notice!! Anyhow, another day, another meeting.

It must be IEP season--in the past few days I've been inundated with preschool parents who are battling with various school systems. It's just craziness. This is not a process that benefits families or children.

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Saturday was Opening Day for the Miracle League! Usually James takes Hannah to all her baseball games, but he had to work on a Habitat House, so I took her. Of course, I didn't take a camera (mine is such a pain with the batter issue, and Hannah's is still MIA). Something blogworthy always happens when I am ill prepared! Hannah was at bat for the Phillies, bases loaded (which they always are in the Miracle League--you keep trying to hit the ball, either pitched or on the T, until you succeed). On her first pitch she connected--hard! Bam! All the way to the far centerfield! She made a home run! In the second inning, the same situation, first pitch--but this one went all the way to the woods! Out of the park! The crowd went wild! (at least, I did. And the crowd did cheer her on.) She was SO PROUD!

We had a neighborhood block party in the afternoon and she told everyone about her Grand Slams!

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Sunday afternoon was soccer, then swimming at the gym. Chris and I are in training for his Scuba trip in June, so while we did laps with flippers and snorkels, James and Hannah played in the big pool. Hannah and I also did some gardening. We made string/bamboo fencing for the peas to climb, planted peppers and parsley (can't wait to get some more caterpillars!), and tidied up the raspberry canes. Radishes and carrots are doing well, as are the strawberries. I didn't replace the broccoli Bunsen ate, but he apparently enjoys pepper plants as well, since he unearthed several of the seedlings, eating a few. Maybe I should plant some jalapenos? Do you think the stems and leaves are spicy? He needs to learn a lesson.


The Guilty Party.

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Mondays are our busiest day. Hannah has two morning classes at our local Homeschool Enrichment Center. She loves her art class. This session they are celebrating holidays around the world. This week they made posters about Earth Day. Hannah made hers about saving trees. I was proud when she helped a student spell "recycle". It's not a spelling word I taught her, but she knows a song by Tom Chapin called "R-E-C-Y-C-L-E". Fortunately she did not try to sing the song (if I haven't mentioned enough that the girl cannot carry a tune, here's another opportunity for me to say so). If you go to Tom's site, you can hear one of Hannah's all-time favorite songs on his playlist "You're Not the Boss of my Brain". It's kind of her theme song...also on the site is a YouTube video of Tom singing "Not on the Test", which is highly motivational for homeschoolers, but depressing for the country.

In Botany class she learned about how plants make their own energy. I think she suprised her classmates by coming up with the word "photosynthesize". Thanks to Billy Jonas, another of her favorite children's entertainers, she already knew a little bit about it!

Hannah's Dance movement class is on Monday afternoons. She LOVES it. She is excited because her teacher (who has a 2 year old with Ds) is pregnant--with Twins! Hannah is fascinated with pregnancy and babies.

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CPAP update: We've had a few ups and downs, with me sleeping in her room once since our first victory. For the most part she's keeping the mask on through the entire night. She has a bell on her nightstand, which she needed just once. Somehow one of her velcro straps came loose, so she needed me to help. She's been getting about 9 hours of sleep each night, which is fine.

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Signing off with one of Hannah's new jokes:

Q: What did the dentist give the Marching Band?

A: A Tuba Toothpaste.