Just Say No, More Work

We have another company that wants to hire us to make content for their filament company.  The scope is a little smaller, although in the course of our communication, the scope kept creeping up. 

I'm guilty of that myself.  If I say one hundred dollars is my maximum budget but I see a thing that's $110 that looks so much nicer with greater features, that's the one I'm interested in. 

So do we take the job?  Or do we say no to more work?   We are in pretty deep working now.  

The Big Boy In Trouble Again.  My son broke every rule today or if not a rule, then he wasn't doing things he should have been doing.   We're trying not to correct him, but he just keeps pushing and disobeying things he knows are not at all okay.  

Geography and History

My son is so interested in maps and history right now.  He's been asking us to print out maps, which he redraws in pencil via the tracing method.  He watches historical documentary short videos on YouTube while he does this.   All the while, he's thinking up ways you could play a game with the countries and maps and how it might relate to real history. 

I was very impressed with what he was doing tonight so I had him come to the craft room where I pulled out my collection of map flags (something he knows a lot abut because they use them at school.)  I had another container of short, round ball head pins in different colors that I gave him and then I pulled out a piece of corrugated cardboard that is different from almost all cardboard as the corrugations were an inch thick.

This was perfect for him to put his map on top of as it could hold the pins.   He really wanted me to pick a country and then we were going to have maneuvers with our armed forces.   This was back in the days of the first world war. 

I would have stayed and played with him for an hour or two, but I had to make sure his sister was in bed and not asleep with her clothes from the day on and then my husband was waiting for me to finish a post for Filament Stories downstairs, but I promised I'd come back and play more later. 

The Big Boy Update:  I told my son there were two games I was going to order because I couldn't find mine in the attic.  One was Stratego, and is one of my childhood favorites.   I think he'll love that and I'll play any time with him.   The other is Risk, which is more complex, but my son loves complex games. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has the responsibility of getting me up in the morning.  For two days, I have slept through my loud alarm for some unknown reason.   I need to get them to school—on time.  

Exposed

My son has a member in his class that is positive for COVID-19 (or COVID-22 I suppose).  My son was within six feet of him for more than fifteen minutes yesterday so he has come home and been wearing a mask since leaving school.   

He had a negative test on Sunday because he'd vomited, and we just didn't want to take any chances even though he said it was from being tackled by his sister and then tickled.    We're going to test him tomorrow and see if he's positive.  If he is, then it's likely some or all of us have it as well.   My daughter and husband have already had it so that would leave only me, although they could get it again. 

The thing that impressed me was my son's awareness of six feet.   I was moving around the kitchen cleaning, and he was telling me about some videos he was watching on the history of different countries.   Any time I got near him, he immediately backed up.   He had a lot of practice keeping six feet apart for over a year at school while I stayed at home and didn't interact with many people. 

He's not that concerned, but he does want to do his part to not transfer it to anyone.   My father-in-law currently has COVID-19, but he's doing as well as can be expected.   He's not in the hospital, and he's feeling better I hear.  I hope that trend continues. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son loves video games and loves to watch all things video games and play video games.  But he also likes educational videos.  He can get stuck watching things like geography videos for hours.  Apparently Poland is is favorite country.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is nearing the end portion of Project Hail Mary.   Aside: if you're not listening to the audiobook, stop reading this and go get it.  It's that good.  We listened together in the car this morning, and she got scared a few times.  I had to tell her everything would be okay without telling her what happened so she could find out for herself.  

IEP

Today we had my daughter's annual Individualized Education Plan or IEP.  Any student who needs accommodations beyond what would generally be available to students will have one of these plans.   They are very formal and very boring meetings to attend. 

What has happened behind the scenes to get prepared for the meeting is not trivial.  Each teacher who works with my daughter has a section in the IEP.  They review the year's goals and address if my daughter has met, surpassed, or is still working on each goal.  Then they present the new goals for the next twelve months.  

My daughter has a primary teacher who attends but does not present IEP goals, as her role is to teach all the students in her class.   The VI teachers define modifications or accommodations that my daughter will need in order to do all the things her peers do. 

The bulk of the presentation and goals was done by the TVI.   This Teacher for the Visually Impaired is the lead for all the VI students in the school.   She is responsible for delivering VI-specific content beyond the scope of the classroom, such as braille, abacus, and computer voice-over skills.   She also lists what accommodations my daughter might need in the classroom like seat location or additional room for her braillewriter and materials.  

My daughter's O&M teacher also has a lot of input.   He is responsible for teaching my daughter how to navigate safely through the world.  And since my daughter very much wants to get a sighted guide dog, she needs to master all the Orientation and Mobility (O&M) stills.   Things like safely navigating a busy intersection with crosswalks, finding your way through a parking garage.   Moving safely through a downtown pedestrian area, and self-advocating when she needs help. 

My daughter also has an adaptive P.E. teacher.   This teacher only sees my daughter a few times each year.   She finds out what the P.E. goals are and then lets the teachers know what they need to do to modify things for my daughter. 

The meeting is long and boring but it's a lot of hard work to get there by the teachers, and we appreciate it.   The meeting is long and is a legally binding agreement in the end—because someone somewhere sued over things and this was the best way to protect everyone by having everything very clearly stated.  

We also heard a lot of really nice things about my daughter.   She is well-liked by everyone. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came downstairs during the IEP web meeting.  I told her she could come in if she wanted, that she was welcome to participate in her IEP any time, that it was her right. 

She wasn't that interested but she did stay for a while.  She even helped her O&M teacher make a choice on what to focus on next.   She agreed it was boring and wandered off after a bit, her last day of track out coming to a close.

The Big Boy Update:  My son came home extremely upset.  He did not want to go to golf.  We told him it was not an option.  He was enraged.   Nana was here and she said she thought he had some work he needed to do and forgot and he got to school and was upset because everyone else had theirs done.  I think, I'm not entirely sure.   He was so upset he wouldn't talk to me about it.  Later this evening I saw him working on a Russian map.  That fits with who he's going to be for Mystery History this year.  I can't say who he is though or he'll get mad at me!

Are We Sick or Are We Not?

Strange things are happening around here.  My son vomited the other day in my husband's car but he said it was motion sickness due to him writing while the car was in motion.  That does match with his symptoms.   

We weren't driving when today, my son vomited again.   He said he had been feeling overly full from the food at the state fair earlier and when his sister tickled him and then squeezed him it just happened.   My daughter has *got* to stop squeeze-hugging people.  She puts her arms around you and then does a jerky fast motion inwards and your stomach lurches from the sudden pressure.   She knows by now that we all don't like jerk squeezes but she's got a habit she needs to break 

We did go to the fair today and I ate a lot of food. Not long after I got home, my son had thrown up and I felt terrible with a migraine headache coming out of the blue.  I had just laid down when my daughter calls out, "Mom, I think we should all take COVID-19 tests!"

Aaaaaaand......................................we're all negative. 

Maybe it was the fair food. Maybe we've contracted the virus but it isn't showing yet . We're all doing fine otherwise.

Pumpkin Patch Math

We went to the church we've gone to for years and years and years to get pumpkins today.   We got pumpkins that were normal-sized and some that were small, and some that were tiny.   There were gourds in many different shapes and sizes, most of them rather small, though.   My daughter wanted to get lots of things.  

Because most of what my daughter wanted to get cost fifty cents or two dollars, I let her make the selections she wanted while my son and husband picked out the larger pumpkins.   My daughter and I put the little pumpkins and gourds over on the side and then she proceeded to touch a lot of pumpkins, deciding she didn't want one if it was missing the stem and she wanted one that was smooth, and not too large.  

Then it was time to pay.  And this was something my daughter could do just as well as the rest of us.   The tables had different sizes of tiny gourds all the way up to the largest pumpkins.   You put your items up and compared them to the samples.  In general, they would tell you how much your items cost, but in this case, they stood back and let my daughter figure it out.   

They not only let her decide the cost of each item but they were also surprised when she gave them the total we owed them for everything.   She was correct with the total too. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son was in a mean, mean mood when we left to go get pumpkins.  I almost took away every privilege from here until he was eighteen he was being so incredibly hateful.  But he turned it around and was happy and even supportive when we got back into the car with pumpkins.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I was trying to help my daughter with the neighbor's dog, who had a "gentle leader" that we had no idea how to put on.  I pulled up a resource online and was trying to figure it out when my daughter got so frustrated at me because I was saying, "hold on, I'm trying to figure this out."  She said in a mean tone, "I know because you can see, and you're perfect, and I'm blind."  Or something like that.  That might sound bad, but I was so happy in a way to hear her say that because she's addressing how very frustrating it is to be blind.   I addressed it with her later and she apologized but I told her she didn't have anything to apologize for.   

Saturday Already

Uncle Bob is leaving tomorrow.  He's been here for several days and we've had a nice time with him here as we always do.   My daughter and son love when Uncle Bob is here, although they were sad that Uncle Brian wasn't coming this time.  

I've been on calls all day, or at least all day meaning for over six hours, so I'm done for the day.   

The Children are Maturing:  Uncle Bob said tonight after family dinner that the children have really matured from what they were like a few years back (pre-COVID-19).   We see them every day, it's nice to hear they've grown from someone who hasn't seen them in a while.