Wordless Wednesday

In real life, not so much here.  I hardly ever get sick (apart from that weird brief episode on Christmas day) but my throat is on fire today & it hurts to touch my neck because I have two golf balls where my glands used to be.  So I'm home.  I should be at work.  We had my girl's TRANSITION MEETING this morning and I was going to go in after but had that fuzzy feverish feeling and went to lay down "just for a minute".  Matt sweetly just left me alone till he & the girl left for the day.  At noon.  By the time I got in I'd have all of 2 minute to work before I'd have to leave again to collect my offspring.  Actually, that not true.  I could have put in 4 hours.  A half day would have been ok, right?  The chills have dissipated but I'm all achy and whiny (obviously).  How much would I have actually done?  Little to nothing.  Sorry I'm venting but I am terribly terribly frustrated that the Great Work A Thon of 2011 isn't panning out so well.  We had the snow day last week and then the post-Salt Snuggle Fest on Sunday.  But to rationalize my laziness I told myself I'd rest today and get into work at some [insanely unrealistic] early hour tomorrow.  My sister's coming into town this weekend to do wedding-y stuff but flying out at noon on Sunday.  Would she be mad if I weren't there the last 6 of her 36 hour trip? 

Would she? 

In other news I thought the Transitional Meeting went superbly.  Massive boon of good news that they WILL bus her over to her fabulously inclusive day care - we'd previously been told they wouldn't bus outside city limits and the day care was set a tantalizingly half mile too far over the line.   The logistics of what the heck we were going to do with our kid were nigh unsolvable. Yes, I exaggerate - The easiest answer would have been to find a new day care within city limits but I hear HORROR stories. It took us two tries before we found a pre-K class that our son was happy in. I mean my girl isn't even talking yet...when she sulks at drop off is it standard separation anxiety or because they are... (can't even go there).  Also, because the inclusive place is local, the other places aren't going to have ANY experience with special needs kids, because everyone goes to the first place.  Why wouldn't you?   

Our day care is an early intervention provider and we could have received some therapies there if we opted out of the school's pre-K program - to keep her being shuffled around, keep her out of Random Possibly Criminal Daycare (turns out I do have a dramatic flair), and/or avoid the not-small problem of getting her from place A to place B, since both Matt & I work >30 miles away.  But after 3 I wasn't sure if we'd have to pay extra (since it's no longer EI and then just becomes private) and, more concerning, I heard their therapies are done in a group setting.  Small groups and I'm sure they're fine, but it strikes me that we'd get more bang for our buck my neighbors' tax dollars in a one on one situation. Though as I'm typing this I realized I was so overjoyed at the busing news I didn't follow up on the school gal's comment about their after care program.  It would be better if she didn't have to go to two different places...though if they're offering busing I suspect their after care is probably limited.  Also I guess I haven't confirmed directly with the day care place what their post-3 therapies look like.  My info is cobbled together from random sources and casual conversations.  It must be reliable. I also heard the school's teachers are way more proficient signers than the day care peeps, which seems to be where we're headed right now.  Last, I think there is a benefit in getting into the school district now.  First, FREE. Second, smoother transition when she gets to kindergarten.  I'm not sure how to phrase this but something about integrating into the institution, especially with testing, sorting through the good/bad/nice-but-completely-ineffective therapists, etc.  Third, socially - we are going to be with this group of parents for the next EIGHTEEN years, might as well get in at ground level, before the cliques form (only half joking). 

Anyway, lots to think about and some follow up calls to make but all in all, not so much IEP THE HORROR BATTLE TO THE DEATH, that I would have otherwise gleaned from the internet. Because the internet, it must be reliable.  

[post-spell check:  Did you know blogger thinks internet should be capitalized? Really?]

And yes, I know this was only a preliminary meeting and we haven't even seen her IEP yet.  In a surprise bit of news, Down Syndrome is NOT an automatic qualifier in our lovely state so they want to test her.  Which is fine.  I'm not blind as to what she can and can't do.

Am getting cold & shivery again.  Back to bed!