Standardized Testing

Last year, in third grade, Caitlyn took the first of many standardized tests in her academic career. She took the ISATs. To say that she was nervous about them is an understatement. The teachers really impressed upon the students how important these tests were. They also "mentioned" that any child who did not meet the standards on the test could be held back, to repeat third grade, as it is a "benchmark" year. I insisted that Caitlyn was ready and that she would do just fine on said test. However, she was still pretty nervous.

The tests are taken in the spring, and the results are sent home until the fall of the following school year. Which is now. We received Caitlyn's test scores yesterday.

Before I go on to say how she did on them, let me state for the record that I am not a big fan of these tests. They just don't give an accurate impression of who the child is as a whole, in my lay person's opinion. That's not to say that I don't think they are valid. I think they give a vague snapshot of how a child is performing at that very point in time, however, I don't feel that they give a good impression of what a child is truly capable of. I also think that many parents are mislead when it comes to reading the results of these tests. If a child scores extremely well in reading, let's say they score at the 8th grade level of reading, that does not mean that the child could succeed in an eighth grade classroom. It simply means that they are able to read and understand material (to an extent) that an eighth grade student who is performing at the lowest acceptable level of eighth grade could also read and understand.

Additionally, while I don't believe in using the test scores as a true indication of a student, I know as a parent it is the first thing I look at when exploring different schools and their level of success, so to speak. For example, prior to moving in to our current house, one of the first things I did was look at the school's ISAT scores in comparison to those at neighboring schools. So while I can profess to not "believe" in them, I also fall victim to thinking they are a good measure of a schools success as a whole. So, yes, I am a bit of a hypocrite. (It makes it okay because I can recognize that, right???)

When I looked at Caitlyn's results, I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least! Not that I didn't know my child was intelligent, I did know that (personally, I think she is borderline genius =P). But I was actually surprised at how well she did perform in some areas. For example, I have always thought that Caitlyn struggled in writing. And I say struggled for lack of a better word. Caitlyn has always disliked writing and the writing process. She is always looking to write the minimum amount necessary, to the point of asking me "How many paragraphs/sentences do I need to write to get an A?" Yet, she scored quite well on that portion of the test.

Without further ado, or ramblings, here are her scores:

National Comparisons:
Reading: 97th percentile
Math: 79th percentile
No surprise there. The kid loves to read, is a reading machine, and is not the biggest fan of math. However, in both of these areas, she has "exceeds standards."

The most amazing thing about the reading score is not the percentile that she fell into. The report also lists the number of items as well as the number correct. There were 50 items on the test, Caitlyn answered 46 correct.

Extended Response for Reading (students had to read a passage and write a response to a prompt.)
She scored a 3 out of a possible 4 on this section.
Again, surprising me with the writing ability here.

Writing
Overall Writing Score: 28
Focus: 6/6
Support/Elaboration: 5/6
Organization: 5/6
Conventions: 2/3
Integration: 5/6

I am so unbelievable proud of the scores that she got on these! I think what makes it so amazing is the fact that we were told that she would more than likely have some sort of disability for so long. Not that I fault the doctors for that, cause I don't. They were doing their job and giving me information based on the research. But every time this kid does something amazing like this, I am left in awe of her abilities and her strength. Never in a million years would I have thought that she would be as smart as she is. Granted, she really enjoys school and it seems to come very natural to her. Nonetheless, it is still beyond anything that I could have imagined she would have been capable of given her dangerous start in life.

We celebrated in true Walsh form by going out to dinner. Where you might ask? Pizza Hut of course. Where else would we go? There is no food on the planet more beloved to Caitlyn than Pizza Hut.

And not only is my girl brilliant, she is also pretty stinking cute too :)

Silly Girl

Caitlyn has finished her first week of school and she is really enjoying 4th grade and says that her teacher is really nice. Her favorite part of her classroom....the reading area in the back of the room. Not surprising at all when it comes to my kid. She said she loves to sit on the comfy pillows back there and just read.

One night at dinner last week, I was asking her about the kids that she sits by. The desks are arranged in groups of 4, and each group has 2 boys and 2 girls (in most circumstances). Two of the kids that sit in her group are polish speaking students. And they are quite fluent in the language as it is what is primarily spoken at home. One of the girls is a good friend of Caitlyn's. When I asked her how things were going in her group, this was her response:

"Well, sometimes A and J start talking in polish and me and M can't understand them. For all we know, they could be talking smack about us all day long."

Nice. I am sure the 2 kids are most certainly not "talking smack" about her. And furthermore, where in the hell did she learn this phrase????

I'm Slipping Again

I know I said I would be better at generating updates and fun posts. But life gets in the way and things get crazy and all of the sudden, I am a month behind again. However, busy is good! I think about all of the things that I imagined being a parent would be like. And to be honest, 90% has been true. I love that Caitlyn is involved in so many extra curriculars. I love that I have to have a calender in hand when someone asks me what we are doing this weekend. And I love that I get to watch her enjoy ALL of it!

Caitlyn seems to be testing the waters when it comes to activities to determine what it is that she likes. And in order to determine that, she has joined all sorts of things. She is in her third year of girl scouts, and probably enjoys that the most. She looks forward to every meeting and trip and is constantly looking for ways to earn new badges when we are home. She is also enrolled in Hip Hop again this year. The park district has a new instructor and he is, in a word, AMAZING! He has gotten these girls to do things the instructors in the past have not been able to do. She has mentioned her desire to return to ballet though. And personally, I think that is probably the better choice for her abilities and body type. Whichever she decides to continue with in the fall, I am fine with though. She also signed up for softball this spring. She has attended 2 clinics and absolutely loves it. If you know my child, you know she is a "girly-girl." So I fully expected her to shy away from the ball or complain when she gets hit with it. To my surprise (and this kid always surprises me), she runs full speed ahead for the ball when it comes at her and barely flinches if she gets hit with it. (Yes, she has already gotten hit in the face with it and kept right on going.) She has also signed up for the knitting class that the school is offering once a week. I don't know where this came from, but she has always loved "creating" things. Hopefully she will enjoy this. And very soon, cheerleading registration is coming up and she has expressed an interest in that as well.

All of that on top of school work, and busy parents, and it's no wonder we don't have a minute in our day to spare. But like I said, I wouldn't change a minute of it. There were so many times from her birth to toddlerhood, to just a couple of years ago that we didn't know what the future would hold for her. To say that we question it anymore would be a gross misrepresentation of what actually happens. I don't doubt that she will be able to do anything that she attempts. Or at least decide whether or not she wants to pursue her interests.

Every so often, when she is riding her bike, or picking up another Harry Potter to read (she is now on Book 5), I look at her and think, "My God! You don't even realize just how far you have come and the odds that were stacked against you!!!" And then I take a moment just to be thankful for being able to witness that miracle and be part of it. When I think about all this kid has been through in her short little life, I am in complete awe of her will and strength. She is such an amazing kiddo. She has an incredible sense of humor, has just a touch of sarcasm, and is as smart (if not smarter) than most kids I know, and has a heart of gold!!

OK, enough of the sappiness, will save that for her birthday post ;)

I have finally finished my classes. Well, at least those that I have to actually be in class for. I am currently doing a narrative research project as my last course for graduate school. It is easy going, and because it is narrative research, it is not anywhere near as intense as qualitative research. Which gives me some freedom with the final product. I was really worried about what this last quarter would look like and now I am so relieved. There is light at the end of the tunnel; in just over a month I will be completely finished. For how long? Who knows. There may be some opportunities on the horizon which I will mention later on. Suffice it to say, it is something that I would love to do and I think it would really "round out" my career.

On the work front, things are starting to slow down now, which is nice. We are approaching the point in the year where people just don't want me coming in and changing things up. There are only 40ish days of school left and summer can't get here fast enough! I am starting to think about our trips to the lake and all of the other fun things that summer brings.

Until next time......

I Did it Again

Crap! I suck at this these days. I know it's because I spend way too much time on Facebook. It's the devil!

Let's see, what has happened in our world in the last month? After the cheating episode, Caitlyn managed to pass her multiplication test on her own, without cheating. She also got her report card and managed to get straight A's again. Her goal for the year was to get straight A's one quarter and get perfect attendance for the year. She has modified that goal and now wants straight A's for the year. So she is halfway there and she also hasn't missed a day of school yet! I couldn't be more proud of her. On her report card, her teacher commented that she "is a little bit of an overachiever and demands the best out of herself." Let's be realistic Mrs. C, she is not a "little bit" of an overachiever, she is a lot of one. That comment pretty much sums up the kind of person that Caitlyn has become. She DOES demand the very best of herself. And when she doesn't achieve something she is aiming for, she is very hard on herself. I know that can be a bad thing, and I try to help her understand that achieving the best and giving it your best are two very different things. While she understand that, she still demands more of herself. And I will be honest in saying that I think it will work out well for her in the future. Provided she can balance the two and continue to understand that, regardless of the outcome, I will be proud as long as she puts forth her best effort.

Caitlyn has signed up for softball. If you know my child, she isn't the most athletic kid on the block. She is more of a fan of sports, than a player of them. But she really wanted to do it, so we are going for it. To help her get started, we have signed her up for some fielding and hitting clinics. Just to teach her the basics, since she has never played the sport. To be honest, I don't think she has ever even seen a softball game played. We'll see how it goes. Either way, I know she will look fantastic in her uniform =P

She is still enrolled in dance classes. She decided to do hip hop again this year. The park district has a new teacher and he is, in a word, amazing!! These kids come out of that room dripping with sweat when he is done with them. Their routine looks great so far and I can't wait for the recital in May.

We are watching what the girl eats these days and how much she is eating. Not because she needs a diet or anything, if you have seen this child, you know that has never been the case, nor is it now. But she fainted a few weeks ago in the mall cause she hadn't eaten anything. Needless to say, that really threw me for a loop. It was absolutely terrifying to see her go as pale as she did and just fall into my arms completely limp and lifeless. It's amazing how the human psyche works. Cause as soon as I laid her on the floor and looked at her face, pale with lips as white as a sheet, I was immediately taken back to the times in the NICU and when she first came home that she would stop breathing. Even though she was breathing, it was as if I was looking at a tiny baby fighting to breathe again. Horrifying doesn't even begin to describe it. So, we are watching to make sure that she constantly has food in her. We have gotten the teacher to agree to allow her a snack in the afternoon as well. As long as it doesn't take more than a few minutes for her to eat. (I know I could fight with the school to allow her more than a "few minutes" and the teacher can't say if it's longer she can't have it. But I don't feel it's necessary as Caitlyn can consume a small snack of a cereal bar in under 4 minutes.

I am more than halfway through my final two classes for my master's and will start my collaborative project at the end of March. I will be done in June and ready to graduate. Thank God. Cause I am at my wits end with school at this point. While I love being a student and learning, I need a break. And with everything Caitlyn is signing up for and wants to sign up for, it's getting too difficult to manage all of our schedules. There just isn't enough time. And I want her to be able to do all of those things that she wants to do. In order to do that, I need to be more available to her. So school is ending for me at the right time!

That's about all for now. More to come "soon." LOL

Cheating

So we had to go to a wake yesterday. Which meant that I was picking Caitlyn up from school so that we could hurry home, start homework, and then head to the wake. I get there a few minutes early and hang out waiting with a few other parents. I see Caitlyn's class come out, but I don't see Caitlyn. My eyes start searching all over for her, and then I see her standing by the doors of the building. So I think, "Maybe she didn't see me standing here?" So I give her a little wave, then another, and then a third when there is no response. Then I see the look on her face and realize that she is standing with the teacher. So I start to head over to the doors to see what the problem is. I figured maybe she hurt herself or was upset about something. Either way, it was evident that the teacher needed to talk to me.

It would appear that Caitlyn thought it was a good idea to attempt to cheat on her math test. Not a huge test, like on a unit of skills, but on the multiplication test that they take a few days a week. The students have 45 seconds to answer 24 multiplication problems. All of the problems are in the same number family. So each kid could be on a different number depending on what their individual skill level is. Caitlyn is currently on 4's. She has created so much anxiety within herself over this silly little quiz. See, for every family they complete, they get to add a piece to their ice cream sundae on the bulletin board. Caitlyn has a dish, a spoon, and a banana (she has completely 1's, 2's, and 3's). When she completes her 4's, she gets her first of 3 scoops of ice cream.

Needless to say, she is dying to get that scoop and will apparently do ANYTHING it takes to get that scoop. Which includes taking out one of the quizzes from last week and turning it in as yesterday's quiz (she is one of those kids that completes it even when the 45 seconds is up to practice, so she has many completed ones). When the teacher called "time" on the test, she decided to pull out an old one and turn that one in as opposed to the one that she didn't finish.

And she wasn't even slick about it. Got caught immediately after.

And she prompted the student across from her to do the same. And get caught as well.

The teacher immediately pulled them out of the room and made them wait in the hall....ON THE BENCH!!! (There is a bench in the hall for students who are waiting to get a firm talking to.) It was there that Caitlyn began to cry uncontrollably.

So, the punishment from school is that an incident letter is written up and sent to the assistant principal, who acts as the dean and deals with most of the discipline. There is a possibility that she will have to talk to him. And this, I can honestly say, scares the ever living shit out of her! She is terrified of this man, and I have no idea why. I think she is just terrified of what he represents, she just can separate the two yet.

As for the punishment that is to come at home, well we haven't decided on one just yet. She decided that she needed to write a letter of apology to the teacher, which I thought was a good idea. Matt and I are trying to determine what to take away from her for a couple of days. More than likely it will be the TV. Which will torture her I'm sure. Or the Wii. There was also a loooooong discussion about why this isn't the way to go about getting something that you want in school. And I threw the honor roll and good citizenship awards that she has gotten at her. Made sure that she understands these things may not be possible to get if she continues to cheat.

As of this morning, the child was still upset over what she had done and what was going to happen because of it. Hopefully, she will be able to move past this very quickly....and just memorize her damn multiplication facts!!!

Hmmmm

3 1/2 months huh? That might be a record for me. Want to know why I haven't? It's simple really. Facebook. It is much easier to update one or two lines of a status that to write a narrative. Naturally, the downside to this is that you can't be as descriptive as you would like to be. Take Monday night's status for example. It read something to the effect of "taking Tutti out for her first legal drink because she was turning 21 at midnight." What it left out was how bad of an idea this probably was. There are several reasons that this was such a bad idea. The first obviously being that it's a Monday night and I had to work the next day. Additionally, I had to be at a training that was 40 miles away. The status also failed to mention that apparently I planned on getting shit faced! Which led to my not coming home until almost 4 in the morning. Not really good planning on my part, considering I had to leave the house at 7 in the morning.

OK, all that aside, here is an update on the girl. She is amazing! She is growing so stinking fast and getting more mature by the minute. She is now wanting to shop at specific stores and buy specific types of clothes and shoes. By the way, my kid is a boot whore. She wants any and every cute boot known to man! We just had report card pick up and Caitlyn has finally achieved her goal of getting straight A's. she tried so hard for them last year and missed by just a hair. So this year, she was gung ho on getting them. And she did. For her achievements, we went out for dinner and then to the bookstore so she could pick out a few books that she wanted. It may sound like an odd reward to most. However, the kid is a reading machine. I can not keep up with her. At this point she is in fact able to read faster than me. She typically reads about 2 books a week, never less than one. And she is reading books that range between 200-300 pages. It's insanity really. But I won't complain. I have seen her vocabulary explode when she is having conversations with people. I often ask her if she knows what the word she just said even means. And lo and behold she is able to give me a very functional definition. for example, we were talking about something, I can't remember what. And it involved 2 people disagreeing, I think it had something to do with a news story. And she said "That's a schism mom." Now, I am not ashamed to say that I had to just agree with her because I was not 100% sure that the analogy was correct. However, I promptly googled to make sure that it was. When I asked her how she knew that word, she began this long diatribe about how one of the characters in one of the books she read used it to describe something that was going on. It literally took her 5 minutes to tell me how she knew the word because she loves to talk about the characters in the books.

So, she has managed to make it through the Lemony Snicket books, A Series of Unfortunate Events, all 13 of them. And she has read a few random ones in between there as well. While reading them, she tries to tell me all about them and sadly I can't participate in the conversation because I have never read them. What I have decided to do now that she has finished all of them, is that she is going to read Harry Potter. That should slow her down a bit ;) And I can talk to her about them cause I have read them all! So it's a win win situation really.

I am 2 classes and a collaborative project away from being done with my master's program. And the end can't come soon enough. I am so sick of doing homework! While I love being in school and the atmosphere of it, the homework really sucks. Luckily, I was able to register for an online class for next term. Which means that I will only be out of the house one night a week. Works for me.

will try to be more diligent about updating....but I am not making any promises!

I Have Returned

And I am going to try and stay returned. That is, unless life happens to get in the way....again!

Lots going on around our house these days. So I won't go into all of the gory details, rather I will just do a small recap.

1. There was a few weeks in March where we ended up with loads of rain. Lots of that rain somehow ended up in my basement. This has never happened to us before so we just assumed it was the catch basin in the back that needed to be cleaned. That turned out to be fine. However, the pipes under our lawn were not so fine and needed to be replaced. To the tune of $6700. And of course, they don't replace the lawn they damage in the process. Feels like the front porch drama all over again.




2. Caitlyn had her spring concert. It was very cute. They sang a song called Take me Out of the Bathtub to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. I am going to attempt to put a video up here. So please be patient with me while I demonstrate my lack of technology skills.


3. Matt and I flew to Oregon for Carla's wedding. We had a great time. I forget just how green everything is out there. Just so pretty.

4. I am currently in 2 classes again this term. One of which is Assistive Technology. This is the class that I tried my damnedest to get an exempt from. All to no avail. I could probably teach the class, so I think it's so silly that I have to take it. I don't mind being in the class. But I do mind paying the close to $2000 that it costs to do so. I am also in a research class. This is an online class (which I am not a fan of to begin with) and the research paper is to be completed as a group (another thing which I am not so big on). I am convinced this class is going to completely wipe me out this term. I am am just thanking God that I am taking it now right before summer break. So I will have some good down time after it's over.

5. Work is absolutely insane. I constantly feel like I am behind on everything and can't seem to catch up. No matter how hard I try. I am convinced it is because of the person that I am working with. No matter though. She will be gone at the end of this year. So I just try to keep telling myself that I am almost through it.

6. I managed to pass the Learning Behavior Specialist I test. My paper work is now sitting at ISBE waiting for them to approve everything and include that endorsement on my certificate. Hopefully it will happen soon as I have once again been riffed. Same situation as last year. Only this time, there is light at the end of the tunnel and this process is almost over. At least I hope. If not, I will in fact be a greeter at a Wal**Mart near you. So keep your eyes open for me.

7. Caitlyn is making her communion in 2 weeks on May 2nd! The dress and shoes and tights have been purchased. We are going for the veil/headpiece this weekend, and hopefully the banner will be made by Friday night. We have not yet started the banner, because I am a bad mom. But it will be made by it's due date of Friday.

8. Report cards came out and Caitlyn went from A's to B's in a few subjects. So she is beside herself about this. She can't even tolerate that she got a B. No matter how I try to explain to her that it still means she did incredibly well, this child is bound and determined to get straight A's!

9. Hip Hop is finishing up and we have the recital coming up at the end of May. So we are gearing up and practicing like crazy in the living room.

I think that's about all. I can't even believe how busy we feel these days. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs to be accomplished. Hopefully once I am done with school, things will settle down some and we can all relax for a bit.

It Has Finally Warmed Up

Thank goodness for that. Like I said before, I really like the cold weather, prefer it actually. But when you wake up in the morning and the temperature is 17 below and it feels close to 30 below with the windchill, that's just a bit much. I couldn't even believe when I woke up on Friday, looked at the temp on the TV and realized that I hadn't gotten a call saying there was no school. I guess it's not all bad though (remember, silver lining, eternal optimist) since we won't have to tack on those days at the end of the school year.

I will say that there is going to be an uproar from the parents of one of the schools in my district though. Seems that shortly after the start of the school day, the ladies in the kitchen were using some cleaning agent to clean the ovens. This agent reacted with something and began to smoke. This smoke resulted in the fire alarms sounding. Which, of course, caused he entire school to evacuate. In the 17 below weather. With no coats or anything. Cause remember, they are not allowed to stop at their lockers in the event of a fire alarm. I have been told that they were only outside for 7 minutes. Regardless of the amount of time, if I was a parent of one of those children, I would be irate. It's specifically reasons like this that cause schools to close when the weather is as bad as it was on Friday.

I am back in classes, and driving myself crazy with homework already. I have to keep reminding myself that I only have about 7 classes left and a practicum. Then I am finished. Hopefully by next spring. Which isn't too long. At least that's what I keep trying to convince myself of. So when I start to rant here, just remind me of that fact please.

Caitlyn is getting ready to make her first reconciliation (confession). She is a little nervous about it. She just doesn't know what sin she should confess to the priest. As if she has a slew of them in her short 7 years?? The teacher mentioned to the class today that often times, parents take their children out to dinner after the event. So when she came out of class, that was he first thing she asked me about. Now that she knows she is going to get a good meal out of the deal, she is a little more excited about the whole thing!

I do have a rant about the birthday party that we went to this afternoon and the out of control children that were there. But that will have to be another post. Cause I have a lot to say from up on that soap box!

Christmas Concert and other things

The girl had her Christmas concert at school. It was splendid. All of the second graders were on the stage at once, so there were about 95 kids up there. They sang 4 songs, of which I really can't remember the names. Caitlyn had a sore throat that week, so she kept making faces at me and motioning that she needed a cough drop. As if I could do anything about that at that very moment.


She also got her progress report, which basically is a midterm report letting parents know where the kids are at and where they will be when report cards come out. Caitlyn is overjoyed, as are we, with her grades. She has all A's right now. That is what her goal for the year is. I can see that sometimes she gets too focused on her grades and is quite the determined child when it comes to getting an A on anything. I often have to remind her that B's are fine too. And C's are okay provided she put forth her best effort. She does know though that a D or an F really isn't acceptable around these parts. But where she gets this drive from to succeed in school like this, I'll never know.

More to come after Christmas :)
I am pretty much done with all of the Christmas stuff. Not only is just about everything bought and wrapped, I have also wrapped the Santa gifts for Caitlyn. Truly, this is a huge feat for me. Santa's gifts always come in wrapping paper that is different from any we have in the house. I buy it special and it is based on what Caitlyn is "in to" that particular year. In there past, there has been Barbie, Princesses, Tinkerbell, etc. This year, it is High School Musical. Go figure. Once all Santa's gifts are wrapped, the paper is put away under the stairs, never to resurface. Well, at least not until she knows Santa does not bring her gifts. Which should be within the next year or so. Mainly because the kids at school are really starting to talk. Which is fine with me. We got a good 7 years, hopefully at least one more, of the sheer excitement and joy of Santa, and I am content with that.

We have been having crazy weather here in Chicago. Loads of snow and freezing cold weather. The snow and ice resulted in snow day for me on Friday. And it allowed for Caitlyn to play outside with the neighbor's son while I shoveled. This weekend has brought us temperatures that are below zero, so we have been pretty much holed up in the house. The only good thing to come out of that, is all the stuff I have been able to get done since it's too cold to leave.

Caitlyn loves to knock people down in the snow. Here she is getting my neighbor.

Report Card and Reaction

I will start with the report card and parent teacher conferences. First of all, the teacher had us shagged out of the room within about 7 minutes. Matt says it's because we had the meeting about 2 weeks ago, I say it's because she just doesn't want anything to do with us. Whatever the case may be, it made for a quick and easy conference.

Caitlyn's report card was outstanding. She was all worried that she was going to get a C in writing. And Cate puts a lot of pressure on herself to succeed in school. She and I need to work on curbing that at times. Sometimes I think it is how she views school and other times I think it's just part of her drama queen genetic make up. Either way, she really strives to do well at school. And it showed on her report card:

Reading A
Writing B
Math A
Science A
Social Studies A
Library A
Music A
PE A

and she got a ribbon for excellent citizenship. So all in all, a great report. Teacher had nothing bad to say about her. Said she participates all the time in class and is so well behaved that she often forgets she is even in there. To say we are pleased is an understatement.

The outstanding report card led to the big surprise. After she saw her report card, all she did was ask me what her surprise was. She had to wait until we got her from my mom's, went to the office supply store for more crap for my homework, and ate dinner. So by the time I told her I was ready to give them to her, she was already near spontaneous combustion from the anticipation of it.

I made her close her eyes and put her hands out. (side note....why do we do that?) I put them in her hands and told her to open her eyes.

The look of complete shock on her face was priceless. The interesting thing was that she knew what they were immediately. Obviously she read what it said, but I didn't expect her to know they were concert tickets.

Without looking at me she said:
"You got Carrie Underwood tickets??" In a low voice, completely stunned.


I told her yes and that was when the jumping and screaming and of course, tears began flowing. Yes, she cried. That's what my kid does. Apples and trees I tell ya!


She wanted to just sit and stare at them all night, but I had to put them away because I just knew if they were laying around any longer something was going to happen to them.


And now the countdown begins.

Tomorrow is the Day!

So tomorrow is Caitlyn's report card pick up. We have our conference with the teacher at 4:30. I am fairly certain that it will go just fine. I have no worries after our last meeting.

BUT..... I told Cate that if she did awesome on her report card that I had the best surprise ever for her. I know her report card will be fine, so I figured it was a good way to work the tickets in as a gift to her. She has no idea what the surprise is and she WILL NOT stop asking me what it is. If the kid was more observant around here, she would have seen them sitting on the dining room table since I got them last Friday!! But, alas, she is not and there they sit. She is also going nutso because the country music awards are on tomorrow and Carrie Underwood is going to be on them. So she and I have a date to sit and eat junk food and watch the awards. (I just need to make sure that I have the insane amount of homework done that is due on Thursday so that I can sit with her and watch them)

I have to say that I loved the idea of putting them on the breakfast plate that I received. But I had horrible visions of the things getting milk or some other runny substance spilled on them and not being able to use them. So I nixed that idea.

Will let you know how it goes!

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HER FACE!!!!!

The Conference

No I am not in jail needing bail money (but thanks for the offer Tiffany :) ) The meeting actually went really well.

Imagine my surprise when we were greeted by the principal and told that we would be meeting in her office with the teacher! That's what I get for CCing the principal on all my emails right? Completely fine with me, I think the principal needed to be aware of what was happening in this classroom anyway. Hence my copying her on all of my emails initially.

There was no beating around the bush, I basically came right out and told them both that Caitlyn was not happy in this classroom, and I believed that she was also afraid of approaching the teacher. I really don't think that they expected me to say anything of the sort to be honest with you. Which I found great joy in. The principal looked at me funny, almost appalled, and said, "I can't understand why Caitlyn would be afraid of Mrs. L?"

And that's when I laid it out there for them both!

I told them that it started with the whole snack issue. And the principal was about to cut me off. I put my hand up and said that there was more, that was just what initiated all of this. Then I told her that she has been told in the classroom on several occasions that they needed to have fewer emergencies for the bathroom. Again, they were about to interrupt and I talked right over them and told them about the book situation and her not being able to read the library book that she brought into class. Once I had it all out there, I let them talk.

And talk they did! And in the middle of all that talking, there was a whole lot of back pedaling. Not to mention crazy distorted faces by the teacher. She insisted that she would never tell Caitlyn that she couldn't read a book from home. She also insisted that she was certain that they had a bathroom break on that Tuesday and that Caitlyn was mistaken. I am pretty sure that my daughter didn't lie about it, but even if there was a second bathroom break, my child was not comfortable enough to approach you and tell you that she needed to go to the bathroom again. So regardless of how many breaks you took, you still weren't accessible to my child when she needed you.

Once we got through what all of the issues were, I pulled out my ace in the hole, so to speak. Despite all of the medical ramifications that can happen from holding in urine or sitting in wet pants, I through this gem out there:

"Her father is an insulin dependent diabetic. When Caitlyn presents with issues that are characteristic of those with diabetes (intense thirst, urination issues) then there is reason for me to be concerned because her health is in jeopardy."

Oh the looks on their faces were priceless. And I do wish I had a camera so I could show you the pictures. Their mouths dropped open and they didn't even know how to respond. The only thing they could say was, "We have no way of knowing that." No, you don't. However, there are lots of things about these kids that you don't know. Therefore, you should not make blanket assumptions that just because a kid says they are having a bathroom emergency everyday that they are lying. Because there is obviously information that you don't know and that lack of knowledge could cost a child their health.

When all was said and done, Mrs. L said she was going to have a private conversation with Caitlyn the following day to assure her that she could ask her anything, especially when Caitlyn felt as though it was an emergency. She never did concede to saying she did the things or said the things my daughter said she did. But that's ok. Based on her reaction, it is clear that this teacher is NOT accustomed to being confronted by parents who question her judgement. (much like I reacted when she took my kid's snack away) In the end, my ultimate goal was reached.....

This lady now knows that Caitlyn informs me on everything that happens at school and that Matt and I take our daughter's educational experience very seriously. I think they got the idea that we don't just let things happen to her and when things are said and done that make her uncomfortable, we react accordingly. Needless to say, I really don't think this teacher will be messing with my kid anymore. She knows that we will be in there in a heartbeat if she does.

Oh and by the way.....Caitlyn told me that kids are now bringing in applesauce for snack time. Not only is that using a utensil, which was clearly shunned in the letter (same letter the principal wanted to show me in the meeting), but I also didn't realize that there are that many moms who make fresh applesauce for their kids. Note....that is sarcasm, I am certain it is the Mott's brand and in no way shape or form is that a damned fresh fruit or vegetable.

I do wish I had that gem the day we went to the meeting.

T Minus 90 Minutes

Until the meeting with the teacher from hell.

Wish me luck. Hopefully she will understand that when it comes to my daughter's well being and education, I am not someone to mess with.

I'm nervous, and I'm not really sure why. I guess it's because I don't really know what I want out of this meeting. I just want her to start treating my daughter with the respect she deserves in school. Caitlyn is now saying that she wishes she wasn't in this classroom. She is hiding books in school that she brings from home so the teacher doesn't see them. She is constantly worried about what I have packed in her lunchbox for snack. She asked me to put an extra pair of panties in her bag in case she has an accident because they didn't get a bathroom break.

My heart just breaks for her. She shouldn't have these worries when it comes to going to school. She should be worried about what she is going to wear and how much homework she is going to get and whether or not she will get to go on the playground equipment at recess. Not this other crap.

Will update when I can.

A Horrible Nightmare

Before I tell you about the dream I had last night, here is the reply from Cate's teacher regarding the email we sent her. Now this just pisses me right off for several reasons.

Mr. Walsh,

I can meet with you on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday afterschool at 3:00 or later if that is more convenient for you. Please let me know what time works for you.

Mrs. L

No mention of anything that we brought up in the letter. Also, second email we have sent, both have included me, they just came from Matt's email. First time she called Matt and completely ignored me. This time, completely ignored me again, despite the fact that our email was signed from both of us. This woman is not chalking up any points from me. God help her on Monday at 3:00. I want you all to say a silent prayer that I don't end up on Cops. Please.

Now on to the hellish nightmare that I had last night that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. ALL. DAMN. DAY!!!

Every morning I drive 2 blocks north and 1/2 a block east to drop Caitlyn off at my mom's house. I walk her in the house, say my goodbyes, give kisses and hugs, and I am out the door.

In my dream last night, I decided to drive the 2 blocks north. And that's it. I opened the car door and took Cate out and said to her:

"You can walk from here. You know the way."

I gave her kisses and a hug, and I remember touching her cheek as I kissed her. Then I got in my car and drove off. Fast forward to hours later (isn't that always how dreams work?) and I am back at home. There are loads of people there, my family and friends, but no Matt and no Cate. Turns out, she never made it to my mom's. And all I can think of is how in the world did she not get there? She only had to walk a bit over 1/2 block??? Then it occurs to me. My child is missing. She has been abducted. I have no clue for how long, who would have walked or driven up to her, who she stopped to talk to, nothing. and I begin sobbing hard. To the point that I can hardly breathe.

I then notice that everyone around me is just carrying on as if it's business as usual. Just another party or gathering at Nancy's house. So I start to think that they must know something that I don't. And I then flip flop my thoughts between two lines of thought.

1. She just hasn't made it to my mom's yet. (It never occurred to me that it shouldn't have taken her that long to walk the small distance to my mom's.)
2. She has been abducted.

At one point I remember someone saying that they knew a car had pulled up to talk to her. But I kept thinking it was impossible that she got in that car because we have had that conversation. She knows better.

Then Matt calls. Mind you, I haven't yet told him that his daughter is missing. I actually debate whether or not to tell him, or wait just a bit longer for her to make it to my mom's house. (Apparently I was really clinging to this theory and all logic had gone out the window.) I decide to tell him and again break down into hysterical sobs, to the point of not being able to breathe again. The whole time, these people are meandering about my house as if they couldn't comprehend why in the world I was so upset.

Then my alarm went off. I woke up dripping with sweat and my face covered in tears. I ran into Cate's bedroom and guess what I saw?? She wasn't in there. Nope. Gone. It took me a minute to actually realize that she hadn't been in there all night cause she slept at my mom's last night. But for that fleeting moment, I actually thought that the dream was in fact reality and somewhere among the people milling about my house I had fallen asleep and when I woke up it was really true that she was missing.

Needless to say, I called my mom's to talk to her. It was almost as if I had to just make sure that she was fine. I swear I haven't been able to stop thinking about this all day. It has been nagging at me. and I have come to the resolution that whether she likes it or not, she is not going anywhere without me for a looooooooong time.

It's not getting any better

The situation with the teacher that is. Truly, I think we are now at the point where she is just out to punish me, which directly correlates to punishing my child. Which in turn, directly correlates to me being a really pissed off mother.

Now we all know how things went with the snack issue. Well, I haven't pursued it any further. Partly because when I really think about it, it isn't directly effecting Caitlyn. It is more so my own pride that has been getting in the way. So I figured I would suck it up and just send the damned fresh fruits and vegetables after all. It's not difficult for me to do so I will just suck it up and do it.

Until the two instances that occurred in the past week.

Some history, we all know that Caitlyn is a fantastic reader. I recently told her that from now on, she will be reading more chapter books and fewer easier books. And by chapter books, I mean chapters that are about 4 pages long. I just want her to get in the habit of reading things that are a little tougher for her. For every 2 chapter books she reads, she can read any 2 books that are easy that she wants. I figure it's a good compromise. Secondly, the school issues library cards for the Chicago Public Library. They send home these elaborate letters about how we should encourage our child to use the library, take out books, learn how to look for books, etc. Being the good mother that I am (usually) I follow this and traipse her over to the library to take out books. We have actually been doing it since last year and the girl loves it. So I tell her to take Gus the Greedy Puppy to school so she can finish it during silent reading.

Caitlyn obliges and takes the book out when the teacher announces that it is time for silent reading. She takes the book up to the teacher and tells her that she got it from the library and she was going to finish reading it. No what the teacher's response was? No, you have to read a book from the classroom library.

WTF??? REALLY????

I was going to confront the teacher, then thought better of it. This bitch is digging her own grave with me. No doubt about it. First of all, anytime a kid shows interest in reading, you allow them to read. Secondly, who really gives a shit where the book came from? It's not like I sent her to school with Playboy or anything. I wouldn't do that until at least 4th grade :)

Then yesterday happened. Again, a bit of history. Caitlyn came home last week and told me not to send her water bottle to school with her. See we get another elaborate note from school every year about how kids need water to learn. When they are hydrated, they are more alert, etc. Again, I follow the directions. I asked Cate why she didn't want it sent and she said the teacher told the class that there are too many bathroom "emergencies." So Cate was worried that if she had the water bottle, she would have to go to the bathroom. Well sure she will, it's the natural progression of things right?

So she comes home yesterday and it turns out she had an accident. A pee accident. The way Caitlyn tells it, they didn't get a bathroom break during lunch. Which is at 11:30. Nor did they go in the afternoon at all. Caitlyn asked at one point to go to the bathroom and was allowed to go. A little later the teacher went on a tirade about the "emergencies" again and after Cate went to the bathroom she said no one else was going. Again.....WTF???? REALLY???? Maybe if you took them to the bathroom at regular intervals throughout the day, these kids wouldn't have to ask you to go on an individual basis. But I digress.

Around 2:15, Caitlyn had to go to the bathroom. Badly. It was an emergency. She heard the teacher earlier, so she was afraid to ask. She relieved herself a bit in her pants. Probably enough to release the pressure that was building in the poor child's bladder. She told her teacher she had a small accident, who then said ok and sent her to the office. The office sent her back to class as they don't have a change of clothes for her. Nor does her teacher. See normally, my kid, like other 7 year olds, don't have accidents when they are allowed to go to the bathroom, so there was no need to send in a change of clothes. Caitlyn sat in the damp pants until she got to my mom's house around 2:50. Where she proceeded to break down into hysteria because she was so upset that she had an accident.

This morning, I told my daughter if she ever felt like she really had to go like that again and the teacher says no, that she is to leave that damn classroom and go to the bathroom. I certainly don't want my daughter suffering from a UTI, bladder infection, etc because this bitch won't take her class to the bathroom.

I haven't yet figured out what I am going to do. I don't know what to do. All I know is, this woman is in a serious power struggle with me and she is taking it out on my kid. and I am not having any of it. I want to see what happens after school today. Because of course, I sent her to school with a Junie B Jones book that certainly didn't come from the classroom library. If she even utters a syllable of disgust, this woman is going to feel my wrath. I have to talk to Matt about what we are going to do, because I think things are progressing to a point that indicates that they are only going to get significantly worse.

Progress Reports

Progress reports came home from school on Friday. Caitlyn has amazed me once again. She has all A's right now in her subjects which is fantastic. But that's not the part that amazed me. They are doing DIBLES testing again, it was done earlier in September. They don't look at as many categories as they did last year; this year they only look at nonsense word fluency and oral reading fluency.

Benchmark for nonsense word fluency is 50 words per minute. Caitlyn is reading 54. So she is meeting the benchmark.

Benchmark for oral reading fluency is 44 words per minute. Caitlyn is reading 98. 98!!!!!! The benchmark for June is 90. The average words per minute read by a third grader is between 100-110. To say I am stunned is an understatement. This kid is cruising along in the area of reading. And what's even more amazing is not that she reads at this level. Cause we all know decoding words isn't the most important part of reading. What's important is whether or not you can comprehend what you have read. And lo and behold, she is.

On Thursday last week, she read her first chapter book completely on her own. She was so very proud of herself for reading a book that had close to 100 pages. And I think her mom is pretty stinkin proud of her too. Then over the weekend, she read another chapter book. So now she is all gung ho to go through her bookshelf and clean out the books that are just too easy for her. And I am all about that seeing as we have books crammed in every nook and cranny of that shelf and 2 tubs full of them as well. Now I need to figure out what to do with all of them.

In other news, Matt's football team is tied for first place in his conference. He is playing the team he is tied with on Friday. So any good vibes you can send on over to Chicago would be spectacular. I would love for him to win his conference.

My school district has signed a new contract. So there will be no striking for us. Thank goodness. Things are crazy there as usual. Though it seems to be a much calmer year than it was last year. We had a couple "high profile" kids leave at the end of last year, so I think that's the reason.

As for my master's program, I have 2 really intense classes this term. One of the classes is online and I swear it is more work than the classes I sit in class for. The class that I have on Thursday is a huge amount of work. And I am convinced the instructor doesn't like me. Which is fine with me, so long as I can manage to get through until December and get the credit for the class. I currently have a 4.0 going and I would like to keep it that way. Let's just hope that the fact that this woman doesn't like me doesn't interfere with that ;)

Caitlyn is leaving for Atlanta on Saturday for a couple of days. She is going there with Rita to visit Jimmy. She is ecstatic about it and has been counting down the days for weeks. I am a little nervous though. Not because she will be away for 2 days in a different state. That happens all the time in the summer when she heads up to Wisconsin with Matt or Rita. What I am nervous about is not being on the plane with her. She isn't afraid of flying, she enjoys it actually. I just worry that if something were to happen, that I wouldn't be there to comfort her. I am sure it will all be fine and she will have a wonderful flight, but it scares me a bit.

What a Week

Life has been rough in the land of the Walshes this week. Started off with me getting a sore throat on Monday. Which by today, has progressed to a full on horrible cold. I have been this sick since I had the shingles. That was the last time that I actually had a cold. So I guess 3 years in between colds is nothing to complain about. But I am still going to because it sucks. Bad.

I also started 2 classes this week. One of which is online. They are both going to be a shit load of work and I really don't know that I am going to be able to keep up with it all. Although, I managed last spring during annual reviews and what not, so I have to keep telling myself that I can do it. I was hoping to graduate with a 4.0, but this term may do me in and ruin that dream. It's quite possible that I could end up with a B in one or both of the classes. Only because I would have to settle for work that isn't A quality in order to maintain my sanity. But it's only the first week, so I have to see how things turn out.

Work is crazy. Our district filed an intent to strike on Tuesday. Which means that we could be on strike as early as 26th. Scary. While I am hoping that it doesn't happen, I think that we are correct in demands that we have set. A fair contract is all we are asking for. Nothing more than what we feel we deserve. If we do end up going on strike, look for me at your local Wal**Mart as I will probably be getting a job as a greeter. "Welcome to Wal....will you be needing a cart today?" I have been practicing in front of the mirror. Can you tell?

Caitlyn is doing fantastic in second grade. She loves it. She loves her classroom and her friends and her teacher. She did tell me this morning that when the teacher writes on the white board, it is often hard for her to read it. I made her promise that she will ask the teacher if she can move her seat closer or if the teacher can write larger. While the Mama Bear side of me wanted to spring to action and call the teacher about it, I decided that I would first allow Cate to do some self advocating first. She is perfectly capable of it, and it is certainly a skill that I think all children should learn. So hopefully whe I ask her after school if her desk has been moved (which it has already been moved 3 times this year and I m not sure why) she will tell me that it has. Or that the teacher has made another accommodation to help her see the board. Will keep you posted.

Only 6 more hours and I can go home, take some sleepy time meds, and crawl into bed where I plan on staying for the duration of the weekend!

Stephanie is right

In a few years I will look back at this ridiculous string of posts and laugh my ass off. I know that. Like I said, I am laying low for now until I can have my ducks in a row. Although I can tell that my kid is wanting to really push the buck with this too. When I asked her what she wanted for snack she said that she really wanted to take dried fruit. Now she knows that the teacher told Matt this is not acceptable. But she also knows that her mother will go to bat for her if need be. And to be honest, I think my kid gets a kick out of me raising hell in her defense. She is just too smart for her own damn good I tell you.

So we got a note home yesterday that the kids are encouraged to wear red, white, and blue today. For obvious reasons. Well, last night when Cate and I were picking out her clothes, she wanted to know what holiday it was today. And I told her it was "Patriot Day" and that it wasn't technically a holiday. She wanted to know why she had to wear certain colors if it wasn't in fact a holiday at all.

And then I had to explain to her why she was being asked to wear the colors of the flag. And it was horrible. I could see the fear in her face. I tried to put it all in to kid terms as much as I possibly could. But no matter how gently you say that bad men flew an airplane into a building and killed thousands of people, it doesn't lessen the blow. I think the worst part of the conversation was when Cate asked me if the men flying the plane meant to kill those people and I had to tell her yes. the absolute look of confusion on her face paired with her fright was gut wrenching.

I tried to tell her that the reason her uncle is a soldier is to try and prevent things like this from ever happening again. That wasn't going to console her. If anything, she was concerned by the fact that there is the possibility that it could happen again. And I know she isn't alone in that fear.

I was able to calm her down and get her giggling eventually. But there is nothing worse than having to tell your child about the evils in the world and knowing that there is nothing you can do to shield them from those things. Whether she learns them from me or hears them from other people, she is going to learn that the world can really be a hateful place at times. And that makes me sad. Sad because I can't keep her in her happy little "everything is right in the world" place forever.

Replying to Comments and an Update

Okay, first of all...4 posts in 4 days? I think that must be a new record for me. Maybe I will set a goal for a post a day for all of the days remaining in September (a girl can dream right!)

This snack saga continues. I need to comment on a some of the things that were said in comments as well let you all know about some new information that I have received as of yesterday.

Steph, I get the issue of a special diet and that putting some restraints on what kids are allowed to bring. However, we have not been informed of any severe allergies in the room thus far.

Kari, she is pretty young, a bit older than me maybe by a few years. I do however, think that she is a very uptight person. Judging from the way that she walks and speaks, she doesn't seem to have a bone in her body that would allow her to chill out. If she does have that bone, then it's the one that is stuck up her bum and it does her no good up there.

Tiffany, I agree that if this woman only has the battle of worrying about my kid's snack, she should be thankful. People like that, they always piss me off. Maybe she should be more concerned with the larger issues that are sure to take place in her classroom.
She was quick to tell Matt on the phone that this is a guideline set by all of the second grade classrooms; there are three of them, so about 100 second graders in all. Out of those 100 kids, I know that I can not be the only parent who takes issue with some of these rules. Which is why I am going to back to school night and talking to parents on the playground when I am able to drop off/pick up Caitlyn. I need to rally my troops so to speak.
In the original letter that was sent out, it was clear that messy foods were not allowed. She doesn't want anything too sticky cause then their desks get all sticky. I am beginning to believe that this woman really is borderline OCD. We are talking about second graders here, 7 years olds. It is their sole purpose in life to be messy and sticky and get everything around them just as messy and sticky as they are. I do wish I would have kept the letter so that I could let show you just how over the top this woman truly is.

Now an update:
Caitlyn was allowed to eat her snack that contained 2 snacks in one yesterday. Which is a blessing. Not for me, but for the teacher. Seriously, if she had denied Cate that snack, you would have been watching the news screaming, "OMG, I totally know that mom from the internet forums we are on!!!" And I would have looked like a crazed lunatic spouting off shit about cheerios and raisins. Although, I may just get off whatever charges are placed due to insanity. Because, really, who goes on and on and attacks teachers over cheerios and raisins. But I digress.

I left work early to pick Cate up from school. There were 3 reasons for my wanting to do this. 1, I had to get the hell out of work. I am overworked and horribly stressed right now. So leaving an hour early did everyone around me some good. 2, I wanted to make sure that Cate was allowed to eat the snack that I packed for her. And if she wasn't, then I was a mere 37 seconds way from the principal's office; to which I would have immediately headed. 3, I wanted to talk to some of the other parents about this issue. Because you know, sometimes I really do over react. It isn't until after I have cooled off and done some research that I realize I have gone temporarily insane and may not have handled things as well as I should have. So I wanted to make sure that I wasn't the only one irritated with the snack policy. Here is what I learned from my playground adventures:

1. It would seem that a child is allowed to have dried fruit for snack. As long as it is not my child. A parent I know fairly well has already sent in dried fruit with no repercutions to their child. Mental note, send in dried fruit and see if teacher denies my child snack, then have this parent speak on Caitlyn's behalf as to why her child was allowed to eat that but mine was not.

2. It would seem that a child is allowed to bring in things like cheese sticks and crackers for snack during the winter months. This was told to me by a parent who had a son in this class last year. He was able to bring his cheese stick and enjoy the hell out of it despite it not being a fresh fruit or vegetable. Unless of course that has recently been added to those food groups unbeknownst to me. This parent also informed me that they received the exact same note, with the exact same guidelines, last year. Which leads me to believe that this policy was in effect last year as well, and she managed to bend the rules for those kids, but again, not for Caitlyn. Same mental note made as above.

3. Mentioning the issue of money and the fact that some of the students receive state assistance and free/reduced lunches upsets some people. Despite the fact that it is true, they certainly don't think that those things should impact whether or not those families can provide only fresh fruits or veggies for snack. Especially in the winter when they cost an arm and a leg. Mental note, those people who don't want to talk about families who struggle and second grade snack isn't priority on their list, suck. I need not talk to them anymore.

4. Saying the word fuck in front of a born again christian, not the best idea. They will just turn their backs and walk away from you. Mental note, avoid that person because I have a trucker's mouth and certainly don't want to offend her further.

So here is what I have decided to do:
I am going to continue to only send in fresh fruits and veggies. In the mean time, I am going to continue talking to other parents to get their impression of the rules that have been laid out for us. I also need to get my hands on parents who have kids in other classes to see if the rules are as stringent in those rooms. Because if they aren't, well then Mrs. L has clearly painted herself into a corner as her foundation for all of this is that the rules can't be bent and it is a second grade policy school wide. All I need is for one parent to say that their child has been allowed to bring something other than fresh fruit/veggies in the last week. Once I have that, this woman is going down.

But I am not making my move until I have all of my ducks in a row. And once I do, this woman will not know what hit her.

The response

Well, it certainly wasn't what I was hoping for. I really just wanted the teacher to say that the note was not to be taken literally. That it could be interpreted to mean a healthy snack and not just limited to fresh fruits and vegetables. But I was not so lucky.

She called Matt after school yesterday around 3:30. Matt expressed his concern with Caitlyn not being allowed to have a snack when hers was deemed inappropriate. Mrs. L replied by saying that she handed out snacks on Wednesday and Thursday to those children that didn't have any. To which Matt quickly replied that our child wasn't even in school on Thursday. And he wasn't concerned with those 2 days, he was concerned with the Friday that his daughter was without a snack. To which she really had no reply other than the fact that it is the responsibility of the parents to provide the snack, not hers. Correct me if I am wrong, but I did provide a snack and you told my child she couldn't eat it???

Matt also questioned what the policy would be if our daughter needed a special diet. He mentioned that she was born extremely premature and often times we boost her food with some added calories to help out in the weight arena. She of course said she knew nothing about Caitlyn's medical history and Matt was quick as a whip in telling her that it's because she just assumed that all was well and she could take his daughter's food away. Every now and again a side of Matt comes out that I just love ;) Matt was worried once he said this that it would prompt the teacher to say that maybe Caitlyn would need a 504 plan if she had special dietary needs. And she may just do that. But this lady certainly doesn't want to play the special ed game with me. Cause she will surely be fighting a losing battle. See in the world of Chicago Public Schools, 504 plans are handed out for some really inane reasons; and mostly incorrect reasons. Her dietary needs in no way impact her educational performance. Thus, no need for a 504. So I dare the woman to spout that shit at me.

Matt also questioned whether or not dried fruit would be allowed. Mrs. L's response was that it is not fresh fruit and not as healthy. It's healthy in other ways. It has many benefits. Benefits that are different than those of fresh fruit. I can print out the literature if she needs me to. I would be more than happy to do that for her.

She did say that it becomes difficult to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables at the height of winter for obvious reasons. But basically said that still only fresh fruit and vegetables would be allowed. I call bullshit on that. In the winter months I am not willing to pay an arm and a leg for these things when I can provide her with dried fruit.

Mrs. L said that as teachers we should understand that if the rules are bent for one child, then other parents will want them bent as well. News flash lady, I wasn't asking for the rules to be bent. I was asking that you allow any and all snacks that are in fact healthy. Whether or not you believe them to be, there is nutritional value to Cheerios and raisins. And dried fruit.

The most amazing thing to me is that there is a large population of children in this school who are receiving free and reduced lunches and breakfast. There are many families who receive state aid who have children that attend this school. While Matt and I can certainly afford to go out and buy fresh fruits and vegetables weekly, there are many families in this community that can not. How dare this woman decide how other families spend their money?

Caitlyn also mentioned when we were at the store that they are only allowed one snack at a time. Last night when I was making lunches, I packed her grape tomatoes and green grapes. I DARE this woman to tell my daughter that she can't have what was packed for her today. I will follow her guidelines, but you can bet your ass that I am going to push the envelope every chance that I get. Unless of course it starts to impact Cate. Then I will follow the rules nicely.
(until the end of the year when I key her car)

This saga is not going to end anytime soon. I think that it is now becoming a power struggle and is going to continue through most of the year. Back to School night is on the 25th; it's a Thursday and I have class. But I will be talking to my professor about missing that night. I want to bring this up in front of all the parents and see what their point of view is on all of this.