RS has been sick for two days. Terrible nausea, plus high fever, which I can tell because she’s on fire, though I haven’t taken her temperature. Yesterday she said she was going to come downstairs, but then she couldn’t, because… G had made eggs for breakfast for himself and the twins (God bless summer, when we don’t have to leave the house until 8:30), and… the smell was making her nausea worse. Heh. Welcome to my world, kiddo. 
So she’s home with me, and as a result I successfully killed myself this morning by cleaning both upstairs toilets. It is my firm belief that the very least a sick child deserves is a clean toilet to throw up in. The toilets were, um, NOT clean (heh), and the idea of anyone leaning over them for any purpose whatsoever was so horrifying that I actually managed to scrub them both. Of course, my lower back is now killing me, my arms are flopping around like spaghetti noodles, and I’ve been gasping for breath for about 45 minutes. But it’s worth it, for clean toilets. Wish I could do the floors and the sinks as well, because OH my God.
YS’s glasses broke on Tuesday. R’s broke yesterday. So that’s two days and three days, respectively. I don’t have a good feeling about this.
Spoke to two people yesterday from the NYC Dept of Education. The first one seems not to have read her job description. Not only did she call me back, but she did so almost immediately – and she started the conversation with “Now, what can I do for you?”
-???- What’s that all about??
Unfortunately, what she could do for me was transfer me to someone else, since she doesn’t directly handle the thing we need done. Sigh. Luckily, the person to whom she transferred me restored my faith in the DOE. She answered the phone with an unintelligible, snappish grunt; as soon as I said “Hi, this is Miriam B. So-and-so transferred me –” she cut me off abruptly and said “WHO is this?” — and the conversation progressed nicely from there. Heh. Cut off almost everything I said, and everything she said back to me was snapped in an impatient manner that clearly told me that first of all, I had no business being on the phone with her, and second of all, I was an idiot for suggesting that I ought to be able to acquire the things I was calling to acquire. I was polite and cheerful the whole time, and managed to get some information out of her, but BOY OH BOY am I not going to deal with HER again. Nor am I waiting, as she told me to, until August 20 to call again. August 20, my…. Heh. You see what I’m saying. I told G that this person didn’t sound like she would in any way respond to “Oh yes you will send me those forms. The DOE has been in direct violation of the IEP and my daughter’s rights have been violated…” yadda yadda. So I intend to aim higher. With a crossbow, if necessary.
[P.S. I am all talk. So far, anyway. But maybe if I talk enough, someone will listen.]
Got the info I needed about my MA exam. Now I need to schedule it. Then I’ll take it, and maybe I’ll pass. Actually I’m fairly certain I’ll pass, but I’m still scared out of my wits. Because what if I don’t?
Ta ta for now.
Tags: Dept of Ed, Kids, Pregnancy
Dont u also have to deal with the DOE of ur home school district. I think my parents did for the other child when we went to school out of district and w got services through them.
I have the shakes trying to deal with the fact that I can’t teleport myself into your bathrooms and clean them NOW.
came across your blog – what a funny way to ‘catch up’.
i will not offer to come clean your bathrooms like above (who must be a better person than i) – but, i would love to get back in touch. feel free to email.
oh – and good to hear that the dept. of ed. there is annoying to deal with too – i just thought it was here and keep romanticizing how service oriented things are in the good ol’ U.S of A.