Pandemic At School
Week 32
Day 216 – Sunday, October 18, 2020
Another eventful day! I started the day off by taking Elijah driving. He drove on windy Hogue road to Boehne Camp then the Lloyd Expressway (it was 7:30am) to University Parkway, then did the loop again. His only real mistake was he got a too close to the edge of the road on Hogue and a tire slipped off, but it was in a flat area so we didn’t end up in a ditch.
I re-bleached the bottom half of Hannah’s hair and ran out of hair dye. Leah talked her into going with the rest of us to take photos downtown. Hannah put her hair up in a bun, so the “calico cat” look wasn’t obvious.
We went downtown and took photos in Self-E Alley. Then we walked to the old courthouse and took a few photos there and in front of the old sheriff’s residence (I’d never seen that sign before). Hannah is a natural model, but getting good pictures of Leah and Elijah is trickier. It’s a good thing we had Hannah because she helped pose Leah a few times. I had to make Elijah laugh to get a genuine smile out of him. He’s one of those who doesn’t know how to smile on command (he takes after my dad, I guess).
After a quick trip to Walmart for more hair bleach, I re-did the top half of Hannah’s hair. The six inches closest to her scalp got nice and platinum. The rest did not, I’m guessing because it had been previously dyed… several different colors. So, she has an ombre look going on.
Throw in some chores, and it was a busy day!
Day 217 – Monday, October 19, 2020
On Saturday, Vanderburgh County broke another record for number of positive COVID tests at 140. It looks like that may have been due to a backlog of tests since the two days previous were on the low side. The schools look to only have few cases. The university a mile from me has quite a few cases. The prediction for the country for the rest of the year is pretty bleak.
I had an uneventful day where I was able to work on paperwork. I started my progress monitoring for report cards. I like to break it down to so many students a day. If I do 20 a day, I’ll be done by Thursday.
Hannah made plans for after school, so our early voting was postponed until tomorrow. I haven’t heard what the lines are like at the library.
We had a cool, rainy, dreary day today. I didn’t enjoy driving in the dark this morning, but once I got to school it wasn’t so bad.
I made shepherd’s pie for dinner and Hannah brought home place and bake ghost sugar cookies that I had been unable to find.
Day 218 – Tuesday, October 20, 2020
I got distracted while taking Elijah to school and missed my exit, so I took the next one and got him to school a minute earlier than usual, lol.
Two out of three of the IEP meetings I had scheduled were successfully held, which is better than some days….
I got 20 more progress reports done, only 42 more to go!
I finished evaluating a little kindergarten friend who I foresee being my friend for a very long time. They are cute and sweet, so it’s all good.
The printer network was down at school today which was fun.
After school Hannah and I voted “early in person” at the library. It took us 65 minutes to wait and vote. That’s about the same amount of time it took me to vote in the same location four years ago…. The voting procedure was different, and probably for the better. You still choose all your information on a computer screen, but then it’s printed, placed in a ballot envelope, signed and sealed by the poll workers. I’m sure they can still count the votes electronically, but they have paper backup for recounts. I’m pleased with the system.
We ended up getting Chick-fil-a for dinner since people were starving by the time we finished voting.
Leah and I worked on some 7th grade honors math which is the same stuff I did in algebra 1…. She can figure out the equations just fine, but story problems are her nemesis.
Day 220 – Thursday, October 22, 2020
Yesterday, I had an in person (socially distanced) speech therapists’ meeting at Culver. My friend, Michelle, who is the secretary at Culver, wasn’t there. I was sad to miss her. I had to leave the meeting a few minutes early so I could make it to Daniel Wertz in time for an IEP conference via WebEx.
Today, I finished up my progress monitoring, and the majority of my tasks for this month’s consult week. Tomorrow, I should be able to wrap things up, and maybe even get a few things planned for next week.
Elijah had speech team after school, so we got home kind of late. I threw fish sticks in the oven and a bagged salad in a bowl and called it dinner.
As usual, Leah wanted my help with her homework, but she got a little critical of my help, so I stopped. Elijah wanted help with AP physics…. I actually remembered what he needed to do, but he didn’t really believe me. Later, he came back and said he just need to change the sign, which is what I had said.
Tomorrow is Hannah’s 18th birthday. I can’t believe it. Eighteen years ago, I went to bed extremely pregnant and was awakened at 5am by a “pop” that was my water breaking.
Day 221 – Friday, October 23, 2020
Happy 18th Birthday to my sweet Hannah! When she was about kindergarten age, she just could not remember when her birthday was. She had a hard time with letters and numbers for a while. So one day, I had the kids march around the house (thankful for that circular floor plan when they were little!) saying “October 23, October 23, October 23…”. It worked! I don’t think she ever forgot it after that.
I had a nice day at work, and I was able to get fully prepared for next week. I don’t feel like that happens very often
When I left school, half of the sky was nearly black, and rain seemed eminent. I went to get Elijah downtown, black sky, no rain. Five minutes from home, the sky lightened up to gray, and the heavens opened and it POURED.
I took the kids to La Campirana for Hannah birthday meal. It was amazing, as always. Elijah wanted tamales, but we didn’t know how big they would be, so I got him six. He ate three, lol. I had sopas, Hannah had flautas, and Leah had a quesadilla. Elijah had to get a large horchata as well. When we got home, we had brownies and ice cream.
Hannah got her present last week, a new phone, from her dad and me.
Day 222 – Saturday, October 24, 2020
I got up and made a menu for the week and created a shopping list. I made it to Walmart at 8am, even though my goal was 7am. It was fine. I opted to not get the Christmas Oreos just yet. I feel like we need to get through Halloween first, but no judgement to others.
During the drive, I was enjoying the beautiful fall leaves, and they made me think about looking for the good. I love fall, everything except the early sunset which only gets earlier after the time change. However, the leaves were beautiful, and the air was chilly, and that’s the part I love.
Hannah went to lunch at Manna (one of her favorite places) with some friends for her birthday.
When she got back, Hannah, Leah, and I went to a Halloween store to get a costume for Leah. It was sensory overload. Leah panicked and couldn’t make a decision. Thankfully, we had Hannah with us, who was able to find a cow costume, which is what Leah originally planned on.
I made chili for dinner which we ate with Fritos, cheese, and sour cream. Leah opted for just Fritos and cheese since she doesn’t like chili.
We had movie night. Elijah wants to watch “real” movies like The Godfather and Terminator which are totally inappropriate for Leah. We opted for The Nightmare Before Christmas, which Elijah skipped entirely, and Leah left halfway through…. If I’d known that, Hannah and I would have watched Hocus Pocus. Neither of us have ever seen it.
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