Langer Loksh

Disease O' The Week

Head cold.

Had chimney guy #2 today; his estimate was almost an order of magnitude cheaper than Walter.

Jeff still swooning over Pottery Barn Schoolhouse. Owners of Big Blue expecting an offer from another buyer tomorrow.

The Hunt is On

We looked at two more houses today. The first was a very cute antique that was maybe too antique--not a lot of storage, and doorways--like our house--that are exactly the right height for Jeff to brain himself on. The second was a former one-room schoolhouse that has been renovated beyond recognition. It was like stepping in to a Pottery Barn catalog. This created a different effect for me and for Jeff. Jeff said he'd put an offer in on it tomorrow. To me, it just didn't feel like home. Our broker said it was one of the nicest houses she'd ever been in.

While all this is going on, I'm trying to get our house fixed up, either for us, or for to sell. Chimney guy number two is coming tomorrow (Jeff thought the first guy was too expensive).

Speech Situation

You will recall Charlie's speech evaluation at Children's Hospital. I just got the bill. $1,100 for a two-hour evaluation. (For us, $200 after insurance.) "Did she use any special electronic equipment?" Jeff asked. "No," I said, "pretty much just some old dollhouse furniture." Clearly, we are in the wrong field.

I got the report about a week ago. Charlie has age appropriate receptive language skills and some weird speech substitutions; the woman recommends that he continue speech services at 1.5 hours per week.

Last week at EI, a mom, Cindy, whose son has moderate hearing loss in both ears but hears normally with hearing aids and has similar speech skills to Charlie (that is to say, not really any problems), told us about  her IEP meeting. She lives in another town, so we can't compare, but this is what went down: she had the hearing loss consultant at the IEP meeting. The town gave her son integrated preschool and two speech sessions per week.

I emailed the pupil services person and asked if we could have the hearing loss consultant at Charlie's meeting, which is in a couple of weeks. "You may invite whomever you choose," she wrote back. "What is it you will believe [this person] will bring to the table?"

In other words, "We will not  pay for that."

I tell Priscilla, our EI person. I also tell her that I find it interesting that everyone says we live in such a great town that is so generous with services, but my only interactions with them thus far have seemed like pulling teeth. A few minutes later Carol, the pupil services person, calls me and tells me that while she agrees that the hearing loss consultant will be a part of Charlie's plan going forward, there is no need to have her at the meeting. I was barely civil to her on the phone.

Do you have ANY IDEA what we pay in taxes to live in this town?

My son HAS HEARING LOSS and a PARALYZED FACIAL NERVE THAT MAKES IT HARD FOR HIM TO MAKE CERTAIN MOUTH MOVEMENTS. I am not a fruitcake mom. I am not making shit up. Shouldn't we continue the therapy that has lead him to succeed thus far?

Today Charlie met with with town's speech pathologist for an evaluation. Naturally she concluded that Charlie is above average in every way and needs no services at all. "They're not even substitutions, they're more like distortions," she said--"And they're age appropriate."

Jeff is coming to the IEP meeting now. It's so useful to have a husband who looks like a Hell's Angel.

Tonight I had a long talk with Julie, whose job is just like the woman who saw Charlie today. Long ago she predicted the town wouldn't pick him up for services and she was right. She made a very solid case for why Charlie really doesn't need services, though she agreed that he should be monitored. "What if he falls behind?" I asked. "He's not going to fall behind," she said. "So EI did too good of a job?" I asked. "No," she said. "He would have come this far all on his own." Then she offered to come with me to the meeting, even though she lives 45 minutes away and has a job and a six-month-old baby. I won't take her up on it, but boy, I am lucky to have such a good friend.

My instinct is that Charlie will be fine, because his teachers and Jeff and I are going to keep an eye on him. It's hard, though, to feel OK about it, when everyone else in my EI group is like, crazed for services. It makes me feel like I'm letting Charlie down if I don't hire a lawyer to screw the town.

FOW

Summer is the Friend of the Week in her kindergarten class. We decorated a shoe box. Summer filled the shoe box with mementos and pictures. When she got home she reported that she was the first kid to have brought a passport (her old baby passport) in her box.

The Big Blue House

We looked at two other houses today, mostly to get a feel for the market. One was lovely but too small--a lateral move. The other was larger but drab and smelly. Spacious Blue from this weekend is looking better and better. We'll see two more tomorrow, one of which is already under agreement, but we're just trying to become experts on the current market.

Our broker Peggy told us that she's listing houses at $10,000 above valuation. By that measure, Sunny Blue is drastically over priced. It's all a big game, and we have to wait a week before even thinking about making an offer so we don't seem to eager.

Peggy also clued me in on Crazy Dave, her handyman, who will gut our bathroom for cheap. Even if we don't buy Big Blue, I'll be happy--I'll have a non-mortifying bathroom and I'll keep my nabe.

Chicken Mommy/Daddy

Bob and Dandy continue to make strides. They are up and about a lot more, not falling over really at all, and eating nonstop. We give them supervised play time in the guinea pig cage with the three bigger chicks. Everyone is getting along just fine. I feel like Jeff and I have really nursed them back from the brink and I am proud of us.

Jeff and I both looked at the house again today. It's so spacious and light-filled. There's an attic as big as our whole house just waiting to be turned into the coolest playroom of all time. There's a woodshop with electricity out back, and this arbor that Summer could get married under. It really is a special house. But in order to buy it we would have to put ourselves in so much debt, it can't be worth it. We would have to stop gallivanting about Europe and eat nothing but rice and beans forever. And also, I get a stomach ache every time I even consider leaving our village. Today alone we walked Summer to ballet class, walked to the toy store to buy Baby Bea a birthday present, walked to the playground, walked to the market to buy a brown banana for banana bread because we had one brown banana at home, and then I walked back there myself later in the day for a bottle of white wine for Alicia's scampi because her kids were asleep.

Anyway, time to hide candy!

Bob and Dandy: Making a Comeback!

Bob and Dandy are doing so much better. When we first separated them from the flock, their feathers were wet and scraggly and they could barely walk. Now they are clean and fluffy--well, Bob still has some poop stuck to her side--and they are eating through their food faster than we can refill the little sushi plate they eat out of. They can walk around without tipping over. Each day they get a little stronger. Three or four days ago I was counting them out, but now I think they're going to make it.

I looked at a house today. Enormous (compared to ours), antique (about the same as ours), expensive (like twice the price of ours) and lovely. Blue instead of red. The address is Jeff's favorite number. Jeff's going to look at it tomorrow after work.

Listy McList No More!

I bailed on the daily list NaBloPoMo thing. Last night Jeff was coming down with the tummy bug (Summer had it two nights ago--the night I was going for ka-wality sleep; Charlie remains unscathed), and the first symptom was extreme bitchiness. He was aimlessly Googling his ancestors, chick breeds, and lord knows what else (he found this little gem) and I tactfully suggested that he should perhaps engage with the children before they go to bed and maybe surf the Web later, and he accused me of hypocrisy--"It's ok if YOU'RE on the computer because you have your [big air quotes] BLOG."

And I still felt like junk and didn't have any funny lists to share and I just gave up.

Trust me, we'll all be happier this way.

Here's what I would have posted today if I were still in the running for the $20 gift certificate:

The two cutest things Charlie said in the past 24 hours:

1. Referred to a crab's claws as "bad bad fingers."
2. There was another one, but I can't remember.

See what I'm saying?

Oh this is sort of cute: at EI today while I was changing Charlie's poopy diap, he sang the alphabet for me. Not the usual alphabet tune--the Super Why! version.

Now for the Bob and Dandy update. I have purchased some chicken vitamins (one packet for 110 gallons of water--I guess most customers have more than five chicks) and changed their heat lamp to a lower wattage bulb. After a long day of pretending to be dead, Bob and Dandy are now enthusiastically pecking at their food and glugging the vitamin-enriched water. We are still holding out hope that they won't be "duds," in the terminology of the gnarly farmer dude at the feed store.

Pathetic Characters: Me, Bob, and Dandy

Undaunted by the cruel lack of comments from you readers and the stomach flu that I picked up from Neighbor Mia, I forge onward with the tedious March lists. I find I have nothing to say. This is why NaBloPoMo should really be one mo and not every mo of the year.

Jeff has separated the three larger chicks (Annie, Rosie, and Angel) into a guinea pig cage and left the rather pathetic looking yellow ones (Bob and Dandy) behind in the original brooder. They are eating and drinking but other than that, they are not giving us too much encouragement. They appear very weak but have not given up. Should I change the name of this blog to Dying Pets dot com?

Here is a list of times that I threw up:

3:30 a.m.
4:15 a.m.
5:00 a.m.

And not since. Jeff, Summer and Charlie have thus far remained un-bugged. Off to bed for some ka-wality sleep.

Let's Hope This Isn't a Bellwether

Tonight Alissa hosted a blind barbecue taste test to choose a caterer for Jim and Mary's big hoedown this summer. The contenders: Redbones and Blue Ribbon.

Here is how the voting went down:

Redbones:
GG
Grandpa
Jim
Mary
Alissa
Eric
Julia
Adam
Tom
Lynn
Jeff
Greg
Maya
Summer

Blue Ribbon:
Me

I based my vote on the ribs, the sauce, and the cole slaw, not factoring in the corn bread or the chicken. I have been a Redbones customer for something like 18 years so the outcome kind of shocked me.