Sophie takes the AIMS test next month, along with her third grade classmates. There will be some accomodations — more time, some (literal) wiggle room — but she will take the AIMS test. Let that sink in. It drives me nuts. I get the argument for standardized tests — I just don’t agree with it, […]
If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit by me. — Dorthy Parker Words to live by. I’ve always believed that. (Second only to Woody Allen’s, “I would never join a club that would allow a person like me to become a member.” I actually managed to incorporate that one into my wedding vows.) […]
Just how seriously should I be taking this Special Olympics thing? In some ways, it’s quite professional and rigid. Sophie’s first track & field meet is this Saturday, and two weeks ago we were warned not to miss practice; times would be taken and heats arranged. So we were there, and Sophie did her javelin […]
Sophie was late for school today. It’s happened before. But today — unlike other days — it wasn’t because I rushed and pushed and skidded to the finish line a few moments late. It was because I didn’t. I didn’t rush this morning. School doesn’t start til 9 am and we live all of three […]
Track and field practice has been really great for Sophie — tonight she even set a personal record in the javelin, throwing it 10 and a half feet (I think — it was 10 and a half something). But it never occurred to me that Special Olympics would lead Sophie to ask such hard questions. […]
The other night I took Sophie and her best friend Sarah to the movies and gave them pennies to toss in the fountain. They decided it’s ok to tell the person who gave you the penny the wish you made. “I wished that Sophie and I will be BFFs our whole lives,” Sarah told me. Me too, […]
Time for spring cleaning at Girl in a Party Hat; dust was gathering all over this blog. I’m quite sure there’s still some gathered in the corners here and there (time for a new family portrait on the ol’ home page, for example) but I did get a chance this evening to do a little […]
It happened again yesterday. I was having a meeting at work with a brand-new hire, a super-smart guy (way smarter than me, for sure — by the books, anyway) who just finished journalism school. We were going over his job description, and he said it about something, I’m not sure what. “That’s so retarded!” Or […]
He stood on the edge of the track, away from everyone else; he’d arrived late and missed most of the stretching exercises. I noticed him right away. Others brought water bottles to Special Olympics practice, and Sophie had her special purple javelin with her, but this boy — probably in his mid to late teens […]
It came, as most of the hard questions do, from the back seat. This one was, perhaps, the hardest of all. “Mommy, why do I have Down syndrome?” Sophie and I had just left Special Olympics practice, so I wasn’t completely surprised that the topic came up — we’re almost never around groups of people […]
