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Sophie Flies through the First Quarter of Kindergarten

posted Wednesday October 1st, 2008

Kindergarten is a quarter gone. We had our parent/teacher conferences yesterday. It’s still well over 100 degrees — heck, it’s barely October — so it just doesn’t feel right to call the semester half in the can. But it is. Sophie is halfway done with her first half of kindergarten. And Annabelle’s half done with […]


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A Serenity Prayer for Parents

posted Friday September 19th, 2008

Most afternoons, the phone rings. Ms. X. swore up and down she’d keep me posted about Sophie’s trials and tribulations this year, and as far as I can tell, she’s kept the promise. The news varies. Often it involves an indiscretion or safety breach. For example, on Monday, Sophie announced to some other kids (but not […]


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Least Restrictive Setting, My A–

posted Wednesday September 17th, 2008

When I pulled up in front of the school yesterday morning, I noticed the “word of the week,” posted on the school sign, is INITIATIVE. I had no clue how to apply that. And by the end of the meeting with the principal, my cluelessness was evident. Also my bitchiness. “Were you raised in New […]


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Of IEP Meetings, Playground Safety and Golf Tournaments

posted Friday September 12th, 2008

Late last night, I met a friend to see the movie “Man On Wire”, about a French guy who walked a tight rope between the Twin Towers, shortly after they were built in the 1970s. It was an odd way to honor 9/11, maybe, but somehow fitting — and I was glad for the break from […]


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Sophie’s IEP is Mildly Retarded

posted Wednesday September 10th, 2008

Tomorrow’s a big day. Or not. Sophie’s IEP team is meeting, to review her first month of kindergarten. When we were putting the finishing touches on Sophie’s IEP (Individualized Education Program, the document that prescribes her school situation, from what therapies she gets to where she pees) I insisted we reassemble the team (everyone from principal […]


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Micro-Chips for Wayward Kids with Down syndrome?

posted Thursday August 28th, 2008

At lunch yesterday, Ray and I mused about whether we should put a micro-chip in Sophie, the way people do with pets. He claims this really goes on in Russia, where kidnapping rates were so high. I brought up safeytat.com again. It was all idle chatter, til the phone rang a couple hours later. I […]


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At the meeting yesterday with Sophie’s kindergarten teacher and the special ed teacher, we talked about strategies for getting Sophie to behave. We didn’t talk about strategies for getting other kids’ parents to behave. And I’m the first to admit my reaction here is likely super-premature and overly sensitive in an It’s All About Me way, […]


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Sophie Goes to Kindergarten: Write On!

posted Friday August 8th, 2008

Ms. X called shortly after school let out today, to report that Sophie had a great day. One “time out,” but otherwise pretty darn good. “And she wrote her name today,” she added. “She what???” At all the meetings we had last winter and spring, to determine Sophie’s next step, the one face at the […]


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Four days in, and Sophie hasn’t been kicked out yet. The first week of kindergarten is full of growing pains for all the kids, and for Sophie I think it’s been especially hard because of the heat (you try going back to school — and onto the playground — when it’s 111 degrees out, and […]


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Sophie Goes to Kindergarten: First Day

posted Tuesday August 5th, 2008

It was a good day. Not unlike most school days, from our household’s perspective. Despite my best efforts to be in the car by 8:15, it was more like 8:35, and the first bell rings at 8:45. (Well, it’s not like I could skip writing the girls notes for their lunch boxes, or not take […]


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My Heart Can't Even Believe It: A Story of Science, Love, and Down Syndrome is available from Amazon and 
Changing Hands Bookstore
. For information about readings and other events, click here.
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