I miss you. I don't know what came over me, but I needed some time away. Maybe I felt too exposed out here on the net, but my readership has died down some, so maybe I'm feeling less exposed. I simply don't know.

Oh, shit, I know! I can blame it on winter. It's cold and windy and I've got asthma and can't leave the auspices of my computer. Yeah, that's the ticket.

I miss writing, even if it's just inundated with the mundane happenings of my day-to-day life, it's something I miss. I'm stunned about my Piggygirl and my Bearboy. They are growing so fast that I feel old.

Yesterday, Russell told Mike anyone over 30 was old. Rotten darned kid. Mike howled in laughter and Russell looked puzzled. Mike asked him,"So is Mom old?" Russell looked at me and said,"Yeah, she's old." Aw, just makes you want to duct tape them in a closet, doesn't it?

However, Russell got Mike for me when he said,"Well, Mike you're old, too." Yes! Victory is mine. Mike said,"Well, at your age anyone over 12 and a half is old." Russell looked at me and said, "Mom, you're real old, then." Now, where the hell is that duct tape?

I fought it out with the school people and came away rather disappointed. While they will do things like the IQ test, the psych evaluation, they won't do a physical evaluation nor the complete audiology exam. I'm able to run the audiology exam through my insurance, but the physical evaluation is another issue. The rules are unless the kid is in special ed with no hope of academic progress, they don't generally do the physical exams.

We are trying interim measures like putting pennies between each word as he writes, giving him a special rubber grip for his pencils, etc., but more than anything, I am seriously contemplating keeping him back a grade next year. Next year, there's a good chance we will be across the country, so he wouldn't have any stigma from the other kids attached to staying back a year and he is a young second grader. Having your birthday on the first day of school, as well as being a boy, is a lot to live up to.