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Well, the first two weeks of school are behind us. For several years, I thought my plate was pretty full and recently, I just piled on more. Two days after Tristyn's birthday, we piled in the car to meet our foreign exchange student. She's staying with us for the entire school year. She's adjusting, she's making an effort, but at times I'd wish she'd save her observations, personal commentary, and political comparisons for the journal entries. I don't need to hear every thought. I am getting to see what it's like to have a teenage girl in the house though. WOW. D is settled in with his 2nd grade teacher. I am so glad. She taught 1st grade last year and made the jump to a different grade like many have volunteered to do in order to make the numbers work at the school. Mr. T is a whole different story. I've been volunteering in his classroom to help him. We just had an IEP meeting this past Wed. to discuss everything. I want an aide for him, but that goes against the least restrictive environment setup (for now). He's now being pulled out for an hour in the morning (Reading/Writing) and again for an hour in the afternoon (Math) to a Spec Ed. class. He gets recess by himself with a helper, so he'll get the opportunity to exert his energy and actually eat his lunch. I want to keep him eating with his class because he does need to be around typical peers. I told the PT ladies to force the speech and eye contact. It's a lot for him and he was so tired on Friday that he fell asleep for 3 hours in the afternoon. Poor kiddo. He has that anxious look on his face when I tell him I'm leaving. So hard when he says, "Don't leave mommy." A week ago Tuesday, I was in tears signing out at the office. That second day was heartbreaking to observe him, no help from the teacher, nothing. I so hope that these new accommodations will be okay for him and I can take a step back. I know that I need to. We had a hab person for about 3 days, then she did some really crazy stuff, so we're searching for someone new. Hopefully, we can find a better match soon. Swim season has started for hubby, so I'll hardly see him for the next three months or so. Teaching is going okay. It feels good to be helping out toward that financial pot again, but right now, it just feels like a job.