Update January 17, 2026

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Saturday

Saturday I helped IL7 play Piku Niku, then took Dad to the gym. I expected a 20 minute workout like last time, but he was feeling better after that injection Friday, and he stayed an hour. Aaron, IL7, and I went to the Pinewood Derby and raced IL7’s car. He came in 38th. Out of about 45. He fell asleep on the floor during the races.

I went to the grocery store twice. Cooked some jambalaya. IL7 fell asleep while I was doing that. The other kids watched TV all day.

Sunday

Sunday D16 and I worked on an awful homework assignment. Aaron shopped. I played Piku Niku with IL7, followed by swim lessons. After dinner the older kids, Aaron, and I played Pandemic Legacy. We won.

Monday

Monday, I took IL7 to an appointment then took dad to the gym. He was thrilled to be exercising again. I went on the treadmill for 45 minutes. I had a video appointment later in the day. When IL7 got home, he and I made a chocolate cake (he decided it was Sake’s birthday). In the evening, I read to D17. M13 watched TV.

Tuesday

Tuesday I took D16 to an appointment. In the evening, M13 had a band concert. We sat in the back row, and IL7 was on my phone with headphones on.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a frustrating day. It started with me not having a phone signal at work (all that night, in fact). I figured it was a tower issue since my signal came back when I got about a mile away from work. At the gym, I also didn’t have a signal. When I got home, I realized I didn’t have a signal there either.

Aaron and IL7 had a signal. So I decided to switch out my card with IL7’s card to see if I had a signal using his phone. Only I had to break my phone case to get it open. Then, when I managed to get it open, there was “glue” (maybe just gunk) along the sides of the phone, so the card wouldn’t come out. I had to dissolve the gunk in vodka before I got it open. Then I had the same gunk problem with IL7’s card.

When I finally got the cards switched, suddenly both phones had a signal. Fixed, right? No. Because when I switched the cards back, since both cards worked and both phones worked, my phone doesn’t work ONLY when my card is in it. But since both phones had a signal when the cards were switched, I switched them back again.

In the evening, I took IL7 to an appointment, followed by faith formation. Dad took the rest of the family out to eat.

When I got back, I opened an envelope containing D16’s IEP for us to approve and sign. This was surprising, since we never had an IEP meeting. We were supposed to have one the day my dad went to the ER with pneumonia. But we had to cancel. We were supposed to do it another day by Zoom, but the link didn’t work. We were going to do it by Zoom a second day, but the link didn’t work that day, either. In an email conversation, I suggested a three-way call. The IEP manager said she didn’t know how to make a three-way call. I said I’ll make one. She didn’t respond.

While Aaron was in Oregon, the IEP manager suggested a same-day three-way call. It would now be a four-way call, which my phone wouldn’t do. The IEP manager said that we’d have an in-person meeting after winter break.

Imagine our surprise that, without any notice and without any meeting, we received an IEP. It claimed there had been a meeting, and quoted us from the non-existent meeting. This is a clear violation of our legal rights. D16 was so angry she was shaking. She wanted to advocate for herself (i.e. tell off the teacher), but I said that although I applauded her desire to do so, this was a job for her legal representatives. I decided to email the principal in the morning.

Thursday

Thursday morning, I sent an email to the principal of D16’s school about the IEP manager. He said he’d get back to me after talking to the manager. I ran some errands and took dad to PT. In the evening, Aaron and D16 went to a registration event at her new magnet school, and I went to a registration event at the local high school for M13. IL7 and M13 played Super Mario World 3D.

Friday

Friday, I took IL7 to speech therapy and then took dad to the gym. I didn’t really want to, but I managed to walk 60 minutes on the treadmill. The rest of the day, I tried to read. I got an email from the principal of D16’s school in which he didn’t acknowledge the lie the IEP manager made. He just backed her up that she made three attempts scheduling a meeting, and, regardless that the Zoom link failures weren’t our fault, she was not required to schedule another meeting. I told him that that does not excuse 1) that she told us she’d schedule another, didn’t, and didn’t tell us she wouldn’t and 2) she lied in D16’s IEP. I think we at least deserve acknowledgement and preferably an apology. I can go over the principal’s head, but am trying to determine if it’s worth it. Of the three of us parents, I seem to be the only one who thinks contacting the district head of special education is worth it.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

The Great Hunt, by Robert Jordan
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
Gulag Archipelago Part 3, by Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn
Determined, by Robert Sapolsky
Systematic Theology, by Wayne Grudem
One Piece Volume 16 – 18, by Eiichiro Oda
Valley of Fear, by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Week: Imperial Ambitions
Nightfall, by Shannon Messenger
Mr Ballen Podcast
The History of the Ancient World, by Susan Wise Bauer
Guards, Guards!, by Terry Pratchett

Reading to IL7

Curse of the Were-Weiner, by Ursula Vernon
Fetch-22, by Dav Pilkey

IL7 Reading

Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilet, by Dav Pilkey

D16 reading

Shadow of the Gods, by John Gwynne

Media Completed

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson try to determine who murdered a local rich man whose home is surrounded in a mote. I found this solution rather predictable, as it was similar to the end in one of the short stories. But it was an interesting book, regardless.