All posts by latchkeymom
latchkeymom

IEP Anxiety

 

Anxiety is defined as:  “Distress or uneasiness of mind caused by the fear of danger or misfortune.”  Sounds about right, although a bit technical.  For me, anxiety is a rapid increase in my heartbeat, as if I’ve had a lot of espresso.  It’s a jittery, panicky feeling, which makes any type of focus impossible.  I tend to obsess over what I’m anxious about, to the point of paranoia.  Seriously.  One thing that triggers my anxiety level is when I hear, “Allie, we need to schedule an IEP meeting.”

An IEP is an Individual Education Plan for students receiving special education services.  It sounds rather innocuous, but it comes with all kinds of emotional baggage for the parents.  On its best day, it’s kind of like a State of the Union address.  The school tells you all that they’ve accomplished for your child, with goals met and mastered and a plan is drafted to raise the bar.  At its worst, momma storms out of the meeting, slamming a heavy, industrial-sized door, which reverberates so loudly, I will still hear it in my subconscious, a year later.  (It was not my finest hour.)  Continue reading IEP Anxiety

Spring is Coming

IMG_20130310_174754I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.  ~Ruth Stout

Spring is coming, I can see it!

I just don’t quite have the spring in my step.

The clocks jumped ahead this weekend and for some reason, it was tough on most of us in the house.  The two early birds in the family were quite grumpy as I shuttled them onto the bus this morning, in the dark.  Another child stumbled down the stairs an hour and fifteen minutes after his alarm went off, practically in tears, insisting that he hated daylight savings time and I had to fix it.  Ah, ok – I’ll get right on that.  I went to wake the last child, only to find him still asleep, in bed with dad!  I practically had to bang pots and pans to get the three of them moving.  Laughing, I told them to man up, it was only an hour!

Well, after everyone was gone and I was making beds, I was overcome with a strong desire to crawl back into bed.  Guess what?  I did!  I slept hard, and woke up guilty.  I have no idea what came over me.  The blanket of exhaustion never really lifted, and the rainy day didn’t help.  Coincidently, I saw an article on the Huffington Post, declaring the Monday after the time change as National Napping Day.  I like it!   Made me feel better, since I got nothing done today.

Anyone else have a tough time getting motivated this morning?