Yesterday was Zed's third birthday. We had a great day together. He and I did the bookstore/toy store/pet store triple play yesterday morning. We had a small party for him last night and he loved all his presents (he'll be having his "official" birthday party this weekend (if I can keep the kids well; it's already been postponed once)).
It was a fun day.
It was also a sad day.
Yesterday was also the day we had to say goodbye to his services coordinator and therapists, the people who have worked so hard to help his progress. These people had been a major part of our lives over the past nine months and we're going to miss them all dearly. In fact, when my wife walked the speech therapist to the door, the two of them started crying.
Babies.
When kids turn three in our state, the school system takes over and sees to their special needs. We had Zed's IEP meeting last week. We left the meeting with Zed's IEP unsigned. We're still trying to find a happy medium between their offer of a sign language VHS tape and our counter of a therapist to live with us 24/7.
Ok. I'm exaggerating greatly on both counts here. I realize we are not entitled to the best education available, only free and appropriate education. And if I've learned anything over the past few months, you've got to push for every little service you get. There is no Special Needs Fairy that comes to your door and drops off therapists and assistive technologies.
So we're pushing.
Song of the day
It's taken four days, but today Greg finally highlights a band I've actually heard of and seen live.When I moved from Los Angeles to Chapel Hill in 1995, I was thrust into the tail of the Great Indie Rock Explosion in town. Much like my high school years, you couldn't spit without hitting a band member in town, from Kinkos to the local video store, they were everywhere. These were the days of Superchunk, Polvo, Picasso Trigger, PIPE, Zen Frisbee and Archers of Loaf to name a few. I didn't get Polvo at first and Superchunk was fine and all but the Archers were the band I'd pick if I had to pick from the Holy Trinity at the time. I would eventually "get" Polvo by the time they released Exploded Drawing and would spend a few days on the road with the band after they invited my friends in PIPE to open some shows for them. I tagged along under the moniker of PIPE's "manager." If you lived in Chapel Hill around this time, you'll surely recognize at least a half dozen people in this vid. On a side note: emerging at the same time was a new genre called alt.country and local bands like The Backsliders and Whiskeytown were playing the clubs.
Song of the day: Harnessed In Slums by Archers Of Loaf
