Laurie and Grayson also got Covid. It's everywhere. Anyway, Ella and Jillian were supposed to spend the day with their Mom because Jeff was going to a game (I think) but the girls didn't want to get Covid so they came to my house!!! We had so much fun. I (as per usual) bought way too much food. We watched Speed. They both liked it but Jillian was hilarious. During the tense parts, she would run around the room and say, are they going to die? What's going to happen? It reminds me of the first time I showed Maggie Jurassic Park. She was so nervous during the tense scenes, she would run back and forth across the couch.
I've come to the conclusion that my nieces are what grandparents say is so wonderful about grandkids. I care about their future and all that, but I have no responsibility for any of that. Thus, I can solely enjoy them. They are so fun and sweet and funny and it just feels like total joy to be with them.
Although, my kids have been so awesome lately. Maggie is so easy. I tell her to do her chores and she just does them. We had one incident with a failing grade (I think that was two years ago) and then never again. The biggest issue we have is how mean she is to her little sister. A couple of weeks ago, I sat her down and said basically it has to stop. She complained and I told her Ruby will be her sister forever and everyone has good and bad parts and all that and we figure it out for the people we love. And. . . she has been so much better! Ruby is thrilled. She keeps asking me if Maggie will do this or that with her and she wants to do things for her. It is making me incredibly happy.
Ruby struggled with going back to school but now that everything is consistent, she's doing much better too. She was very worried because this is the first year she'll be doing the STAAR test. I kept telling her she would do fine. Then her MAP scores came back and I explained to her that the MAP was literally created to predict who would and wouldn't pass the STAAR and she passed. I'm not sure if she understood but she hasn't brought it up since.
We did her 504 meeting and got rid of all the behavioral parts. When she first got her 504, she was a first grader and unmedicated. That teacher had a really hard time with her and wanted behavioral accommodations, in addition to focus/attention accommodations. When we did it last year, we added that she can have snacks in the afternoon when her meds wear off. That teacher said she never uses the behavioral ones but it was early in the year so we left them in place. This year the new teacher didn't need them and last year's teacher confirmed she never used them, so we just dropped them. Now, it basically says don't forget she struggles with attention and focus and will need to eat in the afternoon.
