It’s been a reeeeeaaaaallllly long day, so if I didn’t make sense, work with me. Lol

My son got into a fight with a boy yesterday. Not a big deal in the long run. Today the school sent the other boy home to get checked. He’s got a big black eye. I went to check on him today and that’s how I found out he was sent to the Er. I asked his mom if I could come see how he was and she said yes. (The above is just the background. Appropriate action has been taken as far as the fight goes! My shock is below) Her and I were talking and the X-ray tech comes to get the kid and just starts rattling off what he’s doing and that’s when I realized no one had any clue that mom doesn’t speak English! And kid can’t translate! His English is terrible. He’s got the words, but not understanding, so he can sometimes get by, but he should not have passed in a medical situation. I ended up staying (kiddo’s fine), but even after telling them they need a translator, I still had to translate! They never brought in a translator. I had to tell them to get the discharge papers in Spanish as well as sit with the nurse to explain Motrin dosing. In all this, none of the staff ever questioned who I was, yet they’re rattling off discharge instructions while I’m typing into google translate.

I do body weight, dumbbell, kettle bell, barbell. My deadlifts are with 35-75lbs. I don’t track weights used yet and always just ask what I would use. Lol I’m not doing anything bad as far as my lower back is concerned. I know I’d feel that quick. The warmups are very varied.

Those yoga poses look great too! Thank you. Right now I’m feeling the most fatigue with any movement involving a squat, mountain climbers, rowing, and today even a push up required a knee down (I’m still worming for more than 1 push-up, but I also have to use dumbbells which has me lower than if on the floor). I have no idea why my legs felt so much during a push-up, but they did. Lol

I just tried a few dropping down to the step, and I do end up sitting because of weakness. But it doesn’t seem to hurt as much in the quads.

That looks doable! I just have to find a surface.

I think I need to practice more at home with some overcorrection.

Oh there’s lots of deadlifts going on! Lol Google says I might not be going deep enough! It suggests a box squat, so I can use my bottom step.

I started exercising. My squat isn’t perfect, but it’s getting there. Somehow I’m overusing my quads and not using my hamstrings (I realize I am using all those muscles, so I’m referring to the pain of knowing what was worked), or my quads are just so much weaker it feels worse. I’m trying to get my hips/butt back more, but in the process of practicing, my quads are dead. I feel absolutely nothing in the hamstrings. Maybe I need to wall squat or ball squat. What can I do that almost exclusively works hamstrings to even out this leg blah-ness? Even walking up stairs reminds me that I have muscles in the front of my legs. Lol I have been resting, which I think is part of the problem! I think I end up going to class on leg heavy days. So I’m going to go a lot more, but will ask for modifications if needed.

I do get what you’re saying, but mom and dad already signed the formal permission slip and paid. The day of note is essentially just a reminder that kiddo is not getting on the bus that day. I actually find it annoying. Trip, dance, activity, after school club, etc. form is already completed as needed. The day of note is not necessary, or shouldn’t be.

The POA is for the stuff bigger than the dance. I was just mentioning that I’m not concerned with forgery in regards to things like the dance. I know most of the cps workers, but not this one. I have calls out to see if I can chat with her hypothetically about this. As far as cps is concerned, minimally adequate parenting is happening. They know I’m involved heavily, and may not even care about the parents making me more official. A POA, unlike shared legal custody, means squat if cps has to intervene or remove kids again. On the other hand, legal and physical was on the table a year ago. And if we did shared and something happened, cps wouldn’t have to do a 1/4 of the paperwork usually involved.

Do you know how much crap I get for not celebrating these?!

I just contacted a family lawyer.

Given the documents being signed, I highly doubt there’s anything to worry about. I’m not benefiting from signing, there’s no value, and I have texts telling me to do so. For 2 schools, I write and sign the note normally. They know parents just forgot. 3rd school would have refused to let the kiddo attend the dance that was already paid for with permission slip (signed by parents) had I not forged the note by simply writing mom’s name on it.

In our state that’s a standby guardian. But it gives no power unless the parents are away or something happens to them.

Signing for mom is the little stuff. Like kid x is going to the school dance. Already paid for, but the school still requires the day of note for kid to stay after school and attend the dance. That day of note is never remembered. 2 of the 3 schools accepts me as a signer, so I sign my name. They know parents know and approve since the activity was paid for, and they know anything after school will be picked up by me anyway. The parents have given written and verbal consent for me to deal with some school matters, but the school is still blocking. The 2 other schools jumped at the chance to work with me. The moment they got the letter, I got a list of things needing to be done! Lol. I have a letter for medical needs and I deal with all that. Not much, just physicals, getting school forms done, etc. The one school will not accept the same format letter. I already called a lawyer, but not local so there’d be no chance they knew anyone involved. He was great and gave a ton of info. He said if we prepped the papers, a local lawyer could just review and help make it official, but keep costs low since it’s done. He had also suggested shared legal custody, but I’m not up for that. Not yet anyway. Shared legal is more difficult anyway because there’s another bio parent not in the picture. Shared legal could have a statement of something like without prejudice against that parent. But then sharing legal could also seem to be circumventing cps (there’s no dependency, just an open service case). Because he spent 30 minutes on the phone for free, I didn’t want to ask every little detail. When I got off the phone and started googling forms, I found some stuff. One is that a POA of a minor might not even be valid. Another is that a POA no longer needs notarization (but we would).

This is regarding a POA for 5 minors. I've googled but can't find anything even close to the situation. Parents will not be incarcerated or medically incapacitated, and the kids are not leaving their daily care. 1. Is there any reason I can't just type the specifics instead of filling in a ready made form? 2. Can 2 parents appoint an attorney-in-fact to basically act as a 3rd parent? It doesn't take away their rights? How can I specify this? 3. Would a POA, giving a non-related person (but fictive kin at this point) power to make serious decisions, "look bad" in the eyes of CPS? What if the person is getting the things done that contributed to the case remaining open, and tries to include the parents physically as much as possible? The person looking to obtain POA rights is just tired of signing mom's name on everything (mom or dad will text with "oh crap, forgot x, y, z, can you sign please?"), or trying to explain the situation but still being blocked for the most important things (like an educational decision) even though parents have given verbal and written say-so to the school/dr/etc.

For the first time in over 10 years, my now 13 year old has an amazing SLP. I didn’t like her early on, but let it go and she did her thing. My son has made amazing progress with her! She is the only provider he behaves for (which at 13 is getting ridiculous, but whatever). In general, people can kiss it. There’s no need for the dental hygienist to work on manners, and I have no problem jumping in. But an SLP looking for acceptable/expected social behavior? I wouldn’t have a problem with that.

Since I don't need to run out and get anything, I guess I'll start with $50 for November. Maybe put $30-$40 a month (or maybe $100 for December) in the stash. Then as long as I write down what I buy and spend, I'll have an idea going forward. I'll take the newspaper money out of this category since any coupons would be used here.

What do you spend on toiletries and cleaning supplies monthly? I'm trying to create a budget, but really don't know what I "should" be spending regularly. We're very low income, but it's recently changed, though still in the very low range. So things like Clorox wipes can run out and not be refilled for months. However, I'd like to now keep some on hand (2 kids, 6 extra kids in and out, lots of germs! But also easy to teach a little extra kid to wipe the table with a wipe). Laundry detergent; I have preferred brands, but if we were low and absolutely broke, I'd get the cheapest price (not necessarily cheap per unit) to get us through. I'm going to track spending November and December, but we will not need laundry detergent or toilet paper. We may or may not need shampoo or soap, etc. I guess what I'm trying to figure out is how much per month should I add to the envelope for these things. We are officially a family of 3. But I do keep a little extra on hand for my extra kids (6 of them). I could go a month with minimal needs for the extras, or I could have a month where I have 1 or more with me every day of the month.

Thank you for the links!

Just turned 13 year old ds is finally behaving for his SLP! Only took 1 and a 1/4 school years! Lol He initially qualified for speech under pragmatic deficits, but she's now seeing that it's really an expressive language delay. But she thinks that delay is caused by his lack of executive functioning skills. What are some things, like games, that can help with executive functioning? Bonus if it targets expressive language. He currently has an A+ in science despite very low work because he has 1:1 live lessons with his gen ed teachers and they can see understanding in his face and eyes, even though his output is next to nothing.

I'd ignore the behavior and prevent it from happening again. In this case you were able to message the parent, the extra kid isn't going with you, so ignore the side stepping. But talk to dh. If he's not gone dealing with day to day stuff, then he can't make those decisions, no matter how little they seem.

What about bone conduction headphones? They rest near the ear but not in, leaving the ears open for noise.

Also didn't think of smoke/fire safety. My son doesn't have a door. But, our heating system has no vents or anything. It literally floats around as it sees fit. So if a bedroom door is closed, it'll get really cold really fast.