Reading

At the beginning of the school year Logan brought home a note stating that to improve a child's reading skill they need to read for 10 minutes a day. That sounds great in theory but has proven difficult at best in practice.

Like all kids, if he doesn't want to do something he makes it seem as if it's killing him. Logan's thing is he's "itchy". This allows him to squirm and whine and put the book down. Of course every 30 seconds he's asking if it's been 10 minutes yet. He also tends to like to "read" books he pretty much has memorized.

Last night I found one of my book I figure he might like. It's a novel by Marvel Comics, a Spider-man/X-men cross over. It's about 200 pages long and in the 10 minutes he read slightly more than a page. Towards the end he was dropping the tears to try and get out of it. GAH!

Then I had flash of inspiration. I'm not quite bribing him, I'm challenging him. If he gets the book read by Christmas then for his birthday we will get him a collectible card game. He was very interested in the deal.

I explained to him that he HAD to be able to read fairly well to play a CCG like Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh or any of the other games. He was curious about what other card games there were so we went on line and looked some up. I told him that we'd have to go to the stores around us because not all the games we found would be available here. So today after lunch we're all going downtown to the games shops.

Carrie had her dentist appointment in Belleville last week. The bone loss in the jaws isn't being caused by the osteopenia, it's being caused by gingivitis and another oral disease. Both are treatable and both should have been seen by the dentist here. So we are a bit pissed about that. Dr. Vepoorte in Belleville is going to take us back on as clients so we don't have a group of retarded monkeys putting sharp objects in out mouths anymore.

Carrie also saw our family doctor. Basically he told her to only use the chair for long walks. She needs to walk at least 30 minutes a day to help strengthen her back. It won't cure her but it will help reduce the pain.

The week before last we had a meeting with ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program). Basically they wanted to confirm our finances to ensure we were still eligible. We are for now.

They informed us about changes being made and that I now have to work(or prove I'm looking for it), even if it's part time. Failure to do so would mean I'm removed from the monthly cheque.

Now, I have been looking. I've been putting out several resumes on line a week, including to womens clothing stores. I just haven't bothered to keep a record. So of course I get the lecture from ODSP. Then a few days later from Carrie. A few days after that I hear it from my mother. Carrie gives me a second hand lecture from our family doctor. So I had a meltdown.

I snapped. Now I have everyone in the family terrified I'm going to do something stupid. They all want me to go in and get diagnosed to see if I suffer from depression. That's a great idea but how do i do that? A few months ago our doctor gave Carrie a referral for a psychiatrist. That went great, none of them here in Kingston were taking new patiences. So how the hell do I get to see one? I don't have a referral, not that would actually help. Maybe if I had a gun or a large knife?