Some quick updates, while we await the judge's decision

My legs, they are not so restless any more. I'm assuming it was the GABA I'd been taking, which wasn't really helping as much as it was tranquilizing me. That, or it was just coincidence. In any case, I can deal with the mild restlessness, especially since the major restlessness made me do some research, and I now have some exercises, etc., that I can use when it gets bothersome. It hasn't stopped me from sleeping in a week, though. So that's good.

The 5HTP I've been taking totally rocks in terms of picking up where the antidepressants left off. It also seems to work almost precisely like any SSRI in terms of side effects as well--in other words, I'm hungry all the time and I haven't lost a single pound, damnit. But I haven't tried to bite one of my children's heads off in a single, bloody motion since I've been taking it, so that's an improvement.

My dad, after holding eerily steady for a while--actually, after seeming to get significantly BETTER after our not-so-wonderful visit with him--is now reportedly on a downswing. Totally to be expected. But Em had begun to hope that she might get to see him when we head to NY at the end of July for her always-eagerly-awaited Month With Grandma and Pop-Pop (my stepdad). And now it's looking, again, like even if he's still alive, he might not really be visitable. But, like I told her, we'll just have to wait and see. I did my thing, said my goodbyes. I'm OK. But she feels like she needs to see him one more time (for a total of, what? six times in her life?) before he dies. I'm not sure I'm really rooting for that, to be honest. I'm not sure it would be such a good thing for her.

School doesn't end until next Wednesday, but that's soon enough for me. Although we don't officially get to find out our kids' placements for next year until the morning school starts (great for the principal, who doesn't get bombarded with "but I wanted my kid in anoooooooooother class" whining, but hell on us parents, who have no idea how to prepare our anxious kids for the next school year), I have exactly the info I need on both my kids, so I'm good. Em will be in whichever of the two fifth-grade classes her friend C *isn't* in--not only at parent request, but at VERY STRONG teacher recommendation. Phew. C is a really great kid, and she and Em are really close, but she's intense and dramatic and the word overbearing doesn't even begin to describe how she is with Em. Em's teacher absolutely despised the way the two of them were together this year, and says that the only way for Em to shine is for her to get out from under C's influence. And so it will be.

As for N, he'll be in the K-1 split class next year, also due to both parent request and teacher recommendation. Due to declining enrollment, our already-small school will likely only have one full first-grade class, and then a K-1 split class and a 1-2 split class. Deciding which one to put N in was difficult--and not entirely my choice to make, to be honest--but ultimately, I think this is the best choice for him. The 1-2 split is out--there couldn't be anything worse for him than to put him into a class where half the kids are kids he won't know and who are more advanced (especially socially) than he is. The first-grade-only class would have been OK, but just that: OK. The K-1 split has several advantages: It has the teacher who I think will be best for him out of the three teachers who will likely have these classes next year. It will have kindy kids, who don't really have their footing in school yet, and so if N is still struggling a little that way, he won't stand out as much. And the kindy kids leave an hour before the first-graders do each day, which means that for an hour a day, N will be in a class of between 8 and 12 kids rather than a class of 20 kids.

All of these things are subject to shifts that occur over the summer (if enough kids move into the district, for instance, they may go from a K-1 split to a second full first-grade class or something), but for now, I'm happy with the choices...for both my kids.