Saturday, May 31, 2014

Bat Mitzvah

Our neighbor, Shane, is now a Bat Mitzvah.  Today was the service at her temple in which she becomes a Bat Mitzvah.  We were invited and we watched the whole ceremony.  Shane led most of the service, including singing/chanting prayers, giving a lesson (similar to a story / sermon) and did so looking at ease and confident. 

For someone who's not quite thirteen, it must have been daunting.  She has been going to Hebrew school each week for close to a year now to prepare for this day.   She is now recognized as an adult member of the Jewish community.

I thought the entire service was lovely.  It was a friendly crowd, the two rabbi's were helpful and encouraging and her family and friends help at different parts of the service with specific tasks.  

There was a guitar player/singer who stood up front the whole time and added tremendously to the ambience of the entire service.  Her Hebrew pronunciation was excellent, as was her singing voice.  

We are so proud of Shane,   In just a few hours we're going to go celebrate with her and her family at her party, which is at the airport private terminal, which they've rented out for the event!

The Big Boy Update:  My son was eating edamame beans and one of the outer membranes came off a bean.  It looked like a hollow bean with a gaping hole.  He told my husband, "it looks like a frog mouth."  Then, he decided it looked like a lizard mouth and finally he said it was a turtle mouth.  All green things that that little pod shell looked like to him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter asks for something to eat from time to time.  It's hard to understand which item she wants so we ask her to clarify, "do you want cereal or celery?"   She replies "I want some cel-er-a-ree-al."

Friday, May 30, 2014

The Nineteen Chip Count

I've been doing a statistical study for the past year.  It's been very scientific.  I've documented my results and I plan on publishing them in short order.   Well, maybe not so much.  Still, I have been paying attention.  

What I've been doing is eating cookies.  Specifically, chocolate chip cookies.  More specifically, frozen, uncooked chocolate chip cookies.   The way I see it, it takes only two bites to eat a fully cooked, hot, ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie, but if you take the time to eat around all the chips in a frozen version of that same cookie, it takes you upwards of twenty bites.   Also, I love frozen cookie dough.

So about the chips--I've been counting them.   I've mostly been not eating them as well.  I like the cookie dough more than the chocolate chips, so I don't eat them and at the end of the cookie, I count them.

Initially, the count from this specific frozen cookie brand was somewhere between sixteen and twenty-two.  However, over time the variance became less and within the past several batches, the only number I've been coming up with is nineteen. 

Is this some statistical anomaly, or is there some proportion portioning going on at the factory that's determined the optimal number of chips in a cookie of size X is nineteen?   I'll let you know when I publish my report in Scientific American.   Serious stuff, this chip counting.

The Big Boy Update:  Tongue bite.   My son bit his tongue badly at school today after running into the play structure with his chin.  There was discussion about it being, "all the way through".  I have my doubts on that front.  He was fine by the time we picked him up, smoothie in hand.  After drinking that he ate an entire lunch without flinching.   His tongue is definitely bitten, but it appears to be healing well so far.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Hair bow approval.  I've got a new type of hair bow she doesn't seem to be balking at.   We've been successful at keeping her hair out of her eyes for two days.  I'm hoping the trend continues.  Also, she was tired this evening before bed and when she went out front to go play with friends, she lay down in the middle of the street and tried to go to sleep.  Strange how easily she gets comfortable.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Solicitations

I did my first, "hard" solicitation tonight. It was to a family I barely knew, although we had a connection through our children at school.   I would have been very nervous, mostly because we were asking for a lot of money for our school.  However, the co-solicitor I had was excellent.  I had confidence in us as a team. 

We presented our case well.   That's not hard, because we have a true need and the fundraising goal is both reasonable and exciting in what we'll accomplish with the money.   Overall, the entire meeting went very well.  We'll find out soon if the family decides to contribute to the school project. 

The Big Boy Update:  Did I mention we've been encouraging my son to pee standing up?  Did I tell you about the, "wee wee bushes"?  The plan is working; he's peeing standing up more.  This afternoon I told him and his sister if they needed to pee, to not forget the wee wee bushes.  I then walked to the front of the house to talk to a neighbor.  I came back to see my son with his pants down.  I arrived to find a large deposit in the bushes.   I yelled for backup from my husband, who threw down a bag and some wipes.   I told my son we only pee on the wee wee bushes, to which he told me, "no, bushes love poop."  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Oompa Loompa hair.  She messes with her hair and takes anything you put in it out.  Then, she can't see because the hair gets in her eyes.  And yes, I know we could cut it, but it doesn't grow to be long hair if you cut it and that's the goal.  So we're still dealing with bothersome hair.   I grabbed a bit at the front and put it in a little elastic band this afternoon.  It was right at the front of her head and looked just like an Oompa Loompa curl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Pool Paddlin'

My children aren't afraid of the water at the pool this year.  They're not total daredevils and they do like their inner tubes, but they'll jump in, splash around and have a good time for hours.

The inner tubes are fun and give them mobility.  They give them the ability to move all around the pool, but they're not tied to them like they would be with a life vest type device.   They take them on and off, throw them into the middle of the pool and then have to wait for them to make it to the other side to get them back. 

They also like to swim with their crocs on.  I don't know why, they don't help in the paddling, but it seems to be fun for a while.  My son likes to put on these mini-flippers that someone left in the "shared toys" box at the pool.  He likes to kick around in them and he likes to run in them on the pool deck.  I don't like it when he does the latter.  Shouts of, "walking feet!" can be heard coming from me whenever he does this. 

It's a nice time for me because I don't have to hold them in the water every minute and I have reasonable confidence they're not about to sink underwater at any moment.  In a few weeks we're going to start swim lessons.  That should give them even more freedom in the water.

The Big Boy Update:  "I want you to keep it on."  My son was getting in the car at pickup today when he turned to the administrative assistant, Corley, and said, "your dress has polka dots".   She said, "yes, it does".  He said, "I want you to keep it on".   Coming from anyone other than a toddler, that comment might have been an insult, but from him, it was a compliment.  I don't remember him ever complimenting someone on their dress before.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Reverse birthmark.  We're using sunscreen, but some tanning still occurs.  My daughter has on the back of her leg a reverse-birthmark that doesn't show up until she has a bit of a tan.  I had forgotten all about it until today when I saw the spot (about a quarter in diameter) that just doesn't tan.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Teamwork

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Teamwork Tale:

My children are working together more and more of late.  Today they decided they wanted to get coins out of the slot machine.   Mind you that there were at least fifty coins out already.  Consider that the machine wasn't on and couldn't be played.  Don't forget they don't know what money is or that the coins in the machine are tokens instead of spendable cash.  None of that mattered, they were on a mission. 

The coins they were trying to get were in the center of the machine and to most people, unreachable because if we could just reach into a machine and take out money, we'd all be winners.   They discovered there was access through the back of the machine to the internal coin hopper.  They didn't discover this so much as they watched an older child pull out handfuls of coins and learned the secret.  Usually, slot machines are mounted or protected in such a way that we can't just reach around to the back but this old wall-mounted model has an exposed back because when installed, it would be behind a wall.

First my children dragged a chair over to the machine.  Then, my daughter got on the chair and started telling my son what to do.   I couldn't see my son from my office desk chair, but I could tell he was behind the table the slot machine sits on and he was doing something that was producing a banging/scraping sound. 

I heard my daughter say, "Greyson, could you reach them?" to which my son replied, "yeah, I could with my hook."  So now I'm curious and I get up to find out what's happening.

My daughter is standing on the stool, giving him more directions and asking follow-up questions.  My son is standing on the floor, trying to get his plastic golf club into the hole in the back.  The angle was wrong, the size of the plastic club head was too large and he wasn't going to "hook" a single token with his current plan.   But they didn't know that.

They worked on for another few minutes when suddenly my daughter discovered there were coins in the pay-out try all along.  Mission accomplished?   I'm not sure, but they were both happy about it.


Shoulder Shock

I had terrible problems with my spine. Ultimately I had to have two fusion operations in my cervical spine regions, fusing C5-C7 vertebral junctions together. Today, I have two less motion points in my neck, but I'm in much less pain than I was some years ago. 

At the time I had the initial consult, the doctor told me he would consider an additional fusion of the C4-C5 junction, but that it might not be necessary. He warmed me though that I might need another fusion in ten years-(ish) because true degeneration at C4 was non-trivial. 

I now have problems. This weekend on vacation in Las Vegas has been a bit of a trial. I've had unavoidable,  persistent,  exhausting pain in my left shoulder area. Before, the problem was in my right shoulder area. I am hoping I can go several more years before I have to address it with either doctors or surgery, but as of this moment and this past weekend, I don't know that I'm going. To make nearly that long. 

The Big Boy Update:  I didn't know what to get him as a present from our first vacation without the children. I settled on a truck, which he loves, that is a nice cream truck. It's not a very Las Vegas-like present, but I think it might just be perfect for him. 

The Tiny Giri Chronicles:  my mother-in-law has seen her drama queen behavior in action over the past weekend.  She's even asked my daughter if she wants to be a drama queen or a little girl.  My daughter replied to her, "I'm a girl".

Fitness Update:  Six miles. Apparently we walked six miles (or more) today as we went around Las Vegas. I took the stairs because I thought I should after all the food I was eating. I was't tired ever. I was ready to go whe. We got in and then I realized other people in our group were tired. I thought back to how I used to feel before I was in cardiovascular shape and I remembered being tired.  Then infelt bad for walking at the crazy fast pace I was going wiTh everyone else trying to keep up with me. 

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Several Vegas Things

I've been collecting blog post topics faster than days are going by in Las Vegas, so it's time for a topic buffet. 

I can't find my husband:  He made a mistake and didn't pack enough shirts. When we got here he got a new shirt and decided to wear it the next day. It wasn't until we got into the casino that I realized how much I rely on not only his personal appearance, but the familiarity of his clothes to visually spot him. It took me most of the day to add his new shirt to my overall mental image of him. 

Elevator Talk:  Sometimes people don't realize other people can hear what they say. I was in an elevator yesterday with two other women. They were trying to decide what to do when one woman said to the other, "how important is sexual dysfunction and osteoporosis anyway?"  I hope they were talking about seminar topics at a conference, but at that point they got off the elevator, so I may never know. 

The thing about roulette: is getting out with what you wcame in with. I don't expect to win at gambling. I have confidence I'll lose over time. But to join a roulette table, you need to start with a reasonable amount of money. Then, usually, you don't win anything for a number of spins.  When I do win, it's not uncommon for me to cash out and walk away from the table, relieved that I didn't lose it all. 

Bring your cash with you:  I got cash for my expenses while in Las Vegas before I left. I saw someone this morning who wanted to get $60 out of the ATM only to find there was a $5.95 surcharge on the transaction. That's steep. 

We don't have stairs:  there are elevator problems in our hotel due to a high volume of visitors this weekend. We are on the 52nd floor. I wanted to go to another floor to see the pool and and the spa/workout facilities. When I asked, the elevator attendant told me, "we don't have stairs".  The hell they don't; it's a fire requirement.  Oh, yes they do, she tells me, only we can't use them. We can only go in and go down to the ground level and the. There is some issue with exiting.   In the meantime, I can wait long periods of time to go one floor up to get to the pool because there are no stairs.  

The Big Boy Update:  Did I mention that my son’s hair lightened after her was born?  It was much darker tha. It is now. It's also not the color of my husband or my hair either. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Her hair is darkening. It's got pigment now and I think it will continue to get darker as she gets older. It's also not the color my husband or I have ever had as hair either. 

The New Vegas Attire

It's been four years since I was last in Las Vegas. Things have changed. There are new buildings, new slot machines, traffic is worse and more people are flocking to this very fun town than ever before.  But there is one change I didn't expect: ladies attire.

Imagine a prostitute. Imagine the provocative clothing she might wear on a street corner. Then, imagine that as a conservative outfit for today's Las Vegas woman. What appears to be in is wearing a revealing, much-to-small, barely concealing (if at all) swimsuit with an optional coverup. Coverup being a misnomer on account of most of the coverups I've seen are designed more to accentuate than cover up. 

Also...THERE IS NO BEACH!  What are these people dressing in swim attire for?  I do not know. Wait, did I mention the shoes?  Picture high heels. Picture really high heels.  Picture platform super high heels...with bathing suits.  Picture them in the middle of the day with no pool or beach in sight.  If the word, "outrageous" comes to mind, I'm right there with you. 

Oh, and imagine these ladies that choose to exhibit this new style, are largely of the type who shouldn't be wearing that type of clothing on account of their weight.  Not all of them, but far more than enough. 

It's interesting times here in Las Vegas. 

The Big Boy Update:  He's still the boss. My daughter will and can fight back, but he is still the driving force and dominator when it comes to our two children. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She defers. She is agreeable. She likes to help. She is nice to you, even when you' ex upset her.  She's my very friendly little girl. 

Fitness Update:  We hiked up Red Rock Canyon today with our friends. It was a great tour and we were all amazed at how secure and stable sandstone was to hike on. It was nice getting away from the Las Vegas strip to do something other than gambling and eating for part of the day. 


Friday, May 23, 2014

Packing Light

I needed to pack for our trip but other things had taken priority. I was dreading the time it was going to take to get everything in order, coordinated, winnowed down to only what we needed for the trip and then wedged into suitcases and bags based on when we needed it. Usually I had a list prepared so I wouldn't forget anything. Then I remembered...

...I wasn't packing for the children and me; I was just packing for myself. Wait, hold on, that meant packing was going to be easy.  Not only was it going to be easy, it was going to be fast. I was a business traveller for over ten years and if there is one thing you do well as a business traveller, it's pack quickly and efficiently. 

Not only that, I wasn't going to have to carry all sorry of things for the children to keep them entertained and I wasn't going to need to carry heavy carry-on bags because it was only me I was packing for. 

Also, we were going to a warm location. I didn't even go for my main travel suitcase; I got a small duffel bag of my husband's and had room to spare when I had everything collected. I forgot how easy it is traveling without children.

The Big Boy Update:  Jump rope technician. My son stole his neighbor's jump rope. He has been obsessed with it for over a week now. He's tied it to the bridge on the second floor and hung it down to the main floor and then tried to connect various things to it. He's looped it around and over trucks and then hauled them up the swing set ladder. He's going to wear it out at the rate he's going.  He has a similar jump rope and yesterday he found both at the same time. I'm not sure how many knots our house will be in by the time we return from vacation.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Fever. She has had a medium-grade fever since yesterday.  No one else is sick and other than the fever she seems to be fine. She has a large bug bite other thigh we wondered about, but so far it's been getting better, not worse.   She did t go to school today. We hope she feels better soon and thank Nana and Papa for taking such good care of her. 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

The House Rundown

My husband and I are about to embark on our first vacation away from the children where we leave the children at home and we fly away to lands unknown while other people take care of our children.   Our children will be miserable, we'll feel guilty about the whole thing and we'll all be exhausted when we see each other again.   Either that, or everyone is going to have a fantastic time all around.

I vote for the latter.  My children are being taken care of by their Nana and Papa, two people who they like far better than their parents on most days.   My in-laws have arrived and the fun has already started with my children.  Honestly, I don't think they're even going to miss us. 

My husband and I on the other hand will be traveling to the not unknown but rather well-known land of Las Vegas.  We're helping friends celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.  They got married in Las Vegas and we're glad to be joining them for their anniversary.  And as much as we love our children, I don't suspect we'll be pining away for them at all.  We know they're in good hands with their grandparents.  Besides, we've got things to do and money to lose.

So tonight I took my mother-in-law around and gave her a full run-down of everything I thought she might need to know about routine, location of stuff, medication dosages, doctor's number in case of illness, how to work the television, how to do laundry, who the neighbors are and their phone numbers and lots of other little things. 

We've left the children with Uncle Jonathan before for periods of time, but he's been with our children and this house since the day we moved in and he knows where everything is.  So to make sure I didn't forget anything, I took my in-laws on a walking tour of the house in the hopes that as we enter a room or area, anything they might need to know would be triggered by proximity.

That said, I'm sure I forgot sixteen crucial things they'll need to know in the first six hours after we've left town.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is, "never again" allowed to have a Starbucks drink stopper.  I got very mad at him and snapped.  I said what I said and now I have to stick to it to be credible.  He put it up his sister's nose.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The cinnamon toast song.  My daughter participated in a research study today.  She was doing well, even though she was tired.  At one point she was expected to play by herself (while I pretended to be unavailable).  She played with toys and sang to herself the entire time.  One song was all about cinnamon toast and consisted of the two words, "cinnamon" and "toast" repeated in varying ways over and over.  I couldn't help but laugh.  The testers said it was tough for them not to laugh behind the curtain.

Fitness Update:  Gym this morning was interesting.  Not much of a workout but a lot of education on IT band countermeasures and stabilizing muscles (and how mine are crappy) as well as alternate ways to warm up that might be a better benefit than the cardio workout we've been doing so far.   Then I ran four miles before dinner with my neighbor. 

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

I'm at School...and I'm Naked

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you're somewhere and suddenly everyone is laughing at you and you realize you're naked?  I think when I was growing up I had that dream numerous times and usually I was at school and my classmates (the popular ones in particular) were laughing at me.

Today, I subjected my son to that very thing.   We'd been told by multiple parents, teachers and even the head of school that if there is ever a problem where the child just won't listen, is rebellious, refuses to comply or any of a long list of, "I am not going to do it just because" type of things happens, that we should take the very specific action of inaction and bring the child to school.

Don't want to put on your shoes?  Fine, you get to walk to class from carpool line in the wintery cold weather with bare feet.  Don't want to put your clothes on?  Not a problem, you can go to school naked.   And that's just what happened this morning.  

I won't go into all the details of what happened, but suffice it to say after numerous warnings my son was carted off to the car in his pajama top and nothing else.  His clothes (and the breakfast he refused to eat) were in his school bag.  I called his teacher to warn her in advance and then we headed to school.

My son was upset...to the extreme.  It was quite a sight.  He regretted his decision of rebellion, but cries of, "I want to start over" and "I want to go back where we started" got him no where, because we were on the way to school.

When we arrived and the teachers at the drop-off line realized what was happening, they swooped in and got my daughter out of the picture.  My son had to head to class with no pants on.   He has never been told nudity is bad, so there was no stigma there, but he didn't want to be carried into class undressed and upset even so.

When he arrived at class he calmed down, they helped him get dressed and then he ate his breakfast.  They talked to him about what happened and he decided to listen in the future when it was time to go potty and get his clothes on.

We shall see how things go tomorrow.  I hear you only have to take them to school naked once.

The Big Boy Update:  "I can't calm down" he told me after requesting numerous times to "go back where we started".  He desperately wanted to start the day over and put his clothes on instead of being driven to school naked.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "I know, sweetie."  My daughter repeated those words to my son after I told him that.  I was trying to console him for not having his clothes on and not listening.  He didn't very much like his sister trying to talk to him using the same words.  

Fitness Update:  Bench presses.  We've never done them.  I won't tell you how much weight we pressed, because even though we've been working out, the amount we can bench press is still pitifully small.  Still, it was a fun thing to do. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

How Many Bulbs?

My husband and I just got done counting every light bulb in our house.  I don't know how many it is yet because I haven't had a chance to put it into a spreadsheet--but I can tell you this, it's a lot.

We're looking at several ways to be better citizens of the planet.  We're pretty excited about seeing how many of those bulbs we can turn into more efficient LED versions.  It's not going to be an overnight change because there are just loads of bulbs.  We've run into buzzing issues for some that require a new dimmer switch that's compatible.   There are wattage differences that make some lights not work well in certain situations.   And there are some bulb-types we have that aren't available in LED-versions yet.

It's a start though.  I'll have to write up another post we we determine how much change we can make in bulbs alone.

The Big Boy Update:  My son's teacher sent me this text message, "I am Spider Man and I am itchy.  I need my spider spray!"  She laughed, got the spray lotion and spider sprayed him all over.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "Where is my 'tude?"  I had no idea what she was saying until I realized she wanted to know where I had put her inner tube from the pool.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Scalene Muscles

My neck has been bothering me a lot lately, and that's annoying.  It bothers me from time to time, but of late it's doing two things.  First, it feels like it and my head aren't properly positioned on top of my shoulders.   And second, there's this paresthesia thing happening down my left arm that isn't to my liking. 

On the first front, it's not fun having your head feel like it's not sitting in the right spot on top of your shoulders.  But as in all things spine-related, pain or discomfort in one area or direction can cause you to favor or avoid that thing that's causing pain.   And sometimes, that makes the situation worse, not better.

I don't know if I'm making things worse.  What I do know is that since the beginning of the year I've been getting little pins and needles tingling in random spurts down my left arm.   It was rare initially, but it's much more common now.  I've been trying to determine if there is something I'm doing or not doing that's causing the issue.  When it happens I try and change positions or do something different.  No matter what I've done, I haven't been able to isolate any behaviors or actions that cause or remedy the problem.  That is, until today.

I've been worried about my spine lately as a result of this recent symptom.  I know I'm going to have to have another fusion.  The first one was almost ten years ago, so the next one is likely to be sooner that later.  This paresthesia was the first worrisome sign I've gotten that something may be wrong that, if not corrected, could cause damage.   I don't mess around with nerve damage.

My chiropractors had given me suggestions to try and I'd come up with things too.  We know I have an issue with the C4-C5 vertebra junction.  I know it's working towards fusion on its own, but I don't want to be in pain as it does so.  Today, he tried something new.  He had me look a certain way while he pressed on some muscles in my neck and asked, "does that make it worse?"  

"YES!"  It didn't make it painful, it just accentuated the paresthesia.   So now I have a glimmer of hope.  The scalene muscles of the neck are inflamed and tight.  He gave me exercises.  I'm probably holding my neck in such a way to help, only I'm causing more problems.  

Does this mean I can fix it on my own?  I don't know.  Does it mean it's not internal to the vertebra?  We don't know that either.  But I have something to work on. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son likes to watch a new television show about animals called, "Wild Kratts" after the two Kratt brothers.  He has learned a lot about animals and it has factored into his imagination time.  He thinks two pair of my sneakers, placed on his hands and feet, make him a rhinoceros.  He's still working on saying the name of the show though, he persists in calling it, "Rial Kratts".

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has a boyfriend.  They are enamored with each other.  They spend all day together.  I was substituting today and his older sister was in the class I was working with.  She told me her dad asked Jacob if he loved my daughter.  She said he turned away and grinned shyly. 

Fitness Update:  Monday in the gym after a day of rest on Sunday.  We did group workouts towards the end with five of us powering through minute-long sets of something painful, difficult, exhausting or uncomfortable. 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

What the Funk?

I feel strange.  I feel tired and almost sick, but I don't think I am.  Last night in the middle of the night I had such a bad tickle in my throat and my eyes itched so much I took a benadryl.  Then, I was so groggy I missed my alarm to get up and run and slept through the entire breakfast period of the morning.   That means I didn't notice my children getting up and being loud pests for breakfast.   I didn't notice my husband moving them in and out of the bathroom to go potty and I didn't hear pretty much anything until eight o'clock.  

And that's late.  I don't sleep until eight.  I wandered around groggy for a while as I got prepared for a baby shower I was hosting later in the day at a friends house.  I got ready, took a tylenol for a headache that seemed like it was going to hit me in the head any minute and then I went off to do the shower thing.

During the shower I was on my game--I had to be, I was one of the hosts.   When we were done cleaning up and my car was packed, I said goodbye and drove off.  Then I realized how not great I felt.

Not great isn't a great way to describe it.  I don't feel sick though.  I don't really feel that tired, although I do feel run-down.  I feel like maybe there's some pollen phase that hits after the main, yellow pollen that's taken hold of my head and blown it up.   That, or it was their cats.  I don't do well with cats.

I felt so crummy that I got into a silly argument with my husband when I got home--an argument I didn't really feel like fighting, so it sort of ended in us not arguing, which was sort of funny.

After I write this I'm going to bed.  At eight-thirty.  It's not even dark out, but bed sounds dreamy right about now.

The Big Boy Update:  "You'll get your tutu wet," my son said to Kira as she was getting in the pool.   She had explained that the thing on her leg was a tattoo she made herself. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got in bed with me this morning after asking for her iPad.  She told me she wanted, "a new app" which was impressive, so I told her I'd go look for one.  I pulled out my iPad and was going to look for apps on sale, but I couldn't because she was trying to sit right on top of me, leaving no space.  I asked her to move over so that I could look for new apps for her.  She moved a little, but pushed her feet back into the empty spot--the spot I needed to be in.  She looked at me and said, "I want to sit right here...with my toes."

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Doing Nothing Can Be Hard

I have something I want to do.  It's on my list of things to do and I have a reminder sitting in my inbox to make sure I don't forget to do it.  I have a calendar reminder that will remind me.  In short, I'm not going to forget.   This thing I'm not going to forget however, is something that I can't forget.  It's important to me that I don't miss this important thing.   What I'd most like to do is do the thing now, and then I could check off my list that it's done and let it be someone else's problem. 

Have you ever been in a position where you want to hand off the problem, but if you do you're just going to be more worried that the person you handed it off to was going to mess it up?  That's what's keeping me from doing anything yet.

This thing I need to do is put an announcement in the paper for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary.   And before you gasp and say, "oh no, doesn't your mother read your blog?!"  Yes, she and my father do, but they know about this newspaper announcement.  I didn't want to do something they wouldn't want, so they're aware of the announcement.  But maybe they'll have forgotten it's coming up and when it appears in the paper it will be a nice thing that will make them smile.   I really can't wait; the pictures of them fifty years ago and now are so lovely.  It's going to be great.

So let me side-track for a minute and tell you about a thing that happened and why I'm in this must wait/don't want to wait position.  I also helped coordinate a congratulations announcement in their club's monthly newsletter.  I had the information ready early, I worked with their media coordinator and they were pleased to be able to announce such a wonderful accomplishment of two of their members.   And then...the announcement came out in April instead of June. 

Had I just waited until closer to their anniversary, there wouldn't have been an opportunity to put it in early.  This probably won't happen with the newspaper, a much larger entity, but that one mistake gave me pause.

So now I'm waiting until closer to the time of their anniversary to call up and finalize the announcement after my inquiry some months ago.  I hate waiting for the sake of waiting.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been saying, "okay pahmer" for a week or so now.  We have no clue what pahmer means.  Today I asked him at two separate times during the day what "pahmer" meant and both times he immediately answered, "pahmer means mommy".   I have a new name.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "There's some waurmer bands in here."  My daughter had this electrical thing she'd found in a drawer this morning.  It had a plastic base and some colorful wires coming out of the end into another plastic piece.  We realized she was trying to say "rubber bands" and the wires looked like rubber bands.   Her brother had found a rubber band earlier and she had been looking for her own "waurmer bands" until she found the electrical component in a sealed bag.  We got her a rubber band for effort.

Fitness Update:  Nine miles.  Would have liked to run ten, but time was not on our side as my husband and his father had places to go. 


Friday, May 16, 2014

The Tumor Waiting Period

Imagine with me for a minute: you have something wrong with you for some time.  There are symptoms that are definite, although they come and go.  You have multiple doctors try and diagnose you, but no one seems to be able to determine your problem.  You're given suggestions of things to try, and you diligently try each and every one of them--including the ones you think are ridiculous.  No one knows what's wrong and yet you still have your problem. 

Your problem is annoying.  You worry it could be something that's causing damage or getting worse.  But you just don't know.  Then, one day, you get the confirmation you're looking for.  YES, there is something going on and no only does someone believe you that something is wrong, you have a real diagnosis.  You have a tumor.   Fixing the problem isn't going to be easy, but it's definitely doable. 

But wait, did you say in our pretend scenario just now that I have a tumor?  I DON'T WANT A TUMOR IN MY BODY!  Let's get it out.  Let's jump in the car, head over to the hospital, do that scrubbing up thing doctor's do and get this blob of, "should not be in my body" stuff out as fast as possible. 

Then you find out that yes, we should probably get that tumor thing out, but we need to think this through, do some research, see what the schedules look like, coordinate with some other folks and, well, it's going to be a while before we can get this whole removal thing done.  

But...but...I have a tumor!  Not to mention, I've got symptoms I'm not thrilled about that bother me every day.   Can't we hurry this thing up?  That's what I'm calling the Tumor Waiting Period.

Scenario over and no, I don't have a tumor.  What I have is a smell in my basement.  We've been trying to diagnose it for months and no matter who we bring in, no one can identify the problem.  Until now.   We think we've identified an infestation of mice (or perhaps small rats) in the wall behind the closet in the basement.  It's up against a poured concrete wall and it's about one the most secure locations in the whole house, that closet being our tornado safety spot. 

So now we wait.  We have to get things scheduled to address it because we're going to have to do some demolition on the dry wall to locate the actual nest.   Then, we're going to have to determine how they got in and make sure they can't make a nest three feet away once we eradicate the current nest.   And while we do that, we don't want to let them into the house, which at this point they haven't gained access to. 

So it's waiting.  And I don't like waiting.  I want the tumor out.

The Big Boy Update:  "This is a rescue shoe."  My son decided his shoe was a rescue shoe in the car on the way to school this morning.  I'm not sure what made that shoe a rescue shoe or why the other shoe wasn't also a rescue shoe, but he was fairly firm about that shoe's purpose.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   Little climber.  I went to a school event and when I came home my father-in-law told me my daughter climbed on everything.  She was all over the play structure, up the climbing wall and even up the slide (which is tricky).

Fitness Update:  Friday at the gym.   Thigh workout.  Brutal.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Spiders and Letters

We do this thing from time to time in our family that may or may not cause you to gasp and say we're terrible parents.  It's conveinent, fun, and my kids love it.   We go to McDonald's.

I know what you're thinking, "how could you?  They're just babies.  You should be feeding them kale and beets and mineral water purified in the intestines of a yak."  

<power interruption> Oh dear, I'm going to have to wrap this blog post up because we're in the middle of heavy rains that are causing flash flood warnings which apparently make our power flicker.   I'm in the dark, except for my monitor...and I'm still typing.   My computer is on a battery backup and somehow we still have have internet connectivity.   My husband lost cell connection to his sister when the power dropped, but heck, I have computer and connectivity.   I guess I'd better type quickly before my computer backup or the internet connection drops on me.


Okay back to McDonald's.  We go there, my son calls it "chicken fries" or at least he used to.  Now he just calls it "Old MacDonald's".  We get them happy meals.  Happy meals come with a toy: either a "boy" or a "girl" version.    If you say,"boy" you will see the words, "truck toy" appear on the drive-through monitor.  If you say, "girl" the words, "doll toy" appear.

But you're not going to get a truck or a doll.  You're going to get something different for each.  It really depends on the toy campaign.  Sometimes both are great and sometimes neither are.  The other week we got one of each type during the Spiderman campaign.

The boy toy was a wind-up walking spider.   This thing is cool.  It walks and looks creepy and both my children like carrying it around, trying to sneak it into school and seeing if their little fingers can wind it up.

The girl toy was totally different.  It was a set of pink note cards.  You got four spider-lady letters and four spider-lady post cards.  There was a pink spider-lady pencil and bonus stickers to dress up your spider-correspondence.

The spider is fun now.  I saved the cards.  Maybe when my children are old enough to write we'll mail you a spider-letter.

The Big Boy Update:  It turns out real toothpaste isn't is tasty as non-flouridated, candy-flavored, toddler toothpaste they use (and swallow) now.  I caught my son this afternoon after he'd put a big blob of my toothpaste in his mouth.  He was suffering punishment enough trying to get it out through a combination of wiping his tongue on his shirt and spitting into the sink. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "I wanna go first too!"  My daughter told my son this after he proclaimed he was going first.

Fitness Update:  Ran six miles.  Looking forward to the weekend because five days in a row where I don't get to sleep to seven o'clock and I'm a tired momma.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The Scanner Scam

I was scanning pictures the other day and I just could not get a good scan.  I changed the DPI, (or was it resolution?) I was scanning at and it not only took much longer, it didn't look much better when it was done.  I was getting frustrated because the scanner wasn't bad or old.  Why couldn't I get a picture to look nice?  I had a stack of old pictures I wanted to get done with and at this rate it was going to take more time than I wanted to mess with the project.

Then I had an idea; I'll take pictures of the pictures.  The cameras these days have great resolution.  I'll just lay all the pictures out on the table, take pictures of the pictures and then dump them onto my computer. 

The process was quick.  The pictures looked great.  It was easy.  I didn't  have to process and, "save as" on each picture because they were already numbered automatically for me. 

I'm not sure I'm going to use my scanner again.

The Big Boy Update:  "There's a torn inside me."  We're not sure if it was a splinter or an actual thorn, but it was inside him he said.  He pointed to the spot and we rubbed it well and it seemed to go away.  Pesky torns.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Pee pee problems.  For some reason she's been having a difficult time keeping her bladder under control lately.  She'll be great for a few days and then there will be a day where she wets her pants only minutes after going to the potty.  Our baby sitter (who is also her teacher) saw it in action tonight.  I'd worry she had a bladder infection but it doesn't happen every day. 

Fitness Update:  At the gym today I was having problems with my neck.  After I left and got home I was having worse problems with my neck.  After I dropped off the children for school I went to the chiropractor, who was able to help me out significantly.  He gave me some advice to avoid doing certain types of movements for a day or two...and I laughed.  Oh, those are all the things I just got done doing at the gym.  No wonder I exacerbated the situation.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

My Neck Hurts

It's late, I need to get to bed because it's late and I'm tired.  "My neck hurts" is really a crappy title for a blog post, but it does hurt and I want to get to bed and so that's what you get for tonight folks.  Sorry.

It's okay.  Well, okay, it's not okay, but it's not that much worse than it is most days.  I don't know how it's going to be in five or ten or even twenty years, because when it comes to my neck, things don't usually move in the, "improving long-term" direction.  

So I'm off to a fluffy pillow and a nice anti-inflammatory pill before an early workout in the morning.

The Big Boy Update:  I watched my son say the following as he walked around our bedroom in the early morning sunlight, "I'm very tall.  The shadow makes me taller.  I'm growing and growing."  He was watching his shadow and seeing how it changed as he moved.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  We keep the pacifiers in a closet shut with a child-proof door knob, up five shelves.  My daughter has beaten the door knob and she can climb all five shelves to get to her pacifier.  She told me when I was about to put her to bed, "I want to get my pacifier."  She climbed up, got her pacifier, let me pick her back up to carry her across the room and then went immediately to sleep.

Fitness Update:  Up at 4:45 to do an early five mile run because my neighbor needed to be into work early.  Civil twilight was at 5:43 and we could easily see in the Nautical twilight that started at 5:08.  I never thought I'd like early mornings.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Fed Up Enough (I hope)

I have been "not on a diet" for some time now.  By that I mean that I'm not strictly controlling what I eat and keep a reasonable watch on how my weight changes over time.  I'm not young enough with a crazy metabolism that will burn off anything I eat, so that doesn't mean I can eat anything and everything I want, but it's fairly easy as long as I don't overdo it.

But I've overdone it.  I've overdone it enough weeks in a row so that I'm going to have to get more strict with what I eat for a while.   I tried to tell myself it was just fluctuations for a while but weight doesn't always fluctuate up, which is what mine's been doing.

So it's back on the broccoli and salmon diet for a while.   Not every day, no no no.  That's just my favorite meal when I'm trying to cut down on calories.  My husband made that meal tonight.  I piled in the broccoli and now I'm very full and it was a low-calorie meal. 

I hope I'm fed up enough with the gradual weight gain to stick to this and get back to where I was.   I would just love to tell you all that it's all that muscle I've been putting on working out.   But that would be a lie. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has a friend two doors over, Ryan.  He likes playing with Ryan so much that he actively tries to find Ryan after school.  It's really his first independent friend.  Sometimes you don't realize how much your child is paying attention to you though because I was surprised when he said to me today, "mommy, can you text Ryan and Kira's mother to see if they can play?"   (He has no idea how to read, much less text.)

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  After getting a bath, my daughter likes to be wrapped up in her towel.  We've taken to using a new towel lately that has a bear part that goes over her head.  Then the rest wraps around her.  She was jumping up and down on the bed saying, "I have a cape, cape, cape...like a bear."

Fitness Update:  Uncle Jonathan joined us again at the gym.  Don does something different for three people working together.  It's fun but it's a lot more, "am I going to make it through this without passing out" type of fun.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

It's the Thoughtful That Counts

I got a mother's day present today that wasn't expensive.  It was something I could have gone to the store and bought myself.  But that wasn't the point.  Sometimes a gift doesn't have to be exciting or expensive or unique to be a great present.  A present should say you thought about that person and got them something they would like. 

I got two presents like that today.   The first was from my mother-in-law and father-in-law.  it was a little bag with tissue and inside were these great pouches of daiquiris and margaritas and other drinks that needed to be put in the freezer and then were ready to serve whenever you needed to have an instant party.  My in-laws have had these at their house for some time but I always forget about them until we're visiting.   It was a great gift.   I'm going to enjoy them sometime soon.

The other gift was my husband's idea.  There is a restaurant that I love.  It's only open for breakfast and lunch and serves mostly biscuit-based foods.  It is appropriately called, Biscuitville.  We all went there for lunch.  It was wonderful.  I don't get enough Biscuitville these days. 

It was a good mother's day.

The Big Boy Update:  Standing on his head.  There is a large upholstered chair in our bedroom.  It's in the corner of the room and my children like to climb behind it and stand in the little triangular space back there.  Suddenly today, all we could see were my son's feet.  He was standing on his head.  He stayed like that for several minutes.  I looked over the edge and he was grinning.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She loves to help people.  If you want her to do something, you just need to appeal to her desire to help people.  She will gladly stop what she's doing and assist you.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Ballroom Dancing

There was this auction item at our school's auction called, "Step into Ballroom".  I'd done ballroom dancing before and it sounded fun.  I told my husband, "win that for me" as I headed out of the main auction area to help in the registration area.

My husband kindly won the item for me, coming over afterwards and saying, "it was for couples."   Oh.  Oops.  Sorry?

My husband, kind as he is, joined me tonight with some of the other families from our school to attend the ballroom event.  There was food, sangria, wine fun friends we knew from other school events and two very friendly ballroom dancing teachers.

My husband (otherwise known as "daddy") did an excellent job learning how to dance.  I'm not really surprised; he's good at picking up new skills like that.  I have no idea how the other couples did, I was too busy trying to figure out the dance moves myself. 

The Big Boy Update:  We got home today and as we pulled into the driveway the song, "Jump in the Line" came on the radio.  My son said, "daddy, don't take the key out" as we pulled into the garage.  We asked him why and he told us he wanted to hear the song.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   Sleeping in her brother's bed.  We came home tonight to find both our children asleep in one bed--my son's.  If it wasn't so dark in their room I would have gotten a picture.  They've never gone to sleep together before.

Fitness Update:  Ten miles running.  I needed it with all the birthday cake I ate at our neighbor's party later in the day.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Not That Adventurous

There is this path into the park across the street from our neighborhood.  This is that big, natural park that's wonderful to run in and do all sorts of nature-type activities.  I've biked and I've run in the park.  I've walked and I've pushed a stroller.  I've even biked with children on the back of our bikes.

I've gone into the secondary trails, but only a few times because while they're great for hiking, they're not so good for running and I don't want to sprain or break an ankle.  So for the most part, I look at the lovely woods from the bike and bridle trails.

I enter the park from the same several entrances most of the time but I've been noticing through the winter when the leaves are absent from the trees that there's another road.   It's directly off the road I drive down every day.  It's grown over, although clearly a road.  It's got a metal barrier preventing curious cars from driving in.   But it was definitely walkable.  And I wanted to see what was there.

Today, I asked my neighbor if she wanted to try it out with me.   She said sure, so we ran along the main road until the overgrown side road appeared.  We went in and decided in short order that it really wasn't great for running.   We pressed on.   Then, my neighbor said she sure hoped none of this overgrowth was poison ivy.  Eep.  I hoped the same thing.  We pressed on, although more slowly.

There were lots of fallen branches and vines as the road was beside a small stream.   The road was clearly there, but there were more obstructions.   We wavered.  We really weren't out for that much of an adventure.  We just wanted to find a new run.

Then we decided to head back to our main run, only could we cut through the woods to get to the path?  We thought we might know the way, but we weren't sure the direction and we didn't really know how far.  We climbed rocks and went right-ish in the hopes we'd find our way.

We met a turtle, lots of fallen trees, vines, loads of spider webs and then there was the trail, just where we thought it would be.  Maybe when the children are a little older they'll want to go on an adventure with me to find where the old road ends.

The Big Boy Update:  He has a cup folder.  It's in his car seat and he puts his cup or sippy cup or juice box in it.  It is not a cup holder though.  He says it's a cup folder.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "Why Dye Turt"  Reese wanted to wear her tie dye shirt to school today she told us in her own special pronunciation.

Fitness Update:  Uncle Jonathan joined us to go see Don today.  I've been hoping he'd like to join us at some point  Don did one of his Friday Fall Down workouts.  It was fun with the three of us.  I hope Uncle Jonathan wants to come back with us in the future.   Then, I did a short four-mile run this afternoon because it's spring and it's just so nice outside. 

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Nose Picker

What if I told you I had a friend who picked his nose.  I know, it's not the most savory mental image.  But what if I further told you that this friend, in the privacy of his own home, ate what came out of his nose.  Would you be offended?  Would you be repulsed?  Would you avoid this person in the future?

Does what this person does in their private space have any impact on me or my life?  No.  Does it affect me personally if they choose to consume and digest things that come from their own body?  No.  In short, does it harm me in any way?   I think not.

But what if this person were gay?   I was having a conversation with our best friend, Uncle Jonathan, and he was telling me about  a politician's statement that made it clear whatever someone did in their own home, in private, alone, clearly offended and "hurt" them just because it didn't conform to their personal notion of propriety. 

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.   I can't explain it any more clearly.  If someone doesn't wash behind their ears or uses too much nasal spray or never bothers to shave or chews their nails or any other number of personal choices that doesn't in any way affect me, why do I care?

Be happy with who you are.  Be happy that other people are finding their own way to be happy.

The Big Boy Update:  "Did Blake and the frog kill the worm?"  This was in some way related to the fishing trip my son went on with Blake and his father this past weekend.  This is also something I don't understand.  Apparently my husband does though.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Skirts hid wet underpants.  It's true.  I think she had peed in her underpants for over an hour, possibly more than once, before I figured out the skirt was acting as subterfuge.  She didn't complain when I asked her to put her wet pants in the basket and get new pants though.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Reverse Sneezing

My dog has been having trouble lately.  She makes this noise that sounds like she's not breathing well.  It happens every so often and I didn't think much of it until recently.  It was happening so much while we were on vacation that Uncle Jonathan told me it was happening so often while he house sat for us that maybe I should consider getting her checked out.

We got home and I forgot about it until two nights ago and then again last night when she woke us up with this wheezing snorting sound.  I took a mental note to call the vet in the morning.

When I got on the phone with the technician she told me, "I think I know what's going on.  She's doing a reverse sneeze."   A what?   She explained it was something dogs did and they were getting quite a lot of calls daily about the same thing because with the high pollen activity right now, dogs as well as people are having itchy noses.

I told her thanks for the advice and we'd all be glad when pollen season was over.   I'm just glad I don't reverse sneeze.  Forward sneezing is enough for me, thank you.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been going to visit his class for next year this week at school.  I found out he, "counted to five" on the first day.  That doesn't sound very exciting, but knowing how Montessori schools go, it was probably quote an interesting lesson.  Today on his second day, he told me he worked with the bead counters again and that they were fun.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The poo poo grass.   My son has been practicing peeing while standing up.  He's been doing this in the "wee wee bushes" lately.  My daughter wants to do the same.  This afternoon she said she needed to go potty and I decided I'd show her how girls squatted down to go pee pee in the bushes.   She didn't need to go pee pee...

Fitness Update:  Twelve miles on the bikes taking the kids to school today.  They enjoyed the ride through the park, across the museum grounds and over the highway on the pedestrian bridge to school.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Kids Say So Many Things

My children are at an age where they say things that are so charming you can't help but laugh at them.  Fortunately, they're not overly upset that you're laughing, because they know you've liked what they just said. 

The Big Boy Update:  
I told him he'd be visiting another classroom today that he'll be attending next year.  In order to get him excited about the visit, I told him he would see Arden, one of his friends, when he got there.  He looked at me and said, "Arden is a tricky girl."

It was time to go to school.  He didn't want to get his shoes on.  He had gotten into the toy closet and found the tool belt and tools.  He held his hand out at me, walked away with the tools and said, "I need to get to work."

My son asked for another piece of pita bread before dinner tonight.  My husband told him something and all I heard in reply from my son was, "it's poison ivy."  What?  My husband told me he had warned my son about poison ivy down the hill in the back yard earlier in the day and my son had mad an association with bad things and poison ivy, including pita bread apparently.

Scratching.  My son is itchy a lot.  He knows he's not suppose to scratch and he's got newer and more creative ways to tell us what he's doing is most definitely not scratching, all while he's scratching the skin off his legs or arms.  Today's responses included: "I'm just rubbing", "no, no, it doesn't itch" and "I'm just putting my fingernails out."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: 
She told me the potty at gymnastics was like the potty we have at home.  I asked her how many pottys we had at home and she started counting.  She was counting using her fingers and ticking off the numbers.  She was very intent on counting the pottys and using her fingers to do so.  She got it all wrong, but she was going through the process just like she had it all right.

Hairbrush.  My daughter will ask for the hairbrush, but by now I know that means she wants to brush her teeth.  I've explained this to her several times, but she doesn't seem to care.

Seven pair of pants.  Some days are good days with the toileting and some are bad.  The other day, for no apparent reason, she went through seven pair of pants and underpants in a four-hour period.  She would even get up and say she had to go to the potty and then wet her pants on the way.  After seven pair of pants, I put her in a pull-up.   She dislikes a pullup.  She was better the next day.

My mother was with my daughter on their deck the other afternoon.  Gramps came around the corner with a wheel barrow laden with heavy bricks.  My daughter casually looked over the edge and told him, "get to work, Gramps."

Fitness Update:   Gym early in the morning and then a half-hour at the fitness room doing some exercises to strengthen the weak arm I've been dealing with for the past year-and-a-half.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Taking Their Shirts Off

Pants are easy, if you're a toddler.  You just grab them on both sides and pull down with all your might.  Even completely soggy, urine-soaked or soiled pants can be shimmied off little damp legs.   Trust me, it is so. 

Shirts however, are a whole different animal.   there are four openings instead of three and the two that are the arm parts need to be addressed in a certain direction.   For instance, both of my children were great at doing, "Jane of the Jungle" as I liked to call it, for a while.  They knew they needed to get the arm out, but they sent the arm up, through the neck hole, instead of down through the torso hole.   Once you start going in that direction it gets tighter and tighter as you try to get your entire body out through the neck opening.  Usually, complaints of, "I need help" are soon to follow.

I've been trying to give my children lessons on holding the sleeve with one hand and pulling the arm out and down.  I don't know if it's easier with long shirts or short-sleeved shirts, but now that spring has arrived, we are starting to see more success in the shirt-removal arena. 

A child who can get all their clothes off by themselves--when they want to--is a happy child.

The Big Boy Update:  My son tried mightily to get his head and both arms through the neck opening in his shirts enough times that I would see it coming and say, "arms go down" in the hopes of helping prevent another stuck shirt situation.  He's got it now...for the most part.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She got the shirt removal steps faster than her brother.   However, she was much cuter as "Jane of the Jungle" than he managed to be. 

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Child-proof Doors

They're not.  They're designed to keep your small child from opening them, but a motivated toddler is a successful toddler.  The door locks we have are from my cousin.  They work by taking two large plastic halves that snap together over the door knob.  They rattle around on the door knob and the only way you can get out is to put pressure with your thumb and opposing finger in two soft spots so that you can grip and then turn the knob. 

It's tricky for an adult to do at first.   Children don't have the fine motor skills or the strength to do it, so you can feel safe in knowing they're kept out or in, just as you'd like them to be.  Only wait, did you say it was two halves you snapped together?  Enter the design fault, because all you need to figure out to best these so-called-safety knobs is the ability to unsnap them.   And that's just what my son did.

But not to worry.   There is such a thing as white duct tape that will go right over those white little tabs and you can gain several months of time with this trick.   But now my daughter, small in hands and tiny in size, has discovered how to open the door, just as an adult would, with some sort of finger manipulation.  

I haven't seen it in action, but it's happened enough times that I know she can do it if she sets her mind to it.  At least we can still keep her brother locked in, because he hasn't bothered to pay attention when she's been busy escaping.

The Big Boy Update:  A friend in enthusiasm.  We have a neighbor who has a daughter and son, both older than my son.  My son is very physically energetic.  Sometimes his physicality is too much for other children.  These two neighbors are all right by it.  I talked to their mother today and told her how happy I was that they liked playing with my son in the same, very physical, way.  She said they have had the same discussions with both children about how not everyone is as boisterous and physical as they are. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She got the pacifiers.  She can open the child-proof doors, thus making them not child-proof.  Her older brother can't.  She got their pacifiers inside the child-proof closet, up four shelves.   I found her in her bed with her pacifier.  When I asked her, she showed me she had put her brother's pacifier on his mattress for when he came to bed later.  How thoughtful!

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Neighbors and Neighborhood

We have a neighborhood full of people.  For some time it looked like it was going to be just us and a few houses of neighbors we could wave at across the way.  But now, it's a real place, full of real people and real houses and it's wonderful.

We were invited tonight (along with all our neighbors) to a Tres de Mayo party.  The hosts had great food, delicious beverages, and the company from the neighborhood was as fun and friendly as it always is. 

I'm not sure how we lucked out being in a neighborhood with such unpretentious, social and friendly people, but I am so happy about it.  I think I must have said, "this is the best neighborhood" at least twelve times at the party tonight, and every time, people agreed with me.

The Big Boy Update:  Gone Fishin'.  My son went fishing with our neighbors today.  Not much was caught in the realm of fish, but he liked playing with the dogs at the lake and working with the fishing poles.  He got to see one fish, but it escaped before he could examine it up close.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to help me unload the dish washer this afternoon.  She pulled out one item at a time and labeled it for me.  There was, "a spoon for you, mommy" and "a spoon for kids" for her.  There were also several, "this is very sharp" knives that she carefully handed to me to put away.  She was actually quite a lot of help.

Fitness Update:  Ten miles.  Great day, nice weather, lots of good conversation. 

Friday, May 2, 2014

Toy Tidying Time

Pieces get everywhere.  Kids move bits of one toy to another room or play with parts of three things all at once and bring some of, let's say the car set into the kitchen set because those tires might just need a good pan-frying.  Organization gets more and more chaotic over time with children's toys, even when they are required to clean up their "work" each and every day. 

There's also no better way to get children interested in toys that have been around for a while than mixing up their location or bringing out something they haven't seen in a while.  But finding all the pieces, getting everything back where it should go, retiring things that they've out-aged, moving things to new locations and doing all of that while two toddlers undermine every step of your progress by wanting to play with everything you've been working on, means it's a slow process.

I got most of the work done today, with one last area (the basement) to do tomorrow.  I love having the toys flipped and changed up, because it always means my children are more easily occupied for longer times for the next week or two.

The Big Boy Update:  Book reader.  I swapped out the current selection of books with a new selection of choices today.  My son took one book out and decided he wanted to "read" it..  He calmly flipped the pages in the big book of collected stories and was quietly happy for the next twenty minutes.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "Aw, man..."  My daughter has started saying this funny saying.  It is such a funny little phrase coming from the mouth of a two-year-old, with the perfect intonation and emphasis.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Solicitations

I am new to fundraising.  It is not something I had any interest in doing.  It is something I feared.  It is something I am now doing, and I'm not so sure I actually mind it. 

I've had two meetings in the last two days in which I asked people to commit to contributing large amounts of money to our school's new building project.   A year ago, the thought of approaching people and asking them for large amounts of money made me uncomfortable at best.  To put it mildly, I absolutely, positively, did not want to ask people for money, no sir, not me, no way, no how.

It wasn't that I didn't believe in the cause, because I did.  It's just that I needed to understand several  things:
- I am not asking for myself
- I have no need
- I am not desperate
- I believe in the cause
- I have dignity

Knowing this, I've done something I never thought I would be able to:  ask for money with confidence and without guilt. 

The Big Boy Update:  The Gobbler.  My son spent the afternoon with Mimi.  When I came to pick him up, he was playing with her stapler remover, that he was calling, "the gobbler".  He had a piece of paper and he was making holes in it with glee.  There were stories he was telling me about how the gobbler was gobbling up the hole (one of the three hole punch holes) and how that hole was going to taste delicious to the gobbler.  I think I could have left him there for another two hours with that one piece of paper and staple remover.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I had lunch today with my ex-husband.  We get together about twice each year to see how things are going in each other's lives.  Yes, our marriage failed, but it wasn't bitter and we keep in touch.  He has a daughter that's six-months younger than mine and I found out today they're expecting a son in six months.  He stopped back by the house and came in to say hello.  My daughter (who has met him twice before) ran right up to him and hugged him and then had a great time running around and having him chase her.  She was about the most charming child I could have ever asked for.

Fitness Update:  Bicep workout.  I think our trainer heard me when I said I wanted to do pullups.  He had us doing all manner of bicep exercises today.