My daughter’s vision is changing for the worse. It’s harder for her to see some things and she can see less of others, like colors. I don’t know if it’s the cataract or if something else is going on in her eye. And by eye, I mean her left eye, the right one doesn’t seem to be useful at all at this point.
We have an evaluation under anesthesia with her retina surgeon on the nineteenth coming up. I’ve been debating for some time if we should contact him and let him know things are getting worse. We all know they’re getting worse, the thing is, are they getting worse because of the cataract, which is a known thing, or is it something else like her pressure has dropped and we should act faster?
It’s hard to watch her struggle, asking me to pick out the colored marker from the six in the container, because she can’t easily tell which one is the brown one. It’s hard to watch her try and stay in the lines of her braille coloring book because she’s using her vision instead of fingers and moving her head around one inch from the paper makes it hard to do any sort of coloring other than, “scribble scrabble” as my children call it.
She’s not unhappy, I keep saying that. Maybe I say it because it makes me feel better about this whole awful situation, but I also say it because it’s true.
The Big Boy Update: The Lady Gaga song, “Million Reasons” was playing in the car today. One of the main lines is, “you’re giving me a million reasons…” My son didn’t understand what she was saying exactly so he asked me, “mom, do you want a million laces?”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter’s vision impairment teacher gave us a coloring book where all the lines are raised. There are words or a sentence at the bottom of the page in script as well as braille. My daughter has been coloring in the pages for days now and has been happy to have a coloring book that’s special for her.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Monday, February 27, 2017
Final Post-Licensing Course
Tomorrow is my last day of post-licensing classes. Provided I pass the end of class exam, I’ll have the provisional status removed from my real estate license. I’m looking forward to being out of class until my continuing education comes up next year.
Although, that’s not completely true, I’ve been enjoying being in class. The instructor is funny and knows the material very well. His name is Kevin and Kevin has about a million, “Kevinisms” I can’t remember them all, but one of the students this class has been writing them down and plans to share the list with the class.
Some of the Kevinisms are appropriate to the content of the class but others are just out of the blue and seem to have no relationship at all to anything we’re talking about. Today he suddenly said, “do you know what the best thing about alzheimer’s is? You get to hide your own Easter eggs.”
The Big Boy Update: My won said the other day, “what the butt?” I’m not sure where he got this from, but I tried not to laugh when he said it.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: When Aunt Jo was visiting recently my children both loved spending a night with her. Two days later, Richard, my childhood friend came to visit. My daughter asked who got to stay with Richard? Aunt Jo replied, “you don’t want him, honey, he snores really bad.”
Although, that’s not completely true, I’ve been enjoying being in class. The instructor is funny and knows the material very well. His name is Kevin and Kevin has about a million, “Kevinisms” I can’t remember them all, but one of the students this class has been writing them down and plans to share the list with the class.
Some of the Kevinisms are appropriate to the content of the class but others are just out of the blue and seem to have no relationship at all to anything we’re talking about. Today he suddenly said, “do you know what the best thing about alzheimer’s is? You get to hide your own Easter eggs.”
The Big Boy Update: My won said the other day, “what the butt?” I’m not sure where he got this from, but I tried not to laugh when he said it.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: When Aunt Jo was visiting recently my children both loved spending a night with her. Two days later, Richard, my childhood friend came to visit. My daughter asked who got to stay with Richard? Aunt Jo replied, “you don’t want him, honey, he snores really bad.”
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Search Criteria Lesson
I remember when search engines were first coming out. It was fantastic because we had a place that had gone through all the websites and put the content into a database. Without having to know a complicated query language we, as consumers, could type in some words and get back a list of pages that had matching content. It was wonderful. It was truly amazing.
Results were weren’t completely reliable at first. You had to learn to eliminate things by using a -criteria option to get better suggested pages. Sometimes you’d have to go to page two, three, four or even ten to find a result that was really what you were looking for. Today, I don’t remember the last time I had to go to page two to find good information.
The key back then was learning how to enter proper search criteria. My son is six and he already has this down. He’ll bring me his iPad and ask me to search for say, “Lego Batman 3”. I do the search and tell him there aren’t any results. He explains to me that there is a game, because he’s seen a video for it.
I don’t know what he’s seen, but there’s no game available. I search for “Lego Batman” and show him what the options are and that there isn’t a number three in the series. But he’s not giving up. He asks me to search for something even more constrained like, “Lego Batman Superheroes 3”.
So I talked to him about how search results worked, that less words meant more options. Too few words or less-specific words gave too many options. Our job was to find just the right words to find the best choices.
He seemed to understand. I’ll know more when he brings his iPad to me next and asks me to search for something. If we find nothing I’ll see if he can suggest a different way to search.
The Big Boy Update: There is a big sign at the doctor’s office in each room indicating which room you’re in. The signs are low down and the children can read them. My son sounded out R-O-O-M and decided it sounded better as “rohm” instead of, “room”. He’s been interested in reading words all around him more and more lately.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was given a raised line coloring book of garden fruits, vegetables and herbs to color. She’s been feeling for the outlines and coloring in the pages and is talking about our garden on the deck we planted yesterday.
Last Taper Run: We ran ten miles today; next week is the marathon in the wooded park across from our neighborhood. I hope we’re trained enough for it. I think we are.
Results were weren’t completely reliable at first. You had to learn to eliminate things by using a -criteria option to get better suggested pages. Sometimes you’d have to go to page two, three, four or even ten to find a result that was really what you were looking for. Today, I don’t remember the last time I had to go to page two to find good information.
The key back then was learning how to enter proper search criteria. My son is six and he already has this down. He’ll bring me his iPad and ask me to search for say, “Lego Batman 3”. I do the search and tell him there aren’t any results. He explains to me that there is a game, because he’s seen a video for it.
I don’t know what he’s seen, but there’s no game available. I search for “Lego Batman” and show him what the options are and that there isn’t a number three in the series. But he’s not giving up. He asks me to search for something even more constrained like, “Lego Batman Superheroes 3”.
So I talked to him about how search results worked, that less words meant more options. Too few words or less-specific words gave too many options. Our job was to find just the right words to find the best choices.
He seemed to understand. I’ll know more when he brings his iPad to me next and asks me to search for something. If we find nothing I’ll see if he can suggest a different way to search.
The Big Boy Update: There is a big sign at the doctor’s office in each room indicating which room you’re in. The signs are low down and the children can read them. My son sounded out R-O-O-M and decided it sounded better as “rohm” instead of, “room”. He’s been interested in reading words all around him more and more lately.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was given a raised line coloring book of garden fruits, vegetables and herbs to color. She’s been feeling for the outlines and coloring in the pages and is talking about our garden on the deck we planted yesterday.
Last Taper Run: We ran ten miles today; next week is the marathon in the wooded park across from our neighborhood. I hope we’re trained enough for it. I think we are.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Deck Garden
It’s was a lovely day today. It’s one of those days that make you think winter is over and spring has gone into full force springiness—only later you it’s going to be thirty-seven degrees in the morning and you have to remember it’s still February.
My husband had an idea to start our deck garden together. The children were excited to be going to the store where they selected the tree to remember our dog last fall. (The tree is doing well and Lucy is well-remembered.) Before lunch we went together and looked around the whole garden store, selecting things we needed (if you were my husband), things we wanted (if you were my son) and things that had pretty colors (if you were my daughter).
We came home with two sturdy pinwheels to place in the hanging beds off the deck rails, herbs, tomato plants and carrots, because my daughter said we needed to plant carrots. We unloaded the car and my children dispersed to play with neighborhood friends but came back later to see what progress had been made. Initially they wanted to help, but they got distracted.
It’s all planted now, with a special bed just for mint, because it’s so invasive and mint is fun for children more so than other herbs. My husband planted the tomatoes in one large pot and then planted the carrots in a second pot. He also put one other thing in that second pot—Ghost Pepper chilis. That crop should be interesting to say the least. We labeled the sides very carefully, only who knows if the children will leave the labels in place.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted to help get all the items we needed for the deck garden today. He walked around with my husband, helping with advice on which pot would go better in which stand (he was pretty good at making attractive suggestions too). When my daughter and I caught up with them they had already filled the cart up by working together.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter and I held hands at the garden store today. I’d like to say her vision is better, but I think we continue to lose more and more. She needs help getting around in any unfamiliar environment. But that didn’t stop her from having a good time. She wanted to see the flowers. She looked at them and called out the colors and told me if they smelled good. We felt succulents and leafy plants and “enjoyed the spectacle of nature” while the guys got our garden supplies.
My husband had an idea to start our deck garden together. The children were excited to be going to the store where they selected the tree to remember our dog last fall. (The tree is doing well and Lucy is well-remembered.) Before lunch we went together and looked around the whole garden store, selecting things we needed (if you were my husband), things we wanted (if you were my son) and things that had pretty colors (if you were my daughter).
We came home with two sturdy pinwheels to place in the hanging beds off the deck rails, herbs, tomato plants and carrots, because my daughter said we needed to plant carrots. We unloaded the car and my children dispersed to play with neighborhood friends but came back later to see what progress had been made. Initially they wanted to help, but they got distracted.
It’s all planted now, with a special bed just for mint, because it’s so invasive and mint is fun for children more so than other herbs. My husband planted the tomatoes in one large pot and then planted the carrots in a second pot. He also put one other thing in that second pot—Ghost Pepper chilis. That crop should be interesting to say the least. We labeled the sides very carefully, only who knows if the children will leave the labels in place.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted to help get all the items we needed for the deck garden today. He walked around with my husband, helping with advice on which pot would go better in which stand (he was pretty good at making attractive suggestions too). When my daughter and I caught up with them they had already filled the cart up by working together.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter and I held hands at the garden store today. I’d like to say her vision is better, but I think we continue to lose more and more. She needs help getting around in any unfamiliar environment. But that didn’t stop her from having a good time. She wanted to see the flowers. She looked at them and called out the colors and told me if they smelled good. We felt succulents and leafy plants and “enjoyed the spectacle of nature” while the guys got our garden supplies.
Friday, February 24, 2017
Spectacle of Nature
I substitute at my children’s school from time to time. Today they needed a substitute to help with the PE for two of the classes. I met the teacher and the children lined up to head out. The location we have PE is at an art museum that abuts the back of the school property. To get to the museum grounds we walked single file, exited the grounds gate and headed down the hill. Just before we entered the woods to follow the path to the museum the teacher said to the students, “remember to be quite for the spectacle of nature.” The students were indeed respectful of the spectacle, impressive for first through third graders.
When we got to the field area I found out it was the last day in their endurance training. They were going to be running for thirty-five minutes, tracking how far they ran (or walked and ran) to get a total milage. The children were in competition with another school and were hopeful they would run farther.
The thing that impressed me was the way the teacher had them track total distance. He had a big bucket of three-inch plastic balls sitting out and a second bucket lying empty beside it. He told the children to each take a ball and get ready to run. He instructed them to drop their ball in the second, now empty bucket when they completed a lap and that every twelve balls in the bucket was one mile run.
The children ran off, dropping balls in, picking up a new ball and ran around for the next lap. The children had a great time, asking the teacher every now and then what the mile total was as he counted and emptied the second bucket back into the first.
I liked the method he was using because it fostered team competition without having children competing directly against each other, possibly with hard feelings for those that weren’t able to run as many laps.
One class beat the other school’s distance but the other class just fell short. They all worked very hard running for over thirty minutes.
The Big Boy Update: Apparently my son has been doing the running/endurance training at PE as well, but since he never tells us what happens at school, I didn’t even know about it until I was subbing today. My son is a good runner, I heard.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said today, “do you remember when we had the snow storm on Movie Night and only one friend came?” I said I did, did she remember it was our friend, Nitin? She said, “yes, he was very brave.”
When we got to the field area I found out it was the last day in their endurance training. They were going to be running for thirty-five minutes, tracking how far they ran (or walked and ran) to get a total milage. The children were in competition with another school and were hopeful they would run farther.
The thing that impressed me was the way the teacher had them track total distance. He had a big bucket of three-inch plastic balls sitting out and a second bucket lying empty beside it. He told the children to each take a ball and get ready to run. He instructed them to drop their ball in the second, now empty bucket when they completed a lap and that every twelve balls in the bucket was one mile run.
The children ran off, dropping balls in, picking up a new ball and ran around for the next lap. The children had a great time, asking the teacher every now and then what the mile total was as he counted and emptied the second bucket back into the first.
I liked the method he was using because it fostered team competition without having children competing directly against each other, possibly with hard feelings for those that weren’t able to run as many laps.
One class beat the other school’s distance but the other class just fell short. They all worked very hard running for over thirty minutes.
The Big Boy Update: Apparently my son has been doing the running/endurance training at PE as well, but since he never tells us what happens at school, I didn’t even know about it until I was subbing today. My son is a good runner, I heard.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said today, “do you remember when we had the snow storm on Movie Night and only one friend came?” I said I did, did she remember it was our friend, Nitin? She said, “yes, he was very brave.”
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Eczema
My son at about five months developed fairly bad eczema. His skin looked terrible and it took a long while for it to calm down. We put on lotions, prescription cream, gave him Benadryl when the itching was bad and hoped he wasn’t as uncomfortable as he looked.
For the most part he’s grown out of the eczema, although it flares up if he eats something he has a reaction to like peanuts. My daughter had the most beautiful, alabaster skin. There was talk of albinism from some people what with her white hair and light skin.
As the children got older, the roles have reversed. My daughter seems to have perpetual dry skin. She has patches of eczema and hates to have lotion put on her. My son has pretty darned good skin for the most part. He still has outbreaks from time to time, but they’re regional and clear up quickly.
Hopefully in the next few years they’ll both grow out of the eczema. I hear it’s not uncommon to fade as children grow up.
The Big Boy Update: My son is clearly a man. We sat him down on the toilet tonight because it was clear he needed to go. He called out from the bathroom: “what can I do while I’m on the potty?” I asked him if he’d like to read a book and he immediately said that would be fine.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter got sent to bed (almost) without dinner. She was having a hard afternoon. Things just weren’t going her way. She was overwrought about several things that made no difference to an adult, but were earth shattering catastrophes to a child. The final straw was when she didn’t get the seat she wanted at the dinner table. She got so upset she took her friend Madison’s dinner and dumped it out onto the table. I hauled her upstairs and said she couldn’t leave the room and she wasn’t having dinner. When my husband got in a bit later I told him he could “overrule” me and let her have dinner, thus playing the good cop role. It took my daughter almost twenty minutes to stop pitching a fit from the doorway of her room. And don’t even get me started about the Brussels sprouts fit she had when she finally got to have her meal.
For the most part he’s grown out of the eczema, although it flares up if he eats something he has a reaction to like peanuts. My daughter had the most beautiful, alabaster skin. There was talk of albinism from some people what with her white hair and light skin.
As the children got older, the roles have reversed. My daughter seems to have perpetual dry skin. She has patches of eczema and hates to have lotion put on her. My son has pretty darned good skin for the most part. He still has outbreaks from time to time, but they’re regional and clear up quickly.
Hopefully in the next few years they’ll both grow out of the eczema. I hear it’s not uncommon to fade as children grow up.
The Big Boy Update: My son is clearly a man. We sat him down on the toilet tonight because it was clear he needed to go. He called out from the bathroom: “what can I do while I’m on the potty?” I asked him if he’d like to read a book and he immediately said that would be fine.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter got sent to bed (almost) without dinner. She was having a hard afternoon. Things just weren’t going her way. She was overwrought about several things that made no difference to an adult, but were earth shattering catastrophes to a child. The final straw was when she didn’t get the seat she wanted at the dinner table. She got so upset she took her friend Madison’s dinner and dumped it out onto the table. I hauled her upstairs and said she couldn’t leave the room and she wasn’t having dinner. When my husband got in a bit later I told him he could “overrule” me and let her have dinner, thus playing the good cop role. It took my daughter almost twenty minutes to stop pitching a fit from the doorway of her room. And don’t even get me started about the Brussels sprouts fit she had when she finally got to have her meal.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Body Alignment
I was talking to my mother about exercise the other day and she and I remembered when we took a PE class together in college. My mother worked at the college I attended. This was nice because she was close in case I ever needed anything. One summer I was looking at classes to take and thought it might be a good time to get in a PE course. My mother said she’d take the, “Body Alignment” class with me if I wanted to take something with her, which is exactly what we did.
Body Alignment sounds like an automotive repair class, but this particular course was designed to help athletes and dancers recover from injuries that had caused them to favor one side. The teacher, Aldo Melito, was a dancer and had a lot of experience helping people regain their pre-injury performance levels.
The class for those of us who weren’t athletes, dancers or even injured people in general, was fairly easy though. We began the class by stretching. And then after that, we walked. We walked around the gym, we walked out into the yard, we walked down the road and we walked back into the dance room.
As we walked around our teacher would walk behind us and tell us how we were doing—walking. He’d let us know if he saw us favoring one side and give us tips on how we could work to balance our gait. I don’t have any idea what he told me, if anything about my balance or imbalance, I was just having fun walking around and talking with my mother.
It was a fun summer taking a class with my mother, particularly one as easy as Body Alignment. I heard some years later Aldo Melito had died. He was a very kind and caring teacher.
The Big Boy Update: We had a birthday dinner recently and I’m not sure why, but my son announced, “I want to eat my vegetables first because it’s a birthday dinner”.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter like chap stick or lip moisturizer. She asks for it from time to time when she remembers I have it in my purse. Today I got her her own tube. She carried it around all afternoon, putting some on her lips about every fifteen minutes.
Body Alignment sounds like an automotive repair class, but this particular course was designed to help athletes and dancers recover from injuries that had caused them to favor one side. The teacher, Aldo Melito, was a dancer and had a lot of experience helping people regain their pre-injury performance levels.
The class for those of us who weren’t athletes, dancers or even injured people in general, was fairly easy though. We began the class by stretching. And then after that, we walked. We walked around the gym, we walked out into the yard, we walked down the road and we walked back into the dance room.
As we walked around our teacher would walk behind us and tell us how we were doing—walking. He’d let us know if he saw us favoring one side and give us tips on how we could work to balance our gait. I don’t have any idea what he told me, if anything about my balance or imbalance, I was just having fun walking around and talking with my mother.
It was a fun summer taking a class with my mother, particularly one as easy as Body Alignment. I heard some years later Aldo Melito had died. He was a very kind and caring teacher.
The Big Boy Update: We had a birthday dinner recently and I’m not sure why, but my son announced, “I want to eat my vegetables first because it’s a birthday dinner”.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter like chap stick or lip moisturizer. She asks for it from time to time when she remembers I have it in my purse. Today I got her her own tube. She carried it around all afternoon, putting some on her lips about every fifteen minutes.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Class Is Hard
I’m in class this week and next week. This is the last post-licensing class I have to take to remove the “provisional” status on my real estate license. The teacher is funny, the material (he admits) is particularly dry in this class, but he’s making it fairly interesting. The students have interesting stories from their experiences in real estate and the questions we’re discussing are compelling.
The problem isn’t the class, it’s the chairs. Or maybe it’s the chairs coupled with the desks coupled with the long hours sitting. It’s making my shoulders, neck and back hurt. Tomorrow I’m off from class and my back is relieved.
The Big Boy Update: I mentioned yesterday that my son’s number one girlfriend was still Madison, who is twelve years older than he is. He has other girlfriends though. He has, Gia, Lila, Sidney, Reese and he also told me he has one boyfriend, his cousin Kyle.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter told me she wants to go to a kindergarten school next year that serves lunch in a cafeteria (like her friend next door, Madison) so she doesn’t have to bring her lunch to school.
The problem isn’t the class, it’s the chairs. Or maybe it’s the chairs coupled with the desks coupled with the long hours sitting. It’s making my shoulders, neck and back hurt. Tomorrow I’m off from class and my back is relieved.
The Big Boy Update: I mentioned yesterday that my son’s number one girlfriend was still Madison, who is twelve years older than he is. He has other girlfriends though. He has, Gia, Lila, Sidney, Reese and he also told me he has one boyfriend, his cousin Kyle.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter told me she wants to go to a kindergarten school next year that serves lunch in a cafeteria (like her friend next door, Madison) so she doesn’t have to bring her lunch to school.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Moh-VEE-ler
Tonight is about some of the things my children have said or done lately. The first is the title of this blog post and is a phonetic pronunciation of what my children are referring to as a, “mobile”. Specifically, they’re talking about the mobiles that the super heroes or cartoon characters use when they do their, well, whatever it is they do. The important thing to take away from this is that every character has their own, moh-vee-ler, each of which has special features.
Madison Is Still #1: My son, you might remember, is in love with my nephew’s girlfriend. She’s a senior in high school and while the age difference might not be insurmountable later in life, right now it’s just practical. This past week on vacation in Florida it was apparent his love is still strong and true for Madison, his #1.
It Was Mom’s Fault: My son fell yesterday while dad was drying his sister’s hair. He got angry and said, “this is all mom’s fault for having two children. If it was just me then there wouldn’t have been that hair dryer sound distracting me and I wouldn’t have fallen!”
Could You Use Data?: My son was asking me about wifi today in the car. I explained how wifi was a lot like the sound waves he heard when I talked in that they were all around us. I explained the waves were data being sent through the air that was able to be picked up by our devices. He thought about it for a bit and then asked, “could you use data to build weapons?”
Tears: My daughter was so mad the other day due to something I don’t even remember now. She was crying bitterly and we were trying to distract her with something we were holding. She bitterly complained, “I can’t see with the tears in my eyes.”
Silly Knucklehead: I don’t know where my daughter heard the phrase, but if you do something funny, you’re likely to get called a “silly knucklehead” by her.
Ashore: My children loved the pool in Florida. They both are good swimmers now and spent time in the hot tub and the main pool. At one point my daughter said to Uncle Eric as she swam by him, “I have to go ashore now.”
Madison Is Still #1: My son, you might remember, is in love with my nephew’s girlfriend. She’s a senior in high school and while the age difference might not be insurmountable later in life, right now it’s just practical. This past week on vacation in Florida it was apparent his love is still strong and true for Madison, his #1.
It Was Mom’s Fault: My son fell yesterday while dad was drying his sister’s hair. He got angry and said, “this is all mom’s fault for having two children. If it was just me then there wouldn’t have been that hair dryer sound distracting me and I wouldn’t have fallen!”
Could You Use Data?: My son was asking me about wifi today in the car. I explained how wifi was a lot like the sound waves he heard when I talked in that they were all around us. I explained the waves were data being sent through the air that was able to be picked up by our devices. He thought about it for a bit and then asked, “could you use data to build weapons?”
Tears: My daughter was so mad the other day due to something I don’t even remember now. She was crying bitterly and we were trying to distract her with something we were holding. She bitterly complained, “I can’t see with the tears in my eyes.”
Silly Knucklehead: I don’t know where my daughter heard the phrase, but if you do something funny, you’re likely to get called a “silly knucklehead” by her.
Ashore: My children loved the pool in Florida. They both are good swimmers now and spent time in the hot tub and the main pool. At one point my daughter said to Uncle Eric as she swam by him, “I have to go ashore now.”
Sunday, February 19, 2017
What Are Those?
We’ve been traveling today, returning home from visiting family in Florida for a week. Excellent trip, fantastic time and always, always, great family memories. Travel with a five- and a six-year-old is not as difficult as it was a few years ago, but at this ate there’s added bickering into the mix, which can get old and cause me, their mom, to snap.
Add in the plane seats always doing a number on my back and I’m ready to get our luggage so we can get in the car and drive home. Today my husband was trying to track down his over-sized golf bag while the children were running off some excess energy at the baggage claim area.
My son came over to me and asked, “mom, what are those?” I looked over and said, “those are telephones.” He was a little confused at the phones not being a small, thin box you keep in your pocket, but he said, “oh, okay.”
Add in the plane seats always doing a number on my back and I’m ready to get our luggage so we can get in the car and drive home. Today my husband was trying to track down his over-sized golf bag while the children were running off some excess energy at the baggage claim area.
My son came over to me and asked, “mom, what are those?” I looked over and said, “those are telephones.” He was a little confused at the phones not being a small, thin box you keep in your pocket, but he said, “oh, okay.”
The Big Boy Update: My son had a very hard time leaving Florida today. He went around and hugged each of the stuffed animals. He looked forlornly out at the pool and tried to delay getting in the car as long a possible. I think he had a good time.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: We lost my daughter’s drops yesterday. She needs them six times each day and they were totally gone mid-day. I was the last one to “drop her”, but I didn’t think I’d put the drops in a different location. Searching went on for a bit until Nana decided maybe we should ask my daughter if she knew where they were. She didn’t want to answer at first, but then admitted she did. She had hid them, making a game for us to find them. Later in the day she even offered to hide Uncle Bob’s eye drops too.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Zoos and Bikes
There are some things a blind child just cannot do. Going to the zoo and seeing the animals, hidden in the distance of the enclosures, blending into the background is one of them. Riding a bicycle though is an entirely different story.
My in-laws rented bicycles for our children for our visit to their Florida winter home this week. They knew our children had been enjoying biking at home and they thought their neighborhood would be a fun location they could get some biking time in.
The bikes were different from the ones they had at home but once they had their helmets on and got out on the street they knew just what to do. There is a turn right beside their house that goes into a small section of streets that end in two cul-de-sacs and subsequently have very little traffic. They also live at about ten feet above sea level so the roads are both wide and flat. In short, it was perfect territory for a blind child to explore a new biking area.
My mother-in-law was the first to take them out. She went first with my daughter and then was joined later by my son. When she came back later she told us they had a nice ride. I didn’t learn more about what they did until the next day when I had an opportunity to go out with my daughter for a ride.
Before we left for the ride my mother-in-law explained to me what they did that worked well. She rode in front of my daughter and rang the bell on her bike so there would be an audio sound ahead, indicating which way to go. This worked incredibly well for us as we rode back and forth through the three streets in the secluded area of their neighborhood.
A bit later we were heading in when my husband and son joined us and he took over biking around with the bell and talking out loud so my daughter could follow. By the time they all came in my blind child had biked over three miles. Some things are hard when you’re blind, but not eveything.
The Big Boy Update: My son’s rented bike for this week had the seat initially set too low. He was having trouble pedaling but didn’t understand why but he had an idea. He said to Nana, “the pedals are too small!”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has decided she wants to call her brother, “bro” and would like for him to call her, “sis”.
My in-laws rented bicycles for our children for our visit to their Florida winter home this week. They knew our children had been enjoying biking at home and they thought their neighborhood would be a fun location they could get some biking time in.
The bikes were different from the ones they had at home but once they had their helmets on and got out on the street they knew just what to do. There is a turn right beside their house that goes into a small section of streets that end in two cul-de-sacs and subsequently have very little traffic. They also live at about ten feet above sea level so the roads are both wide and flat. In short, it was perfect territory for a blind child to explore a new biking area.
My mother-in-law was the first to take them out. She went first with my daughter and then was joined later by my son. When she came back later she told us they had a nice ride. I didn’t learn more about what they did until the next day when I had an opportunity to go out with my daughter for a ride.
Before we left for the ride my mother-in-law explained to me what they did that worked well. She rode in front of my daughter and rang the bell on her bike so there would be an audio sound ahead, indicating which way to go. This worked incredibly well for us as we rode back and forth through the three streets in the secluded area of their neighborhood.
A bit later we were heading in when my husband and son joined us and he took over biking around with the bell and talking out loud so my daughter could follow. By the time they all came in my blind child had biked over three miles. Some things are hard when you’re blind, but not eveything.
The Big Boy Update: My son’s rented bike for this week had the seat initially set too low. He was having trouble pedaling but didn’t understand why but he had an idea. He said to Nana, “the pedals are too small!”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has decided she wants to call her brother, “bro” and would like for him to call her, “sis”.
Friday, February 17, 2017
The Frog
My daughter has drop six times each day. She is fairly good about them most of the time. She can do drops faster than anything. She’ll lean her head back and let you do drops while she’s standing up and then go on her way.
Today she very excitedly found me in the bedroom with her iPad. She said, “mom, I want you to see what the frog does!” She showed me her iPad and clicked on the frog. It zoomed in and the frog had very red eyes. She clicked on a vial of eye drops and tapped the eye area on the frog to show me how the drops went into the frog’s eyes, making them less red.
She said, “the frog has to do drops just like I do!”
The Big Boy Update: My daughter was having special time with me and we were building a blocks tower. The tower was easily knocked down so she told me, “It’s fragile, so we can’t touch it.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My husband and I were installing and initializing SnapChat tonight to be able to message my niece and nephew. My daughter must have been listening in because a bit later she asked me, “mom, is TwitFace for adults only?”
Today she very excitedly found me in the bedroom with her iPad. She said, “mom, I want you to see what the frog does!” She showed me her iPad and clicked on the frog. It zoomed in and the frog had very red eyes. She clicked on a vial of eye drops and tapped the eye area on the frog to show me how the drops went into the frog’s eyes, making them less red.
She said, “the frog has to do drops just like I do!”
The Big Boy Update: My daughter was having special time with me and we were building a blocks tower. The tower was easily knocked down so she told me, “It’s fragile, so we can’t touch it.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My husband and I were installing and initializing SnapChat tonight to be able to message my niece and nephew. My daughter must have been listening in because a bit later she asked me, “mom, is TwitFace for adults only?”
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Sight Seeing
I mentioned we went to the zoo yesterday. We had fun, each of us in our own ways. One thing that’s different with our family any time we go anywhere is how we have to experience any location because we have a blind child.
I talked to my mother and she mentioned how we had gone, “sight seeing” at the zoo. That’s the problem though with a non-sighted child. You have to “see” to take in the “sights” and she can’t do any of that.
She has to have her hand held to move around anywhere because she can’t navigate well enough to know what is an obstacle and what’s a pathway—something that’s gotten worse over time. She can see colors, but not much other than to identify them. She can feel things, like the large bench seating surrounding the massive tree, but she can’t see any animal, even close to the edge of an enclosure because they’re similar in color to the environment in which they’ve been placed.
My daughter can lose you when you’re only five feet away and she’ll bump into random people and not know if they’re one of the people in her party or not until she greets them and hears their voice. It’s hard to go to places with her knowing she can’t experience most of the reasons everyone else goes to that particular place.
But she enjoys the world in her own way. We talk about what she hears. She tells us about things she does see and she feels lots of things along the way and experiences the world that way. She held on to a leaf, a seed pod and an acorn for most of the trip to the zoo and brought them home, happy to have them in her lap in the car.
It’s different than I would have ever expected her and our lives to be at this point, but she’s happy and she keeps us happy as a result.
The Big Boy Update: My son was unhappy at me because I said a bad word tonight. She said, “dad, throw mommy in the trash!” I told him, “I’m too big for the trash can.” I think he was a little disappointed because he said, “oh, okay, never mind.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was walking along a ledge at the zoo and having fun when some other young girls decided to do the same thing. When she realized they were in front of her she said, “traffic jam!”
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Adopted Zoo
We went to the local zoo today to visit some special friends. We’d never been to the zoo near my in-law’s Florida home but we had a special reason to go on this visit. For Christmas this year my husband’s sister, “Aunt A” gave each of our children a stuffed animal representing their favorite animal. My son picked a tiger and my daughter picked a hedgehog.
A few days after the stuffed animals arrived a packaged addressed to each of the children came in the mail from the zoo. Aunt A had adopted a tiger and hedgehog in my children’s names and today we were hoping to be able to see them.
We arrived just in time for the tiger show. Beropi, my son’s tiger, was inside but we got to see one of the other three tigers up close. My son said that was fine and he liked all tigers.
We spent some more time at the zoo, seeing lots of interesting things. We talked to one of the staff who was showing a blue tongued skink to people and letting them pet him if they wanted to about the possibility of seeing my daughter’s adopted hedgehog named Fasso. He said the hedgehogs weren’t part of an exhibit we could walk through although they were brought out for teaching purposes like what he was doing with the skink.
Unfortunately we weren’t going to have a chance to see Fasso today. But we heard about him and he told us what hedgehogs were like, what they ate and how they felt. My daughter had fun petting the skink and exploring the zoo with her brother and talking about their adopted pets.
The Big Boy Tiny Girl Children Naming Update: After the zoo today we came back and got in the pool. My children could stay in the pool all day and today was no different. They were having a good time making up games and playing together for hours. At one point my daughter said to me, “mom, do you know what the most beautiful name in the world is?” I told her I didn’t and she said, “it’s Phoenix.” I asked her if she was going to name one of her children Phoenix. She casually agreed she was planning on just that when her brother jumped in yelling, “I’m going to name one of my children, ‘Phoenix 2.0’”!
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
I Put My High Heels On
My husband and father-in-law played golf and were out most of the day today. They had a good time and while they were gone, my mother-in-law, the children and I spent most of the day in their backyard pool. We played with just about every single pool toy, inflatable and attachment based on the amount of pool you couldn’t see after everything was in the mix.
The children weren’t able to stay out of the pool and we finally let them in at eight in the morning when the heat circulation had warmed it up enough to be comfortable. The sun wasn’t even up over the roofline for another half-hour, but we were still out having fun at noon.
After the dads came back we went to an early dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, because it’s Valentine’s Day and we weren’t about to risk a long wait or no availability at another restaurant, We went to dinner early and got home just as it was getting dark.
My daughter is having fun with Papa, my husband is working on a TV/sound system update for my in-laws and I’ve been helping my son with a Lego set he’s been working on. He kept singing, “I put my high heels on” from time to time. He asked me what song it was from and I didn’t know. He told me I knew. I couldn’t figure it out. Then he asked me what high heels were.
It was about five minutes later I realized he was talking about, “Cheap Thrills” by Sia. I played it on my phone for him and we both sang along.
The Big Boy Update: Speaking of music choices, my son and I have the same tastes in music frequently. Right now he and I both like listening to Deadmau5. He asked me to play, “Phantoms Can’t Hang” while we were finishing up his Lego.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This morning my husband was getting ready to leave for golf. He was putting sunscreen on his face and stuck his whitened face out of the bathroom saying, “anyone want to see my Kabuki mask?” My daughter ran over to him and said, “I want a poopie mask!”
The children weren’t able to stay out of the pool and we finally let them in at eight in the morning when the heat circulation had warmed it up enough to be comfortable. The sun wasn’t even up over the roofline for another half-hour, but we were still out having fun at noon.
After the dads came back we went to an early dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, because it’s Valentine’s Day and we weren’t about to risk a long wait or no availability at another restaurant, We went to dinner early and got home just as it was getting dark.
My daughter is having fun with Papa, my husband is working on a TV/sound system update for my in-laws and I’ve been helping my son with a Lego set he’s been working on. He kept singing, “I put my high heels on” from time to time. He asked me what song it was from and I didn’t know. He told me I knew. I couldn’t figure it out. Then he asked me what high heels were.
It was about five minutes later I realized he was talking about, “Cheap Thrills” by Sia. I played it on my phone for him and we both sang along.
The Big Boy Update: Speaking of music choices, my son and I have the same tastes in music frequently. Right now he and I both like listening to Deadmau5. He asked me to play, “Phantoms Can’t Hang” while we were finishing up his Lego.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This morning my husband was getting ready to leave for golf. He was putting sunscreen on his face and stuck his whitened face out of the bathroom saying, “anyone want to see my Kabuki mask?” My daughter ran over to him and said, “I want a poopie mask!”
Monday, February 13, 2017
Travel Changes
This isn’t about changes we had in our travel plans today—those went off exactly as planned. We left home, took two flights, had no delays, got to Florida, picked up the rental car and have just finished a nice dinner with my in-laws.
What’s changed is our travel complexity over time. I’ve had a folder called, “Travel Packing Lists” since my children were infants. And before I go any farther in this story, you need to know I have a bit of an OCD, over-organized, anal-retentive streak going, because it will make this sound less crazy when I explain it.
I have a list of everything I need to remember to pack for trips out of town. This doesn’t include things like, “shoes, shits, hairbrush, underwear” because those things I wouldn’t forget. It’s all the things I need to remember to take for the children and anything specific I might need to take for that particular destination.
For instance, I want to remember my boat license when we go to New Jersey every summer. When we go to Florida we need to bring swim suits for the children. But if we’re flying to Florida, we don’t need toothbrushes and floss because my mother-in-law has them waiting for us when we arrive.
Initially we needed to bring special spoons, cups, bibs, enough diapers to fill a suitcase and all sorts of other things small children need throughout the day. As they’ve gotten older the travel packing lists get shorter and shorter and the trips are getting easier and easier to prepare for.
Just last night I was amazed I was completely packed by dinner time and didn’t have anything else to do but watch a show and go to bed after the children were asleep.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted help with an app on his iPad while we were in the airport today. He walked over to my husband, placed the iPad on his lap and said, “daddy, since you’re bored and doing nothing, I have something for you to do.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was working on her iPad earlier today with her headphones on, I wasn’t sure what was happening until I heard her say very clearly, “Siri, what are you doin’ right now?” I’m not sure what Siri responded, but it made her laugh.
What’s changed is our travel complexity over time. I’ve had a folder called, “Travel Packing Lists” since my children were infants. And before I go any farther in this story, you need to know I have a bit of an OCD, over-organized, anal-retentive streak going, because it will make this sound less crazy when I explain it.
I have a list of everything I need to remember to pack for trips out of town. This doesn’t include things like, “shoes, shits, hairbrush, underwear” because those things I wouldn’t forget. It’s all the things I need to remember to take for the children and anything specific I might need to take for that particular destination.
For instance, I want to remember my boat license when we go to New Jersey every summer. When we go to Florida we need to bring swim suits for the children. But if we’re flying to Florida, we don’t need toothbrushes and floss because my mother-in-law has them waiting for us when we arrive.
Initially we needed to bring special spoons, cups, bibs, enough diapers to fill a suitcase and all sorts of other things small children need throughout the day. As they’ve gotten older the travel packing lists get shorter and shorter and the trips are getting easier and easier to prepare for.
Just last night I was amazed I was completely packed by dinner time and didn’t have anything else to do but watch a show and go to bed after the children were asleep.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted help with an app on his iPad while we were in the airport today. He walked over to my husband, placed the iPad on his lap and said, “daddy, since you’re bored and doing nothing, I have something for you to do.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was working on her iPad earlier today with her headphones on, I wasn’t sure what was happening until I heard her say very clearly, “Siri, what are you doin’ right now?” I’m not sure what Siri responded, but it made her laugh.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Clean Refrigerator
If you’ve been to my house you know I have a tidy, well, everything. It’s nice, but it has been said to border on the obsessive by some people. I can’t say I disagree. But I do like things up, out, organized, in their place or gone.
The refrigerator goes through a cleaning before trips. This involves eating everything left over, not making more food and not going out to eat, possibly bringing more things home to stick in the refrigerator as leftovers.
Today I ate a strange collection of foods, all in the pursuit of emptying the refrigerator. Tomorrow morning we leave. I’m not sure the children are going to be interested in what I have in store for them for breakfast though.
The Big Boy Update: My son is quite excited to be going on vacation tomorrow. Tonight at dinner he said, “it’s so close to being in Florida!”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to show me and my husband something this afternoon. I said I was in the middle of something and couldn’t make it but could she show just dad? She didn’t even think before replying, “yeah, maybe it would be more fun without mommy.”
Walk, Don’t Run: My running partner and I walked today. Walking a harder than running when you normally run, because the muscles are used differently. We made a nine-and-a-half mile trek, having to drop into running towards the end to get home in time. I prefer running any day over walking.
The refrigerator goes through a cleaning before trips. This involves eating everything left over, not making more food and not going out to eat, possibly bringing more things home to stick in the refrigerator as leftovers.
Today I ate a strange collection of foods, all in the pursuit of emptying the refrigerator. Tomorrow morning we leave. I’m not sure the children are going to be interested in what I have in store for them for breakfast though.
The Big Boy Update: My son is quite excited to be going on vacation tomorrow. Tonight at dinner he said, “it’s so close to being in Florida!”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to show me and my husband something this afternoon. I said I was in the middle of something and couldn’t make it but could she show just dad? She didn’t even think before replying, “yeah, maybe it would be more fun without mommy.”
Walk, Don’t Run: My running partner and I walked today. Walking a harder than running when you normally run, because the muscles are used differently. We made a nine-and-a-half mile trek, having to drop into running towards the end to get home in time. I prefer running any day over walking.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
When Family Visits
We have had the pleasure of having friends of our family visiting over the past few days. We’ve had our honorary, “Aunt Jo” with us for three nights and my lifelong friend, Richard, for a day and a night. My parents joined us for some reminiscing and new memory making at dinner last night. Given our ages, it was more reminiscing than anything else, but with a five- and six-year-old at the table, it was certain new memories would be added into the mix.
On the way to dinner I had a realization. It was one of those things you don’t think about until it suddenly strikes you as a fact. This particular fact involved noise. My husband, Richard and I were in our car with the children, grandparents leading the way in the car ahead. The three of adults, without even realizing it, were rising above, ignoring the higher and louder decibel range of the children in the third row, making the most of the few minutes of adult time we’d been afforded.
It was in that loud, shrieking, laughing, cackling time with the children that I said, “Richard, I can absolutely tell you’re a parent too, because none of this crazy noise is even bothering you.”
Dinner was fun and the evening ended with us all hoping to get together again when schedules permitted. Hopefully soon.
The Big Boy Update: It was about time to call my son for dinner tonight. He was focused on his iPad, something he gets time with on the weekends—something he can get sucked into for hours unless the time is managed. I told him his dinner was almost ready. He didn’t even look up as he said, “it saves time if you call me Batman.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter came into the bathroom where I was getting ready today. She was bouncing around for a bit and then stopped to tell me, “I almost threw up but I didn’t, I threw it back down.”
On the way to dinner I had a realization. It was one of those things you don’t think about until it suddenly strikes you as a fact. This particular fact involved noise. My husband, Richard and I were in our car with the children, grandparents leading the way in the car ahead. The three of adults, without even realizing it, were rising above, ignoring the higher and louder decibel range of the children in the third row, making the most of the few minutes of adult time we’d been afforded.
It was in that loud, shrieking, laughing, cackling time with the children that I said, “Richard, I can absolutely tell you’re a parent too, because none of this crazy noise is even bothering you.”
Dinner was fun and the evening ended with us all hoping to get together again when schedules permitted. Hopefully soon.
The Big Boy Update: It was about time to call my son for dinner tonight. He was focused on his iPad, something he gets time with on the weekends—something he can get sucked into for hours unless the time is managed. I told him his dinner was almost ready. He didn’t even look up as he said, “it saves time if you call me Batman.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter came into the bathroom where I was getting ready today. She was bouncing around for a bit and then stopped to tell me, “I almost threw up but I didn’t, I threw it back down.”
Friday, February 10, 2017
Graduation
My children are going to “graduate” from seeing their play therapist. They’ve both come a long way and Dhruti doesn’t think we need regular sessions for either child. I think they’re going to be sad to not see her any more, but she has a “graduation party” planned for the next time we see her after vacation.
It’s a comfort knowing you have an expert who understands what’s going on in your child’s head and can help you know how to best help them navigate being a child. Dhruti says she isn’t leaving us and she would like to have a session with our daughter from time to time based on eye surgeries or other changes in her vision or school situation. She also said she would be available to meet with us any time we had a list of, “how do we handle this?” questions.
Graduation should be a happy time, and it is, but we’ll miss Dhruti.
The Big Boy Update: Today my son was telling me about Nana and Papa’s house and I had no idea what he was talking about, because Nana and Papa didn’t have a house like he was described. He told me, “ugh, you don’t even have a brain.” A few questions later and I understood it was a “house” that had a lot of floors and other people lived there too. Then I realized he was talking about the time share at Hilton Head we stayed at on the fifteenth floor.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I don’t have any idea where this is coming from but my daughter said to me, “mommy, is somebody mind controlling us to make us say what they want us to say?”
It’s a comfort knowing you have an expert who understands what’s going on in your child’s head and can help you know how to best help them navigate being a child. Dhruti says she isn’t leaving us and she would like to have a session with our daughter from time to time based on eye surgeries or other changes in her vision or school situation. She also said she would be available to meet with us any time we had a list of, “how do we handle this?” questions.
Graduation should be a happy time, and it is, but we’ll miss Dhruti.
The Big Boy Update: Today my son was telling me about Nana and Papa’s house and I had no idea what he was talking about, because Nana and Papa didn’t have a house like he was described. He told me, “ugh, you don’t even have a brain.” A few questions later and I understood it was a “house” that had a lot of floors and other people lived there too. Then I realized he was talking about the time share at Hilton Head we stayed at on the fifteenth floor.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I don’t have any idea where this is coming from but my daughter said to me, “mommy, is somebody mind controlling us to make us say what they want us to say?”
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Vacation Preparation
Our family prepares for an upcoming vacation in a different way each. I think about all the packing that needs to be completed and anything else that needs to be done one or more days in advance. I start packing or shopping or emailing so that when it’s close to the day of departure I have everything done without last minute rushing.
If it’s a trip involving a weather change (say from cold winter to mid-spring) due to change in location, I am inclined to shop. That’s not to say I’m ever disinclined to shop, I’m just more likely to head to the mall before a week-long trip.
My husband’s trip preparations are more straightforward than mine—get a haircut. Sometimes I envy the simplicity of his pre-trip planning.
The Big Boy Vacation Planner: My son wants to count down days until we leave for vacation. He likes helping write up our refrigerator calendar and then scratching off the days as we get closer to the day we leave for vacation.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter likes to pack her backpack in advance, which is not unlike her mother, as I too like to get things ready well before a trip. This afternoon she asked me where he backpack was and was it okay if she went ahead and put things in it for the plane ride and trip to Florida. She came back later and told me everything she put in—and the things she couldn’t fit, “but that’s okay, momma.”
If it’s a trip involving a weather change (say from cold winter to mid-spring) due to change in location, I am inclined to shop. That’s not to say I’m ever disinclined to shop, I’m just more likely to head to the mall before a week-long trip.
My husband’s trip preparations are more straightforward than mine—get a haircut. Sometimes I envy the simplicity of his pre-trip planning.
The Big Boy Vacation Planner: My son wants to count down days until we leave for vacation. He likes helping write up our refrigerator calendar and then scratching off the days as we get closer to the day we leave for vacation.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter likes to pack her backpack in advance, which is not unlike her mother, as I too like to get things ready well before a trip. This afternoon she asked me where he backpack was and was it okay if she went ahead and put things in it for the plane ride and trip to Florida. She came back later and told me everything she put in—and the things she couldn’t fit, “but that’s okay, momma.”
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Gas and Brakes
There are some things I don’t realize are different with the electric cars until every now and then when I’m reminded of them. The first and most obvious one is gas.
I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve stopped in a gas station. I might if I needed air in the tires, but I haven’t. If there was some lottery ticket I simply had to have, maybe I would, but there hasn’t been one. If we were traveling and needed snacks and a place to use the facilities, maybe, but I’m not sure we’ve done that either. We don’t stop in local gas stations because we charge every night at home and don’t need to recharge mid-day.
I realized today I haven’t even looked to see if I was, “running low on gas” in a long time. I do a similar check seeing, “how many range-miles until empty”? That’s the way we usually find out if we forgot to plug in the car the night before because the number of miles is less than it should be at, say, ten o’clock in the morning. This also isn’t really a problem because we could go for days without charging the car given the miles we drive around town in a day.
The other thing that comes up from time to time in the electric cars is the brake rust. If it’s rained or has been humid or the car has been cleaned, the brake rotors get a thin coating of rust on them and it takes several good applications of the brakes to wear it off. The result of the rust coating is a grinding noise, which sounds like something is wrong, but is a normal sound given the conditions.
Because the cars have regenerative braking (which doesn’t use the brake pads at all) to recharge the batteries, the brakes get used less frequently and with less force. Just the other day my husband said to me, “we need to use the brakes more” after a bad rain storm.
These are good problems to have.
The Big Boy Update: Before dinner tonight I heard my son say, “I wish I was bald.” When I asked him why, he told me it was because his head was so hot and sweaty.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to go find the creek today at the back of a rental property. I told her it was a long way back so she got a long stick (about the length of the cane she uses during her orientation and mobility sessions). She named it, “baby stick” and used it to help find our way through the brush, roots and leaves. When we got to the stream she used it to check where the water was so she didn’t step into it.
I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve stopped in a gas station. I might if I needed air in the tires, but I haven’t. If there was some lottery ticket I simply had to have, maybe I would, but there hasn’t been one. If we were traveling and needed snacks and a place to use the facilities, maybe, but I’m not sure we’ve done that either. We don’t stop in local gas stations because we charge every night at home and don’t need to recharge mid-day.
I realized today I haven’t even looked to see if I was, “running low on gas” in a long time. I do a similar check seeing, “how many range-miles until empty”? That’s the way we usually find out if we forgot to plug in the car the night before because the number of miles is less than it should be at, say, ten o’clock in the morning. This also isn’t really a problem because we could go for days without charging the car given the miles we drive around town in a day.
The other thing that comes up from time to time in the electric cars is the brake rust. If it’s rained or has been humid or the car has been cleaned, the brake rotors get a thin coating of rust on them and it takes several good applications of the brakes to wear it off. The result of the rust coating is a grinding noise, which sounds like something is wrong, but is a normal sound given the conditions.
Because the cars have regenerative braking (which doesn’t use the brake pads at all) to recharge the batteries, the brakes get used less frequently and with less force. Just the other day my husband said to me, “we need to use the brakes more” after a bad rain storm.
These are good problems to have.
The Big Boy Update: Before dinner tonight I heard my son say, “I wish I was bald.” When I asked him why, he told me it was because his head was so hot and sweaty.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to go find the creek today at the back of a rental property. I told her it was a long way back so she got a long stick (about the length of the cane she uses during her orientation and mobility sessions). She named it, “baby stick” and used it to help find our way through the brush, roots and leaves. When we got to the stream she used it to check where the water was so she didn’t step into it.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Three Feet or Six Feet
This should be a simple distinction, right? Is something three feet long or is it six feet long? My children aren’t three feet high and my husband is close to six feet tall. I don’t get their lengths confused. And yet I’ve had three conversations about these very same two measurements today.
This has to do with cables, specifically charger cables for our devices. My husband said his was too long and while I was at the store, could I see if they had a shorter one? I got there, phoned him and we had a conversation about his current cable being eighteen inches, three feet or six feet. We eliminated the eighteen inches option because of where the plug in the wall was and where he charged his device, but beyond that we weren’t sure as neither of us had thought to measure beforehand.
I got the three foot length and this evening we looked through all our cables and were surprised how many were the same lengths and how few were longer. We had needed a shorter cable in the one type we had nothing but longer cables. But we have it sorted now. That is, unless we need four foot lengths…
The Big Boy Update: We got in the car this morning and as I was backing out of the garage my son said, “raise your hand if you had a nightmare with a bunny that turned into a monster when you tried to hug it.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has been paying attention to the type of trees around us. I told her we didn’t have any evergreens in our yard. She said, “yes we do, Lucy’s tree.” She is right, Lucy (our deceased dog) has a small evergreen planted in her remembrance.
Upper Body: It was unseasonably hot today and this afternoon I wore a short-sleeved shirt. It is about this time of year that I notice all my upper body muscles have wasted away so in the spirit of, “spring is around the corner” I went to the fitness room with my husband today. My legs and core don’t complain that much from running but who knows how much I’ll hurt tomorrow from today’s workout.
This has to do with cables, specifically charger cables for our devices. My husband said his was too long and while I was at the store, could I see if they had a shorter one? I got there, phoned him and we had a conversation about his current cable being eighteen inches, three feet or six feet. We eliminated the eighteen inches option because of where the plug in the wall was and where he charged his device, but beyond that we weren’t sure as neither of us had thought to measure beforehand.
I got the three foot length and this evening we looked through all our cables and were surprised how many were the same lengths and how few were longer. We had needed a shorter cable in the one type we had nothing but longer cables. But we have it sorted now. That is, unless we need four foot lengths…
The Big Boy Update: We got in the car this morning and as I was backing out of the garage my son said, “raise your hand if you had a nightmare with a bunny that turned into a monster when you tried to hug it.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has been paying attention to the type of trees around us. I told her we didn’t have any evergreens in our yard. She said, “yes we do, Lucy’s tree.” She is right, Lucy (our deceased dog) has a small evergreen planted in her remembrance.
Upper Body: It was unseasonably hot today and this afternoon I wore a short-sleeved shirt. It is about this time of year that I notice all my upper body muscles have wasted away so in the spirit of, “spring is around the corner” I went to the fitness room with my husband today. My legs and core don’t complain that much from running but who knows how much I’ll hurt tomorrow from today’s workout.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Blind New World
My brother-in-law sent me an email saying he’d seen an ad in the Boston subway and thought we might be interested. The link is below and I wasn’t sure what to expect from the text on the main page before I selected and watched the videos.
http://blindnewworld.org
It had never occurred to me that I might or might not be prejudiced towards blind people. Having a blind child now has changed how I see blind people, but I’m still only at the five-year-old mark and less than two years into understanding low-vision and blind implications and conversely capabilities.
I don’t know how other people feel, but it know it is a sadness to hear of a child who’s lost their sight. That doesn’t mean my daughter isn’t capable, she’s just going to achieve things in a different way.
Thanks to Uncle Bob for sharing the link.
The Big Boy Update: I was running for a very long time yesterday on my birthday. When I got home I cleaned up and shortly thereafter we went to my parent’s house to have birthday roast and cake. My husband did a lot of work from home yesterday and as such, gratefully, our children entertained themselves for the most part all day. We didn’t sound like the best parents in the world though when we got in the door of Mimi and Gramp’s house and my son announced, “I’ve played video games all day!”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This morning my daughter came downstairs while I was making breakfast and told me as she got into her chair, “Mom, I just want to say happy birthday one more time even though it’s not your real birthday anymore.”
http://blindnewworld.org
It had never occurred to me that I might or might not be prejudiced towards blind people. Having a blind child now has changed how I see blind people, but I’m still only at the five-year-old mark and less than two years into understanding low-vision and blind implications and conversely capabilities.
I don’t know how other people feel, but it know it is a sadness to hear of a child who’s lost their sight. That doesn’t mean my daughter isn’t capable, she’s just going to achieve things in a different way.
Thanks to Uncle Bob for sharing the link.
The Big Boy Update: I was running for a very long time yesterday on my birthday. When I got home I cleaned up and shortly thereafter we went to my parent’s house to have birthday roast and cake. My husband did a lot of work from home yesterday and as such, gratefully, our children entertained themselves for the most part all day. We didn’t sound like the best parents in the world though when we got in the door of Mimi and Gramp’s house and my son announced, “I’ve played video games all day!”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This morning my daughter came downstairs while I was making breakfast and told me as she got into her chair, “Mom, I just want to say happy birthday one more time even though it’s not your real birthday anymore.”
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Trial Run Test
My running buddy and I like to pre-run the marathon distance before we get up to any actual marathon runs we have scheduled. This is mostly for our peace of mind and comfort level than anything else, but it’s also good information to know.
We have a marathon coming up in a month. It’s in the very hilly park across from our neighborhood and includes close to seven miles of single track trails, meaning pine needles, trees, roots, rocks and water hazards. We haven’t done much running since the marathons in November, so it was time to get out, dust off the cardiovascular muscles and see what we could do.
We did a sixteen-mile run, then a twenty-mile run and then today we did a full marathon run with three of the five single track trails included. We didn’t have the hydration and food support the real race offers, but we were able to do the run and tonight I’m doing fine.
Today is my birthday and doing the run was a nice way to celebrate. Thanks to my husband for watching the children for half the day.
The Big Boy Update: My son looked at the large slice of cake Mimi had given him for dessert for my birthday celebration. He had eaten a good bit but he’d hit his limit. He looked up and said, “I can’t seem to eat this.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has a sound book from school. Each little page is a letter and she’s learning the sound that goes with each letter. The letters are written in sharpie for her so it’s easier to see them. When she reads the sound book now she reads the sound, flips the page, looks at the left page and reads the same sound saying the letter is now backwards (because she’s seeing the sharpie bleed through the front of the paper. Then she goes to the new letter on the right page.
Fitness Update: 26.8 mile run in preparation for an upcoming marathon. Nice crisp day to run in the park.
We have a marathon coming up in a month. It’s in the very hilly park across from our neighborhood and includes close to seven miles of single track trails, meaning pine needles, trees, roots, rocks and water hazards. We haven’t done much running since the marathons in November, so it was time to get out, dust off the cardiovascular muscles and see what we could do.
We did a sixteen-mile run, then a twenty-mile run and then today we did a full marathon run with three of the five single track trails included. We didn’t have the hydration and food support the real race offers, but we were able to do the run and tonight I’m doing fine.
Today is my birthday and doing the run was a nice way to celebrate. Thanks to my husband for watching the children for half the day.
The Big Boy Update: My son looked at the large slice of cake Mimi had given him for dessert for my birthday celebration. He had eaten a good bit but he’d hit his limit. He looked up and said, “I can’t seem to eat this.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has a sound book from school. Each little page is a letter and she’s learning the sound that goes with each letter. The letters are written in sharpie for her so it’s easier to see them. When she reads the sound book now she reads the sound, flips the page, looks at the left page and reads the same sound saying the letter is now backwards (because she’s seeing the sharpie bleed through the front of the paper. Then she goes to the new letter on the right page.
Fitness Update: 26.8 mile run in preparation for an upcoming marathon. Nice crisp day to run in the park.
Saturday, February 4, 2017
The Tooth Fairy Consideration
Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy—we know they’re not real, we know we perpetuate a fun story for our children. We’ve now gotten to the Tooth Fairy chapter of little white imaginary characters in our lives here. My son has a tooth that is close to falling out. He would like it to hurry up and do so because it’s bothering him, but it’s not that far resorbed yet so we’re in the waiting phase.
The children know about the Tooth Fairy because they have friends at school losing teeth and talking about it all the time. I don’t think we could in good conscience tell them there was no such thing without undermining the other friends families statements in the process. So we’re going with the Tooth Fairy.
But wheat’s the going rate? I’ve asked around and I think we’ll probably do a dollar. I suppose we’ll make a decision soon if the tooth comes out in the next day or two.
The Big Boy Update: There is a building that recently was completed building on our drive to school. On Friday we noticed a rainbow of LED lights rippling across the top. My son declared it, “cool”. Then he said, “it’s a good thing.” I agreed with him.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted very much to see the new rainbow lights on the building on Friday, but since she can’t even tell where the building is (and it’s a big building), I told her I would try and take a picture of it to show her later. Sometimes I hate that she can see so little and there’s nothing I can do to help.
The children know about the Tooth Fairy because they have friends at school losing teeth and talking about it all the time. I don’t think we could in good conscience tell them there was no such thing without undermining the other friends families statements in the process. So we’re going with the Tooth Fairy.
But wheat’s the going rate? I’ve asked around and I think we’ll probably do a dollar. I suppose we’ll make a decision soon if the tooth comes out in the next day or two.
The Big Boy Update: There is a building that recently was completed building on our drive to school. On Friday we noticed a rainbow of LED lights rippling across the top. My son declared it, “cool”. Then he said, “it’s a good thing.” I agreed with him.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted very much to see the new rainbow lights on the building on Friday, but since she can’t even tell where the building is (and it’s a big building), I told her I would try and take a picture of it to show her later. Sometimes I hate that she can see so little and there’s nothing I can do to help.
Friday, February 3, 2017
Ladies Night Overnight
I’m running late to our semi-regularly scheduled ladies night overnight and out. The four of us are staying at a local hotel and spa. I’ve just been sent the hotel room number so I’d better get off the computer and go see how my friends have been doing for the past few months.
The Big Boy Tiny Girl Breakfast Discussion: This morning my daughter came into the bathroom and complained about her brother saying, “he says he wants to have a peaceful breakfast and I can’t talk to him.” My son came in shortly afterwards, saying she kept talking and he was just wanting to have a peaceful breakfast. I told them it was nice to have wishes, but we don’t get to decide when other people talked.
The Big Boy Tiny Girl Breakfast Discussion: This morning my daughter came into the bathroom and complained about her brother saying, “he says he wants to have a peaceful breakfast and I can’t talk to him.” My son came in shortly afterwards, saying she kept talking and he was just wanting to have a peaceful breakfast. I told them it was nice to have wishes, but we don’t get to decide when other people talked.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Stuck Stickers
You know when people say, “there should be a law against…” and you know that translates to, “I really, really, really don’t like…”? In this case, I think it should go further than just laws against, I think a good solid round of government regulations should be applied to rules with stickers.
Not all stickers, just the ones on products you purchase in a store. They need to remain on the product, but they should come off when you’ve purchased the item, especially when they’re large and in a conspicuous location.
There are many kinds of label and price stickers in the market, maybe it’s just a case of using the wrong type of sticker for a particular surface on which it is to be stuck. I have that Goo Gone adhesive remover spray, but that doesn’t help when the product is a porous material like a book cover.
Today I spent far too much time getting four stickers off birthday presents. But I got them off. Maybe next year there will be a revolution in removable stickers.
The Big Boy Update: My son’s tooth is more “wiggly” now and he’s looking forward to it falling out because it’s hard to bite things with his front teeth without discomfort. I told him not to lose it when it falls out.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter hears everything. She was with me on the couch when she said, “daddy, are you getting those stars again?” At very low volume my husband had been playing Mario Run on his phone—a game in which you get stars for doing well.
Not all stickers, just the ones on products you purchase in a store. They need to remain on the product, but they should come off when you’ve purchased the item, especially when they’re large and in a conspicuous location.
There are many kinds of label and price stickers in the market, maybe it’s just a case of using the wrong type of sticker for a particular surface on which it is to be stuck. I have that Goo Gone adhesive remover spray, but that doesn’t help when the product is a porous material like a book cover.
Today I spent far too much time getting four stickers off birthday presents. But I got them off. Maybe next year there will be a revolution in removable stickers.
The Big Boy Update: My son’s tooth is more “wiggly” now and he’s looking forward to it falling out because it’s hard to bite things with his front teeth without discomfort. I told him not to lose it when it falls out.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter hears everything. She was with me on the couch when she said, “daddy, are you getting those stars again?” At very low volume my husband had been playing Mario Run on his phone—a game in which you get stars for doing well.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Fire Trucks and SWAT Teams
Across from the children’s school are two lots with houses and a few out buildings. The properties were purchased by the city to relocate a fire station that has outgrown the land on which it currently resides. Many of us are pleased about this—who wouldn’t want emergency responders right across the street from your child’s school?
The lots have been cleared of trees, but the old houses have remained in place until the construction starts. One day just before Thanksgiving, a series of police cars appeared in front of the lots. They put up signs that an exercise was in progress and officers in SWAT vests showed up and did training for part of the day.
It was exciting. We though it was a good thing to have a place to practice so our police would be trained when or if there was ever a need. A few parents were a bit worried with all the guns around, but school wasn’t interrupted (we are across the street but well-set back from the road).
They did more maneuvers and we watched when we had the chance. Now, the fire department is getting in on the action. Today there were multiple fire trucks and firemen all over the place in front of the school. A very nice fireman I think didn’t even get a chance to be involved in the exercise because he got ambushed by children wanting a fireman’s badge sticker and to ask questions.
The Big Boy Update: My son and I had a discussion about rocket ships. He wanted to know how they went into space. I told him they needed lots of fuel to lift the heavy ship up into the sky. I asked him if he had enough energy to jump into the sky? He did a lot of jumps and came to the conclusion that rocket engines had to be very powerful indeed in order to get off the ground and up into space.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: A friend of ours was having a conversation with my daughter who had told her when she becomes a mom and the baby comes out, it’s gonna hurt at least a little bit. But that wasn’t going to be until she was older, so that was okay.
The lots have been cleared of trees, but the old houses have remained in place until the construction starts. One day just before Thanksgiving, a series of police cars appeared in front of the lots. They put up signs that an exercise was in progress and officers in SWAT vests showed up and did training for part of the day.
It was exciting. We though it was a good thing to have a place to practice so our police would be trained when or if there was ever a need. A few parents were a bit worried with all the guns around, but school wasn’t interrupted (we are across the street but well-set back from the road).
They did more maneuvers and we watched when we had the chance. Now, the fire department is getting in on the action. Today there were multiple fire trucks and firemen all over the place in front of the school. A very nice fireman I think didn’t even get a chance to be involved in the exercise because he got ambushed by children wanting a fireman’s badge sticker and to ask questions.
The Big Boy Update: My son and I had a discussion about rocket ships. He wanted to know how they went into space. I told him they needed lots of fuel to lift the heavy ship up into the sky. I asked him if he had enough energy to jump into the sky? He did a lot of jumps and came to the conclusion that rocket engines had to be very powerful indeed in order to get off the ground and up into space.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: A friend of ours was having a conversation with my daughter who had told her when she becomes a mom and the baby comes out, it’s gonna hurt at least a little bit. But that wasn’t going to be until she was older, so that was okay.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)