Chilled

My daughter and I were heading over to walk Charlotte, the neighbor's dog, this morning.  She was in pajamas and a winter jacket with Crocs and no socks.   I was in my ski jacket and a hat and winter gloves. My daughter asked why I was wearing so much because it wasn't *that* cold.  

I told her I was always cold and I easily got chilled.   I tent to set the temperature up here in the basement but wow am I currently chilled.  I'm heading upstairs to get under the covers.  We got seven videos delivered to the company we're working with tonight after a lot of work.  I hope they like them. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to go ice skating today.  She and her father went and had a good time.  I'm glad he had a chance to spend some time with her. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son showed up way after bedtime with a blanket and collapsed in a pile on the floor.  He had had some nightmare.  After about an hour of him not moving my husband carried him back upstairs.   It was odd for him to have a nightmare like that.  He was so out of it we only think it was a nightmare. 

Walking Charlotte

Our neighbor called and asked if my daughter would be interested in walking and feeding their dog, Charlotte for the next day-and-a-half while they were out of town on short notice.   I said sure, knowing I'd be involved.   

But I'm not sure I really needed to be.   She knew how to get into their garage with the code, she knew the key was in the pot hidden in a certain place and if I showed her how to use the key (she's only used combination door locks in her life I believe) she could have gotten in and out of the door. 

She found Charlotte's leash without me even telling her where it was.   She knew where the food was, played with Charlotte, did the walking of Charlotte and knew when there was poop to be picked up from the smell.   She wouldn't have easily been able to pick it up without the chance of a mess, but with some practice I'm sure we could come up with a plan.  

She pretty much didn't need me, which just goes to show how capable a blind person really can be.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I was worried Charlotte would bolt when she was under my daughter's leash control, but she listened to her and followed her requests just by the tone of voice she used.  My daughter wasn't afraid of losing her at all. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son didn't realize he needed to not let the dog out when we went to see Charlotte today because she very much wants to see Charlotte.   We were about to go in their garage door to the house proper when I turned around and our dog was right there, waiting to go inside and meet Charlotte with us.   

Entertaining Guests

We had friends over for dinner tonight.   It's such a rare thing to happen these days that we all had to figure out what to do.  The children were fairly good, although they have the worst time sitting in their chairs.   We talked a lot about 3D printing and they looked at the models, the printers, the filament, and asked questions. 

It was fun talking about the 3D printing, but I felt badly when they left.   Did we ask them enough about what was going on in their lives?  They were interested in what was happening with us, and came over to see the 3D printing.  But should we have been more equal in the conversation?   I always worry about that. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son lost screens today for getting on the screen when he knew he was not yet invited to.   He was miserable, but he turned it around and calmly asked if he could have a little bit of screens after dinner.   He was contrite, apologetic and seemed like he meant it.   His prior tactics have been to demand and state when he was getting screen time and I told him that wasn't working with me.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been disappearing into her room a lot.  She loves audiobooks, but I know she would love to have friends to play with more.  Maybe we'll be able to have friends around more soon.   The social dynamics have changed here with one family moving away, the other family getting a divorce and the children only being here part of the time, a third family not wanting their daughter out because they have an infant and the last family having a daughter who has gotten older and isn't as interested in playing with my daughter anymore.   And that leaves very few to play with even if COVID-19 weren't happening still. 

Early To Bed

I'm trying to get to bed earlier.  And not nap.   It's after midnight now, but it's not two in the morning, so I'm going to call this a win because after this, I'm going up to bed.  I got a lot of things done today sort of. Not the kind of things I would cross off the list of things to do, but things I had to do regardless of if they were on a list or not.  And now I'm tired.  

Not taking a nap or lying down during the day is a win right now, and I'll take it. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son thinks he has something stuck in his throat.   He's worried about it.  I'm concerned he has swollen lymph nodes or other thing related to COVID-19 and he now has it.   He wasn't in pain, just worried.   Tomorrow if he still feels so uncomfortable, we'll decide what we need to do about school.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I gave my daughter the picture I printed for her (3D tactile printed) of the two characters in the book series she's obsessed with.  I don't know which one of us was more excited to show her braillist this afternoon when she got in the car from school.   Her teacher kept one of the two.  They're very interested in applying this way to make things tactile to the needs they have for the children they're working with.  I am too.

Tactile Picturea

I figured out how to take any picture and make a 3D print of it so my daughter can feel it.  It's complicated, involving many steps, but once I got all the details worked out, it's not that complicated.   I've been talking to my daughter's VI teacher about it because if I can get this into an easily repeatable process anyone with a 3D printer can follow, it will be a tool that's accessible to people who have a 3D printer. 

The reason that's interesting is that 3D printers are fairly inexpensive at just over a hundred dollars in some cases.  Filament is inexpensive and the printer is useful for more than just printing pictures.  The comparable technology is easy to use, but it's expensive and requires a medium to raise anything black on the page to a level that a blind person can discern. 

I can take any image and convert it into a thin yet three-dimensional model.   Taking that and compressing it to the right kind of flatness is a bit of a trick.   But I'm getting better at it.  The colors on the pictures need to be eliminated as well as the interior or filled parts of each image.   But I'm getting better at guessing what to do so the final model is what I'm wanting. 

If this works, well, I'm excited about it.   The only tricky part is you're printing on paper.   The paper can easily withstand the quick heat as the nozzle deposits the filament on the page, but it's not something I want to share on social media until I have a better way to print the pictures.  

We thought parchment paper would be a good idea, but nothing sticks to it.  I can't tape or glue the paper onto the build sheet and the melted filament just glides off.   So I need another plan.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Tonight I printed a picture of the two main characters in the book series my daughter is currently obsessed with.   I hope she's as excited as I am when I show it to her tomorrow. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has moved back into his bedroom.  The mound of stuffed animals is now on the top bunk and he can sleep in his bed with some room for his body to fit.  He insisted he wanted all the stuffed animals in his bed, that he could sleep with them no problem.   It turned out to be a problem.  

Family Game Night

Tonight we had our first in a new series of family game nights.  Unfortunately, my husband couldn't attend because he was on a board meeting call.  Things should have been fun and easy, but there were turns for the worse.

The children picked out three games and wanted to play all three.  We were playing games that were by Peaceable Kingdom, a company that designs games where the players are playing against the game so you're all teammates.   The children like these games and I think they're all quite clever.   The first one was Hoot Owl Hoot, which went well with us beating the game and getting our little hoot owls to the nest before the sun rose. 

The second game is where it all went horribly wrong.  My children were both interested in who goes first and they didn't like not going first.   But my son adjusted to it without a problem and moved on.  For the second game my daughter wanted the board facing her and so as a means of compromise, since my son wanted it facing him, I said we'd let her have it in her direction and then her brother would go first. 

She lost it completely.   She was so angry she refused to play, insulted us, chanted that she hoped we. would lose, tried to come back over to play, which we let her, and then complained because she didn't know what was going on and why were we so mean to not let her play?

There were all sorts of things said that were untrue.   I said on multiple occasions, "this is all over going first—when we're playing as a team."   She tried to destroy the game, attack us.  It was unsettling to see her so angry and I knew there was more to it than just going first.  

Later, after the games were over, she and I talked.   She isn't thinking about how things look from the other person's perspective and she draws conclusions that might not even be close to the truth.   She understands better now (maybe) and hopefully this means our next game night won't be so volatile. 

The Big Boy Update:  I saw my son's perspective for the first time tonight.   He didn't try to attack his sister, he put up with her aggravating behavior and insults and then fought back when she attacked him.   We've thought it was him as the aggressor, but I'm starting to think it's her more than him of late.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got so angry tonight that she tried to attack me.   I had moved away from her so when she launched at me, I wasn't there.   This has to be even more infuriating, knowing someone can evade you easily just by taking a few steps.   She is over being mad, but it was most definitely not a good first game night of the year for her tonight. 

The Models That Never Get Printed

For being around 3D printers all day there are a lot of models that just don't get printed.  For instance, I had all but one printers down today because we needed to film in the room with the printers, and having them up means noise.  They're quite quiet overall, but the camera mic is excellent at picking up things even with noise dampening, which can dampen out things we want in the shot (sound?) so they have to be off. 

Which means I can't start models the night before if they'll still be printing the next day when we want to film, even if that filming we plan on doing at ten in the morning gets derailed by so many things that after midnight tonight we still didn't get all the filming we wanted to get done filmed...so I can't print tonight because of tomorrow.  

It's okay though, a lot of things still get printed.   Many days aren't filming days.   Tomorrow, I hope, will be the last for a few days in a row. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son stayed up late (not intentionally, he couldn't sleep) to help pull off a thirty-hour print on TikTok live stream tonight.   He was very excited to be a part of it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted more tactile coloring books today, but there aren't many to be had.  Only I may have figured out a way to 3D print her anything she wants to color on paper.   It worked easily tonight and tomorrow I'm going to show her the things I was able to make.  If they work out, I'll be able to easily make her tactile pages to color any time she wants them. 

Overslept

It's past midnight.  I woke up after eleven after a very long nap.  I really need to get my sleep schedule corrected.   I came downstairs, checked on the livestream, got stuck answering questions while I cleaned up some broken bits that I think won't impact the final print so I let it keep printing.  I came here to write this and now I'm going back to bed.   Hopefully tomorrow I can get back on track and not need a nap because my sleep schedule is messed up.  It's back to school time for both children.

The Big Boy Update:  My son had to clean up his work all over the house today.  He threw a fit.  A terrible fit.   It was juvenile.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter calmly and maturely cleaned up all her things and even commented on how much her brother was acting.   She asked if she could get some stars for how she was cleaning up.  I gave her extra just for her attitude alone. 

From Scratch

I've been building a printer.  Well, I've been building two printers, but one I've been working on for a good while now after putting the first, larger printer to the side for a bit before the holidays.   This little printer is indeed little,  It's what you might call tiny but mighty.  

It's the fastest, most powerful printer I now own and I build it completely from scratch.  Every bolt and wire all the parts, there was soldering, there was electrical work to be done.  Parts had to be printed that were parts of the printer (because 3D printers these days are made, in part, with parts printed from other 3D printers.   It's called Rep Rap which in short means replication rapidly.  Printers building printers. 

Not all the parts are printed, not even the majority of the printer is 3D printed parts, but there are well over a hundred individual parts that were designed specifically to shape and form this printer.  Some of the parts didn't work due to various reasons, but that's okay because I could make the changes necessary and print a new version of the parts.

This printer, while quite hard to build for many reasons, was also detailed out completely by a group who got together to design what they thought the best 3D printer could be.  There are a number of sizes and functions to fit various needs with this being the very smallest but certainly not a diminutive printer from a capability standpoint. 

I got it running two days ago but there were issues.  The build has been a series of successes followed by setbacks.   For weeks now.  But tonight it's not only built and printing, it's enclosed so it can print higher temperature filament.  

In addition to the hardware, I had to install and configure all the software and this printer used something I had zero experience with.  I had a lot of concerns I wouldn't be able to get it running, but I did and now it all makes a lot more sense. 

The other printer is more than half-way complete so I'm picking up there next week and seeing if I can finish up that printer too.   

The little printer is called a Voron and the model is the 0.1.    Next, I'm off to work on the Voron 2.4.   I'll be glad when I get them both working.  I've had printer parts all over the place for months. Currently the 2.4 is in our laundry room, waiting for space to be available on the workbench, which is now cleaned off and ready for it. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Fighting Again:  My daughter annoys my son.  My son is mean to her verbally.   She today lost it, snapped, and tried to grab his arm and not let go.  So he punched her in the throat.  I had a talk with them both.  I really, really, really, really want COVID-19 to be over and the children back in school.  My daughter has been out of school for five weeks now and she is on the edge of everything.  She needs to be with friends.  

An Inch…Maybe

Our city has a snow deflector shield.  I don't know how it does it, but weather just misses us.  Tonight however, we are getting some snow.  It won't last for long and it won't be much, but it's something, and that's all that matters to the children. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Late Snow Romp:  It was after eleven o'clock this evening when it started to snow in earnest.   The children piled on their clothes and went outside in it to investigate.   My daughter went, "to check the trampo" meaning trampoline.  The dog was running around with a level of joy that's hard to explain other than I knew she was very happy it was snowing and cold outside.  

Went To Bed

Yesterday my daughter and I went to get our own COVID-19 tests.  I still wonder if she, my son, and I have it and it's brewing in our bodies and just hasn't shown itself yet.  My husband continues to be fine although he never takes his mask of which I'm sure has been challenging for him.  He wants to try and keep us safe.

It was getting late and I was playing Othello with my daughter when the texts came in with our test results.  I had assumed they'd be positive.  My daughter was chain asking me what the results were while I tried to get the right birthday entered with each of the notifications.   It turned out we were both negative as well.

Hopefully, we'll stay negative, but if we turn up positive this is a better strain to get than the prior ones.  Things are canceling all over the place.  People are working from home, countries that had the virus under control are now dealing with more cases than they know what to do with and protocols are breaking down.   Or at least that's what I'm hearing from 3D printing friends who live in other geographies as they talk about the situation where they are. 

So I went to bed.  To celebrate?  I don't know.  I think to sleep.  I was just tired.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is out of school tomorrow because there may be snow.  "may be" is all it takes to cancel school these days.  When I was young you needed a good snowfall in progress to cancel school.   Back then, I would just walk home, which was wonderful, walking home in the snow, knowing I would be out of school for at least a few days. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was so excited about the snow possibility.  All it takes is a few flakes and she's outside.  The last freezing rain had made a mess of broken-up frozen water on the trampoline.   It looked very uncomfortable to jump around on, but to her, it was exciting stuff.  

Negative

Well, this is unexpected.  My son texted negative, or "Undetected" for COVID-19.   So he's clear or at least he is as of today when they took the sample.  My daughter and I are also not showing symptoms but we're getting tests tomorrow.  Is the single act of my husband wearing an N-95 mask all the time, day and night, keeping us safe?

From all the reports of how virulent the Omnicron strain is, the numbers of people getting infected, countries like Australia who had very few cases at all suddenly being overcome to the point that the protocols have become outdated faster than they can react to the situation, how can we, living in a house with someone who is positive, who is touching the same things surely that we are before we realized he was positive, so many ways we could have been infected, and yet we're not showing signs?

I'm wondering if we're all still incubating.  We will know soon enough I suppose. I applaud my husband for doing what he can to keep us safe.  His ears are sore from wearing the mask constantly, but he still wears it.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son may or may not be happy about going back to school tomorrow.  He has been bouncing off the walls here. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was not happy when she heard she had to have a test again tomorrow.  We assured her it was the easy kind that didn't require one of those deep nasal probes, but it was still upsetting to her.  Hopefully, she'll be fine tomorrow when we get to the drive-up testing location.

Detected

My husband just got his test result back and it says, "Detected".  So he has COVID-19.  He's felt well today with the exception of a small cough every now and then.  He went to get another drive through test today because the test from yesterday still isn't back.  

We're taking my son to get a test tomorrow and debating if my daughter and I should get one too, even though we have no symptoms.  My husband has worn a mask all the time, including sleeping, which is very considerate of him.  

He says, were it not for all that's gone before with COVID-19, he would have thought this was a mild cold that went away in a day or so and thought very little of it.  But this is COVID-19 we're talking about, and all the rules are different.

The Big Boy Update:  My son wasn't very nice to his sister today.  He said tonight when I asked him about it, talking a little on how we've all been cooped up together for several years now, "Mom, sometimes I think I'm going a little crazy being around her."   They are friends and then enemies at least ten times a day. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My son was mean to his sister intentionally today, using her blindness against her.  She did the wailing thing and came in to be with me.  She said she had to tell me she didn't think we were her real parents.  She just felt it deep down.  She said her real home was in the clouds and if only she weren't blind (and could also fly) she could get there.  More crying commenced and I listened and promised her I wasn't mad.  She said, "I mean you and dad are nice and all, but I'm just not sure you're my real parents."  Then, as suddenly as it came on, she turned a switch and said, "well this is getting too dramatic" and she started talking about normal things in a normal tone.   She sometimes needs to get out her feelings.  I guess it's better than holding them in. 

Still Unknown

My husband is feeling much better and went to get a COVID-19 test this morning.  No results yet but my son is acting odd, tired, grumpy and not himself.   The strangest thing or most humorous was a neighbor sent a message that she heard my husband had COVID-19 and was there anything she would do to help?

I responded, "He does?"  I was at the grocery store with my daughter and wondered how in the world the message had gotten around to the neighbors faster than it took to get to me.  It turned out to be a classic case of the game "telephone" with my husband telling one of his clients he had symptoms and wanted to be safe. 

She was related to someone in my neighbor's family, which is how it got to her incorrectly.   Hopefully we'll know in the morning.  

The Big Boy Update:  The crazy thing is, my son is eligible to go to school tomorrow with the current CDC guidelines because he's fully vaccinated and has been away from my husband, who has remained fully masked since he had symptoms.  If he's not himself tomorrow we're going to keep him home just to be sure 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter went to the store with me with our shopping list in braille, printed out by me.  She was an excellent helper.  She loves to help.  She really wanted to help some because we were out of so many things at the house, which is always motivation to go shopping. 

Are We Infected?

My husband hasn't felt well since yesterday.  He's been isolating himself from us and wearing a mask constantly, including sleeping, because he's worried he has COVID-19.  No one else feels ill, but it could easily be COVID-19 given the Omicron ease of infection.   

He would have gotten a test today only we're in the middle of freezing rain all day and things were closed or lines would have been long.   It is very cold tonight, so unfortunately the bit of melting that happened for the few hours it was above freezing means there will be solid ice on the streets tomorrow. 

We are also expecting more much below freezing temperatures but freezing rain to come.   So we're going to keep away from him and let him rest and hope he and everyone will be okay. 

The Big Boy Update:  We turned on the fireplace tonight and my son for some reason wanted to lie naked in front of it with a little blanket lying over him in loincloth or greek toga fashion.   I had to shoo him away after an hour as the rest of the house was growing colder since the thermostats thought it was plenty warm from the fire heat wafting up where the sensors were in the central area of the house. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter couldn't see how yucky the precipitation we had looked.  It was snow-like in some fashion and so she trudged out in ski clothes to an inch of frozen rain.   She had a good time.  She said she liked it better than snow. 

Unexpected Death

My husband got a call this morning that his mother's sister, his Aunt Betty, had died unexpectedly in the night.  She was not in good health and in a home, but she had recently made it through COVID-19 and there wasn't any expectation that she was in distress.  

My mother-in-law was understandably very upset.  It is a shock to hear your only sister has suddenly died, even if she wasn't in the best of health.   Nancy took the news well considering and was on and off the phone all day I am sure talking to people.  

I met Aunt Betty once when I was pregnant with my son.  She was friendly and laughed a lot while we were there with my sister-in-law.  She and I talked on the phone today and remembered that trip together. 

My daughter burst into tears when she heard about Aunt Betty's death.  She had never met her, but she'd talked to her on the phone.  My daughter never likes there to be an end to anything. 

Even though we didn't know her well, she was a member of the family and we will miss her. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl About To Be Grounded Forever Fighting:  I won't go into it, but I told the children they had a choice: get along with no more fighting or stay in their room until the long weekend (in which there might be some sprinkling of snow) is over.   They opted for getting along.

LEGOs Everywhere

My husband loves LEGOs, my son is back into loving LEGOs and my daughter loves to build LEGO models with her father.  My husband said to me yesterday, "You shouldn't have left the new LEGO catalog out, we've been making lists.  

Both he and my son had listed out their favorite sets from the newest catalog with my son easily having twenty sets on is "I'd like to do that one" list.  My husband had three on his list consisting of some of the biggest builds.  

I even looked over and happened to see one model about a hotel that I had happened to see a YouTube video on that was suggested to me and for some reason, I clicked it.  The model had all sorts of rooms in the hotel and each room had just the right things in it to be a perfect mini version of the essence of hotel life. 

So are we getting any new LEGO sets?  You never know with my husband.  I did tell him for my birthday maybe that hotel set would be nice and the birthday present would be my daughter offering to help me make it (something I think she would very much enjoy and a large part of the reason I picked the model.)

The Big Boy Update:  My son went to the attic and brought down some LEGO sets that were in bags.  He had pieces all over the bonus room from the sets and also from the big bins of color-sorted LEGOs.  He was trying to find the pieces so he could get one of the old Mario Bros. sets complete.   The bonus room is a mess, but he is having a great time. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Two audiobooks in two days.   My daughter can binge for hours when it's a new book or series she is interested in.  The two-book series on a candy shop with magicians and magical candy she says is her favorite stories of all time.  She's started the books over so she can listen to them a second time. 

Reworked

I had a Filament Story "Story" video planned out for tonight.   I'd been printing for two days and I had everything planned out in my mind.  And then something odd happened that completely took me off guard: two of the three members of my family didn't want me to do it.  I don't understand why.  One of them I thought would be excited about it and the other one is being concerned for reasons that don't make a lot of logical sense to me.   

But I came up with something else to do with the video and it's not out.   Maybe another time, although  I'm sad because this was the perfect situation for it.   There will always be more filament I'm pretty sure what with the pace companies continue to come out with new variations.  Or at least until 3D printing is replaced with the next rage: 4D Printing.

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Manners:  Some days I don't think they have any.  My daughter railroaded me in a conversation today with an adult.  She does this out of excitement a lot of times, but in this case it seemed intentional and the timing was tough because I was talking about someone who had been very ill.  My son was angry and rude to me when I was telling him about something nice I thought I'd done for him.  Maybe he wasn't interested, but he didn't have to snap at me and be rude.   We don't teach them this but it appears we're going to have to unteach it. 

The Lost Polish

My daughter uncharacteristically asked if we could go get a pedicure or a manicure together.  I've asked her to go before but she usually says no, even if she's currently bored.  Today, she wanted to go and since my fingernails were a mess and I had a bandaid keeping a toenail from snagging and tearing.  

We got there and the ladies all knew my daughter from when she came one time with my probably two years ago.   She and I will both never forget the time she went to sit in the pedicure chair and not realizing there was a tub of water there, she sat straight into it.  

She and I got to play games and we talked to the people about what was happening to her legs, feet and toes.   I had more to get done since I had gel polish to take off and change, so I let her get an upgraded pedicure that included getting her feet wrapped in paraffin.   

She loved it all.  When we were leaving she wanted to wear out those incredibly cheap and awkward to walk in foam flip flops.   She was talking and didn't catch that I said to step down so she stumbled down the curb, scraped the polish off one small toe and broke the little sandal flip flops.

She cried and was upset.   She was mollified by knowing we had almost the exact same polish at home and I would get her a smoothie on the way home.   We had a nice day together. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been tearing through some KiwiCo crates recently.  They pile up sometimes with the children not doing anything for several months and then there is a flurry of KiwiCo building.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  When picking a new book series today it was no wonder my daughter picked the one about a candy store that had candies with magical powers.

Off The Floors!

Tomorrow is the day when the very nice ladies come to clean our house again.  My children do not like cleaning things up in preparation, because why clean when people are coming to clean.  The age old answer of, "you can't clean if you can't get to the things that need to be cleaned" was used.  The word, "surfaces" and "covered" were discussed.  And the children reluctantly decided they would help. 

Typically, I would have to go through lots of parental discussions, bordering on arguments possibly, to get them to tidy their things but today for some reason, they were in not only a willing mood but a helpful one.  

My son cleaned his whole room and then tackled more of the bonus room than was strictly necessary.  In the middle of that he also got two KiwiCo crates completed and had started on a third.   Not only that, he was also helpful with his sister, piling all her things together that needed to be cleaned up, or just dumping them in her room in piles.   He was in rare form, as my mother would say.  

The house really looks quite nice tonight.  And I didn't have to do as much as I did for years when they were younger.   It's rather nice. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son piled over five hundred stuffed animals and blankets onto his bed that had hitherto been on the floor of his room.  Perhaps I am exaggerating on the number but when I walked into his now clean room, the area in which he sleeps was piled so high it was almost touching the underside of the top bunk.  He insisted he wanted to sleep that way.   I don't know how he'll sleep at all. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was a little upset that her brother was dumping things into her room tonight when they were cleaning the house.  I don't think she realized he was trying to help her locate things that were strewn all over the place.  She was a little indignant until I explained.  She didn't like feeling as though she needed help, but I think she realized it wasn't being done in a mean way when she thought about it more. 

The Doctor is In

We have made more progress with the needle fear here.  I hope.   At least my daughter has jumped happily into scrubs and started playing doctor, pharmacist, nurse and patient (if the medicine involved candy). 

What I did that was hard for her was to talk her through the process of how an IV is inserted into your arm, including. letting her hold the little cannula that goes into your arm along with the needle.   I let her see how after the IV was in, you could put in medication via a syringe or then afterwards how fluids could be connected via an IV bag.   

I have a lot of these medical type things from years of collecting.  I gave her lots of supplies in our bathroom and told her how samples were taken on a cotton swab and then cut off, to be dropped into a centrifuge vial.  How test indicators were added and then how things were spun up (which we simulated with shaking.)

She performed tests to find out which of her stuffed animals were sick.  She prepared medications in test tubes, she made medications to put in medicine bottles.  She was playing all the roles and seemed much less worried about the needle than she had been at first.   

She's not over it, but things are getting better.   Here's a picture of her workspace from today:

The Tiny Girl Specimin:  Look at the words on the note at the bottom of that picture.   Yes, my daughter actually gave a urine specimin in the name of pretend science.   I moved it out of the way and she, too, agreed it wasn't necessary to do any more than that with it.   

The Big Boy Update:  My sone had to take the standardized test again for middle school entrance today.   My husband worked hard to get him the documentation necessary to allow him extra time due to the need for Adderall.   After all of his work, my son was finished early.  He understood how the test worked and was able to go through it more quickly than the first time.  I don't think he even used any of the accommodation time. 

Who’s Toy Is It?

The children sometimes feel that certain toys are theirs and theirs alone.   This is true for some things, such as a stuffed animal, but other things, like a scooter or bounce shoes or a cotton candy machine are more blurred lines of who's they belong to.  

Sure, one child was given the present to start, but the YoNana machine my daughter got for Christmas is available should anyone want to make banana or banana and fruit-based treats with it.  Or the Icee machine that Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Margaret sent for Christmas (which is definitely being enjoyed by everyone) does not have a single child's name exclusively on it.  

Sometimes the children get proprietorial about things like chairs too.   The office chairs they have at their desks in the bonus room are assigned to a child in general, but it does not mean the other child can never sit in it.   If it's available and someone needs to sit, the chair can be used. 

Helping them navigate through what is shared and what is theirs and theirs alone is sometimes hard.  What we see as reasonable and obvious as adults is not always clear to them.  

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Bouncy Shoes Clash:  My son got some bouncing shoes from Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Margaret for Christmas.  These things are pretty fun and if I could get my feet in them, I'd have already tried them out.   My son isn't bouncing all the time, which means his sister can have a turn.   This is all well and good until he feels like she's annoying him.  And then she isn't allowed to use them in his mind, even though he hadn't even thought about using them at the time.  Once we told them some updated rules, they seemed okay with it, especially because it meant they got to use other things that "belonged" to their sibling.   I was surprised how well they did and how quickly the bickering stopped as soon as we explained how things, "worked in this house."

Sleep

I think my husband and I have been working a lot and some of it, well okay, a lot of it has taken us into the late night.  We haven't been wanting to stay us late, but things take a good while to do well.   And my husband and I each have our own ways in which we want to put out quality content.   On the balance, I think it's been a good thing as what we've been releasing seems to be considered fairly professionally done. 

And that surprises me, because the last thing my husband and I are is professionals at this.  We don't know what we're doing it seems.  Although we have figured out a lot of things by muddling through things over time.  

It has been at a cost of sleep on may nights.  My husband is pretty amazing and doesn't seem to need as much sleep as I do.  I have had to take naps some days, which help a lot.  Getting things done when the children are asleep is easier because we can focus on the work.  We do want to be parents when the children are awake.  It's a balance, that's for sure. 

This week my husband has slept very late two days and been surprised he did.  I think he must have needed it because he's been working very hard.  I've been tired too and right now, I just want to go to sleep and sleep in in the morning.   I tend to wake up though, so we'll see if that actually happens.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son is very happy it's Friday and he can have some screen time.  He has none during the school week now that the holidays are over. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter found out today that she will be going through, with me, the scenario she'll have at the dentist's office for removing her teeth.   She wants to know if there will be a needle.   I told her the fear is in her mind and that we'll be talking about needles and what will happen that day.   Just the thought of going through this with me caused her to flee the room.   I think we have a lot of work to do to get her more calm about it. 

Panic Attack

My daughter's dental work did not happen yesterday.   Everything was planned, she was fine with it, she calmly went there and then when it came time for the IV, she lost it.  I haven't heard all the details, but it was bad.  So bad that they wouldn't do the procedure to remove her two baby teeth that are preventing her permanent teeth from developing.

My daughter has developed a fear of needles that ramped steadily with the two vaccination doses, but this was unexpected.   There was the possibility of using Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) but in my daughter's case, they didn't want to use it because it affects ocular pressure and we've already got enough to do managing that as it is. 

So they went home.  My husband in very untypical fashion was so angry about it that he wasn't talking to her.  When I got in he told me to, "play good cop" and I went to talk to my daughter.   She is upset.  And I understand and neither of us want her to hurt and know this was far more traumatic to her than it was frustrating to us.   We just need to figure out how to help her through it.  

I could not for the life of me find a meaningful audiobook or book that could be read aloud to her (we read to her, but she likes to be alone and listen in her room a lot).  But I did find a six hour adult book which was how to help your child with anxiety.   

I talked to my daughter and told her she could use the information in the book to think about what she would do if she were being given the advice.   She listened to a lot of it yesterday and initially said it wasn't very helpful.   Then, out of the blue last night, she said, "you were wrong mom."  I didn't know what she meant.  I had said, "well, the book might not be that useful to you.  I'm sorry if it isn't, it was the closest thing I could find."

She said she wasn't completely honest with me earlier in the day and that she was learning a lot from the book.  She even gave me good advice for how to calm the dog when someone comes to the door and she goes all bark, jump and more bark. 

Not only is it helping her, I said, but she was helping me.   

The Big Boy Update:  There have only been seven students in my son's class the first week back to school.   There were strict requirements on eligibility to return and some of the students are waiting for test results or are staying home because they were exposed to someone.   He and his teachers have said it's been a nice week with the small group.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter doesn't know it yet, but I have a final test for her when she thinks she's mastered her fears.   I'll have to let you know how it goes when we get to that point. 

Oral Surgery

Tomorrow morning my daughter is having dental surgery.  She has some baby teeth that have in no way even begun to think about considering getting out of the way for her permanent teeth.  I'm glad my husband has been pursuing the dental needs for the children because this might not have been caught otherwise.  

The last time my daughter had anything done she was very upset and it was hard on her and the dentist.   She gets like this, probably because of all the medical that's happened to her over the years.   And yet she seems almost serene about tomorrow's impending teeth pulling.  They are going to do several things and she will be getting braces at some point in the reasonably near future, and this is the first step.  

I hope it is easy for her and she doesn't panic.   We'll find out tomorrow. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son was worried that his father slept a lot today and wanted to tell the teachers at school and let them decide if he should go to school.   I agreed and disagreed with him.  I said that sometimes the teachers don't have the same amount of information as the parents and it's important for the right person to make the school attendance decision.   I think my husband was just very tired from lots of work staying up late.   He talked to my son about it and I think they both felt better because of it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter had an appointment with her psychiatrist today.  I asked her to think about what to say and that her doctor needed to know, above anyone else, what she was feeling and thinking.  She was very open and honest with him.  I was really proud of her.  I don't think it was easy. 

Cylon

I got a vacuum cleaner for Christmas.  It was the one thing I wanted.  It's one of those little Roomba iRobot things that runs around on our carpets and floors and makes them all clean.   We had one but it had issues and there was a new option I saw that could clean four different areas, meaning we could pick it up and put it in the basement and it would go about cleaning that floor too.

I was sold.  Did I mention it has some sort of advanced not mopping but scrubbing technology as well and could, with a very small amount of water, clean hard-surfaced floors including scrubbing back and forth when it detected a particularly dirt area?   And it has anti-stuck technology so it can get itself out of jams when it gets stuck in places should that happen. 

It talks to you when you do things instead of beeping and booping things that ou have to look up in a manual or online.   And it has a spot it delivers all the dirt to so you don't have to empty it regularly but only with the main bin gets full. 

It doesn't bump into things because it has lidar and can sense something, stopping just before hitting it.  And it maps out each area itself so you don't have to do anything other than plug it in, install the app and say go.   After it maps one area, you pick it up and it knows it's somewhere new so it starts mapping that too.   Then, later when you place it down again it figures out where it is and starts cleaning.  

It is marvelous.   When I saw it going about tonight and watched the little light that moved back and forth across the front I knew there was only one name for it, Cylon, after the armor-clad robotesque creatures from the original Battlestar Galatcia.   

The Goodbye Hugs:  Nana and Papa have left for Florida.  We won't see them for several months.   The children (and the adults) gave them long hugs today.   We will miss them.  

I Didn't Forget

I was so tired last night at two in the morning that I just put off writing my blog post for the next morning. I should know better though.   I'll get up and write it first thing...and first thing definitely doesn't happen.   It's now nearing six at night and I have two posts looming over me.   I have a lot to say sometimes and then other times not so much.  

That's actually not true.  I think I have loads and loads to say.  But I'm dedicating so much mental bandwidth to Filament Stories that by the time I get here, I just want to go to sleep.   Which I don't like.   This journal isn't very interesting if it's just about me working hard and being tired and not much more detail than that.   I need to get a balance in this somehow.

The Big Boy Update:  Tomorrow (well, today since I'm writing this a day late) was(is) my son's first day of school for 2022.  He was supposed to go to bed early and do some reading over the holidays, both of which didn't happen.  His laundry didn't get folded either.   When he gets home tomorrow he will go to his room and finish his laundry.   He was upset, but not overly so.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter had no problems doing her laundry.   She can't see and does need some help confirming that she's sorted things correctly, but she knows almost all of her laundry by both shape and texture.   I am amazed, yet again, by how she's adapted to the world. 

Distressed Dermis

My daughter has eczema.   My son had eczema quite badly when he was much younger, but he grew out of it.  My daughter only got it later in life and it has seemed to get worse over time.  She's been avoiding having us put medication on it, which will help quite quickly, resolving the vast majority of the eczema in two days.   Still, it's medication and it stings and she hates it, so she puts it off. 

Tonight you would have thought we were torturing her.   She has a spot that was bothering her so much she asked for medication on that one spot only.   To get her properly medicated all over took a lot of work as she was verbally combative and physically completely unhelpful.   

The things she said to us were mean, hurtful and accusatory.   She hated us, we were awful, she wanted to leave and never come back, we didn't love her, etc.   Not the type of thing you'd expect to hear from a ten-year-old child.   But this ten-year-old has been through so much medical treatment in her life that she will do anything to avoid it.  So I understand. 

After getting her medicated and then lubricated with calming lotion and oils she talked to us.   I'm worried about her sometimes because I think adjusting to her blindness is still a very heavy load on her.  She wants to live in a fantasy world where she's a child of the Greek gods, something that makes sense from some of the book series she's read.   Or, she wants to be a cat and live in the wild in a cat clan.  

We had a nice time with her after she calmed down, but it was certainly an ordeal to get there.  Tomorrow we will have to go through it again.  Hopefully she will have healed some by then and things won't hurt as much. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Monopoly:  The children created a new version of Monopoly today and I rather like the rules.   You don't need a set of one color to build houses or hotels.  The railroads aren't properties but instead let you teleport to any of the other three locations.   It makes for a faster game that has a nice little twist from the traditional rules. 

Live Stream Advice to Self

They will figure out you're in the room if you make noise and then you feel obligated to continue talking and then it will be hours and hours later and you will be ever so tired.  

I'm going to bed. I know interesting things happened today, but I will have to write about them tomorrow