Halloween + Okay (I think)

First off, Happy Halloween!  Our family loves Halloween.   The children were a Raven Witch (my daughter) and a Plague Doctor (my son).  I was a farm girl who was handing out inoculations (to the members of our community over twenty-one years of age.  

[assume country girl with southern accent affectation] Do you remember that mad cow disease from a while back?  Well, the cows got mad again.   So on my farm, we have been working to perfect an inoculation.  We did this in a cleanroom environment what with our gloves and masks on so as to keep everyone safe.  I told them they had to put some strawberry flavor in it because people just weren't going to drink any old inoculation.  I have two sizes available in case you think you need a larger dose. [end affectation]

The drink was a bottled strawberry margarita mix from the grocery store.  People like it.  I tasted it, and it was pretty good.  I used all the premade ones up and had to make more in the latter portion of the night.  I also had "some for the little children that are from that Motts Apple Farm down the street," which parents knew meant Motts apple juice.  Those went quickly.  I only made ten of those.

My husband pulled off the Halloween event for the neighborhood with some help, but he does the majority himself with running the competitions, getting the prizes, setting up the tables and tents with some help, and then tallying the results at the end of the night, which is what he's doing while I type this. 

My mother-in-law helped hand out the candy and my father-in-law helped walk around with my daughter. My son disappeared and was off with friends at record speeds.

The dog is walking on her leg again.  I don't know what happened, but if she doesn't have a torn ligament, I am hugely relieved. 

The Big Boy Update:  At the end of the night my son walked into the house and six or seven boys came in after him.   My alarm bells started going off and then I told myself to calm down, we are wanting to have children want to be at our house so we know what's going on in our children's lives.   If we expect that to happen in the future, we need to embrace it starting back up like it used to be pre-COVID-19

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to go around the neighborhood with Ashley.  I sent a message to Ashley's mother.  Ashley was in a competition with her brother to see who could collect the most candy.   That wasn't going to work with my daughter because speed is not your friend when you're blind.   I told Ashley's mother that we'd tell my daughter Ashley already had plans.   It's not fair to ask Ashley to change her plans.  It worked out though as my daughter and Ashley played a lot before trick-or-treating.

Torn Ligament?

Yesterday we went to the symphony.   When we came home, the dog wasn't putting her back, right leg down.   It persisted and today I called many, many places, trying to get someone to look at my dog to see if she had a dislocated patella.   It presented like that's what it was, and when we arrived at the seventh place I had tried, they thought that was the best guess too.  

Prior to running X-ray on her the doctor palpated her leg.   She looked up and said after a bit of time moving the dog's leg about, something that Matisse tolerated admirably, that she didn't think it was a dislocated patella.  That would have been her first guess and it still could be that, but she may have torn her cruciate ligament.   

There wasn't much to do on Sunday at this point other than pay the bill, take the NSAID/pain medication and take the dog home.   She seems to feel a little bit better, but not a lot.   I need to follow up with her veterinarian tomorrow to have her looked over more thoroughly. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son had no screens today—except for when he lied to my face about having no screens when I was almost certain he had one in his bed because he doesn't mid-day nap.   He needs to build trust back.   We're not getting through right now.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has a tactile pumpkin with a spider nose, golf balls for eyes, gourd halves for ears, spaghetti for hair, carrots for horns,  She is entering the contest for her age group for most creative pumpkin.   Hers is pretty good, I have to admit it's better than my pumpkins at her age.

Angry Child

My husband is currently sitting in a chair in our living room.  He is upset about my son's behavior.  My son is getting in trouble a lot lately for his behavior.   Some of it. a lot of it is for not following basic rules like no eating in the living room or upstairs.   He fully admits he doesn't follow the rules because he thinks they are dumb and unnecessary.  So he gets in trouble a lot, which means negative feedback from us, a lot. 

He doesn't comply with instructions regularly.   "Turn the television off, we have to go." can be said multiple times and then we get angry, take the controller and turn the television off.   And then my son gets extremely angry at us.  More negative feedback from us, but he brought it on himself.   We keep our voices calm, he loses it. 

Then there is the aggressive behavior.   Today we were going to the symphony with my mother-in-law.  My son had been behaving badly before we left and had lost his mind at us because we requested he do something outrageously unfair: put on clothes and turn off the television.   In the car he wouldn't leave his sister alone.  He poked and prodded her.  He pestered her.  My mother-in-law told him multiple times to stop.  She was nice, she tried different options, she used distraction techniques.   It didn't work on him, he just wanted to be mean. 

He's getting lots of negative feedback, which we don't like giving. He's intentionally breaking rules because he doesn't think he needs to follow them.   And when he gets in trouble, he lashes out at whatever he can, which many times is his sister.   What are we doing wrong?   We're worried about the person he's becoming.  Is this a phase?  Is this normal?  He's not nice.   I know he's trying to be independent from us, and that's good, but he's going about it in the complete wrong way.  We would give him more autonomy if he showed he deserved it.  Unfortunately, he's losing it instead of gaining it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Our builder came over today and brought his young daughter over.   They came to see the 3D printing things and we gave her lots of models to take home.   My daughter really liked meeting Vivi.   My daughter is such a good host and loves to make new friends. 

We Used to Be Tidy

I was the person who never went to sleep without the house being completely "spit spot" as Mary Poppins called it.   Everything had a place and everything was in its place.  

Then, I was on a call.   That call went until midnight.   Then one of the attendees asked if I could help along with another attendee with their website with some feedback.  It is now 1:48am and I have to get to sleep because we have our builder coming over at noon tomorrow and the house is still a wreck.   Or wreck in way I feel like it's a wreck.   It's not bad, but it isn't what I'd like it to be for a first impression. 

They Didn't Want To Clean Their Rooms:  Both children didn't.   They did, though.  I explained that not inviting them into their rooms was not an option.  My children think their parents live only to make their lives hard.  

Just Say No, More Work

We have another company that wants to hire us to make content for their filament company.  The scope is a little smaller, although in the course of our communication, the scope kept creeping up. 

I'm guilty of that myself.  If I say one hundred dollars is my maximum budget but I see a thing that's $110 that looks so much nicer with greater features, that's the one I'm interested in. 

So do we take the job?  Or do we say no to more work?   We are in pretty deep working now.  

The Big Boy In Trouble Again.  My son broke every rule today or if not a rule, then he wasn't doing things he should have been doing.   We're trying not to correct him, but he just keeps pushing and disobeying things he knows are not at all okay.  

Geography and History

My son is so interested in maps and history right now.  He's been asking us to print out maps, which he redraws in pencil via the tracing method.  He watches historical documentary short videos on YouTube while he does this.   All the while, he's thinking up ways you could play a game with the countries and maps and how it might relate to real history. 

I was very impressed with what he was doing tonight so I had him come to the craft room where I pulled out my collection of map flags (something he knows a lot abut because they use them at school.)  I had another container of short, round ball head pins in different colors that I gave him and then I pulled out a piece of corrugated cardboard that is different from almost all cardboard as the corrugations were an inch thick.

This was perfect for him to put his map on top of as it could hold the pins.   He really wanted me to pick a country and then we were going to have maneuvers with our armed forces.   This was back in the days of the first world war. 

I would have stayed and played with him for an hour or two, but I had to make sure his sister was in bed and not asleep with her clothes from the day on and then my husband was waiting for me to finish a post for Filament Stories downstairs, but I promised I'd come back and play more later. 

The Big Boy Update:  I told my son there were two games I was going to order because I couldn't find mine in the attic.  One was Stratego, and is one of my childhood favorites.   I think he'll love that and I'll play any time with him.   The other is Risk, which is more complex, but my son loves complex games. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has the responsibility of getting me up in the morning.  For two days, I have slept through my loud alarm for some unknown reason.   I need to get them to school—on time.  

Exposed

My son has a member in his class that is positive for COVID-19 (or COVID-22 I suppose).  My son was within six feet of him for more than fifteen minutes yesterday so he has come home and been wearing a mask since leaving school.   

He had a negative test on Sunday because he'd vomited, and we just didn't want to take any chances even though he said it was from being tackled by his sister and then tickled.    We're going to test him tomorrow and see if he's positive.  If he is, then it's likely some or all of us have it as well.   My daughter and husband have already had it so that would leave only me, although they could get it again. 

The thing that impressed me was my son's awareness of six feet.   I was moving around the kitchen cleaning, and he was telling me about some videos he was watching on the history of different countries.   Any time I got near him, he immediately backed up.   He had a lot of practice keeping six feet apart for over a year at school while I stayed at home and didn't interact with many people. 

He's not that concerned, but he does want to do his part to not transfer it to anyone.   My father-in-law currently has COVID-19, but he's doing as well as can be expected.   He's not in the hospital, and he's feeling better I hear.  I hope that trend continues. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son loves video games and loves to watch all things video games and play video games.  But he also likes educational videos.  He can get stuck watching things like geography videos for hours.  Apparently Poland is is favorite country.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is nearing the end portion of Project Hail Mary.   Aside: if you're not listening to the audiobook, stop reading this and go get it.  It's that good.  We listened together in the car this morning, and she got scared a few times.  I had to tell her everything would be okay without telling her what happened so she could find out for herself.  

IEP

Today we had my daughter's annual Individualized Education Plan or IEP.  Any student who needs accommodations beyond what would generally be available to students will have one of these plans.   They are very formal and very boring meetings to attend. 

What has happened behind the scenes to get prepared for the meeting is not trivial.  Each teacher who works with my daughter has a section in the IEP.  They review the year's goals and address if my daughter has met, surpassed, or is still working on each goal.  Then they present the new goals for the next twelve months.  

My daughter has a primary teacher who attends but does not present IEP goals, as her role is to teach all the students in her class.   The VI teachers define modifications or accommodations that my daughter will need in order to do all the things her peers do. 

The bulk of the presentation and goals was done by the TVI.   This Teacher for the Visually Impaired is the lead for all the VI students in the school.   She is responsible for delivering VI-specific content beyond the scope of the classroom, such as braille, abacus, and computer voice-over skills.   She also lists what accommodations my daughter might need in the classroom like seat location or additional room for her braillewriter and materials.  

My daughter's O&M teacher also has a lot of input.   He is responsible for teaching my daughter how to navigate safely through the world.  And since my daughter very much wants to get a sighted guide dog, she needs to master all the Orientation and Mobility (O&M) stills.   Things like safely navigating a busy intersection with crosswalks, finding your way through a parking garage.   Moving safely through a downtown pedestrian area, and self-advocating when she needs help. 

My daughter also has an adaptive P.E. teacher.   This teacher only sees my daughter a few times each year.   She finds out what the P.E. goals are and then lets the teachers know what they need to do to modify things for my daughter. 

The meeting is long and boring but it's a lot of hard work to get there by the teachers, and we appreciate it.   The meeting is long and is a legally binding agreement in the end—because someone somewhere sued over things and this was the best way to protect everyone by having everything very clearly stated.  

We also heard a lot of really nice things about my daughter.   She is well-liked by everyone. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came downstairs during the IEP web meeting.  I told her she could come in if she wanted, that she was welcome to participate in her IEP any time, that it was her right. 

She wasn't that interested but she did stay for a while.  She even helped her O&M teacher make a choice on what to focus on next.   She agreed it was boring and wandered off after a bit, her last day of track out coming to a close.

The Big Boy Update:  My son came home extremely upset.  He did not want to go to golf.  We told him it was not an option.  He was enraged.   Nana was here and she said she thought he had some work he needed to do and forgot and he got to school and was upset because everyone else had theirs done.  I think, I'm not entirely sure.   He was so upset he wouldn't talk to me about it.  Later this evening I saw him working on a Russian map.  That fits with who he's going to be for Mystery History this year.  I can't say who he is though or he'll get mad at me!

Are We Sick or Are We Not?

Strange things are happening around here.  My son vomited the other day in my husband's car but he said it was motion sickness due to him writing while the car was in motion.  That does match with his symptoms.   

We weren't driving when today, my son vomited again.   He said he had been feeling overly full from the food at the state fair earlier and when his sister tickled him and then squeezed him it just happened.   My daughter has *got* to stop squeeze-hugging people.  She puts her arms around you and then does a jerky fast motion inwards and your stomach lurches from the sudden pressure.   She knows by now that we all don't like jerk squeezes but she's got a habit she needs to break 

We did go to the fair today and I ate a lot of food. Not long after I got home, my son had thrown up and I felt terrible with a migraine headache coming out of the blue.  I had just laid down when my daughter calls out, "Mom, I think we should all take COVID-19 tests!"

Aaaaaaand......................................we're all negative. 

Maybe it was the fair food. Maybe we've contracted the virus but it isn't showing yet . We're all doing fine otherwise.

Pumpkin Patch Math

We went to the church we've gone to for years and years and years to get pumpkins today.   We got pumpkins that were normal-sized and some that were small, and some that were tiny.   There were gourds in many different shapes and sizes, most of them rather small, though.   My daughter wanted to get lots of things.  

Because most of what my daughter wanted to get cost fifty cents or two dollars, I let her make the selections she wanted while my son and husband picked out the larger pumpkins.   My daughter and I put the little pumpkins and gourds over on the side and then she proceeded to touch a lot of pumpkins, deciding she didn't want one if it was missing the stem and she wanted one that was smooth, and not too large.  

Then it was time to pay.  And this was something my daughter could do just as well as the rest of us.   The tables had different sizes of tiny gourds all the way up to the largest pumpkins.   You put your items up and compared them to the samples.  In general, they would tell you how much your items cost, but in this case, they stood back and let my daughter figure it out.   

They not only let her decide the cost of each item but they were also surprised when she gave them the total we owed them for everything.   She was correct with the total too. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son was in a mean, mean mood when we left to go get pumpkins.  I almost took away every privilege from here until he was eighteen he was being so incredibly hateful.  But he turned it around and was happy and even supportive when we got back into the car with pumpkins.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I was trying to help my daughter with the neighbor's dog, who had a "gentle leader" that we had no idea how to put on.  I pulled up a resource online and was trying to figure it out when my daughter got so frustrated at me because I was saying, "hold on, I'm trying to figure this out."  She said in a mean tone, "I know because you can see, and you're perfect, and I'm blind."  Or something like that.  That might sound bad, but I was so happy in a way to hear her say that because she's addressing how very frustrating it is to be blind.   I addressed it with her later and she apologized but I told her she didn't have anything to apologize for.   

Saturday Already

Uncle Bob is leaving tomorrow.  He's been here for several days and we've had a nice time with him here as we always do.   My daughter and son love when Uncle Bob is here, although they were sad that Uncle Brian wasn't coming this time.  

I've been on calls all day, or at least all day meaning for over six hours, so I'm done for the day.   

The Children are Maturing:  Uncle Bob said tonight after family dinner that the children have really matured from what they were like a few years back (pre-COVID-19).   We see them every day, it's nice to hear they've grown from someone who hasn't seen them in a while. 

The Safe Rides

We went to the state fair today.  Uncle Bob, my husband and daughter went along while my son was in school.  The weather was perfect and the crowds were very minimal given that we went at the start of the day.  The thing my daughter most wanted to do was ride the rides. 

My husband is so thoughtful.  He thinks about how a ride will affect me, specifically with my neck.  He knows certain kinds of motions are very bad for me and will hurt and could even cause damage potentially.   He thought about all the rides at Disney and told me about the ones I could and couldn't go on when they got back. 

The fair rides were a little easier to tell because you can see the whole ride in action.  I also knew how most of them worked.   My daughter and I went on some rides together and she and I would rate them.  How smooth a ride's motion was gave it higher marks.   She and I like them fast and fun, but not jarring or bumpy or jerky motions. 

I love rides as much as she does I think, I just can't go on them all. 

The Big Boy Update: My son was very understanding that he had to go to school today while his sister was getting to go to the fair.  He is maturing in a lot of ways. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter heard this little barking, walking stuffed animal dog at the fair.  It was so loud there, but she heard them from far away every time.   I would have to look and look and finally I could see what she was hearing.  Her perception is very honed to sounds. 

I Lied To You

I told my daughter today that I had lied to her.   I didn't know how she was going to take the news, but it had to be done.  She asked about what, and I told her that the podcast I'd made that it wasn't about our family; it was about her. 

She was very quiet and still.  She asked me some questions about what I meant.  I explained that as a parent it is awful to have your child go blind.  I knew it was worse for her, but it was hard on us too.   I told her I told her story and how we handled everything.  That I wanted to tell the story before it faded too much in my mind.   And that it was for her in case she wanted to remember any of it as well.  

She was mad.   She couldn't trust me ever again.   She was really mad.   I said I understood.   When her father and brother came home they came in and my son told me my daughter said she wasn't talking to me until Sunday at twelve AM.  

Okay, I said.   Then, not that long after my daughter was calling out, trying to find her father.  I knew she didn't want to talk to me so I was quiet, but I eventually said, "he's picking up Uncle Bob at the airport."  She said, "oh."   She repeated 'oh' three more times slowly when she realized she had talked to me.  

Then, unexpectedly, with the inflection of an adult, she said, "Oh come here" and bounded over to give me a big hug.   I have been forgiven I think. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son designed a program on paper today.  He wanted to code it and asked if he could work on the computer to do so.   He did a good bit of work on his project. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  After my daughter gave me a forgiving hug, I said, "quick, run outside, Uncle Bob will be here shortly and you wanted to surprise him from up in the tree!"  Off she ran.

Diligence Dued

That's not a real phrase, I don't think, but it came to mind tonight as my husband and I were finishing up a social media post and signing a PSA with a builder we really like.   We looked at a number of builders and there is a possibility we won't continue forward with this one, but we're going through an evaluation period during which they'll start work on things like septic or sewer, where the house will be staked (it's floating around on the property in the 3D model currently), and of course, permitting. 

They loved the extra large garage we are planning on keeping for a workshop.  They said there are delivery issues with some things such as appliances taking a year to arrive for some things and two months to arrive for others—but you need to place the order all at once which means you need a location to store the things that arrive earlier.  

That garage will be excellent for storing materials, equipment and anything that needs a holding location that is secured, while the house is being built.   

Things are suddenly getting real.  Very real.   Why it didn't seem real when we're working with the architect, I don't know.  But it just got real in my mind. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son is unhappy he keeps losing things like screens or Alexa.   We keep telling him as soon as he demonstrates maturity and respects the rules, he will have a lot more autonomy.   It may take a while with him I predict. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I am so proud of my daughter.  She is loving Project Hail Mary.  There is so much math and science in it—complicated things like astronomical distances, nutrinos,  the inner workings of cells, measurements that are amazingly small and astoundingly big.  And she still is loving the book.  She told me today, "I love science." 

Project Hail Mary

I got my daughter hooked!   I finished listening to the audiobook Project Hail Mary and have been trying to get my daughter and/or son, as well as my husband, to listen to it since I finished it (the first time, I have listened to it twice now.)  Today, I hornswoggled her into listening to the beginning on the way to drop her off with my in-laws while my husband and I had a meeting with a builder.  

She is now totally hooked listening to this book that's really an adult book, although the content isn't inappropriate at all for younger audiences, it's just a lot of science and math.   The book is by the author who wrote The Martian.  I'd gotten a bit into the book and thought to myself, "this is reminiscent of The Martian in some ways."   There are parallels, although, in my opinion, Project Hail Mary is so much better.   

If you're looking for a book to listen to or to read, I can't recommend anything else above it.   I do like to read a book, but in this case, the voice acting is so good, and there are parts that are done so well that don't translate to actual words that the audiobook does an excellent job on.   I've seen books with a lot of reviews before but never one with almost 140,000 reviews with a rating over 4.9 out of five. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I went upstairs tonight to find my daughter at one of my (many) favorite parts.   I lay down in the bed and heard her squeal, asking me if something was or wasn't going to happen.  I told Alexa to pause and told my daughter, "I know all the answers to your questions, I've listened to this book two times now.   But you have to learn the answers in good time with the story."   She sighed and started the book playing again. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son is still very keen to play Fortnite Monopoly.  There were four games played here today and he would have played more had we not cut him off due to bedtime having already passed.

Do You Wish You Weren't Blind?

My daughter and I had some deep conversations tonight.  She was asked today by her friend, Grace, at the choir performance after the ice cream party how she became blind.   My daughter was so young, I really thought she knew, but she remembers only parts of things. 

She and I talked about it, and at the end, I asked her if she wished she wasn't blind.   I would have expected a quick answer of yes, but she thought for close to half a minute.   Then she said, "I think it's a good experience being blind...but it would also be nice to be able to see."

I said I thought it would be interesting for sighted people to be able to have a day like hers.   I then asked her about her vision and if it was getting better or worse or changing, and she gave me an answer I didn't expect.   She said she didn't use her vision often and mostly looked down.   She tried looking to see what she could see in the grocery store while they were in Florida, and she was able to make it all the way down the aisle. 

I told her it might be interesting to use her vision and see if she could start to learn some things from it.   I told her my own artificial lenses were that way: if I didn't work on the muscles to keep the ability to focus, I would lose some of the vision—until I started working on the muscles and training them again.   That's how artificial lenses work.  Because you don't have hardening of the lens, you're not subject to needing reading glasses as long as you keep the muscles in shape that are responsible for doing the focusing.   Mine needs some more work, I think. 

Then I asked her if she was okay with being blind or if she was angry or how did she feel?   Again, she thought about her answer.   She said after a bit, "when I was three and four, I was confused.  Then when I was five until I was seven, I was sad.  Then I was really angry.  Now, it's different.  Some days I'm okay, some days I'm not.   

The Big Boy Update:  My son was sick earlier.  He said his stomach hurt, and an hour later, he vomited.  He does not have COVID-19, but we're not sure why he wasn't feeling well.    We're not sure about school after vomiting, but it may be food-related and have nothing to do with illness. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter sang in the Capital City Girls Choir today along with the college choir at the chapel at the college I went to and grew up around.   I have some videos I need to upload to send to my mother.   She did a good job.  We even heard her voice carrying all the way to the balcony at two points in one of the songs.  

Reunited

We're a family again.   All four of us are here together.  There was Myrtle Beach and ERRF, and then only a few hours together until my husband and daughter left for Disney for the week.  This morning they arrived home.  Early for a flight from Florida, they came in at eight-thirty.   

My husband was tired and I was still tired so we told my daughter, who was of course bouncing about and wanting to tell about everything and bring out all the things her father had Tetrised into their luggage, it was time to give us a few hours to sleep.   And she did.   

The Big Boy Update:  My son wasn't asleep at four-thirty in the morning.  Or at least I thought he wasn't last night.  I woke up to find lots of lights on.   I turned off lights as I went upstairs, to the bonus room, and then to his room.  His bed was empty so I thought he had to be downstairs in the basement on the computer and I was about to be cross when I saw him asleep in his sleeping bag in the closet.   With all the lights on. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loved their Disney trip.  She was so happy showing me the potions they'd gotten for us and Hermione Granger's wand for their day in the Harry Potter world.   She loved spending time with her father the most, I'd venture.  She had over four days with just the two of them, and boy did they make the most of their time!

Fondue

My son and I went over to my in-laws tonight for fondue.   It was so delicious.  My mother-in-law does the best fondue.   She makes the cheese from base ingredients, the broth from scratch, and every one of the sauces from scratch.   I am so full.   

My husband and daughter get home early in the morning.   Way early.  They're very tired from their days at Disney.  They need a vacation from their vacation.  Or at least my husband does. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son and I went to Bring Your Parents to School day today.  He taught me some of the things he's working on at school. 

It Could Be Worse

I saw my orthopedic neurosurgeon today.  I was fairly certain he was going to say things had progressed to the point where I needed another spinal fusion.  I don't think I'm going to be able to avoid it forever and at the rate the nerve pain is increasing, well, I don't like how things are going.  The most concerning is the recent addition of losing feeling on the underside of my right arm.  That's new and it's very worrisome. 

But I got much different information than I expected.   The junction to be concerned about is the C4-C5 area.   On the MRI the space is reduced considerably, which is why I can't be in certain positions without pain from pressure on the spinal cord.   That isn't good, and it's progressing, but he said it's not surgical yet. 

The ring of pain in my trunk that no one can figure out is the thing that I feel like we finally have an answer on.  He said the bright area on the spinal cord in the C3 area is the damage from the paddle when they put the neurostimulater in that had to be removed a week later and left me with paresthesia all over my body for months, some areas up to a year before they went away.  I still don't have full feeling in my hands.  

He said the ring of pain is related to that damage and is going to progress with time.   So we have an answer, but not a good one.  For now though, no surgery, and hopefully things won't get much worse or will at least take time to progress.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son and I are still playing Fortnite Monopoly, but we're adding all kinds of different abilities and special rules—and we're balancing the game.   It's fun and the really nice thing is my son is such a good sport.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter called to let her brother know they found Knockturn Alley at Universal Studios.  It's not easy to find, which is how it's supposed to be.  She was so proud. 

So Embarrassing

I am so embarrassing.   Apparently.   I picked my son up from school today, and we were going to get his hair cut.   I was not allowed to talk when we walked into the hair place because that would be embarrassing.   When we got there, and he'd checked in, I was not allowed to talk to him about what we'd be doing later tonight (playing Fortnite Monopoly) because that wasn't cool anymore (cool may not be the proper word these days, but it's the one I'm going with.)

I whispered; that wasn't cool.   I looked around, and that was apparently okay.   I could sit still and look around without embarrassing my son in front of the two people there that were my age and cared not one whit what we were talking about and most certainly would not judge us if we played Fortnite Monopoly this evening.   

I remember this age when I was young.   Parents are so embarrassing.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  They spent something like fifteen hours at Disney Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom.  They walked miles and miles.   They stayed until eleven at night with a late-night ticket so they could trick-or-treat.   Today they didn't get to the park until nine-thirty.   They are maximizing their time and not missing out on anything, it would seem. 

The Big Boy Update:  At midnight, my husband called me.  My son had gotten up, snuck to the basement, and was on his computer installing game ROMs.   My husband spoke to him through the Alexa from Florida, asking what he thought he was doing.   My son fled the room, and I found the computer on a few minutes later.   He will be in trouble later when he thinks he's going to get screen time.  I talked to him yesterday about not messing up before the weekend if he wanted screen time.      

Caught!

I was tired and wanted a day off.   Today would be a good day to have off, I thought.   Life is busy, so a day off meant a bit of time after the morning call I was on that ended at one and before I had to leave at three fifteen to get my son.   But it counts as part of a day off, so I'll take it. 

My husband just messaged me saying was it okay for our son to be on his computer.  He has it set up to notify him when this happens.  I had talked to my son today about not messing up and getting on screens this week because he has a three-day weekend coming up and he gets his Switch for the duration if he stays on track. 

I knew he'd been upstairs doing things while I was working on some work on the iPad in our room.   Surely he hadn't gone downstairs sneakily to get on the computer.  Surely he would expect to be caught.  I waited fifteen minutes to see if it was possible and then I tried to sneak downstairs. 

Tried, but failed in that you can't walk on the floor of the main level without it being heard in the basement.   But I walked rather rapidly and came downstairs to find the computer apparently off.  The monitor wasn't on.   I say down at the computer here and was typing to my husband that our son wasn't on the computer when I heard "boo" from my son coming from the darkened print room behind me. 

He must have heard me, turned off the monitor, and hid in the print room.  Realizing he wasn't going to get away without being seen, he pretended he was doing something random down here.  When he realized he'd been caught, he stormed upstairs.   

Why does he do this?  He always gets caught.  

The Disney Daughter Update:  My daughter is in her Halloween costume at Disney tonight.   They have been at it all day.  I would be exhausted by now but I bet she had a glorious day with her father. 

Extra Traffic/No Traffic

I left Maryland early this morning and drove straight home.   The trip north took two-and-a-half hours extra due to traffic.  Today was a government holiday and so the roads were so empty.  It was really nice driving home. 

My daughter and husband are now in Florida, having left this evening for a week at Disney World.   My son and I will hold down things here with him going to school and me trying to catch up on things I have on my ever-growing list.   I might even make a dent in it this week. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son asked me to "tuck" him tonight.   His father washed and changed the sheets and his bed doesn't have eleventy-twelve stuffed animals on it anymore.  He can fit in the bed now 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter seemed so much older when I saw her heading off to the terminal with her father this evening.  She's growing so fast.  And mentally maturing too.   She really is looking much older lately. 

Whirlwind and I'm Tired

There are some really nice people who do 3D printing that I met this weekend.   It was a busy, busy time.   As the day was drawing to a close, I still hadn't made it to a lot of the booths.   There was a blind man who sold magnets.  I love magnets, so I got a chance to talk to him and his wife. 

There were two people who develop math curriculum for visually impaired students as well as those who might have other challenges like ADHD that show math concepts like geometry, waveforms, and even integration and differentiation using tactile elements that can be 3D printed or even with LEGOs.   I was really excited to see their books and products, all available to be downloaded for free and used by teachers as needed.  This is due to some grant-type money that was set aside many, many years ago by the federal government.   There are so many things available to help visually impaired people I've never heard about.   This one I'm particularly excited about though, because it's math-specific.  And I love math. 

The best part was the people.   So many nice people.  Everyone was happy, even when we were all tired.  And boy, am I tired.   I'm going to sleep now, so I can get up early and go three miles to a level three (fastest) level Tesla charging station before heading home.   It's been nice, but I'll be glad to be home.  

The Children:  I miss them.  And my husband too. 

Nonstop

It was a crazy day.  It was a fun day. It was a tiring day.  It was a busy day.  My job was to put up some sort of content today on something at ERRF. The trouble was I couldn’t get to a spot to make any content. There was a bit at the beginning of the morning where I was in a group of people who didn’t know who I was and I got some filming done on my phone, but the rest of the time it was like being at a wedding where a good number of the people were the ones getting married. 

Hear me out; at a wedding, the busiest people are the bride and the groom.  Everyone wants to talk to them, everyone wants to say hello.  Now imagine a location where a lot of the people are like the bride or groom.  They're known by lots of people and everyone wants to say hello.  It's a constant interruption cycle. Just making it across the floor to the other side is challenging because there are people along the way who stop you to talk—sometimes waiting for you to finish the current conversation so they can talk to you.  

There were a lot of us like that, with each of us also wanting to talk to other people.   I have companies I need to talk to because I know them from the past several years, but just getting to each other is a challenge.  There is a lot of waving and saying we'll be back soon, or right back.  The best part was I had a home base at Protopasta.  They are so nice and I really love working with them. 

My husband called and I heard my children in the distance.  I am sure they're having a wonderful time.  I left the after party for exhibitors and sponsors and had to come back to the hotel.  There was low pressure in a tire so I inflated it and then charged at the closest of five tier three (fastest) charging stations within a ten mile radius.  It's right on the way back to the hotel, not three minutes away.  There are so many more charging stations these days in comparison to when we got our first Tesla.  

Long Drive But So Worth It

I drove north today and should have arrived in six hours, including charging stops.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of accidents and or traffic, and it took me eight-and-a-half hours.   But I made it.  And then something happened.  

People know who I am.  Some of them, a lot of them, I recognize, but I don't remember their names.   And that bothers me.  Especially when they address me by name.  The bulk of the people this happened with were from a Friday night Maker call I've been participating in for the past few months.  There are upwards of fifty people who jump on this call, and a lot of them have been on this big Zoom meeting for over two years.   I am a newer arrival.  I'm one more person to get to know while I'm trying to remember them all and keep each of their lives, locations, and names straight.   Still, it bothers me when I don't know who people are. 

We had a huge forty person dinner at a Mexican restaurant and each of the people there was happy and glad to have made it to ERRF.  Tomorrow I will meet a lot more people.  It is a point of frustration to me that the badges have no names on them.   That's just not fair!  We'll see how I do tomorrow...

The Children at the Beach:  I talked to my husband several times today.  The children were very happy, doing beach things.  I miss being there, but I'm glad I'm here too.

Sorry, Can't

My arm is bad.  I'm sorry, I can't sit at the computer any today.  I have to pack and moving helps.   The children and my husband have made it to Myrtle Beach.   Riding in the car does not cause this pain, I will be fine.   It's positional, I can't isolate what to do to make it go away at the computer.  We'll figure it out. 

Building a Zoo

My son doesn't have screen time during the week.  This weekend, even though it was a vacation weekend with my in-laws at Myrtle Beach, because he snuck the Switch on Monday night and was up past Midnight.   But today, my husband made an exception.  

I came home from getting some new pants for my daughter because she had grown out of every single pair she had I think, even though I'm fairly certain I bought her pants last week—has it really been that long—to find the two children in front of the television in the basement building a Minecraft world together. 

And by together, I mean my son is doing everything in the game, and my daughter is participating in the creation process verbally.   They were working together.  My son wasn't half listening to her or saying sure but doing what he wanted instead.  He was taking her advice, talking about how they should do things, answering her questions about what could be done, and then implementing it in their world. 

A while later my son came upstairs and came to talk to me.   He said, "mom, I know sometimes when you see me playing a game, and my sister can't do it that it makes you sad.  But I don't think you should be sad this time because she has some really good ideas, and she knows all about Minecraft, and we're building a zoo together."

He was really sincere, and I could tell he was proud of his sister.   I told him that sometimes I was sad when there were things she couldn't do but very much wanted to.   In this case, I told him, I wasn't sad, I was happy, watching them work together and build something they were both excited about.   They can't wait to keep working on it and my son is very happy to be doing something he knows his sister otherwise wouldn't be able to do.  

I was very proud of my son for coming to tell me how it was a positive thing they were doing, not a sadness.

I Got The Call

Whew, I got a call from the orthopedic neurosurgeon, and I'm going to see him next Thursday.  I'm writing short posts because sitting at the computer is getting harder and I can't get out of pain.   I've had a lot of pain come and go and some of it is situational that recovers and calms down over time.   I'm really hoping this is the same, but losing feeling down the back/underside of my right arm isn't a good sign.   I very much hope it's a flare-up of some kind, but strong anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants (mild, I don't like them) aren't helping at all.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to play with the boys tonight.  She wanted to so badly.  But she couldn't.  She said, "I can't play four square because I'm blind."  I hate it for her.  My heart breaks when she says things like that. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son let me show him an origami model tonight.  I'd told him about the Butterfly Ball.  He totally got the complex interleaving of the twelve pieces and called his father down to watch the fun where the butterflies appear out of the ball.   I'm going to link the video here.  I don't usually put videos in so we'll see if this works.  It's saying "processing" still. 

Overdubbed

I am having the hardest time writing blog posts when my husband is editing videos.  I'm trying to think what to say but I can't think straight because I hear myself talking as he plays parts over again and cuts bits out.  

My right shoulder is driving me crazy and the lack of feeling is getting distressing.  So I'm going to end tonight with a story about each of my children and go to bed. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter and I are reading Coraline together.   I am so interested in what happens next but she isn't always ready to have me read to her.  Tonight we got to find out more.   It's a really interesting story.

The Big Boy Breakfast Update:  My son likes to watch what's happening on Alexa in the morning.   But he can get distracted.   It was getting close to time to go and my son was still eating.  I heard his father say to him, "Eat.  You can worry about Singapore later."

Numbing, Do Not Want

My right arm is going numb.   Which is not good.   It's pressure on the spinal cord.  It is possibly trigger points that are so tight that there is pressure around the nerve bundle going to the back of my arm.   It is hard to sit at the computer and type when it's like this, so I'm going to sleep. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Someone wanted a new audiobook.   The same someone didn't want to read.   No reading, no new audiobook.   She read.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son is starting to care about how he looks.  He's informed me he will be twelve soon.   He did not inform me that meant he would be a "tween."  

Only Trees

Ian had very little impact on us in comparison to many other people.   We had a tree splinter completely in half, falling over the driveway and tearing off the gutter, but it was at the property that is being torn down for the school's expansion so other than clearing out the main broken bits that are hazardous, there isn't much else that needs to be done.   Well, the grass (weeds) need to be cleaned up there as well. 

We did lose a good portion of my favorite tree in our yard.  We have a Chinese Fringe tree that has (had) a beautiful shape and flowered small, white flowers every year.   It must have been weakened because the whole middle section just fell over around dinner time last night.   We didn't hear it fall and didn't notice it until this morning. 

I'd call that fairly unscathed given that Ian was a strong hurricane over parts of the southeast. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son loved the dinner he and I made last night.  The one thing we didn't have time to do was to fry an egg and put it over the meal.  Today his father showed him how to fry eggs.  My son loves eggs and had to make several more after learning how. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter opened her electric skateboard she got for helping raise money for her school.  She gave a lot of her own money as well.   It's a nice skateboard.  After seeing her sitting on it and seeing how fast it went with her holding onto the bottom with her knuckles two inches from the ground at fast speeds, I had her put on some sturdy gloves I had that would protect her.  I like her knuckles as they are. 

Windy, Powered, Dinner

We have made it through a not hurricane again with no damage or destruction here.  It was quite windy and there was a lot of rain with leaves and small branches coming down, but by the time things had gotten to our area, the storm was mostly just a bad storm.  

We also survived with the power intact.  Which was a good thing because my son wanted to make his father a special birthday dinner.   He and I went to the Asian market to get Oyster Sauce and Fish Sauce.   We got the remainder of the ingredients at the grocery store and then came home and prepped things for over two hours. 

My son wanted to make the first dinner he had ever cooked with his father: Thai Holy Basil Chicken.   The holy refers to a variant of basil used in the recipe, although we just used regular basil, that being what was available to buy.

We didn't eat dinner until nine o'clock, but everyone ate it all.  I'm glad we made a double recipe because we ate a lot!

The Big Boy Update:  My son was so excited to make a special dinner for his father.  He took a lot of pride in his birthday present.  His father loved it and loved having the night off from cooking. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came into the house yelling, "WHO LET OUT THE DOG?"  She had been out in the rain playing in the drain on the road in the dark.   I let the dog out to go to the bathroom, expecting her to come back after staying only in the yard but when she found out my daughter was outside she went to investigate, which meant she was in the road.  A car that drove down the short dead-end road stopped to tell her the dog was in the street.  My daughter was so embarrassed.