2022 In A Flash!

I have eight minutes until 2023 so I'd better write quickly.  What a crazy year.  We went from an idea for a social media project that was just figuring out how to make our way in the crazy world that is social media and content creation to being very busy and more successful than we anticipated.   

It's been a rush.  It's been exhausting.   But that isn't anything when I think of what my children have done.   Growing up can be hard and they've navigated life well and I'm so proud of both of them. 

Happy 2023 to everyone.   Love and hugs in fact.   

It's Better! But There's Pressure Now...

It stopped!  Suddenly, for no known reason, the pain between my shoulders just stopped.  It's not back to before, but it's not like it was.   It should continue to calm down for the next several days.   What a relief.  

But now there's pressure.  My website developer decided to put a stake in the ground and pick a day to have the website go live.  We're going from no website to a full-blown one (for us) and I'm very excited about it.  

Here's what I mean about the stake in the ground.  When you go to the site as of the time of this posting, it shows this:  

I have a *lot* of work to get done before those eight-odd days are up.   I have to get the work done.   There isn't an alternative.  Deadlines can be a good thing though; we'll see if I make it.  

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Fighting Uproar:  We have guests in town.  Yes, they are guests who come a lot, but that's no excuse for bickering and being petty with each other.  And stubborn.   And don't forget the foul language under their breath coupled with insults.   I told them I was embarrassed they would act this way.   My son said he was embarrassed I cared about it.  

Shoulders Are Painful

There is this pain between my shoulders.   It won't go away.  It is driving me crazy.  It's not that bad but it's awful at the same time.   

I hate when these annoying things happen.  Sometimes they go on for weeks, sometimes it's for a day or two.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter brought me a guinea pig this evening when I lay down to get away from some of the pain in my back.   Then she brought me a second guinea pig.   Then she brought me some of her dinner of a homemade pizza she and her father had made.   She is very sweet. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son saw the guinea pigs heading back upstairs and said, "Oh, can I have them to snuggle with?"  His father said they hadn't been to the bathroom in a long time and were very antsy.  My son didn't want to get peed on and passed. 

Shoulder Dagger

I am having one of those pains that you can't get away from that is so difficult to deal with mentally.   The pain isn't that bad in and of itself.  It wouldn't rank high on the pain scale, but wow does is drive you crazy when it won't stop for days.  

I've been to the chiropractor three days in a row and given how I'm feeling tonight I'll be back in the morning.  My daughter brought me guinea pigs to spend time with me while I laid on my back on a large icepack.  She is so sweet. 

The Children and Guinea Pigs:  My daughter sees with her hands.  But her hands move SO fast.  We are so worried she's going to hurt the guinea pigs.  She would be devastated if she did, it's just a parent's place to worry.  My son is very laid back about the guinea pigs.  He likes them quite a lot and commonly has one in his late, spending time with him while he's playing this video game or watching a video.  My husband and I like them just as much.   I really wish Matisse liked them and we weren't concerned she was going to eat or hurt one.  

Sugar Detox

I think starting in January when all the cookies and cake and candy has been either consumed or thrown away we're going to have to go through a sugar detox as a family.   We've eaten so much of it in the past few months that our brain thinks about it way more than it should.  

My son can be caught eating candy any time of the day. 

My daughter can be caught eating candy in place of meals if we're not there to coordinate something.

Their mother is no better; she eats far too much candy.

We're going to have to make some changes because this much sugar isn't good for any of us. 

3% of a Second

My son has a very good memory.  He can keep track of every single card in a complex deck of Magic the Gathering, plus all the spells, cards and abilities of the other colored decks.  It is definitely something children do with ease that makes their parents feel their age because we can't keep up with their little minds moving so quickly. 

One of the things my son has been interested in for a long time is "glitches" in games.   Back when I was young we called them 'bugs' and for the most part that is the defacto term for when a piece of software isn't behaving as expected.  My son is interested in when a glitch gives you, the player, the ability to do something you otherwise couldn't do with the game mechanics or rules. 

For instance, there could be a glitch when you ground pound as Mario if you happen to press the L2 button at the point of impact it lets you do another ground pound.   If you can keep this timing up, you can make it over large expanses that you couldn't reach until much later in the game. 

That's a useful glitch, he's moved into the esoteric glitches now.   He demonstrated today a special thing that happened only when the particular creature in the game (It was a lively chomping plant) had gotten wet.  While wet, you could do a double jump and when you land on its head, if you got the timing just right, you would launch into the air.   You could keep doing this, jumping higher and higher.   The only trouble was, the window in which you had to time your reactions was a thirtieth of a second.  

That's correct, 1/30th a second or 33 milliseconds.  My son was practicing.  He was going to master this glitch.   It was hard, but that didn't deter him.   It was a crazy window of time, but that didn't bother him. 

I love that he's interested in how the games work just as much as how the games are played.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter hasn't wanted to take care of our neighbor's dog, Charlotte, today and last night.  I think it's been because it's so frightfully cold outside.   My husband and I did the dog duty today.  My daughter says she'll be up for helping tomorrow again. 

A Beautiful Day

It really was a beautiful Christmas day.   My in-laws and parents were here; we opened present after present and had a great time talking over each other and trying to move along or keep talking about the existing present.  

The children took turns and worked together to be Santa, with my daughter reading the braille labels she's typed up for every present.   There were a lot of presents, but there were presents from grandparents down two levels and grandchildren going up two levels with parents in the middle having presents that went up and down.  

The Guinea pigs were fun to spend time with after the presents were finished, and then it was time to go to Nana and Papa's house for a delightful meal hosted by the champion of dinner parties, my mother-in-law.   She had it all prepared, and my father-in-law was her assistant when it came to the champagne.  

We got to see Aunt Rebecca, Uncle Dale, and cousin Olivia, who just graduated from College!   The exclamation mark is because it is hard to believe the amount of time that's gone by.   

It was a wonderful day on many levels.   I am most grateful that we were able to spend it with Mimi, Gramps, Papa, and Nana.   As well as having a chance to see Olivia.   She is "all grown up".  but so are our children.  Two years distanced in time and children are grown up from how you saw them last.  

Thank you to all the present purchasers, present wrappers, meal cookers, cleaner uppers, and anyone who did something to make today happy and bright.   Christmas 2022 will definitely be one to remember.

It's Christmas (and I'm exhausted)

We're getting a video out late, too late for a "Night Before Christmas" themed video, but we got it out.  We had a lovely dinner with both sets of parents and everyone was happy.   I think I have everything done.  Or enough to pass.  Now I'm going to pass out.

Unlike Other Years...

I am usually more than ready for Christmas at this point.  This year I am as unready and unprepared as I have ever been I am almost certain.   I am tired and need to get to sleep.   No social media has been happening, the house has been getting more orderly and presents have been wrapped, and above all, the guinea pigs have been cared for by all. 

The Children Love Them:  Both children love the Guinea pigs in their own ways.   And they do not agree with each other's way of taking care of them.   There is no lack of attention here though.  We have to tell them to give them a break.   

Oh, and they do eat your hair.  Quickly, and with precision bites.  My daughter had a long piece cut off by an interested Guinea pig in only a few seconds today.  

She Takes It Well

My daughter wants to play with the guinea pigs all day long.   And I am so happy she wants to be involved with them.   But they are tiny.   They fit in a single hand still and my daughter moves around so quickly because she's excited.   So she's getting a lot of negative feedback from us.   We're parents and adults and have seen a lot of things go wrong at this point and we see those worst case scenarios in everything, especially when it comes to something being hurt or killed. 

My daughter is being very good about it, though.  Today I hugged her and kissed the top of her head and said I was sorry her father and I worried so much about what she was and wasn't doing with the two new little boy members of our household.   We just don't want them to be hurt though lack of care or awareness. 

She is good to them, she would bike two miles to get them an orange if she heard that's what they wanted. But she is overcome with excitement and wants to snuggle the little guys all over the place.   I'm saying things like, "he is very tiny, think of how much his body is moving around and he has no control over when the next bump is going to happen.   Treat his little body with respect.  

She does try.  Some things she can't help.  She puts her hand in their faces a lot, but she's trying to find their heads in the first place so she could pet the back side.   That's hard to do when you can't see. 

The Big Boy Update: My son is going to have a lot of screen time as the start of the holiday gets into full swing and as Christmas approaches.   There is going to be a major crash when he has to take some time off soon to do not-online things with his family. 

Two Turtle Doves!

My parents arrived from the mountains this evening, and we got together and had a low-key but very delicious dinner from Q-Doba, a Mexican restaurant we order ahead from to pick up our meals on the way home regularly.   My parents picked up the meal. And after everyone had made it mostly through their burrito, my daughter said she had a plan for us.  

She handed out sheets of paper with the numbers one through twelve on them.  We each got two numbers, all different.  She said those numbers represented which days of the Twelve Days of Christmas you would be singing.  She, of course, would help on all of the verses. 

So we started, and my daughter had number one.   My father had, "Two turtle doves" which he managed to sing/say in a voice and tone that we were already laughing before it was even his turn to sing.   We had a great time going through the whole song.  It was genuine, it was spontaneous, and it was fun.   We need an encore for Christmas Eve now!

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Do Not Argue Over The Pets Or There Will Be Consequences:  The children are so good most of the time, but when they argue over who can hold or gets to put somewhere or carry around the pet, I have a very low tolerance.  You must always think of the pet and if it's good for them or good for you?  Treat the pet with respect, especially a pet that can't explain well back how they are feeling. 

A Bad Day

We all have them.  Today was mine.   It started out well, but after a near three-hour conference call and two days in a row when I'd been very tired, despite sleeping well and for a good number of hours, I gave in and went upstairs to lie down.  

I woke up at five-thirty, was given two guinea pigs to protect while I nodded back off to sleep, and then woke up again after six.  In the evening.  Having gotten not one thing done all day long that I needed to get done. 

Then things happened.  Every single one of them was reasonable in and of itself, but it all kept me from getting the things done I had on my lists.   I got cranky at my husband, who has left for the night.  He didn't deserve it, I just didn't know why he had to ask me something every time when I'd sat down from the last question, for two hours.   I got nothing done.   Well, the one thing he was working on.   But again, it was a frustrating day where the only things that got done were other people's things. 

Aside from this blog post.   I got that done.

Guinea Pigs & Children Update:  My son has a very easy going way that the guinea pigs seem to feel relaxed around.  My daughter is frantic, fast-moving, noise making, hand thrusting (because she can't see, she tries to be careful always) and to them, it's much more stressful with her.  I'm trying to get them comfortable around her and her calm around them.   More work must be done. 

SQUEEEEEEEE!

My daughter made a mistake this afternoon.  She wanted to hold one of the guinea pigs.   She was in the big playpen, and they were running around.  They were climbing on top of her some of the time but they didn't want to be caught.  And they are fast.   They also can squirm if they don't want to be held. 

I went into the craft room to get some work done on the present wrapping.   Shortly I heard my daughter cry out.   She was terrified she'd hurt one of the guines pigs.   Was it Cheerio or was it Kix? She didn't know.  I came in and she was crying terribly.  I got each one in turn and assured her they were okay.   

My daughter was so upset.   She knew she shouldn't have done what she did.   She wanted to hold one, she admitted that.   When she caught one, it tried to get away and she held it—too tightly.   She said she squeezed him to try and keep him and he made a squeak and it scared my daughter so much she immediately let go.   

I've talked to her about her motivations.  Is she doing something for the guinea pig, or is she doing it for her?  It's okay to do some things for you, but you need to keep them in mind all the time.  For instance, unless you picked them up initially, they would never know that being with a human can be comforting or fun or have treats associated with it.  But there needs to be a balance.    She loves them so much, she really does.   I think getting them was the right choice.  Plus, I adore them.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son, calm and collected, comes and gets a guinea pig and takes them downstairs to hang out with him while he watches television (or more specifically, YouTube on the television).  I came in to find Cheerio sitting up on his lap, not wanting to be under the covers, relaxed and looking around.   Or maybe he was sleeping, they frequently sleep with their eyes open. 

Raucous Time

It's over.   I survived.   I don't even have any injuries.   The house is in total disarray, but even with all of that, it was worth it.  My son didn't have a birthday party for the last two years.  He wasn't even that upset about it.   I wanted him to do something this year, though.  I didn't want him to not be able to remember having birthday parties when he was a child. 

It was a small gathering with six boys total, including my son.  Video games were played, screams were screamed, yells we yelled loudly, and swear words were not quite said, but in a way that meant the actual word.  No one was fooled. 

Everyone was nice, outgoing, and respectful.  I don't know them as well as I would in the old neighborhood.  We lost a lot of in-person socialization on account of COVID-19.  And my son had the best time of all from the commotion he was making, yelling and screaming at each other ans

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter technically wasn't invited to the party today, but she joined in.   She did several things that were completely contrary to the video gaming, such as turning off the television.   She got sent to her room for because she was so aggressive at one point.   She wrote me a sincere apology note for insulting me and saying hateful things.   She did have a nice time with the boys.  The problem is, she has hormones involved I think.  

Good or Bad Sounds?

We've been trying to understand the noise the guinea pigs make and if they are a sign of happiness, contentment, excitement, or ones of anger, fear, or frustration.  I decided to watch some videos today to understand more, mostly because I wanted to make sure Cheerio wasn't having seizures.  

It turns out there is something Guinea pigs do that is commonly called "popcorning" or "pogoing" with the technical term being "pronking".  Pronking?  I am definitely using that term.   It is this crazy jump in the air that makes it look like you have something wrong with your brain and it doesn't have it's movement properly coordinated. 

Cheerio has a very distinct pronking that looks worrisome.    It is a sign of happiness and joy.   I had just put him into a very cleaned-up and freshly stocked with hay, playpen.   He was just happy.  I was relieved.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Getting my daughter to not chase the Guinea pigs around to catch them is going to be hard for her.  Not because she's blind, but because she's so excited. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son asked me if I could come to his room after he'd gotten in bed for the night.   He wanted to know if he could have one of the Guinea pigs come snuggle with him in his bed.   We compromised and spent some time sitting in front of their cage and being friendly without picking them up.  They came out and checked us out when they realized we weren't going to immediately grab them.  

They Don't Hate Me

My daughter is just like me.  She wants to love and hug and squeeze and kiss the guinea pigs.   She chases them down in the cage and then changes positions with them every two to five minutes.   She's almost frantic in wanting to love them.  

She's also moving around really fast and we're afraid she's going to hurt one accidentally.   She's blind after all and the little guys move fast.   But there is a bad side to this.   A side we caused, that we of course didn't mean to. 

I listened to what was said to my daughter this afternoon when she got home with Nana and Papa.   She wanted to show them, but she also wanted to put them in her lap, fold over on top of them and have the feeling of their little pattering feet in the space she had made into a body cave.

"

Again and again, my daughter got told to be careful, to watch out, to this and that and on and on it went.   Was it good advice?  Yes.   But it makes my daughter feel like she's doing everything wrong. 

She was talking to her father the other night and he said they would live about as long as it would be before she went to college.   She replied, "no they won't" in a sad voice.   "Why not?" her father asked.  "Because I'll probably accidentally kill them before then."  We need to work on our positivity. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter did sit still long enough today in the little play pen to have them come up to her and start climbing over her legs.  She loved it.  She said they didn't hate her.   I told her of course they didn't/ 

The Big Boy Update:  What was my son up to tonight?  He was hidden in the pantry with his iPad on a stool.   He could have just gone to his room.  I have no idea why he was in there.

Entirely Different

These Guinea pigs are so different.  They are siblings from the same litter.  Their colorations. are different, but they have similarly shaded fur, Cheerio has more black while TBD2 has a only little black. Both Guinea pigs have white, with TBD2's being interspersed in his medium brown salt & pepper styled look;

At this point Cheerio will wait and let us pet him, not running away much because he knows things interesting or delicious will happen if he goes along with things. 

TBD2 is much more skittish.   He really doesn't want to be picked up.   I'm trying to give him meaningful interactions that are positive in the hopes he will relax a bit and we can be close friends. 

 

The Big Boy Update:  My son had us to school for his birthday celebration.  His classmates snapped in time with a silent song in our heads.   It was a very comfortable and casual feeling lunch with his class.  At the end, they pulled up Wordle and together played the day's game.   Then they did a whole number of additional, similar-styled games.   A lot of them were geography-based.   It's no wonder they know so much about the countries of the world!

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter got the Guinea pigs right after six o'clock this morning.   When I came into the bonus room she cried to me, "mom. they hate me!"  I told her that definitely wasn't the case, that we were all getting adjusted to things being different 

TBD2

Well, we have a second guinea pig now, named TBD2, until a name has been selected by my son.  He is a sibling of Cheerio.  Things are going to get crazy here...

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter now knows we helped Santa get the Guinea pig from the local store because it's too cold to have the animals up north.   She said, "It's okay; I think I already knew that." 

The Big Boy Update:  My son now is having trouble coming up with a name for the second Guinea Pig.  He was picking on her for being indecisive.  Now it's his turn to be unsure. 

Well, This Is A First

Two days!  It's been two days now, and I haven't written a blog post.   That is odd for me, indeed.   I don't have a nine-to-five job.   Being a "content creator" takes far, far more time than I would have thought, especially for the length of our daily videos.   

There is so much behind the scenes to get the models to the point they can be filmed.   There is working with the designers and the filament companies and then there are the other content creators and people leaving comments and watching all the videos you can from the 3D printing world so that you're up to speed on the latest everything.  

If we lived in a vacuum and the only thing we had to do was create a video and drop it out to the world, things would be vastly different.   But just like any business, or I suppose "popularity contest" isn't that far off, you get out of it what you put into it. 

Popularity contest sounds about accurate.  As much as I want my fellow content creators to do well, I want to do well also.   The choices we make affect our followers.  Are we targeting the people we want to watch our channel specifically?  Could we grow our audience if we did more sensational content?  I think we could.   We could be more humorous.   Well, I could try, I might fail, probably would fail. 

So back to the title, for two days I just wanted to go to sleep and forget about content and this blog.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son really likes the Guinea pig.  He lets him climb on his shoulder and even sit on his head while he's sitting on the couch playing on his Switch.   They look so cute together. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loves Cheerio.   Wait, did I mention we have a confirmed name?  Cheerio!  What a relief. 

Website Work

JC and Kelly came to town today to get some images for the website for Filament Stories.   I got up early and haven't sat down much since before seven.  I have to get to sleep so we can do it all again tomorrow.  More when I am not falling asleep at the keyboard.

The Big  Boy Update:   My son isn't panicked about the dog eating the guinea pig.  I think at this point that she would do something harmful to it if she got it in her mouth, but I'm not sure what.   My son is trying to help her to understand he's an important family member.   He's doing tough work with the dog's single-minded focus on the guinea pig. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The moment my daughter got home from school she dropped her backpack, cane and jacket and ran upstairs to see Peppermint Wiggles Nibbles TBD the Guinea Pig. 

Chirrrrup (and Chomp) and TWELVE!

Okay, this guinea pig, who's name is now Peppermint but my son and I are jokingly calling him TBD because there is just a lot of fluctuation on the name is darned adorable.   He loves being in your lap, specifically wrapped up in a hand cloth or under the fold of a blanket. 

The best part are his noises.  If you pet him or stroke his fur, interestingly in reverse order from his back to his head, he loves it.  He makes this chirrup sound that's like a cat's purr, but with more vibration and sound.  It comes in spurts as you pet him.  

He does bite though.  Not at all to hurt you, but to see what something is.   He is checking out if you or the wall or the thing you're holding is food.   It can hurt, but it's not bad and he immediately lets go. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loves him.   I'm ever so glad Santa decided to get her a guinea pig. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son is twelve-years-old today.   He is so mature about some things.   And growing up in a fast paced way.   But he's still my little boy, as all boys are to their mothers.   I love him so much. 

Mint? Sir Wiggles the Wise? Big Ounce?

We still don't have a name for this cute little guinea pig.  He really is quite friendly.   The dog has only tried to eat him once, but once was enough.   We're not sure she would really eat him, but none of us want to risk it. 

I wish we had a name for him that seemed fitting because we want to call to him when we come to the cage.   He isn't running out to see us at this point, but he doesn't mind us and in fact absolutely loves being in a pocket in a fuzzy shirt.   My son had one of those that are for your hands in the front of your shirt low down.  It's one pocket that has two entrances. 

He loved it.   He made chirruping sounds and didn't want to leave.  He will nibble your fingers, but only to see if you're food.   He knows you're not food and doesn't even hurt with his pressure. 

My daughter had her winder concert with the CCGC group.   It was a very nice concert with holiday songs from multiple cultures.  My favorite song was with the lights almost out and they started with "One candle" and one candle turned on.   As the song progressed, eventually they had all their lights on in the dim chapel.   I wish my mother and father could have been here, they would have loved it too. 

The Big Boy Update:  Things aren't going well for him right now.  He wants what he wants and he wants to try and get out of doing anything he doesn't want to do.  And he's been caught doing so.   So there will be repercussions.  Tomorrow is his birthday, but the day after tomorrow the hammer shall come down.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is asleep on the floor with the guinea pig.   I must go save him or her or both from each other.  I think he likes nesting in her hair.  I hope he's not chewing on it. 

Early Arrival

My daughter got an early Christmas present today from Santa, who asked her to trust him, because she really wanted a turtle.  I think Santa thought this would be a more cuddly companion (and boy is he cuddly and sweet.). Guinea pig wasn’t even on her list, but I think he will be a very lovable companion. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  my daughter was so incredibly excited when I put a cuddly little ball of fur in her hands.  She is in love with him. Name TBD. Nibbles and Ash are top contenders so far.

The Big Boy Update:  my son surprisingly really likes the Guinea pig. He's loved having him sit quietly in his lap.  

The New Process

We are trying a program with my son to see if he can have more flexible rules around when and how much time he can spend on screens.   At times on holidays or sometimes even weekends, we let him just gorge on screens to see if he has a maximum tolerance for it.   

He has a lot of stamina when it comes to screens.   He does take a break, but not for long before he goes to another flavor of screens.  Tonight my son asked us if we could play his game with him for a bit.   We looked at the clock, and it was five minutes until ten o'clock—which we told him, 

Thus began an epic match of screaming and barring teeth and pulling hair and all manner of things that were fueled by my husband saying, "it's almost ten o'clock and time for bed."   My son was beside himself with anger, and it didn't follow.   I wasn't putting up with his blaming us for things and then admitting he had gotten angry because he didn't know it was that late and that, yes, he was taking it out on us.  

He would admit things and then go back into battle mode.   We finally got him calm enough, and he gave us some good tips on how to interact with him when he's that angry.   Some of them were good, and others weren't practical, but I'm so glad my son is thinking about how we can engage each other in a more productive way.  A lot of tonight's discussions were not productive at all.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My husband finally finished listening to "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir, one of my favorite books of all time. My daughter loved it too.  She sat on the couch with her father as he listened to the last bit of the book.   I listened in, too from around the corner.   I love the audiobook version.   The voice actor makes it so much more.

The Violent Death and The Sock

I had thrown away a sock the other day.  I put it in the trash bin and thought no more about it because I'd thrown it away, and the general expectation when you throw something away is that you don't have to think about it or worry about it anymore.

The next day I was tidying up, and I found a spare sock on the dresser.  Hm, was this the missing mate to the sock I'd thrown away?   I looked at it and decided there wasn't much to be done so I threw the second on in the bin to follow the first. 

It was several days later when I caught on to what was happening. People, upon seeing an article of clothing in the trash would pull it out and put it near the washing, thinking they'd saved a sock from a certain loss of life.  

I've had to throw away things multiple times, trying to hide the article inside something else so it isn't "saved".   Today there was a sock to be thrown away.   So I helped:  I tore down the sock in half along the wear line where the large hole in the sole started from.   

It was fun voliently tearing up clothing, I rather liked it. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter picked out some special little presents for her extended family.  She is quite good at shopping—which is even more interesting knowing she's doing everything.

I Missed Tonight

I fell asleep before dinner.  I had been working for a number of hours and was hurting.  I missed the whole night with the children.   My son came in and said, "are you going to sleep, mom?"  I said no, that I could do something with him.   But he didn't want to.   I think he was worried about me.   I don't want them to worry about me.   I want to be there for them.  I want to play with them.  They will be gone only too soon.  

Santa's Lap

Santa came to our neighborhood tonight.  My husband worked with another one of the board members to help put on the event.  Mostly he helped her.  It was her event but she needed help and my husband is always ready to step in and help.   Tonight. I dropped my son off at the clubhouse, went and got a corporate mailing address for Filament Stories, got my daughter and then brought her back to eat at the clubhouse, mostly hot chocolate and cookies, and then talk to Santa. 

He remembered her because he's seen her for the last several years and knew she was blind.   He couldn't believe how much she'd grown.  We can scarcely believe it ourselves.  

My daughter went into how we had been "arguing" about not letting her have a turtle.  Or a rabbit.  Or a puppy.   We had not been arguing, we'd been telling her that wasn't going to happen. perhaps that constitutes arguing to her.  

Santa suggested a rat and was expecting her to say eww I think, but she said maybe, and I was giving the thumbs up because we've already said she could have a rat (or two, they like companionship).   No decision was reached though so we'll have to keep thinking about things and figure out what we can get her.  I mean Santa can get her.  Surely this will be the last year for Santa.   It is such a sweet thing, though. 

The Not So Big Boy:  My son decided to sit on Santa's lap as well.  Although his conversation with Santa was much briefer.   And secretive!

Where Did the Weekend Go?

It's one in the morning on Sunday, and I'm tired.  I should really write something more but I want to go to sleep.  My daughter was MIA all weekend listening to a podcast her class is listening to.  Secret update: she isn't suppose to be listening ahead—much less listening hours and hours ahead.   But there's a child that's a robot and so many other exciting things. 

My son has been doing better with the new "Trust Points" system he and his father worked out.  If it works for him, I'm supportive because he's had a rough time with us and losing our trust lately.

And I've eaten too many red hots.  No, Cinnamon Imperials.  Same things.   Why do they come in such a large bag?   I cannot resist their goodness

Breaking the Rules

My daughter has been breaking the rules all day long.  Well, since she went upstairs after her brother left for a birthday party.    She was cranky and didn't want us coming in her room.   She even snapped at her father and said she didn't want any food.  What ever could be going on?

I told her I was worried about her and came up after a while and rubbed her back while she listened to her current audiobook.   She paused it after a while and then told me she was breaking the rules.   She was listening to a podcast that her class listened to while they had snack each day.  It was an exciting story broken into lots of six-minute segments.  There were hundreds of these little episodes, and my daughter was not only a few ahead of her class, she was many, many episodes ahead.  

She just wanted to listen to it so badly.   I told her I understood.   She was pretty upset about breaking the rules, but she wanted to find out what happened next so badly she was willing to take the guilt in order to find out what happened next.   And then after that, and then after that...

The Big Boy Update:  My son is doing fairly well with the new points system of "regaining your parent's trust" so far.   He is motivated, which is a good thing.   I do want him to be successful.  

Injection

I have a bump thing on my forehead.  It's been there for a long time.  Perhaps ten years now.  It wasn't much for a long time, but it has gotten larger over the past year or so.  Perhaps this is because I've been futzing with it.   This could be due in part to Dr. Pimple Popper. 

She's said a lot of cysts are the body shedding skin cells into an internal pocket instead of sloughing them off the skin as would normally happen.  I believe, I think (ten years is a long time) that I had some sort of acne that didn't resolve well.  Is what's under the skin the remnants of whatever happened ten years ago?

And why is it getting larger?   The skin sloughing does make sense.  It moves easily under the skin and isn't in a location that would have other, more ominous alternatives.   Today I went to a dermatologist and had a really nice time talking to them about lots of things.   The first step is to inject it with some steroid and see what that does. 

The second step is to excise it out and get it completely removed.  We're all sort of thinking that'll be the route we'll have to go, but since the doctor is having knee replacement surgery next week, that will have to wait until January.   In a way, I'm sort of excited about an excision.   I wonder if she'll let me watch.   That would be really exciting. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has asked if he can have a points system for earning and maintaining trust.   I'll have to write more about this when we've figured out how we're going to do this.   I'm glad he wants to work on this though. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter and I are listening to The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling.   It's very cute.  I love listening to books with her. 

Yesterday, Where Did It Go?

We met with some interior designers yesterday.   We don't want or need to have designers help with the whole house, or even a good part of it.   But we do want to get some advice on selecting things that will go with the style of the house, and that won't clash. 

We were hopeful that it wouldn't be an issue, saying that we only wanted help with some things.  The proposal had covered everything, including furniture selection.   I can't blame them though, you don't get if you don't ask a lot of times. 

They were lovely and completely understood.   We will look more into what we need advice on and will get back to them when we know more about when the house will actually start being built.

The best fun though was showing them the 3D printing things.  They thought it was so exciting.  It's fun when someone is excited about what you love.   I was able to send them home with 3D printed things for their children and nieces and nephews.   That's a productive day, if you ask me.  I love sharing the things we've printed. 

The Big Boy Update:  Did my son sneak downstairs and play on his computer after his father and I fell asleep before ten o'clock?  We're not sure, but it looks like he did.   He denies it completely.  We're working on building trust with him.   He needs to work on following the rules. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter finished her Tundra biome diorama.  The animals she put in there didn't color match properly like the polar bear was a brown plastic bear, but since she couldn't see the colors, it was a polar bear to her.