In Front of The Parents

We have a good number of children over here these days.   They are taller and more mature than the children we had before COVID-19.   What has surprised me though is that they don't seem to mind when we're around.   

I would have thought my husband and I would be in the "completely uncool" and "leave me alone" realm of people that live in the same house with the children, but they seem to be happy to have us around, sometimes asking me questions or involving me in their conversations.

Could it possibly be that I'm considered a "cool mom?"   

Big Hide & Seek:  It just tickles me when the children play hide and seek these days.   Some of the friends coming over are so tall that they play "Sardines" sometimes, which means when you find the person hiding, you have to climb into the small space with them.   This continues until only one person is left, who finds the whole group of them packed in together.   It is really quite cute when they come by and ask me if I've seen someone or anyone, and I decide to tell the truth so unconvincingly that they don't believe me or lie and make it sound like it's the truth.   It's a lot of fun.

Bipolar Bear

I'm not bipolar.   I don't think I can even comprehend what it would be like to actually bipolar.   I do have mood swings, but they're in the normal, "I'm so happy because we're having pancakes this morning." or "I'm so upset because I just broke the large planter, and there is dirt everywhere, and I think I've killed the plant."   All the normal range of emotions that come with daily life.  

A long time ago in college, I had a friend who talked about Bipolar Bear.  I think it was a cartoon, but I've never seen it.   I have a memory of her playing the role of Bipolar Bear, who wanted to go out and be a superhero.   He wanted to be a superhero and save the day...only he couldn't get out of bed.  

Sometimes I think about that when it gets to the wee hours of the night, and I look back at my day and think I got only twenty percent of the things I wanted to get done completed.   I also think this because right about this time of night, I am so ready to go to bed. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter went to school with ten fingers but came home with eleven.   They are working on the human body, and they created a mockup of a finger with a piece of paper cut into a specific shape, a paperclip, some tape, and a string.  You could pull on the string, and the finger curled up.   My daughter loved it.    

The Big Boy Update:  We are allowing my son to play video games when he has friends in the house.   It is giving him some social time he wasn't getting during COVID-19.  Normally he doesn't have screens during the week, but since it's a social thing and they're all playing games together, it's been an exception we're glad to grant. 

Social Is Happening Again

It seemed like we'd be locked in our houses without any sign of an end to the pandemic at first.   Later on we thought things were getting better but they really weren't.   Finally, like the last wisps of a campfire dying, the danger seems to be over.   There is no guarantee an ember won't burst into flames again, but for now, we're all acting like things are back to normal/ 

This weekend my daughter had a sleepover at a friend's house for her birthday.   She was so incredibly excited.   After she came home today, she had another playdate until close to bedtime.  No one wore masks, and no one even seemed to be concerned about the possible transmission of something contagious. 

There was a time when our house was a quiet place.  Childen weren't running around our house, making messes and leaving them when they went home.   The house was more organized and the usual suspects were only those in your family.   But now, the doors are opening all the time to friends of our children.  They come in, play hide-and-seek all over the house and then leave at dinner time.   

Then they're back after dinner.  Messes can be contained and they listen to mandates from us, but the house is a revolving door again.

In some ways, I sort of miss the quieter times during the pandemic, which I think is an odd thing to think. 

Home (and asleep)

My daughter: is at a sleepover tonight; yay!  She was so excited about going to Aditi's birthday sleepover that she went to sleep early last night so today could hurry up and get here. 

My son: on the other hand, had to be told with strong reminders that it was one in the morning and he needed to put a sleep timer on, turn the volume down and at least try to get to sleep?

Today was a busy day of getting everything just so, just right, so when dad got home, it would look like we kept everything pristine all week, and the house wasn't a complete wreck at times. 

My daughter wanted to bring Cheerio to meet her friend Brooklyn at Aditi's house.  This was a tough call, but Cheerio did it.  In the car to pick up dad at the airport, to Aditi's house, held by everyone in the family in the car, and then being held by at least five more people at Aditi's house.   Not one poop on the floor or in someone's lap.  No one got peed on.   He was a little angel.   We brought a little portable toiled (hay in a box), and I suppose he timed things well.  He is so well-named.  He is absolutely cheery.

When we got home, my husband was tired.   He ate some food and then sat down on the chair in the living room and promptly fell asleep before seven.   We're letting him rest.  

Progress This Week?

My husband has been gone for a week, skiing with some family friends.  I had plans to get lots done this week while my husband was gone.   I didn't think I'd get it all done, but I hoped to get a good bit done.  

In the way things tend to go here these days, I got some done, but it was a fight with my time to make enough space in the day to get some things done.   The one thing I really wanted to do was get the Craft Room dumping ground moved to the attic.  I did get a lot of the craft room moved to the attic, but it was a rush job.  

Children Have Short Memories: The children started to forget our lesson about tolerance and kindness two days ago.  I reminded them, and they reset.  Hopefully they will continue to remember the lesson we learned together while dad was away.

Scrabble and Geography

I have to run upstairs and play some games with the children before they go to bed.  

First thought: after last night's rough dinner, the children were so wonderful today.  We had the best breakfast since I can remember.   They were just great. 

My son:  is amazing at creating complex games.  The more countries they contain, the better.  Same goes for rules.

My daughter: is amazing at Scrabble.  She memorizes the board pretty much even though she can feel what's there in braille.   She's going to be a very tough competitor in a very short time.  

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Night

Last night was not a good night.  And then it was.   My son had suggested my daughter pick the dinner location since he got to pick earlier in the week.  That was before he got carsick and felt bad during the drive home from school.  

Some negotiations and a few hours later and we went to Jason's Deli.  I said let's focus on tolerance tonight and have a nice meal together.  

Guess what?  It was not nice.  At all.   I tried to keep things under control.  I don't want to say it was my son, but he was absolutely militant with what his sister should and shouldn't be doing.  Don't touch them all! (she can't see, she is looking, not trying to be unsanitary).   Don't eat this way, don't do this, do do that.   She got up to get away from him, insisting she knew the way to get more drink—which she didn't, but she also had no concept of the child in the way, the other people in the drinks area and the salad bar she was going to run into and put her hands into the food in order to find her bearings.  And none of that would have been good.

It got worse and people were looking at us.  My daughter was mad now and my son was explaining how he was trying to help.   Always doing a helpful thing, never being critical.  He wanted to explain himself to death.  

I got them in the car, cancelling frozen yogurt for dessert because I didn't want a second restaurant of people staring at us.  

My daughter didn't want to get in the car, saying she needed a minute.  When she got in and we got underway she had some advice, delivered in high drama voice intonation abut how we should all love and care for each other.  

I said I agreed.  At this point, I was screaming and telling my son to shut up, which was not a good thing to use word-wise as we've told the children it's not ever okay to say that.   My son would not give it up.  I had to lock him down because he couldn't not talk.   Any words that came out of his mouth would be a day's loss of screens.   If he wanted to talk he could raise his hand or tap me on the shoulder. 

Let me tell you folks, that was some funny stuff.  He was thrusting his hand in the air, tapping me on the shoulder and punching the car, which caused him to lose screens for a day when the punch happened.  

I finally gave up.  I said I was a failure that we had children who couldn't even go to dinner and be polite to each other.  Dad always did things better.  The family would be better without me.  When dad got home, I would leave.  

And...that...worked.   That was the one thing they didn't want to one-up or fight back about.  They both got scared and didn't want me to leave and suddenly were telling me how they knew all along what they were doing was bad.   They wanted to do better.  They didn't want to tell dad.   Please don't leave.  The guinea pigs need you.  The dog needed me.   

I said I would stay.   Then, after all of that, we had a really wonderful night for the rest of the evening.   We made it to a nice night, the path was just more complicated. 

One Hundred Times Per Day (Times Two)

Did you know Guinea pigs have to eat continually, and their digestive system should never stop processing?   Did you know as a result of this, Guinea pigs have very small bladders?   So small that they have to urinate about every twenty minutes.   This means that they typically don't like to be held for longer than fifteen minutes—because they don't want to go on you. 

But wait, there's more.   The other half of their waste management system is also constantly at work.   It is so consistent and regular that they go while they're asleep without even knowing it happens.   (They sleep with their eyes open too).

This means, on average, a Guinea pig poops one hundred times every day.   I know; I am as shocked as you are.   Or at least I was before having them as pets for a while.  They are clean little creatures and don't like living in a mess, but we have caged them, so it's on us to make sure their home is liveable and comfortable. 

I now have two long folding tables with corrugated plastic on top and a mesh grid in a two-foot by ten-foot formation.   There is plenty of room for them to move around, and there is plenty of room for them to poop.

With two Guinea pigs that means two hundred little presents every day.   Some days I couldn't believe it was that many. Some days I thought that number was way too low.   And I know, I can't believe I did either, but they're little dry things and I just had to know.   

At twenty hours into the day I was at 230, which means our little Guinea pigs are over-achievers.   Or we feed them too much.  

Of course, you need to know too.   So here you go.  Walnut for scale.  I won't make this image big since the small version may be all most of you want to see.   

The Late Night Children:  Gone are the days of the children going to bed and the adults having the rest of the night to enjoy child-free.   The children could easily stay up until eleven.   But there is the advantage that they can take care of themselves.   Children are wonderous things.  

Single Parents, Hats Off

I'm single-parenting this week.  My husband is skiing with some of our friends.  He loves skiing, and I'm glad he's had some opportunities to ski this winter.  I'm at home with the children for the week.   We're fine, and my husband was even so kind as to make us some roast and pasta.  Even with my children older and taking care of themselves, I am always humbled by single parents who do this every day.

I have just been informed a Guinea pig has fallen so I'm going to go check to see if he's okay.  

Dinner Out—That Everyone Agreed On!

The children and I went to dinner tonight after a non-confrontational day.  No one got angry at anyone else for silly reasons.  My daughter wanted to put on a dress for dinner and then insisted that she didn't need a jacket in fifty-three degree weather that her sleeveless dress would be just fine.  

My son was very excited to be going to the Mongolian barbecue restaurant.  My daughter, surprisingly, was too.  When we got there she realized she was thinking the place where they cooked the food in front of you at your table, and the place where you picked out the ingredients and they cooked the food on a massive reverse wok.  

She didn't like the restaurant for the last several times, but this time, after insisting she wasn't going to be able to eat without vomiting, I found the lemon pepper seasoning and she was happy.   My son had a not too typical meal of mixed seafood with three eggs.   He for some reason loves this.  I don't even know what seaoning or sauces he uses.  But he loves it.  

The Big Boy update:  My son said his favorite thing of the weekend was being woken up both on Saturday and Sunday with a Cheerio.  My daughter brought the guinea pig to her brother and instead of being upset, he was extra happy. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has recently decided lemon pepper is the best seasoning ever.  I talked to her today and said it was possibly about this age that I discovered how much I loved lemon pepper when Mimi would cook pork chops and use the lemon pepper seasoning.   Add some gravy made with those two seasonings and drizzle them over white rice.   Oh boy, now I'm hungry. 

The Long Run (of Guinea Pig Cage)

I rearranged the Guinea pig enclosure again today.   It was a right angle before with two tables pushed together.  I put plastic over the tables and then fleece down and then put a cage wall around the whole area.  They loved it, but it was very hard to get to them when they were in the back corner, and the cage would come disconnected.  

It is now a long run of two tables and is ten feet long.   That sounds long!  It is.  But it's easy to do.  You can put lots of boxes in there from the mail, add soft bedding material, and then different types of hay.  Plus, you can keep them mentally stimulated with new things to do.  

The Unhelpful Daughter:  I was hoping my daughter would help with the cage change around.   She just wanted to hold Cheerio and pet him.   He liked it so I suppose that was helping. 

The Big Boy Screen Monster:  My son is home now with a four-day weekend.   He was up past midnight tonight.  I think he is expecting to be on screens all weekend.   He might be unhappy at me when he finds out otherwise. 

1000 Days of School

My daughter's class celebrated the 100th day of school today.   Her teacher said it was actually their 1000th day of school.  Here's her shirt, which explains how that's calculated.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was oddly tired after school and fell asleep.  She took a bath and then went to bed after dinner.  She has a very bad cough, but nothing else we can discern. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son hasn't been on screens today, although he's broken the rules so many times now that when he's quiet, we always presume he's snuck a screen and is hiding.  He was good today though, I hate we questioned him. 

It's V Day

It's Valentine's Day and we've had a nice day here.   We're still working and it's eleven o'clock.  I'm going to finish the and see if we can get the video out before midnight.  I'm tired. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter ate candy the whole way home, I think.   Valentine's day is almost like a mini Halloween. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son doesn't have screens on weekdays.  Only lately, he's had friends coming over and they've wanted to play a group game together.   They have been well-behaved and polite, so w'e letting the group screen time happen for now.

Let Sleeping Husbands Lie

We had a lot to do this evening.  We were going to get a whole smattering of things done and then we were going to film some content.   It didn't happen though.  My husband fell asleep in the basement in his comfy chair with his blanket over him right after dinner. 

The children and I had a lot to do to get their valentine's packages, notes, boxes to collect valentines in, and school things in general.   I was upstairs spending time with the children and having a pretty good time of things.  

There was also the business of the Guines pig business.  I had avoided the big mess of cleanup and revamping their cage because I wanted to see if the allergy would get better.  It did, so I knew I had to mask up and clean myself, or change out of the shirt I was wearing, and I'm mostly fine. 

I figured out a new way to arrange the Guinea pig enclosure.   The love when there's something new.  It's so much fun to redecorate and then hear their happy little peeping as they explore. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son had one valentine at school with a name swap.   He decided he wanted a 3D printed envelope in school colors.   He wrote her a note and got some candy and was ready for a more simplistic Valentine's day at his school.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was all about how much candy we could cram into the little bags for Valentine's day.  I got some stacking drawing heart pencils and a bubble-blowing pen, which she liked for her friends.  But she really liked the candy. 

Sensory Symphony

We went to a chamber music concert at a local church that was specifically for people like my daughter, who are blind.   There were so many things to see and feel before the concert.  I wanted to play the organ, but my daughter got to learn about it first hand from a very nice man. 

They got to feel the strings on a grand piano, pluck the stings on a Bass and touch the different parts of the instruments.   The concert was very nice with students in threes and fours playing different music surrounding the upcoming Valentine's Day.  

The Children Were Cranky:  Both children didn't want to go at first.  My daughter I thought said a very, very rude thing to me in front of people and I almost took her home and grounded here for the rest of the week.  I misheard her, and when she explained, I could see why I had thought she said something else.   She had been very spiteful moments before.   My son, upon hearing about my daughter going home because of what she said asked, "if I say that, do I get to go home and I won't have to stay here?"  

Challenge Accepted

My daughter had a good time at the Braille Challenge regional competition.  It was much lower attended than it was in prior years.   A decision had been made to have it on the weekend, which unfortunately eliminated all the students from the state school for the blind.  They are largely living at the school during the week so their weekends are at home with their families.  

This made what felt like a very big event with the number of adults there with parents, proctors, organizers, AV people, etc. a huge number in comparison to the fifteen students attending the day for the testing. 

My daughter is in the Sophomore level this year with fifth and sixth graders.   The only other participant was her classmate and friend, Aditi.   They had a good time as their proctor will be their VI main teacher next year.  

The Not So Tiny Girl Chronicles:  They had some animals from the Museum of Natural Sciences to touch after lunch, including a python, a blue-tongued skink and an animal a lot like a hedgehog.  She loved the animals part.   

The Big Boy Update:  My son wanted to have friends over from school.   He coordinated it and they made it happen.   They really had a good time.  We should have friends over more often.

Braille Challenge (Again)

Tomorrow morning, my daughter and I go to the state-wide Braille Challenge competition.   She isn't overly worried or even concerned about it.  She will get to spend some time with her friends she's met locally that are visually impaired, but other than that, it's a day of testing for her.   Which she never seems to mind. 

The question we all want to know is, will she make it to nationals again?  We'll find out in a few months one way or anoyther.

My Son and 3D Printing:  My son wants to have two school friends over tomorrow.  One of them is interested in 3D printing.  My son said, "and mom, you can talk to him and make his brain explode.  Thats your specialty."

The Not So Tiny Chronicles:  My daughter is wearing my shoes and some of my pants that were too small for me.  She's only eleven!  And so mature.  

Asking For Money

I wasn't sure if I should do this or not, but we've had a lot of people talking about it in the 3D printing community, so I made a video and asked people to think about donating to the relief/rescue funds for Turkey and Syria.   

We have friends in Turkey from 3D printing.   But even if we didn't, it is heartbreaking hearing of all the suffering and loss and people still trapped.   I asked in the video if people could help, to donate to one of the main funds.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son wants to make a 3D printed envelope for his secret valentines partner this coming week.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicle:  My daughter wants candy for all her friends for Valentine's day

HASMAT Suit

Is Hasmat capitalized?  I should look that up.   The allergy isn't getting better, so I decided to see if I could isolate it;   No one cleans out and up the Guinea pigs cage.  It takes a good while, but I've gotten some things streamlined so it is cleaner for longer and takes less time. 

I have a pretty bad allergy to hay, and hay is ninety percent of what they eat.   We give them other things, but they need to have the vast majority of their food hay or their teeth wont be ground down fast enough.   Besides, they love it. 

So I dressed up in gloves and full medical robe thing.  I had a hair net on and a mask that was stifling to breathe through.   But I made it through the full cleaning and I haven't had side effects until just recently when I went up to turn out the light up there and SOMEONE (I know who, but I will deal with them tomorrow) destroyed their bed area that I worked so hard to make both comfortable and hidden so they would feel safe.  

I wanted to hold the animals when I was young, I know what it's like.  I just don't like the aggressive forcing.    So far things have been okay.  And I hope the protective gear will help with the allergies. 

The Day After

I feel much better today.  I really should have gone to the Chiropractor's office today but time was not on my side.   We had a meeting with an appliance reseller and after the last meeting, which was a little uncomfortable when we realized they were only representing a few of the brands, today was the exact opposite.  

The man we worked with wasn't trying to sell us anything, really.  We had no idea if something was more or less expensive because he was talking in terms of comparable features.  He was more inclined to suggest a less expensive brand or model saying, "they're all doing pretty much the same thing when you're looking at this size/level/function.   It was helpful because we could get actual opinions on how well a product functioned and the features it had as opposed to there being importance placed on the brand. 

I started asking him what he had in his house.   Then I was asking if he were to pick one of these styled/type/sized appliances, which one would he want.   He was fine saying an answer to that, because I think in most cases he didn't prefer the ones that were the most popular or top rated.   It was really nice working with him and we left thinking we had a better handle on both what we wanted as well as if we could get them in the timeframe we'd need them as ordering runways are very, very long for some appliances and brands. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter simply does not understand (or doesn't want to understand) that I didn't bring a guinea pig to pickup because I was out for hours and didn't stop at home before coming there.   She really loves them both.

The Big Boy Update:  My son equally loves the guinea pigs, but in his own, more quiet way.

Happy Birthday to Ouch!

I had a wonderful fifty-third birthday with my family yesterday.   My husband gave me licorice from licorice.com that is delicious!  My children gave me coupons that were very touching and will absolutely be redeemed.  

There was Indian food for dinner that I loved and to cap it off, I went to sleep at 9:30PM because my back was throwing a fit and I couldn't take anymore.  

Thanks to all my friends and family who called and sent messages.  I'm sorry if i missed you!

Dishwasher Directions

There is an unspoken order when it comes to dishwasher loading.   It's not something I've ever talked about with anyone I've lived with.  The expectation is you load the dishwasher up with dishes that aren't overly soiled and you place things in an arrangement that maximizes space utilization.  

But is there a specific order the dishwasher must be filled up in?   I noticed tonight that my husband puts cups up at the very back of the left side on the top drawer.   I get to that area last when I'm loading a dishwasher as I start on the back right of the top rack and load right to left.  

We meet in the middle, so it doesn't seem to matter much, but I find it interesting nonetheless. 

The Angry Son: My son was livid and screaming.  He was so angry he was screaming saying he wasn't screaming.  It went on and on and on.   I had an idea.  I went upstairs and got Cheerio.   When I came downstairs I handed him over and my son immediately calmed down.  Cheerio has that way about him; you can't be sad when he's in your lap. 

The Absent Daughter:  I care home after two hours out.  I went to go check if the guinea pigs were still in their play pen so I could put them up.  Kix was there but Cheerio was nowhere to be found.  I went to see where my daughter had taken him because she was cuddling with him in her room before we had left.   I couldn't find her and just happened to be cleaning up her bed.   I moved the blanked and there Cheerio was, sleeping under her covers.   When I told her she sucked in her breath and was upset at herself.  The doorbell had rang and then the dog got out at that point and was hard to get in.   When things normalized, she completely forgot she had Cheerio up in her bed.   He was happy and fine just sleeping under the covers.

Shoes

The Tiny Girl Boots:  My daughter used to enjoy going through my shoes and putting on the least fitting, most outrageous shoes I had and then try to walk around in them.   She would invariably wear fuzzy socks with high heels or clomp around in my heaviest winter boots.   So the other day when she put on my old pair of Uggs I didn't think they would fit her—but they did.  They have lots of warm fur padding the insides which I figured would help keep her feet in place, but surprisingly enough, they actually fit her. 

Or reasonably well enough that she could wear them.  I told her she could have them and didn't think much about them, noticing them on the floor of her room for the next several weeks.   Today, she wore them to school and seemed completely comfortable in them when she got in the car to go home.   My daughter's feet are almost fully grown if I remember when my feet stopped getting larger.  It was within a year or two of her current age.   Another child milestone that seems far too fast to be happening. 

The Big Boy Boots:  My son got new ski boots when he and his father went on their recent ski trip.   When they got home, for some reason they've been on the floor in the corner of our bedroom.   Tonight, the dog was barking and I needed to let her in quickly.   My shoes weren't close, so I grabbed my son's boots, thinking I could hobble enough in them to get the dog inside.  

I sliped them on and my feet went right into them.   I walked outside to get the dog in comfort.  I came over to my son on the couch with no shoes on and compared our bare feet (which he was confused by) to find out we are almost the same size as well.   His feet are a bit smaller, but only a bit.   Did I mention these child milestones are hard to believe?

Precision In Time

I've been obsessed with watching restorations and "servicing" of timepieces, mostly watches.  I've never known how watches worked or what it meant when a watch was self-winding or how watches worked.  What did it mean to be a seven jewel watch?  So many things that now that I've learned more about the subject, it's only more fascinating. 

The jewels, artificial rubies that have an amazing precision that are also very, very tiny have been in watches for a long time.  How were they made to that level of precision?   I found a video from WWII era from a large watch maker showing the process they went through to make the jewels.  It is long, it is protracted, there are so many specialized machines involved.   And a key ingredient used throughout the process was olive oil.  

Fascinating.   Here's the video if you're interested:  https://youtu.be/YF-Rf1Cxx94

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter beat me in Battleship tonight.  She is good at the game, especially considering she has to map out everything by feel and memorize where things are on the board. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son needs more chess board pieces.  Could I please make more?   He's asking for something 3D printed, yes!

Tile!

Wow, there is a lot of tile in a single tile store.   Today was house day.  This is reminiscent of the last house we built (the one I'm in as I write this).   But more complex.   With our current house there was a timeline that was managed by our builder.   We made the selections, but it was done in an order that made things easier. 

This time we are making every single decision.   There is a lot to be decided and there is an ordering that is unknown.  Do we need to pick countertops before cabinet colors?  Or what about flooring, when do we need to decide on tile and what about hinges and knobs and...gah, it's overwhelming. 

With this house we were told very, very early on that we had to pick hinge colors.   This would set the tone for the entire house.  What hinges?  The door hinges.   The doors and the windows would come with hardware to match our selection, and windows needed to be ordered very early because they come in right after framing is done and doors are made with the hinges on at the factory.   So decide now and for the rest of the house, you're stuck with brushed nickel, for instance.  

We picked the doors and then the door frames and then the cabinets, which set colors for things.  After that we picked out countertops.   When we went to pick out tiles, we had made a lot of the decisions beforehand so all we had to do was pick tiles that worked well with our other selections.   

That happened until we moved in.   This time, we're looking at everything out of order so we can start to hone in on "what our style is."  Which is going to be interesting to find out, because we don't even know the answer to that ourselves. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter, upon hearing we were going to look at tile today was very upset because she had been with us for the last tour of appliances as she was out of school.   Cheryl and Lindsay had some tiles they thought she would like because they were tactile.   And she loved them.  They told her she could come to a real tile store and look at all the tiles and so she thought she was missing out today.   I was told to tell her they absolutely were not talking about her tile today and that she would have her own chance to pick out tiles herself.   I hadn't thought about including the children, but they're old enough, they should be able to pick out something they like.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son may have zero interest in picking out anything for his room.  He has given The Grandparent Free Zone, as he's calling it, his blessing.  It's a little loft space up a little set of steep stairs and he thinks the grandparents aren't going to find him up there.  I know grandparents though, if they need to track him down, they'll know exactly where he's hiding. 

Easy Better

Ugh, folks, I really didn't want to have all of these, "here's what happened today" posts.   It's not interesting to read I suspect.  It's not inspiring or entertaining and there are no lessons learned or story arcs across multiple videos.   But of late that seems to be what I'm capable of doing.   So thanks for bearing with me. 

I had a little "lentil" removed from my forehead today.   It was a cyst, or at least that's what it appeared to be to everyone that was there.  Still, it's being sent off to the lab, likely a waste of resources, but in the one case where it isn't,it makes all the other cases worth the it. 

I have a glued together forehead now.   I am not allowed to pick at it and the glue must fall off itself.   Could I do this task?  Of COURSE I could, I told the doctor.   If you know me, you know that I was not at all confident that I could keep my hands off it.   But it was a tiny little incision and it popped right out from the very, very brief amount of time the procedure took.   

So hooray.   

The Big Boy Update:  My son is calmly and quietly in love with the guinea pigs.  He will get, "a goober" as he calls them, and then spends a good bit of time with him before quietly putting him up.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loves the guinea pigs in a much more boisterous and excitable way.   Both are good.  I'm glad they want to play with them, even if I'm not so sure the guinea pigs always want attention.   It's far better than not wanting to spend any time with them at all.   The guinea pigs are learning to look forward to them, even if they're still initially scared of getting picked up from the prey response they have.