My daughter’s vision is changing for the worse. It’s harder for her to see some things and she can see less of others, like colors. I don’t know if it’s the cataract or if something else is going on in her eye. And by eye, I mean her left eye, the right one doesn’t seem to be useful at all at this point.
We have an evaluation under anesthesia with her retina surgeon on the nineteenth coming up. I’ve been debating for some time if we should contact him and let him know things are getting worse. We all know they’re getting worse, the thing is, are they getting worse because of the cataract, which is a known thing, or is it something else like her pressure has dropped and we should act faster?
It’s hard to watch her struggle, asking me to pick out the colored marker from the six in the container, because she can’t easily tell which one is the brown one. It’s hard to watch her try and stay in the lines of her braille coloring book because she’s using her vision instead of fingers and moving her head around one inch from the paper makes it hard to do any sort of coloring other than, “scribble scrabble” as my children call it.
She’s not unhappy, I keep saying that. Maybe I say it because it makes me feel better about this whole awful situation, but I also say it because it’s true.
The Big Boy Update: The Lady Gaga song, “Million Reasons” was playing in the car today. One of the main lines is, “you’re giving me a million reasons…” My son didn’t understand what she was saying exactly so he asked me, “mom, do you want a million laces?”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter’s vision impairment teacher gave us a coloring book where all the lines are raised. There are words or a sentence at the bottom of the page in script as well as braille. My daughter has been coloring in the pages for days now and has been happy to have a coloring book that’s special for her.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Monday, February 27, 2017
Final Post-Licensing Course
Tomorrow is my last day of post-licensing classes. Provided I pass the end of class exam, I’ll have the provisional status removed from my real estate license. I’m looking forward to being out of class until my continuing education comes up next year.
Although, that’s not completely true, I’ve been enjoying being in class. The instructor is funny and knows the material very well. His name is Kevin and Kevin has about a million, “Kevinisms” I can’t remember them all, but one of the students this class has been writing them down and plans to share the list with the class.
Some of the Kevinisms are appropriate to the content of the class but others are just out of the blue and seem to have no relationship at all to anything we’re talking about. Today he suddenly said, “do you know what the best thing about alzheimer’s is? You get to hide your own Easter eggs.”
The Big Boy Update: My won said the other day, “what the butt?” I’m not sure where he got this from, but I tried not to laugh when he said it.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: When Aunt Jo was visiting recently my children both loved spending a night with her. Two days later, Richard, my childhood friend came to visit. My daughter asked who got to stay with Richard? Aunt Jo replied, “you don’t want him, honey, he snores really bad.”
Although, that’s not completely true, I’ve been enjoying being in class. The instructor is funny and knows the material very well. His name is Kevin and Kevin has about a million, “Kevinisms” I can’t remember them all, but one of the students this class has been writing them down and plans to share the list with the class.
Some of the Kevinisms are appropriate to the content of the class but others are just out of the blue and seem to have no relationship at all to anything we’re talking about. Today he suddenly said, “do you know what the best thing about alzheimer’s is? You get to hide your own Easter eggs.”
The Big Boy Update: My won said the other day, “what the butt?” I’m not sure where he got this from, but I tried not to laugh when he said it.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: When Aunt Jo was visiting recently my children both loved spending a night with her. Two days later, Richard, my childhood friend came to visit. My daughter asked who got to stay with Richard? Aunt Jo replied, “you don’t want him, honey, he snores really bad.”
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Search Criteria Lesson
I remember when search engines were first coming out. It was fantastic because we had a place that had gone through all the websites and put the content into a database. Without having to know a complicated query language we, as consumers, could type in some words and get back a list of pages that had matching content. It was wonderful. It was truly amazing.
Results were weren’t completely reliable at first. You had to learn to eliminate things by using a -criteria option to get better suggested pages. Sometimes you’d have to go to page two, three, four or even ten to find a result that was really what you were looking for. Today, I don’t remember the last time I had to go to page two to find good information.
The key back then was learning how to enter proper search criteria. My son is six and he already has this down. He’ll bring me his iPad and ask me to search for say, “Lego Batman 3”. I do the search and tell him there aren’t any results. He explains to me that there is a game, because he’s seen a video for it.
I don’t know what he’s seen, but there’s no game available. I search for “Lego Batman” and show him what the options are and that there isn’t a number three in the series. But he’s not giving up. He asks me to search for something even more constrained like, “Lego Batman Superheroes 3”.
So I talked to him about how search results worked, that less words meant more options. Too few words or less-specific words gave too many options. Our job was to find just the right words to find the best choices.
He seemed to understand. I’ll know more when he brings his iPad to me next and asks me to search for something. If we find nothing I’ll see if he can suggest a different way to search.
The Big Boy Update: There is a big sign at the doctor’s office in each room indicating which room you’re in. The signs are low down and the children can read them. My son sounded out R-O-O-M and decided it sounded better as “rohm” instead of, “room”. He’s been interested in reading words all around him more and more lately.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was given a raised line coloring book of garden fruits, vegetables and herbs to color. She’s been feeling for the outlines and coloring in the pages and is talking about our garden on the deck we planted yesterday.
Last Taper Run: We ran ten miles today; next week is the marathon in the wooded park across from our neighborhood. I hope we’re trained enough for it. I think we are.
Results were weren’t completely reliable at first. You had to learn to eliminate things by using a -criteria option to get better suggested pages. Sometimes you’d have to go to page two, three, four or even ten to find a result that was really what you were looking for. Today, I don’t remember the last time I had to go to page two to find good information.
The key back then was learning how to enter proper search criteria. My son is six and he already has this down. He’ll bring me his iPad and ask me to search for say, “Lego Batman 3”. I do the search and tell him there aren’t any results. He explains to me that there is a game, because he’s seen a video for it.
I don’t know what he’s seen, but there’s no game available. I search for “Lego Batman” and show him what the options are and that there isn’t a number three in the series. But he’s not giving up. He asks me to search for something even more constrained like, “Lego Batman Superheroes 3”.
So I talked to him about how search results worked, that less words meant more options. Too few words or less-specific words gave too many options. Our job was to find just the right words to find the best choices.
He seemed to understand. I’ll know more when he brings his iPad to me next and asks me to search for something. If we find nothing I’ll see if he can suggest a different way to search.
The Big Boy Update: There is a big sign at the doctor’s office in each room indicating which room you’re in. The signs are low down and the children can read them. My son sounded out R-O-O-M and decided it sounded better as “rohm” instead of, “room”. He’s been interested in reading words all around him more and more lately.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was given a raised line coloring book of garden fruits, vegetables and herbs to color. She’s been feeling for the outlines and coloring in the pages and is talking about our garden on the deck we planted yesterday.
Last Taper Run: We ran ten miles today; next week is the marathon in the wooded park across from our neighborhood. I hope we’re trained enough for it. I think we are.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Deck Garden
It’s was a lovely day today. It’s one of those days that make you think winter is over and spring has gone into full force springiness—only later you it’s going to be thirty-seven degrees in the morning and you have to remember it’s still February.
My husband had an idea to start our deck garden together. The children were excited to be going to the store where they selected the tree to remember our dog last fall. (The tree is doing well and Lucy is well-remembered.) Before lunch we went together and looked around the whole garden store, selecting things we needed (if you were my husband), things we wanted (if you were my son) and things that had pretty colors (if you were my daughter).
We came home with two sturdy pinwheels to place in the hanging beds off the deck rails, herbs, tomato plants and carrots, because my daughter said we needed to plant carrots. We unloaded the car and my children dispersed to play with neighborhood friends but came back later to see what progress had been made. Initially they wanted to help, but they got distracted.
It’s all planted now, with a special bed just for mint, because it’s so invasive and mint is fun for children more so than other herbs. My husband planted the tomatoes in one large pot and then planted the carrots in a second pot. He also put one other thing in that second pot—Ghost Pepper chilis. That crop should be interesting to say the least. We labeled the sides very carefully, only who knows if the children will leave the labels in place.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted to help get all the items we needed for the deck garden today. He walked around with my husband, helping with advice on which pot would go better in which stand (he was pretty good at making attractive suggestions too). When my daughter and I caught up with them they had already filled the cart up by working together.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter and I held hands at the garden store today. I’d like to say her vision is better, but I think we continue to lose more and more. She needs help getting around in any unfamiliar environment. But that didn’t stop her from having a good time. She wanted to see the flowers. She looked at them and called out the colors and told me if they smelled good. We felt succulents and leafy plants and “enjoyed the spectacle of nature” while the guys got our garden supplies.
My husband had an idea to start our deck garden together. The children were excited to be going to the store where they selected the tree to remember our dog last fall. (The tree is doing well and Lucy is well-remembered.) Before lunch we went together and looked around the whole garden store, selecting things we needed (if you were my husband), things we wanted (if you were my son) and things that had pretty colors (if you were my daughter).
We came home with two sturdy pinwheels to place in the hanging beds off the deck rails, herbs, tomato plants and carrots, because my daughter said we needed to plant carrots. We unloaded the car and my children dispersed to play with neighborhood friends but came back later to see what progress had been made. Initially they wanted to help, but they got distracted.
It’s all planted now, with a special bed just for mint, because it’s so invasive and mint is fun for children more so than other herbs. My husband planted the tomatoes in one large pot and then planted the carrots in a second pot. He also put one other thing in that second pot—Ghost Pepper chilis. That crop should be interesting to say the least. We labeled the sides very carefully, only who knows if the children will leave the labels in place.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted to help get all the items we needed for the deck garden today. He walked around with my husband, helping with advice on which pot would go better in which stand (he was pretty good at making attractive suggestions too). When my daughter and I caught up with them they had already filled the cart up by working together.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter and I held hands at the garden store today. I’d like to say her vision is better, but I think we continue to lose more and more. She needs help getting around in any unfamiliar environment. But that didn’t stop her from having a good time. She wanted to see the flowers. She looked at them and called out the colors and told me if they smelled good. We felt succulents and leafy plants and “enjoyed the spectacle of nature” while the guys got our garden supplies.
Friday, February 24, 2017
Spectacle of Nature
I substitute at my children’s school from time to time. Today they needed a substitute to help with the PE for two of the classes. I met the teacher and the children lined up to head out. The location we have PE is at an art museum that abuts the back of the school property. To get to the museum grounds we walked single file, exited the grounds gate and headed down the hill. Just before we entered the woods to follow the path to the museum the teacher said to the students, “remember to be quite for the spectacle of nature.” The students were indeed respectful of the spectacle, impressive for first through third graders.
When we got to the field area I found out it was the last day in their endurance training. They were going to be running for thirty-five minutes, tracking how far they ran (or walked and ran) to get a total milage. The children were in competition with another school and were hopeful they would run farther.
The thing that impressed me was the way the teacher had them track total distance. He had a big bucket of three-inch plastic balls sitting out and a second bucket lying empty beside it. He told the children to each take a ball and get ready to run. He instructed them to drop their ball in the second, now empty bucket when they completed a lap and that every twelve balls in the bucket was one mile run.
The children ran off, dropping balls in, picking up a new ball and ran around for the next lap. The children had a great time, asking the teacher every now and then what the mile total was as he counted and emptied the second bucket back into the first.
I liked the method he was using because it fostered team competition without having children competing directly against each other, possibly with hard feelings for those that weren’t able to run as many laps.
One class beat the other school’s distance but the other class just fell short. They all worked very hard running for over thirty minutes.
The Big Boy Update: Apparently my son has been doing the running/endurance training at PE as well, but since he never tells us what happens at school, I didn’t even know about it until I was subbing today. My son is a good runner, I heard.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said today, “do you remember when we had the snow storm on Movie Night and only one friend came?” I said I did, did she remember it was our friend, Nitin? She said, “yes, he was very brave.”
When we got to the field area I found out it was the last day in their endurance training. They were going to be running for thirty-five minutes, tracking how far they ran (or walked and ran) to get a total milage. The children were in competition with another school and were hopeful they would run farther.
The thing that impressed me was the way the teacher had them track total distance. He had a big bucket of three-inch plastic balls sitting out and a second bucket lying empty beside it. He told the children to each take a ball and get ready to run. He instructed them to drop their ball in the second, now empty bucket when they completed a lap and that every twelve balls in the bucket was one mile run.
The children ran off, dropping balls in, picking up a new ball and ran around for the next lap. The children had a great time, asking the teacher every now and then what the mile total was as he counted and emptied the second bucket back into the first.
I liked the method he was using because it fostered team competition without having children competing directly against each other, possibly with hard feelings for those that weren’t able to run as many laps.
One class beat the other school’s distance but the other class just fell short. They all worked very hard running for over thirty minutes.
The Big Boy Update: Apparently my son has been doing the running/endurance training at PE as well, but since he never tells us what happens at school, I didn’t even know about it until I was subbing today. My son is a good runner, I heard.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said today, “do you remember when we had the snow storm on Movie Night and only one friend came?” I said I did, did she remember it was our friend, Nitin? She said, “yes, he was very brave.”
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Eczema
My son at about five months developed fairly bad eczema. His skin looked terrible and it took a long while for it to calm down. We put on lotions, prescription cream, gave him Benadryl when the itching was bad and hoped he wasn’t as uncomfortable as he looked.
For the most part he’s grown out of the eczema, although it flares up if he eats something he has a reaction to like peanuts. My daughter had the most beautiful, alabaster skin. There was talk of albinism from some people what with her white hair and light skin.
As the children got older, the roles have reversed. My daughter seems to have perpetual dry skin. She has patches of eczema and hates to have lotion put on her. My son has pretty darned good skin for the most part. He still has outbreaks from time to time, but they’re regional and clear up quickly.
Hopefully in the next few years they’ll both grow out of the eczema. I hear it’s not uncommon to fade as children grow up.
The Big Boy Update: My son is clearly a man. We sat him down on the toilet tonight because it was clear he needed to go. He called out from the bathroom: “what can I do while I’m on the potty?” I asked him if he’d like to read a book and he immediately said that would be fine.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter got sent to bed (almost) without dinner. She was having a hard afternoon. Things just weren’t going her way. She was overwrought about several things that made no difference to an adult, but were earth shattering catastrophes to a child. The final straw was when she didn’t get the seat she wanted at the dinner table. She got so upset she took her friend Madison’s dinner and dumped it out onto the table. I hauled her upstairs and said she couldn’t leave the room and she wasn’t having dinner. When my husband got in a bit later I told him he could “overrule” me and let her have dinner, thus playing the good cop role. It took my daughter almost twenty minutes to stop pitching a fit from the doorway of her room. And don’t even get me started about the Brussels sprouts fit she had when she finally got to have her meal.
For the most part he’s grown out of the eczema, although it flares up if he eats something he has a reaction to like peanuts. My daughter had the most beautiful, alabaster skin. There was talk of albinism from some people what with her white hair and light skin.
As the children got older, the roles have reversed. My daughter seems to have perpetual dry skin. She has patches of eczema and hates to have lotion put on her. My son has pretty darned good skin for the most part. He still has outbreaks from time to time, but they’re regional and clear up quickly.
Hopefully in the next few years they’ll both grow out of the eczema. I hear it’s not uncommon to fade as children grow up.
The Big Boy Update: My son is clearly a man. We sat him down on the toilet tonight because it was clear he needed to go. He called out from the bathroom: “what can I do while I’m on the potty?” I asked him if he’d like to read a book and he immediately said that would be fine.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter got sent to bed (almost) without dinner. She was having a hard afternoon. Things just weren’t going her way. She was overwrought about several things that made no difference to an adult, but were earth shattering catastrophes to a child. The final straw was when she didn’t get the seat she wanted at the dinner table. She got so upset she took her friend Madison’s dinner and dumped it out onto the table. I hauled her upstairs and said she couldn’t leave the room and she wasn’t having dinner. When my husband got in a bit later I told him he could “overrule” me and let her have dinner, thus playing the good cop role. It took my daughter almost twenty minutes to stop pitching a fit from the doorway of her room. And don’t even get me started about the Brussels sprouts fit she had when she finally got to have her meal.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Body Alignment
I was talking to my mother about exercise the other day and she and I remembered when we took a PE class together in college. My mother worked at the college I attended. This was nice because she was close in case I ever needed anything. One summer I was looking at classes to take and thought it might be a good time to get in a PE course. My mother said she’d take the, “Body Alignment” class with me if I wanted to take something with her, which is exactly what we did.
Body Alignment sounds like an automotive repair class, but this particular course was designed to help athletes and dancers recover from injuries that had caused them to favor one side. The teacher, Aldo Melito, was a dancer and had a lot of experience helping people regain their pre-injury performance levels.
The class for those of us who weren’t athletes, dancers or even injured people in general, was fairly easy though. We began the class by stretching. And then after that, we walked. We walked around the gym, we walked out into the yard, we walked down the road and we walked back into the dance room.
As we walked around our teacher would walk behind us and tell us how we were doing—walking. He’d let us know if he saw us favoring one side and give us tips on how we could work to balance our gait. I don’t have any idea what he told me, if anything about my balance or imbalance, I was just having fun walking around and talking with my mother.
It was a fun summer taking a class with my mother, particularly one as easy as Body Alignment. I heard some years later Aldo Melito had died. He was a very kind and caring teacher.
The Big Boy Update: We had a birthday dinner recently and I’m not sure why, but my son announced, “I want to eat my vegetables first because it’s a birthday dinner”.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter like chap stick or lip moisturizer. She asks for it from time to time when she remembers I have it in my purse. Today I got her her own tube. She carried it around all afternoon, putting some on her lips about every fifteen minutes.
Body Alignment sounds like an automotive repair class, but this particular course was designed to help athletes and dancers recover from injuries that had caused them to favor one side. The teacher, Aldo Melito, was a dancer and had a lot of experience helping people regain their pre-injury performance levels.
The class for those of us who weren’t athletes, dancers or even injured people in general, was fairly easy though. We began the class by stretching. And then after that, we walked. We walked around the gym, we walked out into the yard, we walked down the road and we walked back into the dance room.
As we walked around our teacher would walk behind us and tell us how we were doing—walking. He’d let us know if he saw us favoring one side and give us tips on how we could work to balance our gait. I don’t have any idea what he told me, if anything about my balance or imbalance, I was just having fun walking around and talking with my mother.
It was a fun summer taking a class with my mother, particularly one as easy as Body Alignment. I heard some years later Aldo Melito had died. He was a very kind and caring teacher.
The Big Boy Update: We had a birthday dinner recently and I’m not sure why, but my son announced, “I want to eat my vegetables first because it’s a birthday dinner”.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter like chap stick or lip moisturizer. She asks for it from time to time when she remembers I have it in my purse. Today I got her her own tube. She carried it around all afternoon, putting some on her lips about every fifteen minutes.
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