We had some heavy rains and high winds here over the last two days. My daughter's school was let out two hours early on Thursday and school was canceled on Friday due to the number of homes without power and additional weather coming in. It seemed unnecessary at first, but it turned out to be more intense weather than I thought it would be.
We had one neighbor post a picture of a trampoline that had appeared in their yard, looking like it had been there all along, somehow making it over their fence. This was interesting because they already had a trampoline in their yard—theirs. I'm not sure how many houses in distance it had traveled, but there were downed trees and branches in addition to other property damaged around our area.
The road our neighborhood was on was closed in one direction due to a large tree or possibly power lines down; I never found out but we turned around and went to Target via the long route to get valentines cards for my daughter and I called out the damage I saw around us along the way.
On Thursday night, my parent's power was out and wasn't expected to return until the following morning. We offered and were glad they decided to come over to spend the night with us. My children were happy to have Mimi and Gramps visiting for the night.
My parents had been at home, in the dark, for a few hours before deciding to come to stay with us. As I was out in the front yard with a large umbrella, helping my mother in, she said, "I can understand why Reese is bored now." In the dark, all the things she might normally have done (work on the computer, watch television, read a book, do things around the house, etc.) were all either not possible or much more difficult.
My daughter only really remembers being blind and is capable of entertaining herself—if she chooses. She has lots of things to do. She just prefers to have someone do things with her. This doesn't mean she wants someone to do things for her because she's blind; she just prefers the company and collaborative play. It still is a good reminder for us though, thinking about how her world is different because of her lack of sight. We try to balance helping her versus hampering her by doing things for her.
The Big Boy Tiny Girl Good Morning Hello: My children woke up this morning and went in to see Mimi and Gramps who were staying in the bedroom beside theirs. I hear my daughter was jumping rope in her bedroom at six in the morning, preparing for the jump rope challenge fundraiser at school for the American Heart Association. After a bit of rope jumping, she and then her brother went in to see Mimi and Gramps and get in the bed with them—at six AM. Mimi and Gramps left by seven to get some breakfast at Whole Foods and check on the flooding in their basement. Nothing like the children alarm clock to get you up early in the morning.
Friday, February 7, 2020
Thursday, February 6, 2020
The Love Demons
My children are having Valentine's Day card swaps at school next week. I'm trying to find out what is expected or not expected of them so I can help them prepare. My daughter's classmates will likely be giving candy with maybe a nominal card or sticker. Perhaps we'll be able to find out who the cards are from—this year they're better at writing than the prior two years.
My son's class will be anything but candy. Maybe a pencil or something academic-related. Ideally, he should be handwriting a card for every one of his classmates, but I doubt we'll be getting that much done either from a motivation perspective or one of focus.
My son has been doing a lot of artwork lately in school, earning extra time for free art because he's been very productive during work cycle. He brought home this picture yesterday of the word 'Unity' that he was quite proud of.
Today I saw this picture lying on the counter in the kitchen. I thought it was Valentine's day related due to the large heart. I didn't see at first the words at the top and bottom; I tried to adjust the picture to make the pencil more visible. Here's his poem:
My son's class will be anything but candy. Maybe a pencil or something academic-related. Ideally, he should be handwriting a card for every one of his classmates, but I doubt we'll be getting that much done either from a motivation perspective or one of focus.
My son has been doing a lot of artwork lately in school, earning extra time for free art because he's been very productive during work cycle. He brought home this picture yesterday of the word 'Unity' that he was quite proud of.
Today I saw this picture lying on the counter in the kitchen. I thought it was Valentine's day related due to the large heart. I didn't see at first the words at the top and bottom; I tried to adjust the picture to make the pencil more visible. Here's his poem:
Demons are Red
Angels are Blue
All of the Love Demons
are hunting YOU!
From: Me?
The Big Boy Update: Home on the Range is the song of the day here for my son. When he gets a song stuck in his head he can play it over and over again.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The front door shut this afternoon and less than thirty seconds later my daughter was crying besides me, telling me how bored she is. She was scared (a bad lightning storm with the threat of tornados). Then she was hungry but wasn't allowed to eat. She wasn't going to do her reading and didn't want to do her homework. BORED, I say. I told her she needed to figure out how to entertain herself. She huffed off and has now found something to do.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
The Birthday Book
My husband got me something for my fiftieth birthday today (has it been a half-century since I was born?! My husband said the book was kind of corny, but I loved it. He had made me a book online all about my birthday and us. It was funny and touching and silly and such a special thing for him to have made for me. The book was hardcover and about thirty pages. Here are some highlights:
The Big Boy Update: My son came home today and has been playing Home on the Range song on Alexa again and again and has been singing along as he works on the marble tracks he got for Christmas from multiple people. We're having to eat birthday dinner at the big dining room table since the breakfast nook is covered with marble tracks.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is no longer unhappy about the long cab ride. This is a current situation because we're letting her take her iPad safely zippered in her backpack with an audiobook playing. Her braillest starts the book again with her sound-canceling headphones on and when she gets home she almost doesn't want to stop listening. All in all, we'll take it for now because she's not liked the cab ride for a good while.
My children thought this one was particularly funny:
I had to explain this one to my son, explaining there was a television show for years called The X-Files in which Mulder and Scully were a team of FBI agents that were an unstoppable team. I told my son I got the idea of his middle name, Fox, from Fox Mulder in this show.
This one was great...
This scene has happened around our table too many times to count (minus the cow):
The Big Boy Update: My son came home today and has been playing Home on the Range song on Alexa again and again and has been singing along as he works on the marble tracks he got for Christmas from multiple people. We're having to eat birthday dinner at the big dining room table since the breakfast nook is covered with marble tracks.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is no longer unhappy about the long cab ride. This is a current situation because we're letting her take her iPad safely zippered in her backpack with an audiobook playing. Her braillest starts the book again with her sound-canceling headphones on and when she gets home she almost doesn't want to stop listening. All in all, we'll take it for now because she's not liked the cab ride for a good while.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Mom, I Don’t Get You
My daughter said that to me this evening as I asked her what she wanted to put on her fingernails for tomorrow. She's had picked up on how my enthusiasm for things progresses. She said, "first it was the makeup and then the hair stuff and now the nails." And she's exactly right, let me explain...
When I get interested in something, I get really interested in it. For instance, when the craze for the Rainbow Looms was going on, I got multiple looms and about every color band I couild find. I was watching YouTube videos and making all sorts of creations. This was when my children were quite young so I shelved the supplies when my interest waned for some time in the future when I'd be interested in them again.
As it turned out, my daughter was the one who got into making rubber band jewelry. Given my expansive selection of supplies, she could jump right in—and did so, for weeks on end. We were drowning in rubber band bracelets for a while here.
I'm like that with things: I get interested, and by interested, I mean obsessed. I dive deep into the thing for a while and then move on to the next thing. In recent months this has included makeup, which I have learned how to apply reasonably, hair styling, including three dummy heads and styling tools and now, fingernail polish & decorations.
I got the idea for the fingernail (I'm going to call it decorations because it's more than just polish) from recent fads in which copious amounts of crystals adorn very long nails. It looks entirely untenable—hugely long nails with what seemed like delicately applied crystals—but I thought I'd look into it more.
I started watching a YouTube channel and it looked much easier than I had thought. Some newer products helped affix large things like pearls and crystals to the nails firmly. So I ordered some supplies on Amazon. Supplies weren't even expensive for the most part. And then I started messing around with my nails. I couldn't believe it, but things stuck—and I'm notoriously rough with my fingernails.
My thought was that this was something my daughter might like. She can't tell one color from another when it comes to fingernail polish, but she could feel different things on her fingers. I had lots of options my daughter could select from the "bag of surprises" as she called it.
I'd collected most of the contents of this bag over many years and had just dumped anything small enough to fit on top of her fingernail into one container. My daughter picked the largest things and I didn't have much hope they'd stay on, but they did. Here are her hands after the first day's choices:
A few things fell off but we added more back. Tonight she let me put on a large iridescent diamond and a pink owl on the two fingers that had come off. Her fingers look crazy to me, but she can feel each item. She knows she has yellow sunglasses on her pinky, a bunny rabbit, red flower and lemon. She knows every finger by feel. It's tactile fingernail decoration, thanks to a polymer and a UV curing light.
It takes about two minutes to affix something to her fingernail and have it completely dry. It takes longer for her to pick out things than it does to put them on. We ran into bedtime tonight but tomorrow she's decided she wants two bears on her thumbs.
The Big Boy Update: My son got some magnetic ball tracks for Christmas. I don't remember the name of them but when I got home tonight the entire dining room table was covered with tracks he and Whitaker had made. I got to modify it a bit before he came over and took over and finished the work for me, doing it his way.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wants the dog to go to bed with her. Matisse loves getting in bed with her but doesn't want to stay the whole night so we compromise and the dog and I stay for a bit until my daughter is falling asleep.
When I get interested in something, I get really interested in it. For instance, when the craze for the Rainbow Looms was going on, I got multiple looms and about every color band I couild find. I was watching YouTube videos and making all sorts of creations. This was when my children were quite young so I shelved the supplies when my interest waned for some time in the future when I'd be interested in them again.
As it turned out, my daughter was the one who got into making rubber band jewelry. Given my expansive selection of supplies, she could jump right in—and did so, for weeks on end. We were drowning in rubber band bracelets for a while here.
I'm like that with things: I get interested, and by interested, I mean obsessed. I dive deep into the thing for a while and then move on to the next thing. In recent months this has included makeup, which I have learned how to apply reasonably, hair styling, including three dummy heads and styling tools and now, fingernail polish & decorations.
I got the idea for the fingernail (I'm going to call it decorations because it's more than just polish) from recent fads in which copious amounts of crystals adorn very long nails. It looks entirely untenable—hugely long nails with what seemed like delicately applied crystals—but I thought I'd look into it more.
I started watching a YouTube channel and it looked much easier than I had thought. Some newer products helped affix large things like pearls and crystals to the nails firmly. So I ordered some supplies on Amazon. Supplies weren't even expensive for the most part. And then I started messing around with my nails. I couldn't believe it, but things stuck—and I'm notoriously rough with my fingernails.
My thought was that this was something my daughter might like. She can't tell one color from another when it comes to fingernail polish, but she could feel different things on her fingers. I had lots of options my daughter could select from the "bag of surprises" as she called it.
I'd collected most of the contents of this bag over many years and had just dumped anything small enough to fit on top of her fingernail into one container. My daughter picked the largest things and I didn't have much hope they'd stay on, but they did. Here are her hands after the first day's choices:
A few things fell off but we added more back. Tonight she let me put on a large iridescent diamond and a pink owl on the two fingers that had come off. Her fingers look crazy to me, but she can feel each item. She knows she has yellow sunglasses on her pinky, a bunny rabbit, red flower and lemon. She knows every finger by feel. It's tactile fingernail decoration, thanks to a polymer and a UV curing light.
It takes about two minutes to affix something to her fingernail and have it completely dry. It takes longer for her to pick out things than it does to put them on. We ran into bedtime tonight but tomorrow she's decided she wants two bears on her thumbs.
The Big Boy Update: My son got some magnetic ball tracks for Christmas. I don't remember the name of them but when I got home tonight the entire dining room table was covered with tracks he and Whitaker had made. I got to modify it a bit before he came over and took over and finished the work for me, doing it his way.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wants the dog to go to bed with her. Matisse loves getting in bed with her but doesn't want to stay the whole night so we compromise and the dog and I stay for a bit until my daughter is falling asleep.
Monday, February 3, 2020
Loving Democracy
My daughter and I went upstairs this evening before her brother did. She and I were in the dark in her bed with the dog. We were trying to fend off the dog's attempts to lick our faces while keeping her between us on the bed. This proved to be difficult_not keeping her between us, that was easy, stopping her from licking our faces was hard.
The dog hopped off the bed and laid down on the bathroom tile floor to cool down. My daughter got up and was getting the dog a bowl of water when my son bounded into the bedroom. He, upon seeing me lying in his sister's bed, came over and whispered emphatically, "Reese loves democracy."
His father came into the room a minute or two later, told him to get into bed, told my daughter she'd given the dog enough water and to get in bed herself, discovered I was in the room and then left so I could finish the job of getting them settled for the night.
After a few minutes of chatter from the children, I asked my son, "do you like democracy too?" He said, "well, dad really likes democracy. I don't like it. That's because I don't really understand it. Dad tried to explain it."
He finished off the conversation by saying, "Palpatine loves democracy though..." Leave it to my son to have a Star Wars reference.
The Big Boy Update: I got a small Lego of a coffee shop from China today. It wasn't LEGO brand but it was hard to tell otherwise, even the instruction manual followed the same diagramming style and the pieces fitted and felt the same. My son wasn't interested until after dinner when he came over to see what I was doing. He was suddenly back into LEGO mode and positively took over the model construction. I started handing him pieces as fast as I could find them for one step ahead of where he was working. I went to help his sister with some homework and came back to the room as he finished and he proudly showed me how the large coffee cup tipped on the top of the building. I'm glad we got to do some of it together. He gave up watching part of a movie, he was so engrossed in the model.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter and I were on her bed in the dark when the dog jumped off the bed and wend underneath. I asked her what the dog was doing? I'd seen the behavior before where the dog roots around, moving stored blankets around under the large trundle-bed sized opening under her bed. She had also heard (and apparently felt) what the dog was doing from before. She said, "Oh, she's playing a little game. She pushes up on the mattress and growls at the blankets." That's pretty much what she does. My daughter had figured it out mostly from sound alone.
The dog hopped off the bed and laid down on the bathroom tile floor to cool down. My daughter got up and was getting the dog a bowl of water when my son bounded into the bedroom. He, upon seeing me lying in his sister's bed, came over and whispered emphatically, "Reese loves democracy."
His father came into the room a minute or two later, told him to get into bed, told my daughter she'd given the dog enough water and to get in bed herself, discovered I was in the room and then left so I could finish the job of getting them settled for the night.
After a few minutes of chatter from the children, I asked my son, "do you like democracy too?" He said, "well, dad really likes democracy. I don't like it. That's because I don't really understand it. Dad tried to explain it."
He finished off the conversation by saying, "Palpatine loves democracy though..." Leave it to my son to have a Star Wars reference.
The Big Boy Update: I got a small Lego of a coffee shop from China today. It wasn't LEGO brand but it was hard to tell otherwise, even the instruction manual followed the same diagramming style and the pieces fitted and felt the same. My son wasn't interested until after dinner when he came over to see what I was doing. He was suddenly back into LEGO mode and positively took over the model construction. I started handing him pieces as fast as I could find them for one step ahead of where he was working. I went to help his sister with some homework and came back to the room as he finished and he proudly showed me how the large coffee cup tipped on the top of the building. I'm glad we got to do some of it together. He gave up watching part of a movie, he was so engrossed in the model.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter and I were on her bed in the dark when the dog jumped off the bed and wend underneath. I asked her what the dog was doing? I'd seen the behavior before where the dog roots around, moving stored blankets around under the large trundle-bed sized opening under her bed. She had also heard (and apparently felt) what the dog was doing from before. She said, "Oh, she's playing a little game. She pushes up on the mattress and growls at the blankets." That's pretty much what she does. My daughter had figured it out mostly from sound alone.
Sunday, February 2, 2020
On Getting Sick
My son's class has been talking about how germs can be spread recently. During the season of colds and flu, his class is reminded of the measures they always take throughout the year to minimize the spread of germs.
They always wash their hands, with soap, and put the paper towels into a trash can for the paper products that are later collected and either used as bedding for some of the rodent class pets around the school or composted or are used in a way other than being sent to the dump. Prior to eating they all wash their hands as well.
After they come inside from recess they pass around a bottle of hand sanitizer as they sit in group circle. I think they use hand sanitizer at some other point(s) in the day but I can't remember when. They bring hand sanitizer on field trips and in general, do what they can to protect both themselves as well as others from unneeded germ exposure.
The coughing is different from when I was a child: we used to cover our mouths with our hands. Today, research has shown a better way to stifle germs from a sneeze is to sneeze into your elbow, letting your clothing absorb the brunt of the expelled air.
My son had thought about all of these measures and knew germs were transmitted by contact, such as on doorknobs, chairs, tables, etc. And after thinking about all of this he asked me if his sister was more prone to getting sick—because she had to touch everything to see it. I told him it was a good thought and I didn't know the answer. I told him it was definitely possible, but to think about his hands and how he used them all the time. It's hard to think of a time when our hands aren't touching anything.
The Big Boy Update: My husband, son and I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night. My son will be at the Harry Potter world in Disney soon and we thought it might be good for him to watch a few more of the movies beforehand. He loved the movie and wants to see the next one tonight.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is currently walking the dog. She has a backpack on with snacks, her cane and a dog on a leash. I had to let her go. She needs to know she can do things without help and the fact that she wanted to do this alone is a very good thing. She's called me once already—and she's only four houses away—but she's not crying or giving up. She just asked me if I knew where she was for direction's sake. Also, she's in her pajamas.
They always wash their hands, with soap, and put the paper towels into a trash can for the paper products that are later collected and either used as bedding for some of the rodent class pets around the school or composted or are used in a way other than being sent to the dump. Prior to eating they all wash their hands as well.
After they come inside from recess they pass around a bottle of hand sanitizer as they sit in group circle. I think they use hand sanitizer at some other point(s) in the day but I can't remember when. They bring hand sanitizer on field trips and in general, do what they can to protect both themselves as well as others from unneeded germ exposure.
The coughing is different from when I was a child: we used to cover our mouths with our hands. Today, research has shown a better way to stifle germs from a sneeze is to sneeze into your elbow, letting your clothing absorb the brunt of the expelled air.
My son had thought about all of these measures and knew germs were transmitted by contact, such as on doorknobs, chairs, tables, etc. And after thinking about all of this he asked me if his sister was more prone to getting sick—because she had to touch everything to see it. I told him it was a good thought and I didn't know the answer. I told him it was definitely possible, but to think about his hands and how he used them all the time. It's hard to think of a time when our hands aren't touching anything.
The Big Boy Update: My husband, son and I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night. My son will be at the Harry Potter world in Disney soon and we thought it might be good for him to watch a few more of the movies beforehand. He loved the movie and wants to see the next one tonight.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is currently walking the dog. She has a backpack on with snacks, her cane and a dog on a leash. I had to let her go. She needs to know she can do things without help and the fact that she wanted to do this alone is a very good thing. She's called me once already—and she's only four houses away—but she's not crying or giving up. She just asked me if I knew where she was for direction's sake. Also, she's in her pajamas.
Saturday, February 1, 2020
Bored
My daughter is bored, she tells me. She had a sleepover with her best friend, Madison, last night. She and Madison did all kinds of fun and different things from directly after school until about noon today when Madison went home. Not five minutes later my daughter was flopping down on our bed, saying she was bored.
I tried to come up with some suggestions but she wasn't in a good mood, didn't want to hear it and told me to, "go away." This unkind comment got her ejected from our room. I checked in on her ten minutes later where I found her eating a container of peaches and listening to The Neverending Story on the Alexa in the kitchen.
I tried to talk to her about finding things to do that would be fun or entertaining to her alone. I said it must be no fun to need to have someone to do something with to be entertained. I made some suggestions, including saying she could create her own blog that I would help her with, but nothing interested her right then.
She fell down our stairs yesterday, got a knot on her head and then later hurt her foot or ankle. She wanted to jump on the trampoline but we talked her out of that and into some Advil to help with the inflammation. Her father is trying to get her interested in watching (listening to) Cinderella since she was Cinderella for the special dinner at Disney. That may work later but for now she's watching some cartoon on Disney +.
Keeping her entertained is hard. Her brother has the opposite situation—doing things with him is something we have to ask to do. My daughter is going to have to learn how to find meaningful things to do. Yes, they may be harder to find because she's blind, but blind people around the globe manage this task and she will learn to do so too.
The Big Boy Update: My husband and I have been on my son's case about watching meaningful things when he's allowed screen time. He doesn't like this infringement on what he deems his personal free time, but we're making headway, helping him find things that are interesting to him that aren't junk YouTube videos.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter and Madison created a Carnival in the back yard today. They wanted to invite the entire neighborhood over, they were so proud of what they'd set up. Rain and crummy weather and we weren't able to put their plan into action. They are going to try again tomorrow.
I tried to come up with some suggestions but she wasn't in a good mood, didn't want to hear it and told me to, "go away." This unkind comment got her ejected from our room. I checked in on her ten minutes later where I found her eating a container of peaches and listening to The Neverending Story on the Alexa in the kitchen.
I tried to talk to her about finding things to do that would be fun or entertaining to her alone. I said it must be no fun to need to have someone to do something with to be entertained. I made some suggestions, including saying she could create her own blog that I would help her with, but nothing interested her right then.
She fell down our stairs yesterday, got a knot on her head and then later hurt her foot or ankle. She wanted to jump on the trampoline but we talked her out of that and into some Advil to help with the inflammation. Her father is trying to get her interested in watching (listening to) Cinderella since she was Cinderella for the special dinner at Disney. That may work later but for now she's watching some cartoon on Disney +.
Keeping her entertained is hard. Her brother has the opposite situation—doing things with him is something we have to ask to do. My daughter is going to have to learn how to find meaningful things to do. Yes, they may be harder to find because she's blind, but blind people around the globe manage this task and she will learn to do so too.
The Big Boy Update: My husband and I have been on my son's case about watching meaningful things when he's allowed screen time. He doesn't like this infringement on what he deems his personal free time, but we're making headway, helping him find things that are interesting to him that aren't junk YouTube videos.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter and Madison created a Carnival in the back yard today. They wanted to invite the entire neighborhood over, they were so proud of what they'd set up. Rain and crummy weather and we weren't able to put their plan into action. They are going to try again tomorrow.
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