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There was something I was going to write about tonight.   But I forgot to write it down at the time.   That is the most assuredly the best and highest chance of killing a great blog post topic for me—not immediately writing it down.   I don't need to write down much, usually one to three words as a mental trigger for when I sit down to write later in the day (because I rarely get to write earlier in the day).   Unfortunately for today,  I have no idea what I was going to write about. 

Oh, wait, yes I do!  The title of this post was going to be, "Ridiculous!" and the story was going to be all about the trip to get my daughter a pedicure today.   I was trying to come up with something we could do and while there are interactions with other people, the salon had a whole list of things you had to do and couldn't do while you were there. 

Everyone had to wash their hands for twenty seconds upon arrival.   Then we had to hand sanitize.   We weren't allowed to take off. our masks at all.   We couldn't use our cell phones.   We had to wash our hands a second time while we were there.   They wore masks, shields, and gloves.   They were risking their health to serve us, even though I looked at it from the other way around before I got to the door and read aloud their requirements to my daughter. 

She loved it.   She's been there before, but it's been a long time.  I told her she had been to the salon several times while I was pregnant with her too, which she thought was funny.   I asked her if she remembered the time we came to that salon several years back and I wasn't paying attention and she accidentally sat down in the water foot bath, thinking that was where the seat was and she was supposed to sit. 

She wasn't happy at the time and I wouldn't have let it happen if I'd been more experienced as a parent of a blind child.   Today, on remembering the event, she surprised me by being positive about the memory, saying, "Oh, I remember that.   That was ridiculous!"   She was outgoing and funny to the people in the salon (we were the only two there aside from the staff when until close to the end.)  She was in a good mood, was easy going about the colors, saying she wanted Halloween colors and could the lady pick?

She didn't mind when they asked her seeing questions like, "Did you see the red moon last night?"  She was regulated, happy, and friendly.   We had such a good time.   Now, if she can just wear some shoes from time to time, maybe the pedicure will last for a bit. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been reading by his own choice lately.   He's read to and from school, at school during reading time and when he came home today he even read for a while until he got to the end of the chapter.   Then, he did Spanish work.   All without being asked.    Who stole my son and replaced him with this replicant?

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter washed her car for the first time today.   This is the, "Little Red Car" Santa got for her that was a free Tesla child's electric car toy from the referral program some time back.   She came and asked me if I knew where the porcupine scrubber was that used to be outside.   I told her where a scrubber was and she and her father cleaned her car in the complete and thorough way he cleans his own car.   It wasn't until later after dinner when I was cleaning up that I realized what she meant by porcupine scrubber.   It was a scrub brush that had spikey things around the edge.   She knows porcupines are spikey.   It wasn't a bad comparison now that I see the scrubber in that light. 

In Violation

I was going through my email today—I know, right, hard to believe I'm catching up on email?   I've been delinquent for so long the emails have gotten out of hand.   I like to have an empty inbox and all of my emails are overflowing.   What happens is I'm on top of things until I'm not and when that happens I go into task avoidance mode and things only get worse.   

My mother taught me to be honest with myself and as such, saying the words, "I didn't have time to..." doesn't actually mean I didn't have time if I'm honest with myself.   What it means is other things had a higher priority than the thing I "didn't have time for" which is why I'm behind on email.    Some of the things I had to do were important, like sleeping, eating, and taking care of my children.   Otherwise know as I was 3D printing and all the entrapments associated with my new hobby, or obsession as my children like to call it. 

Today was the day to get caught back up.   I could do it.   I would get on top of all the things I'd let slide in email land.   I made it through two of my email accounts without much fuss and was starting to tackle one of the bigger accounts when I got to an email from YouTube, telling me they'd taken down one of my videos.   It had been flagged for review and upon subsequent review, had been taken down.   

What in the world had I posted that could violate YouTube's guidelines?   First off, I hadn't posted a single video in years and the only things I had posted back in time were cute videos of my children doing cute little tyke things for the grandparents, relatives, and friends to see.

The video was titled, "Potty Songs".   I would have reviewed it myself but I don't know when it was posted so I can't go back and easily find it in my own personal videos.   If I remember correctly, it's a video of my daughter sitting on the toilet singing songs.   The video is completely modest and doesn't show my tiny daughter in an inappropriate light.  Maybe the name was the flag?

It didn't matter though, because YouTube said there was an appeal process if I was interested with a link attached to the email.   I wasn't upset about the video being removed but decided to click the link and fill out the form anyways, thanking the folks at YouTube for keeping content on their site under control (there are bad things some people would otherwise post.)

Alas, YouTube told me when I clicked the link they provided in their email a window opened with the message, "Appealing this violation is not available."  Alas.   Regardless, I'm glad YouTube is working to keep content under control.  I know from things I've seen from creators on YouTube that sometimes videos get marked in error and it can be a hassle to get the video reposted.   In this case, I think the world can manage without the video of my tiny daughter singing on the toilet some years ago. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son loves to play with the things I've printed on the 3D printer.   I'm glad he's somewhat interested (his interest waxes and wanes) but sometimes he takes things and accidentally breaks them.   I don't mind overly much unless it was a model that took hours to print that had only been off the printer for a short while.   I told him to just ask before taking something.   Asking makes all the difference, I told him, because I can let him know if it's delicate or if he can play with it.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is currently reading a book on her Mantis refreshable braille display.   It's been a rough day with it involving conflict with my husband and me first of all and then my daughter with her father, Blake, and me.   She can easily download books from Bookshare and read them, but they're not at the level of braille she needs to be reading at.   Getting books to that specific level, copying them to the Mantis, and then having her find them in the file area and then get to the beginning of the first chapter.  Then, she decided she didn't like the first book.   She read for an hour though and now has audiobook listening privileges.   

In The Closet

My daughter has moved again.   Perhaps it's just temporary—I hope it is.   Every time I go to find her lately, she's in her closet.   She doesn't have a large closet, but it is of the walk-in variety.   The total space is reduced by hanging clothes and shelves on the left and right side and a column of shelves.   

In the center of the shelves and hanging things there is a small amount of room.   My daughter brought in the watermelon pool float which is more like a flat, round bean bag than a pool float as well as pillows, blankets and anything else she needs to make a little bed for herself. 

To get to her closet you must first go into her bathroom.   In order to get more storage in the closet, we elected for a pocket door.  My daughter likes to go into the closet, lie on the blankets and watermelon float, slide the door closed, and fall asleep.  

She also unplugged the Amazon Echo Dot that's normally beside her bed and relocated it to the plug on the vanity in the bathroom.  If she wants to listen to music or her audiobook she keeps the door to the closet cracked so she can listen.  

I don't know why she likes the closet, but it makes her feel snugly confined.   I remember having hours and hours of fun in my closet as a child.   It brings back memories, seeing my daughter do the same in her closet now. 

The Big Boy Update:  My husband and I were talking about a political form I'd gotten.  I asked him if he wanted to fill it out for us.  My son piped up, saying "Papa likes filling out bills."   We laughed and told him this wasn't a bill, it was asking our thoughts on the upcoming election.   My son, nonplussed by this new information, forged on, saying, "actually, Papa likes filling out bills but he doesn't like paying them."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I found a sheet of typed braille by the front door this afternoon.   I asked my daughter what it was as she was coming in the door and she casually said, "oh, that's a prophesy I was working on.   It's heavily influenced by the books she's been listening to lately but all her own:

Hunters Books

3 half bloods shall feel the dark

to live or die the sky must fall

the sun will blaze on a hot afternoon

and to feel the sun afar away

and will have a life of pease but all brings death in the life of pife

The Funeral(s)

My daughter has been so happy Nora, our new neighbor who is a few years younger, has been wanting to play outside.   Yesterday they spent a good bit of time in the back yard at the playset.   They asked me if I knew where the doctors kit was and while I like for my daughter to find things own her own, sometimes it's just harder when you have to look with your hands and can't take a quick glance around the closet to see if it's there.  

She had looked but had been unsuccessful so I went around the house and ended up back in the basement, finding it in the closet right by the door to the back yard.   It was quite frankly adorable seeing the girls with the blue mesh hats the doctors and patients wear to keep their hair out of the way for surgical procedures on both of their heads.   They were doing all sorts of things and I think had forgotten about the hair coverings for at least an hour. 

My daughter wanted to bring out Coco's American Girl doll things she had been given recently and after promising to be careful, did indeed take good care of all the items and had a lot of fun playing with them all afternoon. 

The moved the entire collection of medical and American Girl Doll things to the front yard and were doing things on the front porch and sidewalk when I came out to find my daughter digging in the grass, hands all dirty, right at the edge of the sidewalk. 

Nora had a large, smooth, river rock and was gently placing it over a small patch devoid of grass a little further away.   I asked my daughter what they were doing and she told me, "we're giving the centipedes a burial."

I'm not sure what they were burying were technically centipedes.   They're larger than any I've seen before and have loads of legs.   They remind me of the things large centipede-like things the meerkats ate when I watched that show years ago.   Whatever they are, we have a lot of them.   An infestation from the number of deceased alone.   I think in years past I'd see a few but this year there must be a hundred all around the yard.   

Nora was using a large stick to pick them up and deposit them into the hole my daughter was digging.   Neither girl wanted to touch them.   I said it would be good if they could not dig up the whole front yard and that any burials they wanted to do in the natural area would be okay, but to please limit the grass burials because the lawn man might not realize and his mower would hit the rocks. 

Then I went upstairs and got something I'd gotten at the dollar store: three nesting paper coffins.    I asked if they'd like to use them to bury the centipedes.   Here are two of their burials:

The Big Boy Update:  My son went with Blake and his father to do some fishing locally today.    They went to a creek that had some spots they could wade into...or rather my son waded into in his shoes and pants.  They caught some carp and bluegill and said they could take them home for bait for the next time.   My son thought about it and then said, "can I let one live?" 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been outside all day...and I mean all day.   She came in and got her lunch and had that on the deck even. 

It’s Like Christmas

My husband has been playing a lot of golf lately.   He was a professional golfer at one time but decided it wasn't what he really wanted to do a number of years ago and got his amateur status back.   He still enjoys entering into tournaments and this seems to be the time of year qualifiers are happening, because he's gone frequently these last few months.   Golf couldn't be easier to social distance as a sport so he either gets a cart all to himself or walks the course. 

He'll be in shortly from today's tournament he entered into with one of his golfing friends.   While he's been gone, my children have been busy doing different things, giving Blake and me a day off from child management.   

My son has been playing Minecraft beside me and telling me all about the different, "mods" he's been adding to the world he's creating and playing in.   It's a good game in that it gives children the ability to create things similarly to how you'd build LEGO projects, only there are monsters you have to protect you and your land from.   That is, if you don't have Creative mode on and are a god in the game, having all resources at your disposal and being invincible.   My son is usually in Creative mode.    

My daughter is busily imagining things with Nora from next door, social distanced outside and Blake is doing something with fishing lures at the table in the basement.

I'm in the basement too, a location I didn't spend much time in until we got the 3D printer.   I'm working on settings to see how well I can print models.   I'm watching videos to learn new things about different filaments and all the while, I'm printing on the printer.   

I can't explain why I find it so fun, so exciting.   Maybe it's because it feels like Christmas every time I take a finished model off the printer.   It's a model I selected, in a color I picked out at the size I wanted to make it in.   I love it.

The Big Boy Update:  Blake went to Bass Pro Shop today and got my son a present.   He's been working on it all afternoon while my son has done other things.   Blake got a small tackle box and a few supplies and then went through his larger tackle box to find extra items and put it all in my son's surprise box.   Then he also got him his very own fishing rod.   My son went fishing with Blake a while back and loved it.   Now he has his own gear and can fish any time he wants.   My son was quite happy about it, although he was scared of having his own fishing knife.   He asked me to keep it, "until I'm responsible."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Nora came over to the back yard this afternoon and after a bit of playing, my daughter asked if she could bring out the American Girl doll things her cousin, Coco, gave her.   They played for the longest time with all the things, relocating to the front yard when it was getting dark in the back.   My daughter missed lunch and only came in when it was dinner time.   Tomorrow, they're going to continue their game of hair salon, chef, doctor, lemonade stand, and dead centipede undertaker.  

Dinner is Served

Some nights I get a lot of sleep and other nights I don't.  It's part that I am in the basement working on 3D printing things and part that I don't fall asleep or wake up in the middle of the night and don't fall back to sleep.   It's not a bad thing, as long as I can get caught up on sleep at some point.  

Today, I worked on a collection of things today, strangely at this point it's a list I can't easily enumerate because it is not possible to sit at the computer and get uninterrupted work done here.   I get fragments of work done, eventually making progress.   My daughter suggested I, "quit my job."   

I told her it wasn't the kind of thing you could just quit.   Scheduling conferences for the children because it's that time in the school year for progress reports.   Responding to the email about it, signing up on SignupGenius.com, adding an entry to both my husband and my calendar for the conference, making sure the conference link is in the calendar entries and texting my husband to let him know I'd signed up for the conference so he could ignore the email from the teacher.   That, I told my daughter, was the kind of thing I was doing and it wasn't something I could just quit as a job. 

My daughter doesn't understand what we do as adults so I tried to give her an example of something she had a reference for—her teacher conference.   She has a lot less understanding of all the other things we do as parents.   She just knows I'm in the basement and thinks anytime is a good time to come talk to me about anything.   

I took a break after school was out and went to have a nap before dinner.  I fell asleep almost immediately and woke up when my daughter came into the room to tell me dinner was ready.    What were we having? She wasn't sure other than a roast chicken and that Blake had made dinner for us all. 

Blake is an aspiring chef and has been cooking since he got here.   I'm very impressed with not only what he cooks, but the ease with which he cooks and prepares all manner of things.   His knowledge about cooking is extensive, especially since he's not yet twenty-one years old.

The Big Boy Update:  My son had an ice cream social with his class tonight.   It was over a Google Meet. I listened to him talking to his friends and eating an ice cream sundae I made for him while he got on the call.   He has some good friends in his class. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came down the stairs today to the basement where I was working, crying her scared and injured cry.   I met her half-way up the stairs and she immediately jumped into my arms.   She's getting too big to pick up, but she was hurt, having walking straight into the basketball goal pole, squarely hitting her forehead.   Blake had gone to get her an ice pack and three minutes later she was fine.   Walking around has to be scary to her, or maybe it's not, but running into something hard is.

I Had No Chance

My daughter's school got a Mantis refreshable braille display for my daughter.  I had gotten some information about the Mantis and I knew it was the latest and greatest thing out there.   This also means it was very expensive.   I have no idea how they got one purchased for her since they're having problems getting approval for three-ring binders, but however it happened, I have it here at the house. 

I plugged it in this morning and saw on the braille readout it was charging,   While this device is high technology, it is for blind people and it has no screen.   I had to read the braille on the single line of the display to know what was going on. 

I wanted to get my daughter interested in it and had downloaded the user manual.   She came downstairs and I let her touch it.   She started navigating through it and I couldn't keep up with her.   She found Bookshare and saw she could download books.  I hadn't realized there was Bookshare (a library service for the visually impaired) integration. 

My daughter asked me how to log in and I gave her her user id and password information (something she's never known about before now as I always download for her here.)  It told her there was no Internet connection so she suggested going to the settings.   

While I tried to find the location in the manual, she got to the WiFi area and started paging down through WiFi networks around us until she found ours.   I gave her the password and it connected successfully she read.   Then she went back to Bookshare. 

She figured out how to log in and then she started browsing book titles and picked two books to download—without my help, only confirmation when she was in the right locations.  

I tried to show her how the buttons worked, but she wasn't interested because she'd already figured it out by trial and error.   She was about to go into one of the books and do some reading but the next thing she got to was a message about a required software update so she decided to come back later. 

I'm going to have to write more about this exciting new reading development for my daughter.   I think it's going to change a lot of things reading-wise as well as accessibility-wise.

The Big Boy Update:  This is what's happening here right now: my son is doing his Spanish homework on his computer after just arriving home.  Interestingly enough, he wanted to do it as opposed to fighting us later after avoiding it until it got late at the end of the day.  My son is having the app speak out the questions and answers in Spanish.   However...he is asking Blake and me what things mean and when we don't know, he's saying we should have that App that translates it via pictures like his father has.   He says Spanish is a lot easier with his father. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was so excited Blake was coming to stay with us that this morning she prepared a "Boo" bag as a welcoming gift for him.   She put Halloween things in there such as Halloween stickers and candy but then general other things like a pencil, a seashell, and some bubblegum balls.   She couldn't wait for 10:00 for Blake to arrive.