Night Off

My in-laws picked up the children before dinner tonight and are keeping them until tomorrow.   I have thus declared a night off.   I'm going to bed—to watch YouTube videos about 3D printing, what else.   I'm even giving the 3D printer the night off.   The power is off and the light isn't lighting up the print bed.   It's all quiet in the mechanical room where the printer lives.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was reasonably impressed today with the LEGO-shaped part I had created from scratch in a CAD tool (I'm taking the step to start learning 3D modeling, but it's slow.)  He told me he was impressed, but I should be more impressed with the spectacular world he had created in Minecraft. Two nights ago my husband and I looked over to see him working inside what was the perfect rendering of a modern architecture house.   It was very impressive.   I thought it was a world he'd loaded, but he had created it all himself.   We told him to save it.  He likes to create and destroy things.   He said with pride mixed with a bit of annoyance, "I've already saved it."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was outside in her pajamas today.   I don't like that she does this but she had an exception granted by Blake, who didn't realize she'd extend the exception to the entire day, thinking she would only be out until after breakfast.   She came in and asked me for a ladder—to climb a tree with branches she couldn't reach—and had nearly destroyed her pajamas from hugging the large trunk and trying to climb it.   No more pajamas outside.   

Carefully

My daughter has been outside most of the day lately.  This morning my husband left early to go to a golf tournament so my daughter had to ride with us as I took my son to school.   We returned at 8:45 and instead of coming in, she opened a garage door and headed outside.   When I asked her what she was going to do she said, "I'm going to be outside, mom" as if that answered everything. 

She is spending more time than anything else at the playset when no one else is around.   She's done so much swinging she has not only calluses but locations where calluses were that have subsequently torn off.   So this morning, down she went to the swingset and waited until her friends showed up. 

She's very much enjoying having friends to play with again—even though it's only a few in comparison to pre-COVID-19.  She has a new friend next door, Nora, who also has a toddler-aged brother, Leo.   My daughter likes playing with Nora and Keira equally much I'd say at this point.   She is in the middle with Nora a few years younger and Keira just starting middle school. 

The thing they've had a lot of fun playing with lately is the American Girl doll things sent down from Coco, my daughter's cousin.   I wouldn't consider letting the items go outside as I don't want anything to happen to them, but these days, if it can't go outside, it doesn't get played with friends. 

After two days of the girls playing with things under the deck on the patio, we changed plans and gave them free run of the porch for American Girl "land."   I spoke with my daughter in private about the importance of taking care of her things because if they were taken good care of, someday perhaps we could give them back to Coco if she has a daughter.

This afternoon I looked out on the porch as my daughter was inside getting an ice pack for Keira, who had hurt her leg on the playground.   My daughter hadn't been on the porch but I saw Nora and a younger boy in a mask (who turned out to be her cousin stopping in for an outdoor visit.)  They had separated, my daughter letting Nora have the space with her cousin and she had gone back to the playset with Keira.   I thought it was both polite as well as a good measure that they took that social distancing step themselves.

I asked my daughter if she thought Nora would take care of the American Girl things on the porch while my daughter was elsewhere with Keira.   My daughter said very matter-of-factly, "if I know Nora, she will."   That was enough reassurance for me. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son hasn't been eating a lot of his lunch lately at school and what he does eat has been the more preferred items, skipping the things he should eat first.   I mentioned it to his teacher when I dropped him off this morning after he had entered the building and couldn't hear me and I got some unexpected insight.   His teacher said, "he's not alone.   What's been happening is a group of the students hurries through lunch so they can go play, giving them more playtime."   There are some, like my son, who would rather play than eat.   Then there is the social eating group.  I'm not surprised my son would rather play than eat.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The swings on our swingset are in constant fluctuation.   I would say they change at least once per day.   I'll look out to see my daughter straddled and hugging the top of the A-frame chain in hand, preparing to swap one swing for another.   This isn't a simple feat because while disconnecting the existing chain and dropping it to the ground is fairly straightforward, getting out to the hooking in spot with the new chain in hand involves planning as well as a good dose of daredevil.   My daughter is such a daredevil.   I try to not limit her life any more than I have to so yes, she could fall and break an arm or worse.   Trust me, I think of that possibility all the time.   She is probably far more careful than most children because of her lack of sight.   So, I just tell the panic in my chest to calm down.   I was a child and my parents let me make my own mistakes.

The Deck Sleepover

My daughter and her friend, Keira, decided to have a sleepover tonight.   Keira is one of our "backyard neighbors" because while their house isn't next door directly, our back yards connect, and it since most of the playing takes place in the back yard, it seems like we're next door to them.    Given the state of the infectious world right now, the only playing that's being done is outside at social distancing range, which means our back yard is the location our children usually go when they're sick of being inside and want to spend time with children their ages. 

Keira and my daughter came up with an idea that they could have a sleepover if they did so outside.   They thought it through and had a few options.   They didn't want to be outside where they would be exposed which narrowed down their choices to two locations: Keira's screened-in back deck or our deck that has no access other than through the house. 

They would have gone for the better choice of Keira's deck but painters had come today to do some work on and there was wet paint.   That left our deck.   Keira and my daughter met in our back yard after dark and my husband set up the fire pit for s'mores.   Afterward, the ladies hung around the fire pit for a while and then retired to the deck. 

Once they were settled in on opposite sides of the small deck, I went to wash my hair.   As I was about to head downstairs to write this post I heard Keira leaving to go home.   We're going to put my daughter up to bed in a little bit in case it starts to rain.   I'm sure there will be many more sleepovers in the future.   I'm proud of the girls for coming up with a safe way to have one while also maintaining social distances.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been making his own lunches, but his motivation has been to get through the process as quickly as possible and hasn't been making the best of choices and then isn't eating the better parts of his lunch at school.   Today, I took over his lunch making and am going to supervise him for the next while so he can both make his lunch quickly and make good food choices. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Keira went home from the sleepover a bit ago but my daughter is out cold on the deck.   She is so very independent in some ways and this is one of them.   Nothing stops her if it's something she really wants. 

Unknown Title

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.