Backstory - in college, I bought a laptop. This was not some big, shiny, expensive thing, this was a dinosaur. I purposefully bought what was one of the first ever laptops made. It made me learn DOS, get creative with external drives (anyone else remember what a zip drive was?), and peruse the internet for drivers. In my circle of friends (our idea of a party was a bottle of wine and a Star Trek marathon), it was very retro-geek cool. The CS majors delighted in finding programs that could run on it, and my fellow History majors appreciated that this thing was OLD.
Its name was Meg. It had one (1) megabyte of memory. I hadn't used her since college - I had fallen prey to the siren call of a desktop that didn't get dangerously hot on my legs, and ran wonderful, wonderful Windows. I still have Meg, and I look forward to having an operational decades old laptop for Kittyboy to play with, but as far as daily usage, she just didn't work out. She made a lot of good memories, though, and with the husband's desktop, you don't quite get the same thrill of the hunt for a specific program or driver, the challenge of an unfamiliar operating system, and you don't have to be creative. It just... works. Sometimes, I do long for the days...
Then for Christmas last year, my husband bought me the perfect Christmas present - a modern-day Meg! Its name is Gig. Again, it has one (1) gigabyte of memory. It is an OLPC laptop, the XO. It's the first edition of the XO, the one they were selling before Christmas last year, where you bought two and one was sent to you and one to a child in a Second or Third World country. Once again, I had to learn a new operating system (Linux), and it took a lot of searching online to come up with a browser that would do Yahoo mail and such. Just like the old days!
Except, I couldn't actually do internet. For that, we needed a wireless router for our main computer.
Well, it took the husband eight (8) long months, but we now have a wireless router, and Gig can finally go online, instead of me typing documents on her and then transferring via flash drive (do they even still MAKE zipdrives?).
In fact, I am typing on Gig now. In the comfort of my bed. This is so cool. It's like Christmas all over again!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tattling!
This morning I was in the living room and heard the husband sternly admonishing Kittyboy for something - then a toddler's outraged bellow, followed by Kittyboy charging into the living room looking most indignant and headed straight for me. Husband hollered that our son had been dunking toys in the cats' water, for which they had been confiscated.
Kittyboy didn't feel that was the whole story, and protested "Ndadndy! Ndadndy! Ndadndy! Ndadndy!" rather heatedly.
I asked, "Daddy what?" just to see what else he'd "say", because Mama and Daddy are his only spoken words right now.
"BVBVBVBVGRR!!!"
And in toddlerese, that was DEVASTATING criticism, I'm sure!
Kittyboy didn't feel that was the whole story, and protested "Ndadndy! Ndadndy! Ndadndy! Ndadndy!" rather heatedly.
I asked, "Daddy what?" just to see what else he'd "say", because Mama and Daddy are his only spoken words right now.
"BVBVBVBVGRR!!!"
And in toddlerese, that was DEVASTATING criticism, I'm sure!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Day 2 of car-free cold turkey
It's the second day of the Great Transportation Experiment. The goal - cut down car usage to one trip a day. This means that on days the husband works, unless he also has his Shinkendo, the car goes to work, comes home, and that's it - as opposed to, I take him to work, I come home, run errands after Kittyboy naps, come home, and then go to get him from work and come home. He works four miles of city driving away, so back and forth once is 8 miles. If I want the car during the day, that's an automatic 16 miles just to have it available, before I run to the store or whatever. Part of the impetus is not gas-related - he just made management, and his schedule is going to get crazy now. If we already have a plan in place, Kittyboy's sleeping schedule won't be messed with too much, whether husband works 12p.m.-9 p.m., or 6a.m.-2p.m., both possibilities.
So we're into the Great Transportation Experiment. I have a bus map and schedule. I have cash in my purse. And as of Friday, I will have a bus pass.
Thus far, I've mapped out one tiny grocery, one CVS Pharmacy, one Asian market, and one health-food store within 3/4 of a mile. These can be walked to, as can a small, fenced-in playground we really like. Walking is absolutely free - thus making up some of the extra spent on foods at those stores, and on basics at CVS. A bus ride to and from somewhere, with a discount pass, 5 days a week, will come to around $30 a month, which should be more than recovered through the savings in gas - I estimate that every time I want the car during the day, I probably spend about a gallon, at 22-23 mpg in town. And I wouldn't be taking the bus daily, that's mainly to Walmart or Meijer if I need something not available within walking distance or when I need several things which would be worth the ride to get more cheaply, or to OT on Thursdays. I also decided, perhaps while delusional, that the best way to do this is to go cold turkey.
Yesterday, we walked to and from the park in the morning, and in late afternoon bussed downtown to our pharmacy, and back. Distance, schmistance, our pharmacy is the last one surviving downtown, so we're VERY loyal, even with CVS so close. Kittyboy is old enough now to stand still for at least long enough to let me fold or unfold the stroller without dashing into the street or something, and the stroller fits pretty easily on the bus between me and the seat in front. Being half a mile from the nearest bus stop in any direction is going to take a lot of getting used to, and is a MAJOR HASSLE, but is not an insurmountable obstacle.
Today was a little more of a hassle than yesterday. We were going downtown to the Farmer's Market, and missed the bus we wanted by ONE MINUTE. If I'd been sixty seconds ahead of myself, I could at least have waved my purse at it. That was the 7W that goes directly downtown from our stop - half an hour, and there'd be another. 15-20 minutes, there would be a 7S coming FROM downtown, looping around a long and convoluted route and then heading back to downtown. As all roads lead to Rome, so do all buses go downtown eventually. So I figured we'd just take the 7S, and commenced to entertaining the Kittyboy by all means possible. We played fetch-the-pinecone, look-at-our-shadows, comb-the-grass, I tried to interest him in the bus map, and about three minutes before 7S came, he was DONE waiting. The driver said, when I explained about missing the other bus, that the next 7W was coming soon, and I explained that for Kittyboy, THIS SECOND was not soon enough. He laughed.
The ride there was fine, if longer than I'd wanted - the 7S winds around, among other things, a subdivision I didn't even know existed. Why, with gas costing what it does, you would develop housing way, way out where there are no gas stations, grocery stores, etc, I don't know, and I don't understand people buying homes there. It has to be close to a mile just to get the basics at a Walgreens or something!!! So you can't walk anywhere useful (there are also no sidewalks from there to anywhere else), you HAVE to drive, or take the bus, and I can about guarantee if your only bus service is the 7S, at that point in the route, you WILL be going downtown and transferring to get anywhere else. I can see living in a small town where you have the local grocery, pharmacy, couple restaurants and churches and whatnot within walking distance, I can see living IN the city, where you have bus-lines and a variety of businesses within walking distance, but I don't get the whole "Well, I want to live in the city, but I don't like all that noise, and it's not always attractive - so I'll pay out the nose to live in this completely artificial community OUTSIDE the city proper, where there is basically nothing, and get in my car every time I need toilet paper or a gallon of milk." And it's not like they could say they were moving out there for the rural peace and quiet, because it's not RURAL. There's not a cow, chicken, or field to be harvested (those might involve noise and dust), and their houses are all in close together, without room for any sizable gardens of their own. It's not rural, it's not a town of its own, but it's not really part of a city - it's absolutely artificial. BUT, it's their money, their house identical to every other house on the block, their treeless, postage stamp yard, so not my problem. Just strikes me as quite foolish.
Okay, done with the subdivision rant. Shutting up now.
The Farmer's Market was a BLAST. You can buy a big bag of peaches for $3, called "seconds" - scuffed or with little dents, or just not the size and shape the farmer wanted, and for that they're incredibly cheap. How cool is that! I always find my "seconds" first. I've already eaten three peaches today. And I found something called a "tourmaline turnip". The garlic man had some in a basket, they'd been sold to him under that name, but when he tasted one it was a radish. It's a variety of radish that's about the size of a baseball or softball. He had one cut in half on display as a novelty, because the flesh is dark pink. So I got garlic and the biggest radish I've ever seen in my life, and on the way back, we were lucky - we got to the transfer center right when the buses did! To go home, 7S is the direct one and 7W the one that winds around. Kittyboy wanted to run around the bus most of the trip home, and so spent most of it being restrained against his will. But apart from immobilizing the toddler and the whole 20-minute-wait first thing in the morning, the day went well!
Tomorrow we tackle busing to therapy!
So we're into the Great Transportation Experiment. I have a bus map and schedule. I have cash in my purse. And as of Friday, I will have a bus pass.
Thus far, I've mapped out one tiny grocery, one CVS Pharmacy, one Asian market, and one health-food store within 3/4 of a mile. These can be walked to, as can a small, fenced-in playground we really like. Walking is absolutely free - thus making up some of the extra spent on foods at those stores, and on basics at CVS. A bus ride to and from somewhere, with a discount pass, 5 days a week, will come to around $30 a month, which should be more than recovered through the savings in gas - I estimate that every time I want the car during the day, I probably spend about a gallon, at 22-23 mpg in town. And I wouldn't be taking the bus daily, that's mainly to Walmart or Meijer if I need something not available within walking distance or when I need several things which would be worth the ride to get more cheaply, or to OT on Thursdays. I also decided, perhaps while delusional, that the best way to do this is to go cold turkey.
Yesterday, we walked to and from the park in the morning, and in late afternoon bussed downtown to our pharmacy, and back. Distance, schmistance, our pharmacy is the last one surviving downtown, so we're VERY loyal, even with CVS so close. Kittyboy is old enough now to stand still for at least long enough to let me fold or unfold the stroller without dashing into the street or something, and the stroller fits pretty easily on the bus between me and the seat in front. Being half a mile from the nearest bus stop in any direction is going to take a lot of getting used to, and is a MAJOR HASSLE, but is not an insurmountable obstacle.
Today was a little more of a hassle than yesterday. We were going downtown to the Farmer's Market, and missed the bus we wanted by ONE MINUTE. If I'd been sixty seconds ahead of myself, I could at least have waved my purse at it. That was the 7W that goes directly downtown from our stop - half an hour, and there'd be another. 15-20 minutes, there would be a 7S coming FROM downtown, looping around a long and convoluted route and then heading back to downtown. As all roads lead to Rome, so do all buses go downtown eventually. So I figured we'd just take the 7S, and commenced to entertaining the Kittyboy by all means possible. We played fetch-the-pinecone, look-at-our-shadows, comb-the-grass, I tried to interest him in the bus map, and about three minutes before 7S came, he was DONE waiting. The driver said, when I explained about missing the other bus, that the next 7W was coming soon, and I explained that for Kittyboy, THIS SECOND was not soon enough. He laughed.
The ride there was fine, if longer than I'd wanted - the 7S winds around, among other things, a subdivision I didn't even know existed. Why, with gas costing what it does, you would develop housing way, way out where there are no gas stations, grocery stores, etc, I don't know, and I don't understand people buying homes there. It has to be close to a mile just to get the basics at a Walgreens or something!!! So you can't walk anywhere useful (there are also no sidewalks from there to anywhere else), you HAVE to drive, or take the bus, and I can about guarantee if your only bus service is the 7S, at that point in the route, you WILL be going downtown and transferring to get anywhere else. I can see living in a small town where you have the local grocery, pharmacy, couple restaurants and churches and whatnot within walking distance, I can see living IN the city, where you have bus-lines and a variety of businesses within walking distance, but I don't get the whole "Well, I want to live in the city, but I don't like all that noise, and it's not always attractive - so I'll pay out the nose to live in this completely artificial community OUTSIDE the city proper, where there is basically nothing, and get in my car every time I need toilet paper or a gallon of milk." And it's not like they could say they were moving out there for the rural peace and quiet, because it's not RURAL. There's not a cow, chicken, or field to be harvested (those might involve noise and dust), and their houses are all in close together, without room for any sizable gardens of their own. It's not rural, it's not a town of its own, but it's not really part of a city - it's absolutely artificial. BUT, it's their money, their house identical to every other house on the block, their treeless, postage stamp yard, so not my problem. Just strikes me as quite foolish.
Okay, done with the subdivision rant. Shutting up now.
The Farmer's Market was a BLAST. You can buy a big bag of peaches for $3, called "seconds" - scuffed or with little dents, or just not the size and shape the farmer wanted, and for that they're incredibly cheap. How cool is that! I always find my "seconds" first. I've already eaten three peaches today. And I found something called a "tourmaline turnip". The garlic man had some in a basket, they'd been sold to him under that name, but when he tasted one it was a radish. It's a variety of radish that's about the size of a baseball or softball. He had one cut in half on display as a novelty, because the flesh is dark pink. So I got garlic and the biggest radish I've ever seen in my life, and on the way back, we were lucky - we got to the transfer center right when the buses did! To go home, 7S is the direct one and 7W the one that winds around. Kittyboy wanted to run around the bus most of the trip home, and so spent most of it being restrained against his will. But apart from immobilizing the toddler and the whole 20-minute-wait first thing in the morning, the day went well!
Tomorrow we tackle busing to therapy!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Kittyboy and Icons
Kittyboy has been fascinated by icons about as long as we've been pointing them out to him. (Icons = sacred art in Orthodox churches and homes, depicting saints and events of Christ's life). His patron, St. Patrick of Ireland, has teethmarks on one corner, and got flipped off of his nail a couple times before we decided that while above the crib was a nice location in theory, it was time for the icon to move further out of reach. Icons on low shelves in the hallway are not safe either - more than once I have come out of the family room to find Kittyboy sitting on the floor surrounded by 2-D friends, perhaps petting one affectionately. And we don't have anywhere SAFE to store them. Sigh. Well, he's got the right idea, in so far as a toddler can.
He just recently began kissing things - it started with his reflection in windows (he would kiss every window he passed), then walls (who knows why), stuffed animals and dolls, and now icons and anything like them.
I should explain that Orthodox Christians kiss a LOT of things - icons, crosses, priests' hands, etc. It's how we honor them. So as we enter church, we cross ourselves and venerate the icons in the entry way, and the Gospel book if it's out there. Kittyboy was lifted so that he could kiss the icons, and the Gospel book (which he also likes because it's covered with brass), and then we went in. But as I said in my last post - we went in and out and in and out a LOT this morning. And of all the times to pick up on something - every time I tried to get him back in, he ran over to the stand with the icons. He kissed the wood he could reach below the shelf, then looked at me. I told him okay, we're going in now, and he reached and pointed at the Gospel. I said "Yes, that's the Gospel, let's go inside." He kept pointing, and started into the "Mm mm mm!" and "Mrrrrrrr..." noises. Those get louder if unaddressed. So every single time we went back into church, he had to be lifted to kiss the Gospel at least. It was time-consuming, but SO CUTE. "Mommy, I can't go in yet, I have to kiss the shiny book! And perhaps St. Anthony too!" And next time, same thing. And again. He takes kissing things very seriously. Not of three-dimensional PEOPLE, but of everything else!
I think his favorite icons in church (on our side of it at least) are the Annunciation in front, St. George (who has a cool white horse!) in back, and Ss. Cosmas and Damian in the middle. They were the Holy Unmercenaries, basically they were doctors who treated people for free, and I've pointed them out several times as the Patron Saints of Early Intervention! Our therapists do get paid, eventually, by someone, but it's sporadic and slow sometimes, and insurance especially drags its heels a LOT. But they keep coming anyway! So I decided Ss. Cosmas and Damian were their patrons. And since I began pointing them out to him and talking about them, now he wants to go look at them at least once a service. He likes his shiny picture-friends. He often waves at them. "Hello St. George! Hello horsie!" etc.
He just recently began kissing things - it started with his reflection in windows (he would kiss every window he passed), then walls (who knows why), stuffed animals and dolls, and now icons and anything like them.
I should explain that Orthodox Christians kiss a LOT of things - icons, crosses, priests' hands, etc. It's how we honor them. So as we enter church, we cross ourselves and venerate the icons in the entry way, and the Gospel book if it's out there. Kittyboy was lifted so that he could kiss the icons, and the Gospel book (which he also likes because it's covered with brass), and then we went in. But as I said in my last post - we went in and out and in and out a LOT this morning. And of all the times to pick up on something - every time I tried to get him back in, he ran over to the stand with the icons. He kissed the wood he could reach below the shelf, then looked at me. I told him okay, we're going in now, and he reached and pointed at the Gospel. I said "Yes, that's the Gospel, let's go inside." He kept pointing, and started into the "Mm mm mm!" and "Mrrrrrrr..." noises. Those get louder if unaddressed. So every single time we went back into church, he had to be lifted to kiss the Gospel at least. It was time-consuming, but SO CUTE. "Mommy, I can't go in yet, I have to kiss the shiny book! And perhaps St. Anthony too!" And next time, same thing. And again. He takes kissing things very seriously. Not of three-dimensional PEOPLE, but of everything else!
I think his favorite icons in church (on our side of it at least) are the Annunciation in front, St. George (who has a cool white horse!) in back, and Ss. Cosmas and Damian in the middle. They were the Holy Unmercenaries, basically they were doctors who treated people for free, and I've pointed them out several times as the Patron Saints of Early Intervention! Our therapists do get paid, eventually, by someone, but it's sporadic and slow sometimes, and insurance especially drags its heels a LOT. But they keep coming anyway! So I decided Ss. Cosmas and Damian were their patrons. And since I began pointing them out to him and talking about them, now he wants to go look at them at least once a service. He likes his shiny picture-friends. He often waves at them. "Hello St. George! Hello horsie!" etc.
Kittyboy in church
When Kittyboy first came home from the hospital, church was his Happy Place. Only place he relaxed, slept without rocking, slept without WEIGHT, if he was a nightmare any given week at home, he'd be happy for about 3 hours Sunday morning. Ah, the many coffee hours spent with my forehead on a folding table, wishing we could move in...
Anyhow, since he started moving, he's gotten more trying. He still LIKES church, but he does not care to be in one spot - or one pew - or even confined to one half of the sanctuary. He tries now and then to assist Fr. Anthony, he wants to go around and greet friends, he wants to be carried back and forth from icon to icon to icon, then he wants to go and Do Stairs. Doing Stairs is usually his reward for being goodish up through communion. If he's good until then, we call it quits after communion and go run laps of the basement. Keeping still until then, however, requires a morning routine involving lots - and Lots - and LOTS - of bouncing him on the trampoline. We leave about quarter til 10, and at about nine o'clock, one of us gets on the trampoline with him. We switch back and forth so we can both continue to get dressed, set up the diaper bag, etc. He gets bounced for a good half hour to an hour. Then, he is content for at least half an hour straight to either sit on my lap, sit next to me in the pew, or stand in front of me, with no problem.
No trampoline - no such luck. This morning, we were so bushed, we didn't roll out of bed until 9. About 9:30, I bounced him for about five minutes, but then we were still trying to get things ready to go. So five minutes was all he got.
So we spent more of church out than in. I have come to realize that this is not necessarily a Bad Thing, it just means he didn't get enough movement, and needs not met before church are met by pushing a folding chair around the basement, going up and down the basement stairs, speedwalking laps of the tables, and running back and forth on the steps outside. Perpetual Motion Boy. When he becomes an acolyte, my husband (acolyte-in-charge) will have him chipping wax off of things, polishing, etc. Kittyboy will be the one running and fetching and hauling whenever possible. Husband has an acolyte now who seems to require such activities, so hey, he's getting practice for keeping a perpetual motion child engaged and active. Things in the altar area will be nice and shiny!
Anyhow, since he started moving, he's gotten more trying. He still LIKES church, but he does not care to be in one spot - or one pew - or even confined to one half of the sanctuary. He tries now and then to assist Fr. Anthony, he wants to go around and greet friends, he wants to be carried back and forth from icon to icon to icon, then he wants to go and Do Stairs. Doing Stairs is usually his reward for being goodish up through communion. If he's good until then, we call it quits after communion and go run laps of the basement. Keeping still until then, however, requires a morning routine involving lots - and Lots - and LOTS - of bouncing him on the trampoline. We leave about quarter til 10, and at about nine o'clock, one of us gets on the trampoline with him. We switch back and forth so we can both continue to get dressed, set up the diaper bag, etc. He gets bounced for a good half hour to an hour. Then, he is content for at least half an hour straight to either sit on my lap, sit next to me in the pew, or stand in front of me, with no problem.
No trampoline - no such luck. This morning, we were so bushed, we didn't roll out of bed until 9. About 9:30, I bounced him for about five minutes, but then we were still trying to get things ready to go. So five minutes was all he got.
So we spent more of church out than in. I have come to realize that this is not necessarily a Bad Thing, it just means he didn't get enough movement, and needs not met before church are met by pushing a folding chair around the basement, going up and down the basement stairs, speedwalking laps of the tables, and running back and forth on the steps outside. Perpetual Motion Boy. When he becomes an acolyte, my husband (acolyte-in-charge) will have him chipping wax off of things, polishing, etc. Kittyboy will be the one running and fetching and hauling whenever possible. Husband has an acolyte now who seems to require such activities, so hey, he's getting practice for keeping a perpetual motion child engaged and active. Things in the altar area will be nice and shiny!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Therapies.....
So, the round-up - we're gaining Speech/Language (woohoo!), but I predict losing possibly everyone else except Feeding come November.
We had OT Thursday and the therapist we saw hadn't seen him for about a month (it's a clinic, we're ostensibly under Misty, but actually see Ginny now on a weekly basis and Misty follows up now and then), and this week we saw both, and Misty was amazed at how well he is doing. She asked what our concerns were - and I honestly couldn't think of anything. I guess I hadn't noticed so much because we see him on a daily basis, but gee, he looks exactly like a normal 1 1/2 year old! His body awareness, sensory integration, all that, are vastly improved, and really, it appears that the activities he's been getting at home are sufficient. He bounces on the trampoline, proprioceptive input - he runs around outside barefoot, so he gets input from different textures and surfaces - he climbs on things, pulls and pushes full laundry baskets and recycling bins, carries and throws his weighted stuff, more proprioception - his home "OT" is probably sufficient for his needs. So there goes one therapy we probably won't need anymore. PT, DT, he's walking so well and catching onto things so much more quickly now that we know what he needs as far as activity, I don't even know that we'll be keeping them after the next IFSP. We may be down to Feeding and Language.
How weird would that be! :) I would miss people!
We had OT Thursday and the therapist we saw hadn't seen him for about a month (it's a clinic, we're ostensibly under Misty, but actually see Ginny now on a weekly basis and Misty follows up now and then), and this week we saw both, and Misty was amazed at how well he is doing. She asked what our concerns were - and I honestly couldn't think of anything. I guess I hadn't noticed so much because we see him on a daily basis, but gee, he looks exactly like a normal 1 1/2 year old! His body awareness, sensory integration, all that, are vastly improved, and really, it appears that the activities he's been getting at home are sufficient. He bounces on the trampoline, proprioceptive input - he runs around outside barefoot, so he gets input from different textures and surfaces - he climbs on things, pulls and pushes full laundry baskets and recycling bins, carries and throws his weighted stuff, more proprioception - his home "OT" is probably sufficient for his needs. So there goes one therapy we probably won't need anymore. PT, DT, he's walking so well and catching onto things so much more quickly now that we know what he needs as far as activity, I don't even know that we'll be keeping them after the next IFSP. We may be down to Feeding and Language.
How weird would that be! :) I would miss people!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
The Making of a Weighted Critter
Kittyboy now has a "therapeutic" weighted animal! He was having such fun this afternoon throwing his 4.5 pound pillow and carrying it around, I figured now would be a good time to get him a weighted animal for "heavy work". Didn't bother checking prices on those - weighted blankets start at about $50, the cheapest I've found, so I'm assuming anything else weighted would be similarly expensive. May I recommend, Build-A-Bear (or Fluff N Stuff, or other similar stores) and aquarium gravel?
"Rocky" is a 10" tall brown puppy who weighs two ounces shy of five pounds. I wouldn't put him in a washer or dryer, but he's certainly washable in the bucket-and-soap sense. You can buy a critter without stuffing it there, you get an odd look, but they let you.
As of yet, Kittyboy is oddly disinterested. I'm going to make Rocky a colorful collar or something, and in the meantime, he's holding Kittyboy's bottle as he goes to sleep. Maybe they'll bond over naptime.
"Rocky" is a 10" tall brown puppy who weighs two ounces shy of five pounds. I wouldn't put him in a washer or dryer, but he's certainly washable in the bucket-and-soap sense. You can buy a critter without stuffing it there, you get an odd look, but they let you.
As of yet, Kittyboy is oddly disinterested. I'm going to make Rocky a colorful collar or something, and in the meantime, he's holding Kittyboy's bottle as he goes to sleep. Maybe they'll bond over naptime.
and now that my monitor works again....
Ever tried to read something through a Venetian blind as someone flipped the slats back and forth and back and forth? That was our monitor, before we were Freecycled a working one. May I highly recommend Freecycle.org - posting a Wanted for a computer monitor was my "what the heck" last shot before calling all the resale shops in town and then waiting until next paycheck. I didn't actually expect to be offered one working monitor, let alone several! The one we now have is from a man who does IT at a few places in town, and had several monitors from an office upgrading their equipment.
So now I have a monitor again!
Yip-yippee-yippeeto!
So now I have a monitor again!
Yip-yippee-yippeeto!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Speech and Language Therapy is COMING!!!!!!
I just have to celebrate, Kittyboy was evaluated this morning for S/L, which is speech/language. His speech/feeding therapist did the eval, and finished it with "Now, I don't want to upset you, but even at his adjusted age [about three months less than actual age], he REALLY qualifies for therapy. I'm going to recommend weekly, because he really needs it!"
What's to get upset about? Hey, when the 19-month-old's biggest VOCAL achievement to date was Mama and Dada a couple weeks ago (he did babble before, it just wasn't specific yet), it's pretty obvious there's a need here! I'm just as excited as all get-out that the need definitely showed up in the testing, so he'll be definitely getting therapy, instead of him magically doing things he never does for us, for the therapist, and then it being only our word that "No, seriously, he DOESN'T TALK."
At least, since he started walking in late April, no one's guessing him to be half his age anymore. People used to, when at 16 months he was babbling as if he were 4-6 months and crawling all over but not taking a step. "Oh, what a precious baby! How old, 8, 9 months old?"
My toddler babbles, for the most part, on only a 4-6 month level! I'm ecstatic! (What a bizarre reason to rejoice!)
What's to get upset about? Hey, when the 19-month-old's biggest VOCAL achievement to date was Mama and Dada a couple weeks ago (he did babble before, it just wasn't specific yet), it's pretty obvious there's a need here! I'm just as excited as all get-out that the need definitely showed up in the testing, so he'll be definitely getting therapy, instead of him magically doing things he never does for us, for the therapist, and then it being only our word that "No, seriously, he DOESN'T TALK."
At least, since he started walking in late April, no one's guessing him to be half his age anymore. People used to, when at 16 months he was babbling as if he were 4-6 months and crawling all over but not taking a step. "Oh, what a precious baby! How old, 8, 9 months old?"
My toddler babbles, for the most part, on only a 4-6 month level! I'm ecstatic! (What a bizarre reason to rejoice!)
Friday, August 8, 2008
Twilight Parade - Kittyboy makes new friends!
For the first time since moving here, we finally went to the Twilight Parade celebrating the opening of the State Fair. Next year, I'll be taking harness and leash. Kittyboy requires it. He firmly believes that strangers are just friends to whom he has not yet been properly introduced, and feels he should rectify that lack of introduction as soon as possible. Carey, who had also come with her daughter, and I followed him all over the front yard in which we were sitting, waving at people and exploring. He made a new little friend, about a year older, who was FASCINATED with the Kittyboy and kept getting within inches of his face to squeal "Hello Baby! Hello Baby!" Toddler Friend wanted to share his sucker with him - that didn't go over well with his mother or myself, ditto for sharing other foods, etc. But hey, he certainly understood sharing! And wanted to share, because that's what you do with friends! Then Toddler Friend hugged him, very tightly, and they both fell over. They were fine, mothers again not amused and now trying to separate them, which was hard considering our families were right next to each other. Then T. F. came back and attempted to kiss him. Kittyboy, sitting on the curb, very politely put up his hand in front of the other's face. Translation - "No thank you, I'm done for the day." That was just the funniest thing, he didn't get upset or anything, he was just done. The older toddler was just a BIT too enthusiastic for his tastes.
There was also a young man sitting very near us who didn't know that he was also Kittyboy's new friend. He WAS a friend, he really was, he just didn't know it yet. Kittyboy walked up to him and smiled, I pulled him back. Went up to him again, smiled and waved, I pulled him back. Then after a very long time walking laps around a tree, he decided one last time to try and convince this young man that they were friends. He walked back over and nicely patted the man's knee. Man looked at him, said, "Hello?" Kittyboy was delighted at the acknowledgment, and smiled and waved again, and continued waving as I walked him away. "We're friends now Mommy, he just needed some encouragement!" Man moved to another spot shortly thereafter.
When one is an outgoing 19 month old, "Friend" has a very ambiguous definition. "Person breathing in my general vicinity." Leash and harness next year - because next year, he'll be able to RUN.
There was also a young man sitting very near us who didn't know that he was also Kittyboy's new friend. He WAS a friend, he really was, he just didn't know it yet. Kittyboy walked up to him and smiled, I pulled him back. Went up to him again, smiled and waved, I pulled him back. Then after a very long time walking laps around a tree, he decided one last time to try and convince this young man that they were friends. He walked back over and nicely patted the man's knee. Man looked at him, said, "Hello?" Kittyboy was delighted at the acknowledgment, and smiled and waved again, and continued waving as I walked him away. "We're friends now Mommy, he just needed some encouragement!" Man moved to another spot shortly thereafter.
When one is an outgoing 19 month old, "Friend" has a very ambiguous definition. "Person breathing in my general vicinity." Leash and harness next year - because next year, he'll be able to RUN.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Musings on all things green-y
Has anyone else ever pondered the inconsistency of "Let's grow soybeans as a renewable resource! We can make all this stuff from soybeans instead of fossil fuels!" versus what to me is the more credible argument, "Why waste so much land growing beans no one will actually get to eat when it could be growing FOOD?"
Bear in mind, these are both "environmentalist" arguments. And mutually exclusive ones, at that.
Reading eco-friendly whatnot is rather like navigating the arguments for and against capital punishment and abortion - there are a lot of contradictions, and a limited few viewpoints that are not self-contradicting. Argument 1: Life is sacred, in or out of the womb - so much that if you take a life, you forfeit your own. Argument 2: Life is sacred, in or out of the womb - so much so that even IF you take another's life, you should still not lose yours. Argument 3: Life is NOT sacred. If your crimes warrant it, we will kill you. If your birth is unwanted, ditto. Argument 4: If you're an unborn child, your existence is dependent upon your mother's whim. If you're a serial killer, you should be able to live as long as you want.
Argument 1 and 2 are both consistent and logically sound. Argument 3, as reprehensible as it may be, is still at least consistent within itself. Argument 4 is pure nonsense.
A lot of environmentalists want to have their cake and eat it too.
IFF (a notation meaning "if and only if") your contention is that cars powered by gasoline are ecologically Bad, using soybeans in their construction does not magically make them Good.
IFF your goal is to reduce electricity usage, and so you're unplugging all your electronics when you're not using them - why then are you plugging in your CAR?
IFF your contention is that fields used for production of corn and soybeans that will never end up in a grocery store is a waste, then trumpeting the "virtues" of biodiesel and corn-and-soy-based products over those produced using crude oil is just plain silly.
Those are only three of the contradictions that have wandered through my brain recently. There are many, many more.
There's an "environmental" group here in my city called "Food Not Lawns". I'm a member. They're not out to do anything radical or bother anyone else, they just grow their own food, eat and shop locally, try to consume fewer resources, and strive for a more self-sustaining lifestyle, which just kind of makes sense regardless. This is what brought to my mind the contradicting arguments of "we should use corn and soybeans in place of petroleum products" and the F.N.L. standpoint that it's a waste of land that could be growing local food instead of being used to make the fuel needed to transport food in from elsewhere. Personally, I think the second is the sounder argument, but what do I know - I'm just into things that make sense. And I can't eat or drink biodiesel.
Bear in mind, these are both "environmentalist" arguments. And mutually exclusive ones, at that.
Reading eco-friendly whatnot is rather like navigating the arguments for and against capital punishment and abortion - there are a lot of contradictions, and a limited few viewpoints that are not self-contradicting. Argument 1: Life is sacred, in or out of the womb - so much that if you take a life, you forfeit your own. Argument 2: Life is sacred, in or out of the womb - so much so that even IF you take another's life, you should still not lose yours. Argument 3: Life is NOT sacred. If your crimes warrant it, we will kill you. If your birth is unwanted, ditto. Argument 4: If you're an unborn child, your existence is dependent upon your mother's whim. If you're a serial killer, you should be able to live as long as you want.
Argument 1 and 2 are both consistent and logically sound. Argument 3, as reprehensible as it may be, is still at least consistent within itself. Argument 4 is pure nonsense.
A lot of environmentalists want to have their cake and eat it too.
IFF (a notation meaning "if and only if") your contention is that cars powered by gasoline are ecologically Bad, using soybeans in their construction does not magically make them Good.
IFF your goal is to reduce electricity usage, and so you're unplugging all your electronics when you're not using them - why then are you plugging in your CAR?
IFF your contention is that fields used for production of corn and soybeans that will never end up in a grocery store is a waste, then trumpeting the "virtues" of biodiesel and corn-and-soy-based products over those produced using crude oil is just plain silly.
Those are only three of the contradictions that have wandered through my brain recently. There are many, many more.
There's an "environmental" group here in my city called "Food Not Lawns". I'm a member. They're not out to do anything radical or bother anyone else, they just grow their own food, eat and shop locally, try to consume fewer resources, and strive for a more self-sustaining lifestyle, which just kind of makes sense regardless. This is what brought to my mind the contradicting arguments of "we should use corn and soybeans in place of petroleum products" and the F.N.L. standpoint that it's a waste of land that could be growing local food instead of being used to make the fuel needed to transport food in from elsewhere. Personally, I think the second is the sounder argument, but what do I know - I'm just into things that make sense. And I can't eat or drink biodiesel.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Gardening... WWCD?
I loooove my garden this year. I have sixteen tomato plants, two zucchini (actually three if you count the volunteer on the compost pile), five potato, miscellaneous herbs, cabbage that I don't think is going to do anything, and an apartment-dwelling friend planted 100 square feet of beans in our yard. Looking at all this STUFF (and looking at the food dehydrator and pressure cooker I got for my birthday), I am getting SO many ideas for next year!
Definitely beans again, planted in my tomato patch behind the house, and corn and squash in all that lovely nitrogen-fixed soil where the beans are. I'm hoping, under Carey's instruction, to can a lot of tomatoes, and I'm already drying plenty of herbs and lambs-quarter. The mint is getting WELL established.
I've seen "What Would MacGuyver Do?" t-shirts, with pictures of duct tape and Swiss Army knives and whatnot, and I think I need one. The funny thing is, when I'm debating where to put something, or reading the back of a seed packet that says this plant should have been in the ground months ago (my dwarf sunflowers, for example), the first thought in my mind is typically, "Well, what would Carey do?"
My friend and current mentor of sorts, Carey, describes herself as a chaos gardener. Whatever wants to grow, whereever, however. And for her, it works! Her whole yard is her garden, basically, and it rocks. My dwarf sunflowers, planted a good month late, will probably have flowers before the growing season is TOTALLY over. I've had pretty good success this year just by experimenting, planting one item in various locations to see what happens (known as unschooling), and have discovered that what the back of the seed packet says, is not always so.
Square-foot gardening, for example. Square-foot gardening (to really dummy it down) is cramming a whole bunch of plants in a square foot instead of rows. The theory is, and it appears to hold true, that what little production you may lose per plant because of crowding, is much more than made up for in how many more plants you have. So you don't HAVE to space them far out in rows - you can just throw stuff in what space you have tilled, and it will probably work. My tomato plants are only about 18" apart from each other, and they're doing well. Bill, who planted the beans, actually calculated that we should get about 3-4 times the production per square foot as you would get from a bean field planted the standard way.
So now that I've spent this summer asking, "What would Carey do?" I am SO jazzed about next year, putting into practice what I've learned - and not being afraid to say, "I want a new bed here!", grabbing a shovel, and DOING IT.
Definitely beans again, planted in my tomato patch behind the house, and corn and squash in all that lovely nitrogen-fixed soil where the beans are. I'm hoping, under Carey's instruction, to can a lot of tomatoes, and I'm already drying plenty of herbs and lambs-quarter. The mint is getting WELL established.
I've seen "What Would MacGuyver Do?" t-shirts, with pictures of duct tape and Swiss Army knives and whatnot, and I think I need one. The funny thing is, when I'm debating where to put something, or reading the back of a seed packet that says this plant should have been in the ground months ago (my dwarf sunflowers, for example), the first thought in my mind is typically, "Well, what would Carey do?"
My friend and current mentor of sorts, Carey, describes herself as a chaos gardener. Whatever wants to grow, whereever, however. And for her, it works! Her whole yard is her garden, basically, and it rocks. My dwarf sunflowers, planted a good month late, will probably have flowers before the growing season is TOTALLY over. I've had pretty good success this year just by experimenting, planting one item in various locations to see what happens (known as unschooling), and have discovered that what the back of the seed packet says, is not always so.
Square-foot gardening, for example. Square-foot gardening (to really dummy it down) is cramming a whole bunch of plants in a square foot instead of rows. The theory is, and it appears to hold true, that what little production you may lose per plant because of crowding, is much more than made up for in how many more plants you have. So you don't HAVE to space them far out in rows - you can just throw stuff in what space you have tilled, and it will probably work. My tomato plants are only about 18" apart from each other, and they're doing well. Bill, who planted the beans, actually calculated that we should get about 3-4 times the production per square foot as you would get from a bean field planted the standard way.
So now that I've spent this summer asking, "What would Carey do?" I am SO jazzed about next year, putting into practice what I've learned - and not being afraid to say, "I want a new bed here!", grabbing a shovel, and DOING IT.
Across-town Adventure
So we went to the immense all-kinds-of-alcohol store, Friar Tuck's, because I needed a carboy (big glass five-gallon jug) in which to make wine. Yes, I am making wine this year. I hope. Anyhow, we left the house about quarter to ten in the morning, Kittyboy and I, to pick up my friend Carey, who has been making her own miscellaneous-ingredient wine for a while, so she could make sure I get the right things, and pick up some more supplies she needed as well, since she doesn't own a car. We had to stop first at the baby store to get a gift for a baby shower tomorrow, and when we came back out to the car - no key. I had KEYS, my husband's keys, but the ignition key was NOT on the ring. His key ring is loose, the key had slipped off somehow. We scoured the car. We emptied my purse (my purse is the size of most women's wallets, there is NOWHERE for anything to hide in it). We retraced our steps around the car, Carey retraced them back into the store and asked if anyone had turned in a black Honda key while I amused Kittyboy, who was unamused with the heat, lack of a cup, and lack of music, a/c, and locomotion. It was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. No key. Just like that. I had a car, I just couldn't do a thing with it. And the cellphone was uncharged, at home. I couldn't even call a ride.
I mean, how does this happen???
Fortunately, since Carey has no car, she does have a bus pass. I owe her banana bread. She also had a bus map in her purse and knew exactly the nearest bus stop to get (eventually) to the stop nearest my house. We rode - and rode - and rode - then we walked - and walked - and walked, because the nearest bus stop to my house is a good half mile away (and our route is the most convoluted and circuitous in the entire city, seriously, it is, no kidding). We took turns carrying Kittyboy, unamused but being a trooper. Got to my house. Found my keys. Grabbed the stroller and SPEEDWALKED half a mile back to the bus stop to catch the next bus back to our car, which fortunately was still there (can't even lock it completely without the key!). This was roughly a THREE HOUR excursion to and from somewhere about three miles away.
So an hour after I'd expected to be home with my carboy, we hadn't even gone to Friar Tuck's yet. Next stop was Walmart for multiple copies of my (then the only remaining) car key, then finally the destination which was the point of the whole trip.
I have a carboy. I have yeasts. I have a thingie I don't know what it is, but Carey will tell me because I will be snagging her to look over my shoulder as I am making the wine. There is a thingie I don't know what it is that I still need, of which Friar Tuck's was out, which I will be getting in a couple weeks. And we are all back to our respective houses.
Kittyboy is napping. Life is GOOD.
Hurrah for Carey and mass transit!
I mean, how does this happen???
Fortunately, since Carey has no car, she does have a bus pass. I owe her banana bread. She also had a bus map in her purse and knew exactly the nearest bus stop to get (eventually) to the stop nearest my house. We rode - and rode - and rode - then we walked - and walked - and walked, because the nearest bus stop to my house is a good half mile away (and our route is the most convoluted and circuitous in the entire city, seriously, it is, no kidding). We took turns carrying Kittyboy, unamused but being a trooper. Got to my house. Found my keys. Grabbed the stroller and SPEEDWALKED half a mile back to the bus stop to catch the next bus back to our car, which fortunately was still there (can't even lock it completely without the key!). This was roughly a THREE HOUR excursion to and from somewhere about three miles away.
So an hour after I'd expected to be home with my carboy, we hadn't even gone to Friar Tuck's yet. Next stop was Walmart for multiple copies of my (then the only remaining) car key, then finally the destination which was the point of the whole trip.
I have a carboy. I have yeasts. I have a thingie I don't know what it is, but Carey will tell me because I will be snagging her to look over my shoulder as I am making the wine. There is a thingie I don't know what it is that I still need, of which Friar Tuck's was out, which I will be getting in a couple weeks. And we are all back to our respective houses.
Kittyboy is napping. Life is GOOD.
Hurrah for Carey and mass transit!
Friday, August 1, 2008
The Kittyboy
I refer to my son as the Kittyboy based on the main character of the "Skippyjon Jones" series of children's books (you should read them). It seems he will be the sort of child that believes he can, oh, ride his bicycle off the roof, for example. And not only is he that dangerous combination of smart and fearless, he can sometimes show an amazing tolerance for pain, making any possible injury a most exciting guessing game! Not two years old and we've already been to the ER twice and put in many calls to the telenurse line at our doctor's office. I fully expect, by the time he enters school, to have the nurses hear his name and birthdate and sigh, "So what did he do NOW?"
... So anyhow. Kittyboy came early. We theorize that when he was told that a human pregnancy lasts nine months, he was doing a headstand at the time and misunderstood it as six. Or maybe he just couldn't wait!
More Kittyboy stories later. Diaper needs changing now.
... So anyhow. Kittyboy came early. We theorize that when he was told that a human pregnancy lasts nine months, he was doing a headstand at the time and misunderstood it as six. Or maybe he just couldn't wait!
More Kittyboy stories later. Diaper needs changing now.
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