Tales from the Elastic Waistland

February 12 of 12

2009-02-14T08:03:00.002-05:00

I remembered this month!...and actually managed to take enough pictures!

If you don't know what the 12 of 12 deal is go check out Chad's site. OK, you get it? Good. Moving on.

Jeanne's Feburary 2009 12 of 12

7:15 am - Off to work with my cuppa joe

7:15 am Starting odometer for the day (149.0)...and a balmy 38 degrees at home.

7:17 am Foggy morning - can't see the golf course across the street.

7:18 - The corn fields near our house.
Make note of this picture...there will be one later for comparison.

7:45 am - For the second time this month I ran out of windshield washer fluid. The roads are so nasty these days.

8:00am - Arriving at my first school destination for the day.

8:01 am - Odometer reading upon arrival (178.7) and a fair bit warmer when you get further south (46)!

11:45 am Arriving at my second school destination for the day.

11:45 am I obviously travel quite a bit for work some days. Odometer reading now at 214.2. And I have traveled back north to slightly cool temps at midday (44 degrees).

3:00 pm - Making a quick stop at the craft store for a birthday present for my soon-to-be 9-year-old!

3:20 pm - OK, remember the photo from the morning commute? Here is the comparison photo showing that it really was foggy this morning! (What? There are actually mountains over there?)

3:24 pm - The bus that my children are on is in the distance. It came a bit on the early side that day and I was not home to "catch" it! They do not let my kindergartner off the bus unless someone is standing right there. I ended up pulling up behind the bus and beeping but his engine is so loud he could not hear me and he was beeping his horn to let the non-existent person in the house know he was there. He finally realized what was going on and let my kids off the bus, thankfully! Drives me nuts when they get to my house early because I have a hard enough time as it is to get home by 3:30 on the days that I work!

Not a very exciting 12 of 12 - I know. I don't feel comfortable taking pictures while I'm at work (confidentiality for the kiddos and all that) so my work day 12 of 12 entries end up being not very compelling. Unfortunately, next month will also be a work day... Oh well, at least April 12th falls on a Sunday so maybe we'll be doing something more interesting that day!

Me again...

2009-01-22T19:45:00.007-05:00

Yeah, I'm here. Still. I just don't seem to find the time to write about much anymore. Perhaps because I'm spending a lot more time writing other stuff (consults, progress notes, 10-page evaluations, etc...) over the course of the week.

This week's 'excitement' was the dreaded JURY DUTY...

Sorry if I just caused shivers down your spine.

I don't recall when exactly I was inflicted with the Jury Duty summons but at the time I had obviously decided that the date they wanted me to appear was not going to work out for me. So, I thought ahead and decided that icy, snowy January would be the perfect month! And I picked a Wednesday because I knew it would not be a work day for me since my girls only have a half-day of school each Wednesday. In November, I got the reminder that Jury Duty was fast approaching and I immediately called in the reinforcements to be sure I would have all my kids covered for the day.

All was under control.

That was, until I realized that since we are on a 1-day, 1-trial system I might actually be impaneled on a case that lasts more than just one day. Uh-oh. Thursday is our "evaluation" day at work and originally I had not been on the schedule to do an evaluation for this Thursday...however, we had some change of plans at last week's staff meeting and I offered to take on the evaluation. In doing so I had forgotten about that day's proximity to my Jury Duty day - and perhaps I just had my head in the sand refusing to believe that I could be unlucky enough to be impaneled, let alone be stuck dealing with trial that extended beyond the day I was asked to serve. So, I didn't even bother to worry my little head about it until Tuesday night when, in a sudden panic, I sent off an email to my coworkers telling them that I was hopeful that I would be able to do the evaluation but that I would be at the mercy of the courts on Wednesday. Eek!

I arrived at the courthouse at 8:00am to check-in and made it through the metal detectors without issue. I had decided it was the better part of valor to leave my knitting needles at home in case I were accused of bringing potential weapons into the courthouse. When I walked into the lobby I scanned the room to size up my potential fellow jurors and I couldn't believe my eyes! I actually recognized one of the people in the room - a former coworker from my days working as a secretary in the Psychology Department at UMass! Small world, indeed. Tom and I got caught up on each others' lives and I found out that he continues to work at the university (but in a different department) and that he still has co-ownership of a bunch of sheep, goats and bunnies. He and his friends raise the animals for their fiber and they spin their own yarn and use it for different kinds of fiber art. You can probably guess why Tom and I were good friend when we worked together! I still have a great little snowman he made for me one year for Christmas - it's body is made of raw wool, he has a little black felted wool hat and his 'coal' eyes and mouth and 'carrot' nose are made of polymer clay. I think of Tom every year when that snowman comes out of storage for the Christmas season. :-) (Side note: Tom informed me that my plan to leave my knitting at home was a good one - apparently, the last time he had jury duty they made him return his knitting needles to his car!)

Shortly after I arrived and started to chat with Tom a woman came into the courthouse and she and Tom seemed to know each other and she joined our conversation. We chatted for a while before I finally introduced myself and found out that she is actually the friend who owns the farm where Tom's menagerie lives! I had heard many things about her in the past but had never actually met her. Not knowing just how long we might be stuck in the small, windowless jury room, I was more than thrilled to have a friendly face (or two!) to suffer with. At least I wouldn't have to suffer in silence!

As it turns out we were in that small room for only about 25 minutes - and 15 of those minutes we got to watch the horrible, low-budget Jury Duty Service Informational Video. Once the video ended the bailiff and judge came into the room to give us some information about what the day looked like. The judge reported that there was a trial that was continued from yesterday and that there were also negotiations going on between lawyers and their clients which might result in scheduled cases not actually making it to the courtroom. She did not know if we were going to be needed at all but she wouldn't have more information until later in the morning so she allowed us to leave the building until 10:30. The bailiff released us with a warning not to loiter in the lobby or outside the building because, as he pointed out, "we don't want you mixing with the kinds of people that are out there...and I mean that in the best way possible." LOL That bailiff was actually pretty funny.

Tom, his friend Kathy, and I decided to hightail it to the nearest Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of coffee. We hung out and chatted for the next hour and a half. They filled me in on the latest happenings in their departments (Kathy actually works for the Linguistics department from which I received my undergrad degree) and it really just seems like not much changes when it comes to office politics and "The Way the University Operates" (or doesn't, as the case may be). They grumbled and groused about this and that encouraged me to "come back to UMass!" so I could join in the fun. ;-) I said "thanks, but no thanks" and told them that in many ways I work for an equally ~~dys~~FUN~~ctional~~ company and had my share of office politics to try to avoid.

We headed back to the courthouse to settled ourselves back in that small, windowless room. I was tense and had called to give my coworker an update on the situation. I promised to let her know by 4:30 if I was going to be out of work on Thursday. She made some phone calls to let people know that the evaluation was "on hold" pending more information about my jury service.
I was really hoping that I wasn't going to have to cancel. The families who employ our services usually wait a good number of months for an evaluation date and I would not want to make them wait another few weeks or possibly a month or more!

About five minutes after we got back to the jury room the bailiff returned and gave us the status report. The case that was continued from yesterday was the "court case from hell" (His exact words! I told you he was funny.) and it was taking a lot longer than anticipated. Apparently, it related to a fight that broke out among some frat boys and there were approximately 15 witnesses who needed to give testimony. Boy, am I glad I didn't get impaneled for that case! In addition, there were a few cases that were negotiated outside of the courtroom (guess some of the parties got cold feet once they arrived and realized what might happen next?). Finally, the bailiff said "that's just my long way of telling you that you are free to go home and we thank you for your willingness to serve. And by the way, just a piece of information I'd like to pass along...the card that I told you about that you will be receiving in the mail and serves as proof of your service today? Well, let's just say that your employer will know what day you served but it will not state the time that you were released. For all intents and purposes you could have been here until 4:30pm. Ahem. So, that's all I want to say about that. Have a nice day." (see! funny AND nice!)

And there endeth my Jury Duty story for 2009.

Just for showing up today and being so 'willing' to serve (ha) I am relieved of any Jury Duty for the next three years...so long as I keep the card that shows my proof of service. If I lose the card the bailiff was nice enough to point out that my "punishment" would be that I would have no choice but to serve if my name happened to randomly come up again within the next three years. Yeah, well...that precious piece of paper is going directly in my fire box as soon as it's in my hot little hands.

Oh, and all was well for the evaluation, thankfully. I was able to call my coworker back about 20 minutes after my first call to her to let her know that I was good to go. I did the evaluation with another coworker today and it all went well. Now, we just have to finish writing up the report!

Time for me to sign off and get Youngest girl to bed. It's been a long day and I still have some work to do before tomorrow. Not to mention lunches to pack and laundry to do - it never ends, does it?

The 12 of 12 that wasn't....

2009-01-14T09:01:00.004-05:00

I only managed to take a total of 7 pictures on Monday. Not nearly enough to attempt to throw in one or two last boring end of day pictures to post and actually participate. Sigh...

Maybe next month. (And maybe someone other than Rick will actually read the blog again if I post a link on Chad's 12 of 12 site!)

I guess I was silent for so long that even my few "regulars" stopped checking in! Not that I blame them. It's been a very long draught around here.

Today is normally a "no-work" day for me but once a month I have a Wendesday meeting to attend. Today is that Wednesday. Blah. Youngest girl normally goes to daycare two days a week but on my meeting week she goes three days in a row. Although she is finally getting better about going to daycare she still has a tough time when she has her three day week. Her dropoff routine is to snuggle on the couch with me or Rick and then we let Lauri take over with the snuggling and she is fine. Today I sat with her for a few minutes and then, when she was seeming sullen, I asked "How are ya doing?" Her response: "I'm still not happy." And then she broke down in tears. Sigh.... She was not likely to 'be happy' unless I suddenly decided it was not a Lauri day and she could come home and hang with mom. I finally ~~encouraged her~~ bribed her to be good by promising to buy more M&M's today so she could have some this evening IF Lauri reports that she had a good day at daycare. Naughty mommy...I just have a hard time saying goodbye to tears.

This coming weekend we are headed down to my hometown to visit my family. We are also invited to a party at my good friend S's house. She was my next door neighbor growing up and she was a year behind me in school. I think that many of the invitees are alumni from our high school -- many of whom I may not know (or recognize!) because they were in her graduating class. But, I should know a few of them and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with everyone this weekend! Something that I find neat and kind of funny about the party - most of the invitations were sent out via Facebook! I have become a ~~regular user of~~ Facebook Fanatic. I check in with my Facebook 'gang' whenever I'm at home checking email or just wasting time on the computer. Facebook can be such a HUGE time waster! I had to laugh when I read this post over on Notes to Self about the FB experience. Although I don't have any pothead ex-boyfriend's, my mom is actually on FB and I find myself second-guessing myself before I post anything because I start to remember that not only can my MOM read it, but a former professor of mine, co-workers past and present, and even my nieces and nephews are my FB friends. I do love it though. I feel that my relationship with said nieces and nephews has been strengthened by FB because we can have these little inconsequential but fun conversations that would not have been possible, or likely to ever happen, otherwise! I'm also chatting with certain other people that I would not have made the time to call or to email. I notice they are online and I send a quick "hello" which is sometimes not much more than that and sometimes it turns into a lenghty catch-up conversation. I am proud to be a Facebook Addict. No need to send me information on a 12-step program. I'm good.

Time is whizzing by...

2009-01-11T09:56:00.003-05:00

Tap, tap, tap...

Hello?

Is this this still on? Can you hear me out there...?

Sorry I have been so silent around here.

What can I say? Life has been a tad BUSY.

Unoriginal? Yes.

The honest truth? Absolutely.

My "part-time" job often feels like a job and a half...perhaps because motherhood does constitute a full-time job and therefore I really AM doing a job and a half. Makes sense to me.

It makes me wonder where the happy medium exists. When I was home with the girls I felt, in a way, 'busy' - but a lot of it was just busy work (laundry, errands, preschool pickup/dropoff, etc...) and I did not feel like I was using even a small fraction of my brain most days. It was mundane and predictable and I had quite a bit of time in which to do all that mundane stuff. I could procrastinate on chores because after all, "tomorrow is another day."

Now, however, my brain is on overdrive as I learn all the new things I need to know for my job, I am rushing through my days and feeling like I don't have enough time in the day to do it all, and the faster I run the behinder I seem to get...not to mention the big behind that I AM getting because I have no time to actually "run" (or walk). I miss my morning walks with Lauri. We used to walk from 6-7am. I now leave for work by 7:15 three days a week and the other two days are jammed packed with all the things I used to spread out over the course of a whole week.

I honestly do not know how any mom with young children can work full time and still manage to stay sane. Each and every one of them deserve an award - one that includes lots of cash and yearly allowances of chocolate and wine!

So, what exactly has been going on in the Elastic Waistland? Let's see...

We had a lovely Christmas here at home. Rick's brother and nephew visited from Virginia and were here for about 5 days. Santa was very good to the girls and they loved their gifts. Eldest girl loved her crystal growing kit, her snake and manatee webkinz, and her new books. Middle girl's favorites were her new dollhouse (taller than she is), the seal webkinz, and her vet kit. And youngest girl seemed pleased with just about everything, but especially her Little Pet Shop virutal pet. Santa gave her that because she had been asking for a Tamagotchi for a while but this virtual pet seemed more age-appropriate (I'm just guessing as to Santa's rationale for not getting her the real thing, of course - what do I know?).

Just after Christmas I decided to get back on track with my exercise and try to get my weight back under control and did a treadmill workout. I figured I would be fine with an interval workout that included some hills. Boy, was I wrong. I ended up wrenching my back but good and was flat out for three days in bed and literally could not move without excruciating pain. I iced it, took plenty of Advil, and have been to my chiropractor three times in the last week. It is definitely getting better but it's still not quite right.

I'm now officially afraid to exercise. The pain was that bad. Being afraid to exercise is not good if I hope to get the weight off. Not good at all. I am going to wait for another while before I try to get on the treadmill again and I will NOT be doing any hills. Nice and flat and slow to begin. My back problems are making me feel old. Old, I tell ya!

During the week or so that I was incapacitated Rick took care of everything. He is amazing and I'm so blessed to call him mine! The poor guy was probably happy to head back to work after the New Year's holiday. Work probably seemed relaxing after the week he had at home taking care of everything.

Now that the holidays are over and it's the start of a New Year (how the heck did that happen?) we have already begun to look ahead to vacation planning. It's that time of year, after all. Time to think about summer vacation destinations and what we may be able to afford. I have been bringing in a good amount of money this year but, fortunately or unfortunately, most of it is paying for a new roof. Sexy, huh? Just what I always wanted to spend thousands of dollars on. A new roof! Yee. Haw. I am thankful that we will be able to just pay for it outright and not deal with a bank loan but it's just not all that gratifying to get a new roof, ya know? I mean, if it were leaking and causing problems already it would be a relief to have a new roof and it might make spending that kind of cash somewhat more palatable. But of course I don't want to wait for that to happen. It is much more sensible to plan ahead and take care of things before they become an issue. Sensible is never very exciting, is it?

So, vacation planning thus far is limited in my mind to an April vacation visit to Virginia to stay with Rick's brother and nephew for a few days and perhaps a long weekend or two to the Cape to stay with my parents. The Cape is nice enough, don't get me wrong, but when you grow up there it sort of loses it's "vacation" appeal. In fact, we prefer to visit there on the off-season when it's more peaceful and serene and the beaches are nearly empty.

Other than that - there is not a whole lot going on around here. Rick and I are both busy with work. My MIL is being a saint about taking the girls when we need her to based on my somewhat crazy schedule. In fact, she even offered to feed them dinner last night and put them to bed so Rick and I could go out on a long overdue date night. We happily took her up on the offer and went out to see Gran Torino (I would recommend it) and went out to a favorite local restaurant for dinner. It was lovely - a much needed break.

The girls are doing well all around. Eldest and Middle girl are doing well at school. Eldest has been making strides in her ability to talk in class. She did a book report recently where she had to present a poster she had made about the book and she also had to present some information with a classmate about Native American Pottery. Both presentations went very well according to Eldest girl. I was relieved to hear that she has been making such huge strides in this area! Middle girl is learning to read and for Christmas I bought her some My Little Pony beginning reader books. She is doing so well and impressed grandma last night by reading one of them to her before bed. Youngest girl is finally getting used to going to her godmother's daycare. It took most of the fall before she really started to feel comfortable and I was worried about going back after the break. Thankfully, she adjusted again very quickly to the old routine.

Due to Youngest girl's long adjustment period to daycare and my work schedule, we have opted not to send her off to our beloved little preschool next year. She is going to continue to go to daycare for at least one more year. I'm very sad about it but cannot fathom working out a sane schedule when I work three full days (Tu, Th, and Fr) and the preschool is only four half days (Monday through Thursday). It would be difficult and I am only hoping that we can manage to deal with it for a year so that she will have the experience of going to that same school that the older two attended. Time will tell.

Ok, I think I've babbled long enough and probably many of you tuned out long before this last paragraph. I will try to post more often so that I don't ramble like this again in the near future!

School Pictures are In!

2008-11-03T20:11:00.004-05:00

Just got the girls school portraits today and had to share! :-) I think they both came out great (as their mother I can, of course, give an unbiased opinion on such matters...ahem).

My third grader

My kindergartener

OK, now that you have seen my cute kids you can get to bed so that tomorrow you can get up bright and early and GO VOTE! Polls open at 7am around here and I'm sure they are open early at a polling station near you. Just do it!

Project: Rocker

2008-10-18T17:05:00.005-04:00

When I was pregnant with Youngest girl we found a glider rocker very cheap at a tag sale. It was missing the original cushions and someone had thrown on some ugly throw pillows in their place . But, the price was right and I am handy with a sewing machine and a big bag of fiberfill so we bought it and put it in the nursery. I bought some fabric to match the nursery quilt and sewed up some cushions. That rocker served us very well through Youngest girl's babyhood. We spent many cozy hours rocking and nursing in that chair.

Once we put Youngest girl's toddler bed into the room there was not quite enough room to leave the rocker in there. So, we moved it to our living room and there it sat - for more time than I care to admit - clashing quite nicely with our living room furniture. In fact, we had not intended to just leave it there but it became a comfortable addition to the room. So, then I decided I would find time to recover the cushions and it could stay there. But, somehow I never made it to the fabric store for that purpose or if I did go there I forgot about buying fabric for that project.

A couple of weeks ago I had to go to JoAnn's fabrics on a Halloween-related errand and while I was there I remembered to actually buy some fabric! Yay! And this past week I finally made the time to get the project started. It took until today to finish it, but now it is done and looking quite lovely! (I'm so modest...but seriously...doesn't it look nice? And way more living room-ish? And I'm really liking the fabric which is such a buttery soft sueded something or other.)

So, there you have it. My latest sewing project. I have also been working on knitting a few pairs of baby socks to donate to the church craft fair which is coming up in November. I need to take some photos so I can share them here. They are so cute! (There I go again, being all modest and crap.)

October 12 of 12 (and Date Night!)

2008-10-13T09:04:00.008-04:00

This month we had a great day for the 12 of 12 (see Chad's site for the 411 on 12 of 12). The weather was absolutely beautiful, the fall colors are at their peak, and it was a Sunday so we could spend the day (mostly) as we pleased.

Church - 10:30am

Some friends who had moved away were back visiting this weekend and we got to see them all at church. Middle girl is standing with her friend C who was born two days before her. Yes, they both turned 6 this month - even though Middle girl is nearly a head taller. LOL

Church - noon

Leaving church - isn't it a gorgeous day?

After lunch we decided that we would take the girls apple-picking in a local orchard.
Cold Spring Apple Orchard - 1:45pm

How do you like them apples?

So big that Middle girl can barely carry more than two.

Look, ma! It's as big as my face!

The apples of my eye.

There was a geocache (go to http://www.geocaching.org for the 411 on that!) not far from the orchard so we figured we try to find it.

On the trail - 1:50pm

Rebeca took this picture of me and Rick (and if you look between Rick's legs you can see Middle girl hiding behind him)

Off the beaten path - 2:00pm

Rick on the hunt for the cache.

Trailside - 2:10pm

Success! The girls got to choose a trinket and we left a few behind. And on the way out of the cache we met some fellow geocachers...a dad and daughter team who were out for their fourth find. It was the first time in all the years we've been caching that we actually met someone on the trail who was also out geocaching! We've been out before and suspected that another group or person on the trail was a geocacher but it seems verboten to yell out "hey, are you a geocacher"?

Date Night! To end the day off on a wonderful note Rick and I had managed to arrange for a date night. We were long overdue - or at least it felt that way. We dropped the girls off at Rick's parents' house and headed out for a late afternoon hike to enjoy the foliage and the views on the top of a nearby mountain. The weather was absolutely perfect, but the mosquitoes were a bit insane for this time of year. And the mountain itself was swarming with other like-minded individuals who wanted to enjoy the day to the fullest. I think we passed at least 30 other groups of hikers on our way up the mountain.
Mt. Norwottuck - 5:00pm

We made it to the top!

This picture does not do justice to the great colors we saw.

On the way down - 5:20pm

Artsy fartsy fall foliage snapshot. A nice way to end this 12 of 12.

After our hike we did get out to dinner and had a delicious meal with wine, dessert and even a Bailey's coffee for me. Yum. It was relaxing to just sit and chat with no interruptions and eat some really great food that we didn't have to prepare, serve or clean up after (and no need to cut someone else's food into bite sized pieces). The end of our date night was a romantic trip to Target. We had to get some essentials like TP and paper towels and we also got a few gifts for Youngest girl who will turn three on Sunday! (Seriously!) We resisted the urge to buy a fire pit even though that would have been a romantic thing to buy on date night. But, we just don't need it and we are trying to be more mindful of the stuff we buy.

It was a great 12th of the month and I'm so glad I remembered it was 12 of 12 so I could make a record of our day. Now I'm off to post this to Chad's site and to check out what other folks did on their 12 of 12!

Cel-ah-brate good times...

2008-10-08T07:49:00.004-04:00

I hope I'm not dating myself with that song for my title.

Middle girl celebrated her birthday in style on Sunday and Monday. Sunday was the friend party at the local gymnastics school where she has been taking classes for about 3 years. She had nine friends along with her two sisters as guests and they all had a ball with the "party people" Ann-Marie and her husband Bobbie.

Here are a few choice photos from the party:

A gaggle of girls ganging up on Bobbie.

The birthday girl waiting for instructions (along with friend M).

Eldest girl enjoying Ann-Marie's antics.

Youngest girl stuck close to me for the entire party with the exception of this short
stint on the trampoline - which she obviously enjoyed thoroughly!

Cake time! And for the record, I can no longer be called 'Martha on Crack' (right, K?). I forked over big bucks to let someone else run the party AND I bought the cake from the local bakery!

Present time - with help from mom and friend N.

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On Monday she woke up at 6:30 and I was able to wish her a happy birthday on the exact moment of her birth - 6:53am. Hard to believe that this baby is now six!

(....and equally hard to believe that the other "baby" in the photo - who seemed soooo big at the time - is going to be 9 this winter).

At school she celebrated with all her classmates. Her sisters and I ate lunch with her in the classroom and then we handed out cupcakes (homemade but with canned frosting - see, K? No Martha living here no mo'). This teacher does such a nice job of making the child feel special on their birthday (and even the summer birthday kids get to celebrate before the end of the year). During circle time they do a special little birthday 'ceremony' and sing a special song. One child sits in a chair holding a small candle - this child is the "sun". The birthday child carries a globe and walks around the sun as many times as they are old to signify how many times the earth has been around the sun since they were born. The teacher also reads the A.A. Milne poem "When I am Six" to the child and the class then sings a second 'birthday song' which is not the traditional birthday song. I don't know the words to the songs but they are both very sweet. :-) Oh yeah, and a birthday story is also read to the class and the birthday child gets to take home a special book bag of birthday stories to read at home. I can't say enough how much I love Ms. W!!!

Here are a few pics from the school celebration:

Putting on her special crown.

Circling the 'sun'!

A special birthday poem.

Lunch with mom and sisters.

Happy Birthday!

Time for cupcakes!

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And last but not least we celebrated with my in-laws by having them over for dinner that night! Middle girl requested chicken with spaghetti sauce over pasta and green beans. Nothing fancy so it was an easy relaxed dinner...and of course...more cake for dessert! :-)

All in all, a wonderful couple of days to celebrate the day we first met our very special Middle girl!

Expecting a Fair(l)y Small Visitor

2008-10-04T22:33:00.006-04:00

Updated!

The big news today in E.W. is that Middle girl lost her first tooth! And "lost" is a good way to put it because she literally lost it. She was eating an apple and accidentally swallowed it. I think we were all very surprised because she had not been complaining of a loose tooth and then bam! it was gone. She was upset at first but luckily Eldest girl had something similar happen not that long ago and a note explaining the situation sufficed in getting her due from the tooth fairy. So, she figured we could just write another note and hopefully she'd get a visit too. Eldest girl helped her write the note and they left it along with a 'form' for the tooth fairy to fill out! I'll scan it and post it once the fairy has gotten a chance to fill it out. I'm curious to know if she'll actually have time to do that while she is here. I guess it depends on how many houses she needs to get to before morning...

Without further ado - here's Middle girl with her adorable gap-toothed smile.

Monday she turns 6! Which is pretty hard to believe.
And it's picture day at school so I'm hoping she will show off her new smile. :-D

10/5/08
The Tooth Fairy did, indeed, make her visit last night. Middle girl was up very early this morning to check and found four quarters and a note in a little envelope from the tooth fairy. The note gave Congrats on losing her first tooth and condolences for swallowing it. She also wished Middle girl a happy birthday! She signed the note "Your Tooth Fairy, Starr". The girls assumed that the tooth fairy did not have time to fill in the little form they left for her but mom's sharp eyes noticed the teeny, tiny handwriting on the form! Not sure it will show up here - but you should be able to click on the picture to see it larger on Flickr. She wrote her name, the date she found it and her comment was "Sorry you swallowed it!"

I'm Emailing Matt Damon!

2008-09-24T10:18:00.003-04:00

Or in reality he is emailing me! I had to call a software company on behalf of one of my students today. The tech support guy was very kind and after our brief conversation he sent met an email with some instructions to download.

If I knew how to take a 'screen shot' I'd do that but since I don't I just grabbed my camera and took this grainy shot...

Do you see what I saw when I opened my email. A message from Matt Damon to me! Me!

Ok, so his name is Damon Matt (poor guy) but it still gave me a little jolt to see his name at the top of my inbox. ;-)

It put a smile on my face today - and I needed that.
Thanks Matt, Damon.

Project: Bath

2008-09-22T07:51:00.004-04:00

People say that time flies. I think it's actually on supersonic mode right now.

I'm sitting here wondering how it got to be Monday again. Didn't I just post my Monday to-do list? (Have no fear, I won't bore you with the details of that list this week although it's nearly as long once again.)

Since I last posted I've worked three days, gone to a "back to school picnic", made it to knitting night, honed my techie skills by playing around with some software (Classroom Suite, for those educational types who might know what that is), bought a new tub, and watched Rick demolish half our bathroom.

This bathroom project is like any other home project in that its scope started out in the 'doable' range and has spread to the point that we need to bring in a plumber to deal with some issues that are impeding progress.

Initially, the plan was to rip out and replace the tiles around the tub. We were having some not insignificant leakage during showers and could not completely pinpoint or fix the issue. The tiles are nearly 40 years old and the grout was dry and crumbling so it really was time to just deal with it. Before we got started we had a number of discussions about how far we wanted to go. Did we want to replace the tub? Or not. If we pulled the tub, what about the floor? And if we have to replace the floor does it make sense to do the vanity and sink over at the same time... Project sprawl was threatening to overtake our best intentions. At one point we decided to just deal with the tiles and make a quick job of it. After the tiles were removed Rick noticed a few nicks in the porcelain tub and in the end we decided to just deal with the tub now rather than later. So, Rick got to work hammering out the tub.

And before we knew it we were at Home Depot picking out a new tub. We had looked into various options and initially I wanted to just get the same kind of tub. However, it turns out the tub I wanted was over 300 lbs and would be nearly impossible to maneuver into our tiny bathroom. It was obvious that the house had been built up around the tub. So, after a fair bit of debate we opted for a much lighter weight and relatively more portable acrylic tub (no more harsh abrasive cleaners!). One issue we knew about when purchasing the tub was that it was a bit deeper than our old tub and would thus require some 'simple' plumbing (is it ever truly simple?) to move the tub spout higher up. However, once Rick got into the nitty gritty of "how to install" the tub we realized that the drain was also going to be in the wrong spot. And of course moving the drain and the spout means it would no longer line up with the rest of the plumbing. Oh dear. What was that I said about project sprawl?

On the list for today is to call a plumber (or three) for estimates on dealing with our plumbing-related project woes. Rick is loathe to hire out for household projects because he can deal with 99 out of 100 home repair or remodel issues. It's true. He is the ultimate Mr. Handyman which has saved us boatloads of cash over the years. But, this is just one of those times that my gut tells me that professional assistance is warranted. I think Rick agrees (mostly). What can I say? He's a Taurus and they are known for their stubbornness...

So, between work and the bathroom remodeling I've been rather occupied. Not that I've been doing any of the remodel work myself, but the fretting about it has been keeping me busy enough. Since I'm a Virgo I'm prone to worrying...(and a bit of perfectionism to boot which is why the thought of installing a tub/shower with misaligned plumbing was making me cringe ~~just a wee bit~~ a fair bit).

Off to take a shower in the downstairs bathroom (luckily we have two bathrooms!) and get dressed for the day!

Not bad...

2008-09-15T21:38:00.005-04:00

I think I did pretty well in checking off a lot of my to-do list for today!

TJ's shopping

make appointment with my hairdresser

pick out tile at home improvement store

*clean/organize for the week ahead
well - sort of. I did get some cleaning done and things are too bad around here but this is one of those to-do items that I never feel like I fully accomplish!

*laundry (get the piles folded and put away)
Another item that gets a "sort of" rating. I processed more laundry but still have my mountain to fold and put away. Key word when it comes to Jeanne vs. the laundry - procrastination.

*start another pair of baby socks
Nope. Didn't get started on this one. I had hoped to start it at the meeting tonight (see below) but I ended up chatting with the moms I knew there instead.

*find out the mailing addresses for the kids in Middle girl's classroom who will be invited to her party
One down - three more to go on this list!

attend the meeting at school this evening for Eldest girl's violin lessons
However, now Eldest girl has decided she is not at all excited about violin now that she has learned that there will be at home practicing going on and she also said it was "too hard to learn." Sigh... I told her she can't say that until she tried. She has to at least go to a few lessons but that I won't force her or argue with her about it if she doesn't want to do it. I just don't have it in me to force her to do something that is supposed to be 'fun'!

exercise
Took Youngest girl on a walk - we had intended to go to the farm to visit the sheep, llamas, and cows but she fell asleep within 10 minutes so I just walked the neighborhood for 45 minutes while she slept.

make into banana bread
delish!

* return bottles at the grocery store
nope.

Tally for the day:

6 full check marks
3 partial/sort of check marks
2 unchecked items

oh, and I can check an additional item off my list:

bore everyone to tears with my blog posts!

Monday Monday

2008-09-15T08:34:00.005-04:00

Yep - it's Monday again. And the to-do list is getting longer by the minute.

*grocery shopping at Trader Joe's (what would I ever do without TJ's?)

*call to make an appointment with my hairdresser for Wednesday (I've been wanting a haircut for weeks now and just haven't had time!)

*take a trip down to the home improvement outlet store to pick out tile (our shower tiles are nearly 40 years old and we are having leakage into the basement - time for a re-do on the tub surround and we've decided to just rip out and replace the wallboard and tiles)

*clean/organize for the week ahead

*laundry (get the piles folded and put away)

*start another pair of baby socks (I've been using my leftover sock yarns to make itty bitty baby socks for the November craft fair at church - they knit up fairly quickly which is great!)

*find out the mailing addresses for the kids in Middle girl's classroom who will be invited to her party (the class list came home on Friday with only names and phone numbers!)

*attend the meeting at school this evening for Eldest girl's violin lessons (The school has a grant that gives 3rd through 6th graders a chance to try out instruments for next to nothing. We will pay a $50 maintenance fee for the year and she decided to try out violin...she could only choose from stringed instruments in 3rd grade...next year she will have the option to try a wind instrument).

*exercise? I am not sure this will fit in the schedule today but I missed my walk this morning (sorry, Lauri!) because my alarm malfunctioned!! So, I am thinking it might be possible to put Youngest girl in the stroller and walk the neighborhood. Time is looking a bit tight today so we'll see.

And now I feel like I've killed two birds with one stone - I posted on my blog AND created my to-do list for the day. I feel like there is something I wanted/needed to do that I am forgetting though. Hmmmm...time to get dressed and if I think of it I'll post an update.

Because I know that reading about my Monday to-do list has you on the edge of your seat.

Now I remember! I walked into the kitchen and saw the brown spotty bananas I want to make into banana bread! Off to put that in the oven so it can bake before we leave to run our errands. And I better hope I get some exercise in today if I am going to be eating banana bread...

Oh yeah, and I wanted to return bottles at the grocery store (not TJ's...)! Hmmm....fitting a whole week's worth of to-do list items in one day is challenging!

September 12 of 12

2008-09-13T08:47:00.007-04:00

12 of 12 time again, folks! For the uninitiated, check out the details with Chad. Basically, it's 12 pictures taken on the 12th day of each month. Check out Chad's blog for links to others' 12 of 12 entries - its a fun, cheap way to take a trip around the world!

12 of 12
September 2008

Home
o'dark hundred (nearly)
Up early this morning to get in my morning walk with Lauri

7:00am
Arrived home to find all three kiddos up for the day.

7:15am
Cup of caffiene compliments of two birthday gifts. The girls gave me the french press and my awesome friend Tux sent me the huge mug. I'm a Speech-Language Pathologist - aka SLP - and the mug says "SLP - We have ways of making you talk!" LOL

7:35
Lunch prep for my two grade-schoolers - Eldest girl's lunch is on the right, middle girl's on the left.

8:30am
Showing off my new camera. This month I am taking my 12 of 12 pics with my brand spanking new camera (another awesome birthday gift! Thank you, Rick!) and since it can't easily take a picture of itself I opted to take a picture of the website showing the model I got. Mine is silver.

Stop & Shop Plaza
10:40am
Youngest girl went on errands with me this morning. Stop & Shop for groceries and the Dollar Store for goody bag items for Middle girl's birthday party.

A 'tea and eatery' place
12:45pm
I dropped Youngest girl off with my mother-in-law and joined a friend for a belated birthday lunch. This was the dessert we shared.

The Common
2:00pm
'Trash to Treasures' sale on the Common. Every year there is a used furniture sale to benefit the local survival center here in town. Since we live an area flush with college-aged kids it's held at the start of the fall semester and there are lots of cast-off plaid couches to be had!

Home again
4:45pm
Looking at the front hall closet with Rick and taking some measurements. We want to install some shelves on one side where the girls backpacks can be stored when they get home from school.

6:15pm
Dinner has been eaten and enjoyed. Rick is putting away the leftovers. Bowtie pasta, chicken and broccoli with a cheese sauce on the side (since a certain 5 year old prefers to eat her food unadorned).

8:20pm
Kids are in bed and now it's time for some knitting and a movie.

10:05pm
Movie has ended and I managed to finish my second sock!

Bonus picture with a bonus question: What movie did we watch last night?

Overheard in E.W.*

2008-09-09T19:56:00.005-04:00

[Sitting at the computer in the living room in the middle of the afternoon]

Eldest girl (running into the room): I am a vampire! I just bit you and now you are a vampire, Mom!

Middle girl: Grrrrr! I bit you too! You're a vampire!

Youngest girl (being the mimic as usual): I bite you so you ah a wampiya! Arrrrr!

Eldest girl: We are all vampires!

[Mayhem ensues as the vampires rush around the room, growling. After a few moments the 'vampires' flop onto the couch to catch their breath.]

Middle girl: Hey! You wanna pretend we are piggies now?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Idea for this title shamelessly stolen from this site where I have wasted time amusing myself now and again.

Working Mom

2008-09-08T09:14:00.000-04:00

Phew.

Made it through the first couple of "prep" weeks at work. The real down-to-business work starts this coming week. And it will be my first three-day week. The last two weeks I have worked two days a week and even that was exhausting and required some scheduling forethought and planning.

I have not yet found my work groove. The transition back to work is harder than I had thought in some ways, although I do have a significant amount of support and help in making it work. At times I question my sanity over my decision to become a working mom. Having two girls in school full time makes it more doable but it still requires orchestrating the day so that there is coverage both in the early morning and in the late afternoon. My work schedule does not allow me to be here at both ends of the day - and on some days I can't be here for either time and need to rely on Rick and his mom to fill in the blanks. And I need to make sure we are all on the same page so everyone knows who is responsible for what. I am hoping that it is just a matter of time before we become accustomed to the busier pace and the schedule is just part of the fabric of our lives with only a little stitch here or a patch there to keep it going smoothly.

And please God, don't let anyone get sick. I have already suffered a head cold this past week and actually went into work thereby potentially infecting my coworkers. In my defense I was unsure whether I was suffering from allergies or a cold but now that Eldest girl developed the exact same symptoms I can be reasonably sure that I spread my 'joy' throughout the work environment last week. Anyone who is sick this week is going to blame me for it (rightly so). But me being sick is one thing - having to decide how to manage a sick kid (or two) at home might get a bit dicey because it will be the double edged sword of mommy guilt vs. work guilt with a sprinkling of guilt over leaving my sick kids in the care of another. Here's hoping they continue to be the hearty and healthy souls that they have been in the last few years.

I had other reasons for going in to work last week even though I felt like absolute crap. I am still unclear on my itinerant work schedule and was waiting to find out about a particular classroom where I might (or might not) be working. I had waited a reasonable amount of time for someone to get back to me on the issue and I had left her a voice mail message on her cell phone. But, if you followed my previous blog posts about this workplace you can probably already guess that the message went unanswered. So, I was left still wondering about my schedule and figured the best way to get the information I needed was to show up and get the answers face-to-face. It seems the only way to get any answers from certain individuals. Upon arrival I found out from a different source that I would not, in fact, be working in that classroom. I was relieved to hear this answer but a bit annoyed that someone else was given the information days before and yet no one felt it necessary to clue me in. I am still unclear about just what my third day of work will eventually entail but it is looking promising that I will be in a school district not far from my home. I will hopefully find out more this week.

The girls seem to be mostly adjusting to the fact that mom is working more now. It actually hasn't impacted the older girls greatly. Sometimes I am not here to get them off to school but usually I am the one getting them off the bus on those days. Youngest girl is having the most difficult adjustment because she is spending two days a week with my good friend/neighbor/walking buddy/daycare provider Lauri (just how many hats can one woman wear?). She is being very brave but she has let it be known that she is not thrilled with the arrangement. She becomes easily upset when people unexpectedly arrive at the daycare (even Lauri's daughter coming off the bus was seen as an unexpected intrusion by Youngest girl. Lauri explained that her daughter LIVES in the house so it's OK for her to be there which seemed to help Youngest girl calm down a bit! LOL). I am hopeful that this year her adjustment will increasingly improve (as opposed to last spring when things started out great and deteriorated over time). Last spring she was only there sporadically whereas this year she is there twice a week so the regularity might help the situation.

Today is Monday and one of my days off. I think I will like having this day to hang out with Youngest girl and get some errands done for the week. It starts the week off on a good note.

Speaking of getting started, I really need to take a shower and get dressed so Youngest one and I can make the most of our day together!

Middle Girl Gets on the Bus

2008-09-03T08:25:00.002-04:00

Middle girl had her first full day of kindergarten yesterday! She was so excited to get on that big yellow bus right along with Eldest girl. Unfortunately, I had to be at work early so I was not there to witness the big event. I made sure that Rick took a few pictures for me and consoled myself with the fact that I did get to bring her to orientation last week and I would be watching her climb on that big bus for many days...and years...to come.

When she arrived home she had a big happy smile on her face and the first thing she said was "I love kindergarten!" - awww... I recall Eldest girl coming home from her first day with the same teacher and she said the same thing. (I love Ms. W.) The next thing she did was show me her scraped knee and told me that she had fallen on the pavement on the way in from recess. Ouch. She was no longer wearing her tights which had taken a beating in the fall and the nurse had patched her up with a bandaid and some medical tape. I joked with her that although I showed her the nurse's office and introduced her to the nurse last Friday she really didn't need to make her first visit there on the first day of school!

Later in the evening I received a very nice phone call from Ms. W. letting me know that Middle girl is a delight and that she had a very successful first day of school. (Have I mentioned how much I love this teacher?) I let her know that Middle girl loves kindergarten and thanked her for checking in with us on the first day. We also got a sign-up sheet for a 'home visit' so that Middle girl can welcome her teacher to our home and show her where she lives. I remember Eldest girl being very excited that her teacher was coming for a visit so I know Middle girl will be just as excited. I love that this teacher values the home-school connection and makes such an effort to foster that relationship from the very beginning.

After school yesterday Middle girl had her first gymnastics class of the year. Even with the scraped up knee she did a great job and had a ball. Eldest girl was upset that she was going to have to come and watch because she thought she would be bored. However, once we got there she was enthralled with watching the class and even said it looked more interesting than she had remembered. I had offered to let her try gymnastics again this year - she attended for a few sessions in preschool but gave it up in favor of art classes the last few years. But she insisted that it was Middle girl's "thing" - not hers. Now that she's seen it in action she is actually excited by the idea. I checked with the gymnastics school and found out that there is room in the older kids class that meets at the same time as Middle girl's class. Perfect! I waited until this morning to be sure she wasn't going to change her mind and this morning I will be calling to sign her up as well. I've also decided that in the best interest of everyone's sanity that I am going to cancel the Monday afternoon swim classes. Between work, school and gymnastics once a week I think our plate is full enough. Swim classes might just put me (and them) over the edge. And as depressing as it feels I am going to drop the Y membership as well. I just can't fathom when I will find the time in my schedule for the two hours I need to drive there and back and get in a workout (20 minutes each way, changing, working out, showering and changing again translates to almost 2 hours!). I am going to have to step up my efforts to use my "home gym" of videos and treadmill. I really like the idea of "getting away" to do my workouts but it just isn't in the cards right now.

Off to get showered and dressed and run some errands with Youngest girl. On my list is a big ole box of tissues to get me through this stupid head cold I picked up somewhere. Ugh.

School Begins!

2008-08-30T10:19:00.006-04:00

Thursday Eldest girl was off to her first day of third grade. She was excited and happy to be headed off to school again. She was anxious to see her friends and maybe a little nervous about meeting her new teacher. We had been able to ascertain ahead of time that at least two very good friends would be in her class. I think that helped to give her some level of confidence in heading off for her first day.

She had a successful day at school and came home with stories to share of her new teacher, what her classroom is like, where and with whom she sits and all the usual first day kind of stuff. She was allowed to choose where to sit and she is at a desk next to her ~~crush~~ best friend, J, and there is another boy whose name begins with a J who sits on her other side. She found out on the first day that the "other J" likes Harry Potter - so they are off to a good start seeing as she is reading the series again for the third time...

Her second day went as well as her first. She has come home with two practice worksheets for cursive writing and has received 100% on both for her efforts which pleased her to no end. She also said that she was nervous about her teacher but has been pleasantly surprised at how great she is. I had heard mixed reviews on this teacher so far from those "in the know" who had kids in her class and she has a reputation as being a yeller. So far, so good though. And Eldest girl is already aware of the fact that if you follow the rules you'll be fine. She told Middle girl as much at dinner the other night. LOL Eldest girl is very much a "stick to the rules" kind of kid and she is very bright so I think she will get along fine with that teacher (who I have also heard works well with the kids who need/want to be challenged academically).

When did she start looking so grown-up?

Traditional 'first day' picture by the brown-eyed susans.

Picking flowers for her teacher.

Off she goes!

Just for comparison...her Kindergarten picture from 2005!

(I am laughing right now as I realize that she *still* has that Jacket!! It's a little too short on the sleeves but she likes enough that she still wants to wear it!)

****************************************************
Friday was Middle girl's Kindergarten orientation. I drove her to school at 9am to meet for an hour with her teacher, assistant teacher and a few specialists who will spend some time each day in her classroom (primarily the ESL folks since we have a large spanish-speaking population in our elementary school). She got to check out the layout of the classroom and I also took her on a brief tour of the cafeteria, library, and gym. She is very excited and can't wait for her first real day on Tuesday when she will be able to join Eldest girl on the big yellow school bus.

So big...and yet I still one of my babies. She picked flowers for her teacher, too.

Standing in front of the school.

She found her cubby!

I wanted to get a picture of her with her teacher but she adamantly refused! She is not one to be camera shy so perhaps she was thinking - "enough with the pictures, mom...it's embarrassing!" LOL Or maybe it's just not her style to share the limelight.... ;-)

Middle girl has the same teacher that Eldest girl had for Kindergarten which makes me very happy (especially considering the fact that the other two K teachers are brand new to the school this year and both are very young --- in fact, one is a brand-new grad this year from a local college). She has one boy from preschool in her class - but unlike her big sister she is all about the girlfriends. In fact, we were recently spent some time hanging out with a family that had two boys and she told me before we left, "ya know mom...boys are just not my type." She is very sad that one particular little girl from preschool is not in her class but I'm sure she'll make new friends very quickly with whatever girls are in her class. She met two girls and three boys at the orientation but both girls were extremely shy. Hopefully, Middle girl will befriend them quickly and help them feel more at ease! She had become somewhat of a leader and was more than willing to help the younger kids at preschool last year so I'm thinking those skills will be useful in her new classroom. I know she is going to love school this year!

******************************************************

As for me - I'm back to work as of this week but it was mainly procedural and planning meetings. Next week I will be visiting at least one classroom where I will be providing assistive technology support/consultation. I met the new SLP in that classroom on Monday at the SPED orientation meeting and she seems great. We are both new to the middle school environment so it will be a challenging year for us both but she seems up to the challenge and I think we'll work well together. Phew.

I have yet to completely figure out what the rest of my weeks are going to look like but I will definitely have enough consulting work to do!! My biggest challenge once I have a more or less set schedule will be to figure out childcare coverage for morning and afternoons. In most cases, I have to juggle an early start day at the middle school or high school I'll be working at with the later bus times of my elementary schoolers and the fact that some of the schools are somewhat far away which means I won't be home right at 3:20 to catch them off the bus! Thankfully, my MIL is around the corner and will be available to help out and Rick will try to work his schedule so that he can do some of the morning or afternoon coverage. We just to get a set schedule worked out so that everyone is on the same page! Ah...the life of a working mom. I'm only part-time but I have a feeling it's not going to seem like part-time once things get rolling!

To add to the crazies I'm also doing some volunteering at the school through the Parent/Guardian Organization (PGO), I'm on a committee at church for Christian Education, and I'm hoping to continue with my weekly knitting group that I joined recently. Oh and how could I forget - Middle girl has one gymnastics class a week after school, and the two older girls are signed up for an 8-week swim class which starts in a couple of weeks.

Let the crazies begin!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2008-08-21T10:26:00.006-04:00

Wait. It is August...isn't it?

Then why am I wearing a jacket to walk in 40 degree weather at 6am? And why is it still only 60 degrees at 10:30am. What happened to the three H's of summer? It's not hot, humid or hazy around here. In fact, it's feeling rather like fall. Crisp and cool.

The first day of school is next week for Eldest girl so fall is right around the corner but it is not usually this cold the week before my birthday. On Monday I brought the girls to Old Navy for some new school clothes and today Middle girl is comfortably wearing a pair of jeans that we bought there. It is seriously too cold for it to be August.

However, the cool weather has not stopped us from enjoying our last days of summer 2008. Yesterday I took the girls - and my in-laws - on a picnic outing to a local state park that has a nice beach. I had never been there before but Rick and his family used to camp there every summer when he was a kid. I have been meaning to get out to visit this park for many years but every year it seems to elude me and I kick myself for not having made the time yet again. I was not going to let that happen this year so even though the temps were not supposed to reach more than 70ish degrees I decided that we would go ahead with the plans we had made earlier in the week. Part of the motivation to go was also the chance to find another geocache. I entered the coordinates in the GPS, packed a lunch and a swim bag (just in case the girls were brave enough to try a bit of swimming on such a cool day) and we were off.

The park is only about 35 minutes away so it seems ridiculous that I hadn't been there before. And the park itself is a gem. Nice clean beach, clean restrooms and changing area, picnic areas with grills, plenty of hiking trails and a beautiful lake which I hope we can take a canoe and/or kayak out on one of these days (We own a not oft-used canoe but we can't all fit in it and I am soooo tempted to buy a kayak. I just can't seem to justify the expense right now even though it would mean we might all be able to get out on the water together and therefore use the canoe - and the kayak - more frequently). We enjoyed a nice picnic, took a 2-ish mile round trip hike to the cache and the girls actually did enjoy swimming in the lake once it got a tad bit warmer in the afternoon sun.

The girls and their grandparents on the trail.

We also recently traveled down to Cape Cod to visit my parents for a few days where we spent some time at the beach, found some geocaches, and visited with various cousins, aunts and uncles. That trip was during the week so Rick had to stay home and work but the girls and I enjoyed that one last jaunt to the beach. I had also hoped to visit with my good friend K and her boys but she ended up in the hospital with a broken ankle the night we arrived on the Cape! Poor dear! (But, I mean really K - if you didn't want to see me you could've just said so...) ;-) I'm hoping to get down to the Cape again in the fall - perhaps she'll be healing nicely by then and we can get together for a few much-needed drinks out on the town. No excuses!

Next week we are back to the grind - at least partially. I have a meeting Monday morning and will be working on Thursday getting prepped for the new year. And since I agreed to work on my birthday I informed my coworkers that we will be going out after work for a drink or two to ~~drown my sorrows over the passing of another year~~ celebrate. Eldest girl starts school that day and I was so pleased to learn that she will have at least two very good friends in her class this year - both are boys and one in particular she has a HUGE crush on (and which is fully reciprocated! Yikes!). The following week we'll be in full swing with Middle girl starting Kindergarten and Youngest girl starting back to daycare with my neighbor. She had such a rough time of it at the end of last spring that I'm a bit nervous. However, she is a bit older and she will be going more consistently to daycare (twice a week rather than somewhat sporadically). She will also spend one day a week with grandma and grandad which will please her to no end.

I have the older girls signed up for Monday afternoon swim classes and Middle girl is also taking a gymnastics class on Tuesday after school. Youngest girl wants to take dance classes but I have yet to find a class that fits our schedule and I already feel like this fall is going to be packed now that I'm back to work 3 days/week. Oy.

And I was thinking that summer flew by in the blink of an eye? Fall is shaping up to go even faster.

12 of 12 - August 2008

2008-08-12T19:37:00.005-04:00

It's time for some 12 of 12 fun again!

I assume you know what I'm talking about (if you don't - click here for more info from dear Chad).

This month we are fortunate to have some visiting family who are making a cameo in this month's 12 of 12. Rick's brother and nephew are visiting here from Virginia. Since it was expected to be a rather drizzly gray day we decided to take the kids to a local science museum. So, most of today's photos are from there.

Home
My morning joe in my Curtains mug. The little white things on the counter behind the mug right next to the sink are two ant baits. We are having significant ant issues this year and they are driving me batty!

My current ~~obssession~~ read. Great book - hard to put down. I'm less than 100 pages from finishing this 1000ish page tome.

Springfield Science Museum
10:30am
My three girls and their cousin in front of the huge dino that greets us near the front entrance.

A huge and beautiful Josh Simpson blown glass planet. I have a small one of these that a former boss gave me when I was leaving my job to start graduate school. This one is much bigger! I think mine could be compared to a golf ball and this one is more like a beach ball. They are so amazing - this picture does not do it justice.

The kids putting coins in the big black hole/vortex thing. (Middle girl is not actually picking her nose...).

Grandma was with us on this outing. Here she and Middle Girl are examining part of the dinosaur egg exhibit that was currently on display.

Uncle W, cousin T, Middle girl and Youngest girl checking out the "shake table" that was part of the earthquake exhibit.

Resident Rock Collector (Eldest girl) next to a large amethyst geode. She has had a particular affection for amethyst since finding out it is her birthstone.

A replica wigwam is a great pace for goofing off.

Teapot restaurant - Northampton
The museum was fun but it was time for some food. We went to a great little Japanese/Chinese restaurant where Eldest girl thoroughly enjoyed a plate of beef lo mein.

Youngest girl enjoyed a bit of this and a bit of that (mostly rice, dumplings and scallion pancakes). I'm most including this picture to show her boo-boo chin from Sundays stitches incident (per Tuxbaby's request). It's not much to see because I'm keeping it well protected with a bandage. She's healing quite nicely and by the end of the week they will take out the stitches.

Home again
I'm taking the girls to visit my parents for a few days this week. We are hoping for some good beach weather so we can get one last beach fling in before the weather turns. So, this evening aside from doing my 12 of 12 job I'm also packing up so we can hit the road bright and early tomorrow!

A stitch in time...

2008-08-11T19:22:00.009-04:00

It was only a matter of time.

We have been parenting for nearly eight and a half years and not a stitch to be had on any of our kids.

That is - until yesterday when Youngest Girl achieved the distinction of becoming the first to injure herself to the point of needing a quick trip to the doctor's for stitches. Five, to be exact.
(She just had to be first at something, I guess...)

She had been outside with Rick, her two older sisters, her cousin and her uncle and they were playing a variety of games requiring a ball. At one point the girls decided to start throwing the ball onto the play structure platform. However, there were a lot of rocks (collected by Eldest Girl/resident rock collector) sitting in precarious positions along the edges of the platform. Rick suggested that all the rocks be moved into a nearby wagon and the girl complied. Youngest Girl was interested by the assortment of rocks and apparently found a piece of slate in the wagon and then decided to climb back up to the platform by way of the rope ladder. Climbing one-handed while hanging onto the largish piece of slate did not go well and she slipped and fell, catching her chin on the sharp edge of the rock. Rick carried her in screaming and I saw the amount of blood and immediately ran for a wet towel. She calmed down rather quickly and we were able to assess the damage which looked very much in need of a few stitches to my completely untrained (and uninitiated-in-the-ways-of-huge-gashes-to-my-baby's-face!) eye.

We were fortunate to have an uncle and two grandparents in close proximity at the moment so Rick and I left the older two in their capable hands and rushed off to the doctor's office . I had called seeking advice (having never dealt with huge gashes in my baby's face in 8 years of parenting as I may have already mentioned...) and they told us to bring her right in. I was thankful that we were not going to have to go to the ER and sit and wait interminably for help.

Rick sat in the back of the car and held some gauze to her chin while I drove. I was feeling pretty high strung and concerned about what was to come - as was Rick. Youngest Girl was either completely exhausted from lack of nap or so shocked and traumatized by the experience that she promptly fell asleep. Perhaps it was a combination of the two. She slept for about 15 of the 20 minutes it took to get to the office. Once there she woke up but was rather groggy - which may have helped with what came next.

The nurse checked us in and shortly thereafter the doctor arrived to assess the wound. One of the nurses in the office suggested that they might be able to use a kind of wound super glue to repair the gash but we were soon to learn that due to the angle and location of the wound stitches were going to be necessary. Youngest girl sat very still and quiet while the doc prodded and probed around the site of the wound (which was too much for me to watch and I was thankful that Rick was the one holding her). Once the proclamation of stitches was made the doctor and nurse got to work prepping the room and Youngest girl was laid on the table and restrained by a straitjacket-like device that was slyly referred to as a "papoose." I thought for sure she would kick up a fuss at being removed from Rick's lap and restrained but she remained amazingly calm. The nurse was stationed at her head to keep it steady while the doctor worked so I sat by her feet and held on to her legs to let her know I was close. Rick stayed near her head and she was able to see him.

She was so very brave during the whole process. Much braver than I felt. The hardest part was the novocain when her eyes welled up and she whimpered but she stayed very still and let the doctor do what needed to be done. It was very quiet in the room during the procedure and I was so tense that I realized I was not just holding her legs but actually griping them to the point that I was probably restricting blood flow. I would not make a very good nurse.

Once it was all done the doctor put a bandage over her FIVE stitches and gave her a special sticker just for kids who had gotten stitches! She was also allowed to pick five stickers - one for each stitch - from the general sticker bin which made her very happy. She walked out with two princesses, two SpongeBob, and a Big Bird and with big plans to share her loot with her sisters and cousin.

She was given extremely high marks from both nurses we encountered as well as the doctor. They all said she was by far the bravest kid they have ever encountered who needed stitches! In fact, the nurse who was not in the room during the procedure could not figure out what was taking so long because she figured she'd been hearing howls and screams coming from the room if there were stitches involved. She could not believe that Youngest Girl got five stitches and there was not a peep to be heard!

Way to go, Brave Youngest Girl! But, for mom's sake please avoid the need to be so brave in the future! No more stitches, please.

Home Again.

2008-08-07T19:23:00.009-04:00

We've been home for almost a week actually. Just have not had the inclination to write about the vacation. I think I've been enjoying the lingering feelings and not really ready to share them just yet. We had a wonderful and relaxing time. I promise I will post some choice pictures soon. As soon as the mood strikes.

I had dinner with a good friend last night. It was a lovely dinner and I enjoyed getting back in touch. We haven't had time to get together in many months. She shared with me some stuff she is going through right now and my heart aches for her. If you want to say a prayer for "Jeanne's friend" I'm sure she would appreciate it. I know God is keeping her close right now and will know she is the one who needs the extra prayers.

We are getting yet another insane thunderstorm this evening. The sky has been rumbling on and off all day and the skies are randomly letting loose in torrents of rain. This has been the Summer of the Thunderstorms. Somehow we lucked out last week and had fair skies for most of our vacation and very little rain. But, now that we are home again, the rain seems to be making up for lost time. And if you believe the weathermen there is plenty more rain in our future.
Geesh - enough!

This morning I went to work for an organizational meeting to get ready for the upcoming school year. I can't say we got incredibly more organized but it was fun catching up with everyone and getting a slightly clearer picture of what my schedule is going to look like for the new year. I will be starting the year off doing two days a week, but the understanding is that I will increase to three days once the schedule begins to fill in. I also found out that I will be getting (hopefully sooner rather than later) my very own brand-new laptop. Talk about feeling officially official! I nearly bought myself a laptop last spring but really couldn't justify the expense since most of my hours were on-site in our office where I had access to a desktop. Any other computer needs were easily met here at home on my desktop. But, starting next month I will be out in the field most of my work days and a laptop is going to be a necessity, not a luxury. Thankfully, I did not have to plead my case too strongly. The SPED director does have to justify the purchase but I didn't have to go into much detail because she realizes that a traveling "assistive technology specialist" needs to have a portable computer. Apparently, the organization is in general trying to move away from laptop purchases because they don't last very long and many of the other specialists do not have laptops. But, in our area of expertise the technology really needs to travel with us wherever we go. Period.

We have a few more weeks left before school begins. My brother-in-law and nephew are arriving on Saturday from Virginia for a week's visit and at the tail end of that visit I have plans to drive to the Cape with the girls for a mid-week visit with my parents. I am sorely missing the water and the smell of the ocean so I'm trying to fit one last beach visit in this month. Rick has to work so he's going to be staying home (and probably enjoying the peace and quiet of an empty house...I think I may have to figure out a way to work out a deal like that for myself some day!! I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be alone in the house for a few days...and how I would make use of all that free time!).

My birthday is coming up at the end of the month and although Rick has asked what I would like to do I have no really great ideas. In fact, at today's staff meeting I found out that orientation is three days before my birthday and we ended up scheduling a planning day ON my birthday. It just so happens that my birthday is also Eldest girl's first day of school (which seems way too early for me because school always started the Tuesday after Labor Day when I was growing up). So, I'll be busy getting her on the bus, getting the other two off to some kind of yet-to-be-arranged childcare situation (Middle girl's first day of Kindergarten is not until the following Tuesday!!), and spending the day getting prepped for our first full week of work. I also made plans to out for a quick drink with my coworkers to celebrate my birthday!

Life is flying by. Summer has been great so far and I can't believe that the need to go shopping for school supplies and clothing is essentially upon us. But, as much as I'm enjoying summer I have to say that autumn is my favorite season and I am looking forward to it. I love crisp blue skies in the morning, apple-picking followed by warm apple pies, walks in the woods with leaves crunching underfoot, and all the goodness that is autumn in New England.

Christmas In July

2008-07-26T06:36:00.004-04:00

I feel like a kid at Christmas!

I woke up before six this morning and could not go back to sleep. I was too excited. We are off to Maine today!

Rick and I got the packing done last night - all we need to do it find a way to fit everything into the car, get breakfast for everyone, make sure the rats are set for a couple of days and do the last minute stuff that is required when leaving a house empty for a week.

Our fabulous neighbor Lauri is going to keep watch over things for us - she's going to check in on the rats a couple of times, water the garden if it needs it, and put out the trash for us on Monday. In fact, she is so fabulous she is even going to make a run to Michael's during the week to get us some more Sculpey clay which is finally on sale again -we have been waiting for about a month for it to go on sale so I could buy them more and of course the stupid stuff is on sale this week, Sunday to Saturday! Yes, she's a keeper.

Before we leave we are going to give Youngest girl a dose of Dramamine and hope that she doesn't end up with a bout of carsickness. She has had about 3 or 4 incidences of vomiting during car rides seemingly at random. These bouts occur anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour into a car ride and we can only assume that it is carsickness because she never seems very sick after emptying her stomach of its contents. Most local drives have been incident-free, thankfully - it's the long hauls that seem to be the most vomit-inducing. Today I would like to avoid a puke scented car on our 4-5 hour journey so I'm giving the Dramamine a try. Here's hoping it works. It can also cause drowsiness which might not be such a bad thing for our long trip...

I've packed some reading materials for the trip. I'm midway through Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner, which I am enjoying. I also packed a novel by Tracy Chevalier called The Lady and the Unicorn which I had actually started a while ago and was enjoying but hadn't found the time to finish for some reason or other. And lastly, being completely overambitious in regard to my reading list for the week, I included a copy of Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Rick and his mom have given it rave reviews (I just asked Rick for the author's name and he said "don't start that book on vacation - you'll get sucked into it!") and so I threw it in the bag to start if I finish the other two books. I'll hopefully be having too much fun sailing, swimming, walking along the beach, and playing shuffleboard to actually read much but I'm bringing them as insurance against rain. If I don't bring any books it is sure to rain...right? That's my theory anyway. In fact, we are also bringing along some board games like Monopoly and Sorry to ward off the raindrops. Maybe I should pack a 1000-piece puzzle while I'm at for a little extra insurance. Actually, that might be like hand-delivering the rain an invitation to our little vacation party. Scratch that idea. Besides, I'm not sure we are going to have room in the car for more ~~crap~~ essentials.

OK - off to get ready for our Big Maine Adventure! I'll probably be able to check in on occasion since we'll have our laptop along and there is internet access at the resort. So, feel free to comment or email me but don't expect a speedy reply!

Have a good week! I planning on having a great one!

Two More Days Until Maine!

2008-07-24T08:48:00.004-04:00

On Saturday we are driving to Boothbay Harbor for a week-long vacation. And it will be a real vacation. No cooking, cleaning, or other household duties! Our first honest-to-goodness vacation since 1999 - the year before Eldest girl was born.

We've talked to the girls about the kinds of things we can do at the resort and they are most excited by the idea of the heated salt-water pool and the kids' camp. I must say I'm looking forward to those things as well but I'm also excited by the thought of learning to sail on one of their boats (they have instructors who will go out with you, thankfully, otherwise I would not be so ~~brave~~ stupid to attempt sailing on my own) and having all my meals cooked for me - including a lobster bake or two.

And then there is the fact that I've never actually been to Maine before. I've lived in Massachusetts my whole life and have never had the opportunity (or made the opportunity) to drive up to Maine. I'm finally going to Maine and I can't wait!

Just two more days.

And lots of packing to do in the meantime.

Wish You Were Here

2008-07-22T11:38:00.007-04:00

We just made blueberry muffins.

If you were here you could help us eat them.

--------------------------------------------

Some Kind of Wonderful

2008-07-18T08:13:00.008-04:00

Wrong! I was sooo wrong!

And I'm more than happy to admit it.

Eldest girl surprised the heck of me (and the rest of the family) by actually choosing to stay overnight at camp!

I was convinced that we were going to have to deal with a meltdown about whether or not to stay. It was, in fact, quite the opposite. She was still undecided when we got there but I told her I had brought along all her things and she still had time to decide. I asked if she had talked to the counselors about the evening plans and she had not. She is the kind of kid who likes to know what to expect and I thought that hearing about the evening's activities would help a bit in making a decision. So, I offered to go over and talk to the counselors with her. After the counselor gave us a brief run down of the evenings events Eldest girl made a surprising turn around. She said "That sounds like fun! I want to stay!" And from that moment on she never looked back.

Eldest girl seems to have found her confidence. She is becoming a 'can do kid'! It's exciting and makes us all so proud of her.

While the kitchen crew prepped for the BBQ we took a bit of a walk and allowed the girls to show us the nature center and nature trail. We also checked out the cabin where Eldest girl would spend the night.

two happy campers in front of the Nature Center building

eldest girl in front of her cabin

showing us her bunk

with her counselors

the fearless camper hamming it up for the camera

After dinner it was time for the skits that the kids had been working on during their two weeks at camp. There was a variety of performances from a dance number (to Bye Bye Bye by *NSYNC but with no puppet strings, trains, psycho chicks with dogs, or car chase scenes involved) to a mock news broadcast of the days events at camp. Eldest girl took her new 'can-do' attitude to a new level when her group got up to do their skit. I am still not quite sure how to describe their skit other than to say it was filled with the antics of a gaggle of soon-to-be 3rd-grade girls. I do know that it had something to do with waiting for the camp bus. Here are Eldest girl and another girl waiting at the bus stop...

She was so proud of herself last night. Once she finished she came running up to me and said "I did it!"

Indeed, she did.

And it was every kind of wonderful.

Sleeping Beauty

2008-07-17T13:05:00.004-04:00

I had wondered why Youngest girl was so unexcited by the park yesterday. But, she did seem to perk up a bit when we went to the pool yesterday afternoon. So, I figured she was probably just more excited by the idea of going to the pool and just biding her time until we got there.

She played hard for about an hour and a half in the pool and ate a ton of blueberries and raspberries and then we came home so we could get ready to go to the BBQ at the older girls' camp.

I went to take a shower and left her looking at books on the couch.

When I returned this is what I found:

I think she is growing. Either that or Corduroy is a real snooze.

I find it so funny that she can fall asleep just about anywhere. In the last few months she's fallen asleep on the living room floor, the rocking chair, and the couch. And she is the only one of my three kids who has voluntarily gone to her room in the middle of the day, climbed into bed and fallen fast asleep. This one takes after me - she likes her sleep.

In fact, today she came with me to my dentist appointment (routine cleaning) and she was so freaked out when the dental hygienist put the mask over her face that she curled up on my lap so she wouldn't have to look at her and promptly fell asleep. She was much happier when she woke up and found that the 'scary monster' was gone and the nice looking hygienist was back.

Tonight we are heading off to camp again for another BBQ. Last night was a fun mixture of hot dogs, burgers, lemonade, energetic camp counselors, silly skits, campy songs, and a real campfire over which we ~~burned~~ roasted marshmallows for our s'mores. Tonight we go back for more of the same but this time it is for Eldest girl's group. Middle girl did a nice job playing the part of a counselor in her skit last night - it will be fun to see what Eldest girl's group has planned for us tonight. It is also up in the air whether Eldest girl will decide to partake in the sleepover option or not. She seems completely torn- afraid on the one hand but intrigued on the other - and I fear a meltdown when push comes to shove and she has to make that final decision. I am planning to bring her overnight necessities, just in case, but at this point if I were a betting mom I'd be betting that she'll be coming home tonight. Only time will tell...

Lazy Days of Summer

2008-07-16T09:49:00.005-04:00

Updated

Must. Move. More.

I'm still having a hard time with the motivation to get any exercise. And my afternoon slump is a good indication that I'm slacking off on the exercise. I definitely find that I feel sluggish and want to take a nap if I don't get my daily dose of exercise. I also want to eat more. It's a strange thing how exercise uses up calories and yet seems to suppress the appetite.

This morning Youngest girl wants to go to the park and I want to go for a bike ride. So, we've made a compromise. We'll bike to the park!

This afternoon we have an invitation to a friend's pool. It's supposed to get close to 90 today so that will be a great place to hang out for the afternoon.

The older girls are at camp and this evening we are driving out to meet them there for a family 'hot dog BBQ'. Tonight is the BBQ for families of the younger kids and Middle girls says they have some songs and skits prepared for us. Tomorrow night will be a repeat but this time for the older kids so our family will be there once again for Eldest girl group. They are both having a blast at camp - I'm already planning on signing them up again for next year.

OK - time for a bike ride!

**************************************

You can't ride my little red wagon
Front wheel's broken and the axle's draggin'
You can't ride my little red wagon
Any more today!

Well - we tried.

We got about 1/2 mile away from home and my bike gave up the ghost. Or rather - it chose to stick to one gear and some wire thingy that was sort of attached to my gear shift thingy was sticking out funny (yes, I'm quite technical when it comes to all things mechanical). I was stuck in one gear and the shifter was no use. At least we were able to ride back home without any major issues but it was clear that if we wanted to get to the park we were going to have to take the car.

Once there, Youngest one was completely unmotivated to actually play at the park. She enjoyed the swings for about 2 minutes and went down the slide once. I tried to entice her with a walk along the river but we barely made it 10 yard before she gave up on that idea and asked to back to the swings. We got to the swings and in the 2 minutes it took to get there she decided she was no longer interested in the swings anymore. It was time for mommy to take the lead and declare that it was time to go home. We ate our lunch and are having a bit of quiet time before we head to our friend's house to swim in her pool.

Here's hoping we have a more successful outing this afternoon!

We can paddle...canoe?

2008-07-15T10:15:00.005-04:00

We did, indeed, get out in the canoe yesterday afternoon. Our initial plan was to leave Youngest girl with the grandparents but they were not home when we called over to set up a time to drop her off. We decided to be brave and took her along with us. She actually did a great job of sitting nicely and had a good time watching the world go by.

The pond we chose for our first canoe adventure was small and a bit mucky but it was a good first run and now we are anxious to get out again and find some bigger and better places to canoe.

And being completely brainless yesterday, I forgot to bring along my camera. Otherwise I'd post a few pics of us in our dorky (but safe!) life vests and of the murky waters through which we paddled.

Yeah, it was probably for the best that I left the camera at home...

12 of 12 - Boston Edition

2008-07-14T09:52:00.008-04:00

Did you miss me?

I made it home safe and sound by about 6:45 last night. Rick and the girls survived the weekend just fine with the exception of multiple bouts of vomiting (Eldest girl) Friday night into Saturday morning. She was doing OK - aside from being tired - by the time I called to check in on Saturday morning. Rick also sounded very tired and the younger two girls were reportedly bickering all morning. However, things apparently improved and they had a good day on Sunday - they even managed to get out for a Geocache hunt and it was enjoyed by all.

As for me, I had a good weekend away with Patty. She was so relieved to have me along to do the heavy lifting and provide some additional supports in the classroom and I was more than happy to oblige. I think the most valuable thing I learned this weekend is that I do have some level of competence in AAC. I've been listening and learning a lot from both Patty and Dale (the Physical Therapist, aka "PT", on our team) this spring. I did learn a few things along the way and got my hands on a number of good resources but on the whole it felt more like a good, solid review of things I already know. The one thing that I know I need to work on is the thing you can't get from a classroom. Experience. Hands-on experience. I have the knowledge but I need to actually put it into practice with real live kids before I can gain the breadth of expertise that both Patty and Dale possess. It will come with time - after all, they've been doing this for more than 20 years. With all that experience under their belts it's a blessing and a gift to have them as my mentors.

OK...now on to the main reason for this post - my 12 of 12....Boston style! Be sure to visit Chad Darnell's site for more information on the 12 of 12 project and to view other blog entries.

7am
Best Western at Longwood Inn (right in the heart of the medical district)
We had an interesting check-in experience. Suffice it to say that our first room had only one bed. We were thankfully able to move but not after some snafus and lack of follow-through by the hotel staff. The waitress from room service who deilvered our beers to the room with the one bed might have assumed otherwise, but we were so happy to have two beds to crash in once we finally got moved at about 11:30pm!

The view from our hotel - not so very exciting. I believe that one of those buildings on the right is Children's Hospital.

7:30am
Boston streets on our way from the hotel to Simmons college
We were in the general vicinity of Fenway Park - home of the Red Sox - and I was told by Patty that the Citgo sign in the distance is famous seeing as it is right near Fenway. So, there you have it. We saw a famous sign on our trip - the extent of our sight-seeing during the busy weekend!

7:35am
Cumberland Farms/Dunkin Donuts
Breakfast of coffee and bagels procured from DD.

You could tell we were in Red Sox territory by the blue and red signs above the coolers in Cumberland Farms. (Click on the picture to enlarge)

7:45am
Arriving at Simmons College.

7:55am
The classroom where we spent the majority of our weekend
The building was very nice and according to Patty had just been renovated. Having not been in a college classroom for quite a few year I was quite impressed by the 'Podium of Technology' that existed. All the necessary technology could be accessed via a touch screen device on the podium. She had computer, DVD player and even a VCR right at her fingertips - among other things that we didn't use but had available to us.

8:30am
Classroom
Class is about to begin. A few of the computer-based communication devices that we were going to be demonstrating to the class.

11:30am
Still in the classroom
One of the demonstrations involved a pudding-making activity in which Patty played the part of teacher and three volunteers were each given a different device to use to communicate their wants/needs. This picture shows the device with activity-specific vocabulary and the leftovers from the pudding-making. Another student was given a device with relatively random vocabulary, and a third student was given one of the high-tech devices in which she had access to a huge amount of vocabulary - both commonly used words as well as access to pages with activity specific vocabulary. We wanted the class to see for themselves which vocabulary set worked best when given to a novice user.

12:15pm
Around campus
At lunchtime I took a walk around campus for a bit to get out of the building and see the sun for a while. The campus is currently involved in a large-scale renovation which they are expecting to have completed by the fall semester.

9pm
Best Western Hotel room
After dinner we headed back to hotel room where we did a bit of troubleshooting for a few of the issues that cropped up during the computer lab portion of the class and Patty did some editing
on some of her tutorials. It's a bitch when they make relatively minor changes between versions of the software and the students were quick to point out the inaccuracies/differences on the tutorials.

9:30pm
Best Western
I turned on the TV to see if there was anything mindless to watch for a while. Jurrasic Park fit the bill. Patty and I were both too tired to bother watching the whole thing. Lights went out by 10pm since there was another long day ahead of us.

Not too exciting, but a basic idea of our day. Patty has another three weekends of classes to teach but she is getting other "helpers" to join her those weekends. I'm on stand-by if she needs me the second weekend of August for her final class but at this point it looks like I won't be needed.

Rick is taking a vacation day today and the older girls are off to camp for the day. At some point today - if the rain stops - Rick and I might try to get out in our canoe for the very first time! We bought it a couple of years ago on Craigslist but the planets have yet to align just right for us to actually use it! I'll be sure to give a status update tonight on whether we manage to take our maiden voyage or not. Wish us luck!

Off I Go!

2008-07-11T07:38:00.005-04:00

~~To my millions of readers who hang on my every word ~~~
To my four loyal readers who can actually stay awake reading my blog (or maybe just use it as a sleep aid) ~

I will be ~~liberated from my children~~ away for the entire weekend. I am heading into Boston to help my coworker Patty teach a class on AT (assistive technology). She is just about 3 weeks post-op (mastectomy) and needed help with some of the physical demands of the class. So, I'm tagging along to not only help her out but to also get an earful of all there is to know about AT. I'm still in the steep learning curve phase of my re-entry into the working world and so this partnership is the perfect solution. I get the education and she gets a much needed extra pair of hands for the weekend.

I have left Youngest girl with Rick for an overnight or two in the recent past and I've even gotten away all by my big self for a whole day now and again...but to leave all three girls with Rick and be all by myself from Friday morning until Sunday night? That'll be a first. I have never been away from any of my kids for that length of time. So, send along some "be good" vibes to the girls and some sanity vibes for Rick. I'm sure he would appreciate that. Rick has a few plans for the weekend so hopefully I will return on Sunday night and find everyone happy and too busy to have missed me.

Tomorrow is 12 of 12 (see Chad Darnell's blog for more information) and so I'm going to try to take some interesting pictures in Boston - not sure how interesting they will be since I'll be in a lecture hall for most of the day but I'll try to be creative. I won't be able to post them until I get back so you'll just have to be waiting with bated breath for my return. Sorry about that. But, I have a feeling you'll find something to do with your time until I get a chance to post again.

The weather here has been nothing short of spectacular. Yesterday we had a high of about 85 with blue skies and a light but effective breeze. I took Youngest girl on a bike ride on the rail trail and we had a great time. The older girls continue to love, love, love camp. Eldest girl is finally settling in and feeling more secure. At least that is what I chose to believe since she was an emotional wreck each evening after camp right up until last night when she seemed much more mellow and able to deal with life. I swear she keeps all her emotions bottled up tight inside all day long and then lets loose when she walks in the door. I see it at the start of every school year and it seems to be the case with camp as well. She just has such a hard time making the adjustments to new situations and getting to know new people. It's exhausting for her.

Middle girl, by comparison, seems to thrive on those kinds of situations and she comes home bubbly and happy and full of stories from the day.

Sometimes it is hard to believe they are related!

OK, I'm off to finish packing and to get showered and dressed. Try not to miss me too much. I'll be back before you ~~bother to check my blog again~~ know it!

Pride Cometh Before a Fall

2008-07-09T08:28:00.006-04:00

I've been so excited by Youngest girl's achievements on the potty that perhaps I'm going overboard on the praise...just a bit. It's been more than a week and perhaps she is not needing all the joyous shouts, high-fives, and proclamations of "what a big girl!" we've been doling out. But, I find I can't help it because I really am that excited. (Pathetic? Yes. But we are a diaper free house! How cool is that?)

This praise overkill was highlighted by a recent interaction I had with Youngest girl a few nights ago. I was sitting on the couch and she was standing nearby looking adorable and just so huggable. So, I held my arms out wide and said to her "can I have a big hug?!"

My only real motivation was to give her a hug and get one in return. Because, ya know, that's one of the joys of having a two-year-old in the house. All that free love.

But, it seems as though she was anticipating yet another round of praise for how well she's been doing on the potty. Being the card that she is, she came over and gave me a huge hug and said in a very motherly sort of way "I'm soooo proud of you!"

And then she started to giggle.

She was mocking me. Seriously!

My two-year-old has learned the fine art of mockery.

What next? Sarcasm? Irony? Light-hearted banter?

I couldn't help but laugh and then asked her why she was so proud of me.

"Cuz you do your job...!"

There was a brief pause during which I had high hopes that I was being praised for my efforts as a mother. But I didn't have long for it to go to my head or anything before she finished her thought: "...since you are a big dirl wike me!"

Oh. That job.

Yes, folks. I can use the potty! Aren't you soooo proud of me, too?

Summer Camp update

2008-07-08T05:55:00.005-04:00

Aside from being 15 minutes late, the camp bus arrived back into town safe and sound with all the campers accounted for. The girls came off the bus no worse for the wear and with smiles on their faces which I took as a good sign. They both were quick to say that they had a fun day at camp. At one point, Middle girl even reported that she was sad when it was time to get on the bus to leave because she wanted to stay even longer! I fear we may have a party girl in the making in that one. She never likes to see the good times end.

One of Eldest girl's first comments to me was, "you're probably going to be mad, but I failed the swim test." Huh? I cannot for the life of me figure out why she thought I'd be mad. (Apart from the fact that she sets high expectations on herself and tends to be a bit perfectionistic. I'm guessing that failure was not an easy pill to swallow - it never is, but she seems to have a harder time of it.) She was very mad because of the way the swim test was given. Apparently, the kids were asked to swim a particular length from one side of a u-shaped dock to the other and then tread water for a given amount of time. Eldest girl cried as she told me that she knew she wouldn't be able to do it and that she swam the distance fine but then was too winded to do the full amount of treading water. She felt it unfair that they made her do the water treading after the swimming. I explained that it was probably set up that way for a reason - namely that they needed to test her strength and stamina in the water. She would not be disabused of the notion that the test was unfair. I did my best to reassure her that I was not mad and that I was sure she did the best she could. She also stated that she knew she was not going to be able to pass as soon as they told her what was required. To which I explained that if she went into it thinking so negatively that perhaps that didn't help her get a positive outcome. I told her that perhaps she needed to go into it with a more positive attitude. I'm not sure I helped much with that bit but I really feel that negative thinking will lead to negative results and it's a lesson best learned young. Eldest girl has a tendency to think negatively and that has always bothered me. At the end of a fun day she will most often lament the things she didn't get to do instead of rejoicing in the things that were fun about the day. Or she'll let one sour moment overshadow all else. She did the same thing yesterday. She let her failure in the swim test overshadow the fun times. She also compared Middle girl's activities to her own and complained that Middle girl seemed to have participated in more activities. I explained that the kindergarten set tend to have shorter attention spans which might account for the increased number of activities but that they both arrived at camp at the same time and left at the same time which would indicate that one did not get more than the other. (However, Middle girl - by her very nature - might have possibly squeezed more fun out of her day! I'm just saying... Not that I would say that out loud.)

In the end, I think they both really did have a good day and they both climbed on the bus this morning happy and carefree as all summer campers should be. Eldest girl did tell us that she will have another opportunity to attempt the swim test again today. Maybe she will take my words to heart and think more positively ("I think I can! I think I can!" -- perhaps I should have given her that book to read last night...along with her current Harry Potter obsession).

Youngest girl and I have another quiet, but fun day planned. Yesterday we ran a few errands, took a bike ride through the neighborhood (something that is a rare treat since Middle girl doesn't want to do much more than ride to the end of the street and back and Eldest girl can ride her two-wheeler but refuses to practice stopping so she doesn't really like to use her bike for fear of falling...sigh), read a few books, did a few puzzles and she even took a long nap which allowed me to get some cleaning and pick-up done around the house. Today we have been hanging out at home this morning in the comfort of the a/c because it's stinking hot outside. After lunch we are going to a friend's pool for some cooling off and by the time we leave there it will be almost time to get the older girls off the camp bus.

Plans for tomorrow? A much needed haircut and lunch with Rick while Youngest girl hangs out with Grandma and Grandad!

Booty Camp Complete...on to Summer Camp!

2008-07-07T12:02:00.004-04:00

Youngest girl is doing her job quite well this last week! She still occasionally needs to be reminded that a trip to the potty would be in everyone's best interest, but she has not had any accidents since I last posted. She's even dry through the night so we've gotten rid of the pull-ups as well. I'm still in awe of just how quickly it all happened. I think she was the easiest to train of all. And I'm thrilled that I can stop carrying a diaper bag and won't need swim diapers in the pool anymore.

In other exciting news, the two older girls started camp today. Middle girl seemed apprehensive last night about going but this morning all was well and she happily climbed aboard the bus. I was afraid I'd have one or both in tears this morning (since Eldest girl seems to have more anxiety issues at times) but it went very well. There was a slight snafu at the bus, however. The bus driver was a substitute and the camp counselor was a newbie - so neither of them knew exactly what was what. But, thankfully there was a veteran camp mom who knew the ropes. There should have been a bus monitor (possibly by the name of Chris) who was supposed to have clipboard in hand to check in the campers and get them loaded on the bus by 8:05am. By 8:15am it was obvious that something was amiss. The veteran mom said that they are usually right on schedule and yet there was no sign of the monitor. She called the YMCA to find out if they knew anything. We finally did get the kids signed in on a makeshift list (created on the back of a High School tardy slip provided by one of the dads) and sent the kids off on the bus with explicit instructions to the sub and the newbie not to let the kids get off the bus without a parent present at the end of the day. I would have been much more concerned about this lack of organization if it were not for the the fact that the veteran mom was there and reassured me that this was not a common occurrence. Let's hope tomorrow bus drop-off is a bit more routine.

While were waiting for the no-show bus monitor to possibly show up and get the show on the road we chatted with some of the other kids and parents. One 8-year-old girl was a familiar face to me, if not to Eldest girl. And her younger sister was familiar to both me and Middle girl. The 8-year-old (L) had gone to preschool with Eldest girl but they didn't remember each other and Middle girl just finished a year of preschool with her sister. I'm hoping that Eldest girl and L will get reacquainted at camp and have fun together. I was also able to introduce Eldest girl to another 8-year-old who was the daughter of the veteran mom. She seemed quite camp savvy, having gone to this camp for the last three years. Eldest girl often has a difficult time meeting new people so I was happy to be able to send her off with two girls who might be able to help her acclimate and learn the ropes. There were no 5-year-olds to introduce Middle girl to but I'm sure she'll make friends in no time.

The girls won't be back from camp until 5:25, which is when the bus arrives back here in town. I'm sure they will be tired but hopefully also happy from a long, fun day at camp! I'll keep you posted.

Lastly, I wanted to post a couple of pictures of the girls in their 4th of July parade costumes.

Last Monday I realized time was getting short and the girls still needed something to wear for the little parade we have every year around the town common. The kids are invited to wear costumes or decorate their bikes and sometimes a family might get ambitious and put together an actual float for the parade (show offs). Sometimes a small band leads the crowd playing patriotic songs and in years past we have also had some mounted police to join our little ragtag parade. After the parade someone reads a portion of the Declaration of Independence and the kids all get prizes for participation. Then folks gather on the common for foot races and other games, as well as free lemonade and watermelon.

For this year's parade the girls wanted to wear costume instead of decorating their bikes and wagon like they did last year. After a brief discussion Eldest girl decided on being an Indian girl (everyone at the parade asked if she was Pocahontas and she was so annoyed because she was just an indian! - the kid needs to lighten up a bit). Middle girl decided to be a 'nature fairy' and although her costume did not end up looking the way I imagined a nature fairy would look she was pleased which is really all that mattered. When we went on our shopping trip to get fabric and patterns we had been unable to decide just what to have Youngest girl wear. In the end we found some simple pieces to put together and made her a hula girl costume. She liked the grass skirt very much, however, it appeared that the concept of 'hula girl' was lost on her. She walked around picking up the grass pieces and letting them fall while chanting "snowing! snowing! snowing!" Ah well - she still looked pretty cute.

In fact they all looked cute, if I do say so myself.

Day Three of Booty Camp!

2008-06-30T15:21:00.004-04:00

Updated!

I continue to marvel at the fact that a mere change in phraseology can make such a huge difference. We now commonly refer to the potty as Youngest girl's "job" and it has made all the difference. I guess because it gives her complete ownership of what is going on with her body or something. She is still not very excited by the whole deal and I still get a bit of whining about it. The most common response is "I'll do it tomorrow."

Ha. Yes, indeed you will. And the day after that, and the day after that. Etcetera, etcetera, and so forth...

But, you will also do it TODAY. [insert evil cackling sound here]

Even with all the whining she is still doing quite well. I'd say we are luckier in the morning than we are when it is the afternoon and she is getting tired and has not had a nap. That is when the accidents are most likely to happen - and they do happen. But, I've been down this road more than once and know that we are making good progress overall.

Today she made really crappy progress (literally). She pooped on the potty for the first time ever! Woohoo!!!!! At first, she did just what she has done the last two days when it came time to poop - she freaked out. She started asking for a diaper or a pull-up and was crying and carrying on. I told her it was just time to do her job. No big deal. So, we went into the bathroom (all four of us, since the older two are fascinated by this process and like to join in) and she did pull down her pants and sit on the little potty. She seemed nervous but then I pulled a trick out of my Booty Camp dufflebag - bribery! This morning at Target we bought some special chocolate chip granola bars and she wanted to try one but I told her she had to wait until snack time. However, I decided to let her have one IF she could go poop. I also told her to just pretend that the diaper was still on. I'm not sure which tactic was the most successful but all of a sudden she had that look of intense concentration on her face and she had poopy success! We were all very proud of her and gave her high fives and hugs (however, not proud enough to actually take a picture for posterity and share it on the blog...don't think it didn't cross my mind for a millisecond but I figured I'd spare you all the intimate details. You're welcome.).

Oh, and how could I forget? She also made nighttime progress last night! She stayed dry overnight and didn't pee in the pull-up once she woke up! I don't know what time she woke up but I got back from my walk at 7:30 and she was sitting on the couch looking at books. I told her it was time for her job and she fussed a bit but when I got her to the bathroom I realized she was completely dry! She proceeded, in short order, to make quite a puddle in the potty.

I'm dangerously close to celebrating that diaper-free household that I so desire!!

Just had to finish off this post with a bit of an update. Youngest one had a completely dry day!! Woohoo! She did need some encouragement to do her "job" but she managed to stay dry all day (even during a 2.5 span of time when she was wearing a pull-up and we went out for a bunch of errands!). I just put her to bed (in a pull-up, just in case) but she is excited that tomorrow she gets to wear some new big girl underwear that we bought at Target (two sets: Ariel and Mickey & Minnie Mouse).

Thank you, Meri

2008-06-29T12:53:00.013-04:00

A number of years ago our good friend Meri (or as the kids know her, "Auntie Meri" - which is to differentiate her from "Cousin Meri") bought us a lovely and handy gift - an electric ice cream maker. We have admittedly not used it as often as we would like. Last summer we had every intention of making ice cream and somehow the day-to-day of life got in the way and it never happened. But, we have our dear Meri to thank for the ability to make ice cream on a whim (as long as we have the salt, cream, ice and sugar on hand). And so, yesterday we turned that whim into reality. I sent Rick on an errand to get salt and cream - we already had plenty of sugar and ice and even fresh, sweet strawberries from the farm.

Mixing the ingredients.

Dad explaining the process.

Getting the ice cream maker put together.

Fast forward a few hours later and we had some fabulous homemade dessert.

Thumbs up from Eldest girl!

Middle girls gives it an "almost" thumbs up. This ice cream connoisseur states that the ice cream tasted good but was a "bit too grainy" for her tastes. (We are not exactly sure what made the ice cream a bit 'icy' but we are guessing it was the water content of the very ripe, juicy strawberries...?)

Another positive review from Youngest girl who seemed to think it was good to the very last drop.

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Speaking of Youngest Girl - I was looking at her picture from the trip to the farm and realizing that she could use a bit of a trim. I figured she'd also enjoy having her hair a bit shorter in the heat and humidity. After her bath this morning I took my scissors to her fine, straight locks and this was the result....

It's mostly even - and I didn't even have to use a bowl on her head as a guide.

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In other news on Youngest girl, she has been wearing big girl underwear the last two days. With a modicum of success, I might add. We have had a couple of small accidents and a few tears about not being a "big girl" yet. But, I took my cue from a Today Show segment on a woman who has become known as the Potty Whisperer for her Booty Camp successes (and the fact that she has potty trained her own six kids). The basic concept behind her Booty Camp is to make it the child's responsibility to go on the potty when his/her body says it is time to go. So, I don't ask her if she needs to go, I just give her that "job" to do and make it her responsibility to know when to go. Amazingly enough it seems to be working! (And part of the reason it is working so well is because she really is "ready" on so many levels...she's just been stubborn and I haven't wanted to deal with a fight. This new perspective on potty training removes me as the enforcer which is why I think it works so well for her at this stage of the game.)

Last night she did not even want to change to a diaper at bedtime (great!) but we did wake up in the middle of the night to clean up an accident (not so great, but all part of the process). I think she had been resisting the potty use too much yesterday and thus had the overnight accident and then I put her in a diaper for the rest of the night. Under normal circumstances she has lately been waking up with a dry diaper in the morning but refusing all requests to try using the potty. So, my hope is that once we get the daytime potty use down pat the nighttime use will follow suit pretty quickly. This morning she initially resisted the underwear again. I just reminded her about her new "job" and did not really give her a choice in whether or not to wear underwear. But I did give her a choice of which ones to wear. So, she picked out the pair she wanted and even showed them off to dad once she had them on. I've been giving her plenty of fluids today and she has actually held her pee for quite a long time. I made a couple of references to her 'job' but she has refused all suggestions until recently. After two big cups of milk and one of juice I think it was finally wearing her down. She decided to give it a try and actually peed right away. So far it's been an accident-free day and we are well into the afternoon hours! I might be able to celebrate a diaper-free home soon!

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Or perhaps I'm being too optimistic. As I was writing this post my dearest little one was...ahem...busy in the other room. Just now she walked into the living room with a new pair of underwear in hand and said "I want this pair of underwear." Since she had just peed on the potty a few minutes before I asked for clarification.

"Are you wet?", I asked.

No response.

And then evasion tactic, "I want this pair of underwear."

So, I asked again, this time more clearly "Are you wet? Did you pee in your underwear?"

"No. I have a poop," she answered.

Lovely.

So, we cleaned up her poop and we went over the rules of her new job again. This time making it very clear that proper placement of both pee AND poop fall within her job description.

I have to point out that she actually told me she had a poop. This is a step in the right direction. She never tells me when she poops in her diaper - to the point of outright lying about it when it is quite clear to the entire room, and perhaps the entire house, that there is toxic waste somewhere in the vicinity. She also did not hold it in which seemed like it might become an issue yesterday when it seemed she needed to poop and she was having a bit of a freak-out about the potty. She did not, in fact, poop yesterday aside from a few small pellets. So, she was overdue and I am thankful she is not a 'holder' which can lead to all kinds of bathroom neuroses that I'd like to avoid, thank you very much.

I'm attempting to remain positive here. Work with me people.

Summer sweetness

2008-06-27T20:14:00.009-04:00

This morning I took the girls out for a quick trip to a local 'u-pick' farm to get some fresh strawberries. Nothing like fresh, sweet strawberries in the summertime.

I was blog-surfing the other day and happened upon a blog in which there was mention of making delicious ice cream (complete with a cute picture of her little girl in a pink straw hat enjoying said ice cream). It served as a reminder that we need to use the handy-dandy ice cream maker we have tucked away in the basement more often. The strawberries we picked will add just the right touch to a foray into creamy culinary goodness. More on that later.

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In other news: I. am. pathetic.

Not like that is even blog-worthy news. But, I just had to state it for the record. Because it is so true.

I feel like an 80-year-old woman when I try to walk up and down stairs. One at a time. I creak when I stand up from a sitting position and I wince in pain when I try to sit back down. Stationary is good right now. Being still is painless. Movement, however, is not.

And it's all Jillian Michael's fault.

Well, sort of.

Ok, so it's also sort of my fault for thinking I could halt all exercise (aside from my occasional morning walks) for a loooong period of time and then just jump (literally!) right back in.

I tried the Level 1 workout on the above linked workout DVD and it KICKED MY ASS. Seriously.

It was only 20 minutes, so I figured - how hard can it be?

As it turns out...very hard. Ass-kicking, sweat-fest, heavy-breathing kind of hard.

And I'm paying the price of my own stupidity today (and Jillian's ruthlessness, let us not forget her role in all of this! ~~Bitch.~~ Meanie.)

Oh. And the jumping jacks served as a very potent reminder to do my kegels more frequently.

I'm just saying... (three pumpkin-headed babies will do that to a girl, ya know...)

Exhibits 1-3

I rest my case.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

2008-06-26T08:54:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was a great day all around. The skies were blue with white puffy clouds and the forecast did not include rain. That alone would have made it a red-letter day around here because we have been hit with our fair share of downpours and lightning storms of late...and there are more to come if you listen to the weathermen. Rain and thunderstorms every afternoon straight through until next Tuesday - if you want believe those ~~liars~~ professionals . I certainly don't. I enjoyed the mildly warm weather and lack of moisture falling from the sky yesterday. And I want more. I'm sure the plants have been enjoying the soaking rains and we will hopefully be rewarded with a decent crop of tomatoes, beans, and basil, among other things, but if I had to guess the crop would be even better with a little sun in the mix somewhere. I'm no green-thumb so I leave the gardening stuff mostly in Rick's capable hands, but I think I recall learning in elementary school that plants need soil, water and sun to grow.

Not to mention the fact that if I want to see my children grow to adulthood with my sanity mostly intact, we would also benefit from a little sunshine and fresh air! "Go out and play, kids!"

Seeing as our opportunity to get to the park this week look limited, I decided to load the girls in the car for a trip to a park a couple of towns over. This part boasts not only a sprinkler park, mini train rides, a small zoo, a river, decent bathrooms and a snack bar but also a great playground with ample shade. You might be wondering why, after all the talk of sunshine, would I be looking for lots of shade? If you took one look at my pale, freckled Irish skin you would wonder no more. Add to that the fact that for some reason our town decided to place their playgrounds in the middle of big open spaces with no trees to give shade to the climbing structures. Granted they are mostly wooden but they have a fair share of metal and plastic and there are also older slides and monkey bars that are all metal. No shade means that on very hot, sunny days the kids can't even use the playground equipment!

By 10am we were on the road headed for the park. The train was already running when we got there so the girls first agenda item was to hitch a ride on the train and then take a tour through the adjacent zoo.

Eldest and Middle girls cozy on the train. Nice to know that at 8 this little train is still exciting for Eldest Girl.

Mom and Youngest wearing our cool shades and enjoying the ride.

The girls in the zoo checking out the sheep.

...and the chickens. Somehow this was still fun for them even though we have chickens living right next door who used to frequently roam into our yard. (The neighbors now have cats who like to roam into our yard and I think they fixed the chickens' fencing so they are more contained.)

After the train ride and quick tour of the zoo we headed off to the snack bar for lunch and then a short run through the sprinkler park. It was about 80 degrees out by that point so it was warm but not hot. They lasted about 20 minutes before they decided they were cold enough!

The youngest was acting tired by this point and had decided not to get wet. So, she hung out with me on the bench and just watched the action. (She later fell asleep in the car on our way to the girls dentist appointment and I was able to carry her in and place her on the waiting room couch where she slept for a solid 45 minutes. I am constantly amazed at her ability to sleep just about anywhere. I think she takes after me in the sleep department.)

Next stop was the playground which is next to the river. The Eldest is fascinated by nature and by any kind of body of water so she chose to explore the riverbank while Middle and Youngest were on the swings. We never even made it to the rest of the playground because the girls all decided to explore the river a bit more closely.

Youngest girl and I stayed on the embankment while the older two got close enough to find river rocks and splash a bit in the water.

I find it strange that in all the times I've been to this park I have never explored the river before. In fact, I never ventured close enough to realize that the little stream running through the park led to a much larger river. The park is large enough and the drop down to the river steep enough that you can stand at the playground and not even know it is there. And it's far enough away that you can't hear it over the sounds of the children playing. So, if it were not for the fact that Eldest girl is old enough to explore a bit farther afield (and can now swim) I still would not have known the joys of this river. A prime example of how children can lead you to experience wonderful things that you might never have found on your own.

Our time was short on this visit to the park because the older girls had afternoon dentist appointments (they both received a clean bill of dental health, thankfully). I'm thinking that the next outing to this park will include a more thorough exploration of what the river has to offer!

With the park and dental appointments finished the girls and I headed to a local soft-serve ice cream stand and enjoyed a mid-afternoon treat (shhh...don't tell the dentist that I fed my girls sugar so soon after they got their teeth all nice and clean). Then it was off to the grocery store for a quick-trip-turned-major-shopping-excursion. I think I had about 5-8 things I needed to get. But once I got there I remembered about 4 bags worth of stuff we were low on or out of - plus an additional bag worth of 'extras' that were on sale or that I bought because I had three children in tow who were being extremely good and so I was more inclined to say "yes" to a few snack foods.

Last night we took advantage of the weather and Rick cooked burgers out on the grill. If the weather forecast turns out to be true we may not have another chance to easily grill food outside for a while (although Rick has been known to grill even on rainy days - and once he even grilled steaks for Christmas while it was snowing, but it's never quite as enjoyable).

So, that was our day yesterday - a full day and a great one all around. Today we have gray skies and raindrops and the girls have been mostly good about finding a way to keep themselves entertained. It gives me hope that the transition to summer won't take as long as I had feared.

Summer is here...

2008-06-23T10:32:00.016-04:00

...and with it come the three H's.

Hostility. Horrific boredom*. Hours of togetherness.

The girls are trying to get used to the idea of being home all day long...together. It's not an easy process, but I try to remember that it is a process. One of adjustment and change - not something that has come easy to eldest girl in the past, but which this year is proving to be even harder on middle girl. Maybe it's an age thing - those preschool years can be rough. You hear about two being a terrible time. And you foolishly think that once you get past those terrible twos that you are going to be on easy street. But, then you hit the trying threes and the mumble-fours (I don't dare use that word on such a family-friendly site). Middle girl seemed to sail through the two's and three's and the attitude and the boundary-pushing didn't rear its ugly head fully until four. She is nearing six and we don't yet see the light at the end of the tunnel. Except in our own little minds where the mantra that continues to hold is: this too shall pass...eventually.

Middle girl is usually, well....in the middle of the fights that have been popping up like a plague of weeds in a well-tended garden. The general chorus of the day is middle girl arguing that her little sister is taking toys away from her, following her around too much or making annoying noises
or that her big sister refuses to play with her and thus she has 'nothing to doooooo.' (Can you just feel the whine in the last part of that sentence?) The eldest and youngest have had their squabbles too, but those seem to be far fewer in number.

This weekend we tried to keep them busy - on Saturday, an afternoon trip to the site of their summer camp experience where we explored the grounds and went swimming, and on Sunday a trip to the movie theater to see Kung Fu Panda (very cute movie, btw) and a game of Monopoly (our latest family craze). There were times they were asked to 'find something to do' because I am not the parent who tries to fill her children's every waking hour with non-stop entertainment. I'm one of those mean moms who actually makes them go play with a room full of toys or enjoy a bit of fresh air and sunshine in our big grassy backyard complete with kiddie pool and wooden play structure - along with the toads, interesting bugs and butterflies. Personally, I ~~want~~ need some time now and again to get stuff done and have a bit of a break. But lately those "breaks" are frequently punctuated by repeated shrieks of "OW! stop it!" and "leave me alone!" and a variety of tattletale phrases.

I do realize this is the transition time between school and summer. A time that I have increasingly dreaded ever since eldest girl started going to school. Once they get into a rhythm things do go a lot smoother, but right now they need a constant referee to their insanity and I'm just ready to throw my striped shirt and whistle in the trash and head for the hills... Or maybe I should just follow Susan's advice and start my day with one of these (she emailed and let me know that they are great for brunch...how early can I realistically start my day and still call it brunch?) and a say a prayer that I can survive this latest transition.

After all, summer doesn't last forever...right?

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*The phrase "Horrific boredom" is a relative term which is defined in different ways by the author and her offspring.

I remembered!

2008-06-13T08:21:00.005-04:00

I managed to remember to do the 12 of 12 this month! For those who don't know what 12 of 12 is go check out Chad's site to learn more. And maybe some month you can join in and do your own 12 of 12 post!

Jeanne's June 12 of 12!

Home - 7:44am
Getting my morning cup of cheer! The weather has been seriously summer-like
so I've switched to drinking my caffeine over ice.

Home - 8:01am
R has a loose tooth and shows me how it wiggles.

Home - 8:05am
Morning prep. Rick applying sunscreen on A for her last day of preschool (like, ever. OMG. I seriously had tears on Wednesday during my last chance to drop her off at school this year)

Home - 8:06am
Loose tooth falls out! R holding her tooth to show me! Last tooth she lost got swallowed! This one went directly into her tooth fairy pillow in the hopes of some coins in return. Actually, she left a note last time and the tooth fairy gave her some money and left her a note in return.

Driving to work - 8:18am
Today was a work day. Farms are a common sight on my way to work.

Driving to work - 8:18am
And so is this mountain range. I have a goal to hike from one end of the range to the other before I hit 40! It's a 7-mile hike with lots of ups as well as downs.

Driving to work - 8:26am
This bridge used to be a huge source of congestion, especially during rush hour commutes. They recently completed a road and bridge widening project which allows for a better flow. Before the construction project I would not have considered working on the town on the "other side" but now I rarely see any traffic congestion along this route. The construction project took for-EVER but it was worth it.

Work - 8:34am
I can say much for the looks of the building. But the team of women I work with are beautiful inside and out. I love being back to work and I'm learning new stuff all the time. Great fun!

Due to confidentiality issues (and the fact that I'm not sure I want to out myself at work as a "blogger") I did not take any pictures at work today. It was a busy evaluation day and we were all quite ready to go out after work for drinks to celebrate our friend D's birthday! I didn't take pictures of that either but suffice it to say that we want to go out together again soon!

When I got home Rick was reading bedtime stories. I helped get the girls into bed and then Rick went to work on replacing the engine on his lawn tractor - the old engine (which was a rebuilt one purchased on eBay) blew a rod straight through the thick metal side of the engine. Quite impressive.

Home - 8:19pm
Rick working on said tractor.

Home - 8:20pm
Realizing that I still needed a few more photos for my 12 of 12 I went outside and took some pictures of our gardens.
Happy tomato plants back right, lettuce in front right, and carrots and onions on the left.

More gardens in our new L-shaped raised beds that Rick built last year (he actually built the wall and the adjacent patio from scratch - the blocks are all handmade from a concrete mixture of some sort which he then used to build the wall and lay the patio). We have peas, beans, squash, peppers, cherry tomatoes, and cukes in this garden area. Most are still very small at this point. The stairs in this photo lead to our bedroom and are a fairly new addition as well. We had temporary stairs there for a long time (too embarrassing to actually admit just how long) and now we have nice new stairs thanks once again to my talented husband.

Home - 9:07pm
My current read. I did something I actually don't like doing - I watched the movie before reading the book. But, so far I feel like the movie didn't stray too far from the book. A nice surprise. Of course, I haven't made it too far into the book yet so more will be revealed and we'll see how much they actually changed (or didn't!).

That's all, folks!

Heat Wave

2008-06-10T08:23:00.009-04:00

Life is slowing down just in time for this insane heat wave we are experiencing here in New England. The timing is good - no one can move fast in this heat.

Here's what our weather looks like today:

It was 90 in the sun by 7am this morning. Apparently the shade will catch up by noontime.

Lauri and I took our walk this morning and it was mostly pleasant at the start but we were glistening with sweat by the end.

Yesterday, sitting inside enjoying a few moments of the air conditioning, I was reading a blog that I visit regularly. She was writing of cold, gray weather in June and her need for sun and warmth. I was a bit envious of her cold weather - a case of the grass is always greener? - and was wishing I could send some sunshine and warmth her way. Maybe she'd be willing to send a bit of coolness in exchange?

E wanted to go to the park today. She has been out of sorts and I wanted to do that for her. To do something she would really enjoy. But, it's just too darn hot. We had to run errands this morning and she was very patient for a long time. I was enjoying the free air conditioning and would've gone to another store just to prolong the relief from the heat. But she started to whine and I knew we needed to go home. Now she is sad to be home and not at the park. I feel for her but I can't fathom being at the park in this heat and I know she would not enjoy it for long. She has a terrible heat rash on her lower back from sweating in her diaper last night. It looks painful and I'm sure it's part of the reason for her foul mood today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rick and I celebrated our 13th anniversary last week. We managed to get out for a date night on Sunday which was enjoyable and relaxing. We had considered taking a picnic dinner and hiking to some idyllic spot or other but the weather that day was hot and humid. The temperature dropped a bit in the evening but by then we had changed our mind and decided it was a good night for a standard dinner-and-a-movie night. We enjoyed seeing Then She Found Me with Helen Hunt and Colin Firth. Dinner was at a local brew house and the food, the beer and the relaxing atmosphere on the patio were just what we needed. It is hard to imagine that 13 years have gone by and yet in some ways we fit so well together that it feels like we were never separate from one another. We are one and I feel like we have always been. Our love is effortless and seamless. He is my best friend and my heart belongs to him. I cannot imagine life any different and yet I am constantly amazed at how we came to be and how our family has grown in the 17 years that we have known each other. We have crossed a multitude of pathways in our lives with decisions that could have led us away from one another. But somehow we came together and got to know each other and our friendship bloomed into love. And we have followed the same pathway, sharing a life and creating three amazing, beautiful children. Life is good. And it just keeps getting better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

School is nearly out for summer. A finishes this Thursday and R is done the following Wednesday. I only have two more evaluations to do at work before I'm off for the summer. One this week and the one on the 24th. The month of July is pretty much booked between the girls' summer camp for two weeks followed by a week in Maine at the end of the month. I've never been to Maine and I'm very much looking forward to our first real vacation as a family. The last time Rick and I went on a 'real' vacation was in 1999. We went to Denmark to visit my host families. Since then our vacations have mostly consisted of visiting family in a couple of different locations. A couple of years ago we did rent a condo in New Hampshire but it didn't feel as much like a 'vacation' when you have to cook and clean throughout the whole week. It was more of a 'change of scenery' than anything and it was just as exhausting as being home, if not more so, because the girls were not in their familiar environment and were not sleeping well. I was also 7 months pregnant at the time - reason enough to feel exhausted. This year we are staying at an honest-to-goodness resort with linen service, full-course meals (including lobster!), and a kids' camp for the older two (morning and afternoon sessions). There will be a heated pool, tennis courts, shuffleboard, hiking trails, and sailing. I don't even know how to sail, mind you, but I plan to learn. They have instructors there to teach you. I also don't play tennis and have never even tried shuffleboard, but I'm willing to give them a whirl if the mood strikes me. I feel as though we are all going for a week of "camp" and I couldn't be more excited!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Time to get something productive done - like laundry. At least the basement is cool. It's so hot out there that I plan to put a movie on once R gets off the bus and let the girls enjoy a quiet activity in the cool of the basement. I'll fold laundry while they watch some 'fluff' - I think we have a copy of Underdog from Netflix which they have not yet seen. Seems like a good plan to stay cool today.

Update on Crazy City

2008-05-28T08:25:00.006-04:00

Things are still busy in E.W.

PGO
I finished typing and binding the first set of books I brought home. The day I dropped them off I received 6 more to bind (already typed by another volunteer, thankfully). Those are now sitting on the counter awaiting my attention. One of the books is R's book ("All About Rocks") and it's quite the masterpiece. Not that I'm biased or anything.

The PGO is holding a Tag (or Garage or Yard, depending on your geographic location) Sale on Saturday. Looking around to see what we had to donate was a rather dangerous activity. It made us start to think about whether we have stuff for our very own tag sale. This in turn lead us to begin a rather massive Spring Cleaning Frenzy which has resulted in one bay of our garage being full of tag sale-able items. I will be bringing some stuff to donate to the school tag sale but the remainder will wait until next weekend when we will have our own sale. The girls have even been bitten by the tag sale bug (they are anxious to get some cash to buy NEW toys...) and have willingly brought out some toys for sale. They are even will to part with some of the larger outdoor toys that are just sitting out back collecting wasp nests and dirt. In fact, over the weekend, they got out the garden hose and scrub brushes and had fun getting a few items clean enough to sell!

CE Board
Things are at a standstill on the CE subcommittee to find our church a new Christian Ed. Director. I'm hoping that our job is complete and I'm anxious to see what the hiring decision will be (we have given our input to the Pastor who must complete the next step in the process). I still have those darn meeting minutes to type up. I hate having stuff like that looming over my head but I just have not had the time!

Celebrations
We had a nice visit with some of Rick's relations this weekend and the Saturday birthday BBQ was enjoyable and delicious. The next celebration coming up is Father's Day. Negotiations are in progress to figure out just when and how to celebrate with the dads in our family. Thankfully, it's usually a low-key affair.

PreK Graduation
A's graduation was short and sweet and I was the first-class idiot who forgot her camera that day. I did ask a few parents to take some photos of A for me and will hopefully get some copies emailed to me very soon - at which point I'll be sure to share them here. A's class sang three very sweet songs and each child received a small gift (a book) and a certificate that stated one reason they were so valued in class this year. A's certificate this year was for "development of her leadership skills" (last year she got a certificate for "being a friend to all"). After the certificates were handed out I said a few words and presented the teachers with the monetary gift from the families and another mom handed out beautiful baskets of flowers. Then we all enjoyed a potluck lunch together and headed home. A is signed up to continue at school for "camp" which is basically an extension of the school year (for an additional fee) to more closely match the public schools. So, she has not yet said her final good-byes to her teachers.

Head Cold or Tree Pollen?
Seems to have been a head cold that I suffered from recently because a few days after I came down with a sore throat and stuffy nose Rick became the next victim. I can't for the life of me figure out why I am so blessed with the spring sniffles every freakin' year but this year I am fairly certain that it was not an allergic reaction to tree pollen. It was just another stinkin' cold. Grumble, grumble.

Life
They say that time flies when you are having fun. Well, I must be having a BLAST because I can not believe that it is nearly June already. In some ways I feel like we skipped May because it has been such a blur. This whole 'work' thing is putting a Fast Forward button on life. If anyone knows where the 1/2 speed button is, I'd love to hear from you. And if you can figure out who these "kids" are that are living in my house and what the heck they did with my 'babies' I'd be happy to know that tidbit as well.

My Young Poet

2008-05-25T08:52:00.007-04:00

A little mommy brag here. :-)

R's class has been working on poetry this past week. They have been discussing such things as line breaks and how poetry compares to other writing styles.

When she came home from school she shared with me this poem she had written.

Shell
by R.

Full of Holes
and very small
a shell
holds wonders
big
and small.
The inside smooth
as a polished stone
and white
as the
ocean
froth.

What was that? Something just whizzed by....

2008-05-20T14:13:00.003-04:00

Zzzzerrrrooooosh!

That would be me - in my fly-by posting mode. I've been a bad, bad blogger of late. Life is just going full-tilt of late and not leaving me much time to ruminate, much less write about my ruminations.

Some of the stuff I'm doing these days:

working 2-3 full days a week

That is going very well and I'm loving my job. I love the techie side of things and learning about all the new and exciting stuff in the world of augmentative communication. And I've met some really great kids who are an inspiration and a challenge all at the same time. My co-workers are amazing. Even though I've been dealing with a fair bit of chaos and certain conflicts among members of the team, I would not want to work anywhere else at the moment.

Eliza is dealing (mostly well) with the transition to my status as a WOHM. She has her moments of not dealing so gracefully but I have two capable and loving people who care for her (her Grandma and Godmother, no less...) and she is just having to make that adjustment of not having me 24/7.

Getting more involved with the Parent/Guardian Organization

I have not been as involved as I feel I should be in the past couple of years - I'm making that more of a priority and looking ahead to next year. They have lost quite a few of their highly involved parents over the course of the year and they are down to bare bones and looking at the dissolution of the PGO if people don't step up to the plate. I certainly don't want to see that happen.

This week I'm trying to help out by typing and binding a few books for R's class. Each year the K-3 graders write and illustrate their own books which the PGO volunteers to type and bind so they look more professional and official. I went to the Ice Cream Social with Rick and the girls last week and while families were enjoying a bit of musical entertainment I went to the community room and learned how to bind the books. I have a bag sitting in my kitchen just waiting for my attention. Must find time! Soon.

Board of Christian Education (CE)

I'm a member of the CE board at church and we are in the process of trying desperately to hire a new director for the youth/family program. It's not been easy! This week things have come to a head and we are in the process of scheduling meetings and interviews. I'm sort of the coordinator by default since I was the only subcommittee member at the last committee meeting. It's been a bit hectic and crazed pulling that bit together in a very short time. I am also the board secretary and still have the minutes from the last meeting to type up -- which is probably what I should be doing instead of updating my pals here on my blog? Nah....

Preschool Graduation

A's second, and final, year of preschool is coming to an end. I am so sad to say goodbye to her little schoolhouse for the next year but E will start there the following year so it's more of a 'see ya later' than an actual goodbye. And it's truly a bittersweet transition because while I say goodbye to her preschool days I'm thrilled for her as she enters the next phase and becomes one of the big kids who rides the yellow school bus and look forward to all that she has ahead of her. Ask me in a few years if I'm as excited for my 'baby' to be heading off to Kindergarten and you might find that I'm in a completely different mindset about that 'last one heading off to the big kid school' -- or maybe not. Both A and E are October babies and I'm sure E will be just as eager and ready at nearly six-years-old as A is right now. A is chomping at the bit for bigger and better things and seems to want to be older NOW.

I've stepped into the role of coordinator for the teacher gifts for the past two years. It's not a huge deal but it is one more thing that needs a bit of attention. I am collecting money from the families to present (along with flowers and cards) to the teachers to thank them for their hard work. The check will be used to buy something for the school that would not ordinarily be purchased from their budget. For instance, one year they replaced the clothesline/clothing pin system with an honest-to-goodness drying rack for all the beautiful artwork the children create each day. I had honestly not even realized until last week that the graduation date was fast approaching. No one else mentioned teacher gifts so I just decided to take the bull by the horns again and get it done. Everyone is usually very appreciative of the effort and I don't really mind doing it because I love our preschool....but I won't be there next year so it is time to pass the torch along! And with everything else going on I'll be glad when I can check one more thing off my list!

Birthday/celebration central

Over Mother's Day weekend we celebrated on Saturday night with Rick's parents and had a nice steak dinner here at home. On Sunday I drove to Boston with R and A to meet up with my two sisters, one niece, two nephews, my brother-in-law and my parents. We all went to see one nephew in a HS production of West Side Story (which was amazing and fabulous and funny and heartrending). Then we all went out for a Mother's Day dinner at a restaurant in the Back Bay section of Boston called Fire & Ice.

This week is not only Rick's (40th!) birthday (today!) but also his mom's (Saturday) and my mom's (yesterday). Happy Birthday to all the special people in my life! Tonight we are doing a very quick dinner and cake and ice cream with my in-laws (because of my 6:30 meeting at church regarding the CE director position - see above!) and then on Saturday we are doing a full-blown cookout with more family in attendance. Burgers! Hot Dogs! More cake and ice cream! (And to think that life is creating a perfect storm of late that is keeping me away from the club and my morning walks! eek.)

Head cold or tree pollen?

Every year since the year of R's birth I have suffered from a 'seasonal' (April and/or May) onslaught of cough, itchy throat, and sinus congestion. It lasts for a few weeks and from the best I can tell by googling symptoms and allergens each year at around this time, I think I'm allergic to either oak or birch trees (or both). It's a total drag. And it's really not a convenient time - particularly this year - for me to be dealing with this nasty crap. I'm giving Claritin a trial but so far, three days in, I'm not noticing any difference. A friend recently told me that the 10mg that is the OTC Claritin is not actually clinically beneficial and that I should give Zyrtec a try. Another friend suggested Tylenol Sinus. I was very glad for those tidbits and will likely make another trip to the drugstore to give one a try. I'm trying to be patient and wait another day or two with the Claritin before I toss them and try something else. But, something has to be done. And soon.

Was there anything else? Or perhaps that list is the exhaustive (and exhausting) list at the moment. It is certainly plenty to be juggling and I'm hoping that I've not forgotten something... What a crazy month this is!

I Love New York!

2008-05-04T09:56:00.013-04:00

I was looking back in my blog archives to see if I could post links to my previous NYC trips and realized that I don't actually HAVE any posts about my previous trips - at least not that I could find in a brief search of keywords or based on dates. How did that happen? Beats me.

Anyone who knows me or has read this blog for a while probably knows of my love for Broadway musicals. I've loved them since I was very young but did not actually see my first show ON Broadway until I was 32 years old...and nearly eight months pregnant with A. That first experience in August of 2002 - which was also my first time in NYC - was unforgettable. I went with my wonderful mother-in-law and a friend from NJ met us in the city that day and served as our tour guide. We saw 42nd Street - can you say 'quintessential Broadway show'? - and I soaked in a fair bit of the city on that visit. I should have signed up for one of the Duck Tours on that visit. My waddle would've fit right in. On foot we actually managed to cover quite a bit of ground in that day-long visit due to my insatiable appetite for the sights of the city. However, my feet were very happy for the 2.5 hour reprieve once we actually got to the show. And the show itself was a feast for the eyes, ears, heart and soul. It was everything I had hoped it would be...and more!

After that first taste of NYC I vowed that I would be back - as often as possible. In the intervening years I've managed to co-opt my mother-in-law into the role of travel partner and co-adventurer into the city to see more Broadway shows. We've been joined by a small cast of other characters who also enjoy the city in general and musicals in particular and we've managed to see some other great shows:

2004

2005

2007

This year I was joined in my NYC adventure by my mother-in-law J, next door neighbor L, and J's friend E. Another friend who has joined us from NJ in the past (but not the NJ friend who joined us in 2002!) was going to try to come this year but other financial obligations took precedence. (Note to S: we missed you!)

Here's the whole gang in NYC:

As you can see we had a cool and cloudy day in the city. Thankfully the skies stayed dry for the day.

When we arrived we headed straight for the TXTS booth and got in line for tickets. I have not been to NYC all that often but I have never seen the line quite as long as they were yesterday.
However, you would be amazed at the expertise with crowd control and the way they keep the line moving swiftly. We expected to be waiting quite a while but I think our total time in line and getting tickets was not more than 25 minutes. Not too shabby. We had checked the large screens that give you the list of available shows and while we were in line we discussed which shows we could all agree on. Our first choice, based on some recommendations we had gotten from friends (and from an employee who was helping to direct the throngs of theater-goers) was the show Curtains. The only thing I knew about the show was that it stars David Hyde Pierce (who won a 2007 Tony for his role as Detective Cioffee) and Debra Monk (who I later found out has played the role of George's mom on Grey's Anatomy - which is why she seemed so very familiar to me). I also knew that it was a murder-mystery-comedy which sounded entertaining enough for me. Not knowing if tickets would still be available once we reached the front of the line we had to have a back-up plan. They really like to keep things moving in those lines so you can stand there gawking and making up your mind or people get a bit testy. And lucky us! There were still tickets available once we got to the window so we did not need our to go to Plan B or C.

Lunch was the next order of business. L had not even eaten breakfast that morning and I knew I was hungry! L had been handed a flyer for a new French restaurant right in the theater district that was advertising matinee specials. We took a walk around the block and found the place and decided to give it a try. The food was delicious and although the service was slow it gave us time to chat and just 'be' in New York amid the noise, crowds (it was a small little place with close seating), and the excitement of the city. So, we enjoyed that experience even though it provided us with little time to actually explore the city - we decided later that the next trip will have to include more sight-seeing. With lunch over it was nearly time for the show to start so we left the restaurant, got our bearings and headed for the Al Hirschfeld Theater.

This lighted sign showed us the way to the theater from a couple of blocks away.

A very common sight in NYC - limos and taxi cabs...

...and tour buses, of course!

Once we got close the theater we saw a huge clot of people. Another amazing line.
It stretched from the theater entrance down the sidewalk, around a corner and ended about a third of the way down the block. Once again, the theater employees are masters of moving large groups of people in a short amount of time. And they opened the doors promptly at 1:45PM for a 2:00PM show.

If you work for that theater just ignore the next picture, please. I am being completely honest when I say that I had NO idea that photography in the theater was forbidden at ALL times. I understand no videos or photos of the show but I didn't think anyone would mind if I took a picture of the empty stage - with no flash even! Oh well - live and learn. Here's the one picture I took of the stage before hearing "NO PHOTOGRAPHY, PLEASE!" from an usher. At least she was polite about it.

Isn't it purrrrdy?

Due to photography restrictions mentioned above I obviously have no fun pictures to share of the big event but I will say that it is probably my second favorite show that I've seen in NYC so far. (Gypsy and 42nd Street currently tie for first place). What a great show! I am so glad that we picked that one to see and I think we were all equally entertained and delighted by it. The comedy was perfect, the music was fun and the costumes and scenery were fabulous!

Coming out of the theater there was a clot of people waiting on the sidewalk and we realized they were stationed around the Stage Entrance in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the cast and maybe get an autograph or two.

After waiting about 15 minutes - and seeing any number of people come out from orchestra members to lessen known members of the cast - we were rewarded with a glimpse of a few of the well-known, leading cast members.

Debra Monk (Hey look! It's George's Mom!!)

David Hyde Pierce

I could not get close enough when Debra Monk came out to get an autograph but I had managed to squeeze a bit closer when David Hyde Pierce made his appearance and so I handed him my playbill for an autograph and let him know that I enjoyed the show. He seemed so very small in person compared to how he looked on stage. He was gracious about having his photo taken and signing autographs even though he did look a bit tired. I was hoping he had time to rest before the 8PM show that night. It must be a completely grueling schedule and I just looked in the Playbill and noticed that the show has been running for over a year already.

By now it was getting late and we needed to get on the road soon but we decided on one last stop at the M&M store in Times Square.

I wanted to find a treat to bring home for the girls - and good thing I did because the first thing A asked me this morning was "Did you bring something home for us from New York?" ;-) I told them to go look on the dining room table which they did and they were delighted to find little plastic boxes filled with M&Ms - R got blue and white ones in a butterfly-shaped box, A got pink and white ones in a flower-shaped box and E got a rainbow of colors in an appropriately shaped rainbow box.

The drive home at the end of the day is the least exciting part of the day so I'll spare you the details but just suffice it to say it was uneventful and we all got home tired, but in one piece, and very happy for our day in NYC. And of course we have already discussed plans for our next visit which will hopefully be sooner rather than later!

Museum Day

2008-04-24T14:09:00.006-04:00

Monday was Park Day here in Elastic Waistland.

Monday night into Tuesday A had her first ever overnight playdate with a friend. It went surprisingly well and we were all very proud of her accomplishment! Tuesday morning R had her 8-year check-up and was deemed hale and hearty - aside from a pesky sinus infection that doesn't seem to want to go away and for which she is now on her second round of antibiotics. After the appointment we picked up A from her friend's house, ran a couple of errands and then came home and enjoyed another beautiful afternoon outside.

Yesterday, we decided to venture a bit farther afield and drive into Boston to visit the Children's Museum. Rick took the day off from work and we got on the road at about 9am. We planned to arrive in the city in time for lunch and then hit the museum in the afternoon. It turned out to be a great day and the girls had a lot of fun. The museum was pretty packed and so it was an exhausting day from the perspective of two parents trying to keep tabs on three kids - in particular the 2-year-old who thought of the museum as her own personal playground in which she could wander at will. At the end of the day Rick commented on how hard it is being outnumbered in that kind of situation.

Before our departure I had researched possible eateries. The museum is kind enough to list a few choices on their website and an overview map showing locations. Once we got the car parked at one of the recommended parking lots we were able to quickly find a restaurant that sounded like it would be fun and offer food that would be amenable to the younger set as well as the parents.

A view of Boston with the yellow and red striped tent of the Barking Crab restaurant at the bottom.

Rick and I thoroughly enjoyed our crab cakes (he got the sandwich with fries and I ordered the appetizer version and a salad). The girls each got a cheeseburger and fries and although they thought the fries were awesome (they were!), they were less than impressed by the burgers - I think because they had that charcoal/blackened flavor to them. Sitting outside under that big tent with a view of the harbor and the city in the background was a great way to start the day in the city! And it was great that the museum was located just a short walk down the street along a pedestrian walkway.

Inside the museum the girls had fun doing all sorts of activities: rock-wall climbing, construction play zone, guided tour of a real Japanese house, playing with bubbles, water play with rubber duckies, slides, dancing on a lighted dance floor, and much more. At the end of the day A reported liking the dance floor and the water play, R liked "everything", and E just repeated whatever her big sisters said.

Here are a few choice photos of the day:

Construction zone

Rock Wall and Dance Floor (both located in the "kid power" area that encourages an active lifestyle and healthy eating)

Water Play

All told we spent about 3 hours in the museum and at that point E was feeling a bit of sleep-deprivation psychosis. She had not napped the previous day and this was a long day of fun and exploration. She managed to make it back to the car without falling asleep but as soon as she was comfy in her car seat being lulled by the sounds of the engine she settled in for a bit of a much needed and well-deserved nap. The girls watched a movie to pass the time (they had watched a Barbie movie on the way out - A's choice - and "A Bug's Life" on the way home - R's choice) and we arrived home in time to pick-up a pizza to eat at home for dinner.

It was a great way to spend the vacation "hump day" - hard to believe that it's already Thursday. The week is just flying by!

This morning we had a play date with one of A's preschool buddies who has a sister who is the same age as E (and whose name is very similar - one letter difference!). The girls - all five of them - played beautifully together and the mom and I chatted about this and that and talked some shop (we are both Speech-Language Pathologists). Right now, E is napping and the girls are keeping themselves entertained. Not sure what's on the docket for tomorrow but it is supposed to be another beautiful 75 degree day so I know we can figure out something to keep us busy!

At The Park

2008-04-21T20:49:00.004-04:00

Seeing as we had such GORGEOUS weather today I could not resist a picnic at the park with the girls.

We arrived at the park not long before lunch so the girls were ready and very excited to set up our picnic right away!

Lunch was happily consumed by all.

And then the girls decided that a walk along the riverbank was in order.

And they spent much time playing by the river --

poking sticks in the mud...

...and throwing leaf-boats in to watch them sail.

And, of course they played hard on the playground, too.

They played so hard that it became impossible for the youngest to stay awake past 3PM.

(E curled up on the entry rug by the back door. Poor tired little bean!)

A good first day of spring break. :-)

Spring!

2008-04-21T07:46:00.004-04:00

We aren't going anywhere special this spring break but I think we'll have a great time anyway. Who wouldn't enjoy such lovely weather? It's been a long winter but spring is finally here!

We are hoping to go into the city on Wednesday to go to the Children's Museum if Rick can take the day off.

Aside from that I think we are just going to spend a lot of time outdoors enjoying the warm sunshine and fresh air.

Flowers

2008-04-18T10:26:00.006-04:00

Lauri and I went on our walk this morning. It is still chilly in the mornings but yesterday the temperature in the afternoon got to over 70 degrees and today it is supposed to get near 80! Summer is coming, folks!

When I got home I noticed that some daffodils in our front garden were blooming and the Star Magnolia tree (bush?) was looking quite pretty with it's white blooms. I ran inside and grabbed my camera to get a few shots. I'm not an amazing photographer and I don't think I captured the true beauty of the flowers in the morning light but I still felt like sharing a few of the pictures I took (click on any of the photos to view them larger at flickr.com):

And completely unrelated, but cute...A in the tub this morning with a bubble beard!

Hope everyone has a fabulous Friday!

It's All Good

2008-04-16T14:10:00.005-04:00

Yesterday afternoon we had R's parent-teacher conference and today we went to A's school to talk to her teachers. I must say that I feel so blessed to have healthy and happy kids who do well in school. It makes the conferences something to look forward to and enjoy!

Last year at this time I was angsty and twitchy about R' s conference because the classroom she was in was just not a right fit and the year was a difficult one for her socially and emotionally. She was not happy and not challenged in the right ways. Additionally, the teacher was having her own personal issues that impacted the class as a whole due to her stress and her frequent absences. This year was a huge improvement. Her teacher has been fabulous. She was aware of R's social needs and worked on helping R build relationships with other kids. It wasn't always smooth-going but R made some great strides this year and was with a group of really great kids which helped make the process that much easier for her. I think she is developing a few friendships that will hopefully carry over into 3rd grade. Her teacher let us know that she is going to try to place R with kids that she works well with (and she is going to specifically ask R who she might want to be with in 3rd grade) so that the friendships can continue to grow next year. The teacher also had to work on encouraging R to talk more in small and large group discussions. It was something that she was very resistant to in the first half of the year and her teacher told us that it is something that will be expected of her a lot more in 3rd grade. We talked with her and explained that it was not really optional and that it was her "job" at school to share what she knows...particularly when she is asked a question by the teacher (her response was usually to drop her head and refuse to look at the teacher or answer the question). She is a very "rule driven" kind of kid so once we laid the groundwork and told her what was expected she really rose to the occasion and started working harder on those skills. Academically, R is doing really well - her teacher showed us some of her writing (and we all had a good laugh over the "how to" pages) and she told us that she has really developed some great writing skills over the course of this year. Her math skills are right on target (or even advanced in some areas...which must be Rick's genes at work in her because she doesn't get that from me!) and she is decoding above grade level with comprehension skills at least at grade level (she had inconsistent test results because of R's reluctance to talk/answer certain questions on that day). It's always nice to hear that your kid is doing well academically but I was even happier to hear that the social piece is starting to fall into place for her to a certain degree. I don't expect her to ever be the 'social butterfly' kind of kid, but I also don't want her to feel out of the loop and alone in those instances where she might want to be part of the action but just isn't quite sure how to go about it.

And speaking of 'social butterflies' - today was our conference with A's preschool teachers. It was another great meeting that reinforced our notion that A is more than ready for Kindergarten and is doing well both academically and socially. Her teachers have been so happy to have in her the class and she is a good friend to all the kids at school. She shows none of the sassy 5-year-old attitude that we experience here at home and her teachers were surprised to hear she was even capable of such behavior. Boy, she's got them fooled all right. But, in some ways it is nice to know that she is able to self monitor enough to realize what is and is not acceptable behavior depending on the setting. Not that I find it acceptable for her to sass me or Rick - or that I let her get away with it (far from it!) - but at least she knows that home is a safe place to test those limits and she knows better than to test them in school with her teachers. The teachers also told us that she is taking on more of a 'helper' role in the classroom when it comes to her interactions with her classmates. She likes to explain things to the other kids - like how to play a game - and she does so in a very nice way. And she is getting better at speaking out for herself when she encounters issues or problems of her own - last year she often sought out a teacher to fix the problem but now she is having fewer tears and using her language more to resolve an issue with peers all on her own. She has had a wonderful (almost) two years of preschool and we are all looking forward to her transition to kindergarten next year. We are hoping that she has the same great teacher that R had for kindergarten and there is a good chance that she will know at least a few other kids in her class - one from preschool this year and a couple of others from the neighborhood. However, we feel fairly confident that she will make plenty of new friends next year and will have a great time!

Phun with Photoshop!

2008-04-15T18:09:00.003-04:00

I recently figured out (mostly by upgrading to the new widget-based version of blogger) how to put pictures in the header of my blog. So, of course I had to play with the formatting and style of the blog. I spent much too long searching for photos and browsing the various fonts to find just the right one and then I put it all together using Photoshop. Geeky, but fun. :-)

Just be forewarned that you might be seeing changes around here more frequently now that I can quickly change my template, add pictures to the header and other cool stuff like that. :-)

In the Pink!

2008-04-14T15:26:00.003-04:00

Feeling like a little change here at Elastic Waistland. I wanted something brighter and "spring"-ier now that we have finally left winter behind! I lost all my links and formatting when I changed my background so I need to update that. Of course, did I write down the blogs I had listed? Nope. So, I will need to try to recreate that list from scratch. Oh well - it was probably time to clean house around here anyway! And there have been some links that I've been meaning to add so this will be a good opportunity to do that.

But, the updates will have to wait a while. R just got off the bus and now it is snack time!

This the first Monday in many months that we are not rushing out the door for swim class. I had been signing the girls up for consecutive 8-week sessions of swim class since last fall, but this time when I went to sign them up for the next 8-week session A's class was already full. I figured it was a sign that it was time for a break. Lately, R has been particularly whiny about having to go to swim class - I think she was needing a break. A is disappointed, but I'm with R...it is time for a bit of a break.

Rick and I will be meeting with R's teacher tomorrow for a spring conference. Hard to believe that it's that time of year already. I'll post and update on that tomorrow night - hopefully a good one! As far as I can tell she is having a good year and the social piece is getting better for her. The other day her teacher told me via email that R is talking and sharing more in class and in small groups which is great to hear.

And in a few short weeks I'll be signing A up for kindergarten!!! Egads.

OK, time to get snack for the girls.

April 12 of 12

2008-04-12T21:52:00.007-04:00

The usual props go out to Chad Darnell for his nifty idea. Check his site for an explanation and to see the list of more bloggers who have done "12 of 12" this month (and many previous months!).

9:24am - at home
My new phone! I wanted to be sure that I remembered to do my '12 of 12' this month so I set a reminder on my phone and there is my new phone being all shiny and helpful.

10:30am - at home
Making the morning pot of tea. Believe it or not it's a tea called 'java' - click here and search for java if you don't believe me. (You could also click there if you want to be a tea snob like us and order some awesome loose-leaf tea).

10:34am - at home
Here's A fresh from her tub and looking all shiny and happy - and about to get attacked by the monster claw hand. The hand brings back memories of The Addams Family...
They’re creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

...but I digress (and I apologize if you now have that song stuck in your head).

10:35am - at home
My current read. This was a book I bought for R for her birthday and it looked fun so I decided to read it once she was done with it.

12:47am - backyard
Our fledgling planties in the cold frame garden that Rick built. Among the plants growing there right now are lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions, and tomatoes! It's so nice to be able to get started early in the season - but we have to be vigilant about opening the frame in the mornings after the temperature rises and closing it back up at night otherwise they will either fry or freeze!

1:16pm - regional middle school parking lot
R had a birthday party to go to today at the middle school pool. I had just dropped her off and even though it wasn't my birthday I received the delightful gift of one and a half hours of freedom!

2:13am - downtown
The view from my park bench where I was enjoying a little treat from the bakery and an iced coffee while reading my book on an unseasonably warm day (although at this point a few clouds were moving in and there was a slight nip in the air). The large building on the left is Town Hall.

3:30pm - front yard
A crocus growing in our front garden. The sun is back out. It's a gorgeous day - too nice to be spent indoors. For a while it felt like spring would never come but it finally decided to grace us with it's warmth and beauty. Ahhhhh......

3:34pm - backyard (again)
Rick was busy resetting a stone wall that wasn't quite level. E was enjoying the weather and wandering around the backyard in her new rain boots (guess she didn't get the memo on the beautiful weather) - which were on the wrong feet. She didn't seem to notice or mind.

3:39pm - backyard...still
R saw that I was taking pictures and decided to run in and get her camera. She has quite the eye for artistic photography. I haven't downloaded her pictures onto the computer yet but I'm quite often amazed by what she sees and decides to photograph.

3:55pm - backyard
R was trying to take a picture of her own eye and that seemed like a worthy challenge so I decided to try it myself. It's really not easy. And when did I get that hideous crease on the bridge of my nose? Seriously. Botox, anyone?

9:45pm - at home
Rick and I ended the day with a game of Scrabble (And some decaf tea...can't forget the evening tea. This time it was Decaf English Breakfast. We may be snobs about our loose leaf tea, but we don't discriminate when it comes to 'breakfast' teas which we obviously think can be enjoyed at any time of day). I forget the exact final scores but it was a close game with less than a 20 point spread and both scores were over 300.

Hope you enjoyed the April 12 of 12! I'm so glad I remembered again this month!

Recent Conversations...

2008-04-04T16:17:00.006-04:00

Just some funny stuff that fits under the label of "Kids Say the Darndest Things!"

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One morning we had a tough time getting out the door to get to church. I was cranky and feeling like drill sergeant barking orders to get them moving. "Shoes! Jacket! Now!" On our way home A was acting like a back seat driver questioning why I was going a certain way and here's the rest of the conversation:

Me: (still feeling a bit annoyed) "Don't worry. I've lived in Amherst for almost 20 years - I know where I'm going!"

R: "You've lived here almost 20 years? And you are what...37 now?"

Me: "Yup."

R: "I bet sometimes you wish you were 27!"

Me: (thinking, 'Hell yeah!' but not saying that out loud) "Well, not really...when I was 27 I didn't have any of you girls yet so I'd miss you if I were 27 again."

A: "Oh yeah? Well I bet when you get mad at us like you did this morning you wish you were 27 again!"

Touché

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I was headed off to work one day and dad was staying home with the girls. Sometimes A needs a little bit of encouragement to do outdoorsy things (even though once you get her outside she usually has a ball) so I mentioned that she should take dad out on a nature walk to look for signs of spring. She balked at that idea and I said "But you need to make sure dad gets out and gets some exercise today!" E (acting as peanut gallery) pipes up and says to Rick, "You borrow mom's tweadmill?!"

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R had a writing assignment in school recently that involved writing out the steps in a given activity. Each child chose his/her own activity to explain in a multi-step format. They were given papers with lines on which to write their step-by-step directions and boxes in which to make associated illustrations. The newsletter that came home from the teacher at the end of the week listed a few of the activities that the children had picked to write about. The titles were things like, "How to Buy a Metro Card in NYC" and "How to Make a Rice Roll-up." I asked R what she had chosen to write about. She proudly announced, "I wrote directions for making an origami box," then added, with a gleam in her eye, "and directions for sneaking out of bed when your parents are still up!"

Of course, I just have to share the rough draft that came home the next day. You know, just in case there are any kids out there who might benefit from my daughter's expertise in this area.

I'm loving the last picture on this page. - the eyeball peeking out of the slightly opened doorway.

And the first picture on this page, I am told, is of a parental units legs walking by the room - in which case you are supposed to stay put! The second picture is of the child's legs as they are leaving the room.

I noticed that there is no contingency plan - like a list of valid excuses just in case one is caught in the act. Surprising really, since she's been quite creative with her various excuses for being out of bed.

**************************************

Just a few tidbits from the Elastic Waistland. These kids are a constant source of amusement. I just wish I took the time to write down more of this priceless stuff!

Too Tired to Think of a Clever Title

2008-04-02T21:35:00.006-04:00

This week has been a bit off-kilter.

Monday I was supposed to go on some AAC consults with the P from work. I had lined up my childcare for the day (thank you, Grandma and Grandad!) and arranged for Rick to do the morning preschool drop-off so I could get on the road early. I had my travel mug of tea, my lunch and my work bag packed and I was able to get out the door by 7:55am. Since I had a few minutes to spare I stopped to get gas. As I climbed back into the car my cell phone was ringing - the cell phone that I left in the car overnight after returning from the overnight visit to my home town. It was P calling to let me know that her son was up sick all night long and, as luck would have it, the student we were supposed to see was not in school that day either. She told me that she'd been calling since 6:50am to let me know and had left me multiple messages. Oops. I had only given her my cell phone number and then I stupidly left the phone where I couldn't hear it! We made mental notes to be sure to get each others' home phone numbers and I told her that I hoped her son felt better and that she didn't catch whatever he had. So, that was the Monday work day that wasn't.

Today I went into work for the afternoon for the staff meeting that kind of wasn't. Two of the five staff were not able to make it - one SLP was leaving for the west coast for some kind of job interview (yep - we might be losing her to another job! eek!) and P, whose son was sick earlier in the week, caught whatever he had and was home sick herself! So, it was difficult to do any kind of planning without their input. We have a tentative evaluation scheduled for Monday which will be one of those writing evaluations I mentioned in a previous post (I know nothing about them but hope to gain some level of training so I can help in that area as well) and we have an AAC evaluation scheduled for Thursday and I will be working with that team for sure. Since I couldn't talk to P about going with her to any on-site consults I sent her an email to find out what her schedule looks like next week so I can make the necessary child care arrangements.

I'm really enjoying the work, but the scheduling aspect of this job is frustrating at times.

In other news, I'm either a seasonal allergy sufferer or I have yet another early spring cold. This afternoon, shortly before I left for my meeting, my throat started to feel sore. I seem to always have some kind of respiratory thing whenever spring finally arrives. It may be that I'm just unlucky and get a spring cold every year but since it seems to happen every year at this time it does makes me wonder if I have some kind of seasonal allergy. The sore throat is still going strong this evening. I've taken some zinc lozenges to help nip it in the bud if it is a cold. I've tried antihistamines in the past but it doesn't seem to do diddly-squat for me so that is one reason that I question the allergy theory. I've been getting this "spring cold" thing ever since R was born. They say that your immune system can be affected by pregnancy and I've noticed this spring cold pattern since the year she was born. I'm usually fine most of the winter with no serious illnesses and then as soon as the weather turns for the better I go downhill for at least a couple of weeks. So, right now I am not a happy camper. And since it's now past my bedtime I think I'll say good night and get myself to bed.

We're Off to See the Wizard!

2008-03-31T10:32:00.004-04:00

Or rather, we went to see the Wizard!

My hometown high school now has a huge and impressive "Performing Arts Center" that was built 5-10 years ago. (I was thinking five years at first but time goes so quickly that it may have been longer than that)! It is humbling...and a tad bit disconcerting...to realize that my experiences on a high school stage -- in the much smaller and far less impressive auditorium that has since been converted to a couple of lecture halls -- were more than 20 years ago. How did I get to be old enough to reminisce and vividly remember an experience more than two decades ago. Gulp.

Anyway...I had heard that the high school was going to put on a Wizard of Oz production and figured it would be a great way to introduce my girls to the Oz experience (since they have been resistant to watching the evil witch on the small screen). I called my mom and told her that I wanted to bring the two older girls down to see the show and asked if she and my dad wanted to join us. She said "sure" and even offered to buy the tickets for us. Great!

Saturday morning I loaded up the car and drove down to my parents' house with R and A (not being much of a fan of musicals, Rick chose to stay home with E who I felt was not up for seeing the witch in action just yet). We arrived at lunch time and hung out with Grandma and Papa until it was time to go to the high school. On the way we grabbed a quick pizza dinner and arrived more than an hour before the show to get in line. We had heard the lines would be insane and we were glad we got there early. Being close to the front of the line and waiting a full hour meant we got great seats!

That is, most of us had great seats. We were seated in the center about 10 rows from the orchestra and no one was seated in front of us when we sat down. A short time later a young couple chose the seats in front of us and boy was I wishing I had brought along a pair of loppers...

It was like sitting behind the Statue of Liberty...

But at least he was polite enough to keep his arm down and his torch at home.

The show was as impressive as I had expected. The same director/drama teacher I had is still there and still performing his special brand of 'magic.' He is amazingly talented not only in the coaching of the students but also in the creation of backdrops, props and special effects. The playbill also indicated that all costumes were hand made by various students, parents and faculty. The results of all their efforts was a sight to behold. I took some pictures to post here because could not adequately describe in words what we saw:

Dorothy and Toto meeting Glinda for the first time.

The drama teacher (center, dressed in purple as the"Coroner") and all the munchkins thanking Dorothy for dropping the house on the witch. I love when the director does cameos in his productions!

Not that easy to see, but this is the 'poppies' scene and the huge stage is FULL of little and big kids - from preschool on up - dressed as a huge field of poppies!! That's a lot of costumes to make!

The director driving the carriage being pulled by an honest-to-goodness REAL horse who was somehow dyed green! This will be the drama teacher's last production of The Wizard of Oz and he promised to make it his best one yet - he wasn't kidding!

Another example of amazing artwork/set design. I loved this scene! I don't know what they are called but the eyes of the wizard are actually large glass orbs with blue lights that crackled inside like lightning! So cool!

A close-up of the main cast when they were in front of the stage during the final scene. These students were all outstanding singers and actors. They truly captured the characters as we all know and love them from the MGM version of this great musical.

Hats off to the great cast and crew for a fabulous and thoroughly enjoyable production!!! There may be "no place like home" but for great theater at a great price there's no place like my old high school! Rock on, BHS!

Re-entry, Phase 2 - The 'interview'!

2008-03-28T07:33:00.007-04:00

You might be scratching your head thinking "Interview? Didn't you already get the job?"

Yes. Yes, I did.

And I guess it could have been called an 'employment meeting' or 'salary negotiations' or even just simply a 'formality'. But, there was a definite feeling of 'interview' in the one (yep. one.) question she asked: something along the lines of "What experiences have you had that make you qualified for the position and what makes you want to work with the assistive technology center?"

Since she had my resume open in front of her I knew she was aware of my job history and she indicated that she had already "heard many great things" about me from my co-workers. So, I gave her a brief retelling of my history in the world of assistive technology (which largely consists of learning from and working with the assistive technology team I'm working for again). She seemed marginally interested and we moved immediately on to the question of salary. Thus, I'm guessing the whole "interview" facade was to satisfy some administrative need in the hiring process. Either that, or boy howdy! am I good at answering interview questions! (If anyone believes that I've got a bridge to sell ya).

The salary question had not come up at all until that moment. I was a bit apprehensive given my three years away from any kind of work environment. After all, I've been wiping bottoms and noses, singing nursery rhymes, and dancing along with The Wiggles for the past few years. And my continuing education has been marginal at best. Enough to allow me, in good conscience, to sign my name on the dotted line and pay the insane membership and renewal fees so I can continue to say that I'm a certified SLP and professional member of ASHA. The last time I worked for the team I was considered an outside 'consultant' and given an hourly rate for my per diem hours. In the intervening years the state has gotten a little squeamish over the hiring of 'consultants' whose salary is not taxed among other piddly little reasons. It is now standard practice for them to hire anyone working for their company as an honest-to-goodness employee. Last week I had filled out my name and address ad nauseum on a multitude of forms (someone seriously needs to make that process a little easier) and got the ball rolling. In one box on the application form I filled out it asked me for my "expected salary". I left it blank. I have no idea what an SLP currently makes out in the real world of education. I know that there is a salary difference in education as compared to those who work in rehab centers and hospitals but I didn't even know where the floor or the ceiling lay for the average SLP, let alone one who hasn't worked for the last three years. And the job I am doing now isn't even a normal 'School-based SLP' position but one in which I will be working towards a specialty in AAC (augmentative and alternative communcation). I only had my previous per diem rate to go by. I basically felt that given the amount of 'training' I'd need to get up to speed that I would be satisfied to make the same hourly rate as I was given last time. I was prepared to insist upon that amount because I recalled the conversation last time where it seemed like I had to push a bit to get that rate. So, I sat across from the SPED administrator worried that my "interview" was not good enough and that I was going to have to work harder on 'selling' myself to get the rate I was hoping for (and if you think I am good at selling myself you are the same person who needs me to sell them that bridge).

As luck would have it, the SPED administrator knows a ~~warm body~~ capable person when she sees one. She explained that they looked for my old paperwork but since the office moved last fall they were having trouble locating any file on my employment (so apparently my resume wasn't the only thing lost in the great 'office relocation project'). She went on to explain that she preferred to give me a rate that commiserated with my experience. I noticed that she had attempted to tally up the various jobs on my resume into a number that equaled "years of work experience" (not a quick or straightforward task given my work history which consists of quite a few part-time employment scenarios). In the end she had determined that I had the equivalent of 4 years work experience as an SLP (sounded about right to me) and that I fit into the "Level 5" category for company employees. I held my breath as she calculated down from a yearly rate (based on a 185-day school year) to a daily rate to an hourly rate. I'm not sure if the complete and utter shock registered in my face when she announced the hourly rate but a second later I made sure my jaw was off the floor, dragged my eyebrows back to neutral, and tried to refrain from doing a happy dance as I indicated that an $8/hour raise from my previous rate of pay would be 'fine'.

Fine?

More like YEEHAW!

We finished our meeting and she apologized to me again for the delay in getting me started. She blamed the lack of communication on the fact that they are in the midst of 'blah, blah, blah' ...which is all I registered as I thanked her for her time and told her how excited I was to be working with the team again. My mind was still on that part in the conversation moments before when I realized that I managed to get a significant raise after three years of domestic goddess duty. I was also mentally preparing myself to live up to whatever "great things" my co-workers were saying about me behind my back!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the fact that the SPED administrator asked me what they can do to help me get back up to speed on the world of AAC. I told her that I have been working on some self-directed study and attending a few workshops at the center recently. I also told her that a large part of the relearning process will be just getting a chance to "play around" with the systems. I was advised later by a co-worker that the reason I was asked that question was because it is likely that any professional development I feel I need will be approved and paid for by the company. I will certainly be keeping eyes and ears open for such opportunities and won't be shy about asking if I find anything!

The same co-worker also told me that I have the opportunity to gain expertise in other related areas. They have an SLP on staff who does most of the evaluations that deal with higher-level students who need the help of computer-based programs to formulate written language. I don't have any experience with this population but it is great knowing that the opportunity to grow in that direction exists as well. The company would like to essentially 'grow' a team of professionals who can cover a wider range of services in the realm of assistive technology.

I am excited about the possibilities while at the same time a bit apprehensive about the process. For now my time is somewhat limited and I am not ready to jump back into full-time employment. That is certainly something to consider as the girls get older but for now I want to try and remain firmly a part-time employee. With so many opportunities for growth I am going to have to think hard about where I am going professionally and how I plan to get there without sacrificing too much of my time while the girls are still so young.

Easter Eggstravaganza!

2008-03-25T16:32:00.004-04:00

Just a few pics from Easter to share.

Saturday, we did our traditional egg dyeing project. E obviously needed a lot of help this year but the older two are getting more skilled in their egg handling. The day before we dyed the eggs A asked why we needed to bother boiling them first. I explained that it made it easier to handle them and that we would get to eat them later. She was less than thrilled with the prospect of eating eggs of any kind but agreed to help dye eggs for other people to eat.

One of the egg artisans at work.

E and her cheesy grin that appears whenever there is a camera nearby.

The glorious eggs.

On Easter morning the girls woke up at their regular time which surprised me. They rushed into our room and asked if they could see their baskets. I told them to go see if the bunny had filled them and I'd be along shortly to get a few photos.

They could not wait to get started on the candy...

I helped organize the Easter Egg ~~Hunt~~ Mad Dash this year. It usually takes about 6 people at least 20 minutes to get all the eggs thrown out on the lawn each year...and about 45 seconds for the kids to descend upon the common and make a clean sweep. This is one of the easiest events to sign up for because there is literally NOTHING to clean up! The kids do it all for you - and without a single complaint!

E needed much prodding this year to actually collect eggs. I had to keep pointing out eggs and prompting her to pick them up. She was far too interested in the sight of all the big kids running from one end of the common to the other. I think she wondered what the big rush was all about! After all, the little kids get their own little space full of eggs that is cordoned off by cones and orange string (which you can see in the top left corner of this picture)...

R and her bag of loot. She is now officially one of the "big kids" who can run far and fast and can get quite a lot of eggs along the way.

A also managed very well for herself. In fact, she did so well that she took the advice given by the Christian Ed. Director very much to heart and shared some of her bounty with a child who wasn't nearly as fortunate.

After the hunt we were off to grandma and grandad's house for a yummy ham dinner with all the fixin's. I offered to bring along dessert and decided to make a cake. Do you think I maybe had a bit too much fun with the frosting?

Re-entry, Phase 1 - Complete!

2008-03-21T08:27:00.006-04:00

I survived the first day back to work - unscathed, no less. And feeling pretty good overall.

Rick was left in charge of the morning "launch" of the girls - R and A to school and E to grandma's for the day. I headed out about 7:45am and got to work just after 8:00am. I was the first to arrive so I had to sit on my hands for a few minutes and try to quell the feelings of inadequacy and angst that tend to surface on moments such as this - returning to work in an area of the field in which I really WANT to be an expert but feel completely lacking...particularly after a three-year hiatus from working in the real world.

The team PT arrived on the scene not long after I did and we started the day by reviewing the student file for the morning's evaluation. The SLP and the team's administrative assistant showed up a short while later and we got to work prepping for the evaluation. This team has worked together for the last 15 or so years and so I'm sure it can be hard to integrate a new member into the group. But, to their credit, I felt completely welcomed and embraced by all of them. The fact that I wasn't a complete stranger helped, I'm sure. After all, I had worked with them for about six months while I was pregnant with E. So, they threw me immediately into the mix and allowed me to feel like I was a productive part of the team while at the same time never leaving me to feel like I was "out on a limb" unprepared. I certainly hit the ground running. I got to set up some of the equipment - including the TechSpeak voiced output device and the new (and way cool!) DynaVox voiced output device - and even did a quick laminating job (...for this they pay me the big bucks!). We were under the gun to get the evaluation materials prepped for a 10:30am evaluation and managed to do so by the skin of our teeth. I have a feeling that much of this team's operations are handled in this way (go! go! go!) so I'm going to have to get used to it.

The evaluation lasted for almost two hours and after all the prep we ended up having to shift gears shortly into the evaluation. He was much more capable than we anticipated from reading the scant information in the file. However, I think we were able to give the family some good short-term recommendations as well as some thoughts on his future needs as his symbolic language skills develop. My primary job on this evaluation was the watch and take copious notes so that we could write up the report once it was over.

We finished up and sent the family on their way with notes and various suggestions and got to work on writing up the report. The team is given one day of work for each evaluation - from preparation and evaluation to report-writing and editing. It can be done but it's another example of how the atmosphere is just Go! Go! Go!

The SLP had to leave almost immediately to get to an appointment at the regional hospital for a chemotherapy treatment. Unorthodox as it might seem, I was asked if I would be willing to (although it was made clear that I absolutely did not have to) meet the SLP at the hospital where we could set up her laptop and write our 'communication' portion of the report. She generally sits there for two or so hours receiving the drugs and she really just felt she could get the report done at the same time. Talk about dedication! So, that's what I did. I drove the 20 minutes south to the cancer center (my biggest fear being that I would get lost and I had neglected to bring my cell phone along with me...) and we spent a couple of hours writing up the report. Talk about an unusual first day on the job!

On my way back through town I dropped my employment paperwork off and finally got to meet the SPED Administrator who never seemed to be in the office or able to return phone calls. She apologized for her lack of contact and promised that she was not trying to avoid me. We made an appointment to meet to "discuss employment" - whatever that means...heck I'd just had my first day, right? Although, I suppose I still do not quite know what my employment status will be. It could be that I will be an employee of the company or, because I'm essentially going to work per diem, it might be that they hire me under the guise of "consultant" which is how they paid me for my last gig. Hopefully, I'll get some clear answers next Thursday.

I got home about 4:45pm and grandma was here with the two younger girls. R was off at art class and Rick was scheduled to pick her up at 5:30 and bring her home in time for dinner. The next order of business was to figure out that eternal question: "What's for dinner?" I enlisted A to be my kitchen helper and after scrounging through the fridge we decided on chicken and broccoli alfredo over penne pasta (except that I had to put the cheese sauce on the side and serve A's dinner with spaghetti sauce instead).

I'm scheduled to go back for another evaluation next Thursday and there is the chance that I can follow along with the SLP on one or more of her consults next week - I'm waiting to hear back from her on that so I can arrange childcare. She sent me a nice note this morning thanking me for hanging out with her at the hospital and helping to get the report written. And she expressed how happy she is to have me on board and helping me to become another AAC consultant.

I'd have to say the feeling is mutual.

MA, CCC-SLP

2008-03-19T21:31:00.003-04:00

Those are the letters I will be writing after my name again.

Masters of Arts, Certificate of Clinical Competence-Speech-Language Pathology

Just in case you were wondering.

Tomorrow I start back to work. I am approaching it with a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

If my brain survives the re-entry process I'll try to post something coherent here about how things went.

In the meantime, keep me in your prayers, cross your fingers and toes, or just send me some extra brains cells. Whatever floats your boat. I'm gonna need all of it.

Happy (Belated!) 8th Birthday to R...

2008-03-16T16:18:00.006-04:00

Alternative Title: I Have an 8-year-old and I'm Feelin' Old

Due to a host of mundane but relevant reasons we had postponed R's birthday party by a couple of weeks. We had celebrated with family, given her our gifts and made her a special dinner, but we decided to wait on having a birthday party with some of her friends until March 8th. In the wee hours of the morning of March 8th E woke up and puked in her bed. Needless to say, the delayed celebration needed to be postponed yet another week. R was very disappointed but took the news as well as could be expected.

Yesterday was the much awaited and anticipated birthday party with her friends and they all had a great time. All her friends are great kids and had me laughing over one thing or another during the course of the afternoon. They ate pizza, sculpted with Fimo clay, goofed off together, visited the rats, ate cake and ice cream and then R opened her gifts. A fun afternoon! Here are a few pics from the day:

Although we had no consistent "theme" to the party this year, R decided that she wanted reptiles on her cake. So, I made frosting grass (I'm thinking SPRING!) and put the little plastic guys on top.

R and A working with clay. All told they made three trays worth of little pieces of art that I baked and sent home with the kids in their goody bags. It was a huge hit!

Sculpting aftermath....

E had fun with all the big kids.

Pig pile!!!

Waiting patiently for cake.

Mom and the birthday girl.

Good cake...

...and ice cream!

R has matured so much in the last year. She is a book worm who loves nature and science and her reading interests of late have been adventure stories (Deltora Quest series, Andrew Lost books, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Spiderwick, etc...) as well as nonfiction books about a variety of subjects from the human body to the solar system to frogs and amphibians. Her classroom this year is heavily math-focused and she is proving to be up to the task even if it is not her most favorite subject. She can be a bit of a hot-head at times but she is beginning to get more of a handle on her feelings and expressing herself in a more constructive way. She is artistic and creative and loves to do anything crafty from making jewelry to drawing to creating objects out clay, paper, yarn, or anything else we have hanging around the house. She is a collector of rocks, sticks, and just about anything bright and shiny! Although she is quiet and tends to be shy in certain situations she has made some great friends is school this year.

It is hard to believe that it was more than 8 years ago that we brought home our sweet little bundle called R. She is not such a small bundle anymore (and growing taller by the minute!) but she continues to bring pride and joy into our lives and will forever be our little girl! Happy Birthday, R. We love you!

Best Laid Plans and The Unexpected Doctor Visit...

2008-03-13T18:48:00.004-04:00

***Update at end of entry***

I finally got a phone call from the folks at the AAC center and was told that a contract was being drawn up for me and got some specific dates that they were hoping I could work. They had expected to do an eval today and I was thinking I might be going in today so I had set up childcare for both E (all day) and A (after school). When I got the phone call yesterday they told me that the eval for today was canceled. I figured I'd keep the childcare arrangements and have a "mental health day" for myself. But, you know the old adage about 'best laid plans', right?

This morning I went on my walk at 6am with my neighbor. When I got home at 7am I found out that A was having some leg pain and refusing to walk! She had complained earlier in the week of some pain but I dismissed it because it didn't seem to be impacting her activity level and because she only mentioned it when I suggested we take a nature walk (she can be hard to motivate for such things even though she has fun once we get out and do it). She had originally complained on Monday and on Tuesday morning she thought she might not want to go to gymnastics because of her leg. Again, it sounded like an excuse for no real reason and she actually went to gymnastics and did just fine.

She has been acting out of late and I have been wondering in the back of my mind if she is bothered by the thought of me returning to work - it's been a regular topic of conversation around here of late (as if you couldn't have figured that out given my recent blog fodder). Today Rick was going to drop her off at preK on his way to work and I wondered if she was reacting to that change in schedule. She was so adamant about the pain that I could not doing anything but keep her home. I was a bit annoyed thinking that maybe she was overreacting or faking it...

After we'd been home together for a few hours and she was literally refusing to move off the couch I knew she wasn't faking it. I called the pedi and they suggested bringing her in. Two hours later we left the office having had x-rays of her hip and leg done and blood work taken! I thought he'd say it was a muscle strain or something similarly innocuous. No such luck.

The suggestions of possibilities ranged from relatively innocuous (viral infection that moved into the hip called 'toxic or transient synovitis') to rather serious ('aseptic necrosis'...which was rather unsettling considering the fact that my own father had that when he was a boy and was in a hospital in traction for most of two years to fix it!!!). As well a few other possibilities of varying degree. The doctor was taking things seriously and ordered a battery of tests that would allow for a differential diagnosis one way or the other.

The doctor called a short while ago to let us know that the x-ray results were normal (phew!) which ruled out the more serious bone related possibilities ('aseptic necrosis' and some other equally evil sounding disease involving the hip joint). We are still looking at a viral or bacterial cause and the blood work should give us a better idea of what is going on. We'll know more later tonight and again in about 48 hours when the cultures come back. I'm leaning towards viral at this point since Andrea seems to be doing a bit better tonight after resting all day. The treatment for a viral infection is just to rest and give ibuprofen as needed. If I'm right she should be back to normal in under a week.

So, that was my day-off-turned-stressful-and-worrisome-day today! One thing I firmly believe is that everything happens for a reason (not always know to us right away...if ever). And today I was expecting to be at the eval that got canceled. Seems as if there was some divine intervention that meant I was home and was able to get Andrea to the doctor and get her the necessary tests. And because I kept the daycare slot for Eliza, it meant she didn't have to hang with us for two hours DURING lunchtime/nap time at the doctor's office! That would have just added stress and complications to the day.

I'm in the process of finishing off my second glass of wine for the evening and saying a prayer of thanks that A is doing much better and that the more serious causes have been ruled out. Sometimes I find that I take for granted the immense blessings of a healthy family.

**Update 3/14***
The doctor just called again to report that the blood work results have come back normal! So, the diagnosis (given lack of evidence pointing to anything else) is a viral infection of some sort which should clear up on its own. We are to check back in if things don't improve but so far A is doing much better today so I am confident that she will continue to improve.

March 12 of 12

2008-03-12T22:18:00.009-04:00

Be sure to check out Chad Darnell for the low down on the "12 of 12" -- it's a cool concept and fun to do (if you can remember when it actually is the 12th of the month)! I seem to forget most months until I see other bloggers pictures. Bad Jeanne. But, this month...I remembered! You can give me a virtual head pat for that. Thanks.

I did remember to do my 12 of 12 but it wasn't until after lunch! In the morning I dropped A off at preschool and then E and I headed to church for a meeting of the "Crafty Ladies" (a group of women who meet throughout the year to create items for the November church fair). I was tasked with bringing snacks for all the ladies this week.

12:30PM - The remainder of my sour cream coffee cake and some chocolate Easter eggs.

12:33PM - A view of our street as we are leaving to pick up A from preschool. Notice that my front yard (foreground) still has a frozen tundra and the neighbors across the street still have grass...this is the usual state of affairs in late winter and it's so unfair! Our house faces north and our backyard has similar snow cover due to very tall trees. I want SPRING!)

1:08PM - Home from preschool pick-up and my budding artist created this lovely piece of work that we got to take home!

2:13 PM - FINALLY got a call back about the job (see the last few blog entries for details on this communication nightmare). I took note of the dates I am needed so I can start working on childcare arrangements. They want me - they really do!

2:48PM - Wednesday is early release day in our school district so R came home about 1:45. The girls asked to play some games on the computer. In our house, screen time is a special treat so when one plays a game the others want to sit and spectate.

2:50PM - Time to get some laundry done seeing as our basket is overflowing. We have a laundry chute in the bathroom so I dragged the basket out of my bedroom and was preparing to dump in all down into the basement via the laundry chute.

3:26PM - While I was downstairs dealing with laundry I got a picture of the forts the girls had created in the basement playroom.

3:32PM - I figured that the girls were well occupied with their computer games so I decided to try to get in a workout with "Tony". It worked reasonably well until they came down to check out what I was doing and started to antagonize each other. Sigh...it reminded me why I can't do an effective workout while they are in the same room.

4:00PM - I've done this workout more than a few times and today was the first time I noticed the typo. It made me giggle and I had to get a screen shot of it. What is kness and how I do I manage to get it over my ankle?

4:13PM - Post workout 'glow'. Actually, my Irish complexion means I just look like I have a bad sunburn.

7:01PM - Story time with Dad before bed. They are reading the Deltora Quest series of books together.

10:26PM - My current read. Not exactly light bedtime reading and I actually didn't read any before bed today. But it was on the dresser in my bedroom so I took it as my last picture before bed. I am trying to finish it in preparation for returning to work (and to collect 11 hours of continuing education/professional development credit).

So, that's my March 12 of 12. I'm dedicating this one to Lauri since she harassed me (in a nice way, of course) about missing the last few months of 12 of 12. I told her on our walk this morning that my 12 of 12 would be going up on my blog at some point today and she seemed pleased. (Hi, Lauri! Hope E is being a good girl over there for you today!)

Pollyanna and the Great Cosmos

2008-03-11T09:36:00.006-04:00

I'm beginning to wonder if the Great Cosmos is trying to send me a message. If so, I'm choosing to ignore it and am forging ignorantly ahead. (And who is it that has been so annoyed by others' lack of communication of late? Yeah. That would be me.)

Yesterday, after I dropping A off at preschool and going to the grocery shopping, I came home hoping to find a message from the SPED director. No such luck - or so I thought. I went through the day feeling once again annoyed that my attempts at communication were being ignored.

Fast forward to 3:20pm. R is getting off the bus and the phone rings. I am hopeful but as soon as I look at the caller ID I realize it is not the call I am expecting. I take the call and get an update on a church member who is ill in the hospital so I decide to call Lauri next door and give her an update in case she hadn't heard the latest. After pressing the "off" button on the phone I notice that the display screen is indicating that I have voice mail. Voice mail? When did that happen. I had been ~~obsessively~~ consistently checking for messages throughout the day! And there had been no 'beep' to indicate that a caller was trying to reach me while I was on the phone. I am also supposed to get an email each time I get a voice mail, but I had received no such email alert all day (and never did, by the way). I checked my voice mail and, sure as shootin', there's a voice mail from the SPED director that she had left at 9:20am. NINE-TWENTY A. M.! Argh!

The silver lining here is that the message itself was extremely positive. She is "very interested" in meeting with me and she has heard "very many great things" about me. How's that for giving a gal a swelled head! But oh, the pressure! I just hope I live up to the expectations of all those "great things" she's heard.

It was time to get the girls to swim class when I got the message so I got them loaded into the car and quickly called her back. As luck would have it we ended up playing yet another round of phone tag. I left her a message letting her know that I would be unreachable while at swim class but that I would be home after 9:30 the next morning. That's today! It's now 10am and no phone call yet but I am once again seeing a glass that is half full. Maybe even more than half! Just call me Pollyanna. I can take it. I've certainly heard worse. Just don't tell the Great Cosmos that I'm ignoring it.

My Exciting Life...

2008-03-10T11:30:00.007-04:00

Forgive me as I blather on and on about this job situation. Life is so exciting at the moment that I feel the need to write about the mundane (look for the sarcasm).

Last Friday I called and left a message for the SPED Director. She was out of the office at a conference all day so I knew I would not hear back until this week. The secretary I spoke with on Friday suggested I email a copy of my resume to her to get the ball rolling. So, last night I sent her my resume and a quick cover letter. When I spoke with D at the workshop last week she let me know that an evaluation is scheduled for this Thursday and was hoping I could be "on board" by that time. I'm not holding my breath. I have childcare arranged for the whole day, just in case, but it might just end up being a very nice mental health day for me if things are not lined up by then. I have done all I can possibly do at this point and if they want to hire me it has to be their move. The ball's in their court. I'll be sure to update if I hear anything.

=========================

This weekend pretty much sucked. E woke up at 3am on Saturday morning and puked all over her bed. She also had a fever of 101. Her hot, sick little bod spend all of Saturday laying on some towels on the floor with a bucket nearby. It was a relatively mild stomach bug all things considered but it had the audacity to arrive on the morning of what was supposed to be R's 8th birthday party with her friends (we had a family celebration on her birthday back in February). R was so excited when she woke up and then had her happiness dashed against the rocks when she found out about E's illness. She actually handled it as well as could be expected and I ended up taking the two older girls out to lunch and to the bookstore (R's favorite kind of store) for a little outing to make up for the lack of festivities.

The next night it was time to change the clocks and "spring ahead an hour" - this loss of an hour of sleep and E's continued illness and crabbiness compounded the sleep deprivation of the night before. She woke up almost every hour that night - at 3am I even moved into her room to try to comfort her but she kept crying out at random intervals. Sunday morning was not exactly welcomed with a smiling face. I did manage to get the older two off to church on time but it was not what I wanted to be doing. I knew they had to get to choir practice after church otherwise I think we would have probably skipped it this week.

This morning I got A off to preschool but realized when we got to the parking lot that I had left her lunch and her sneakers at home. Sigh. I got A into school and drove back to get her stuff. I was feeling annoyed with myself for forgetting the backpack which was sitting right by the back door. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I am the one that has to remember everything. And if anything gets forgotten it's MY fault. I think the sleep deprivation is getting to me. Whine, whine. Just tell me to shut up.

After dropping off A's backpack I took E to the grocery store (whee.) and we got a bunch of exciting stuff like eggs and bread and milk and blueberries (actually, I really was a little bit excited about the blueberries...). It's all put away now and almost time to go back and pick up A from school. But first I must get some lunch made for E and myself. No plans for the afternoon but I am hoping that E will take a nap and catch up on some sleep. Once R gets home we'll be heading off to the Y for swim class and Rick will hopefully have dinner ready soon after we get home (Note to Rick if he reads this: I bought ground beef at the store - are you up for making tacos or quesadillas tonight?).

See? Did I not say how exciting life is right now? Groceries. Drop-off/Pick-up from preschool. Swim class. The excitement really needs to slow down a bit so I can catch my breath. Phew.

Job Update

2008-03-07T08:42:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I attended the workshop at the AAC center. The workshop was mostly hands-on and we spent most of the time making a few low-tech devices that can be used to provide additional visual aids in the classroom. They are very useful for SPED kids but they can be used in many ways to keep all kids in the classroom on task and focused. It was a good workshop and it was great to reconnect with other professionals. I joked with the presenter (D, the woman I used to work with) that it was like spending a day doing SPED Scrapbooking because we spent a lot of time cutting, pasting, taping, and assembling pages! LOL

I got to spend a little time re-acquainting myself with some software that I haven't used in a while. It was nice to know that I could still navigate my way around some of the programs after just a bit of help getting started. I also spent some time browsing the internet and finding useful information on some websites that were provided in our packet. All in all, it was a good day and a good reintroduction to the world of AAC and Speech-Language Pathology.

While I was there I was able to talk to two of the three members of the current AAC team and get more information about the possibility of working for them. Right now things are a bit chaotic and uncertain and the two women who are doing the evaluations are solidly booked and they have had to turn clients away because they don't have the manpower. The structure of the center has changed since I left and it appears that the center has moved from being more autonomous with their own director to being a part of the SPED department and having no true leadership. The three of them are pretty much running things on their own and have very little time for prep and organization. I am actually amazed by what they do get done given their situation. And the additional stress of having one of the team members going through chemotherapy just makes things that much more difficult.

I do wonder if I want to dig any deeper into this job opportunity or not but at the same time I know that I would be working with a few of the very best AAC professionals in the area. It was also a bit more encouraging to hear them say that they want to take me on and "mentor" me so that I can learn the protocols and processes from the ground up. They do not plan to just take me on and overwhelm me by throwing me out there and expecting me to figure it out on my own.

The current stumbling block is in actually getting me hired. With no true "Director" in their center they have to go to the SPED Director for hiring and budgetary decisions. So, the next step is to contact her. It was suggested that *I* contact her about this issue which, honestly, feels a bit odd to me. But, I've decided to forge ahead and make the call at some point today. I will just initiate contact and see where it goes from there. I am going to keep my mind open and see if this is something that I really want to do right now or not. There are plenty of obvious negatives that I can see (disorganization and leadership being the biggest and most challenging), but if I want to get into AAC as a specialty I feel this is the place to get the experience and these are the women to be my mentors because they really know what they are doing and they have been doing it together for about 15 years. So, there are many potentially very positive aspects for me professionally -- if I can survive a bit of chaos in the (hopefully) short term.

For now I am going to move forward with plans to work for them and have already arranged for childcare on Thursdays (which also just happens to be the day they do all their evaluations). I just need to find out if the SPED Director will approve hiring another team member - it seems crazy to me that they would not approve it because the team so desperately needs some additional help but it's all related to budgetary issues (grrrr). For the last few years they have been operating with a 2-person evaluation team. Hiring (and training) me would mean that for the short-term they will be paying for a 3-person evaluation team which will significantly affect their bottom line until I was trained enough to be more on my own and able to work as part of a 2-person evaluation team.

There is a lot more that I could go into but it's all so very confusing and convoluted (as if this whole mess hasn't been confusing enough for those of you reading out there!). So, just know that I'm still moving forward on the job front issue and I'm not giving up hope just yet.

As an aside I will say that I was rather disappointed that I didn't even get a "sorry for not returning your calls" from K when I saw her at the center yesterday. She seemed very surprised and happy to see me but there was no mention of the fact that she IGNORED me for the last three weeks. I get that she is busy. I do. But I also find her lack of communication very unprofessional - mainly because she was the one who initiated contact and then didn't even have the courtesy to direct me to the right person or even send me a brief note to let me know that my messages were received. I obviously won't be working with or for her now that she is not a part of the AAC team so I am not going to let that experience deter me from pursuing this job opportunity.

Coming Up Empty

2008-03-03T18:47:00.005-05:00

This is getting to the point of ridiculous!

It is now 10 days since I left the first message for K. regarding the job she called to offer me. I have since sent her an email (5 days ago) and left her another voice mail earlier today. I took things a step further and called the main office and spoke with the receptionist. I wanted to know if she was out for some unavoidable reason and therefore unable to respond to my message (i.e., illness, conference, etc...). I found out that she is often "working in the field" which does make it hard to contact her but that she was actually in the office today and in a meeting that was going to last until about 3PM. OK. I figured that I might actually hear back from her this afternoon and said as much to the receptionist who merely said, "maybe." How reassuring.

Can anyone guess whether or not I heard back from her today? I think you only need one guess...

In other news, I did get an honest-to-goodness response from D. today. However, it was not exactly reassuring. She basically said that she doesn't know what K. is doing these days because she is no longer works with the AAC group. She is working for another division of the company that deals with DYS and Title 1 issues. OK. That is interesting. I'm now trying to figure out why K. called to offer me this position when she no longer even works with this particular group. The plot thickens.

D. did give me the contact information for the coordinator for "Specialties Services" as well as for the individual who coordinates the scheduling for the center. But, I'm sort of hoping to hear back from K. before I call these other people and sound foolish saying "so, I want to work for you because an individual who doesn't work with you anymore offered me a job!"

In the meantime, I was perusing the company's website and found out that they are offering an all-day AAC workshop this week for 5 hours of professional continuing education credit. It is being led by D. and another woman and looks to be a very functional workshop. It will certainly provide me with more useful information about AAC that I can use me no matter where I end up working. I called this afternoon and verified that there were still openings in the workshop and decided to just sign up, pay up, and show up. Maybe I can get more answers in person this Thursday.

Wish me luck. I'm usually a "glass is half-full" kind of person, but in this situation I'm finding the glass is coming up empty.

Confused

2008-03-02T15:42:00.004-05:00

I am not quite sure what to think at this point.

I got the phone call from K. (the old boss who called to ask me to come back to work to help them out) during the week of February school vacation. I think she called me on that Tuesday which would have been February 19th. Since then I have been trying to work out some childcare arrangements for E as well as for A in the afternoons. My mother-in-law is available (with the exception of about 10-12 days in March when she and my father-in-law will be away on a trip) and is waiting in the wings for me to tell her when I might need her. My next-door neighbor who runs a daycare is also going to be able to take E for me when she has openings. She is waiting on another child's family's work schedule before she can give me dates. And then there may (or may not) be issues with getting childcare for A in the afternoon. It won't be a problem when my MIL is available, but during their vacation I will need to find either alternate childcare (I have a few friends I might be able to call on for a short-term solution) or Rick may just take some time off on those days.

However, after spending a fair bit of time and energy on this childcare issue I've begun to doubt whether this job is going to pan out or not!

And the reason is this - after the initial phone call from K. I have not heard one single word from her. I left a voice mail message for her on Friday the 22nd. Granted, Friday was a rather snowy day and there is a strong possibility that she was not in the office that day due to the weather. But, then I waited patiently (or as patiently as is possible for yours truly - patience is not one of my own personal virtues) and expected to hear something from her the following week. When Monday turned to Tuesday and then Tuesday turned to Wednesday I got a bit concerned - or at the very least I was curious - and so I sent her an email basically stating that I hoped she had received my voice mail and gave her a couple of days that I would be available in the coming week. Keep in mind, my mother-in-law is still waiting to find out what days I might need her to babysit and she also has a scheduled dentist appointment that she is more than willing to reschedule, if necessary. But, I have not been able to tell her a thing because I haven't heard ANYTHING from K. So, then we arrive at Friday the 29th and I still have not heard back on my voice mail or my email. I decided to be a bit more proactive and sent an email off to another member of the team (D). I had actually run into D. a day or two after my phone call with K. - we were both at a local museum to see a play put on by some local HS kids and her son happened to be one of them. Anyway, seeing as I had had a recent conversation with this coworker and I also happened to have her email address I decided to send her an email to see if I could get more information. I sent that email early on Friday afternoon. Seeing as it was sent Friday afternoon I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt that she might not have been in the office or might not have had a chance to respond before the end of the day. So, I am still waiting to hear from either K. or D.

I've tried to be very patient, but in some ways I am also very frustrated and concerned. I did not initiate contact about this job. She called me. I'm working hard trying to get childcare arrangements so that I can help them out. But, I can't arrange anything if I don't know when or if they need me! I have done my part to contact her and let her know what my intentions are but she hasn't called me back or emailed me. I would even be relatively happy with a quick "sorry, things are really busy but I'll be in touch very soon"- kind of email. At least I'd know she received my messages and that I'm on her radar. At this point I honestly don't know what to think and I'm a bit apprehensive to work 'out in the field' for someone who is not capable of returning my calls or emails. I am beginning to wonder if it would be best to wait until the fall and find a job that is in one school or district and where I have a good support base. It is going to be hard enough to re-enter the work force without the added stress of feeling "out of the loop."

Perhaps I'm just too much of a planner. I don't know. I just know that I'm very frustrated and confused right now.

Heeeeeere's Johnny!...

2008-02-27T14:33:00.005-05:00

Err...well, actually it's just me. Jeanne. Mild-mannered, happy-go-lucky, not-at-all-psychotic Jeanne (and, just for the record I'm not a crazed ax-murdering fiend either).

So, I'm here. I haven't ~~found~~ made time to write about the minutiae of daily life of late. Just haven't had it in me, I guess.

And right now the only really "big" news to report is that I will most likely be heading back to work part-time as soon as next month. Remember my embarrassing story about asking my old boss for a copy of my resume when I couldn't find one on my computer? Well, she sent me that email letting me know that I was welcome to come back to work for them 'whenever' I'm ready. That was a few weeks ago. Fast forward to last week, which was school vacation week (and a good time to find me in an ideal 'escapist' mood in which I daydream about leaving the kids in the competent care of others and drive off to a real job that comes with a decent paycheck), and my old boss called me up asking if I could come back sooner rather than later. As it turns out, the reason for the phone call and the job offer was because she had very bad news to share - a coworker (and fellow SLP) was just diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. I previously worked with this SLP and have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for her as a colleague - and I just really like her as a person. I was so sad to hear the news and I would ask anyone who prays to say a few words of prayer for her as she fights this horrible disease. In any event, I feel compelled by this news to try to find some way to juggle my schedule so that I can help - sooner rather than later. Thus, my thoughts lately have been consumed by scheduling conflicts (and how to most effectively resolve them) and trying to bone up on the latest and greatest in research and implementation of a variety of assistive and augmentative communication (AAC) technologies. I'm working my way through a 500-page textbook on communicative competence in AAC users and trying to find colleagues who will allow me to shadow them at work so I can reacquaint myself with a variety of AAC systems and try to clear the assorted cobwebs and dust bunnies from dark corners of my atrophied brain! Not an easy task - and one made harder by finding myself on the fast-track to gainful employment when I had thought I'd be waiting until at least September.

But, as much as I'm nervous about the thought of re-entering the work force and trying to force my brain to remember all that "professional stuff" that I squirreled away somewhere (I hope!), there is an equal part of me that is excited by the challenge and the chance to get back out there and do what I was trained to do! And, I would be lying if I didn't admit to relishing, just a little bit, the thought of a tidy little paycheck every now and again! I really have enjoyed being home with my girls and just "being" here for them for the everyday stuff as well as the more momentous occasions like their first steps and a variety of school-sponsored events that take place during normal working hours. And it's not like I'm going back to work full-time right now. I will still be available to go to events at school and prepare them their snacks more days of the week than not. But, I will also be getting back a bit of the old "professional" me and using my skills to help others. It's a good feeling.

Wish me luck! And pray that I can make the transition from full-time SAHM to part-time WOHM with relative grace and aplomb (and that I don't turn into some kind of ax-wielding psychotic lunatic in the process...).

Rock On!

2008-02-04T13:36:00.001-05:00

Here's my imaginary rock band's first imaginary cover (doesn't look like it would attract much attention, let alone go platinum, does it?):

This was created by a musically inspired Meme found at Vexed in the City called the Let's Make a Band Meme!

The rules are as follows:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.(you might have to click new random quotes at the bottom)

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic. Tada!

In Which My Job Search Ends Before It Begins....

2008-02-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

OK, so I told you all that I had to send an email off to my former boss to find out if I could get my hands on a copy of my resume, right?

Well, there's good news and there's Good News to share!

First of all, the good news - Rick found a not too ancient copy of my resume on an old back-up someplace or other. It's from 2003, but since my employment history has been scant since then it is not really too far out of date (sad, huh?). At least I won't be starting from scratch. Have I mentioned how much I hate writing up my resume?

As for the Good News - my former boss responded to my email. Here's what she wrote...I'll let the email speak for itself:

Hi Jeanne,
I'm sorry - I can't find it. I think it must have gotten lost in my
move from downstairs to upstairs where my office is now. I even had
someone look down in the cages at the 'former employees' files.
Anyway, just so you know - we are still looking for someone to help us
in the CCATT Center. YOU would be perfect. I hope you will still
consider us. Just let me know - it could be part-time or full-time.
Take care - glad to hear the girls are well.

Karen

Can you stand it? I'm thinking I'll be sending off countless resumes and cover letters this summer and looking for a part-time job and then I get asked to consider working for them part-time or full-time!? It feels good to be wanted, I tell ya.

I wrote back that I am very interested in working in the area of Augmentative and Alternative Communication again (that's pretty much what they do at the CCATT center) and that I would love to work with her team of professionals again (I held a very part-time position with them during the 2004-05 school year and left because I was pregnant with Eliza). I'm not sure what the position would entail and whether it would be similar to my previous position. When I worked for them last I was the "fill-in" girl and took on contracts that were difficult for the other team members to fit in their schedule. I ended up with some contracts that were only once or twice a month visits to schools and my primary goal was to educate the team of Special Education service providers (mainly SLP, but also classroom teacher, OT, PT, and paraprofessionals as necessary) in the selection, design/set-up, and implementation of communication devices for students with moderate to severe communication impairments. I learned so much in the short time I worked with them and will strongly consider a return to this kind of job.

I know that the field has probably changed exponentially since I left over 2 years ago, but I am excited for the opportunity to develop a specialty and find a unique niche rather than working as a 'general practitioner' in a school setting. My current plan is to work on some self-directed learning/professional development to find out what new products are available and learn how to use them (not to mention get a refresher on the tried and true products). The CCATT has one afternoon each month where professionals and parents of students with disabilities can do just that - learn about what is out there and get a chance to actually use them hands-on. I plan to attend a session or two this spring and I also asked my former (once-and-future?!) boss if there would be the chance of 'shadowing'/observing someone on the team to learn even more before I jump back in. I had planned to try to get a few SLP friends to allow me to observe them and I may still do that as well.

I had a brief moment after reading that email where I considered the possibility of jumping back to work sooner rather than later, but I realized that the combination arranging childcare full-day for E and working out a feasible schedule for pick-up/drop-off for A is a bit daunting. Things are busy enough right now that I think I'll just enjoy the rest of my SAHM status and plan for re-entry to the workforce in the fall.

As an aside, I also found out recently about a website called Schoolspring.com where you can post your resume and search for job listings in your area. I was speaking with R's principal during my Tuesday stint as a library assistant and mentioned that I would be planning to return to work this fall. He asked what kind of job I was looking for and I told him that I am an SLP. Well, you should have seen his eyes light up at that and he asked if I had my resume up on Schoolspring. I explained that I had just found out about it and gave him my 'sob story' about my resume and how I was working on trying to get my hands on a copy so I could get it updated and posted. He also advised me to call and speak with the Director of Special Education for our town and give her the heads up. I actually know the Director quite well because R was in her daughter's class last year and they live in our neighborhood. So, I will probably put a bug in her ear just to keep my options open but I'm hoping that the CCATT center will still have a need for me come fall.

Who would have thought that a search for my resume in order to update it so I can search for a job would end up with a job finding me instead?

Coming out of hibernation...

2008-01-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

...because I just had to share the results of a quiz I found over at The Reluctant Prophet...

You Belong in 1980

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

I'm not sure I'm in total agreement about the "wild and over the top part"...but yeah, I'm a bit cheesy. And the decade certainly fits!

I hope to get back in the groove soon. I just have not felt much like using my brain while on the computer of late. I've been doing a fair bit of knitting and trying to work on increasing my exercise quota - both of which have cut into the computer time - and when I've been online I've been zoning out playing games on Pogo.com (does anyone really win those freakin' jackpots?! I could use $4999.00 right about now) and reading other peoples blogs. Yeah, I'm a dweeb. But, I hope y'all still love me.

We've also had some illnesses in the house - Rick is the most recent victim and R and A have been fighting off various germs for the past 7-10 days.

Other than that, I'm just trying to adjust to the fact that it is 2008 which means R will be turning 8 in a matter of weeks. What the heck?! Wasn't she a toothless, squirmy bundle in my arms not that long ago? And how is it that A will board the Big Bus to Kindergarten in the not too distant future? And let's not even talk about the little 2-year-old imp who resides in this house and thinks she's the boss. Where are all my babies???

Among other things I'm preoccupied with thoughts of returning to work this Fall. I have, for some time now, planned to rejoin the workforce once E was (in my sole estimation) old enough to be off to daycare/preschool. My fabulous neighbor (and E's godmother, to boot!) had been informed many moons ago that we would like E to join her little gaggle of daycare kids starting this Fall and so we asked for a full-day Tuesday/Thursday spot on her roster. So, the plans are in motion and soon I'll need to brush off the old resume and see what's out there. In fact, I went looking for said resume this evening and much to my chagrin it appears to have been, at some point, wiped clear off this computer's hard drive. Not intentionally, mind you - but likely the victim of some kind of meltdown or crash or some such. Rick takes great pains to retrieve what he can but it appears that my resume is gone for good. Rather than reinvent the wheel I have sent off a somewhat embarrassing email to my most recent boss to ask if she has, perchance, a copy of my old resume so that I have a better starting place than from scratch. Sigh. Here's hoping. I would hate to have to start from the basement up on that thing! I hate writing resumes!!!

So, there you have it. The latest (not very exciting) post from yours truly. I can't make any promises but I'll try to get back here sooner rather than later. Ciao for now!

December 12 of 12

2007-12-13T16:59:00.001-05:00

Here's my blog entry for December 12 of 12 - see Chad Darnell's blog for the specifics...after all, it was his idea!

12:15 PM - Got a late start to this month's pictures. I had gone to Trader Joe's for some groceries. I needed more of my favorite lavendar shampoo and conditioner.

12:16PM - Home with E who was talking about Santa and munching on an apple. She was a real trooper on our extended trip to a variety of stores over the course of the morning.

12:16PM - This is my latest obsession - the third book in the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon. (Can you tell by the times on my photos that I was working hard to catch up after a late start?)

1:18PM - A view of our decorated Christmas Tree!

6:36PM - Bedtime stories. I was on my way out the door to run an errand and then go to a meeting so Rick was in charge of bedtime.

6:46PM - Quick stop at the craft store to get an item I needed to finish a Christmas gift that needs to get mailed out soon. Of course, as luck would have it they did not have the necessary item so I ended up having to go out today to a different store to find it!

7:16PM - The shopping trip took longer than expected (if you are a CMAD sufferer like me you know why a trip to Michael's is never as quick as it should be!). So, I arrived a bit late for the meeting at church.

9:08PM - Back from my meeting and in need...well want is probably a better term... of a little refreshment.

9:15PM - Checking on some blogs...including the one that had reminded me, earlier in the day, of the fact that it was a 12 of 12 day (Thanks, Tux!).

9:45PM - I finished the third book in the 'Outlander' series! On to the fourth (well, after I read the quick book I need to read for book club which meets this coming Monday). Yes, I'm obsessed. I've already admitted that, haven't I?

10:14 PM - Or as it reads on the wall oven clock - 22:14 - and time for me to go to bed.

10:23PM - Brushing my teeth in preparation for bed with some Christmas decorations for company.

BONUS picture with the theme "Believe"... I believe in Santa! Here's a cross-stitch piece that I did quite a few years ago that I hang up at Christmas time...it reads "Father Christmas bring your peace to every creature - man and beast."

Hope you enjoyed my December 12 of 12 - and again, be sure to check out Chad's blog for a list of other participants this month! It is fun to see slices of another person's day through this kind of picture blog!!

Sick and Tired...

2007-11-28T10:45:00.001-05:00

I'm sick with a bit of a head cold - nothing major but enough to make me draggy and cranky.

And my 2-year-old has been on a sleep-deprivation torture campaign for quite a while now.

I'll be back when I'm more like my usual self. I won't bore you with the whiny-ass details.

Over and out.

November 12 of 12

2007-11-13T15:18:00.000-05:00

My first 12 of 12! You might be asking "What is that?"

Good question!

Well, I'm no expert on the matter but I do know that 12 of 12 is the brainchild of Chad Darnell. Basically you take 12 pictures (and a bonus 13th, if you so choose) on the 12th of each month and then post them on your blog. Check it out here.

Jeanne's First "12 of 12"

8:04 am
My latest knitting project. Socks for R - one is completed this is sock #2. I had a few moments of quiet time and decided to knit a few rounds.

8:16 am
Rick made a pot of tea and delivered this cup to me while I was on the couch knitting.
He's my sweetie and he treats me right. :-)

11:05 am
I got a ton of vacuuming done with the help of my little shadow E (seen in the picture supervising to be sure I had done a good enough job behind the couch).

1:19 pm
Bags are packed and ready to go to the Y! The plan? Leave early enough so I could do a workout before I had to get the girls to their 4:15 swim class.

1:20pm
Just after dropping the bags by the back door I went to check on the two older girls and found them happily making a mess in their room.

2:11 pm
~~Obsessing on~~ Catching up on Grey's Anatomy (Season 2: Disc 3) before we had to leave for the Y. I had never seen the show and decided to tune in a few weeks ago when I found the recent episodes online. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up renting the first...then the second...season from Netflix and it has become a very baaaaad habit. Help!

5:36 pm
A and E being big helpers and setting the table for dinner. Yeah, OK...A was being helpful and E was just climbing into her chair demanding to be pushed in and banging on the table with her silverware and insisting on having her dinner NOW!

5:37pm
Checking on the dinner Rick was making. It was a very thick, hot, yummy chicken stew which we ate with crusty bread. Sooooo good. And made even better by the mere fact that I didn't have to cook!

5:41 pm
Laundry time! I went downstairs to pull this laundry out of the dryer (and put it elsewhere to be folded later) so I could put the wet clothes in the dryer and start a new load in the washer. Laundry - the chore that keeps on giving.

5:44 pm
Visiting Iris and Sadie. While I was downstairs checking on laundry and figured I'd see how the girls were doing. They were eager for treats and crowded near the door hoping I'd throw them a few cheerios or maybe a piece of apple. How could I say no to those cute little faces? Sadie is the all white one and Iris is the black and white one.

9:44 pm
I found a few moments to work on the sock here and there throughout the day. Socks are very satisfying projects because just a short amount of time and you can make significant progress!
See?

9:50 pm
In the bathroom getting ready for bed. Notice the desperate need for a haircut. I'm going to take care of that tomorrow. Seriously.

Bonus Photo: Grateful for my man. He loves me unconditionally and he is truly my soul mate. I love him more than words can say.

Fear of Change

2007-11-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

I know that R has a hard time with transitions and with change. It has been a source of tantrums and defiance and lots of tears and frustration. She gets anxious before the start of every school year because she knows that she will be in a new situation with new kids, new teacher and new expectations. Most mornings are rough because she becomes very tense when she has to transition from home to school. She is fine once she gets on the bus and is on her way but the tension is thick here in the morning when it comes time to get ready.

I tend to think of R as more of a tomboy than a girly-girl - although she does have an attraction to sparkly things - and I think she would tend to describe herself the same way. In fact, she recently told me that she likes J and S at school because they are "not too girly." However, she also seems to have a strong dislike of being thought of as too 'boyish' and she seems to think that long hair = girl whereas shorter hair = boy. This is her perception even though we know plenty of males here in the hippy, happy valley who wear their hair long and an equally large number of females who have hair cropped very short and 'boyish' - her teacher included. So, she is very attached to her long locks, as evidenced in her 2nd grade picture:

So, the combination of her perception of self, of boyness vs. girlness, and her difficulty with change means that haircuts are to be loathed as evil and unnecessary torture the likes of which are only rivaled by early bedtimes, having to share with ones sisters, and the foolish and utterly futile concept of "clean up time."

For the last month or so I have been having battles with R about her hair. As it is has gotten longer it has become more and more a magnet for snarls, knots and wickedly clumped 'bed head'. Any suggestion of a haircut sends her into fit of screaming and wailing about injustices if life, yet trying to get her hair brushed in the morning is likely bring on tantrums of epic proportions and ear-splitting shrieks that can be heard in the next county. After a few days of this behavior and having my patience worn to a thin line, I would argue that the only way to avoid the pain of removing the snarls would be to cut it shorter. She would heed this warning for a short while and I'd have a couple of days of reprieve from the caterwauling, but inevitably it came back once the fear of actually getting her hair cut was but a distant memory.

I finally decided to stop threatening to cut her hair yesterday and told her that today was THE DAY. I was going to put a stop to the insanity and cut her hair in the hopes of making both our lives a bit easier. She would be in a lot less pain from the daily brushing and my ears could stop rupturing every time that task was undertaken. She wailed and carried on about how she hated short hair and she even pulled out her "no friend card" which is getting pretty darn old. I have a theory about this "no friend card" thing. At first I took her complaints very seriously when the issue came up last year. She would often complain that she had no friends at school and everyone ignored her. My concern was such that I think she enjoyed the attention. The teachers have not reported the same issues from their perspective and feel that R is well-liked in school. And I have found over the last while that the complaints about "no friends" seems to coincide with R's need for attention...or love...or...something. She gets my attention with this complaint and I've begun to wonder if it is a ploy...a way to shift the subject and the attention directly onto herself. So, when she was upset at the thought of having her haircut she decided to bring up the friend issue again and told me that her friends won't like her with short hair and that even now they ignore her and won't play with her. I decided not to buy into it and cut the conversation short. I had not heard this complaint for many, many weeks and the timing just seemed to reinforce my theory (not to mention the mixed-up argument she was using whereby her friends ignored her now with long hair and would surely hate her and refuse to play with her if she had short hair). I've worked hard since the beginning of school to invite her classmates over to play so that she could get to know then in a one on one situation - it seemed to be working well and she was no longer complaining about being friendless...until she felt cornered yesterday.

After breakfast, I got her straight into the tub and washed her hair. I let her play for a bit and then told her that it was time to get out and get dressed and to meet me in the kitchen for her haircut. She was none too pleased and refused to comply at first. Then I told her that she had a choice. I could cut her hair or I could bring her to my hairdresser and he would do the dirty deed. She decided for some reason that I was the better choice. I guess it's easier to hate your own mother for 'ruining your life' - an easier target because you live with her and can spend more time making her realize how really horrible she is. Perfect fodder for future therapy sessions.

Whenever my hairdresser, David, has cut R's hair in the past she has sat calmly and demurely without uttering a single sound and let's him do his thing. I am never so lucky. I get the complains about the chair being too hard, the task at hand taking too long, and the itchy hairs that land on her face or neck. Maybe she likes the fact that she can keep herself entertained more easily when I cut her hair because she is never too shy with me to share her pain and grief. I feel so special.

After I finished cutting I made her wait until I dried it with the blow dryer before I let her take a look in the mirror. On her way to the mirror A walked by and told R how much she like it and that R looked "cute" (which was the exact wrong thing to say according to R who equates "cute" with "babies" and she certainly was not wanting to look babyish or at all younger than her 7 and 3/4 years!). R went to look in the mirror and she was pleasantly surprised by her new 'do! And I was even more pleasantly surprised that I was not going to have to deal with an epic meltdown for ruining her life and her hair. I think she was more afraid of the change that a haircut would bring than of the haircut itself. Once all was said and done and the transition from long locks was complete she could look at it on the other side and realize that the change wasn't so bad after all. In fact, she kind of liked it and decided it maybe even made her look a little bit older!

See and decide for yourself...presenting the more mature Rebecca in her new (and hopefully less tangly) 'do!