work

so, HorninF is selling jobs again. He just didn't want to post to say so. I think he sold 3 last week...?

the store had 3400 visitors this month (12500 page views). In my meager spare time, I'm learning about making my Adwords better. About half my visitors come from Adwords. I love getting orders.

Wednesday

Em's better. Not all the way, but better. she napped twice today.
E had a bath! Once he was in, he relaxed and enjoyed it normally. I agreed not to wash his hair. He's been happier than usual all day.

At speech today we were discussing when/if we'd come back before the coming IEP meeting and the therapist indicated that she will recommend preschool plus speech/language. That means the whole team has signaled agreement on that. whew! Stay posted, we meet on the 9th. Not much longer now!

So, there's still lots left to wonder about-
will therapy be pull-out of after school?
will we get him a social skills and pragmatics group?
how much school, which school, and which classroom?
Can I get them to fund the auditory therapy?
what labels will the psychologist push? (I'm interested to hear, but not granting her opinion much weight. Leave the diagnosing to the doctors)

misc

meant to maybe make a post out of this, instead it ended up lost in my bookmarks.
http://www.mormonmommywars.com/?p=509

what does the way you use internet time say about you?
http://talesfromthecrib.blogspot.com/2006/11/day-in-life-of-internet-user.html

and you know the home value site, zillow.com? it puts our rental home at $849k. sheesh.
with 10% down, the principle and interest alone at 4400, or, twice our rent. That's perfectly in keeping with local averages, else we wouldn't need to be renting. It was true in our last town too.

checkup checkin

The doctor visit was alright. On the positive side, I got the closest parking spot yet, there was no wait, nobody had shots, and our doctor is wonderful. On the negatives, sick Em cried lots and E had huge trouble hearing and talking in there.

Baby M has gained 2 pounds in 2 months, he's 17lb 5 oz now. height 26.5 (90%) head 44cm (90%). He's strong and healthy and interactive, as we knew :) Oh, BTW, he doesn't spit up so much anymore. We use only 2-3 outfits a day now. the Dr said I can sling him on my back if I want :)

E is 39.5 pounds (lost 2.5 this month. That's a med side effect, and we were stopping it anyway). With Em crying, we couldn't talk much, but things with him are generally the same as when we saw her in Dec. She wants copies of all the new evals as they come in, of course.

M and Em go back in 2 months.

sickly

we've been sick so much this year!
Anyway, Em's not well today. She's got a sweaty fever, coughs and sneezes, she's grouchy and her mouth hurts (suspicion- might actually be ears?). she slept most of the night in the bassinet next to my bed.
Baby M has a cough and he's warm but happy.
E and I aren't sick (except my weird ear thing)

here's the fun part- we're going to the doctor. all of us. a struggle under the bets of conditions. It's checkups for the boys and since Em obviously can't attend her scheduled playdate, she's coming along too, and maybe the Dr can look her over.
So, good. But imagine managing this crew at the office! and there is no parking anywhere near...

I'll report back afterwards.

nap

This *never* happens. E won't let HorninF alone long enough, no matter how badly they both need a Sunday afternoon nap. But yesterday, thanks to legos, Horn finally got a lucky break.
(Horn putting the baby to sleep is not the news. He does that every day)

 

hiking

Most weekends Horn and E go out hiking. It's good excercise and time for them, and there is so much available around here! and then I get time to focus on Em and baby.

 

 

E

E had a very rough week. But we stayed home all weekend (except for church) and he did much better. He seems happy today too. Evidence in the building and how he didn't mind having is photo taken.

 

Friday two of the school evaluators watched him at swim and gym, and it went well. Again, well meaning they saw what I saw and his behavior was as usual.
Unfortunately, he's developing a new anxiety. You know he's been freaked out about showers all his life (sprinkler play too). Well, no problem right, he just doesn't take showers. Except he ought to at the pool, and so it's on his mind all the time now. Lots of anxious questions about if I'll make him shower. I never do, the rule is just that he must walk past the showers on the way in. so he sees the people showering and dodges the wayward drops.
Well, this week it got worse. First, he was too scared to go in his bath because the shower could suddenly turn on when he's in there. No amount of mechanics explanation or modification to the shower itself could reassure him. Then, Friday we were in a parking garage and he noticed the fire sprinklers on the ceiling. He was scared (clinging, ducking), which continued in the YMCA. And a second bath attempt failed yesterday.
The only good news about the new issue is that a school psychologist and occupational therapist were there to see it emerge! Poor guy.

Monday

Nothing gets you going like mindless adherence to the status quo and chocolate covered chocolate cake donuts.

funny! pregnancy is really hard


So, for the last couple days I've had big trouble with my ears whenever I go up or down our hill. The "altitude" has always been a non-issue for me, but suddenly it is. And they won't clear as long as I'm down low- the pressure and foggy hearing persists until I get back home. My only guess is maybe I've got a mild cold or ear infection. any tips?
cchrissyy

11/17/06

[09:44] HornInFBb: [cCHRISSYy] says "The Decemberists" is her favorite band
[09:44] HornInFBb: I said "They're your only band."
[09:44] HornInFBb: She said, "Well, Clem Snide."
[09:48] HornInFBb: I'm glad of it.
[10:02] Cervantes: you stick with that woman

I love you, sweetie :)

1-800

I was going to post something else today... what was it...
I got an 800 number for the store. It rings to our home line for now. Thanks Costco for the discount on that service! (also, I'm working on a better credit card processing setup. will update you in a week or so on that)

E update

so, anger is the only emotion E can verbalize while he's feeling it. And if you remember a while back I posted when he got mad and said his first "I don't love you anymore", well, he's expanding that repertoire. He also "doesn't like" me when he's mad, "will never talk to me ever again" and I'm "making him think I'm a bad mom"! (this is of course, during tantrums, not things he says in calm times)

(edit to add from today. 3 hrs and counting... "go away- never talk!", "if you don't come here, I will just hit you" and "I will just break my bones" and "I'm trying to break the door")





At his pre-K evaluation last week, they brought out some pictures of kids making faces (point to the happy girl, point to the sad boy, etc.). He couldn't do any of that. But when they asked which one was the angry boy, with difficulty, lots of starting over, and a big pout, he squeaked out the sentence "sometimes, my mom doesn't let me do things that I want to do"

I forgot to mention, the eval went very well. He was polite and compliant and enjoyed it... but it didn't go "too well", meaning that they did run into things he couldn't do. It was about an hour with him and an hour more asking questions with me, and it seems like everybody there "got it" and agreed about getting him more services. IEP meeting is soon, and I feel optimistic. But you never know, until it's in writing. So we'll see.

spill

 

 

Em made a big spill last week. You may remember that baby and I were battling a thrush infection, including the use of a homeopathic liquid called Gentian Violet, which stains terribly. Well, friday, E inadvertently kicked down the baby gate, and Em seized the opportunity to run into my bedroom, sit on the nursing chair, and spill the GV all over herself.

It is beginning to fade off of her.
5 washes later and the clothing involved is all purple (as are a couple dipes and underwear I put in)
The chair isn't cleanable, but maybe I can give it to somebody who would make a cover for it. I was about to pass it along anyway.

randomness

stumble link
stumble link
stumble photo
murpheys laws on commerce
murpheys law on moms
stumble funny shirts
so familiar http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=3674
bad news story

Hazel

 

loving eachother

 

Em at dinner

 

So, before you think this means I actaully cook dinner, elt me assure you it was nothing more than canned corn and pre-cooked Trader Joe's roasted turkey

no good

http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_5057309

so, we saw this car wreck today. The freeway was closed for 8 hours (eerie) and we took backroads, which gave us a very close view of the scene from the frontage road and an overpass.
we saw 4 or 5 cars, the huge fancy RV with the smashed front, and it was obvious the burned-out and smashed-flat car occupants had been unlikely to survive.
So, it's enough to make us queesy about driving. It's really dangerous, you know, statistically. and then, check out the article- it was one of those totally unavoidable situations, where the cause of the accident just flies over the median and wipes you out.

feeling lucky?

So, E knows we never watch commercials. My reason is 1)waste of time 2)they're deisgned to manipulate you and increase materialism

So, I translated that to him by saying commericals tell you things that aren't true. They tell you to do things, but they don't even know you, they tell you to buy things but they don't really know what you need.

Well, here's how he tells it.
Mom, we don't watch commericals becuase they're not true. But, Em and I did watch a commercial, but we still know the truth. we can watch commercials if we're very careful to be lucky. And I WAS careful to be lucky, and I still know the truth!

litte updates

so, business is good.
we've had our first repeat customer, and our first return.

I've got cooler, cheaper packing supplies.

I activated dynamic shipping prices, so instead of the previous flat rate, the customer can select the shipping carrier/speed/price combination that suits them best. So I spent a long evening entering the weight for every item. We're plugged into USPS and UPS with real-time pricing.

We're getting some customer phone calls.

We're operating at a pretty break-even level financially, which is a good start :)

I'm considering adding the Ergo but am not sure yet if we can commit to the volume they require.

We have a small part in a print add coming up in Mothering magazine in May, September, and January.

so, it's really good to have a new bra. That's just the sort of thing that it's easy to go too long without replacing, and then when you do, you wish you hadn't held out so long.


rather than post a pic, anybody interested can go to motherwear.com and search for "cotton sleep bra"

another "stumble"

http://www.ahajokes.com/cartoon/sharp_edges.jpg

http://colours.mahost.org/org/maleprivilege.html

http://www.dadsanddaughters.org/free-resources/DADs-Quiz.aspx

http://www.practicalphysics.org/

So, in order to shamelessly self-promote, I signed up with Stumbleupon.com, which is mildly enjoyable, and one of the things it dished out is this interesting link...
http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php


Shoot! I made 3 strawberry flats into jam this summer and ran out last month... Also used up all our frozen peach slices. I want more fruit. sooner. cheaper. more!

http://exponentblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/arch-nemesis-in-three-parts.html
I meant to share this poem last week. oops. here you go! :)

tiny ham

so I've got this little pound-and-a-half of ham, with instructions to cook, ummm, an hour? and I don't want to run the oven that long for this little thing, but I'm thinking the smaller toaster oven probably would use even more energy (gas vs. electric). So, I'm right, right? I'd better just use the oven, even if nothing else is in it?

percent

so, the new year brings Horn's first performance-based raise.
It was 15%
So, that's good! :)

notes

so, it's my birthday. HorninF stayed home from work to take E to the audiologist and then we also went together to a behavioral pediatrician to discuss helping E. We mostly talked history today, until she had a big picture about him. And the kids played with some friends. So it was a good day. But no cake or dinner or anything. Maybe later.

I made my first sales mistake this afternoon. I had a customer on the phone with questions, and once she knew what she wanted, I told her to order it and I'd get ti out right away. Well, no order came in. I should have closed the sale on the phone. It was $200 worth. (sigh) lesson learned.

we've also had our first return (shoes) and sold our first silk sling.

I've toured two no-good preschool s this week. Both would better be described as daycares. I'm sorry, but if your school is open 8AM-6Pm for 51 weeks a year, and you have kids playing without any guidance or routine, and no art room, no reading corner, no science or educational toys, you're not a school!

We toured one fine Montessori school last week but it just didn't click. the 2 in our town have open houses next week, so I'm eager to see them.

eureka!

so, you may E needing testing for CAPD . That's trouble hearing/understanding in the brain, as opposed to the ear itself. Well, it was hard to find somebody who specializes in it, and who is equipped to test 4 year olds, but we found one !

So, she was wonderful. And E clearly does have CAPD (info below. he has all the signs).

This is exciting, because
1) it is treatable
2) there's no negative prognosis, it can only get better
3) it might be the root of his everyday anxiety/frustration/stress/panic/tantrums etc. and social difficulties, so perhaps the auditory therapy will free him up from these issues!
3b) (subtext- if CAPD explains all that, we don't need to keep looking for pieces of the puzzle)



******quote*****
My symptoms, like most of my other sensory symptoms, vary in intensity. At some times, I can understand what someone says perfectly. At other times, not at all. At other times, it is somewhere in between. I have divided symptoms into "internal" and "external". Internal symptoms are what it feels like to have these symptoms. External symptoms are some of the manifestations of these symptoms.

These symptoms can take place in any form, or combination.

Internal Symptoms:
* Difficulty discriminating "foreground" from "background" noise
* Distortions of Incoming Speech
* Difficulty Discriminating Sounds
* "Delay" or "Lag Time" in Processing Speech
* Difficulty Recognising Speech as Speech

External Symptoms:
* Asking for Repetition ("Huh?" "What?")
* Echolalia and Re-Auditorization
* Articulation Difficulties
* Responding Incorrectly to Spoken Directions
* Apparent "Ignoring" of People
* Interrupting or "Speaking Over" People
* Delayed Response to Speech
* Not Remembering Names Correctly

midnight

This is Em during the night. As usual, we found she'd fallen asleep naked and I dressed her in her sleep. Look how cute she is :)

 

 

1st representational art

 

Look what E painted!

It's "Percy with his buffers on" and "Thomas with his steamer and whistle and some coal"

so, he doesn't draw, so this is huge.
Actually, Sunday in church, he drew his first smily face for us! a circle face, 2 eyes, a mouth, a line for a neck. Funny thing, though, he drew it facing US, so it was upside-down to himself.

playdate

So, E went to our neighbor's house today. when he came back I asked....

so, did you have fun
yeah!
what did you guys do?
I was shooting him!
yeah?
and he was shooting me! in my eyes! and then he got my cheeks!


hmmm :)

joing the fun

what obsolete skill are you? take this quick quiz! I'll start

What obsolete skill are you?

You are 'growing one's own food'.You are guided by two words: 'Live simply.' You value quality over quantity in most things, and you have little use for the materialism and consumerism of modern culture. You know the value of hard work and try to be self-sufficient as much as possible, and what you do you do well. Unfortunately, no man is an island, and you cannot do everything yourself. Your puritanical work ethic makes makes people think that you are weird, and not much fun. Your problem is that growing one's own food has been obsolete for a long time.
Take this quiz!

this is good

http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/01/puny-man

grrrr

so, I heard an upper elementary teacher yelling at her class today. It reminded me of the school in our last town, and a kindergarten teacher was yelling at her class. that sucks.

who knew?

Check this out, about Nancy Pelosi in the boston globe. I like her better already!

But Pelosi married young, bore five children in six years, raised them, and didn't run for office until her youngest was ready for college. She was 47 when she got onto the fast track. She won the speaker's cup at 66.

I'm not saying that Nancy Pelosi is Everywoman's role model unless Everywoman can live on four hours of sleep and a diet of chocolate. But she's a reminder to women that life is longer than you expect and 47 is younger than you think. She's a reminder to companies and the country that we have a lot to gain from welcoming parents into the second act.

minor victory

So, the other night I worked late wiritng a letter and copying documentation about the school district troubles. Sent the complaint to them, and the CA dept of Education. My 4PM, the manager of special education was calling me with her apology, her admission that they were "out of compliance" (=illegal) on both my points, and promising personal effort to not let him fall through their cracks again. So, pat on my back :)

The points are their failure to provide services in his IEP , and failure to arrange assessments we asked for (repeatedly, in writing, with phone follow-ups). We've got a great paper trail.

This is slightly related to the preschool enrollment issue, because, once the evaluations are done, he might qualify for public preschool. But he might not. And it will be a long while before we know. So we're pressing on with those applications too.


oh, there's a contest here

rising star?

the below is quoting my sister. Her boyfriend is the lead singer for this band.

*****

I really want Bullets and Romance to get to play the 2007 Taste of Chaos show in this area. Here's some stuff that i'm doing to help and you can do to help, too.

1. Go Vote
2. Go to the voting page and listen to the music. It helps when they have more plays because the contest's main page has a list of the 50 bands with the most plays, and lots of people check out this list. They were on there a lot before Christmas, and it helped out a bunch.
3. Tell other people to vote. Please =)

jokes

http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/1199/sighted.htm
http://www.funnigurl.com/bbs/bbs.cgi?act=i&b=lists&t=49
http://www.faqfarm.com/Q/How_do_you_know_if_you_are_ready_to_be_a_parent

late

so, it's 12:45. And what am I doing up. well, I've got chocolates. I've got a cool new printer. The store got 3 orders today (!), but that's not it either.
I'm working to get E better services through the school district. His IEP for speech therapy expires next week, and the new district has been very... uncooperative... in fulfilling their legal obligations, such as the evaluations we requested months ago. So I'm writing letters to make them get on it. I'm figuring out what/who he needs so I can arrange for it myself (by law I can, and they have to pay, because they failed to provide).

SIXTY-FIVE

I found a list of more books, left out of the count before. Also I subtracted out a couple "skimmed" entries, so the 2006 True and Living book count is 65 :)

preschool

so, it's preschool application season. Conviniently coinciding with advice from E's speech therapist that a particular type of preschool may be good for him. That he's ready. that it could actually *help* him.
well, it's worth a try. Anything to help is worth a try.
So, I'm hunting for a good Montessori 5-day program. I've found a couple still accepting fall applications. We've got some open houses and class observations to go to.
And in the meantime, I'll just hope he gets accepted, and if he does, that there's financial aid or something. It's more $ than I'd have ever guessed.

random

So, what else is new?

I've been seeing wild turkeys crossing the road around here. And one afternoon 3 adult deer sprinted by.

2 of my good friends are moving away next month. Boston and Provo. (sigh)

We've added diaper covers to our store! see here

Monday Horn and E went hiking and to a plane museum, I had some nice quiet time with the little guys and have a lot of work to do. Wonderful.

M, for a long time now, has treated me to just one night waking. Nice boy :)

holding

Em is very interested in holding baby M lately.


Also, her undressing continues to be a big issue. Earlier, I heard the diaper ripping-off sound and came running to find that it was little M who had been dis-robed and un-diapered!

puzzles

posted by cchrissyy
This is E almost done with his new 60 piece Thomas puzzle. He went right through it happily, with no help.

birthday!

E is 4 now!

so yesterday, we went to church and had some people come visit in the afternoon. and then the steam trains. Because of his birthday, they let E ride free as they put all the engines back into their roundhouse for the night. So that was awesome.

I suppose a party is forthcoming, but we couldn't do it yet because all his friends are away on vacation.

Last night he slept in underwear and kept it dry!

the BIG book count

(edited- I forgot a couple!)

I've waited all year for this. how many books did I read this year? What were the favorites?

OK, answers are
a) 65 (yay, 65!)
b)the best ones are at the top of the list.

I'm categorizing them as yes, no, and so-so





YES!
approaching zion
Ursula, Under
Night (Elie Weisel holocaust memoir)
the world is flat: a brief histroy of the 21st century
The Omnivore's Delimma
the mommy myth
Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys
genius denied
Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection
The life of our Lord (charles dickens)
the feminine mystique
Mothering without a map
freakonomics
the fairtax book


lower-case "yes"
Doctrine and covenants (LDS scripture)
the wal-Mart effect didn't finish
Parenting on purpose
suburban nation: the rise of sprawl and the decline of the american dream .
everyday pediatrics for parents
quirky kids
whoops i'm in business (Nolo)
small business start up kit (Nolo)
My sister's keeper
Immaculate Deception II: Myth, Magic & Birth
Mormon enigma: Emma Hale Smith
covenant hearts
Global Values 101
the nazi officer's wife: how one jewish woman survived the holocaust
kids in the syndrome mix
YOU the smart patient
the giant Joshua historical fiction
OASIS guide to AS
parent's guide to AS
Food Allergies and Food Intolerance
How to Use the Internet to Advertise, Promote and Market ...
Of Woman Born
Let the Baby Drive




SO-SO
A midwife's tale (biogrpahy) so-so +
a Mormon Mother (Annie Clark Tanner biography) so-so+
You can never get enough of what you don't need so-so +
Better off so-so +
Homeschooling for excellence so-so +
if life were easy, it wouldn't be hard
digestive wellness for children
the handmaid's tale alternate present day fiction
Choosing Naia
Failure to Connect
Mothers work
backlash
perfect madness: motherhood in the age of anxiety
queen bee moms and kingpin dads
are we there yet?
finding ben
American Green :the obsessive quest for the perfect lawn
first meals almost as many photos as words
let me hear your voice
how she really does it

NO
what price zion? 1983 novel
Generation debt
iceberg is melting business fiction
girl's guide to staring your own buiness
starting on a shoestring
Trading Up
Crunchy Cons NO
Woman first, family always

Final adddition to 2006 books

Here's what I read in Nov and Dec

iceberg is melting business fiction

the nazi officer's wife: how one jewish woman survived the holocaust biography

finding ben


YOU the smart patient

the feminine mystique

the handmaid's tale alternate present day fiction

the giant Joshua historical fiction

the mommy myth

OASIS guide to AS

parent's guide to AS

Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

kids in the syndrome mix

American Green :the obsessive quest for the perfect lawn who knew the history of grass was so interesting?

let me hear your voice