This Is So Boren

Yellow Belt

2012-02-13T16:23:00.003-05:00

Glenn earned his yellow belt for taekwondo last week, and on Saturday he got his new belt at the Belt Ceremony. He earned this one very fast, and he was proud. I could not pick just one or two favorite pictures, so I am just going to post too many because I am a mother and I think my five-year-old is adorable.

With his good friend, Z. Two cute taekwondo boys.

Glenn's First Tooth Out! and a tale of pierced ears...

2012-01-25T09:02:00.008-05:00

Last Saturday evening, Glenn lost his first tooth. It was only Friday morning that he noticed it was wiggly. Samantha has lost so many teeth in the last several months, and was getting so much money. Glenn was so proud that, finally, the Tooth Fairy would be coming for him! (We know that he has weed-eater hair. He wants to grow it out, and will not have it buzzed off, so it's going through a phase.)

On Sunday night we had a fun little double birthday party for Levi and Grandma Kathy. The next morning, Grandma Kathy flew home. My mom has been out here in Arlington since before our Orlando trip. She has been helping us and driving me to places I can't safely drive on my own due to visual and attention problems. It has been great having her so close by, and we will miss her.

In early December, Samantha asked me if she could get her ears pierced. I told her she could if she saved up for it. She had been saving, and then got enough money for Christmas that she had enough. So a few days after Christmas, we went to Claire's at the mall. I have never had my ears pierced so I didn't know exactly what it would be like. She looked nervous, said nothing, and was very brave. Samantha said it felt like someone stapled her ears. After the lady pierced the second ear, she had Samantha choose a lollipop. Samantha looked uninterested, but to be polite she chose a green one, climbed down from the chair, turned to Glenn, handed him the lollipop, and promptly passed out on the floor, fell over straight, just like a tree cut down, right onto her face, and her body started shaking. Without thinking, I dropped down and scooped her into my lap and held her. Her lip was bleeding just a little, from hitting her face on the floor (just a little, thanks to the absence of front teeth!). My mom yelled for the Claire's employee to call 9-1-1. Samantha stopped convulsing and became conscious again. Someone told me to hold her on her side, so I did. She was confused about what had happened, but nodded when I asked her if she was okay. I just sat on the floor of Claire's holding her for several minutes, I didn't want to try to move her. Another shopper told us that his little daughter passed out, too, when she got her ears pierced. The Claire's employee who did the piercing told us it happens pretty frequently. I wish she'd have told us that beforehand.

After a few minutes, we carried Sammy out of Claire's onto a nearby bench, and held her on my lap. She said her stomach hurt, and her face looked really pale. The EMT guys showed up and checked her vitals. Everything was normal. They talked to us for a few minutes, and said that it is normal sometimes for a person who has passed out to convulse for a few seconds. They asked if she had just had her ears pierced, and knowingly nodded to one another. There wasn't any warning of that in the small print of the agreement I signed prior. I wish I would have known. My advice to parents whose kids are getting ears pierced is to hold onto them for a few minutes afterwards, or be close and ready to catch them, in case they pass out. Or tell them they aren't allowed to have their ears pierced. Later that evening, Samantha was doing much better, and has been fine ever since.

Passing out was the discussion topic of choice for the next several days. The kids played a lot of games where the characters pretended to pass out. We had talks about why people pass out, what is happening biologically, how it's a good thing because it helps blood get back to your brain which is your most important organ, etc. We told the pediatrician a few weeks later about what had happened, as we were advised to do by the EMTs. The pediatrician just laughed and laughed, loud and long. Bizarre reaction if you ask me, but that's Kaiser for you.

A new experience for Samantha, and not entirely fun, but she recovered quickly and is still glad she pierced her ears. She does a really good job remembering to clean them. She and I take turns, with a cotton ball and the bottle of antiseptic liquid. They haven't gotten sore or infected at all. She looks more grown-up to me, with the little silver studs in her ears. She is really excited for mid-February when she can get some different earrings to replace the studs. But I wanted to share that story, in case there are other parents as ignorant as I.

A Clearer Vision

2012-01-24T19:49:00.002-05:00

I am reading "Oliver Twist" and am at the part where Ms. Rose's fever is just past the point where she was in danger of dying, and the doctor has assured everyone that she will live. Oliver is so happy, and he goes outside and everything looks so much more beautiful than it did yesterday, even though it's all exactly the same. Then it says this, which I love:

"Such is the influence which the condition of our own thoughts, exercises, even over the appearance of external objects. Men who look on nature, and their fellowmen, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision."

An Expert on Elephants

2012-01-22T08:42:00.006-05:00

(Setting: In the parents' bed, Sunday morning, 8:21am.)

GLENN: I wish we all had those elephant shirts, instead of just Mom and Dad. I wish Mom, and Dad, and me, and Sister all had one.

DAD: What elephant shirts?

MOM: The 'Elephants Never Forgive' shirts.

GLENN: Yes, they do.

DAD: How do you know? You're not some elephant expert.

GLENN: Yes, I am. They toot on you, they bonk you in the butt, and they EAT your FACE!

(It appears we may need to discuss, sometime soon, the meaning of the word "forgive". Clearly we are having some issues understanding that term. Either that, or we just need practice avoiding nonsensical tangents in conversation.)

Day 6: Epcot Reloaded

2011-12-27T21:42:00.003-05:00

Test Track, Spaceship Earth (now I know what's inside the giant golf ball), Mission: Space (green for kids, orange for me), Ellen's Energy Adventure, Maelstrom, Teppan Edo (lunch, yum), Test Track (again), nap, pool.

Day 5: Animal Kingdom

2011-12-26T20:10:00.001-05:00

Triceratops Spin, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safari, Affection Section, It's Tough to be a Bug, Dinosaur (again), Kali River Rapids, nap (not enough), pool.

Day 4: Epcot

2011-12-25T21:11:00.005-05:00

Santa, Soarin', Living with the Land, Nemo & Friends, Turtle Talk with Crush, Journey into Imagination, Soarin' (again), lego building, pool.

Day 3: Magic Kingdom Reloaded

2011-12-24T21:36:00.004-05:00

Dumbo, Carousel, Sleeping Beauty, Mickey's Philharmagic, Mad Tea Party, Buzz Lightyear, meet Mickey, Country Bear Jamboree, Tom Sawyer's Island, Splash Mountain, Swiss Family Robinson tree house, pool.

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

2011-12-23T17:54:00.006-05:00

Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, It's a Small world, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, the Tiki Room [at this point it is only 9:30am], Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, lunch at Cosmic Ray's, Stitch, Space Mountain (one kid traumatized), Speedway, Monsters Inc show, People Mover, Carousel of Progress, show in front of the Castle, Christmas Parade (with popsicles and Mickey-head-shaped balloons)!

Day 1: Hollywood Studios

2011-12-22T22:22:00.002-05:00

Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, Muppets 3D, Honey I Shrunk the Kids Land, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, pool.

White Belt for Our Grasshopper

2011-12-10T15:23:00.005-05:00

Today at long last Glenn was presented with his white belt. On top of that, he was awarded a medal for best technique in his group. Glenn's sheer awesomeness speaks for itself.

merry modern mode

2011-11-28T17:34:00.000-05:00

The best looking Christmas tree in recent memory deserves a bold look to set it apart from the pre-baled parking lot effrontery for which we all too often settle. Samantha captured the true spirit of this grand gilded concolor with a look I call "north pole in foreclosure".

Christmas Tree

2011-11-26T11:46:00.003-05:00

Friday we made our second annual pilgrimage to Moose Apple Farms to snag a sweet tree. When asked upon arrival what kind of tree we wanted, I thought about the pain associated with last year's blue spruce, and answered, "Something friendly." We ended up with a beautiful and SOFT concolor. It was a bit odd to be picking a tree in 65^o weather, but we had a great time. All kid heads, limbs, and digits are still intact.

Who Dat?

2011-11-11T20:52:00.002-05:00

Me dat's who. Just back from a three-day conference in New Orleans. I must say that I ate (here, here, and here) and slept very ... opulently.

My sightseeing experiences in the French Quarter were mixed overall. There seemed to be an ever-present stench (emanating from Bourbon Street), beignets are just fried dough (or Utah scones), and what's with all the Suburban cabs? But I did find a few interesting things to capture ...

Halloween

2011-11-01T09:58:00.003-05:00

The kids went trick-or-treating as Po and Tigress from the "Kung Fu Panda" movies. I had help from a very talented friend with Glenn's mask, made of milk cartons and paper mache. Levi painted the mask...and Glenn's face. He decided on Halloween night that he wanted his face painted like Sister. I painted Samantha's face, and made the rest of their costumes. They got lots of candy. It is so fun seeing them trick-or-treat and all this stuff. I love it. Here is a video for those who have not seen "Kung Fu Panda" and want to see the characters they dressed up as:

Tae Kwon Do

2011-10-29T11:13:00.002-05:00

Glenn started Tae Kwon Do last month. He still needs to work on his finishing moves, but I'd say he is progressing nicely.

Kill Every Single Bad Guy

2011-10-17T12:20:00.003-05:00

Samantha: "I don't want to go to sleep because I'm afraid I'll have nightmares."

Glenn: "I love nightmares because then I get to kill every single bad guy!"

Letter to Kaiser I Can't Send Because It's More than 1000 characters; And Some Symptom Notes

2011-10-10T20:01:00.006-05:00

Please help me find the doctor who wants to identify the cause, rather than merely covering up my symptoms with drugs. My nausea has progressed to the point where, a year ago it was occasional, and now it is every day, nearly all day long. Nearly all my symptoms are worse when I’m upright, better (but not gone) when I’m lying down. I’ve deteriorated to the point that while driving and sitting upright, I feel progressively sicker and lose focus, and start getting a gag reflex, my mouth and parts of my face go numb, the pulling feeling in my head gets worse and worse, and I nearly lose consciousness - the only way to prevent it is to move around, so that things keep on flowing, and I stay conscious. I can't drive as safely, I cannot read a book to my children without getting sick. I can’t go on bike rides or run around with my kids without inducing nausea and dizziness. I cannot work, because sitting at a desk for more than a few minutes often results in intolerable nausea and worsening of occipital headache. I am unable to exercise, because aerobic activity of any sort also exacerbates loss of balance, nausea, and occipital head pressure, and makes me afraid that I'm doing permanent damage somehow (of course, I have no way of knowing whether anything I do is damaging or helpful, since no doctor can give me a diagnosis). I’ve sustained various minor injuries due to loss of equilibrium. I have a constant pressure in the back of my head and in my neck, and an awful pulling feeling there, which is worse when I bend, rotate, or flex my head. I have pressure and pain behind my right eyeball, and my right pupil does not dilate properly, so my pupils are often different sizes. My vision is constantly blurred as though looking through smoke, especially peripherally, and goes constantly in and out of focus. I no longer sleep properly because I wake many times per night to change positions, because my head and neck are uncomfortable. I spend all day, every day, in pain or discomfort - I can no longer escape it, even while sleeping. I can’t think clearly anymore, and I’m drained of energy. I didn’t have a single one of these symptoms before the summer of 2010.

Dr. Mahan Chehrenama suggested in late 2010 that I had obstruction of CSF flow in an upright position, due to the pineal mass. Dr. Scott Rosa and Dr. Garry Krakos strongly suspect that I have obstruction of CSF through the foramen magnum due to 5-6mm cerebellar tonsillar ectopia (Chiari malformation). With so many providers suggesting obstruction of CSF for one reason or another, and having hit dozens of dead ends ruling out every other condition known to mankind, isn’t it time to find out if CSF obstruction in the upright position is indeed the problem? If I deteriorate much further, it will become increasingly difficult for me to continue being my own advocate, which means I’ll lose hope of receiving the proper care, and I’ll continue to deteriorate until I can no longer care for my family or enjoy life at all.

I need a doctor to prescribe a Cine-MRI also known as phase-contrast MRI of the brain and cervical region, taken in an upright position, and I need it to be done very soon before further deterioration. This will most likely show obstruction of CSF flow thorugh the craniovertebral junction, and possibly in other areas as well. Then we will know how to proceed, and there will at least be hope of an end to my hell, and the possibility of getting my life back. I’ve already spent large chunks of money on care that hasn’t yielded a solution, money that is supposed to pay off student loans. I hold on right now because I have a lot to live for. I stay positive and push through each day, trying to live and act as normal as possible, but it’s so energy draining, because it’s like living in a dark tunnel, trying to act like things are normal when I feel like garbage; and it’s frightening not knowing why all of these things are happening. All the doctors have been able to do thus far is make guesses. I don’t need another prescription for drugs. I need a provider to order the correct test to verify the cause of all of these symptoms, before the damage becomes permanent.

We pay for health insurance with the confidence that when a health problem occurs, we will receive the care that’s necessary. But so far, within Kaiser, I’ve seen a neurologist who ordered a few tests which yielded negative results, and sent me to a physiotherapist, who sent me home with an anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxant. When I suggested Cine MRI to the neurologist, he refused to consider it, and told me to seek a second opinion. But all of that takes such a long time, and more energy than I have left, and I could very well go through every neurologist in the entire Kaiser system and have them give me the same answer: “Sorry, sucker.”

I know it’s to the insurance company’s advantage to do nothing for someone who is sick, but I know that these are not just regular run-of-the-mill headaches. This is something real, and there is something truly going on here that needs to be diagnosed for certain, and properly remedied. Before 16 months ago, I basically never went to the doctor - I was that person who the insurance companies love, because I pay in every month and never take anything out. I’m not some hypochondriac who thinks I’m dying and wants attention. I want this fixed, I am so tired of it. If I could fix it myself, I’d have done it long before now. I don’t think that a single day has gone by in the last 16 months where I haven’t spent time and energy trying to figure out what’s happened and how to get back to normal. Once your providers do their job, you’ll likely not hear from me again for 20 years. I know Kaiser cares about its stockholders, but today I’m asking it to care for its patients, and actually help me get the care I need.

symptoms, onset of all occurred during summer 2010:

Just since October 2011: gag reflex while sitting is new. Worse nausea when sitting. Nausea is daily. Occasional stuttering.

cervical, shoulder, and upper back muscle tightness
cervical weakness and feeling of instability
* can feel something at top of spine shift when resuming upright posture from flexion
* clicking sound near atlas when turning to lay on opposite side
head feels too heavy
headaches
* constant occipital pressure/pain when upright
* worse in upright sitting/standing position
* partially temporarily relieved by lying down
blurry vision
* made worse by lying with pressure against neck
* made worse by being upright for extended periods
* made worse by jogging
* unilateral temporary vision loss after sleeping on front with head rotated to side (vision loss on side lain on)
fatigue
afterimages, aka “visual persistence”
blurry vision - objects/characters go in and out of focus
* worst when sitting, esp. with neck in flexion (as when reading a book); or upon waking from sleep
* worse on sitting with pressure against neck, as when head is propped up on pillow or arm of sofa
* worse after running
* worse when dizziness/nausea are worse
visual obstruction, as though looking through smoke or fog, worst around perimeter of visual field
* opthamological exam shows 20/20 vision, large optic discs, and inconclusive mild visual field loss
* worse after running
sensation of fuzz, pressure, or pain posterior to right eyeball
* worse from sitting, esp. with neck in flexion (as when reading a book)
jarring pain in occipital head each time heel hits the ground when walking
sharp pains in neck, face, and/or head, produced by moving head
mri shows loss of normal cervical lordosis
* Atlas Orthogonists also noted 5-6mm cerebellar ectopia, cervical ligament damage, obstruction of CSF pathways at craniovertebral junction, compression of brain on right side, and narrowing of ventricles
other areas in spine have mild pain of approximate same time of onset (tailbone, lumbar, and between shoulders)
uneven pupils
* right pupil does not dilate
* accompanies feeling of pressure, pain, or fuzz behind right eye
dizziness
* not vertigo, but unsteadiness, loss of equilibrium
* worse after running, biking, sleeping, neck massage, neck range of motion exercises, “curve restorer”, chiropractic cervical manipulation (rotation)
* severe upon rising from bed on waking - knock into walls, must hold onto banister
* hazard to self and others in the dark due to lack of visual cues
nausea
* exacerbated by neck rotation, flexion, extension
* worse after aerobic exercise, static extension stretch, and downward dog
* worse after chiropractic cervical manipulation (rotation)
* worse after neck massage
* worse after neck range of motion exercises or “curve restorer”
* worse by sitting, better lying down
bad pulling sensation in neck and occipital head
* brought on by head rotation, flexion, or being upright
* unavoidable when driving
* exacerbates nausea
numbness, tingling, and/or pain in toes, intermittent

Sitting or standing for too long in one position (as when driving), will progress to feeling increasingly nauseous, to initiating gag reflex, increasing difficulty focusing, increasing pressure in occipital head and neck, accompanied by whole body weakness, and a feeling of being about to lose consciousness; mouth and tongue go numb; to mediate this, I shift in my seat when I feel it coming on, to keep things flowing in order to maintain consciousness.

Conclusion: I suspect an injury which damaged the ligaments holding one or more upper cervical vertebrae in place was either caused or compounded by Lyme disease arthritic inflammation, OR Lyme borreliosis entering the nervous system made holes in the spinal cord causing a CSF leak, resulting in cerebellar tonsillar descent and a disruption of CSF flow homeostasis, which disruption is preventing CSF from properly circulating and exiting the brain at the craniovertebral junction.. As our next step in obtaining a proper diagnosis, I therefore request Cine MRI and/or upright MRI, because...
* nausea, dizziness exacerbated by upright posture, and cervical rotation, flexion, extension (compression of veins, arteries, CSF flow); relieved by lying down (therefore supine evaluation will not aid in diagnosis)
* supine MRI showed cerebellar ectopia, ligament damage, loss of cervical lordosis - upright MRI will likely be a better tool to facilitate diagnosis since symptoms are aggravated by upright posture therefore, signs will be more likely elicited using this method
* neck makes cracking, popping sounds, and sends shooting pains into head on movement, indicating a cervical structural problem
* other causes have been eliminated: myasthenia gravis, thyroid dysfunction, vitamin D deficiency, anemia, brain tumor, pregnancy, pseudotumor cerebri, etc.

lumbar puncture showed opening pressure slightly elevated, or at high end of normal (see Chehrenama records)

During systole, blood flows up into the brain temporarily increasing its volume and increasing ICP. In order to keep the amount of pressure constant, in a healthy patient, CSF will help compensate by temporarily draining out of the head through the subarachnoid spaces and the foramen magnum. Net brain expansion initiates compression of the ventricular system and the “piston-like action”, and thus for aqueductal CSF flow.

The brain becomes stiff because it cannot get the CSF out, and that stiffness also makes it difficult for the brain to keep blood flowing normally.

The Explanation for why a doctor needs to prescribe Cine MRI:

If CSF flow is blocked, the malformation is significant, and a syrinx is more likely to develop. The following study shows that it is not the degree of tonsillar herniation that correlates with the presence of symptoms, but the obstruction of CSF flow. Clinical presentation is the same in symptomatic patients with <5mm herniation as in those with >5mm herniation. The lack of a cisterna magna also correlates with CSF flow obstruction and symptoms. http://www.springerlink.com/content/eh6a516q9ht82k87/

The following study documented the range of symptoms experienced by patients with Chiari malformation: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15130068. Among 265 patients, the researchers found the following symptoms experienced by the following percentage of patients with Chiari:

Symptom
%
Headache
98
Dizziness
84
Difficulty sleeping
72
Weakness in arms/hands
69
Neck pain
67
Numbness/tingling in arm, hand
62
Fatigue
59
Nausea
58
Shortness of breath
57
Blurred Vision
57
Tinnitus
56
Difficulty swallowing
54
Leg weakness
52

Table 2
Symptoms Reported By Less Than 50% Of Patients
(20%-50%) - depression, body weakness, balance problem, memory problems, leg/foot numbness, hoarse voice, chest pain, facial numbness, anxiety, slurred speech, arm pain, abdominal pain, photophobia
(<20%) - tachycardia, trouble hearing, vomiting, double vision, word-finding problems, vision loss, blackouts, apnea, vertigo, loss of peripheral vision, nystagmus, earache, nosebleeds, snoring, thoracic pain, hypotension, wake up choking, leg pain, palpitations, hypertension, abnormal gag reflex, face pain/tingling

Source: Mueller DM, Oro' JJ. Prospective analysis of presenting symptoms among 265 patients with radiographic evidence of Chiari malformation type I with or without syringomyelia. J Am Acad Nurse Pract. 2004 Mar;16(3):134-8.

I have headache, dizziness, difficulty sleeping, neck pain, fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath, blurred vision, leg/foot numbness, chest pain, photophobia, loss of peripheral vision

Lucifer

2011-10-08T18:15:00.002-05:00

Poor, neglected blog!

Conversation between me and Samantha just now:

Samantha: That devil on his shoulder kinda creeps me out, because it's like Satan or something. [In reference to Kronk from "The Emperor's New Groove, and his "shoulder angel" and "shoulder devil".]

Me: Well, Satan is The Devil, so...

Samantha: He is?

Me: Yeah, you know, Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, Son of the Morning...

Samantha: His name's Lucifer?! What a nice name for such a bad man! I would name my kid Lucifer, except I don't want to name it after a bad guy!

Lemon Cookies

2011-09-17T07:29:00.004-05:00

"I made lemon cookies all by myself one day, without my mom touching anything - except getting them out of the oven. They smelled delicious when they were done. I like to lick the spoon. Easy peasy lemon-cookie-squeezy." -Samantha

Start of School

2011-09-08T08:37:00.005-05:00

Tuesday was the kids' first day of school. Second grade for Samantha. Kindergarten for Glenn. Glenn had a great day, the highlight of which, as far as we could get out of him, was decorating and eating gingerbread men. Samantha reported a good first day, also, with the exception of the end of the day when the other groups were given points and her group wasn't. Then yesterday she came home a bit upset, saying that almost every other kid in the class had gotten points that day except her. We haven't had an opportunity yet to have her explain exactly how points are earned, but it is strange that Samantha would be lagging in something like that. It would be the opposite of last year, so it makes sense that she would be upset about it. But overall, I think she is doing okay. This morning I was wondering if I should seek out a parenting book on how to raise a happy child, as Samantha seems less happy lately, but then I realized what she really needs from me are two things. The first is for me to stay off wheat which makes my brain work better so that I can be a better mom and give her the nurturing and positive attention she needs. The second thing is to share a scripture with her every day, and talk about it together. I don't know how that will go over, but during family scripture time we cater to the lowest common denominator, aka Glenn, which means reading brief watered-down versions of scripture stories never longer than 2 minutes, to which he barely pays attention. Samantha could get a lot more out of scriptures and start learning how much help there is in them for life and for happiness, if there was an opportunity. Part of Samantha's stuff lately might just be due to the transition from summer to fall, and her being mentally and emotionally exhausted. This morning she seemed much happier. It doesn't help that suddenly with the start of school, the sky decided to get all dark and constantly dump buckets all week long.

First day of school kids. Man, I love these two. I sure miss them during the day now. Samantha bought her dress with her own money. For comparison, here they are on the first day of school last year.

It doesn't show from the front, but Samantha had her hair done in this style, which she picked out ahead of time.

Just to throw in, here is another cool thing we did with Samantha's hair recently. A "dutch braid" on the side.

Stress

2011-09-04T14:51:00.002-05:00

Samantha told me a few days ago that she was getting pains on different random parts of her body that happen for a few seconds and then disappear. Today she said the pains were taking longer to go away. I am wondering if I should take her to the doctor. It doesn't sound quite like growing pains. Then today during church, her legs started really hurting, and her stomach, and she had a headache. She told her teacher during class, who had the class say a prayer for her. At the end of church Samantha said her legs were still really hurting, and the stomachache and headache were still there, and she barely made it through singing time without crying. I am getting more worried about this and whether I should take her to the doctor. Today, though, I remembered something: Something very similar to this used to happen to me when I was a kid. My mom would rub the part that hurt, and it didn't make any difference. The pains were worst when I was in 4th grade and had just moved and changed schools, and we were living at my grandma's house. I was stressed out because my school was new, even though everyone was very nice, and because the class was ahead of where my previous class had been in math: they were doing division with remainders, and I had not done that yet, and felt overwhelmed. I would get these pains almost every day. And although I was happy, I was very stressed out every day during that time.

When I google Samantha's symptoms, the general consensus seems to be that these random pains are caused by stress. That matches what I experienced as a kid, before I was able to consciously recognize or have much control over how tense my body was, and how upset my mind was.

I have a hunch that too much stress is doing this to Samantha. Today she had to give a talk in Primary at church. The Primary Secretary asked me last week if she could do it this week, and I said that she could, even though she just gave a talk a month ago. Samantha really did not want to do it, but she did, and I could tell how much it stressed her out. Samantha is very similar in personality to how I was as a kid. She wants to do things perfectly and gets too frustrated over mistakes, she is pretty shy, and she has a rigid sense of morality. I wonder if I have done this to her, accidentally. I have had to learn to force myself to act more calmly even when I don't feel calm inside. I don't feel calm because I feel that there are expectations I should be meeting that I am not meeting. I don't think Heavenly Father actually wants anyone to feel stressed out all the time over not meeting expectations. Samantha doesn't feel calm for the same reason. We can know cognitively that it is impossible to do everything that everyone expects, but knowing this doesn't get rid of the stress. Levi teases me that I feel guilty over everything. He does not have that problem. I am supposed to be an adult and have this figured out by now, but I still don't know the right way to be, so I just do my best and tell myself that it's good enough. Samantha feels stressed out and now is in pain because of it, and I think I have done it to her. But I do think there is a solution, and I do think Heavenly Father will help me find it and help her.

Summer's End

2011-09-02T18:43:00.005-05:00

What a lovely summer we have had. The end is bittersweet. The kids start school next Tuesday, Samantha in Ms. D'Amore's second grade class, and Glenn in Ms. Kennedy's kindergarten. This morning was the day for the kindergarteners to come visit their classrooms and meet their new teachers. His classroom is full of fun things: giant books, regular-sized books, easy readers, two laptops, blocks, dinosaurs, a play kitchen, tangrams, pattern blocks, colored bears for counting and sorting. Ms. Kennedy seems very nice and Glenn seems to like her just fine. He is more excited, though, about the fact that there are Legos in his classroom, and about his new friend who is his age, in his same school class, in his primary class at church, and whose family lives on our street!

There are a few kids in Glenn's kindergarten class who were in Mr. Ramsay's class with him last year, but only a handful - the rest will be new friends. He is excited. Ms. Kennedy's classroom was previously Ms. Hand's classroom where Samantha had kindergarten, so Samantha had fun showing Glenn where everything was, and how to turn the big stop/go sign outside the bathroom door so that "STOP" is facing out, when you're using the bathroom, and turn it back to "GO" when you're finished. When we were finished, we went around to Ms. Gowin's classroom where she gave Samantha a big hug. Then we found Samantha's new teacher, Ms. D'Amore's, classroom. Ms. D'Amore is so full of energy and enthusiasm, I know that Samantha will just have a great year. Samantha hasn't been very excited for the start of a new school year, but after we left her new classroom, I could tell she was really happy. She was also thrilled to see many old friends' name tags along the row of lockers in the hallway, so she'll be among many familiar faces. Then we went by Glenn's old classroom where Mr. Ramsay gave Glenn a big hug, and then we went out to the playground where Mr. Ramsay's teaching assistant, Ms. Angie, gave Glenn the biggest hug of all. Glenn had races across the lawn with a friend from last year, and then we walked home.

Up until a month ago, we had been checking out Harry Potter books on CD from the library and listening to the stories whenever we're driving in the car. But with the release of the seventh movie, part 2, we haven't been able to finish the last book on CD, due to high demand. So we've recently started listening to the American Girl stories instead. Yesterday we finished the "Josefina" series, and today we picked up the "Kirsten" CDs. They are not Harry Potter, but we are still enjoying them.

The poor kids: Twice in the past week, give or take, I've dragged the kids to an ethnic market called GrandMart of which I've become awfully fond. Since hypothesizing that wheat seems not to be a food my body digests very well anymore, I've been looking to asian cooking for inspiration on what to eat, and GrandMart stocks a great many useful ingredients for people like me who eat oddly for one reason or another. I could spend hours and hours in there, looking at all the fascinating specimens available for purchase on each and every aisle, all so excitingly unfamiliar and covered in indecipherable foreign characters! I've been making a few fun new recipes lately. Last week we had a dish with korean "glass noodles" which are made from sweet potato starch. These noodles are grey when you buy them dried in the package, but they cook up to be clear like glass, and have a texture like stretchy Jell-O. The kids have been really good sports while we go up and down every aisle multiple times, trying to find the ingredients specified in the recipes I'm hoping to make. One thing they really like at this place are the bins of live crabs, and the tanks of live fish. They like to stand and stare down at the blue crabs, all climbing over each other. The kids like to feel the shiny scales of the other fresh fish, but they know better than to put their fingers in the blue crab bin.

Levi introduced us to Dan Bing, a food he ate on his mission, where a rice tortilla is covered in a layer of egg and green onion, which gets cooked, rolled like a taco, and cut into pieces. Taiwanese (and Chinese) street food, and so yummy that both kids and I each had our own for breakfast this morning.

Tonight for dinner we had pork fried rice, and I had cooked three vegetables separately, to add to the fried rice: zucchini, baby bok choy, and snow peas. I told the kids they needed to choose at least one vegetable to have on their fried rice, and if they chose all three vegetables they would earn an extra marble. Glenn chose just zucchini. Samantha chose all three vegetables, and almost ate them all, except that she ended up with a few of the white bits of bok choy in her bowl at the end, which she said didn't taste good. She decided to swallow the bok choy bits whole like vitamin pills. She got about three bits down with that method, but the other bits were too big and she gave up.

Glenn requested to take his cod liver oil after dinner. Samantha politely declined. Kids who take their cod liver oil are rewarded with three "cat cookies" (small chocolate cookies from Trader Joe's shaped like cats) and two yummy chewable probiotic tablets, which they call "cherry candies". Glenn and I polished off the last of our first ever bottle of fermented cod liver oil. It was the cinnamon flavor. Tomorrow we get to try the new, supposedly more kid-friendly emulsified peppermint flavor, which the kids requested. We bought two bottles, so hopefully it's tolerable!

Levi and I are working our way through the episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation streaming on Netflix at night after the kids are in bed. We are part way through the third season, and I must say, I am fully converted. I thought it was a boring show, because as a kid, when my dad would watch it, I didn't care for it one bit. Still, my favorite character back then was Geordie, because he was played by LeVar Burton, whom I knew from the PBS show, Reading Rainbow. I used to put a headband over my eyes and pretend to be him, although I didn't know what to do for that game, besides the headband. Levi said he used to do the same with Emma's headbands. Now my favorite character is definitely Data. It's so nice to have the evenings to relax like that, with Levi.

Storm Shelter

2011-08-28T10:31:00.001-05:00

Live Blogging the Hurricane

2011-08-27T08:31:00.014-05:00

7:46 am - Nothing of consequence overnight.

11:03 pm - Rain; small gusts; TNG on Netflix.

8:02 pm - Power back on.

7:12 pm - Sky is calm and still; dinner, dishes, and coloring by flashlight.

6:38 pm - Power went out.

5:25 pm - Rain intensifying; wind picking up; still plenty of bottled water at the store.

4:08 pm - Rain continues; Legos; lemon bars in the oven.

2:30 pm - Steady rain; more laundry; Cars 2 (meh).

10:39 am - Intermittent sprinkles; piano lesson; laundry; playing Tron Legacy.

9:32 am - No rain; slight breeze; lemon corn waffles with blueberry sauce.

Lovely Day for an Earthquake

2011-08-23T16:29:00.004-05:00

When the kids want to save whatever work of art they've done on the white board, they request that a picture be taken. It's the only way to preserve white board art and be able to make another masterpiece. Glenn will not smile, but he'll "web" the photographer. Their "Burp" dialogue bubbles had them giggling for 10 minutes straight, they were so tickled with their own distasteful humor.

Spider-Glenn

Samantha's lost both her front teeth in the last week or so. Pulled out the second one last night after ceremoniously announcing, "And now for the grand finale...!". Now she's lost a total of four, the two front bottom ones and the two front top ones.

The weather yesterday and today is so nice, I was starting to wonder if we'd died and gone to heaven. And then this afternoon we had an earthquake! It was a 5.9 on the Richter scale. It happened at 1:53 this afternoon. The kids and I were home and the house started shaking. Samantha was in the living room, I was in the dining room, Glenn was upstairs in the kids' bedroom. When I felt it, I told Samantha to come to me and had her crouch down in our living room away from the shelves and picture frames, and I crouched on top of her. I listened to feel whether I should get Glenn, and the answer was to stay downstairs, but I could not stop thinking about him the whole time the shaking was going on, and trying to somehow protect him with my mind powers. When it first started, my mind ran through about half a dozen possible causes for the house shaking, but none of them fit what we were experiencing, so I settled on the assumption that we must be having an earthquake. I'm not sure how long it lasted, not too long. Samantha said, "What is it?" and when I told her it was an earthquake she got scared, so I said, "It's okay" because I felt pretty sure that it was (okay). Afterwards when I checked on Glenn, he was climbing the bunk bed frame (just for fun) - he turned to me and asked, "Mom, what was that shaking?" He said he hadn't been afraid at all, but he was "mad" at it. I thought that was funny. All the fish were in the tank, pictures stayed on the walls, etc. Neighbors were all flooding out of the houses and talking, and trying to make phone calls. We went out, and it quickly became clear that a lot of them were not sure what had happened. I told some neighbors I was pretty sure it was an earthquake, and explained what I'd been taught in school as a kid in California, about what to do if we have another one. They don't do earthquake drills in the schools here, so a lot of people, I'm realizing, don't know what to do. Earthquakes are not expected here like they are in California.

I tried to call Levi. It took three tries before we got connected. I could hear sirens and loud sounds in the background - it was obvious that there was a fair amount of chaos in the District where Levi works. He was okay. We were only connected for a minute before the connection was broken. We spent the next while trying to contact friends and family. Everyone we've been able to reach has been safe and well.

The kids got a crash course in earthquake safety, where we went around to every part of the apartment, inside and out, and had them show me where and how to "duck and cover" in a safe place. This was the first time I've gotten to use the skills we'd practiced so many times as kids during earthquake drills at school, so in retrospect that was kinda fun. Think we'll get any aftershocks?

Also, last night Levi and I celebrated our eighth anniversary by picking up dinner from a cool burrito shack called Pedro & Vinny's on Columbia Pike between CVS and the new Giant, and taking the food back home and watching the present I got Levi, his favorite movie, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World". It is a really great movie, probably one of my favorites, too. A good friend and neighbor watched our kids, who had fun playing with their friends.

Arlington County Fare

2011-08-13T22:49:00.003-05:00

No, not my typical typo, a pun. As in, the fare for these rides was $40; hardly a fair fair fare if you ask me. Worse yet, $5 corn dogs. Later that afternoon at Aldi I bought 12 corn dogs for $5. Exposed! Is a 1200% corn dog markup ... just?

2nd 7th Birthday Party

2011-08-06T22:38:00.000-05:00

Auntie Tara invited us out to Annapolis for birthday joy reloaded. Samantha and Glenn both made a big splash, as did Tara's homemade lemonade ice cream cake. The results of this party were utterly fascinating! (And yes, those are Pop Rocks stuck to Samantha's face)

Owlcakes

2011-08-02T08:06:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, before some good neighbor-friends of ours left for a trip, we decided to have some friends over to have a little mini-celebration for Samantha's birthday with some ice cream and owl cupcakes she had seen in a magazine a few months before, and had wanted to make.

Here is our mother owl with the baby owlets. We thought it turned out alright. The kids helped a lot with the decorating, and Glenn helped me mix the cupcake batter and put the liners in the muffin tins.

And here are the friends (the ones who fit at the table!), enjoying the cupcakes while ice cream was being dished up.

Benefits of Research Participation

2011-08-02T07:49:00.005-05:00

Samantha is a volunteer research participant in a study on The Reading Brain of Children at Georgetown University's Center for the Study of Learning. They have a subject pool in the US and one in China, and they're going to compare and contrast fMRI scans of these children's brains while they do reading-type activities. Samantha has done two sessions there, the most recent of which was last Saturday. They make it very fun for the kids - they have the MRI scanner decorated to look like a royal castle, and the kids get to put on a princess dress or a knight's armor costume before laying on the table and being slid into the castle/scanner. Samantha had a lot of fun, and I think it's really good for her to learn about the research process this way while she's just a kid.

After each session, they give her a Barnes & Noble gift card for $15. So after this last session on Saturday, she had $30 in gift cards, and we went to the Clarendon Barnes & Noble to let her redeem them. Clarendon is the yuppie part of Arlington, and when we're there, it always makes Levi and me grateful to live in the more family-friendly, ethnically diverse, South Arlington. Plus, rent is much cheaper here! But they've got a few fun places that we don't have. So Samantha looked around in the bookstore and one of the things she bought was a Harry Potter movie poster book. The kids have had so much fun with that book and a roll of tape, decorating their bedroom with the new posters, and it looks pretty cool!

And, no, we haven't seen the new movie yet. The kids (and Levi and I) are patiently waiting for it to come to one of the cheaper movie theaters. We are all super excited.

Samantha also got these cool MRI pictures to take home. I was so happy to see that she has no pineal cyst like me! And her cerebellum is up nice and high. Her brain looks so good.

Summah Time!

2011-08-02T07:17:00.003-05:00

Last summer it was a real challenge trying to keep the kids happily occupied and preventing them from killing each other. So before school let out for this summer, solely out of anticipatory fear of the impending loss of sanity, I scheduled activities and outings into every hour of every week for the entire summer. The strange thing is, we're now more than halfway through summer, and I haven't had to adhere to that schedule AT ALL. And it's turning out to be the most peaceful, fun, relaxing, summer we've had in a long time. The kids get along better now than they ever have before. They are behaving like best friends and it's making me SO HAPPY. Yesterday morning as the kids were happily playing "jumprope class" with British accents, I thought, "I'll let them play for a while and then when they start getting too crazy, or start fighting, we'll do reading, and BOSS packet stuff, and piano." But, it never happened...they just kept playing happily, hour after hour. In the afternoon we went swimming with some friends, and then Samantha had gymnastics, and then we had a nice, fun, pleasant evening. So many of our days are like this lately, *knock on wood*. As far as I'm able to discern, the reasons for the shocking pleasantness of this summer compared to last are as follows:

1. Age: The kids are a year older than last year, and more mature and independent. Glenn's more fun for Samantha to interact with.

2. Swimming: Last year we didn't have passes to any pools, and we had very few friends with access to a pool. This year we have more friends who invite us to their pools, AND we forked over the dough for passes to Upton Hill. So when we get antsy, we can just go SWIM!

3. Friends: Last year Samantha had just finished a half year of kindergarten here, and Glenn hadn't been to school at all, and we really didn't know people too well in the neighborhood or at church. This year, the kids have good friends in the neighborhood, from school, and from church, and they have frequent playdates and get to play with different friends lots of days. Last week they played with a different friend each day of the week!

4. My Health: Last year I was SICK. My body seemed like it was falling apart, it hurt to do anything, and I had no energy, so I did the bare minimum and everybody had a hard time because of that. This year I'm SO MUCH BETTER, I can swim with them, make meals, and do all the other things moms are supposed to do. It is SO MUCH FUN!

We are now to a point where there is not much going on, and it is so nice to have so few obligations for places to be and things to do. Samantha's summer school program, Global Village Summit, has ended. Glenn's tennis class has finished. All we have going on is Samantha's gymnastics on Mondays. We have no travel plans, other than possibly driving to the beach some weekend. It's so nice and peaceful. And I realize it's strange, but I just love the heat! I hope that both of our readers are having a great summer, too!

Samantha's primary talk

2011-07-24T14:51:00.000-05:00

Samantha gave a talk last week in Primary at church. She wrote most of it herself with very little help. She got tired of writing so I helped her write the scripture story part. She did a good job, and she is like her parents and doesn't like to talk in front of people, so we were proud of her.

Jolly Old St. Glenn

2011-07-07T19:46:00.001-05:00

Abinadi, bikes, piano, sports, and stuff...

2011-06-13T13:49:00.002-05:00

Levi and I teach the 4/5-year-old class at church. The other week, we were talking about the story in the Book of Mormon about Abinadi and King Noah. The following conversation ensued between Glenn and two other class members we'll call N, and E.

Glenn, whispered to E: "King Noah says bad prayers to his bad Jesus."
E: (giggles hysterically)
N, overhearing: "Don't say that."
Glenn: "Why?"
N: "It's not good."
Glenn: "It's not real. I'm just kidding."
N: "You still can't say that."
Glenn, with a look of hesitation: "Well...it's oh-kay."

I thought it was hilarious. We have the best mix of funny personalities in our primary class, it's the best church calling ever.

Levi put new handlebar grips on my bike. They're awesome. No more grips sliding off while I tow kids to school. Thanks Hub! He also put a new saddle on there, which came off a bike he found for free a while back. This seat is harder and hurts my bum bones due to lack of cushioning, but doesn't hurt my tailbone, which the old seat did. So I'll keep this one for a while.

Samantha had her reading ability assessed at school last week, and she scored well above the "benchmark". She's also soon to finish her first session of gymnastics. She has gotten all the requirements checked off for Level 1 and is ready to progress to Level 2, earlier than what is typical. Glenn and I really enjoy watching Samantha and the other kids do all the neat things they're learning. There are lots of age groups practicing at once in that gym, so there is always something exciting to watch. Samantha's instructor wrote, "Samantha is such a great student!! She listens and has fun at the same time!!" Sammy also had her first little piano recital this past Saturday. She played "Jingle Bells" and "Favorite Words" from her Alfred books, and did a smashing job.

Glenn's enthusiasm for tee-ball is increased as the season has progressed. Now he looks forward to practices and games instead of protesting. His skills have gotten better, too. His throwing accuracy has been good, but distance needed some work, so he has been learning to throw farther. He is also a good hitter, and understands what to do in the outfield much better than even just a month ago.

Levi continues his daily bike commute to and from work. He finds fun places for us to bike, hike, and walk on the weekends. Two weekends ago we rode our bikes around a place that had statues of Teddy Roosevelt, and quotes from him about preserving wild places and respecting nature. We have also recently gotten passes to Upton Hill, which is a little water place with a pool, slides, etc., and Levi has taken the kids there to swim the past couple weekends. They've made all kinds of progress in their swimming. Samantha does handstands on the bottom of the pool. Glenn swims keeping his face under water, kicking his way across. They have a great time - being in the pool is probably their favorite place of any.

Pod Racer

2011-06-09T18:49:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since we've had a Lego post, but that shouldn't be taken as a sign that Lego creation has slowed down at our house. Roles have changed recently though. I am no longer chief engineer. Glenn is taking the lead lately, designing and building things, like the pod racer below, all by himself.

Nature's Zoo

2011-06-05T14:37:00.007-05:00

Sunday morning I dragged the kids to our favorite local nature spot. Every animal in the place came out to greet us. The following represents a small sampling of the critters we observed. To see all the other animals we snapped including frogs, ducks, bugs, blue heron, kids, check out the slideshow.

Gymnast

2011-05-28T08:37:00.002-05:00

Samantha's having fun in level 1 gymnastics.

She coupe walks.

She shimmies.

She flips.

She cartwheels.

And she does a candlestick.

There are several age groups/levels in the gym practicing during the time Samantha has her class, so Glenn and I stay thoroughly entertained as spectators on the upper level. This is Samantha's first experience with gymnastics, and she is progressing quickly - although it usually takes four sessions at Level 1 before progression to Level 2, Samantha's instructor has told us she may be ready for Level 2 next session. Levi took these photos yesterday, as he'd gotten out of work early due to the holiday weekend, and took advantage of the opportunity to see Samantha at gymnastics.

Teeballer

2011-05-28T08:20:00.002-05:00

Glenn's having a good time (mostly) in his first season of teeball.

He bats.

He runs.

He waits and watches in "ready position".

He catches.

And he throws.

Kaiser, and Glenn's Ears One Year Later

2011-05-25T11:18:00.004-05:00

Levi continues to have a positive experience at his new(ish) job. He works with good people. He has an incredible view from the roof of the building of all the famous DC buildings and monuments, the Potomac River, etc. The only downside has been that we now have Kaiser Permanente as our health insurance provider. I spent cumulative hours communicating through phone and email with their customer service representatives, trying to figure out whether our plan would cover the hearing exam Glenn needed. No two people seemed to agree on what was covered. Finally I spoke to a "supervisor" who said that the hearing exam is covered by the HMO portion of the plan, but not the PPO portion. Fine.

So this morning after biking Samantha to school, I took Glenn out to Seven Corners to the Kaiser HMO facility, expecting the experience to be about as positive as being enclosed in a chest full of mosquitoes and afterwards having seagulls poop on your head. I was shocked to have an entirely pleasant experience. Easy parking, clean building, clear signage, helpful staff, short wait, no paperwork, and an efficient visit with a competent and knowledgeable audiologist. It could not have gone better. Happiest of all was the news that Glenn's hearing is totally stable - it hasn't deteriorated at all since last year's evaluation. Glenn's type of hearing loss generally doesn't improve, so stability is what is hoped for. The audiologist also told us that the fact that this doesn't seem to run in our family means the stability is more likely to continue. Glenn will continue to be tested annually.

I asked this audiologist if she knew of a causative factor. She said one hasn't been found: although mild to moderate low-tone sensori-neural hearing loss is assumed to be present from before birth, there are no links anything that the mother ingests, breathes, or does during pregnancy. That confirms what the previous audiologist told us. Not that I'm hoping for something to feel guilty about, but it would be nice to know the reason.

About a month ago I met with people from the kids' school to talk about Glenn's hearing and whether anything needed to be done for him educationally. The consensus was that nothing needed to be done other than continuing to let his teachers know about it. He is academically at or ahead of where he should be in all areas, and his teacher reports that problems associated with Glenn's hearing are minimal or rare. The school district audiologist did tell me that his hearing loss should be classified as "mild to moderate" rather than "mild" as we were originally told, because it is right on the border between those two. Technicalities. But what's really nice is that their school is the one in the district where hearing impaired kids district-wide are bussed and have programs and accommodations, so if Glenn needs anything in the next few years, he's already in the right place.

Our Mail

2011-05-23T18:48:00.003-05:00

We suspect our mail has been tampered with and had things stolen from it, so I just wanted to let people know not to send us anything valuable. We may get a mailbox with a lock on it, at which point I'll post an update. I feel sad, and violated. We've really felt safe in this neighborhood, and now I'm no longer sure that's justified.

An Awesome Upstatey Weekend

2011-05-21T05:42:00.005-05:00

Levi texted me from behind the scenes, just prior to the start of his graduation ceremony, "I look like Grimace". I told the kids, who were already getting antsy, "Daddy says he looks like Grimace in his robes!" and got puzzled looks in response. That's when I remembered that McDonald's no longer uses anyone but Ronald as a marketing tool. The kids had no idea who Grimace was. I s'pose that should be something to celebrate, but the Fry Kids, and Hamburgular, and Birdie were such omnipresent personalities during the years I was growing up, I had to do a full 15 seconds of mourning.

After what seemed like a good stretch of years, Levi finally has in his very possession a fancy piece of paper certifying that he can officially tack three extra letters onto his name. (See pictures of the commencement ceremony in Levi's post.) I spent a good week or so addressing him in person and in emails as "Dr. Boren" until that got old. I am so proud of him for sticking it out when progress was tedious and dragging, and pushing through to the very end. We were a couple of stupid clueless kids when we drove across the country four years ago in a U-Haul, with a baby crammed between us in the cab, not knowing what the future held.

Outside of the graduation ceremony, we got to spend our time with many lovely friends up in New York who really are more like family. (Coincidentally, two members of the ward up there actually are second or third cousins of mine, but anyway...) It gave me warm fuzzies to watch the kids fall right back in with their old friends as though two years was just two days. We spent Friday and Saturday visiting, playing, eating at restaurants, all the good things... Attending Glenville Ward on Sunday was such fun, being able to see and hug and talk to awesome peeps that we have missed. (Did I just use the words "Sunday" and "fun" in the same sentence?) Our hosts fed us too well and spoiled us generally, and even packed us fun snacks for the drive home. I wish I'd been better about taking pictures. (I routinely forget to take photos when we are too busy having fun.)

The snacks were fortunate because the drive home was noticeably longer than the drive up had been, due to traffic in the New Jersey Turnpike area, and getting caught in multiple torrential rain storms in which everyone turned on their hazards and half the freeway pulled over to wait it out due to the total absence of visibility. Levi thoroughly enjoyed driving through the rainstorms, so I pretended like I was enjoying them too, while secretly wondering if we would all make it home alive. We did make it home, obviously. Thank you Jeep for the four-wheel drive, and thank you Levi for being a competent driver. All in all, it was a truly awesome weekend trip that we would readily repeat.

Letis and Monkey Bars

2011-05-19T19:40:00.004-05:00

In Samantha's backpack today was a little bag of lovely lettuce leaves in a plastic bag, attached to a page where she had written the steps taken in lettuce production. It reads as follows:

1 we plant it the seeds. 2 we watid fore too muns fore the letis to growe. 3 we harvest the letis. 4 we cut off the routs. 5 we washt the letis. 6 we put the letis in the salid spinr
7 we put the letis in the bag to tack home.

It's far from the best example of spelling, grammar, or punctuation we've seen from Sam this year, which makes it all the more cute. I love that their school has its own little garden and teaches the kids about agriculture and ecology, which are no less important than reading, math, and science.

In the mornings lately, I ride the kids to school in our oversize bike trailer, and drop them at the "K-1 Blacktop" where they run and play, and I talk to a parent or a teacher or two, and then ride back home. My laziness kicks in fully in the afternoons, so to pick them up, I sit on my bum and take the Jeep. After school the kids like to play on the school playground with their friends. We miss playing with our bus stop friends, but a change of scenery seems to be doing them some good.

This afternoon on the blacktop, Glenn had me follow him to the monkey bars where he showed me how he swings all the way across on his own. It's a newly acquired skill as of today. Samantha, upon seeing this, came to me to say, "I am behind schedule!" She prefers to acquire these types of skills before Glenn.

Commencement

2011-05-17T20:07:00.004-05:00

Thus ends the great doctoral experiment.

It is rather funny to end such a serious endeavor as a Ph.D. dressed in purple velvet. The kids however, thought the costume was by far the best part of the ceremony. Hugs from them weren't nearly as plentiful as the pawing of their little mitts at my regalia. Samantha remarked, "Mom, when I grow up I want to get a Ph.D. ... because the costume is so warm and fuzzy!". (I've heard of crazy reasons to go to grad school, but none to top that.)

Glenn bravely lasted the fifteen minutes it took for the proceedings to start and for me to get hooded. The moment I cleared the dais, he cleared the room, dragging mom and Samantha with him. I then dutifully sat alone for the next hour while a gazillion MAs paraded by. I want it noted for posterity that my phone stayed in my pocket unused the entire time, which in itself is a feat worthy of a recognition. A medal perhaps.

Two-Wheeler

2011-05-02T19:49:00.003-05:00

Samantha has worked really hard the last few days to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. About a month ago, we realized Glenn needed a bigger bike, so we got him a new (used) one. The new bike didn't include training wheels, however. Samantha agreed to the idea of having her training wheels removed and put on Glenn's new bike. So Glenn is sporting a red bike with pink and white flowery training wheels, and he could not care less. Samantha has the nicks and scrapes and band-aids as proof of her courage and determination. She's really proud, and we're proud of her too.

Shed in a box

2011-05-01T19:48:00.008-05:00

This Saturday we did some back space (can't call it a yard) clean up. Once the kids realized that it wasn't a play house they lost enthusiasm, but it is definitely a step up from tarp.

Before

After

"... I hate nature!" -Chunk

2011-04-29T18:55:00.004-05:00

There is something inherently gross about the neighborhood trees dumping their gametes all over the place. (The human equivalent is too horrible to consider) It reminders me of the sinister plant growth in The War of the Worlds. Oh, and I hate it because I am allergic to it all.

Easter!

2011-04-25T13:33:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderful Easter yesterday, that included the kids waking up to "Pillow Pets" brought by...the Bunny, and a few other other fun and delicious treats sent by grandmas and grandpas. Then we made Challah, the recipe for which can be found here, and the video instructions for braiding found here. Then we took a beautiful drive over to Maryland and had a wonderful dinner with "Aunt Tara" and "faux family" and friends. She had made the kids Easter baskets full of goodies, plus the egg hunt of the century, where the kids had such fun and made out like little egg bandits. We're so grateful for spending time with good friends, and all of our blessings.

The indoor pictures are absolutely awful, as our indoor pictures have been since we got our camera. We have been trying to get the right lens to let us take better shots indoors. Our apartment gets very little natural light. We think something might have happened to the Nikon factory or distribution center in Japan in all the disasters they've had lately, because we can't find the lens in stock anywhere. So continue to enjoy our bad indoor photos until the lens comes back into stock!

Wind

2011-04-20T15:29:00.000-05:00

Azaleas

2011-04-19T13:26:00.001-05:00

Went to the National Arboretum this morning with friends. Got a little rained on. Fortunately, humans are waterproof.

Talking Marbles

2011-04-13T19:26:00.015-05:00

There are two darling little girls who live a few doors down from us. One is a year older, and the other a year younger, than Samantha. We walk to and from the school bus stop with them each day, and they tell Glenn how cute he is and ruffle his hair, and he turns pink and burrows his face into his jacket. When we get to the bus stop, the kids congregate under a canopy of mixed umbrellas and joke, and giggle, and make silly faces at each other. These girls and their mother are becoming good friends of ours. They are from Bangladesh. One afternoon a week, the older girl and I work together on reading comprehension. Tuesday was one of these afternoons.

We sat on our couch and she read me a story about kids playing a game of marbles. One character in the story remarked to the other that it wasn't as if the marbles would care if the circle drawn in the dirt wasn't perfectly round.

At this point, she stopped reading to comment, "...because they're not real!"

"They're not alive," I corrected.

"But you believe in God?"

"Mm-hmm," I said, unsure of what that had to do with marbles.

And she explained, "In its next life, God will make the marble come alive, and they will talk about how their life was - they will say how they were treated and what we did to them."

"They will?" I asked in surprise. (I was thinking this might be a good plot for "Toy Story 4".) At this point, she's looking at me funny, like, "This is news to you? I thought you said you believed in God."

"Yeah," she continued, "so we need to be nice with them and take care of them, and not let them get lost."

We finished the story, and our friends went home. But I keep thinking about this idea of things coming alive and giving an account of their experience. I thought about the knife I used as I chopped vegetables for dinner, and wondered whether it minded going through the dishwasher every night. I thought about the different vegetables, and the long truck rides they must've taken to get from the farm to the grocery store. I thought about the pot into which I scraped them. I thought about the table and the chairs while we were eating, how it felt to be sat on, to have dishes put on you, food spilled on you. It's been making me do things differently. I've been keeping things cleaned up better, feeling like the surfaces would rather be clear than cluttered. I'm less able to throw things out. It's making me feel more full and connected to everything, more grateful.

The idea puts a new twist on the principle of Stewardship as taught in my religious tradition. Stewardship as I have been taught it in a religious context, usually applies to people over whom we have authority (like a parent over his children, a bishop over his congregation, etc.). We are taught that we have specific responsibilities and obligations toward our subordinates, which we're held accountable to God to perform. Also at church, we hear the principle applied to wealth and/or property - that God made the Earth and everything on it, so whatever we "own", (home, car, checking account,) isn't really ours, but we are Stewards over it, meaning that we should make wise decisions regarding it, and should be ready and willing to give it to God (and/or the Church organization) if/when asked. We are taught to show respect for our own bodies, and for the scriptures, and for Church property. But we certainly aren't taught that we have any moral obligation toward a marble! Yet something about this broadening of the usual interpretation strikes me as Right and Useful and Good. I think our spirits, our hearts, maybe benefit from a more Eastern, broader, universal application of the principle of Stewardship.

I can't say whether inanimate objects will actually come to life someday, but like many religious beliefs, the value of the belief is determined more by the result it produces, both inside and outside the person who accepts and internalizes it, than on how closely it corresponds to objective reality. In that sense, Truth is synonymous with Value. "The Chronicles of Narnia" are every bit as true as the Four Gospels in the Holy Bible. If the goal for us as human beings is to become Complete, Whole, Perfect, Christlike (for Christians), Self-Actualized (for Humanists), then the line separating the literal from the symbolic is useless and needn't be drawn. I believe we are served in our Purpose by this broad application of Stewardship explained to me the other day by a seven-year-old.

A member of my church once shared with me their opinion that our choices as consumers don't really matter, that we need not worry how much energy we use or how much garbage we make, because when Jesus comes, the Earth will be cleansed and all of the mess we've made will be cleaned up. I hope that it is true, that one day the Earth will be cleaned up and made new. Whether Jesus comes and plays garbage man at some point in the future, however, seems completely irrelevant when it comes to evaluating my current behavior.

What is relevant right now is the effect my choices have on who I am and what I am to become, and on my environment and others around me. When I consciously consume more of any resource (water, food, plastic bags, clothing, gasoline, etc.) than I know to be necessary, I feel myself diminishing, like a type of pain that isn't physical. It is not unlike how I feel when I've yelled at my kids, or after an argument with someone that ended with bad feelings. When I make a choice to respect and care for something, whether it talks or breathes or merely appears to sit there, or when I teach my children to do that, I feel love, empowerment, peace, connectedness, and joy. There is also a sense that the consequences of these small decisions are potentially far-reaching beyond my ability to comprehend. I think there are others who feel this way, too. And I don't think we necessarily need a lot of technical knowledge about environmentalism, ecology, or conservation in order to make the right choices. I think we can feel what the right choices are - it's already in us. We've had it in us since long before Global Warming, or the shift toward reusable grocery bags, or the recycling campaigns of the 1980s. I know that it is ridiculous to think of inanimate objects as having feelings and being deserving of reverence and respect, the same as humans and other living creatures. But I may keep it up for a while. There's just something about it that really hits home.

No-Knead Bread

2011-04-12T12:21:00.003-05:00

I have wanted to try out the No-Knead Bread recipe from the New York Times, for a long time, but I was afraid it would not work. Turns out, it does! It was a little too wet, though, so next time I will use less liquid.

Poor Man's Light Cycle

2011-04-10T19:21:00.004-05:00

This last week I got caught riding home from work in dark stormy weather. About half-way through that ride I realized that I was pretty much riding a stealth bike. In an effort to overcompensate and hopefully continue to avoid being run-over well into the future, I went a little nuts with the reflective tape. All the original reflectors on my bike were removed sometime in the spring of 1996 as part of its christening. Real mountain bikes after all don't have reflectors. Commuter bikes on the other hand need to glow like the sun.

Bike Commuting Is Back

2011-04-09T22:45:00.000-05:00

I've not commuted to work by bike for nearly six years. Not since the good old days of eReinsure. I just finished my second full week today (in the rain no less), all enabled by the showers at my new place of employment. The route provides a superbly patriotic path that I am sad to say I have already begun to take for granted. An activity for the curious: Have a look at the map and see if you can spot all the famous landmarks I ride by.

View Larger Map

Happenings

2011-04-07T18:24:00.005-05:00

Levi rides his bike to work on the days when it's not raining. There are showers at work so he doesn't have to sit in his sweat all day. It's much faster on the bike than on the bus, so I like when he can ride the bike, because he comes home so much earlier, and it improves our evenings. He works near the Lincoln Memorial. His bike route goes by Arlington National Cemetery. Levi had a cold a few weeks ago, but it is gone now, which is good, because we don't have health insurance until May 1st. The kids had fevers too for a few days, and then coughs following, but they got over their illnesses quickly. I think he might be graduating in May with his PhD, but I'm not sure what day. That might be a good thing to find out.

I thought I was finished with my Bachelors degree after I'd finished my Motivation class, but I found out I need three more credits. I remembered taking a three credit class at Sierra College a long time ago, so I am trying to transfer that credit to BYU, so that I can still graduate in August, as planned. Today I tried to make bread by mixing dough in the blender, but it was a lousy recipe and turned out badly. Later I made pizza dough for dinner in the blender, and that turned out much better. I got a haircut the other day, and it feels good to have a lot less hair.

Samantha is reading a "Frog and Toad" story to me right now. She's a good reader. She doesn't like to sound things out, but she's good at memorizing whole words. I got to help in her classroom at school this week, and the kids are working on cool animal research projects for a book they're going to compile. Samantha chose the flying squirrel for her animal. We signed her up for a summer school program for this coming summer called "Global Village Summit", recommended by her teacher, Ms. Gowin. It sounds fun, and runs for three weeks. This is the description of the program from the summer school catalog:

"This is an academically challenging, fast-paced program for highly able students. Students will learn about world cultures and global issues through multi-media technology, language experiences and hands-on learning as they transition daily among different classes. They will explore and analyze the geography, history, language, lifestyle, and critical issues of people from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Instructional technology will be used to teach creative and critical thinking skills, research methods, product development, and presentation techniques. Foreign language specialists will familiarize students with basic vocabulary, literature and songs of various cultures. The analysis and construction of artifacts will provide hands-on opportunities to understand the history, geography, lifestyles, and critical issues of people from around the world. Students must have a teacher’s recommendation noted on their registration."

I am glad that the program is only three weeks long, because I think she should have the summer mostly to unwind and relax and play. She has worked hard this year and I think she needs and deserves a break.

Samantha has also been taking piano lessons for a few months from a wonderful teacher who is in our ward. She is progressing quickly through the first level of the Alfred method, and each week she earns "music bucks" for doing well, which she can redeem for cool prizes like nail polish and 'gak'. She is enjoying piano a lot, except for theory, because, "I have to use a pencil, and I use pencils all the time."

Glenn started out very reserved and sort of private last fall in preschool, but in the last 6 weeks or so, he has, according to his teachers, "come out of his shell" and is interacting much more with the other kids. He has made a few close friends, one of whom is a girl! He has come a long way socially - at the beginning of the school year he would get upset if another kid even touched him, whether on purpose or by accident. Now he deals with being in close proximity to other kids much better, and he no longer assumes they are bumping or jostling him on purpose. He has been having some mild disruptive behavioral problems lately, which I am trying to figure out whether is due to boredom, or to being provoked by other kids, or some other factor. His teacher thinks it is just a phase that has come as he's grown more comfortable with his friends, and that it isn't anything worth stressing about. So we won't, for now.

Glenn has also started Tee Ball, which he didn't like at first, but I think he's starting to get the hang of, now. He's had two or three practices and one game. His team is the Red Sox, and they are just adorable. I love baseball at this age, before it gets serious.

Samantha has been really wanting to be in swimming lessons lately, but I learned the hard way that if you want to sign up for classes through the Arlington County Rec. Department, you have to be at your computer fighting for a spot at the very minute registration opens. Registration began at 8:00am, and I logged in at 9:00am, and the slots were gone, so we're on a waiting list for spring swimming lessons. If we don't get in, I think I'll sign both kids up for swimming lessons this summer at Upton Hill, where we're planning to get season passes. I know that we will survive the summer if we have access to a pool, and we'll likely go there almost every single day.

We have some good friends, two families in particular, that go to our bus stop and have kids about the same ages as Samantha and Glenn, and we play with them almost every afternoon, either at the park near our house, or at one of our houses. They are great and make our afternoons so much more fun.

We have several neighbors from Bangladesh. They are all very friendly and nice. Some speak English pretty well and some very little. One neighbor whom I've become friends with is trying to start a childcare business from her home. She speaks English, somewhat, but doesn't use a computer well. I've been helping her put ads on Craigslist, and do research and paperwork for insurance, so that she can do that.

Samantha wants to read "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" now, so I must stop blogging.

Unicorn of shoes

2011-04-05T19:31:00.006-05:00

Those of you who are longtime consumers of our blog may remember a post from long ago about me trying to support local businesses and American goods. After several years I have an update to this theme.

I was recently looking to replace some brown dress/casual type shoes. For some reason I got curious about whether any such shoes are made in this country anymore. I knew that some NB shoes are made here, but I needed dress-ish shoes. After two-seconds of googling led me here I decided to explore something even more elusive and intriguing: Could dress shoes made in the USA be had for a competitive and reasonable price?

The answer: Yes! Not only made in the USA at a reasonable price, but made only 180 miles away. (It must be noted that the military industrial complex no doubt has a big influence on their competitiveness.)

The breaking in is coming along nicely, and I am very impressed with the quality of materials and construction. I ordered style 90259. Next time I go chukka.

PLAY T-BALLLLLLLLL

2011-04-02T12:22:00.001-05:00

Spring is sort of here and so is T-ball. You know how every T-ball team has at least one player run to third rather than first at some point? Well, Glenn got that out of the way with his first at-bat, but thereafter went two for two with 4 RBIs. He did a great job bouncing back. It was really fun to watch kids with 30 second attention spans play a game that requires an attention span of 90 minutes. I think my favorite picture by far is the one of Glenn staring up at the hologram sticker on the underside of his bill. Classic.

Glenn's 5th Birthday Party

2011-03-05T20:20:00.002-05:00

Our Great Big Fat Ward

2011-02-20T19:38:00.003-05:00

Since our ward at church continues to grow at an alarming rate with no sign of splitting, Levi and I thought up some alternatives which we're confident will be well-received by our Priesthood leaders:

1) Have a "take-a-number" machine outside the door, allowing in a max of 400 bodies at any given time, and distribute wireless headsets to all those who arrive after capacity has been reached to sit and listen to the meetings in their cars.

2) Have a "calling-share" program where two people hold each calling and perform it on alternate weeks, while the other stays home.

3) Condense church to 1.5 hours instead of 3, allowing up to six wards to meet on a given Sunday.

4) Hold "mini-church" worship services in small groups in people's apartments.

5) Enforce paid parking - "full tithe payers only, all others will be towed".

We're kidding, of course, but...
We are actually beginning to wonder if we are part of an experiment being conducted by someone in an administrative capacity in Salt Lake City, to gather statistical data on the relationship between ward size and member activity level: "Just how big can we allow a ward to get before its members all go berzerk?" Our current strategy for attempting to maintain sanity centers around limiting ourselves to staying upstairs where Primary is held, as much as possible, which has the illusory effect of making the ward appear half as large as it actually is [insert sign of relief here], though no less crowded - Levi is pretty sure that the 75 people we had crammed into our Primary room today violated a fire code.

You Must Pay the Rent!

2011-02-11T20:10:00.003-05:00

Samantha's dinner napkin becomes a moustache, a hair bow, and a bow tie.

Levi Turns the Big THREE OHH

2011-02-06T21:21:00.004-05:00

Levi decided upon a theme for his 30th birthday of reviving some fun foods from his childhood for each meal. Breakfast was poppy seed bagels with cream cheese, and rolled-up meats and cheeses. Lunch was Spaghettios. Dinner was pizza. And his birthday cake? A plate full of lovingly arranged Hostess Cupcakes. It was the easiest cake we've ever made. I love my Levi.

The Spaghettios went over fantastically with the kids, as you can see.

Cool fishing set! The pole and everything fits into that neat blue case.

He also got a Nerf gun. I had some help picking that out. More pics here.

Thanks to all who helped make it a special day.

A Fun Visit

2011-02-06T20:50:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, my cousin, David, came and visited. It was such fun. He and I grew up close like siblings, and he remains one of my best friends. It had been almost seven years since we'd last gotten together, so the kids got to meet him for the first time. He brought the kids the hottest toy of the season from FAO Schwartz, which was a real hit, and made of all soft materials so it can't destroy anything (or anybody). It was great to catch up and visit. I think Levi was glad to have somebody else to rough around with the kids for a few days, too!

More photos here.

Hardy Snowmageddon II, but still ...

2011-01-27T20:00:00.001-05:00

we got to build a cool snowman!

Your friendly neighborhood . . .

2011-01-10T22:43:00.003-05:00

Spider-man is seen here trying to stay warm in between bouts with his arch alien nemesis Venom (me, not pictured). Until taking this photo I never really considered how rough it is to be a superhero in the winter. As a native New Yorker, Peter Parker would have been accustomed to cold winters and the occasional city-closing snow storm. However, I am convinced that he designed his costume in the pleasant springtime months. Peter's first New York August spent as Spider-man probably resulted in a lot of heat rash for the web slinger. And that was only a sticky prelude to the frigid chill to follow, as crime fighting worked it's way into late January. And yet here he is, unwavering. The parka-clad arachnoid looks like a playoff star patiently awaiting for his number to be called. Then he will throw off the puffy shroud and march out onto the rooftops to serve some justice. A dish that we all know is best served cold.

Retractable Tape Measure: A Useful and Fun Device

2010-12-30T12:19:00.004-05:00

Since the kids and I have virtually nothing pressing to do today, we measured our apartment. I was curious to see how big it was compared to where we lived in New York. It is 775 square feet total. In New York it was I think 850. For some reason this place feels the same size, or bigger. Maybe because it's two levels instead of one. So there's that for historical and documentary purposes. Room dimensions in feet followed by square footage in parentheses:

Parents bedroom: 11.9 x 12.75 (152)
Kids room: 10 x 11.5 (115)
Parents closet: 2.5 x 3.5 (8.75)
Kids' closet: 2.5 x 3.5 (8.75)
Hall closet: 1.33 x 2 (2.66)
Hallway: 19.3 x 11.4 + 3.4 x 3.3 (30.7)
Bathroom: 7 x 4.8 (33.8)
Stairs: 14 x 3 (42)
Living: 12.2 x 11.9 (145.4)
Dining: 16 x 8.25 (132)
Kitchen: 6.7 x 15.5 (103.4)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:24:00.006-05:00

Dancing to Christmas carols

Feeding Santa's reindeer

Acting out the Nativity

Cinnamon rolls for breakfast Christmas morning

New dry-erase markers

Barbie and Ken's romance.

Sometimes you have to use your teeth.

Glenn bears a slight resemblance to his father.

Mmmmmm Reindeer

2010-12-23T17:01:00.001-05:00

Good Things of December

2010-12-15T13:55:00.006-05:00

Last week Levi's office Christmas party was at a non-kid-friendly fancy schmancy restaurant, so Levi's Aunt J and cousin P kindly watched the kids while Levi and I attended that and had a grownuppy time. The kids had the time of their lives decorating gingerbread houses and making cute Christmassy treats, which they were permitted to devour the following day.

Tomorrow Levi drives up to New York to for his dissertation defense. He has worked so hard, and we're praying for it to go well. He's so ready for it to be finished.

I went to the neuroopthamologist a few weeks ago and had lots of tests done. He doesn't think my symptoms are due to the pineal cyst in my brain, but doesn't know what is causing them. The neurologist says we can do a spinal tap or give me some headache meds. The last few weeks my headaches have been better and dizziness has been better too. Vision is still weird, but I am feeling more normal overall. So right now I'm really happy, and I'll probably wait at least until Christmas is over to do anything with doctors. I'm just hoping that I'll keep improving.

There are some packages under the tree, and the kids are bursting with anticipation, especially Glenn. Yesterday he was convinced he was on Santa's "naughty list" and wouldn't get anything in his stocking or under the tree on Christmas morning, so we had to convince him otherwise, and thought of all the good things he has done to use as evidence that he is actually on the "nice list". Once he was finally convinced, he beamed hugely and was a golden child for the rest of the evening. I have to remember to praise him like that more often!

It has gotten cold here lately. The highs have all been below freezing. Tomorrow will be the same. We rush home from the bus stop every afternoon to get inside where it's warm. It feels like New York. But this is unusually cold for the DC area, and it will get warmer.

Samantha brought home a book she'd made at school where each page highlighted one body system. On the page for the circulatory system was a girl with veins and arteries running through her, and on her head was drawn a multicolored mohawk of sorts. At the bottom of the page was written, "bad Samantha!" in Sam's own handwriting. Samantha turned past this page very quickly, and said, "Don't pay attention to her hair. I lost a bead for that." The kids in her class lose beads for misbehavior and get prizes for keeping all their beads. Samantha very rarely loses a bead, so when she does it's a big deal for her. I turned back to the page with the mohawk-haired girl and just could not stop laughing. Samantha seemed to feel better when she realized I wasn't upset with her. Evidently when her teacher saw her embellishment, she said "I am very disappointed in you," which sounded harsh to me. Her teacher this year is kind of old-school. So Sam and I talked about how she almost never loses a bead, and that no one is perfect, and most importantly that she is not "bad" if she loses a bead! Levi and I later agreed that we were both pretty thrilled to see this evidence that she has inherited a little of our tendency toward boredom-induced mild comical rebellion. It's a long-honored time-tested coping strategy.

2010-11-14T22:36:00.006-05:00

I love to watch my kids play outside in mid-November sans hats and mittens.

Samantha's Talk

2010-11-14T15:31:00.002-05:00

Samantha gave a talk today in Primary. Here it is:

"Once I was playing at the park near my house. I was swinging on a bar, and then on accident I kicked my friend's little sister. I told her that I was sorry. She said, 'It's alright'. She forgave me. I was relieved that I didn't hurt her. Jesus teaches us to forgive each other. When we forgive, we can still be friends. I am thankful for the gift of forgiveness."

And Glenn gave the scripture. He did, "'Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy,' 2 Nephi 2:25".

Levi and I were proud of the kids standing up in front of the group this morning and doing something hard. That reminded me that I can do hard things too.

For a while this summer our church attendance was sketchy. Part of it was me not feeling good. But also, it's been a struggle adjusting to our ward here because, well, today we parked on the grass next to a phone pole, we couldn't see any of sacrament meeting because the overflow was full so we listened to the audio piped through to the Primary room upstairs, the turnover is insane and people are constantly in and out, it's 95% lawyers, and it's amusingly freaky like somebody cloned "barbie and ken" a bunch of times and crammed them all into a church building. (A Primary song taught me, "I believe in being honest" - can you tell I've taken it to heart?) But it's really good for the kids to go to Primary. So we're "active" again. I should be fair: like 1% of the ward is cool.

We were spoiled in New York - our ward was full of genuine, fun, smart, interesting, down-to-earth people and was like a family, and that's for real, not just my nostalgia bias. But change happens and you have to buck up. And honestly, our current ward not being my fav is nothing to complain about. So many things have improved for us in the last year: Levi's employment situation is favorable, the weather here rocks, there are a ton of fun places to go, the kids' school is phenomenal, we are making some really good (non-LDS) friends in the neighborhood/area, we are still able to maintain contact with old friends and family who are far away, and we're in a fun place for them to come visit us *hint hint*. We feel very blessed.

Brain Thing

2010-11-11T14:13:00.003-05:00

The oval thing that is circled in red is a thing in my brain that isn't supposed to be there, or at least isn't supposed to be so big.

In June my vision got blurry. In July I developed a headache and involuntary eye twitching. I went to an opthamologist who said my eyes were fine and told me to see a neurologist. In September I had a week of being dizzy and more freakier vision stuff. Since then I've had headaches, blurred vision, mild dizziness and occasional nausea. In October I went to a neurologist who ordered an MRI. The results were good except for a 1.8cm cyst on my pineal gland that looks benign. Anywhere from 2-25% of MRIs (depending on your source) show these cysts, and usually they are harmless and people have no symptoms. Evidently, cysts larger than 0.5cm are rare, however, but when they occur, they can cause symptoms because they push on adjacent structures like the brain stem and the oculomotor nerve, or they can block flow of cerebrospinal fluid through the cerebral aqueduct and cause hydrocephalus, or block bloodflow through something called the "vein of Galen". It is good timing, because Levi's job gives us good health insurance, both kids are in school, and I am just finishing my undergrad from home via Independent Study.

Nobody knows why these cysts form, but women have them more often than men, and they sometimes show a pattern sometimes of growing and then shrinking over several or many years that suggest a possible hormonal component. The mean age for these larger symptomatic pineal cysts is 26-28, and I am 27.

The neurologist suspects that because the cyst I have is bigger, that it is causing hydrocephalus when my head is in certain positions, and putting pressure on my brain stem. She sent me to meet with a neurosurgeon who said he wouldn't do surgery yet because my symptoms aren't severe enough. He is sending me for another MRI in December, with thinner slices through that region, to check for changes. My neurologist is sending me to a neuroopthamologist in the District who is apparently very good (and extremely in demand) and will be able to tell if my visual stuff is caused by pressure on the brain stem. That appointment is in December too because that is the earliest he had open.

So right now I'm just dealing with symptoms. Some days are better than others and I am really glad that things are not worse, and am so grateful for the better days. I can still read pretty well, and I can drive, and the headache, although I am tired of it, it is manageable. The dizziness is mild and I can still do most things like normal. I'm not supposed to exercise because it makes my symptoms temporarily worse, but I do anyway because otherwise I'll go nuts. I get tired too easily though, and Levi picks up my slack frequently. One day I fell asleep for about 40 minutes and at waking I couldn't see anything out of my left eye, but over the next 2 hours my vision gradually came back - I have never been so grateful to be able to see out of both eyes! But I just thought it would be easiest to do a blog post about this, so when people ask I can just refer them here. We are all doing well, and will have something new to report about this in a month or so. Happy Veterans Day!

Harry and Hermione

2010-10-31T06:29:00.005-05:00

Here are Harry and Hermione before the church "trunk-or-treat" last Thursday evening. Tonight will be "real" trick-or-treating - the first time our kids have gone around the neighborhood...they have really been wanting to do this. After baths last night we did Samantha's hair in little braids so that it would get crimpy and big for tonight, so hopefully that will turn out to her liking. I sewed their robes from sheets, got Gryffindor iron-on badges from eBay, and caved to consumerism and bought the vests, ties, and Hermione's skirt from a cheap school uniform supply place and Amazon.com. Fortunately most of it can be worn as regular clothes from now on, either to church or school. They are just wearing their regular Sunday shoes.

Corn Maze in The Plains

2010-10-10T16:23:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we drove an hour and something minutes to the Corn Maze in The Plains and had a fun time. They had lots of simple awesome activities for kids, including a thing to roll them around in, slides, horses cut from old tires to ride on, a "mini maze", and a little obstacle course. When we were finished playing on the little activities we tackled the official big Corn Maze. They gave us a map and a crayon, and within the maze you looked for stations where you could lay your map down and do a crayon rubbing that made part of the map appear. Once you found all of the stations and did your crayon rubbings, you had a complete map. You also take a flag in with you, to wave if you get lost, so the Corn Cop can come and save you. We were proud to figure it out ourselves, so we didn't need to wave our flag. A bee flew in my shirt and lodged in my sleeve at one point, but it was kind to me and did not sting. The kids picked out white pumpkins rather than orange, which surprised us, but they are bound to be a little non-traditional sometimes, with weirdos like us for parents.

We love farms.

Last Saturday we went apple picking. We were very lucky when we lived in New York, it was a super short drive to go apple picking, and there were lots of apples to choose from and it wasn't crowded. Here, we still had fun, but it was a long drive, and the orchards were crowded, and there were not very many apples left. We filled a bucket of Mutzus and have been snacking and making apple crisp and fresh apple juice and other yumminess.

Also, last Saturday we saw They Might Be Giants at the Kennedy Center. It was a free show, family-friendly. There weren't seats, so we stood the whole time, and alternated holding kids up so they could see what was happening on the stage. We were only about ten yards away from the stage. There were lots of families there, but also lots of people without kids. It was very full, and we were lucky to have lined up early enough to be so close. It marked the first time Levi and I have been to that kind of show since before we were married and we saw Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband in the Wilkinson Center at BYU (that was probably our second or third date!). TMBG have been putting out some kids' albums these last few years, of which we're rather big fans. The show was fantastic, really fun - they kind of alternated between kid and grownup material - and then some songs like "Particle Man" and "Older" are obviously in kind of a grey territory in between. They knew how to keep the kids happy, with random explosions of multi-colored confetti that fell down like snow, and the Johns pulled out puppets toward the end, that told silly jokes and sang for the kids.

National Arboretum and an Update

2010-09-29T09:07:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago we went to the National Arboretum and had a picnic. Then Levi and the kids went exploring while I went to the car and slept (I'm so lame). Levi took some beautiful pictures of which I hope he gets time to post a few. I'll just post this one of the kids that I love.

Both kids have adjusted to school really well. We've had several reports from each of their teachers that they are doing well and being helpful and cooperative students and classmates. Glenn comes off the bus wearing a big grin, most days, and sings me bits of the songs his class sang. He proudly pulled out a little plastic coin yesterday, which he said he and another classmate earned by "sitting 'criss cross applesauce' when the teacher told us to. The other kids all just kinda had their legs, you know, straight out." Samantha tells us snippets of her day - there is some system of encouraging good behavior in her class involving different colors of beads, and yesterday she reported having earned a purple bead, which she says is the highest color anyone can earn. It is strange how all this stuff goes on and the kids have all these experiences that neither Levi nor I share with them. We're really glad they're doing so well.

Levi's dissertation is in the hands of his advisor awaiting more suggestions for improvement. He is eagerly anticipating it being ready to defend, so he can wipe his hands of it forever and move on with his life. Levi's job continues to go well for him, and he's involved in a lot of things that keep him plenty busy most days. I won't try to explain in detail.

With both kids in school now, I am planning to finish my Bachelor's degree in Psychology from BYU. I am 3 courses short. I've recently finished "Principles of Behavior" via Independent Study, and am now waiting for my "Personality" textbook to arrive so I can get started on that class, also through Independent Study. I'd like to take classes from a local college, because classes are more fun when there are other people to interact with, but I can't qualify for in-state tuition until January.

Snapshots at the National Portrait Gallery

2010-09-29T09:01:00.004-05:00

The kids were not too impressed with the National Portrait Gallery, which we visited a few weeks ago because Levi and I wanted to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit. Actually, Samantha did like the painting of the little girl showing her friend the space where she'd lost a tooth. And Glenn showed mild interest in the Plymouth advertisement that shows a family (and most importantly to Glenn, their dog) crowding in the door of Grandma's house at Christmastime. We weren't allowed to take any photographs in the exhibit.

There's a sort of echoey open area somewhere in the middle of the museum where the kids horsed around for a few minutes before we headed home.

Farm Country

2010-09-29T08:51:00.003-05:00

This past weekend we went to the Wild West Prince William County Farm Tour. We are always looking for excuses to escape the city. We had a lot of fun.

The kids got to use a wood carving horse...

"Am I doing this right, mister?"

...drill holes in a big log...

...hammer in wooden pegs...

...get up close to a two-week-old calf...

...and pretend it was prayer time in an old church.

We also saw an old schoolhouse, and old log cabin (that was an awful lot like our house in Schenectady!), ran around an old courthouse, and colored pictures of Civil War soldiers (Glenn decided to give his Union soldier a hot pink and gold uniform).

Two Kids in School

2010-09-08T08:25:00.003-05:00

Samantha had a great first day yesterday. She helped a boy who was brand new to the school to feel better when his day had a rough start. She got to eat lunch in the cafeteria with the big kids for the first time. She said she was nervous on the bus ride to school that first grade work would be really hard, but she got there and there weren't any hard tests or anything - instead they just did fun things and learned each other's names. On the bus ride home she sat next to another girl and the two of them talked about haircuts, and babies, and not sticking cotton swabs too far inside your ears.

Both kids got on the school bus this morning. Levi left for work a little late in order to stay and see the kids off. It is Glenn's first day of school of his entire life. It is my first day home alone in more than six years. I am resisting a strong urge to head up to the school and spy on him through the windows to make sure he is okay. But he will be alright. Sammy was prepared to take care of him until he went into class. And during the day he will pretend he is Harry at Hogwarts, and that Mr. Ramsay's classroom is the Griffindor Tower. Unfortunately, he may also pretend that the other kids are Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. I hope he finds a friend who knows about Harry Potter, or Star Wars, or Indiana Jones, or Batman. If he finds that friend, the whole year will be just fine.

Samantha's first day of first grade

2010-09-07T14:43:00.001-05:00

Samantha's first day of first grade, originally uploaded by thelevyisdry.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a first grader. On the way to the bus this morning I asked Samantha if she had butterflies in her stomach. "A few," she said, "...not too many."

She is in Ms. Gowin's class, and knows a good number of the students from last year, although neither of her two closest friends from last year are in her class this year. She is an adaptable one, though, and will make friends quickly and have a blast. She will be buying her lunch...reportedly it is "funner" than bringing one from home, and who are we to stand in the way of fun?

First Tooth Out!

2010-08-22T19:03:00.002-05:00

We spent Saturday at Tara's in Annapolis. At lunch time Samantha took a hard bite of hotdog and came up with tears. Samantha had complained of the tooth being loose a week before, but we'd all forgotten about it. All the post-lunch swimming and playing fetch with Stella (a dog) seemed to dull the pain. On our way to dinner at CPK Samantha got a little nervous about blended pizza and decided to yank the tooth out herself. That was a great proud father moment. Yeah, my six-year-old pulled her own tooth out. She's pretty cool. With the tooth fairy's requisite payment Samantha was able to add a third fish to her birthday tank.

Assateague Island

2010-08-19T12:53:00.000-05:00

We set out with the intention to go to the beach at Ocean City, Maryland, last Saturday, but it was all trafficky and we couldn't find a place to park, so we instead followed the signs to nearby Assateague Island. We this beach so supremely awesome that we wondered what more Ocean City could possibly offer that would make it worth battling the crowds. This beach had real waves, perfect sand, and WILD HORSES! It was an incredibly blissfully fun day.

Giant Danio

2010-08-15T16:02:00.003-05:00

When last we posted about Samantha's birthday we only had an empty fish tank. Now the tank is full of character, thanks to a few trips to the beach and a pair (only one visible in this picture) of exuberant (i.e. nearly impossible to photograph) giant danios. More fish to follow . . .

Fishing and Archery

2010-07-27T21:51:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday while Shauna and Grandma K. were out shopping, the rest of us went on Safari. The guides for our adventure were Albert, a colleague of mine, and his wife Erin. We had immense fun all around, and were dazzled by the combined world-class archery and balloon animal making skills of our guides. The Osprey outfished us, but they can see a minnow from 50 yards, . . . and have talons. Still, the notable fish we did manage to land between the six of us was very colorful (whatever the heck it was). The indoor air conditioned archery range was just the thing we needed at noon on a 100 degree day. Glenn shot a bulls-eye, but I did most of the aiming. Samantha was too independent at it for words, and rather though she ought to have had the bulls-eye. Grandpa R. and I were just trying to hit the target as Albert and Erin knocked down some amazing shots from distance.

Samantha is 6

2010-07-22T22:59:00.001-05:00

Samantha turned six a few days early this year to accommodate her Knecht grandparents. I think that was awfully nice of her, I mean she is still young, and a birthday is a rather large thing to move. But on the other hand, Samantha is so very practical and wise that it doesn't surprise me at all. This year she requested fruit salad and heart-shaped mini PBJs in lieu of cake. As one who partook of this unorthodox menu, I can honestly say that it was a refreshing change from the usual birthday fare. And I don't think the candles even noticed the difference. As for presents, Samantha got a fish tank! Initially there were no fish. We were advised to let the water settle in before attempting to entertain company. After a few days, a pair of Giant Danios were added to begin the tank cycling. Eventually more will be added I am told. By way of trivia, the rocks and shells appearing in the tank were borrowed from Colonial Beach (pictured).

More Park Adventures

2010-07-05T17:35:00.003-05:00

We got a new camera. We're learning to take better pictures with it. I probably needed to crop some of these ones better. Will keep trying.

Back to the Future

2010-07-05T17:31:00.001-05:00

"I fully expected time travel to be possible by this point in my life. You have no idea how disappointing reality is." -Levi, 3 minutes ago

Wonders of Nature

2010-06-29T11:01:00.002-05:00

We like nature. We found lots of it at Huntley Meadows Park. Levi led the way - we saw three kinds of dragonflies, bright green frogs, swimming turtles, heron, red-winged blackbirds, and lots of fun bugs. Glenn complained of "chicken pox" (actually heat rash). There was lots of sword fighting with sticks. Miraculously everybody still had their eyes when we finished.

One Park Down, Thirty to Go

2010-06-29T10:47:00.002-05:00

It's the first week of summer vacation. The kids liked the idea in the June Friend magazine of visiting all the parks in your city. We counted, and there are 31 parks in Arlington...that is, there are 31 parks that have playgrounds...because the kids don't consider a park "a park" if it lacks a playground. Yesterday we visited Woodstock Park. One down, thirty to go!

Really Boren football

2010-06-12T23:58:00.004-05:00

Just in time for World Cup fever, Samantha wrapped up her debut soccer season on a sweltering, steamy, and sticky day. The oppressive weather made everyone a bit listless, but Samantha did a great job in spite of it, getting some of her season best kicks in the finale game.

Giant Hand

2010-06-12T18:26:00.001-05:00

Please pardon the giant hand in place of header. I'm workin on a new one...just not ready yet.

Ride a Horse

2010-06-09T06:30:00.002-05:00

After the Air Force Memorial, Levi took the kids to Falls Church where a festival was going on for the holiday. They watched a parade for a while. There were pony rides. Samantha has a friend at school who does horseback riding lessons, and Samantha has been talking about wanting to ride a horse A LOT. This day she finally got to ride one, although she would have liked to ride longer.

The horses were having a rest, so the kids were patiently waiting.

The kids don't look terribly excited. I think they enjoyed it, but Levi said some emotionless teenagers were running the pony ride station, who just quickly took the kids on and off the ponies without talking to or smiling at them. So that might be why the kids don't look thrilled.

Air Force Memorial

2010-06-09T06:25:00.002-05:00

On Memorial Day Levi took the kids to the Air Force Memorial. Glenn decided to show his respect by dressing as Buzz Lightyear. Actually, that was more of a coincidence, but anyway...

We pass the Air Force Memorial several times a week on the freeway, and we all endearingly refer to it as the National Antenna, because that's what it looks like to us.

Cape Charles

2010-06-09T06:18:00.002-05:00

The other weekend we drove four hours to the beach at Cape Charles, VA. It was shallow for a long way out, with very gentle waves, so it was very safe for the kids to play in. The town of Cape Charles is quaint and beautiful.

For lunch we went to Hardees, which out west is Carl's Jr.

We made a day trip out of it, so spent four hours driving, four hours playing, and four hours driving home. It was cool to see how things are different when you get into the real "Virginia" part of of Virginia. Very Southern, and really pretty.

Accidentaly Squirrel Feeder

2010-05-24T10:59:00.004-05:00

At school Samantha made a bird feeder from a milk carton. Ours became a squirrel feeder, not so much a bird feeder. Levi had a lot of fun waiting for a squirrel to come and then opening our back door, which makes a loud sound when it opens, and the squirrel would go shooting away like a rocket. Finally Levi suspended the bird feeder from further out on a branch where the squirrels couldn't get to it.

On Saturday, Samantha's school had Habitat Work Day, where families could come and help in the habitat, which has a lot of vegetables, flowers, herbs, a coy pond, a weather station, a scarecrow, all kinds of fun stuff. We came and weeded, and the kids helped a little, and threw some leaves in the coy pond and watched the fish try to eat them and spit them out. Then the Red Cross van was out front so I thought I'd let them have some blood, which was a bad idea because they took too long so that Levi and the kids started wondering if my organs were being harvested, and they butchered my arm and collapsed a few veins and I'm now all bruised...but at least they extracted a sufficient amount. Later we went to the YMCA for swimming and exercise, followed by Samantha's soccer game where we watched her poor team get creamed...again. After that we went home, fed the kids, picked up vegan pizza from Duccini's, which took forever due to traffic, but was worth it. We dropped the kids with some lovely friends, came home, watched the bizarre but entertaining Adam Sandler movie, Punch-Drunk Love while enjoying the pizza, then picked up the kids and called it a day.

Work is still going well for Levi. His commute is not as predictable as we'd like, but he has found a bus that takes him straight into the District, which is faster and cheaper than his previous commuting strategy: taking a bus to the Metro station and taking the Metro into the District. We continue our evening schedule of reserving Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings for schoolwork, which leaves Thursdays open for "The Office" and Tuesdays for whatever needs to happen.

This month we were able to pay off the balance on our car loan. So we no longer have a car payment. We are very excited about this. We try not to take for granted having sufficient resources for our needs. Levi hopes to finish his dissertation this summer, after which we will begin paying off a decent sized student loan. I am considering training to become an LPN or something in the fall when both kids will be in school during the day. (I see while scrolling through job listings that they are in demand.) If I work, it will help us pay off the student loan faster.

Waterfront Park

2010-05-24T10:49:00.003-05:00

We went to Waterfront Park in Alexandria last Sunday. This is a part of Alexandria that I really like. There are lots of cute independent shops and cafes and people out walking in the sunshine. It's sort of bohemian but in a calm not-too-pretentious sort of way. It reminds me a lot of Davis, California, which is about my favorite town on the face of planet earth, except with fewer bikes. We took a little walk to get closer to the Potomac River. Here are Levi, Indiana Jones, and Samantha looking out. Indiana Jones came wearing his hat because the playground at this park has climbing ropes by which he can pretend to be hanging precariously over a gaping hole (there is not really a hole). Here we are in Virginia, but very very close, walking distance, to both the District and Maryland. It's like a "three corners" region, or something.

Strawberry Picking

2010-05-24T10:32:00.004-05:00

Two Saturdays ago we drove for about an hour and fifteen minutes to the aptly-named town called Berryville, Virginia, to pick strawberries. Samantha's idea, perfectly timed, because it actually is strawberry season. The kids were really good for the drive there and back.

They had this tractor thing you could put your head through. I'm just going to post a lot of photos because I like them. Hopefully that's okay with everyone.

The three goofy people in my family that I love a bunch, ready with their buckets to go into the field and start picking.

Here are the strawberry fields.

Glenn stopped in the grass a minute to do a few superhero crime-fighting moves.

Glenn and I were one "team" and Levi and Sam were the other. Their team went into some further-away fields and picked some bigger berries and "won", but Glenn and I got some really cute funny tiny ones. All of us found some weird looking ones with noses, or ones that looked like ears. Glenn spent most of the time actually showing me the berries that were not quite ripe and saying, "Mom, this one isn't ready to be picked yet. He wants to stay here a little longer." He was very careful about only picking the ones that were ready.

They are both checking for something yucky they might have stepped on.

The people at this farm were very nice. The strawberries didn't cost too much. Those two almost-full buckets of berries were only $15 or so - it was really a lot of berries. We took them all home and kept half to eat fresh, and froze the other half for smoothies. Levi and I had a washing and slicing party after the kids went to bed. These seemed like normal strawberries, not the gigantic scary GMO ones you see a lot in grocery stores. This was a really good outing. Everyone was happy the whole time. It was a beautiful day. Levi and I talked on the drive home about if there was a way we could live in Berryville and still somehow commute to DC. We didn't figure out a way. But it is beautiful out there away from all the city stuff. It makes us feel calm to be in these types of places, to know that they still exist.

2010-05-17T16:05:00.002-05:00

Our girl reads. She is a reading maniac. She is proud.

She reads cereal boxes at breakfast, billboards when we ride in the car, and construction signage when we take walks. She now easily decodes what Levi and I spell at each other when we want to convey information without sharing it with the kids (we'll be switching to pig latin).

I remember that it was just the same for me. When those words start conveying their meaning easily, reading becomes magical. It opens up the world in a way that no other medium can.

Samantha's world is opening up.

Liquid Pixy Stix

2010-05-16T16:30:00.003-05:00

This yummy new green smoothie combination tastes like liquid pixy stix:

2 T. flax seed
1 T. lemon flavored fish oil
1 banana (not frozen)
2 ripe pears
5 chunks frozen pineapple
5 large frozen strawberries
pomegranate juice
water
2 handfuls chopped kale

Blend everything in high powered blender for 1 minute.

Shortcut to Becoming a Jedi

2010-05-13T18:22:00.003-05:00

I am a bad mom.

I rot my 4-year-old's little brain by allowing him to play video games.

A lot...some days.

On kind of a big screen, no less.

And although we play it with him most of the time, I really meant to be a better mom than this.

Having made that open confession, check out what he did with the design-your-own-character feature of Lego Star Wars - he made himself! He was proud, and we thought it was pretty cool too.

Cleaner

2010-05-11T14:12:00.004-05:00

We like swimming pools and all, but not to bathe and shower in on a daily basis. So, because our city is heavily chlorinating the municipal water supply, and our skin and hair is getting all dried out and yucky, and because chlorine is poisonous and all, we're getting a lovely filter for the shower. I'm very happy about this. Hopefully it will work well.

We also learned that our regular shampoo, conditioner, soap, and body wash had a lot more toxic ingredients than we thought. We thought we were using pretty mild stuff, but this website showed us otherwise. So we used the same website to figure out what we could use instead that was NOT all toxic, and then ordered some soap and a "shampoo bar" from here. The soaps came in the mail yesterday. They smell really good. Samantha chose one for her and Glenn to be scrubbed with last night in the bath, and Levi reported afterwards, "That worked great. I'm down with the hippie soaps." Personally, I'm excited to try the shampoo bar, but for the sake of conserving space in the bathroom, will wait until we've worked through the rest of the current toxic supply.

Today I needed to take a proctored midterm for my Psych 361 BYU independent study class, in the District. Levi's office was right on the way to the place I needed to take my exam, so we scheduled my test for between Levi's work meetings, I dropped Glenn with Levi along with packed lunches for them both, Glenn had the time of his life being at work with Daddy for an hour, and I went and took my test at the Counseling Center at the Catholic University of America. Then I picked up Glenn, and we made it back home on an empty tank of gas, grabbed my shopping list, ran errands, and here we are back home. The days with a little spice in them are fun.

Glenn's Ears

2010-05-05T09:45:00.008-05:00

Glenn has low tone hearing loss. That's what we found out this morning when I took him to the audiologist. The damage is in his cochlea, not his middle ear. That is bad because we can't fix his cochlea. But the good news is he hears all the high tones just fine, and those are where the consonants are, which are critical for understanding speech. And he hears and understands others' speech pretty well. But his speech may be a concern, pronunciation. So we need to get him evaluated by a speech and language pathologist. His hearing loss is the opposite pattern of what typically happens to older people. Typical hearing loss involves the loss of high tones first. He has all the high tones, but not the low tones.

I asked if this could be something that was present from birth, or something that was caused by exposure to loud sounds like through headphones. She said her best guess was a genetic link, rather than an environmental cause, and said she would be interested to see the results of his infant hearing screening. So that is being sent to her. I would be interested to know that also.

The audiologist says she does not think it is a good idea at this point to have him fitted with any hearing apparati, because a hearing aid to help him hear low tones will bleed onto the high tones and make it harder to hear those, which won't really help him. We don't want to block out what he's got. But the hearing loss he has is enough that we should let his teachers know, when he starts school, and he needs to be put in the front of the room. We don't know whether this is something that will get worse over time. We may have Samantha tested, now, too, because she has had issues with hearing and pronouncing certain vowel sounds in certain words since she was two or three, and she may have the same pattern.

Glenn has never had an ear infection in his life, and we don't let him listen to loud music or have the volume up loud on the TV or computer. I'm not sure what other factors could have contributed to this. But we'll do whatever we can for him, and pray that it won't worsen over time.

Zoo

2010-04-21T10:17:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago we went to the Zoo and met up with friends from New York. It was fun, and good to see them.

Samantha is almost as tall as an emperor penguin.