Facebook Archive - October 2020

Oct 1 - I figured out how to see how many minutes my kid has logged in IXL so that I can tell him if he's done enough for each subject. He also successfully rewrote his narrative assignment from four lame sentences into a four-paragraph novella that is way more captivating. We're gonna celebrate by buying art supplies today!

Oct 14 - As we basked in all our victories last week, Ian and I took the afternoon off to ride around First Landing State Park. I would have sworn the Cape Henry Trail was 6 miles round trip. It's 6 miles from one end to the other. That means when you get to the end you have to ride 6 miles back to the car. In sand and pine straw and roots and mud.

I had to leave Ian at the Narrows on a bench while I rode back to the car, loaded my bike, and drove the 20 minutes around to retrieve him. When I texted Ian I had made it to the car, he responded, "Yay thank you so much mommy I love you so much."

In other news, Uncle Lee isn't allergic to poison ivy but Ian is. But we got him some steroids and the expensive poison ivy cream so he's no longer puffed up like a blowfish.

Oct 21 - Ian and I are reading a book together (Maze Runner) before bed and it's good enough that I'm annoyed if he falls asleep "too soon". I may have nudged him back awake occasionally to at least let me finish the chapter.

Oct 28 - Ian's room is an RGB oasis. His computer, mouse, mousepad, keyboard, and string lights all light up rainbow colors. You need a blow pop just to hang out in that rave of a room.

Oct 28 - Ian is another year old so his new chore is changing all the sheets on his bed once a week. He managed all that with flying colors despite his mattress being Princess And The Pea depth.

Facebook Archive - August 2020

August 5 - Pro tip: if you eat raw cookie dough, it doesn’t smell like fresh-baked cookies so your kid doesn’t ask for any.

August 12 - Ian has not been sleeping well lately. He'll go to bed fine but when he wakes up around 1 am it takes him hours to fall back asleep. It's been wearing on him. The good news is Ian slept for a solid 11 hours last night. He's a whole new person today.

In other Ian news, I installed a new ceiling bracket for his hammock chair so no one will get unceremoniously dumped on the floor (again). I paid for NHL.com so we can watch the playoffs. The Flyers play tonight at 8 pm.

August 19 - Our victory this week is we set up a workstation for me and Ian both at Shrop's house so that we can do school and work there as needed. It also means Ian can continue to play with his friends online while I listen to podcasts and Shrop cleans a carburetor. It helps us feel at home in more than one location.

August 26 - Ian had a glowing dental report yesterday. They're going to do a frenectomy tomorrow (where they trim that thing that holds your top lip down) so that his front teeth can grow together. The good news is they can do it with a laser now so he doesn't have to deal with uncomfortable stitches like I did at his age. We're living in the future.

We also went to Fleet Feet and got Ian a pair of Brooks shoes that fit well. His feet are a little wide and ridiculously tall so most shoes hurt the tops of his feet. He was so delighted with them he kept bouncing and jogging around. It's amazing what you can do when your gear fits. Bonus is we have 3D images of his feet now.

August 27 - Ian is amazing (blog post about his diabetes diagnosis)

Facebook Archive - July 2020

July 5 - We went “camping” for the holiday. Three of us can’t really fit on a queen-sized air mattress. Ian slept great, but Shrop and I are feeling stiff and old this morning.

July 6 - Ian: [describing some outdoor location he assumed had marble floors]

Me: "Well, it probably wasn't marble. That would be really expensive to do on that scale."

Ian: "So marble is really expensive?"

Me: "Yeah."

Ian: "So ... does it lose value when they break it up and turn them into marbles? Because bags of those are SUPER cheap."

July 27 - I clenched my fists and growled at my kid today. Just in case you thought you were the only one not handling your shit.

July 29 - My victory this week is helping Ian rearrange his bedroom so that he could have more sunlight over his desk and additional space for drawing. Because I knew he wouldn't understand spatially how things fit in his room and I didn't want to show him by dragging furniture around to locations it wouldn't fit, I made a graph paper model of his room and cut out little pieces of furniture for him to move around and decide on their locations. Everybody wins. And that was my CrossFit routine for the week.