Sunday, August 30, 2009

Jupiter in the Shower

"Mom, we have to get my belly button full of bubbles."

Internet Shopping

Our department added on an extra week or so because New Jersey decided they weren't ready to take on all the processes that they thought they would be. They have taken some of the work, but not all. So we have minimal work to do at the moment. We worked very hard packing and boxing everything up because we thought we would be all done, and now we have nothing.

I hate when I run out of stuff to look at on the internet. I love the internet, but doing it for seven hours a day at work gets old. I'd rather be home trying to get my house clean. (and boy does it need that.) The other day I discovered the King Arthur Flour http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/landing.jsp?go=home&ref=ti&utm_source=Yahoo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=king+arthur+flour&utm_content=kaf&OVRAW=King%20Arthur%20Flour&OVKEY=king%20arthur%20flour&OVMTC=standard&OVADID=1976401521&OVKWID=18585012521website. Before I knew it I had printed out six recipes, ordered sourdough starter and a crock to keep it in. The sourdough starter was supposedly on backorder until September 2nd. I ordered it Thursday and expected it to come in a week. It came Friday. Then I had to get bottled water to feed the starter. It's like having a pet that lives in your fridge. I fed it for 24 hours and then started the first batch of bread. The dough is rising now.

It would have been a lot simpler to just go to the supermarket or whatever and BUY a loaf of sourdough bread, if I was having a craving. If I had lots of work to do, this wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have been trolling the internet looking at recipes because they're something that the internet police have not blocked. Never mind that a nice King Arthur flour catalog came in the box and Saturday morning I drooled all over that. I can get my own yogurt machine and make my own yogurt too!!!! And I can get Jupiter her very own 7 inch wooden rolling pin. (That I might get. She loves to pretend cook. Especially with real ingredients. Elmo pointed out to me the other day that while Jupiter is forever telling me not to make her any of my "recipes" for her to eat, she's forever in the kitchen making up her own recipes.) The rolling pin has free shipping, so maybe for Christmas.

Oh, someone fell asleep. Told her she needed a quiet time. The sun is out, so after nap we can go to the playground and swing. And go to the store to buy cat litter. We're all out. Details.

Well, now I can go clean something or I can go sit in the sun and read a book for a half hour. Hmmm...there's a tough call.

church fun

Today we went to cross. Turned out it is Blessing of the Backpacks, which I didn't know until we got there so Jupiter's backpack is at Mimi's. Oh well. Lots of kids don't have their backpacks. Jupiter sits with me and her friend KK, and eats her snack in the first ten minutes. She was right. I should have packed more cheddar bunnies. At least when she's got something to nibble on, she can sit quietly. Jupiter and KK both get bored. They start poking each other. I sit between them for awhile. Then I look over at Jupiter, who has pulled out her shirt. She has a CD hidden in her shirt. I look at the ceiling. Doesn't tell me WHY she has a CD in her shirt. It's a Music Together CD..Maracas collection. She insists she's too grown up for music together CD's, so why she smuggled one to church is beyond me. I take custody of the CD so it doesn't get broken. I LIKE the music together CDs. As we leave communion, Jupiter looks at me and says, "Race you back to our seat." I say no. At the end of the service, during the announcements, Jupiter tells the other kids nearby that she is almost a teenager. The kids in the row in front of us look to me for confirmation. I tell them Jupiter is 5 and a half. Jupiter tells me that I'm too stupid to know she's almost a teenager.

And so we make our traditional trip out to the bench in the narthex for a CHAT. Fr. Tim doesn't realize that we're having a CHAT and comes over to chat. The whole bench break works a lot better when it's not the very end of the service and the narthex is full of people.

She's having quiet time now. Sunday is our only quiet time day in the new school schedule and I plan to take full advantage.

Yesterday we went to the Bounce Zone http://www.smsportszone.com/bouncezone-saco-maine.php . It's essentially a big warehouse filled with myriad bouncy houses that you can go to for $7 an hour or $10 if you want to spend as long as you want. What a concept. Wish I'd thought of it myself, in fact. We spent two hours reaching our sensory threshold. She banged her head against the back seat of the car all the way to the Bounce Zone but not at all on the way home. I LOVE Bounce Zone.

Summer OT group is all done now. Kindy Step up Day is on Wednesday. First day of school is Thursday. Friday they're off for Labor Day Weekend. I can't believe it's September!!

Monday, August 24, 2009

If I can talk, I'm still alive

I think that's what she said. We were in the car on the way to Popsicles on the Playground with the Principals, and she was wiggling her loose tooth. She figured she could still talk missing teeth, so she would live.

She proceeded to lose tooth number four at the picnic table at Popsicles on the Playground with the Principals. The Principals were very happy for her, and gave her an extra popsicle. A great way to get on her good side.

Last week we had a "quick"meet and greet with Jupiter's teacher. We stayed an hour. Jupiter dragged me around the room, and Mrs. VerdantLand showed Jupiter, first thing, the place where she could go if she got anxious or needed some quiet time. We read a book there. Jupiter saw the bathroom twice. The teacher has a lot of posters hanging in the little bathroom. I better warn her Jupiter will get distracted and forget to come OUT of the bathroom. We met a couple of friends who will be in her class...nobody she already knows though.

The next day, Jupiter went back to the primary school with Mimi to drop off some empty paper towel rolls with Mrs. VerdantLand. Mimi started talking to one of the other teachers and Jupiter consented to go with Mrs. VerdantLand to their classroom WITHOUT MIMI. Mimi stayed in the hall to finish her conversation. Jupiter checked on her one time and Mimi was still in the same place, so she went back and helped her teacher and talked to her quite a bit, I hear. And then, in the car on the way to the gym, Jupiter said to me, "I'm not so scared about staying at school and Mimi being at home now."

Whoa. Did she actually just say those words??? Yes, she did. Of course its not actually the first day of school yet, but she's at least considering the possibility. And she's properly labeling her feelings to boot.

Tomorrow's the last day of summer OT group. Bummer. The OT said she would put some info on paper for Jupiter's classroom teacher about strategies. Mrs. VerdantLand said that whatever Jupiter needs us to do for her to be successful is what we will do. Quote.

We are so blessed to be where we are and in a place where people are supportive and helpful. I am grateful.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Bedtime suprise

Yesterday when I was done posting to my blog, Jupiter was still awake. She had a long nap yesterday afternoon and I didn't think she would go to sleep early. And so she didn't. But when her music ended she asked me to turn the music off and lay down with her. So I did.

Sometimes that doesn't work well for sleeping. Often it deteriorates into her pushing and kicking at me. But last night she took my arm and placed it around her so we could snuggle. She made eye contact for a few minutes. Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep while we were snuggling.

It was so awesome.

endpost.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

vacation pic's not taken by Jupiter











Mom, it's so hot my smile is falling down

This is what Jupiter said to me during our one and only truly hot day last summer. I thought it was such a beautiful way to express how the hot weather makes her feel. She can't stand the heat. The heat has finally shown up here and lasted a full five days. I enjoy the hot summer weather in a way most people don't. Especially my daughter. It's like it sucks the life force out of her. I understand how she feels; it's the way I feel in January when the high is 12 degrees and it's all I can do to get out of bed.

I'm back at work now. Basically finishing stuff up so the department can transfer to New Jersey. And we've started the new schedule, so I'm going to work at 7:30 and working until 3:30. At 9:30 this morning I looked at my computer and said "I've only been here two hours?"

This is not good. I know it's a necessary change, but I didn't realize the change would be so hard on ME. I was filing stuff this afternoon (because of course the wisdom dictates that we file everything in order before we take it out of the file cabinets to send either to storage or New Jersey.) and considered decorating all the file folders with glitter before sending them to New Jersey. One of my workmates then considered sending them an empty box with nothing in it, just so they can try to figure out what it was and where it went. (which reminds me of the year my sister's chorus teacher and a group of kids made up a fake kid named Hugh Simpson. They actually got a fake schedule for him with real teachers and it drove the teachers crazy until they figured out it was a joke. Anyway, back to the regurarly scheduled post.) I didn't think it was EVER going to be 3:30 today.

But tomorrow I get to leave early to take Jupiter to the dentist. Of course they didn't have any appointments the last two weeks when I didn't have to work anyway. So that's on the schedule for tomorrow. Thursday we go to school for a quick meet and greet with Jupiter's teacher. Can't believe it's almost time for school already. Where did the summer go?

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

vacation update

I've been on vacation for almost two whole weeks. Of course, for me, vacation is primarily a time to be a SAHM for a change. Not always Jupiter's favorite thing. For every ounce of acceptance and quality time I manage to work in, there is at least a token disrespect/battle. And of course, last week when we went on the minitrip, even though it was fun and she enjoyed the zoo and the ferry ride past the Statue of Liberty, the change of routine was hard on her. But we deal and do what we need too, and handle the battle as it comes. We have four more days, tasked primarily to getting on our new fall school schedule. My last week at work, on a slow day, I typed up a daily schedule for both of us. The kindy teacher mailed out a packet of August homework to get the kids into a routine of doing homework every night. We got a little behind last week while we were traveling, but now we're catching up on that. Last night, homework was a battle. Tonight was okay. Along with the homework, I'm having her journal a couple sentences about the day. (still doing the writing, since she has a fear of kindergarten writing, no matter how much I tell her spelling doesn't matter for kindergarten writing.) Last night, journal was "Stupid." Tonight she liked it, since we read back through all her entries since vacation and reread them. And tonight, while she illustrated her journal entry, I assigned myself a journal entry in a different notebook to note the positive things Jupiter had done throughout the day and to share those with her. I didn't have enough room on the three lines in her journals, so have to get a different notebook for that. When I read her what I had written, she seemed pleased. Yipee!!!

Vacation recap:

Friday, July 31st. I leave work at 11am to have four hours of vacation to myself and to get my hair cut. At 11:15 am, I get a cell phone call from the hiring manager for a job (same company, different floor) I applied for a few days prior. She asks me to come in on Monday for an interview. I say yes. I get my hair cut.

Saturday, August 1st. We go to Famer's Market. Jupiter plays in the splash pool at Farmer's Market, since it's warm enough for a change. We go to the library and return the 32 library books we've managed to check out. We choose new books. We drive to Saco to go to Jupiter's friend Bella's birthday party at the place she does dance. Even though on Friday Jupiter said she was just going to watch because she "doesn't dance in front of people", she decides to participate and has a great time. We meet a girl at the party who will be in 1st grade at Jupiter's school in the fall. Jupiter now has more 1st grade friends than kindergarten friends. After the party we go to Bella's house for an impromptu play date. Jupiter thinks it's great. We get home late and exhausted.

Sunday, August 2nd. We go to Cross. We go home and have lunch and a quiet time. I start to pull the berber carpet out of the bathroom. I finish pulling the Berber carpet out of the bathroom. I pull out five million carpet tacks and the old linoleum. I discover that there is hardwood floor underneath the Berber carpet in the hallway. There is much rejoicing. I lay self stick tile in the bathroom. I should NOT be allowed to lay self stick tile. But it still looks better than what was there before.

Monday, August 3rd. We go to Aquaboggan Waterpark. (after the interview. Interview seemed to go well.) Jupiter LOVES Aquaboggan water park. A whole entire day she can play just in water. We get home at 7pm exhausted.

Tuesday, August 4th. We go to sensory camp. The OT's put up the giant stretchy swing for the kids to take turns climbing in and sliding down. Jupiter enjoys it.

Wednesday, August 5th. We drive to Connecticut and check into the hotel. Jupiter swims in the pool.

Thursday, August 6th. We take the Metro North train to the Bronx. Jupiter asks if it's the bullet train. Alas no. It is a local train. Long trip. We see the Bronx Zoo. Well, most of it.

Friday, August 7th. We take the Metro North train to Grand Central Station. We have learned about express trains. Still not the bullet train. We see the Statue of Liberty and Toys R Us. We take the train back to CT and drive home to Maine. We get home at midnight.

Saturday, August 8th. We try to sleep late. We're exhausted and we battle. When we run up to the food store, my mother happens to be standing out front talking to her neighbor. I take this as a sign from God and send Jupiter home with her while I go home to take a nap.

Sunday, August 9th. We may have done nothing. I don't remember. Wait, Jupiter slept for two hours in the afternoon and then didn't go to sleep until 10:30 pm.

Monday, August 10th. We go to Aquaboggan again, this time with Mimi, Tyotya, Auntie B, and Auntie B's three boys she's nannying for this summer. We get home late and tired.

Tuesday, August 11th. Sensory camp. The OT's hang up four net swings and the kids get in on their bellies and throw beanbags while they're swinging. The other kids give it up after 15 minutes. Jupiter stays in her swing the whole 45 minutes of that part of the session. She swings, twists herself up and lets it untwist repeatedly, then lets me swing her. The OT in charge thinks that Jupiter could truly benefit from regular OT.

Wednesday, August 12th. Jupiter plays in the morning. We get invited to go Minigolfing at the nearby funpark with Auntie B and the boys. The boys take a turn on the gocarts and Jupiter waits for a turn on the super trampoline with the harness that lets you jump really high. Jupiter is nervous, but lets the cute teenage boy strap her in the harness and when she starts to jump she gets a superhuge smile on her face. She could be a commercial. She wants one of these at our house. Me too. We go home, have a late lunch, and pick up the regular schedule by going to the playground. We meet another girl who will be in 1st grade at Jupiter's school. Jupiter goes to bed, on time, at 8pm.

This is why we need four days of just getting ourselves on schedule. Vacation is exhausting.

was going to post trampoline picture here but it's stuck on the cell phone.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Jupiter's Views of the Zoo














Jupiter does enjoy taking pictures. There are two baby gorillas in the really black picture if you can find them. The one above that is an extremely flattering picture of me. Jupiter says the next one is "Some guy's butt." I don't know. Bet he's glad his butt is now posted in the public domain. Top photo is self explanatory, but don't really know why she felt the need to photograph it.
Maybe she SHOULDN'T get her own camera for Christmas. Or if she does, I will be sure NOT to show her how to post them online.

new computer

The old laptop finally puked it up. It would only let me on a few websites and wouldn't let me post...at least not post anything with pictures. This evening we ran up the street to Staples to get a flash drive to try to remove some stuff from the laptop, and came home with a new desktop. We got the flash drive too. The computer was in the clearance pile, but seemed to be exactly the same as the one I was looking over in the flyer except that the monitor was 19 inches instead of 21 and a half inches. Why do I need a 21 and a half inch monitor anyway?? My first tv wasn't 21 and a half inches. I thought at first this computer didn't come with a monitor at all, but Elmo had said he had one we could use, so I wasn't that fussed, and then it turned out there was this monitor right in the box. And it's so darn big, even at 19 inches, I feel like the screen is attacking me. Glad I didn't get the 21 and a half inch. And the whole system was $100 less than I had expected to pay. Since there were only two systems left in the pile, I sucumbed to the impulse. And now that I can get on the internet, I can go to the state bureau of taxation website and apply for my property tax refund to pay off some of the computer.

Finally got everything hooked up, and then had to go looking for my blog on the internet. Jupiter is taking a break having a freeze pop, and then plans to play in the computer box. And she's excited because now we have a computer which will allow her to use Starfall. Which was part of the reason we got the new computer.

It's the second week of vacation. Last week we took a 2 and a half day trip to Connecticut (stayed in Connecticut) and New York to visit the Bronx Zoo and a few Manhattan highlights. When I get the housekeeping stuff done from the new computer, I'll post some pics. Bet you can't guess which pics Jupiter took. She definitely needs her own camera for Christmas.