Posted by: ppernick | December 11, 2008

Cold Turkey

We took the plunge on Monday.

Simeon is now only wearing pull-ups for sleeping and underwear otherwise[1]

Monday, I came home with a huge amount of laundry to do.  He managed to get his clothes wet even wearing the pull-up…twice.

Tuesday wasn’t too much better, but I wound up not washing anything.  Got home, climbed out of the car and discovered I didn’t have the bag with me.  That colored my mood for the rest of the evening, unfortunately – sorry, Ari :(.  I then took Simeon with me to Fred Meyer to pick out more underwear since most of them were at school…we came home with Diego Baseball underwear – two of his favorite things.

Although Tuesday night’s bad luck continued for me[see previous post], It seemed to be a better day for Simeon.  Only went through two pairs of pants and stayed dry all evening.  Woo hoo!

A quick talk with his teachers last night and this morning clued me in to a potential trigger.  It seems that even successfully peeing before sitting down to breakfast and lunch, he wets himself at the table.  Strange this doesn’t happen for dinner and I have no idea how to change this other than potentially time.

The quick teacher talks also included a suggestion for getting Simeon to listen.  In order to get him to listen and obey, I have learned to get down to his level, make him look me in the eye, tell him what we’re going to do and make him repeat it back to me.  Hopefully, this will help them too. 

[1] One exception is afternoon playground time.  They appear to be putting a pull-up on then too.  They have been putting on the pull-up and then underwear on top.  I have requested they reverse that.  A) because the pressure from the underwear may be causing some of the leaking through pull-ups and B) I want Simeon to feel the ickiness of wet underwear.

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Posted in Daycare, Development, Simeon

Posted by: ppernick | December 11, 2008

Bad Tuesdays

First, I woke up late.  Then traffic caused it to take twice as long to get to work. The extra 30-40min was too much for Simeon and he was soaked when we got there[1]  – I had to change him. Discovered Caitlyn didn’t have shoes and that she was wet – had to change her. Then there was work. Not only pressure to get fixes for a site launched to production (that’s definitely not ready), but I keep sending the same bugs back to be fixed and continue to fend off new items getting added to the sprint. And to make it all the better, it’s my boss / scrum master that’s putting the pressure on me[2]. And there’s renewed and more aggressive pressure to start working on automation at the same time.  Then, somebody managed to hit one of main pet peeves[3]. And, to top it off, Ari and I have a minor dinner miscommunication – not horrible but it didn’t help my mood. Aaaaaahhhhh![4]

[1] Though maybe this was a good thing.  He really didn’t like the feeling.  At least I noticed this time and was able to empathize with him.  Last week he leaked and I didn’t realize it.  He had a melt down all the way into the classroom.  This time he knew I understood the problem and didn’t fight me at all – just walked – er waddled – uncomfortably.

[2]Hint to boss: why don’t you work on getting the devs to better check their work before telling me it’s fixed and ready to retest. 

[3] Do NOT try to explain something to me by taking control of the mouse – especially without asking first. I will not learn how to do it myself if you simply do it for me. 

[4] Whew…that feels better.

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Posted in Me, Venting, Work

Posted by: ppernick | December 1, 2008

Thinking Ahead

I will do my best to post about the long Thanksgiving weekend.  However, since I don’t have time to write all of that right now, I’ll stick with the short don’t-want-to-forget-this post.

Last night, I made sure to do webcam with as many grandparents as I could.  While on with my parents, Caitlyn was in the exersaucer playing with her plush ball while Simeon was dancing to music. 

When Caitlyn dropped the ball, I asked Simeon to pick it up and give it back to her.  He immediately found the ball, set it in front of her and continued dancing.  This happened a few times.  In fact, he even started returning it to her without me asking.  Finally, he picked it up and just before setting it down in front of her, he paused, set it on the exersaucer behind her and faced her her with a *there – I don’t want to have to do this again* look.  Then immediately went back to his dancing.

She continued watching smiling and laughing as he danced and the ball remained on the exersaucer within her reach.

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Posted in Siblings

Posted by: ppernick | November 26, 2008

Bragging Rights

It’s always feels good when you’re given reason to brag.

It’s been a couple weeks since Simeon transitioned[1] to the green room.  The first official day that he was with the green room he managed to show off his math skills.

Every week, the kids work on a Weekly Reader sheet.  On the back is an exercise for numbers or letters. This particular week, it was counting feathers on turkeys and circling the correct answer.  His teacher made a point to tell me she was surprised at just how well he did and that he was on level with the older kids.  Yay!!

While in the red room, his teacher pointed out his tendency to go too quickly when counting. He gets so excited, he counts much higher than the actual number of objects; so we’ve been working on slowing down.  He’s doing so much better at this – as evidenced by his success on his first weekly reader in the new class.  He’s also pretty good at counting to 30.  He skips 13 and 15, and needs a hint for 20 to 21, but he otherwise can successfully count to twenty-ten.

Now, if I can only slow him down when he’s talking, maybe we’ll start to understand him better.

[1] Transitioned… The transition is usually a week long, increasing the amount of time by an hour or two a day.  K and Simeon were so excited to be moving up – their transition was a day.  They spent 4 hours in their new class the first Monday; and, by Wednesday I wasn’t even really seeing the red room teachers anymore except in passing.

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Posted in Development, Education, Simeon

Posted by: ppernick | November 25, 2008

foretelling?

It seems Simeon’s friends are already noticing his little sister.

First was his friend J who was putting on his shoes while I was putting away Caitlyn’s bottles.  Although I can’t remember exactly what his comment was, I distinctly remember him asking ‘why is she a girl?’ Stifling a laugh, I said “I didn’t really have a choice, that’s the way she came.” And he simply replied, “oh.”  His mom was also amused and noted that he does only have brothers.

Then, it was Simeon’s friend L.  As Simeon and I were getting ready to leave, L let me know that he liked Caitlyn’s hair.  Running into his mom a week ago yesterday, I do remember her telling me that L was talking about Caitlyn’s hair over the weekend.

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Posted in Caitlyn, Quotable, Simeon

Posted by: ppernick | November 25, 2008

New Firsts

The development continues.

Waving:  While gathering Caitlyn’s bottles before getting the kids last week, I ran into J&T’s mom (J is in Simeon’s class, T will soon be in Caitlyn’s).  When I ran into her a bit later near Simeon’s room, I was told that Caitlyn waved to her.  Within the last few days, I actually saw this feat.  While on hands and knees, if you wave to her, she will smile and then (sometimes) raise her hand up as if she’s waving back.

Clapping:  Very cute!

On two feet:  More and more often she’s pulling herself up on anything and everything she can.  Still on track to meet my expectation of walking by end of year.

Teeth:  Felt something sharp this past weekend.  Can’t see anything yet (especially when she’s just as good as Simeon was at not letting you get a good look) but I can definitely feel a tooth or two coming in.

Haircut: Got her first haircut about a week ago – did pretty good.  From shaggy to china doll. I think she was extremely happy to be able to see again.

beforehaircutafterhaircut

And yes, I did save some of the hair.

Daycare stuff:  She’s getting more comfortable.  A little less separation anxiety when I drop her off.  The daily sheet I get when I pick her up shows she likes eating – as apparently evidenced by Ari, Ian and  Rebecca this weekend when she probably ate a toddler size portion of rice and beans.  I’m sure being around at least one walker at the daycare is encouraging her to work on that.  And…just as her brother, she loves to smile.  I get comments on that (and her hair) just about every day.

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Posted in Caitlyn, Development

Posted by: ppernick | November 18, 2008

Going Home

This past weekend, the weather was so gorgeous that I took advantage of the weather and stayed outside Sunday afternoon.  However, rather than being productive and raking the leaves in my backyard, Simeon requested a trip to the park.  He grabbed his bat[1] and ball and we headed across the street.

Simeon has pretty good hand-eye coordination, so after a couple of hits, I decided to add some complexity – hit the ball, then run and touch the slide.  After a few successes, I took a look around and realized the shape of the playground area and the extra large rocks in each corner was perfect for the next step.  We walked around the perimeter and found first, second and third bases.  We did another trip around with me asking where next and him responding correctly.  When we got to third base, he would point to the starting point and respond ‘go back’.

After the third or fourth time, I changed terminology on him. 

“Ok, Simeon, where do we go next?”
[pointing] “go back!”
“Yeah. Go home.  Run home.”

At this point, he stops dead and with an upset/whiny voice says, “no…I don’t want to go home.” 

And then I realize the confusion. 

After a bit of explaining that the starting point is called ‘home plate’ and reassuring him we weren’t going home yet, he resumed his happiness and continued running.  Future references to ‘go home!’ were well received and I made sure to say ‘go back to the house’ when it was time to leave.

[1] an orange stick he got from a garage sale that makes noise[2] when you turn it upside down and back.

[2] correction – made noise.  the force of one of his swings early on caused the noise-maker piece to break out of its cage and fly a few feet away.  awww…shucks.  even better that he doesn’t seem to mind, as it still works just fine as a baseball bat.

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Posted in Simeon, Sports

Posted by: ppernick | November 11, 2008

Daycare

Caitlyn has now been going to the daycare for 2 weeks and seems to be adjusting quite well.  The first couple days everybody was commenting about ‘Simeon’s little sister’ and noting her head of hair.  Apparently Simeon’s friend, Lake, was talking about it this past weekend.

She is due for a haircut…maybe I’ll get there this weekend to trim the bangs a bit. 

She recently when in for her 9 month wellness check.  15lbs and doing well.  This girl can really eat too.  While my parents were in town, we went to Claim Jumpers for lunch.  I was offered a baby plate but had no idea that it would be as big as it was – cheese stick, roll of turkey, applesauce, oranges and maybe something else.  We didn’t realize it was turkey until Caitlyn picked it up and stuffed it in her mouth.  She does like turkey and chicken…and applesauce, banana, and just about anything else you’re willing to let her eat…and eat…and eat.  She’ll go through a couple slices of turkey and a couple ounces of applesauce in one sitting easy.

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Posted in Caitlyn

Posted by: ppernick | November 11, 2008

Word World and Football

Tonight at bedtime, Simeon watched Word World.  The episode was about the animals trying to be cowboys and herd a cow back to the barn.

First you see Duck and Pig trying to ‘convince’ the cow to follow them back to the barn.  Soon, Bear comes over and asks what’s going on.  Duck’s response:  ‘It’s not that we’re bad at being cowboys, it’s that the cow is bad at being a cow.” 

Funny enough that Ari and I were laughing…

Also newsworthy and cute for the day, Simeon is definitely a sports boy.  He still plays with the soccer ball we got him for his birthday, he wants to play baseball (though he usually wants to play in the house and thus the stick is out of reach), and he is also quite interested in throwing his football.  Yesterday and today, as I watched a bit of a couple games, he was adorably cute.  As the teams lined up before a play, he would hold his football and crouch down.  Then he’d watch, and when the players started moving he would run around the kitchen island and back to me (or Ari) on the couch and jump into our legs.  He has a cute touchdown dance too…once the pictures/movie are off the camera I will add them here.

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Posted in Simeon

Posted by: ppernick | October 30, 2008

Torn

I still have to submit my ballot for this election and the big issue for Snoqualmie is the Community Center.

And I’m still torn on how to vote.

On the one hand, I think this is probably the best opportunity Snoqualmie has to get a much needed community center in the neighborhood.  The sense of pride and unity as a community would be wonderful.  There’s definitely a need for the building facilities and programs for families and kids of all ages that would be available for use.

Reading the Yahoo! group for the neighborhood there appears to be three main issues: more taxes in a troubled economy and the feeling that it would be a glorified fitness center, and the appearance of competition with other neighborhood businesses.

More taxes:  Yes, this could be hard for those already struggling to keep up with other taxes, inflation and a recession.  Especially when you consider there would be additional fees to use the facilities and/or become members. But, it sounds like there are programs being considered to help those in financial need and personally, I think the long-range benefits of a community center outweigh the cost.

Glorified fitness center:  As a couple of people have posted on the Yahoo! group, the community center would offer much more than just a fitness center. Sure, there’s a basic weight room and pool, but there would also be community events, meeting rooms, teen programs, family programs, and daycare/babysitting facilities.  On top of that, it will be a few feet from the already overcrowded elementary school – potential use for after school activities or even additional classroom space.

Competition with existing businesses:  The weight room would potentially take away from the health club, but otherwise I know of no other business (or businesses) that truly offer any of the other options I noted above.

So what’s my problem?  Why am I torn?  It would be a YMCA. 

It’s probably not fair for that to be my issue.  It’s completely emotional, especially when you consider I don’t have any personal experience with YMCA. I’m sure YMCAs are wonderful. However, I am reluctant when, as a Jew, I see on the YMCA home page that their mission is “To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.”

In the end, I’ll probably vote yes (in fact writing this out has probably helped me come to that conclusion). 

I think the community desperately needs a community center and I think this is probably the best chance we’ve got for something affordable.  Looking at the history from the YMCA web site, they have proven time and again to be above stereotypical (most notably race and gender) lines – and it’s probably the community that defines the programs and teachings offered. I’m sure the day I finally decide to make an impact in the Jewish community of my neighborhood and organize something (be it a holiday celebration or family service), I will be welcomed with a warm smile.

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Posted in Community, Politics, Reflection, Snoqualmie

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