weekend: Dusty

As you read earlier, Dusty was up for the weekend!  As always, it was lovely to have him here.

He and Ben talked for hours, mostly sitting like this:

They played a few video games.  Isaac really wanted to play Puyo-puyo-Tetris with him so they did that one night too.  Dusty was introduced to Space Base.  Dusty also flew the kids above his head, similarly to how he did when they were younger.

Ben was going to have a back injection Monday, so we made a last minute decision to go rock climbing...it was Ben's first time!

He did a little bit of everything and did a great job.

Thursday: busy

As with most Thursdays, it was a busy day.  This evening we had conferences instead of karate though.  It didn't make it more busy, just different busy.

Everyone's doing great!  I've been a bit curious about Joshua's math work because it sounds from his description that he's getting all the concepts, but then the test scores aren't coming back great.  It sounds like the tests are extra hard and that he is getting all the main concepts, so I don't need to 'worry' about that.  Spelling and punctuation are the things he needs to work on the most, and Ben and I totally agreed with that.  Today he was excited because his clip was on 'black'.  They have a behavior chart, and this year it changed a bit.  Everyone starts on blue and you can go up to pink and orange if you're doing an especially good job.  At the beginning of the school year there was some discussion about getting to the black part, which is really just the sign header, and if it was really a part or not.  Well, he's gotten to orange several times but today he got to black!  So that's a thing now.  He's also in a peer-to-peer group with an autistic classmate and really enjoying it.  I mean, they play games and have a lot of fun so I'm not surprised.

Isaac's teacher sees him twice a day (homeroom and science).  She only had nice things to say about him too, although had a limited perspective.  Well, we aren't really worried.  She also works at Scrapyard, so we finished with several minutes about how we love the community that's there.

We ran into Jason, one of the...helpers?...as we were leaving.  (I'm not sure what his title is.  Parapro?  Permanent substitute?  He seems to just be all over the school, but I think he has a specific thing he does.)  Anyway, he was able to give a bit more insight on Isaac's lunch and recess activities and it was actually really positive.  Isaac has always been a bit of a loner, although the last few years he made a few better friends.  This year it sounds like he's branching out even more and...playing soccer!  So while he might not have a best friend, he has friends.

I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight.  Everyone else is already asleep.  My book is pretty good, so hopefully I'll be able to read a bit extra.  Or...I'll just fall asleep.  That's more likely.

Wednesday afternoon: better

Isaac and I were both feeling better by about 4pm.  It was a bit weird; like a switch flipped and we suddenly felt better.

So Isaac went rock climbing while Joshua was at cadets.  I got a little bit more work (home and Hope), since I didn't move well during the day.

Tuesday/Wednesday: COVID shot

The kids had a half day of school today, so after I picked them up we went to get COVID shots.

It was fine.  I went back to work and stayed a bit longer because I didn't have to pick anyone up.

Late in the evening though, I could feel it.  I went to bed about 20 minutes later than I should have, although still before my actual bed time, because I was finishing a show and didn't really want to move.  But by the time I started moving I had a low grade fever.  I took some medicine, brushed my teeth, warmed up a bed warmer, and got into bed.  It's such a nice feeling because I know I don't need to move anymore.  I was still very cold and not feeling good, but at least I didn't have to move.  The fever broke in the middle of the night.  

Today I'm feeling ok.  My shoulder still hurts a bit and I am tired.  I was going to take an early nap before a quick meeting at noon, but as a sat down I got a call from Isaac saying he wasn't feeling great either.  I think we're both in the same spot.  Sluggish.  I picked him up, ate lunch, and am hoping that the meeting doesn't take too long so that I can go take a nice nap.

Monday

Today happened.  I got a lot but not all my grading done.  I went out to lunch with a friend.  I cleaned the kitchen.  We were out of bowls.  We had more bowl food items than normal the last few days, and just ran out.  We've run out of plates a few times, but never bowls.  I came upstairs to find Ben eating his cereal out of our four cup glass measuring cup.

Don't be fooled; the kitchen isn't clean.  I ran the dishwasher, but there was over a load on the counter.  I'll get around to it.

I helped with homework.  I made dinner.  I went to karate, where we did self-defense, again.  I looked at my to-do list and thought, "well, none of that sounds like fun."

And so, in the end, it was a fine day.  A little boring, a little productive.  Tomorrow will be an odd day, so hopefully I remember everything.

Thursday: arriving

I got home today and there was a box of donuts on the counter!  They were delicious! 

Dusty arrived safely. He's here mainly to see Ben, but the kids have strong ideas of what they want to do with him too.

Wednesday: the day after

The election has been called for Trump.

I'm going to copy someone else's post from Facebook, because it is the kindest way to put this that I've seen.

"Well, I did my part -- thoughtfully formulated opinions that I hope are data driven and rational and then submitted my ballot. That's all the power I have in a democracy.

So, now that my preference did not come to fruition, I'll wish Trump well and hope his policies have a net positive affect on the country.

Obviously, his winning doesn't change my strong opinions about how vile of a human he is -- but what are you going to do?  I certainly don't hope for his failure, because his failure is our failure."