UNM Commencements

Finally done! Actually I graduated in summer but I had to wait for the Fall Commencements to walk and get hooded. Since I didn't walk in the other three (BA, MA, MS) I had no idea how long the thing would be ... glad I didn't do the others. Bit hard to see but if you look all the way down the row of black robes you should see my hair and the left side of my face.Ozzie (Dr. Osbjorn Pearson) did the honors of hooding me. Again, I'm in the center by the podium ... look for my hair.

Juniper's opinion of the event. Actually it probably was easier all around with her asleep although I don't know how she did it with all the noise. I actually had to cover my ears during large parts of the ceremonies (especially the undergrad segment) ... the catcalling, whistling, & air horns were insane. My nerves were really jittery and I was quite worried about how Bruce was handling it all. He apparently did really well ... my sister took him outside for awhile and brought him over where he could see me. It was so funny. He was looking all over the place and then when he saw me clearly he had such a surprised, bemused expression. I blew him a kiss and he blew one back. I got all teary eyed. I really was extremely worried about how the noise and visual stim was affecting him.
We went to Paisano's for dinner afterward - they have gluten free pizza, pasta, and stellar GF Italian Wedding Cake. Bruce was a riot when he saw me. He jumped up and ran over and proceeded to remove my hat ... then the hood ... then the robe. He was very concerned that I look like mommy :) BTW if you've never seen a PhD hood they're pretty funny and I suspect that an unfortunate celibate priest/scholar decided to have a bit of fun several hundred years ago. The hood (when it hangs down the back) likes like the folds of the labia minora & majora and clitoral "hood!" Perhaps that the real origin of the silly thing's name. Sorry but I don't have any pictures of it hanging down the back ... you'll just have to believe me or do an internet search.

Belated Thanksgiving

Over Thanksgiving I worked on a gluten free sugar cookie recipe that wouldn't spread from here to kingdom come at 7500' elevation. The kids liked using the cookie cutters, although restraining the rolling pin man from making paper thin cookies was a challenge. I just spread the surface of the cookies with buttercream icing and then Bruce put sprinkles on them ... anything more complex would have been too chaotic.


Juney really really liked the icing.


Yummy mashed potatoes.

oh ... hi
What .... Is there a problem?

Yeah whatever ... garlic mashed potatoes are waiting.

Christmas Eve 2008 pt 1

The holiday posts will be coming in dribs, drabs, & parts as I find photos that were taken on the 4 different digital cameras that were going.

Our Bruce is really in to robots. So perhaps he'll actually play with a Mr Potato Head if it looks like a robot ... there are a couple of chocolate coins in his cheek pouches.


The round crayon thingy and Dora coloring book were actually in Juney's stocking .... However, Bruce loves Dora and the crayon thingy looks like one of Dora's "stars" so they must both be for him. So much for mom guessing what the kiddos would like.


It appears that Juney will be able to contribute to the long standing tradition of "vamping" for photos. Gilly made the little color for her which she didn't take off till in bed.

Juniper is constantly trying to swipe Bruce's rollie backpack which really causes a lot of conflict. To try and settle the dispute, her "stocking" this year was a rollie bunny backpack (since I didn't finish knitting her stocking that I started last January). She digs it and, so far, Bruce doesn't seem to want to swipe it.

Juniper started potty training herself this past week after reading the story "Once Upon the Potty "(boy version) (FYI, she can say penis :)) It was amazing watching the sparks of cognition in her eyes as she looked at me and then back at the book. So into her stocking went her first pack of big girl panties (ie no trains, cars, etc on them). She was so taken with them that she had to put all 4 pairs on at once!

Dec 16th

Leading up to Christmas I worked on coming up with a gluten free recipe for gingerbread that you could actually build with. The first batch of dough went to cookies since it was too chewy and bendable. The next four batches came out great. Below is a photo of my 2nd batch which I used to make the walls and roofs for the larger of the 3 houses. I decided it was too large for the preschoolers to decorate so I came up with a smaller template which I liked better and it was more suitable for the vagaries of GF baking as well.


Bruce did an absolutely amazing job helping me glue together the gingerbread houses with royal icing. Unfortunately it was too hectic to photograph at the time. However, afterward he decided he needed to pee, didn't want to search for his blue potty, and since it was raining outside .... stood at the door instead :)


Later that evening he sacked out with Juniper. It was a bit chilly so they each wiggled toward the other while asleep (they were actually separate by 1 adult body worth of space). Bruce isn't usually affectionate with Juney so I thought this would be nice proof for him that she doesn't have cooties :)

Time

I've been working on the concept of linear time with Bruce. Not easy. He always wants to go to gymnastics even though it is not the day for that. I asked his preschool teachers for copy of their weekly chart so we'd have the same tool at both places. He moves the star for each day of the week. The pictures represent the different things that happen on those day. Below the week chart are hanging the kids' Santa advent calendars. They paste a cottonball on for each day of the month until Christmas Eve ... old concept but I'm hoping Bruce will have an easier time understanding when Christmas is especially since everyday is his birthday :)

ChaosBoy & Entropygirl Save the Day

Chaosboy and Entropygirl save the kitchen floor ... after wrecking it. We were making popsickel cookies (aka lemon curd bars) when Juniper got into the teeny tiny can of cream tartar and dumped it on the floor. It was in a tidy little pile ... at least until big brother decided to sweep it up. After that it was spread all over the kitchen floor.
But then Chaosboy dumped the broom (promptly acquired by Entropygirl in order to complete her 2 fisted clean-up ensemble) for the swivel sweeper (I love that contraption) and then actually did manage to vacuum up all the cream of tartar, basically.

Mommy Mommy

I am getting such a kick out of Bruce's increasing language proficiency. This morning he came running up to me shouting, "Mommy, mommy wipe my butt" (he'd just gone #2). As I'm doing this daily chore he says, "Now, be careful."

Mommy Tantrum

Ok. I totally had a mommy tantrum deserving of some chill-down time. Two days ago I was trying to get Bruce some lunch. He said he wanted a sandwich. I said what kind. He said a "big one." I asked what kind of big sandwich. He replied, "a big one." This went on a few more rounds when I finally asked if he would like a cheese sandwich. He said yes ... a big cheese sandwich. I promptly went & made him a big cheese sandwich. Brought it to him and he said .... "NOOOOOO. Gaeh, Gaeh, Gaeh, big Gaeh." I eventually figured out he wanted grapes. So I took the plate back and brought him a bowl of grapes from the icebox. He responded with a, "nooooo - gaeh sanich." So I had him come into the kitchen with me. We cut the grapes in half and he placed them on top of the cheese in his "big cheese sandwich." Then he went and sat back down. I brought him his cheese-grape sandwich. He said "noooo - its cold - too cold - heat it up mommy." So I took the sandwich back and popped it into the microwave for 15 seconds. Brought is back to him ... at which point he finally recognized the cheese and shouted that the cheese was "gross." I took the plate with the sandwich on it, opened the front door, chucked the sandwich into the front yard, handed the empty plate back to Bruce, and went into the bedroom where I sat on the edge of the bed rocking back and forth with my eyes closed & ears plugged. Eric got stuck with explaining to Bruce what happened. Apparently he was pretty upset. I did apologize about 10 minutes later when I'd regained some of my sanity :)

On another note ... Bruce walked into the kitchen yesterday and I said, "hola." Bruce looked at me, smiled and said, "Your not Dora." Then he said he wanted a sandwich. I asked what kind. He said a "big one." Then I said I'd make him a PB&J. He requested, "Mommy, don't throw it out the front door."

Halloween

In honor of Halloween I've decided to change the names of my children to something more appropriate. On the left is Entropy and on the Right Chaos. We went to two Halloween events and trick-or-treating this year. The first was the carnival at Bruce's school. He said he wanted to be a superhero. We got, almost, the entire costume on him for approximately 5 seconds (ie long enough to take one sad picture) before he stripped it off. Entropy went as a U of Michigan cheerleader for this event. Can you believe that outfit is a size 6-9 months! At least now it was appropriately tight :)


Chaos modified his superhero costume to Superhero Dinosaur boy. He chose to wear is birthday cape along with his dinosaur rainboots and dinosaur shirt his Grandma Rosie got him. The funny thing is he wears the cape and rainboots just about every day.

Biker daddy and Cheerleader posing at the school carnival. I wish the picture was a bit less blurry. They looked so cute. Both kids loved the carnival. Eric took Bruce into the very mild haunted house (he's been dying to take the boy into a haunted house). Predictably it didn't go as well as hoped :)

For ZooBoo we dressed the girl as SuperEntropy Girl. She wore her brother's PJ top and hero belt. Everyone called her Superman despite the girly red fairy skirt which was my attempt to feminize the outfit.


The photo below was taken a week after Halloween but it was so cute. She just loved the Elmo slippers we pulled out of her brother's "too small" box. I kept trying to get a picture of her modeling them but she kept moving in the other direction.

Little Miss Daring

Juniper is a slide-aholoic. She does it all by herself (with close monitoring) and these photos below are demonstrating only a medium slide. She really digs the big scary ones!

Baby Talk & other Feats

I finally got a few of Juney's words and signs on video. Her sign for nursing morphed into a snap. It's not real loud but she is definitely snapping at 17 months.

Under a watchful eyes, she has discovered how to climb into her high chair so now we have to put it up when we aren't supervising her. On the other hand, once there she can make her sign for "more."

Fashion faux pas

Juniper definitely has her own opinions about fashion. I don't know how I feel about my daughter being a lingerie model though.























Gatorgirl or dragongirl? Hmmm ... a little goofy but better than Victoria Secrets.

Preschool!?

I know folks will be surprised to hear that Bruce is in preschool but .... It was the next best affordable way to get him his occupational and speech therapy. We did the 2x a week cotherapy at the Aztec center last year and the gals there recommended the center based program for this year and we agreed that the social setting would probably help Bruce the most. Wow ... it sure has. In the 1st 2 weeks his language skills improved 10 fold and we're almost having real conversations with him now. Enunciation is still an issue. I really think he either has his own "twin" language or doesn't process certain sounds well and so sometimes doesn't use all the letters in a word when speaking it (and yet other times he pronounces them perfectly). I fluctuate on which hypothesis is most 'sound.'

Bruce absolutely loves going to the Zia preschool. He likes all his "friends." He has improved greatly in understanding how to play with other kids. Superboy is still he "best" friend but he does well with the children in his class. The daily, supervised, organized activities seem to have helped him get past his sensory seeking and overstimulation issues long enough to figure out how to interact with others his age. Last year, even with Sam, it could take an hour before he was comfortable enough to interact with Sam and he would still have to take a lot of breaks. Now he jumps right in and takes only occassional breaks. I'm sure some of this is due to him maturing but my instincts tell me that aging isn't enough to explain all the improvements.

Bruce started taking the schoolbus home from preschool. He was having a terrible fit after school everyday when I tried to pick him up cuz he didn't want to leave. Bit traumatic for me because I expected him to run up and give me kisses everyday. He was wanting to ride the bus and his OT suggested we let him so he could transition better from school to home. Juney likes to stand on the kiddie chair by the front window and watch for the bus.
















The bus has helped Bruce with the transitions. He's usually cheerful and happy to be home and he typically demands a snack and some TV time. We're pretty sure he'll go to kindergarten next year and we'll see after that. As long as he likes and wants to go to school and it is helping him develop socially then I think we should respect his wants.

Her 1st fashion statement

Juney May picked out her very 1st outfit and insisted on trying it on. I was folding laundry and she pulled a bunch of stuff out (of course) and carefully selected the pale lavender sweater and flowery pants. I did convince her that wearing my panties around her neck did NOT complete the outfit.

NM State Fair 2008

Bel and I took the kids to the State Fair last week or so. They went the day before with Eric as well. Apparently I'm not a good influence on their behavior since they were a bit more difficult with me. Bruce had a tantrum on the way in and the way out (along with Juniper).



It's kind of funny that while we were over looking at the animals and crafts (etc) Bruce kept asking to go to the "fair." Apparently the fair is limited to the midway in his mind.

Family photo ... almost ... Daddy is missing and Juney turned her head to look at her brother at the last minute! One day we'll get a photo of all us, at the same time, and everybody making normal faces and with open eyes.

Evening Playdate

We had 2 other families over for dinner and play the other night. I thought the kids vamping for the camera was pretty cute.

Sleep is Grand

Isn't sleep grand.

Juney's antics

Juniper has rediscovered the joys of dog dishes. She had been ignoring them for the past few months ... but I guess she got bored with pulling out the pots & pans and you know how much dogs love flavored, mushy water.

Oh no ... I've been caught!


Juniper has been making the sign for "more" for several months now and she just started using the "nursing" sign this week. So much nicer than the shirt grab.

A Masculine Breakfast

Two weekends ago mom and I were feeling punk so the guys made us breakfast. Dad was on scrambled eggs and Eric was on hashbrowns. This pict was too precious to pass up ... the pose is entirely candid!

Juney can sit on the potty

Yeahhh! August 30th and Juney has figured out how to sit on the little potties (without standing in them) and has chosen to go peepee in them several times today. She's had two accidents but dry diapers after naps and dry pants all day. We'll see if she keeps up the fascination with the potty. She also is still trying to rip Bruce off the potty anytime he sits down "to go." Wouldn't it be grand if she was out of daytime diapers soon :)

Silly ole Grandpa