Bob-isms

Bob is a guy I work with and his brain works a little differently then the rest of us I would say. He is very quick with a one liner. Here is something he said today....

"You can rationalize anything but eating a dead opossum on the side of the road. Any way you dice it, it is still dead and it smells."

Watch out!

What is with Daycares and people not paying attention in the parking lot. I can't tell you how many times I have almost been hit by another driver, both as a pedestrian and as a driver, in the parking lot of Josie's daycare. This has happened both at the daycare in PA and in MD. It seems like after a parent has either dropped of or picked up their child they just throw the car in reverse and gun it. I am sure I drive people nuts in the parking lot by driving slow and being very careful but I do that more for my own safety then anyone elses. Today I pulled into the parking lot just to have some Ford pull out of his space right in front of me like I wasn't even there. He looked a little embarrassed when he finally looked back, after being more than halfway out of the spot, and saw my CR-V there. Good thing I was going slow. One would think that in a Daycare parking lot you would be extra careful considering there are children running about and no one has a child to spare. So please, no matter what parking lot you are in, be aware that there are other cars about and children can come out of nowhere.

Blah, Blah, Blah

Lots of new words going around my house these days. Josie's vocabulary has exploded lately. Although if you came into the house you probably wouldn't hear a word out of her since she seems to clam up around new people. But at home and at Daycare she is talking up a storm. She says Hi and Bye and I love you. Whenever she give you something she says "Here you go." She recognizes the pizza delivery box (and I swear we don't order that often) and says "Pizza." She loves pizza. If you are sitting and she wants you to get up for some reason she pushes on you and says Up. She wanted me to come into the living room the other day and she pulled on my pants and said Walk while pulling me into the room. She says Hi Kitty and has gotten very good at approaching the cats and petting them gently on the back. All three cats come up to her now and rub on her legs and ask for attention. She also asks for Wiggles by name now. She calls them The Wiggies. There are so many other words too that I can't think of them all. It is just amazing how fast she has grown.

Something revisited...

I like to read the blog posts over at BabyCenter.com in the MOMFormation section. After reading this one post from Very Violet it made me think about my own childhood. The author's toddler daughter has sensory issues and is just a unique child (I know I made a hash of the description). Anyway, the point being that in the post she talks about how the diagnosis of learning/emotional/physical disorders is not a pigeon hole for the child but a key to open the doors of their world through services and aide and support groups. I want to agree with this statement.

I can remember being in third grade, God bless Mrs. Underwood, and knowing that something was wrong but not knowing what it was. Can you imagine being in third grade and wanting a diagnosis of a problem so that you wouldn't feel like it was all your fault? I had always been at the bottom of my class in reading and spelling and middle of the road with math. It had always embarrassed me. Looking back on things I feel that my first and second grade teachers just passed me along as an average or poor student. But Mrs. Underwood knew better. She was the first teacher to think maybe there was something standing in my way. There were parent/teacher conferences and it was eventually decided that I was, and still am, "mildly" dyslexic. How you can be "mildly" dyslexic is beyond me. I guess it is like being "a little" pregnant. Anyway the mild label meant that I was not bad off enough to warrant special education (which would have cost the school system money). And so more conferences ensued and a home/class plan was set up.


Mrs. Underwood put me in my own spelling group with a short list of words each week. She would put me in a different seat for tests to help me stay focused. She made me feel like I was special and not a poor student. She understood! School was still pretty hard for me and I remained in special spelling groups through fourth and fifth grade. Salvation came in middle and high school where if you didn't finish you could take it home and finish it at home.

I have made my own way in the world and figured out how to work with my disability but even as I type I can see it creeping through my brain and messing with my words. I still read slowly and depend heavily on spell check and even though I am now good at math I still work slow and check my final numbers. I can only wonder how things would have been different had someone noticed earlier that I had a disorder and if I had been given help in learning how to work with my disorder. So I guess the bottom line here is yes, a diagnosis is not a self fulfilling prophecy or an excuse but a starting point or a launching pad to to accepting who you are and working with what you have.

Things overhead in the office

"...every seat is a toilet when the the plane is going down..."

Kate Grimes via my cell

Mobile blogging

How about a quick blog on the run? Please excuse the grammar and spelling as I am typing this out on my QWERTY keyboard on my phone. I know, I'm a dork. Anyway not too much to update you on. The fourth of July was good. We had the most relaxing day than we have had in a long time. We said to heck with cleaning and errands and just hung out and played around. We got out a small tub and filled it with water for Josie to play in. She is not keen on the baby pool. We also had a waterbug sprinkler set up for her. She had a good time. We also got her a small play set with a slide that she loves. She got to play on that for most of the day too. I planted a few more bushes along our property line and Brian blew soap bubbles for Josie to chase.

For dinner we did the traditional hot dogs on the grill and enjoyed dinner on the back deck. We had decided not to deal with fireworks because who wants to fight the traffic and Josie doesn't like the noise. So we stayed in. But we ended up having a good view from the back yard of several different township displays. Since we sit on a hill we were able to see the fireworks in the distance right over the tree line. So that was fun and Josie got to sleep in her own bed.

That's about it for now.

Kate Grimes via my cell