This, that, and the other thing

I began to blog this last week then didn’t for some reason..

Anyway. Seth came home with a reading diagnostic sheet Wednesday, and it’s been on the fridge since then.

He just started 3rd grade, but he’s reading at the level of a 4th grader in the 2nd month of the school year!

I am THRILLED for him on this one. It’s not really huge but in a way? It is. He’s not a kid that just sits and reads books. I mean, he’ll read one for a bit then put it aside for a day or four. Or maybe even a year. When he’s read aloud he’s done well but he just isn’t a reader. It’s clear that he doesn’t take after his Mom there because I absorbed any book I could get my hands on. I was always reading way above my grade level. In fact, my report card had the same comments from the teacher each time we got our report cards: “Reads above grade level” and “Talks too much”. Seth gets the “talks too much” thing pretty frequently, so he definitely takes after me there. Poor kid.

Still, for him to score so high when he doesn’t exactly put much extra effort into it makes me so, so proud.

However, while I made it clear that I was proud of him I didn’t go overboard because I don’t want him thinking that because something comes easy then he doesn’t need to put effort into it (kind of like he does with sports – the boy is just… GAH! So frustrating at times!). I was like that and could have done SO much better in school if I had given more effort. Not that my GPA was too shabby (3.6 or 3.7… I can’t remember) but I didn’t exactly exert myself. I don’t want him to make the same mistake.

Hopefully with the required reading this year he’ll get more interested. I’m proud of him, though. He’s been so negative about school that I need whatever ammo I can get my hands on to get this boy’s attitude going in a different direction!

Conversation with Seth when he got home this afternoon:

Seth: “Mom! GUESS WHAT? I forgot to tell you! Yesterday on our way home from school, we saw this car. They didn’t go in the driveway. They TURNED AROUND IN THE STREET. That is so illegal!”

His eyes were wide, face with an astonished yet very put-off expression.

Me: “Wow. Yeah, you’re right. That’s illegal.”

I was so proud. He recognized something like that as being something that shouldn’t be done. Granted, it’s not huge but at least he’ll get something right on his driver’s test in 8 years.

And then?

Seth: “Yeah. VERY illegal. And when he drove off I yelled, ‘That’s an illegal turn you idiot!’”

Pride? Deflated.

Having issues with the wireless router. It worked fine Friday night, and when I booted up my laptop Saturday afternoon… nuttin’. It was telling me something along the lines of my network security settings and computer settings weren’t compatible or whatever. Which, um, I didn’t touch either my network or computer security settings.

I noticed that one light on the router wasn’t lighting up like it should be (the “wireless” light). I reset it 92 times, but still it wasn’t working. It worked fine if I plugged directly into the router, though.

I also noticed that there were two network accounts or whatever for the house, when I don’t really recall setting up two. They were the same name, but one was security-enabled, the other wasn’t.

Then this morning? I finally found the set up assistance disc. It said that it couldn’t detect the router even though I was plugged directly into the dang thing. It gave me a tech support number, supposedly for the US and Canada.

That? Got me straight to some support center in India.

I so love outsourcing.

I’ve been on the phone with this tech support guy for nearly half an hour. “Please to click on…” “Please to… hello are you dare? Hello, Katie?” – my name isn’t Katie.. shall I call you Abhijat? Just for the hell of it?

Wait. Now he’s calling me Kimmy.

We’re getting nowhere.

And now they’ve determined it’s an issue inside the router rather than just something we can solve with a few clicks. The line is too long for them to transfer me over so now someone is supposed to call me back.

Oh this should be fun! At this rate I’d rather go out and buy another one. Geez.

I’m so fascinated by Russia. Or, well, the events involving Russia at the moment.

On top of not pulling out following the cease-fire, they’re threatening Poland over a missile defense shield deal that Poland has with us (pretty strong language right now), and apparently Russia has severed ties with NATO. Or it was the other way around. I hear one thing, read another. Either way, ties were severed. Well, not that Russia was part of NATO in the first place but there was communication and cooperation for the most part.

Russia also took some of our military vehicles that had been in Georgia for a training exercise.

Um, hey. Can we get those back please?

I’ve kept the news on a bit more lately – more than usual. Well, my “usual” level had declined for a while and now it’s back up so maybe it’s just the usual level, revisited. Either way I have the news on quite a bit, on top of reading more than I did before. This whole thing has me fascinated and concerned at the same time.

- Managed to banish a neighbor kid from playing here. To keep it short, he smacked Ethan “..because he was doing stuff and being annoying!”, and within 20 minutes after that incident had whacked Seth in the back of the head/neck area with a stick while calling him a b****. Seth said, “Ooh! You’re going to be in so much trouble with my mom because you’re not allowed to say things like that here!” Kid left immediately (this is the same kid whose bike was stolen from in front of my house the other day – though not from by the door as he originally said – it was down in the driveway). He was walking down the street yesterday, on the other side, while Seth and another friend were out front and he was being all, “Well I have Halo 3 now and I’ve already beat it!” I so love how kids try to “one up” a kid they’re not liking at the moment. Of course, Seth and Jacob reminded this kid that Seth had Halo 3 since it was released, and had it beat within a day and a half. Or something. That was a long day and a half for me, but I digress. (No, not a day and a half straight).

It’s stuff like this that makes me not miss being a kid.

- Ethan had his first speech therapy session on Thursday morning! He was very ready to go and “flay” (play) with his speech therapist, and he did well while there. At home, in addition to the things I’ve already been doing, I am supposed to work with him on participles (-ing words) such as “running” “playing” etc. She suggested that when we play with his cars or something I can say “The car is driving over here,” and things like that. Or, you know, “The T-rex is eating a cookie!” Hey, it’s been known to happen around here. Last night his T-Rex ate a roll, and a few days ago he had some brownie. I so love trying to clean that thing’s mouth out.

It’s funny, though. I worked with Ethan on these things already, though I didn’t take the time out to specifically set up scenarios where we’d use the -ing words. I just emphasized words and would gently correct him when he was speaking. It tends to just come naturally and it only makes sense to help a child with their language. So why did this therapist, his developmental pediatrician, and his first speech therapist seem just so surprised that I was doing these things with him already? I suppose it doesn’t occur to some people so they assume. I feel so special – I’m one of those that things just don’t normally occur to. Yay me! I is proud.

Now, I’ll feel very accomplished if I can get him to say “I” instead of “Ethan” when referring to himself. He looks at me funny when I try to correct him. “Ethan, when you say ‘Ethan do that’ you need to say ‘I do that’.” Then he’ll say, “No, Mom. ETAN DO DAT. NOT MOM.”

Geez.

He’ll get there. We will get there. Some day.

- I have to clean up my backyard, do some weed eating/trimming, then get it mowed. Today would actually be a good day to get working on the yard as it’s only 77 out right now and yet already after 11am. It’s very cloudy outside and normally we’d be hitting 90 by this point, which puts a damper on doing outside chores. I also have other things to do that will take time so instead of getting anything accomplished, I’m sitting right here typing up a bunch of BS. Nice.

- At our FRG meeting the other night, I met a couple who are new to the company. I also learned the sad story about their (well, her) baby boy dying in January of SIDS. We talked for probably an hour or more after the meeting was over. The upcoming deployment is already taking a toll on her, and it won’t even be happening for a while yet. I do hope that certain areas smooth out for her in the upcoming months so that she will be more able to deal with this than she is at this point.

I can’t really go by first impressions alone since I tend to have poor character judgment (and heck.. I only talked to her for an hour but mostly about her baby boy) but so far I like her and her husband and I think that once things start looking up in other areas, she’ll be able to get through this with no problem. Our FRG leader makes herself readily available to everyone and goes out of her way to get in touch with new people so between her and myself there are already at least two people that she’s been in good contact with from the meeting alone. I am a little worried for her and I’m not entirely sure what I can do to help but I’ll do whatever I can.

… My fingers hurt. I slept funny the night before last and all day yesterday I had pain in my knuckles and it hurt to bend my fingers. Though they don’t hurt as much today, they’re uncomfortable. They almost feel like they need to be popped, but I don’t pop my fingers (thumbs yes, but they do it without much effort from me) so I’m not attempting the popping. Weird. Time to stop typing.

I had an appointment this morning, and I haven’t been seen since June due to being gone for so long, and then my mid-wife was on L&D duty for a week so she was unavailable for appointments.

Anna’s heart rate was 150 bpm. When the mid-wife measured my belly I was right on target. Weight-wise I’ve gained only 4lbs. since June. Woo hoo!

Due to some issues I’ve had, which I brought up during my check-up, she decided that I should do my blood glucose and anemia tests today instead of just sometime in the next two weeks. She said she should have the results by the end of the day, and it’s 5pm here with no word that there was something ‘off’ so I assume things are OK. Uh. Never mind. She just called and said it was too high. I have to call tomorrow to schedule a 3 hour test.

…

Ok. Got up for a few minutes and it’s quarter to 6 now. Oops.

Apparently one of Seth’s friends left his bike parked right near our front door and when he left to go home it wasn’t there. Gah! Seth and their other friend haven’t seen it, but they left after this kid did so they wouldn’t have anyway. To be honest I don’t recall seeing it when the mom of another kid (we had 3 extra kids here) came to get him around 4:15. I think it’s safe to assume it’s been stolen. Right from in front of my door. Broad daylight. Door cracked open a little, even.

I feel bad. It’s not my fault but I feel bad about this. We’ve been cautious with Seth’s bike since shortly before (or after?) he got his, my friend’s daughter’s bike was stolen. And not long after I heard that another friend of Seth’s had his bike stolen, in broad daylight, from their garage. They left the door partially open while they were home but I think after that incident they stopped doing it. That was months ago, however, but I haven’t heard of anyone else having their bike stolen. Then again, I haven’t asked.

Ooh… I’m a little more distracted. I’ve been watching the UK vs. LSU game from 10/07 on a CBS classics channel. http://tinyurl.com/62v54m It’s just as awesome the second time around! I’m going to go before I dump my laptop on the floor the next time I jump up screaming.

Is it football season yet!?

I just found my house on Google’s Street View. It has been taken in the past 3-5 months, because when I look at a house across the street it shows my neighbors as having their two older vehicles, and they recently got rid of both of those vehicles.

Strangely, while it gives a full frontal shot of my house it doesn’t do the same for the two on either side of me. When I plug in the two houses next door it just show the camera panning to the left or right, as opposed to being directly in front of the house.

This is just creepy.

Very tired. Today was more hassle than fun, and I really hate when ‘fun’ turns into a hassle.

I’m so boring. But anyway.

Ethan had an appointment with his counselor this morning, and it was one where she wanted me involved so I got to go {insert dramatic music here} INTO THE ROOM. With her cute little dog, Corky, hanging around.

Side note: He’s in counseling as part of his pediatrician’s way of making sure that nothing is wrong with him outside of speech issues. Which we know now that nothing is wrong with him that shouldn’t be resolved once he gets speech therapy in.

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It’s 103 outside right now. Or 102 with a heat index of 104, if you go by AccuWeather.com.

My yard needs watered (typically do that in the evenings, though), the gutter needs cleaned out, dogs need bathed, and I need to start working on trimming up the backyard with the weed eater so that I can mow.

I think all that is just going to wait until it cools off. So, say, around 10pm should be good.

Is it fall yet?