School update

I am now officially only 19 submodules behind.

Woot.

One more submodule, and I will have completed module 7. I have almost half of module 8 done already, so that will put me at two and a half modules behind.

If I can get some really good study time in this weekend and complete all of my modules, I may be able to get enough study time in to write the exam. If not ... I think I'll have to try to write anyway. My program advisor (finally) got back to me today to advise that I would qualify for a deferral, but that they don't recommend I take one as I'd lose my 93% course mark, cost myself $80, and apparently students who defer generally do poorly on the exam. So I'll do my best and try to go ahead and write.

Only a 53% on the exam ... just 53% ...

Starting to become a theme ...

Positive spin

J received his first report card today. Comments included:

"J is an expert at dumping bins of toys".

He is doing nearly everything that a child in his age group is expected to do. He has trouble sorting colours and shapes, and he doesn't walk up and down stairs with support yet. But otherwise, he is coming along nicely. He is really little to be trying the walk up and down stairs thing, anyway. He's smaller than most kids his age; we don't really encourage that particular move just yet.

The best time to shop

T: ... and then I'm going to go study.
H: I thought you needed to go shopping.
T: Yes, but it's Sunday and the stores don't open until 11:00 or 12:00.
H: But that's the best time to shop - before the stores are open. There are fewer crowds. And you don't have to pay for anything.

Again with the school

10.5 and 10.6; exam prep; exam mid-March - I need 53% on the exam to pass the course.

I don't want to defer if I don't absolutely have to. I'll try my best. No guarantee.

I have yet another sinus infection. My head hurts. My face hurts. My teeth hurt. But I have to study.

I'm in big trouble.

Weekend in reverse (more or less)

Because the most important thing mentioned in this post just happened, I'll start there.

One of my best friends talked to me tonight. Her dad is in the hospital with chest pains. I want to go over and offer comfort, but she has assured me that she is being well looked after. There are some friends who live nearby, and they should already be there. And my friend's husband is also on his way home. I wish I lived closer to her, but I'm on the opposite end of town and she needs someone who can get there quickly. I will pray tonight, that everything will be okay. I hope to hear that he is just fine.

We have a family funeral tomorrow. H's cousin passed away earlier this month. So it's a sad weekend.

We have begun to make the large purchases that relate to our basement development project. We bought a stackable washer/dryer unit yesterday, and today we bought the furniture that will go downstairs (it's back-ordered, so we should get it in 6 months). I am thankful that we were able to get enough cash to look after all of this. Also, I am thankful that there are sales going on. We got much nicer furniture than we had anticipated, because we happened across a half-price leather sale at a store that was throwing in a Samsung big screen TV on certain clearance items. (And accommodations for 4 days in Cancun as well, though the flight may be a stretch.) We have a few more big-ticket items in our basement budget (bathroom fixtures and such), but will continue to look for sales. So far, we are managing to stay under budget. But of course, we've only just begun to shop. A couple more purchases like we made today could start to push the envelope; we'll have to be more careful in the future.

Today, J was feeling better at last. So we met my birth-mom in Red Deer. She gave J an early birthday present - a Tickle Me Elmo. He really loves his new toy.

Yesterday, we got our new van back. Certain repairs had been necessary. It is in good form now, and we are happy with our purchase.

My voice has returned. I can sing again, though I still have a bit of a rasp. But I'm still really tired.

Behind in Economics. Still. I don't know if I'm going to catch up in enough time to write the final exam. I'll do my best, though. Hopefully I'll get through it all. I'm taking next term off from school; I need the break.

I had a very happy day today. But I am sad just now. I am worried about my friend and her family. She is very special to me, and I want her dad to be okay.

He will be okay.

Peel me a grape, you bastard!

Another day, another trip to emergency.

J is still sick. He stopped throwing-up on the weekend, but has continued to have diarrhea something fierce. And he was very lethargic, not urinating as much, and just generally acting listless and very different from his usual happy little self.

He was so obviously dehydrated there was no missing it.

So we spent many hours at emergency with the very moody and irritable J, who made insane demands the entire time (read: title to this post). There was much screaming. J at us. Me at nurses. (Okay, I didn't really scream, but I was annoyed and it showed; I swear it can't take 2 hours to clean a room in ped's!)

Much monitoring of J's condition will be necessary over the next little while. Electrolyte solution must be pushed with might and main. And hopefully, he will start having normal bowel movements again very soon.

**********

I am exhausted. Long day at work. Long evening at emerg. Long night of studying. Submitted my quiz, and amazingly got full marks. But I accidentally screwed a friend over when I gave her faulty advice on her quiz that ended up costing her half a mark. I feel badly about it, because I was very sure of myself. But I guess things have changed over time, and I've been out of the loop for some 3 years now. I should not pretend to know the law any longer; it changes too fast, and I haven't kept up. For the future, I must remember to liberally use those three little words: "I don't know".

Stoopid me!

**********

Miserable. Moody. Tired. Worried. Anxious. Busy. Exhausted. Angry. Guilty. Panicked.

Zzzzz...

Daddy's Little Helper

Tonight, J helped H unload the dishwasher. J pulled out each piece of cuttlery, all of the dessert plates and saucers, and all of the bowls, and handed each item to H. And each time, J said "Thank you" as H took the offered item.

After the dishes were put away, J decided to sweep the floor. He had a great deal of fun.

J has been very sick of late. He is no longer throwing up, but is still quite ill and extremely lethargic. Tonight, while helping H, he was more animated than he's been for days. I was happy to see him smile once again. I have missed his smile.

Could make for an interesting video game

"The car has an accelerator and a brake. The accelerator and the brake work, but not very predictably. The driver cannot be sure how strong or how delayed the response to its actions will be. Also, to make the ride more interesting, the driver has only a rear view. The road just traveled can be seen, but the road ahead is invisible.

The objective is to drive the car at a constant speed over a terrain that alternates between uphill and downhill. So sometimes the accelerator must be applied, sometimes the brake, and sometimes neither."

This is a passage from my Economics textbook. If it were a video game, I could see myself obsessively playing it for hours at a time. However, since it is just a description of the Bank of Canada's role in making monetary policy by increasing and decreasing interest rates, I find it rather monotonous. I think I shall fall asleep now.

Cut to ...

The movie is ending. The music is swelling. And as we cut to the close-up of our heroine ...

Tommy Lee Jones: You're just as beautiful as your mother.
H: Her nostrils are uneven.

Man loves the moon

J loves the moon. He will look up at the sky, point, and say "Moon! Moon!" Any light in the sky - be it the moon, the sun, or a streetlight - is the moon to J.

J's favorite book is "Goodnight Moon", and he sleeps with a copy tucked under his arm. He insists that it be read to him three times each night, just before he goes to bed.

J's grandma and grandpa have returned from a two week trip to Hawaii. They brought back a book for J called "Goodnight Gecko", which features many pictures of the moon. J loves his new book. He was bringing it home with him, and we asked him to say bye bye to Grandma. He turned to her, and said: "Bye bye, Gecko". She corrected him rather quickly.

J's grandma also took a picture of the moon in Hawaii for J's amusement. She says it's a silly picture, of the night sky, but that she thought J would like it. I am glad J has such attentive and wonderful grandparents.

J has another stomach bug today. Vomit and diarrhea. Poor wee man! He came home today, threw up several times, and went to bed for the night. I hope he feels a bit better in the morning. Just at the moment, we are doing laundry.

My stupid chest cold still is not completely gone. I would really love it if it would leave right now. It feels like it's just going to hang on forever. I'm so tired of coughing. And, while I can talk, I still can't sing. It's ticking me off.

One last note: H and I have purchased a minivan! It's a 2002 Chevy Venture Extended, gold in colour, fully loaded with relatively low mileage. We like it. A lot. It will serve us well.

The Name Game (Again)

J has made many new friends at daycare. Today, we received a list of the names of all of the children in J's class. We need to get Valentines for J to give his classmates.

I read the list of names out loud for J. J repeated each child's name for me. Even the hard to pronounce varieties. He smiled happily as he told me the names of each of his friends.

However, he cannot say his own name as of yet. And if I asked him to repeat his own name or those of his two best daycare friends, Bridget and Ava, he decided that this meant we were at the end of the list. But he wasn't finished! So he pitched a fit and called for "More! More!", and made me start over at the beginning.

**********

We are in the market for a new vehicle. Things are in the works, and we may be getting our older car replaced pretty shortly. It is now old enough to drink and vote. Too old for a vehicle, really. It has served us very well for its life, though, and so we have some mixed feelings about it. But we have concluded that it is time.

It's a good thing.

These are a few of my favorite things

J's favorite food is rice pudding. His favorite colour is yellow. His favorite friend is his panda bear. His favorite non-panda related toy is his yellow schoolbus (it has the wind up and move feature). If it is not available, he enjoys any other cars, and really loves all of the matchbox cars that L&P gave him for Christmas.

J enjoys his Mr. Potato-Head. He likes putting the features in odd places, pointing at them, and explaining them to us. "Nose", he will say, even though the nose is positioned squarely on the top of Mr. Potato-Head's head.

J loves the kitchen fireplace. He refers to it as the "Hot", and always insists that the "Hot" be on when he is eating.

J also loves Cheerios. He calls them "Cheetos", and would eat nothing but rice pudding, Cheerios, milk, cookies, apple turnovers (affectionately termed "apple-cookie"), and potato chips if he were allowed. Getting nutritious foods into our little guy is a lot of work, since he only really wants to eat junk. But we do our best. At least, he should be gaining weight given his preferred foods!

J thinks cleaning up is great fun. Sometimes in the middle of playing, he will suddenly announce "Clean-up", and put all of his toys away in their proper bins. Then he dumps them all out on the floor again.

J adores vehicles, Pooh bear, puppies, kitties, pianos, and daycare. He has two special little friends at daycare - Ava and Bridget. He calls for them regularly.

He loves books, and usually refers to them by color or content ("Blue book", "Blue ball", "Puppy", "Man", "Tractor", "Bumble-bee", etc.)

J has learned many niceties at daycare. He says "Hi" and "Bye-bye" to everything. He also says "Please" and "Thank you" for every nice thing that he wants or that happens. And he recently realized that shoes should not be worn in the house.

He has gotten more independent of late. He tries to put on his own socks, feeds himself with a spoon whenever possible, and prefers to sleep by himself rather than to snuggle. If he needs something, he will ask. "Help", he says. And then, we are expected to step in and offer assistance. He goes up and down the stairs by himself now, preferring to slide down on his tummy like a toboggan rather than to crawl down step by step.

This week, I caught J trying to use his crib activity centre as a step to get out of the crib. I removed it. He misses it.

I must go now. J is getting into stuff again!