This week between posts crap has got to stop. Problem is, I just don't spend time down stairs near the computer like I used to. Makes it hard to get any time for blogging.
What do I want to bitch about tonight? Let's see... I'm not getting enough sleep, not getting enough exersize, not eating as good as I should be. Works slowed down, but still finding ways to stress me out. A domain expert, and somewhat of a mentor to me just left the company this week. Good times.
What's going on with Megan you ask? She is doing okay, still picking up new signs on a regular basis and attempting new words every once and awhile. She can now do signs for various daily objects on her own, just by hearing the word (as opposed to also seeing the accompaning sign). She still has a ways to go, and I try to keep us positive, but it's hard when logic dictates that either she will get caught up, or it will just be the way things are.
Tomorrow is the big day. Time to say goodbye to the TV and hello to a basement playzone of fun. I was able to solicit for help early Saturday morning to get it over to my Mom's house. At that point, Andrea will be taking Megan down to New Ulm for the day to spend some time with Papa and Grandma B. In the meantime, I'll be spending the day setting up the play house. Check back tomorrow for the exciting results!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Pretty Standard Stuff
Long but short week. For a long time I was dodging the sickness bullet. Everyone I worked with was out sick. The two guys in both cubes next to me were out sick days last week, another guy I work and eat lunch with was out sick before that. Megan was sick... FINALLY, it hit me this week. I decided to go ahead and take Friday off.
Turns out Megan also had an ear infection. Not that big of a surprise. She had been pulling at her ear for a while, so we got her in and sure enough. Got some antibiotics, hopefully it should clear up soon.
Speaking of Megan, things are still progressing well. Our attempts at sign language are going well. Megan picks up new signs almost every day. She isn't 100% using them on her own (meaning self initiated), but she can do almost all her signs in response to the name of the object they represent. From a word perspective, there have been a couple of developments. Apple was a big one, we were excited to hear that.
The rest of the week was just dealing with this stupid cold. I got two runs in tues/wed... I'm undecided if I'm going to try and run tomorrow morning. Speaking of running, I also caught a movie about Marathons Thursday night. I think the most interesting part was the myth of the marathon being based on someone who ran the distance and then collapsed over dead. Irony? Did it make me want to run a marathon any more? Maybe a little... but not a whole lot more then my current thoughts about it. (i.e. maybe SOME day...)
The worst part of the week was the drive to the movie. On the way over to my Mom's, a cop was camped out nabbing people for "not fully stopping" at a very common stop sign. Apparently the residents of the area had complained of people not stopping there... He gave me a ticket for it, which is lame. But I suppose it could have been worse. My drivers license wasn't up to date, and that's another $100 fine. He didn't hit me with that one.
Anyway, off to bed. Need to be rested for tomorrow’s day of fun!
Turns out Megan also had an ear infection. Not that big of a surprise. She had been pulling at her ear for a while, so we got her in and sure enough. Got some antibiotics, hopefully it should clear up soon.
Speaking of Megan, things are still progressing well. Our attempts at sign language are going well. Megan picks up new signs almost every day. She isn't 100% using them on her own (meaning self initiated), but she can do almost all her signs in response to the name of the object they represent. From a word perspective, there have been a couple of developments. Apple was a big one, we were excited to hear that.
The rest of the week was just dealing with this stupid cold. I got two runs in tues/wed... I'm undecided if I'm going to try and run tomorrow morning. Speaking of running, I also caught a movie about Marathons Thursday night. I think the most interesting part was the myth of the marathon being based on someone who ran the distance and then collapsed over dead. Irony? Did it make me want to run a marathon any more? Maybe a little... but not a whole lot more then my current thoughts about it. (i.e. maybe SOME day...)
The worst part of the week was the drive to the movie. On the way over to my Mom's, a cop was camped out nabbing people for "not fully stopping" at a very common stop sign. Apparently the residents of the area had complained of people not stopping there... He gave me a ticket for it, which is lame. But I suppose it could have been worse. My drivers license wasn't up to date, and that's another $100 fine. He didn't hit me with that one.
Anyway, off to bed. Need to be rested for tomorrow’s day of fun!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Sneak Attack
I survived the week! It was an interesting one to say the least... Started out pretty rough, and I managed about 5 hours of overtime. Yes, I know - nothing in comparison to some people, but for me it was a big deal.
I had two strange meetings this week. First, there was a special "incentive" meeting put on by the CEO. Basically the newest project I'm working on is very important to the business, and so they sit about 30-40 of us working on it in a room and say look - if you can get this thing done early, we'll give you a 4 day paid trip to a resort up north. Interesting tactic.
Then, we had another larger company meeting. You know, the ones where the CEO says everything is great, we are making lots of money, keep up the good work, yadda yadda yadda. The unexpected part of this meeting, was when one of the presenters started talking about the project that I had been working on for the past year as a "major accomplishment of 2007." Now, not to get anyone thinking I'm all that - this project was the result of huge amount of man-hours from a TON of people. I was just a small piece of it. I liked to think of it as the tip of the iceberg. Because the part I worked on, is what the customer interacted with. It was what the business saw, and what was looked at as the result of this project. So I was then surprised to see actual screen shots of the part of the software that I created, thrown up for the entire audience to see. Pretty cool feeling...
Anyway, if that wasn't enough, I also had my yearly review today and subsequent yearly salary increase. Icing on the cake I guess... I've already spent a big chunk of it to purchase the indoor play set for Megan. I ordered it direct from the company, since they offered free shipping. Not sure when it will arrive, hopefully by the end of this month.
As for a Megan update, things are going well. It feels like we are making steady progress now. Some milestones this week:
I don't think I've mentioned before, but she is also very sick so we are dealing with that this week as well. Bad cold, lots of congestion, and being so stuffed up that her body throws up during naps because her airways get blocked. Andrea has had a rough week, but I think Megan is showing signs of getting better.
I had two strange meetings this week. First, there was a special "incentive" meeting put on by the CEO. Basically the newest project I'm working on is very important to the business, and so they sit about 30-40 of us working on it in a room and say look - if you can get this thing done early, we'll give you a 4 day paid trip to a resort up north. Interesting tactic.
Then, we had another larger company meeting. You know, the ones where the CEO says everything is great, we are making lots of money, keep up the good work, yadda yadda yadda. The unexpected part of this meeting, was when one of the presenters started talking about the project that I had been working on for the past year as a "major accomplishment of 2007." Now, not to get anyone thinking I'm all that - this project was the result of huge amount of man-hours from a TON of people. I was just a small piece of it. I liked to think of it as the tip of the iceberg. Because the part I worked on, is what the customer interacted with. It was what the business saw, and what was looked at as the result of this project. So I was then surprised to see actual screen shots of the part of the software that I created, thrown up for the entire audience to see. Pretty cool feeling...
Anyway, if that wasn't enough, I also had my yearly review today and subsequent yearly salary increase. Icing on the cake I guess... I've already spent a big chunk of it to purchase the indoor play set for Megan. I ordered it direct from the company, since they offered free shipping. Not sure when it will arrive, hopefully by the end of this month.
As for a Megan update, things are going well. It feels like we are making steady progress now. Some milestones this week:
- Consistently using the sign for "more"
- Identifying many items on flash cards, from animals to objects
- Responding to questions like "Megan, can you find the fish?" and "Bring Daddy the fish." (picking out the fish from a large grouping of flash cards)
- Responding to words or signs used once for the first time.
I don't think I've mentioned before, but she is also very sick so we are dealing with that this week as well. Bad cold, lots of congestion, and being so stuffed up that her body throws up during naps because her airways get blocked. Andrea has had a rough week, but I think Megan is showing signs of getting better.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
4pm on some idle Tuesday
What's in the works you ask? Well, Andrea and I got on the same page regarding the TV. It's as good as gone, it's just a matter of how soon. Basically it comes down to how soon I think I can get it out the back of my house through the snow. Once the TV is out, I'm replacing it with an indoor jungle gym for Megan to play on.
Is getting rid of the TV going to cure our problems? No, of course not. In fact, it probably won't have any positive effect what so ever. What it WILL do is stop making every night a battle over the fact that we don't watch movies anymore. And the replacement will be something fun and interactive we can do together.
Call it extreme. Call it removing a problem instead of dealing with a problem. I honestly don't care how other people judge me at this point. I'm good enough at doing that on my own.
Aside from that, Andrea and I are both pulling in on our extraneous activities. We are going to focus all our free time and efforts on getting Megan caught up to where we think she can be. We can tell she wants to interact and wants to learn, we just have to figure out what that spark will be to get through to her. A friend tonight told me that someone he knew had a 4 year old who still wasn't talking. The spark? The boy band, In-Sync. Apparently he liked the music so much he sang along, and those were his first words.
I'd like to think we can help Megan before she turns 4. Tonight, we worked really hard on "ball" and she repeated it twice. Overall, we think she tried 4 words tonight, and she picked up on the use of "Pop", in response to "Megan, where is your pop?". All positive signs.
This past weekend, we got out to the Apple Valley Winter Festival. It's our second year, and once again it was fun even if a bit cold. We went early Saturday before it got too cold, so that helped a lot. Megan had fun on the inflatable slides, but got stuck at one point when she went up with lots of big kids going. Thankfully, a young girl, maybe 10 or 11, offered to go up and help Megan slide down so we didn't have to squeeze up there and rescue her.
Is getting rid of the TV going to cure our problems? No, of course not. In fact, it probably won't have any positive effect what so ever. What it WILL do is stop making every night a battle over the fact that we don't watch movies anymore. And the replacement will be something fun and interactive we can do together.
Call it extreme. Call it removing a problem instead of dealing with a problem. I honestly don't care how other people judge me at this point. I'm good enough at doing that on my own.
Aside from that, Andrea and I are both pulling in on our extraneous activities. We are going to focus all our free time and efforts on getting Megan caught up to where we think she can be. We can tell she wants to interact and wants to learn, we just have to figure out what that spark will be to get through to her. A friend tonight told me that someone he knew had a 4 year old who still wasn't talking. The spark? The boy band, In-Sync. Apparently he liked the music so much he sang along, and those were his first words.
I'd like to think we can help Megan before she turns 4. Tonight, we worked really hard on "ball" and she repeated it twice. Overall, we think she tried 4 words tonight, and she picked up on the use of "Pop", in response to "Megan, where is your pop?". All positive signs.
This past weekend, we got out to the Apple Valley Winter Festival. It's our second year, and once again it was fun even if a bit cold. We went early Saturday before it got too cold, so that helped a lot. Megan had fun on the inflatable slides, but got stuck at one point when she went up with lots of big kids going. Thankfully, a young girl, maybe 10 or 11, offered to go up and help Megan slide down so we didn't have to squeeze up there and rescue her.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Battle Continues
No, not the battle for middle earth. The never ending fight to remain positive in the face of all that Andrea and I are dealing with. For us, every day is a struggle. We are feeling very isolated and without any reassurances that anything we are doing is making one damn difference.
I'd post more but no reason to go into a downward spiral right now. I'll try to get another post up tomorrow on some things in the works and some of the more fun things that we did this last weekend.
Also, I've just been told that there is a very high probability that I will be working more then a few weekends from now until mid-May. Isn't life great?
I'd post more but no reason to go into a downward spiral right now. I'll try to get another post up tomorrow on some things in the works and some of the more fun things that we did this last weekend.
Also, I've just been told that there is a very high probability that I will be working more then a few weekends from now until mid-May. Isn't life great?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
And Then?
Next thing you know it's a week later and I haven't got a damn post up! Sheesh, I'm such a lazy bastard. I honestly have no excuse... I mean, I think the most exciting thing I did this weekend was getting a haircut on Sunday. Oh, and I watched the last 5 minutes of the super bowl. Can't forget that!
It's just a slow month I guess, but things are going to start to pick up in Feb. Starting right off the bat with this weekend... I will be attempting to resurrect my Dungeons and Dragons group!! That's right, I'm going to give it another shot this year and see how it goes. I want to run a 13 session campaign that will take place over 8 months... Ambitious? Maybe.
Yesterday, Andrea and I went to a sign language class. Not sure what to think about it. I've already memorized the alphabet and a bunch of words... will they help? Will it add anything to Megan's language development? Probably not. All I know is that the other couple there had a child with down syndrome, which to be quite honest, put our situation into perspective a little bit.
In other news, the whole bedtime thing is going swimmingly. Megan has zero issues with bedtime around 8pm after our "routine". She almost seems to look forward to it now, and enjoys giving big hugs and kisses good night. We tried a night light for a while, but she just took it apart and got the bulb out. No more of that, and she ended up not needing it anyway. The only down side are the nights I get home at 6pm from a run, and with dinner right after, I only get to see Megan for an hour or two during her bed time routine.
Don't know much else... Later this month we are doing an overnight at Mystic Casino for free, courtesy of my Mom and all the gambling she does (free hotel coupons). It will be our mini Valentines get away. Mom will be watching Megan overnight for us, which should be a breeze now!
Suppose I should get to sleep now... For some reason I've been depriving myself of sleep for the last 2 weeks. I can't really say why, but constant 5 hours of sleep every night does weird things to your brain.
It's just a slow month I guess, but things are going to start to pick up in Feb. Starting right off the bat with this weekend... I will be attempting to resurrect my Dungeons and Dragons group!! That's right, I'm going to give it another shot this year and see how it goes. I want to run a 13 session campaign that will take place over 8 months... Ambitious? Maybe.
Yesterday, Andrea and I went to a sign language class. Not sure what to think about it. I've already memorized the alphabet and a bunch of words... will they help? Will it add anything to Megan's language development? Probably not. All I know is that the other couple there had a child with down syndrome, which to be quite honest, put our situation into perspective a little bit.
In other news, the whole bedtime thing is going swimmingly. Megan has zero issues with bedtime around 8pm after our "routine". She almost seems to look forward to it now, and enjoys giving big hugs and kisses good night. We tried a night light for a while, but she just took it apart and got the bulb out. No more of that, and she ended up not needing it anyway. The only down side are the nights I get home at 6pm from a run, and with dinner right after, I only get to see Megan for an hour or two during her bed time routine.
Don't know much else... Later this month we are doing an overnight at Mystic Casino for free, courtesy of my Mom and all the gambling she does (free hotel coupons). It will be our mini Valentines get away. Mom will be watching Megan overnight for us, which should be a breeze now!
Suppose I should get to sleep now... For some reason I've been depriving myself of sleep for the last 2 weeks. I can't really say why, but constant 5 hours of sleep every night does weird things to your brain.
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