Desktop Tower Defense

John taught me how to manipulate time, or to be more accurate, the perception of time. It's pretty simple. You just visit the website handdrawngames.com/desktoptd. After I start playing, my accuracy in time estimation goes out the window. It's great. And, if you want to join our high scores list or see our strategies for playing, you can look up our group, under maskedmallard, used without the permission of the Masked Mallard.

Modern Art

John and I like modern art. Some more than others. Of course.

I think that Isaac might be reading through art textbooks late at night. I let the boys paint a couple days ago, and he came up with this.
It compares pretty well with "Memoria in Aeternum" by Hans Hofmann, which looks like this:
Not that I really understand either painting. But it's fun. (The photo doesn't do Isaac's painting justice.)

Motives

I firmly believe that anyone can do anything with the right motivation. Sometimes it's just figuring out what you need to get you going.

Today that applies to Isaac and potty training. Dragon stickers. Each time Isaac goes pee-pee in the toilet, he gets to put one dragon sticker on his potty stickers paper. When all the dragon stickers are on the paper, he then gets a transformer. There are two sheets of dragon stickers and two transformers; Isaac's had five attempts and three successes at peeing in the last half hour, so he has three dragon stickers on his paper. I do believe I found him the right motivation.

I hope that if he's rewarded for using the toilet he won't want to keep his soaking wet diapers on.

And he's been more excited to eat and drink because it helps him have more pee-pee. Interesting reason for the kid who doesn't eat.

As soon as Isaac's all the way potty trained, we'll start working on Jeremiah. I think he'll be easier and harder. And then I won't have to change their diapers anymore.

Blessings of Obedience

I knew there was a reason to go to church. Other than the spiritually uplifting part, or the fulfilling my responsibilities, or the teaching my family that it's good and right.

How about: To be given an organ. (The instrument, not a body part.)

We just need to figure out how and when to pick it up.

Manly Push-ups

With a title like that, this post has to be about...

Danielle.

She does manly push-ups, it's true. She rolls onto her stomach, and when there's a toy she can't reach she'll push up onto her hands (like a cobra pose in yoga), and if she really wants it still she'll push up onto her toes as well with her back as straight as a board.

She's very strong and very flexible. And it looks like she's going to start crawling soon.

Stripping Wallpaper...Again

Today I spent another hour stripping wallpaper and cleaning the glue off the wall. It's partly mundane, and partly refreshing, and partly fulfilling. I've decided that I need to do something that stays finished, every day. Then when flour is strewn over the just detail-cleaned kitchen (hopefully you think that happens more than it does, which makes it that much worse), at least there is something else that stays done and doesn't get "messed up" by anyone else. A measure of completion. I need to decide what paint to put on the wall, though. And maybe if I can finish in the next couple days I can win the stripping wallpaper race that the Robinson's never said they'd join that I thought would be fun.

Early Childhood

Today Susan (our case worker from Birth to Three) and Theresa (our case worker from the school district) came by to help ease us into transitioning to the school system. When Jeremiah turns three, he is no longer eligible for services from Birth to Three. Luckily, his birthday is the week before school starts, so he doesn't have a "summer vacation" from speech therapy.

Jeremiah will be entering Early Childhood in the fall. He'll be one of six students in a class; there is a teacher, a teacher's assistant, as well as other helpers for the children (including a speech-language pathologist and an occupational therapist) who come in for parts of days. We get to choose how often he'll attend preschool, whether we'll put him on the bus (in a car seat, with other children attending his same school who are also in car seats), and what exactly we wish for him to learn while he's at school. I'm excited for more people to love him and be involved in his life.

I will be signing Isaac up for preschool in the fall as well. I think Jeremiah will go in the morning and Isaac in the afternoon, so I can spend time with each of them individually every day. And hopefully they'll get along better spending less time together, and learning that the rules we have for their behavior towards each other are consistent with their behavior to other children.

A Romantic Evening

Alison and I had a date night tonight (and I mean night; it started after I had fallen asleep at around midnight). We ate way too much chocolate, had a salad to make up for it, and made this
The programming "language" we used is called scratch designed by educators at MIT to teach programming. I put language in quotes because you don't actually type any words, all the coding is done with colorful lego blocks that say "if touches " and "change direction".
So we made a fun game for our date night; sharing the mouse pad on the laptop was the best part ;)

A Summer Storm

Tonight John and I took our kids to Wal-Mart. We needed to stock up on some things (mostly diapers), spontaneously bought Isaac a new car seat and pajamas and toilet paper, and a basket of plastic fruit for Jeremiah. I guess the toilet paper was for all of us.

We checked to see whether it was raining before we exited the store. It wasn't. I think we covered up Danielle with a blanket anyway. As we got to our car, a huge blast of storm hit. Carts were driving through the parking lot unattended, the kids got wet after they were inside our car because the hatchback door was open and the wind made the rain fly instead of fall, we kept chasing after our carts as we were getting the kids in because we thought getting the kids in was our first priority and didn't think about our "stuff."

It was a blast! John and I got soaked.Isaac was talking about "the rain and the wind and the lightning and it was scary and it was fun and it was wet" the entire way home. Jeremiah was laughing. And Danielle was so cute: she looked surprised when the wind blew her blanket off of her and she got wet, but she was happy about it.

Popsicle Sticks

When I came back from Oregon and gave Jeremiah a popsicle, I was impressed that he knew to put the popsicle stick into the garbage. But then I bought popsicle molds. And the first time, Jeremiah put the popsicle stick into the garbage. So I showed him to put the plastic stick into the sink. Now, whenever he has a popsicle, he puts the stick into the sink.

He generalized this "sink instead of garbage" for his apple cores, fruit snack wrappers, and other "garbage."

He tried a piece of raw broccoli today and didn't particularly like it. So he took it out of is mouth, thought about it, and got a cute smile, ran into the kitchen, and came back empty-handed. Then he took another piece of broccoli into the kitchen... He was so proud of himself for putting the "yucky broccoli" into the sink.

While I was making dinner, Jeremiah came into the kitchen with a huge grin and reached up to put a plate from snack-time into the sink, and then went to get the other plate to put it into the sink as well.

Everything goes into the sink. And he's so happy about it.

The Mating Dance

You know how some birds or other animals have a sort of mating dance ritual to woo a mate? Jeremiah sort of does the same thing.

The Colton's came over to help us eat pie on Sunday, and Jeremiah went up to Emily (she's 7) and danced his mating dance for her. It's a cute little dance, but he's just so serious when he does it. He stood directly in front of her, stared into her eyes, and started moving his feet in an intricate pattern.

Isaac likes to dance for Danielle, and Jeremiah does too. And Danielle will crack up when the boys dance for her (good positive reinforcement). So I think that's where this started.

Jeremiah seemed to really like Emily, which is why his dancing seemed more like a mating dance than an ordinary dance. He took her hand and led her to his room to play. He gave her long, long hugs (seriously more than 30 seconds long). And he was sad when she had to go.

Happy Birthday to John!

Today's John's birthday! Woohoo! The big 2-7!

We had salmon for his birthday dinner, with a couple friends. And then we had pie (homemade, of course...but this time the crust wasn't light and flaky...I'd honestly have to say it was...like cardboard...the crust, that is) with some other friends.

And he received a couple birthday presents that he's way super excited about, so I'll let him share that later...

And Isaac almost sang "Happy Birthday" but then he changed his mind. Unfortunate.

Measuring Tape Fishing

Our measuring tape is broken; the locking mechanism no longer works. Which makes it a toy for the boys.

Isaac will hold the bulk of it, give the very end of the tape to Jeremiah, then walk to the other side of the room. As he "reels in" his fish, Jeremiah slowly walks over to Isaac with a huge grin on his face. After Isaac "catches" his fish, Jeremiah laughs like crazy. And then they start again.

Popsicles

Isaac and Jeremiah had a lot of Popsicles while I was in Oregon. Tonight I bought some popsicle molds to make our own. Healthier. Cheaper. Yummier...I hope.

Jeremiah takes us by the hand to the refrigerator, pulls on the fridge door, points up to the freezer, and either signs /more/ or says "pop, pop." And then he gets super excited about his popsicle when we give it to him.

He's so cute and determined we simply cannot resist. Hence the popsicle molds.

Mother's Day

Danielle and I went to California for Mother's Day. We went to the nursing home that my great Grandma Erickson is staying at, along with my parents, Alecia, Rob and Julie, DeeDee, David, one of David's friends who took pictures of us, and my Grandma.

It was fun for me to have Danielle meet her great-great Grandmother.

DeeDee gave great Grandma a couple presents. Silly straws and yo-yos. When Grandma saw the yo-yos, she said, "I don't want a yo-yo!"

My great Grandma is very wise. She told us that "all babies are cute, but when they grow up, they either get pretty or ugly."

And then Julie and I went to meet Lydia (my grandma's roommate) so Lydia could meet Danielle. Something special happens when really old people (she just turned 103, I think I'm justified in calling her old) meet babies. Danielle tried to eat her great-great Grandma's hand, but that's not what I meant. I meant something along the lines of the elderly and the newly born being so close to heaven. It's unique.

It's a little fun being a mother on Mother's Day. But I think I still like being the daughter. Maybe it's just that I have such a great mom. I think I'll be a wonderful mother if I can be more like her.

XKCD: my favorite web comic

Pedicures

Mom and I went to get pedicures today. Danielle watched. She did--she watched the blue water spinning around with bubbles. And she liked it.

Mom had me choose between two different colors for her toes. I picked the salmon-y one. And I convinced her to get flowers painted on them with jewels. SHe was laughing and laughing that Dad think she was silly or something...I don't remember exactly why she was laughing...something about being almost 50 and having flowers painted on her toes...

I have flowers on my toes, too.

Letting the Bird Out

So, I was sitting on the couch with Danielle when I heard the fridge open. We have a refrigerator lock, so it could only mean one thing: Isaac was involved.

Although Isaac has a pretty steady hand when it comes to pouring his own drinks, I try to restrain the child from adventure as best I can. After a moment of deliberation, I rushed to the scene of the crime.

The refrigerator door was open. Naturally I shut it.

Isaac and Jeremiah were at the table, looking entirely innocent. Not willing to be deceived, I examined the situation more closely, only to find...

An egg in Isaac's hand.

"Isaac! What are you doing with the egg?!" I exclaimed.

He so coyly replied, "Mom, I have to let the bird out. I let the bird out!"

Doing my best not to laugh, I tried to explain that the birds only come out when the mommy birds sit on eggs in a nest. Birds never come out of eggs that are in the fridge. I don't think I got through, though.

Eragon

I read Eragon yesterday.

Okay, so I started it yesterday afternoon and I finished it this morning. I did sleep, but only for about 6 hours (not my fault, purely circumstantial, I only stayed up to wake John up so he could grade his exams by early this morning because he had fallen asleep...). I read the last 75 pages or so this morning.

In the beginning of the book, the boy Eragon, angry about his life, converses with his dragon Saphira, "What is the worth of anything we do?" And she replies, "The worth is in the act. Your worth halts when you surrender the will to change and experience life. But options are before you; choose one and dedicate yourself to it. The deeds will give you new hope and purpose."

Even though life is transient, ever changing, hard at times and near impossible at others, the worth of what we do, who we are, is "in the act." When we choose to act out our lives instead of having our life decided for us by seemingly unseen forces, when we truly live and are dedicated to the responsibilities we have undertaken, it is then that we have true hope and purpose in our lives. And until we can truly live for ourselves, with that resolution, we can't truly live at all, but are in a state of ungrowth, like summer vacation when everything we've learned in the school year threatens to fade away into nothingness. It is when we choose to act on our environment that we can grow, that we can change the course of lives--both our individual lives and of the lives touching ours or brushing past.

"The worth is in the act."