Poverty Party update:
I'm proud of us that we've figured out a way to SAVE CASH, yes, cold hard cash, out of our weekly budget to pay for DuckyBoy's 2 weekly extracurricular activities, swimming and gymnastics. I don't mind saying things like "No, we can't go to Burger King today because we did X or bought Y instead," but I'd hate for him to not get the little bit of physical activity he gets in his life due to funding issues. Plus, swimming is one of the only things we MAKE him do, so there's that bit of character building that we get thrown in for free with each $40 swim lesson. He always enjoys it when he's there, but sometimes complains beforehand.
Fittingly giving my previous post today, one of the areas we're cutting out is the liquor budget, which Husband has more of an issue with than I do.
I plan to enjoy the lulling effect of watching DB swim this afternoon, and hope the humidity of the pool room and aforementioned lull help the hangover.
In other news, we're thinking of spending upwards of $10k on business coaching. Eek!
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
For $6k a Month I'd Expect a Better Lifestyle
I'm noticing a cyclical mood swing: Every month when it's time to pay the bills, I get freaked out about spending down our savings on unknown business ventures with an unknown payoff date and amount! Guess I'm just perceptive like that. Hmm, $0 in, $6000 out, Aggghhhhhhhhh!!
On an up note, my wonderfully supportive life coach reassures me today that I am a much different woman than he started working with 2 years ago. I don't feel different enough, meaning I wish I was a different woman who has a flexible job that earns $100,000 a year. I find savings in bits and pieces -- like cutting out $300 a month for a life coach. I will take you up on your offer to email you, Bill ... or maybe I'll just pretend I'm talking to you in my blog, who knows.
Doesn't $6,000 seem like a lot? For it we get to live in an apartment building that's been poorly managed for decades (recent changes notwithstanding), in an apartment that though having been entirely gutted and remodeled just before we moved in 5 years ago, is not up to code in terms of electrical and has peeling paint in the bathrooms.
We also drive a 7-year-old (paid-off) car that we all love but is starting to need more care than we want to pay for.
In order to really save on those monthly expenses it's big things that need to be cut -- like our car, which is kind of a necessity given where DB's school is vis a vis our home, and our weekly expenses - uh, food and the like. I could (and do) drive less to save on gas.
I'd eyeball the digital cable bill, since we're paying for the service on 3 TVs, but DB and Husband would probably cut out eating before they gave up cable. I can try turning off my computer every night to see if the electric bill goes down. We could switch to a cheaper phone service or cut back to the most basic level, since we have 2 cells as well. (The idea of not having a landline at all kind of freaks me out. We needed it during the NYC blackout of '03.)
We do need to look at our life insurance, which is currently more than $100 a month apiece for the 2 of us.
Our weekly cash is $500, which covers groceries (and liquor), the cleaning lady (yes, I could give her up, but she's like a member of the family), the laundry machines, our parking space (if you've ever tried to park in Forest Hills you know that as long as we have the car, we need this space), anything we do on weekends, any night-out activities, babysitters, and pocket change (with which I buy stamps, socks, fast-food kid meals, give to charities, and the occasional toy; not sure what Husband buys). I'm also buying Christmas presents with my weekly cash. We've just decided to cut the monthly cash amount back by $40 a month so DB can keep taking swim lessons next semester.
I feel like we're stretching that weekly dough about as far as can be.
Beyond that, it's where we live. Between the mortgage and the maintenance and the current maintenance assessment, plus the parking space, the cleaning lady, the laundry machines, it's over $3000. Moving would probably cost $6000. So how much lower can we get those expenses to recoup that? Can we buy ourselves two months? Is that worth it?
I feel like I'm a frugal person who's good at finding a few dollars here and there to save. Not that you'd know it from this blog, which was started when I was in high-income mode. At a certain point I realized I was spending more time on combing the coupon circulars than it was worth, given our income, so I stopped. I'm back in sale-shopping mode but don't do the store-hopping I did the last time we were unemployed. Part of the reason I did it then was to have somewhere to go with the toddler DB. When I was lucky, he napped as I bargain-shopped.
Now, I'm overwhelmed by the $6k number, and though I'm saving $1 here and there when I can, I feel like finding ways even to save $20 here and $50 there won't add up to anything helpful in the long run.
I guess we need a better handle on how long we think these businesses will take off enough to cover our monthlies.
But every month I get more and more worried that it won't be soon enough.
Last but not least, got to give props to Bossy and her Poverty Party for making me think critically about the issue instead of freaking inside, which is what I usually do.
On an up note, my wonderfully supportive life coach reassures me today that I am a much different woman than he started working with 2 years ago. I don't feel different enough, meaning I wish I was a different woman who has a flexible job that earns $100,000 a year. I find savings in bits and pieces -- like cutting out $300 a month for a life coach. I will take you up on your offer to email you, Bill ... or maybe I'll just pretend I'm talking to you in my blog, who knows.
Doesn't $6,000 seem like a lot? For it we get to live in an apartment building that's been poorly managed for decades (recent changes notwithstanding), in an apartment that though having been entirely gutted and remodeled just before we moved in 5 years ago, is not up to code in terms of electrical and has peeling paint in the bathrooms.
We also drive a 7-year-old (paid-off) car that we all love but is starting to need more care than we want to pay for.
In order to really save on those monthly expenses it's big things that need to be cut -- like our car, which is kind of a necessity given where DB's school is vis a vis our home, and our weekly expenses - uh, food and the like. I could (and do) drive less to save on gas.
I'd eyeball the digital cable bill, since we're paying for the service on 3 TVs, but DB and Husband would probably cut out eating before they gave up cable. I can try turning off my computer every night to see if the electric bill goes down. We could switch to a cheaper phone service or cut back to the most basic level, since we have 2 cells as well. (The idea of not having a landline at all kind of freaks me out. We needed it during the NYC blackout of '03.)
We do need to look at our life insurance, which is currently more than $100 a month apiece for the 2 of us.
Our weekly cash is $500, which covers groceries (and liquor), the cleaning lady (yes, I could give her up, but she's like a member of the family), the laundry machines, our parking space (if you've ever tried to park in Forest Hills you know that as long as we have the car, we need this space), anything we do on weekends, any night-out activities, babysitters, and pocket change (with which I buy stamps, socks, fast-food kid meals, give to charities, and the occasional toy; not sure what Husband buys). I'm also buying Christmas presents with my weekly cash. We've just decided to cut the monthly cash amount back by $40 a month so DB can keep taking swim lessons next semester.
I feel like we're stretching that weekly dough about as far as can be.
Beyond that, it's where we live. Between the mortgage and the maintenance and the current maintenance assessment, plus the parking space, the cleaning lady, the laundry machines, it's over $3000. Moving would probably cost $6000. So how much lower can we get those expenses to recoup that? Can we buy ourselves two months? Is that worth it?
I feel like I'm a frugal person who's good at finding a few dollars here and there to save. Not that you'd know it from this blog, which was started when I was in high-income mode. At a certain point I realized I was spending more time on combing the coupon circulars than it was worth, given our income, so I stopped. I'm back in sale-shopping mode but don't do the store-hopping I did the last time we were unemployed. Part of the reason I did it then was to have somewhere to go with the toddler DB. When I was lucky, he napped as I bargain-shopped.
Now, I'm overwhelmed by the $6k number, and though I'm saving $1 here and there when I can, I feel like finding ways even to save $20 here and $50 there won't add up to anything helpful in the long run.
I guess we need a better handle on how long we think these businesses will take off enough to cover our monthlies.
But every month I get more and more worried that it won't be soon enough.
Last but not least, got to give props to Bossy and her Poverty Party for making me think critically about the issue instead of freaking inside, which is what I usually do.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Contrasts
Same beach (basically), but two very different experiences. His issues? My expectations? The presence of dad? Probably a combination of factors. You be the judge:
Part 1.
On Friday afternoon DuckyBoy and I went to one of the big state parks near us, Jones Beach, just to get to the beach once this summer. We went to the nature center first, since I was pretty sure he'd like that. Since we got there late in the day, we had the place to ourselves; he got to help the ranger feed the turtles (and I fed a live cricket to the toads), we also saw frogs and mussels and a starfish (who was eating a mussel -- very cool), played with the puppets, and he was pretty good about walking the boardwalk they have set up around the dunes. Not much to see, so I'm sure it wasn't his thing, but he didn't complain too much. We dug around outside in the sand in the "bone yard" they had set up, he was into that as well.
He must have been getting hungry since he asked the ranger if she had anything to eat; she didn't, but showed us what other part of the park to go to.
We were the next-to-last car to leave the nature center; they block off the entrance at that time of day, so we were sort of "locked in"; he liked that, and even said, "Being closed in the nature center makes me feel ... fun."
Then we headed down the parkway to the beach with the Friendly's concession. Silly me, I was looking for an actual Friendly's so at first I missed it, but we doubled back and found the right place.
By then it really was his dinner time, so the first thing we did was order nuggets and fries, which they had (scoring big points with DB), then picked a spot on the beach to spread out our blanket and eat them. Our spot was pretty close to the concessions, but I didn't think that mattered; we were there just to be there, I had no expectations. I didn't even care if we went in the water.
So, he ate and we watched the seagulls inch closer and closer. I love to make up conversations with the animals -- "I'm just being neighborly, standing here close by in case you need to throw away a french fry, I'm here for ya," -- that kind of thing. I drew a circle in the sand around the blanket and told the gulls to stay behind it, which tickled DB to watch them inch up to it ... and, to our surprise, not cross it! Which elicited much laughter on both our parts.
And then, we ran into friends we haven't seen in, like, a year, and spent an hour or so with them, closer to the water. DB built a sand castle, we told a story about the miniature king and queen (and all the princes and princesses and ladies in waiting and knights and cooks and butlers) who lived there. He LOVED telling a story with a REAL prop right in front of us. LOVED it.
So, all in all, a great afternoon. Just 3 hours, we never even put our swimsuits on, and it didn't matter.
Part 2.
I had such a good time with him that I wanted to go again on the weekend. So we went back on Sunday, with Husband too, good sport that he is to brave the area's most popular state park on a holiday weekend afternoon. It wasn't overly crowded, but the parking lot was full for the beach we'd gone to on Friday so we chose another, with a much further walk to the water.
Well.
As soon as we arrived, DB started to ask when we could get nuggets and fries. Now, Husband and I have had.it.up.to.here with this kid's proclivity to eat tiny bits of food at mealtimes and then be Insistently.Hungry.Again in, like, 2 hours. So we weren't in the mood to pay to feed him when we'd just eaten lunch an hour before. He couldn't have been THAT hungry. I figured it was more his trying to recreate the routine from Friday.
Since the concession/showers building was far from the water, we needed to put our suits on before spreading out the blanket and settling down. Well, he didn't want to put on his suit. Poor Husband had to deal with that one. Didn't help anyone's mood.
Once that was accomplished, we headed across the sand. He wanted to pick a spot right near the building (partly repeating the routine, partly he hates to walk.) Husband and I wanted to go in the water, so we made him trudge. Whine, moan, complain, can we get Friendly's. Can we get Friendly's.
It was a far enough walk that we weren't looking forward to making a special trip back up to the building just to get him the food, especially since we still didn't think he was THAT hungry, so we said we'd get it LATER.
Oh, geez. Too vague. Whine, whine, whiiiiiiiine; it was so bad that Husband and I jointly stopped more than once and contemplated going right back home. (We're rarely on the same page like that, so that was actually good for our relationship, though we'd of course rather not have been having to deal with it at all!)
We told DB, and reminded him it would NOT be fun-n-games with Mommy at home, or relaxin'-with-the-TV; he'd be in his room, alone. So he had to pick. He did his best to complain less.
So, finally, we get near to the water and get the blanket set up, and his sand castle building stuff, which he was looking foward to on the ride out. And he's STILL asking about those d*mn nuggets and fries!
Then Husband went in the water and pronounced it cold. OK, so he went in a little later, and I coax DB down to the water's edge (he only walks on the sand with his Crocs on, mind you). I tell him he just has to get his feet wet, he's whining and complaining about that. I tell him no nuggets and fries unless he gets his feet wet. He still is close to freaking out.
Finally his feet get wet, it's not sooo bad, then we tell him he can stand or sit on the edge while Husband and I go in just a little. Like, literally, not even up to my waist. I just wanted part of me in the water, so I could tolerate his fuss, fuss, fuss by the seaside. Fine, whatever.
Then, suddenly, he's screaming; there were flies on the water's edge and he got bit, since, duh, he's standing still! I know I should be more sympathetic but I just am not. *Sigh.*
Anyway, that got us out of the water and back to the blanket, where not only does he want to drink my lemonade instead of his specially-picked root beer, but he also wants to sit.on.my.lap.
Yes, the child will turn 6 years old tomorrow, and he wants to sit on my flippin' lap at the beach. Husband nixed that for me, which I appreciated since I don't know how to say no.
And again he's asking about the nuggets and fries. We finally had to use our standard ultimatum, which is: "We know you want them. You know we're going to take care of you. So if you ask about it again, you don't get it." And we got out the Pringles, which helped too.
So then he settled down a bit and directed me on making a sand castle for him. (This is a running joke with Husband now, that DB is the Executive and I am the Do-er; like this morning DB said, "Let's tell a story about a car, it's his first day of first grade but he is scared. Not like me, I am not scared." And then he sits back and expects me to tell the tale.)
And so, I made a sand castle. He turned out to be interested in the sand underwater at the bottom of the pail, and the bits of shells and whatever we could find to float in the water; "a miniature beach!" he called it.
So, OK, he's interested in something beach related, I'm happy.
And, since the sun was bright and we didn't know about the umbrella rentals back at the building until after we'd trekked to the water, we didn't stay too long, us with our Germanic-Scottish pale pink skin.
He was good about not being able to take the "miniature beach" with us, pouring it out when we left. After much discussion, he also seemed to like stepping on the day's sand castle; Friday's we had left as-is. (So it was just as well we didn't return to the same beach to find it gone!)
Finally, finally, he got his nuggets and fries, and didn't even complain about standing in line with me for it. He was happy to eat it on the way home -- even suggested that himself -- and ate a good amount of it, too.
But geez, Husband and I were pretty emotionally drained!
On the upside, though, we Got To The Beach As a Family Once. And the day after, sounds like the water was closed and even some of the parking lots at Jones Beach, due to tropical-storm related high tides. So we went on the right day, for Husband and me anyway!
Part 1.
On Friday afternoon DuckyBoy and I went to one of the big state parks near us, Jones Beach, just to get to the beach once this summer. We went to the nature center first, since I was pretty sure he'd like that. Since we got there late in the day, we had the place to ourselves; he got to help the ranger feed the turtles (and I fed a live cricket to the toads), we also saw frogs and mussels and a starfish (who was eating a mussel -- very cool), played with the puppets, and he was pretty good about walking the boardwalk they have set up around the dunes. Not much to see, so I'm sure it wasn't his thing, but he didn't complain too much. We dug around outside in the sand in the "bone yard" they had set up, he was into that as well.
He must have been getting hungry since he asked the ranger if she had anything to eat; she didn't, but showed us what other part of the park to go to.
We were the next-to-last car to leave the nature center; they block off the entrance at that time of day, so we were sort of "locked in"; he liked that, and even said, "Being closed in the nature center makes me feel ... fun."
Then we headed down the parkway to the beach with the Friendly's concession. Silly me, I was looking for an actual Friendly's so at first I missed it, but we doubled back and found the right place.
By then it really was his dinner time, so the first thing we did was order nuggets and fries, which they had (scoring big points with DB), then picked a spot on the beach to spread out our blanket and eat them. Our spot was pretty close to the concessions, but I didn't think that mattered; we were there just to be there, I had no expectations. I didn't even care if we went in the water.
So, he ate and we watched the seagulls inch closer and closer. I love to make up conversations with the animals -- "I'm just being neighborly, standing here close by in case you need to throw away a french fry, I'm here for ya," -- that kind of thing. I drew a circle in the sand around the blanket and told the gulls to stay behind it, which tickled DB to watch them inch up to it ... and, to our surprise, not cross it! Which elicited much laughter on both our parts.
And then, we ran into friends we haven't seen in, like, a year, and spent an hour or so with them, closer to the water. DB built a sand castle, we told a story about the miniature king and queen (and all the princes and princesses and ladies in waiting and knights and cooks and butlers) who lived there. He LOVED telling a story with a REAL prop right in front of us. LOVED it.
So, all in all, a great afternoon. Just 3 hours, we never even put our swimsuits on, and it didn't matter.
Part 2.
I had such a good time with him that I wanted to go again on the weekend. So we went back on Sunday, with Husband too, good sport that he is to brave the area's most popular state park on a holiday weekend afternoon. It wasn't overly crowded, but the parking lot was full for the beach we'd gone to on Friday so we chose another, with a much further walk to the water.
Well.
As soon as we arrived, DB started to ask when we could get nuggets and fries. Now, Husband and I have had.it.up.to.here with this kid's proclivity to eat tiny bits of food at mealtimes and then be Insistently.Hungry.Again in, like, 2 hours. So we weren't in the mood to pay to feed him when we'd just eaten lunch an hour before. He couldn't have been THAT hungry. I figured it was more his trying to recreate the routine from Friday.
Since the concession/showers building was far from the water, we needed to put our suits on before spreading out the blanket and settling down. Well, he didn't want to put on his suit. Poor Husband had to deal with that one. Didn't help anyone's mood.
Once that was accomplished, we headed across the sand. He wanted to pick a spot right near the building (partly repeating the routine, partly he hates to walk.) Husband and I wanted to go in the water, so we made him trudge. Whine, moan, complain, can we get Friendly's. Can we get Friendly's.
It was a far enough walk that we weren't looking forward to making a special trip back up to the building just to get him the food, especially since we still didn't think he was THAT hungry, so we said we'd get it LATER.
Oh, geez. Too vague. Whine, whine, whiiiiiiiine; it was so bad that Husband and I jointly stopped more than once and contemplated going right back home. (We're rarely on the same page like that, so that was actually good for our relationship, though we'd of course rather not have been having to deal with it at all!)
We told DB, and reminded him it would NOT be fun-n-games with Mommy at home, or relaxin'-with-the-TV; he'd be in his room, alone. So he had to pick. He did his best to complain less.
So, finally, we get near to the water and get the blanket set up, and his sand castle building stuff, which he was looking foward to on the ride out. And he's STILL asking about those d*mn nuggets and fries!
Then Husband went in the water and pronounced it cold. OK, so he went in a little later, and I coax DB down to the water's edge (he only walks on the sand with his Crocs on, mind you). I tell him he just has to get his feet wet, he's whining and complaining about that. I tell him no nuggets and fries unless he gets his feet wet. He still is close to freaking out.
Finally his feet get wet, it's not sooo bad, then we tell him he can stand or sit on the edge while Husband and I go in just a little. Like, literally, not even up to my waist. I just wanted part of me in the water, so I could tolerate his fuss, fuss, fuss by the seaside. Fine, whatever.
Then, suddenly, he's screaming; there were flies on the water's edge and he got bit, since, duh, he's standing still! I know I should be more sympathetic but I just am not. *Sigh.*
Anyway, that got us out of the water and back to the blanket, where not only does he want to drink my lemonade instead of his specially-picked root beer, but he also wants to sit.on.my.lap.
Yes, the child will turn 6 years old tomorrow, and he wants to sit on my flippin' lap at the beach. Husband nixed that for me, which I appreciated since I don't know how to say no.
And again he's asking about the nuggets and fries. We finally had to use our standard ultimatum, which is: "We know you want them. You know we're going to take care of you. So if you ask about it again, you don't get it." And we got out the Pringles, which helped too.
So then he settled down a bit and directed me on making a sand castle for him. (This is a running joke with Husband now, that DB is the Executive and I am the Do-er; like this morning DB said, "Let's tell a story about a car, it's his first day of first grade but he is scared. Not like me, I am not scared." And then he sits back and expects me to tell the tale.)
And so, I made a sand castle. He turned out to be interested in the sand underwater at the bottom of the pail, and the bits of shells and whatever we could find to float in the water; "a miniature beach!" he called it.
So, OK, he's interested in something beach related, I'm happy.
And, since the sun was bright and we didn't know about the umbrella rentals back at the building until after we'd trekked to the water, we didn't stay too long, us with our Germanic-Scottish pale pink skin.
He was good about not being able to take the "miniature beach" with us, pouring it out when we left. After much discussion, he also seemed to like stepping on the day's sand castle; Friday's we had left as-is. (So it was just as well we didn't return to the same beach to find it gone!)
Finally, finally, he got his nuggets and fries, and didn't even complain about standing in line with me for it. He was happy to eat it on the way home -- even suggested that himself -- and ate a good amount of it, too.
But geez, Husband and I were pretty emotionally drained!
On the upside, though, we Got To The Beach As a Family Once. And the day after, sounds like the water was closed and even some of the parking lots at Jones Beach, due to tropical-storm related high tides. So we went on the right day, for Husband and me anyway!
Friday, July 18, 2008
What Do Police Medals, a Chicken Cutlet, and the R Train Have in Common?
Answer: DuckyBoy today.
We had a great time at the NYC Police Museum today.
More accurately, we had a great time taking the subway to the Police Museum, walking several interesting blocks through downtown Manhattan to the museum, racing through the museum, checking out the gift shop, getting something to eat, and taking the subway home.
I could have spent longer looking at every photo and placard, but that's me; DB's dad has taught me not everyone likes to do that, so we usually compromise somewhere in between. Since he wasn't with us, I made DB compromise just a bit.
I never know what will pique his interest -- he was the most interested in the Medal of Honor on display in the 9.11 exhibit, awarded to the police officers who died that day. And all the badges. And he could relate to the exhibit about the School Safety officers since he sees one at school every day. He was interested in all the different divisions of the NYPD.
The pretend jail cell freaked him out because of the super-squeaky door. Whatever it takes, right?? So don't go to jail and the doors will never be that squeaky, yah!
The "getting something to eat" was a big deal, a big success: We ate at a deli, just a standard NY deli, but a good one -- one with yummy chicken cutlets -- which DB deemed nuggets and promptly ate enough that I was satisfied he ate enough! It's a good thing to drag the kid on the subway and through a (small) museum before he gets to eat. Come to think of it, maybe that's why he was in a hurry... no, he didn't mention being hungry till we left the museum.
The subway ride was nice on the way home; today was 94 degress or some such crazy number, so DB was pretty tired out. he actually put his head on my lap and closed his eyes, more than once! He never does that!
But he perked up for swimming. The cold pool probably helped.
After that we hooked up with Daddy and DB got a ride on Dad's shoulders the whole rest of the way home. That was a good reward for him to get, he did well today.
That is, once he stopped pushing me! Like, he comes up behind me and SHOVES me! What's with that?! I told him the next time he does it he owes me $1. Now he owes me $6 or $7 because after he forgot and did it again, he didn't believe me about his fine and kept doing it. I told him if he does all my shredding (he's the head shredder anyway but this pile is above and beyond his usual duties) I'll call it even. I just want to make him think.
Finally, bedtime!
Seems like it will never come,
And he drags it out.
What is with this kid,
We spent all day together
Still can't let me go?
Five years I wait for
Him to want to separate;
Still waiting most days.
We had a great time at the NYC Police Museum today.
More accurately, we had a great time taking the subway to the Police Museum, walking several interesting blocks through downtown Manhattan to the museum, racing through the museum, checking out the gift shop, getting something to eat, and taking the subway home.
I could have spent longer looking at every photo and placard, but that's me; DB's dad has taught me not everyone likes to do that, so we usually compromise somewhere in between. Since he wasn't with us, I made DB compromise just a bit.
I never know what will pique his interest -- he was the most interested in the Medal of Honor on display in the 9.11 exhibit, awarded to the police officers who died that day. And all the badges. And he could relate to the exhibit about the School Safety officers since he sees one at school every day. He was interested in all the different divisions of the NYPD.
The pretend jail cell freaked him out because of the super-squeaky door. Whatever it takes, right?? So don't go to jail and the doors will never be that squeaky, yah!
The "getting something to eat" was a big deal, a big success: We ate at a deli, just a standard NY deli, but a good one -- one with yummy chicken cutlets -- which DB deemed nuggets and promptly ate enough that I was satisfied he ate enough! It's a good thing to drag the kid on the subway and through a (small) museum before he gets to eat. Come to think of it, maybe that's why he was in a hurry... no, he didn't mention being hungry till we left the museum.
The subway ride was nice on the way home; today was 94 degress or some such crazy number, so DB was pretty tired out. he actually put his head on my lap and closed his eyes, more than once! He never does that!
But he perked up for swimming. The cold pool probably helped.
After that we hooked up with Daddy and DB got a ride on Dad's shoulders the whole rest of the way home. That was a good reward for him to get, he did well today.
That is, once he stopped pushing me! Like, he comes up behind me and SHOVES me! What's with that?! I told him the next time he does it he owes me $1. Now he owes me $6 or $7 because after he forgot and did it again, he didn't believe me about his fine and kept doing it. I told him if he does all my shredding (he's the head shredder anyway but this pile is above and beyond his usual duties) I'll call it even. I just want to make him think.
Finally, bedtime!
Seems like it will never come,
And he drags it out.
What is with this kid,
We spent all day together
Still can't let me go?
Five years I wait for
Him to want to separate;
Still waiting most days.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Fingers Still Crossed
So far, so good... at least in terms of dairy-laced baked goods. Yesterday's cupcake seemed to have caused no ill effect, unless taking 10 minutes of a half-hour swim lesson to get used to the water ("I'm stiiiill getting uuuuuuused to it..." he whined to his instructor. I swear I almost hear him say "Suckah" under his breath...)
I do agree with him that this pool is numerous degrees cooler than the bathwater known as the St. Bart's pool, but the teacher, newbie that she is, obviously does not know two important things:
1. He will play her for all she is worth. For minutes 11-25 of the lesson I had a fantasy going in my head about how I was going to have to Speak.To.Both.Of.Them after the lesson about how just because they played when every other child in the pool was getting, oh, I don't know, a SWIM LESSON, does not mean the same will happen next week. Because ...
2. This is how he thinks: If we did it like that once, we can do it like that again. Is this, as I suspect, an Aspergers thing? If so, why is this not written at the top of every scrap of instructional material that someone who might work with a HFA child might read???
It's all well and good to list vague phrases such as "Resistant to change," but let's spell it out for all these nice people: If You Let It Happen Once, Kiss the Way You Want to Do It Next Time Good-Bye.
Then came minutes 26-30, and I took it all back. Duckyboy actually swam around when he thought he was playing! Ha! Who's the suckah now? Adults rule!
I still think he's going to want to have his lesson be like that every week though. And it could work -- but he's gonna have to show a lot of improvement every week in order for me to be able to watch that again.
He ate the remaining contraband, I mean bake-sale cookies, on the way home. Probably full of butter, I can tell by the way he snarfed them down. Wait, maybe that was just because someone Other Than Me made them? No, wait, one of our sesame cookies was in there too. Oh, maybe the kid was actually hungry at 5:45 pm!
Anyway, fingers still crossed. And not just about the dairy -- how's about a 101.7 degree fever for bedtime??
With any luck, it will burn off any milk-based effects. And I'm not even kidding; a fever makes him loving, workable, and snuggly. In other words, less autistic. And there's even proof of it now. It's just one study, but it's a start.
Husband just told me to blog about why SuperNanny Jo Frost is the hottest babe on TV. And that, friends, is one of the reasons I love him.
I do agree with him that this pool is numerous degrees cooler than the bathwater known as the St. Bart's pool, but the teacher, newbie that she is, obviously does not know two important things:
1. He will play her for all she is worth. For minutes 11-25 of the lesson I had a fantasy going in my head about how I was going to have to Speak.To.Both.Of.Them after the lesson about how just because they played when every other child in the pool was getting, oh, I don't know, a SWIM LESSON, does not mean the same will happen next week. Because ...
2. This is how he thinks: If we did it like that once, we can do it like that again. Is this, as I suspect, an Aspergers thing? If so, why is this not written at the top of every scrap of instructional material that someone who might work with a HFA child might read???
It's all well and good to list vague phrases such as "Resistant to change," but let's spell it out for all these nice people: If You Let It Happen Once, Kiss the Way You Want to Do It Next Time Good-Bye.
Then came minutes 26-30, and I took it all back. Duckyboy actually swam around when he thought he was playing! Ha! Who's the suckah now? Adults rule!
I still think he's going to want to have his lesson be like that every week though. And it could work -- but he's gonna have to show a lot of improvement every week in order for me to be able to watch that again.
He ate the remaining contraband, I mean bake-sale cookies, on the way home. Probably full of butter, I can tell by the way he snarfed them down. Wait, maybe that was just because someone Other Than Me made them? No, wait, one of our sesame cookies was in there too. Oh, maybe the kid was actually hungry at 5:45 pm!
Anyway, fingers still crossed. And not just about the dairy -- how's about a 101.7 degree fever for bedtime??
With any luck, it will burn off any milk-based effects. And I'm not even kidding; a fever makes him loving, workable, and snuggly. In other words, less autistic. And there's even proof of it now. It's just one study, but it's a start.
Husband just told me to blog about why SuperNanny Jo Frost is the hottest babe on TV. And that, friends, is one of the reasons I love him.
