My record is far from perfect, but I've managed to keep up my "20 min writing each day" for longer than I expected. Since it hasn't even been a full month, that tells you just how much faith I had in myself starting out. But anyway, I'm changing the rules a bit.
Instead of 20 minutes writing every night, I'm going to give myself 30 min of 'mommy time', which can be writing, walking, or something else to help me center and refresh. (Facebook or mindless internetting does not count!) I've picked up on the Pokemon Go craze, because of course I have, and our dog is a huge fan of the extra walkies this entails. For awhile I was trying to fit in both writing and a Pokéwalk, but I was losing too much sleep and The Mess was getting even more out of hand than usual. So I will compromise, with this caveat: if the writing starts to take a backseat, I'll change things up again.
I'm having a hard time tracking when is the best time to write. Some evenings I'll leave it until the last minute only to find myself nearly brain dead. On the other hand, I started out this evening without two brain cells to rub together, but after food and housework accompanied by the inspiring Hamilton audiobook, changed my mind and sat down to this ramble right before bed. On rare days when Pippin and Bella are napping at the same time I can sneak away with the Chromebook, and those are good days. Maybe when school starts up I can pull off the daytime writing more often, but with half-day kindergarten I'm not going to hold my breath.
Friday, July 29, 2016
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Brag post
Since I usually write to complain about how crazy the kids make me, I want to take this opportunity to brag about Merry.
Quick side note to make sense of why the two stories below are actually a big deal--Merry's biggest challenge right now is listening and processing instructions.
Our boy's latest sensory kick has been mud, which I almost don't want to complain about because it's so typical that it goes straight into stereotypical. In spite of my efforts he managed to get himself slightly muddy at the park today, not muddy enough that I couldn't put him in the van, but enough for him to volunteer "oh, my feet are muddy! I'll have to wash them when we get home." He was really looking forward to that part, apparently.
Once we got home he didn't bother to wait for me, but *listened* to my instructions, headed into the bathroom and washed his own feet in the tub! He even climbed up on the toilet to get his soap (long story) and I'm not even mad because other than sticky hands, this is the first time he's voluntarily washed anything for himself! Very proud.
Then to top it off, I told him that he'd have to clean up his trains before playing video games. Cleaning up the trains has been a sticking point lately, he understandably wants to leave them out so that he doesn't have to keep building the same track over and over again. But the creeping mess around here is beyond ridiculous, so I use screen time as a motivation to make some temporary headway with cleanup.
I told him one time, then got caught up in baby and chores (and Facebook, lets be honest). I assumed he had decided it wasn't worth the cleanup effort and would either play with his trains or something else. But lo and behold, fifteen minutes later I realized he was halfway through the cleanup! It was hilarious though, because instead of just picking up the trains, he would detach one car at a time and let it have a solo victory lap around the track before depositing it in the box. One by one, making the cleanup part of the play.
After the exhaustion of this crazy wonderful summer, it gave me such a glow to see him process, follow through and enjoy his reward.
Quick side note to make sense of why the two stories below are actually a big deal--Merry's biggest challenge right now is listening and processing instructions.
Our boy's latest sensory kick has been mud, which I almost don't want to complain about because it's so typical that it goes straight into stereotypical. In spite of my efforts he managed to get himself slightly muddy at the park today, not muddy enough that I couldn't put him in the van, but enough for him to volunteer "oh, my feet are muddy! I'll have to wash them when we get home." He was really looking forward to that part, apparently.
Once we got home he didn't bother to wait for me, but *listened* to my instructions, headed into the bathroom and washed his own feet in the tub! He even climbed up on the toilet to get his soap (long story) and I'm not even mad because other than sticky hands, this is the first time he's voluntarily washed anything for himself! Very proud.
Then to top it off, I told him that he'd have to clean up his trains before playing video games. Cleaning up the trains has been a sticking point lately, he understandably wants to leave them out so that he doesn't have to keep building the same track over and over again. But the creeping mess around here is beyond ridiculous, so I use screen time as a motivation to make some temporary headway with cleanup.
I told him one time, then got caught up in baby and chores (and Facebook, lets be honest). I assumed he had decided it wasn't worth the cleanup effort and would either play with his trains or something else. But lo and behold, fifteen minutes later I realized he was halfway through the cleanup! It was hilarious though, because instead of just picking up the trains, he would detach one car at a time and let it have a solo victory lap around the track before depositing it in the box. One by one, making the cleanup part of the play.
After the exhaustion of this crazy wonderful summer, it gave me such a glow to see him process, follow through and enjoy his reward.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli
What a time to be alive! Using a magical device I can summon groceries to my front door within a few hours. Or in other words, Amazon's PrimeNow is my new favorite thing.
I realized this morning that I was missing a few key elements for trying a new recipe and had to face the choice of skipping our park and picnic outing for a store trip or putting off real cooking for yet another day. (These days I can only manage one major outing during the day between naps, feedings, and omg three little people!)
Amazon to the rescue! I was even able to get frozen food, and could have done fresh produce if I'd wanted to spend the time figuring out a minimum order. Anyway, the day was saved and the recipe turned out awesome! Merry and Pippin put it away with nary a complaint, which is unheard of for a new recipe in these parts.
I made a few changes to Tasty's Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli, and it turned out delicious and super-easy.
2 lbs top roast (our market sells it as London Broil), sliced thin (could also use chuck roast or other boneless roast)
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 1/12 Tbsp. cooking sherry
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
4 Tbsp. beef broth
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets (or frozen broccoli)
Mix 1c broth, soy sauce, sugar, oil, sherry and garlic in crock pot, then mix in beef. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 2 hours. In the last 20 min of cooking, mix cornstarch and 4 tbsp broth, add to crock pot and mix. Steam broccoli separately or add it to beef for the last 5-10 min of cooking. Serve over rice.
I realized this morning that I was missing a few key elements for trying a new recipe and had to face the choice of skipping our park and picnic outing for a store trip or putting off real cooking for yet another day. (These days I can only manage one major outing during the day between naps, feedings, and omg three little people!)
Amazon to the rescue! I was even able to get frozen food, and could have done fresh produce if I'd wanted to spend the time figuring out a minimum order. Anyway, the day was saved and the recipe turned out awesome! Merry and Pippin put it away with nary a complaint, which is unheard of for a new recipe in these parts.
I made a few changes to Tasty's Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli, and it turned out delicious and super-easy.
2 lbs top roast (our market sells it as London Broil), sliced thin (could also use chuck roast or other boneless roast)
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 1/12 Tbsp. cooking sherry
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
4 Tbsp. beef broth
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets (or frozen broccoli)
Mix 1c broth, soy sauce, sugar, oil, sherry and garlic in crock pot, then mix in beef. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 2 hours. In the last 20 min of cooking, mix cornstarch and 4 tbsp broth, add to crock pot and mix. Steam broccoli separately or add it to beef for the last 5-10 min of cooking. Serve over rice.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Statistically, you have almost no chance of getting in to see the uber-hyped musical Hamilton, but you should absolutely get hands on the soundtrack. I was skeptical at first--hip hop and rap are nowhere near my musical comfort zone, but musicals in general are pretty smack dab in the middle so I had to give it a try.
It'd be pretty bad form to recommend music and then claim to have terrible musical taste, so lets just say I'm . . . unadventurous when it comes to music. I can listen to the same stuff forever (this actually comes in handy for retaining my sanity when it comes to kids music) so I've listened to precious few new things for the past . . . decade? But I kept hearing all the hype and wondered if it was actually that good. (Spoiler: it totally is)
The source material for the musical, Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, finally showed up from the library and I am so excited! I'm not a huge biography reader in general, but after falling in love with the musical I'll snap it up.
It's easy to see why Hamilton's life inspired the brilliant Lin Manuel Miranda, and I'm consistently impressed at how well the musical condenses the drama and emotion of the founding father's life. By now I've memorized the lyrics well enough to see familiar phrases waving at me from Chernow's prose, and in the back of my mind the soundtrack pounds through the corresponding scenes in the book quite satisfyingly.
There's plenty of interesting deviations between the musical and the biography, but so far they've only been either implied or minor facts, not anything to change the spirit of the narrative.
From the musical I had the impression that the three Schuyler sisters were Philip Schuyler's only children (and Angelica claims specifically that her father has no sons), but it turns out he had 8 children who survived to adulthood, three of them sons. The edit makes sense though: Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy were the oldest children; their brothers were quite a bit younger. The aura of heiresses also adds to the drama of the musical's romance.
Another notable change is that Angelica was already married before either sister met Hamilton. (Fun Fact! Eliza was the only one of the 5 sisters who didn't elope.) This changes the courtship dynamic and eliminates the tragically beautiful song Satisfied, but the relationships between Hamilton and the two sisters seems pretty faithful to Chernow's account.
I'm not going to bother outlining every deviation between biography and musical, but I may follow up with any that I find noteworthy. Not liveblogging the read, but not bothering to finish the lengthy thing before I write about it.
It'd be pretty bad form to recommend music and then claim to have terrible musical taste, so lets just say I'm . . . unadventurous when it comes to music. I can listen to the same stuff forever (this actually comes in handy for retaining my sanity when it comes to kids music) so I've listened to precious few new things for the past . . . decade? But I kept hearing all the hype and wondered if it was actually that good. (Spoiler: it totally is)
The source material for the musical, Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, finally showed up from the library and I am so excited! I'm not a huge biography reader in general, but after falling in love with the musical I'll snap it up.
It's easy to see why Hamilton's life inspired the brilliant Lin Manuel Miranda, and I'm consistently impressed at how well the musical condenses the drama and emotion of the founding father's life. By now I've memorized the lyrics well enough to see familiar phrases waving at me from Chernow's prose, and in the back of my mind the soundtrack pounds through the corresponding scenes in the book quite satisfyingly.
There's plenty of interesting deviations between the musical and the biography, but so far they've only been either implied or minor facts, not anything to change the spirit of the narrative.
From the musical I had the impression that the three Schuyler sisters were Philip Schuyler's only children (and Angelica claims specifically that her father has no sons), but it turns out he had 8 children who survived to adulthood, three of them sons. The edit makes sense though: Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy were the oldest children; their brothers were quite a bit younger. The aura of heiresses also adds to the drama of the musical's romance.
Another notable change is that Angelica was already married before either sister met Hamilton. (Fun Fact! Eliza was the only one of the 5 sisters who didn't elope.) This changes the courtship dynamic and eliminates the tragically beautiful song Satisfied, but the relationships between Hamilton and the two sisters seems pretty faithful to Chernow's account.
I'm not going to bother outlining every deviation between biography and musical, but I may follow up with any that I find noteworthy. Not liveblogging the read, but not bothering to finish the lengthy thing before I write about it.
Monday, July 18, 2016
Monday whine
Another rough day. Was the last one a Monday too? For awhile I thought that being a SAHM and therefore on duty 24-7, I was immune to the Monday blues. But that was during the school year, when Merry had school and the comfort of a predictable schedule. He's been having a rough time lately, meltdowns and tantrums several times a day instead of only once a week or so. Time to try a few new strategies.
His therapist recommended a scheduling and routine building app for the tablet to help Merry regain some control and predictability. (Choiceworks for iOS, but we'll probably try the similar First Then Visual Schedule on the Android tablet since the boys' iPad is ancient and sloooow) I've been dragging my feet, but I'm pretty sure she's right--his pretend play lately has been putting his toys through morning and bedtime routines. We'll see how it goes.
Incidentally, I hate being the mom who whines about summer. I loved the last few summers we've had, spending most mornings out at parks, bringing a picnic lunch, watching the boys play, and enjoying the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. And I was looking forward to this one too! Still time to salvage it; the hard part is just getting out of the house--once we're out at the park or wherever, things are back to beautiful. I suspect if we can put Merry back on a more even footing, things will vastly improve.
His therapist recommended a scheduling and routine building app for the tablet to help Merry regain some control and predictability. (Choiceworks for iOS, but we'll probably try the similar First Then Visual Schedule on the Android tablet since the boys' iPad is ancient and sloooow) I've been dragging my feet, but I'm pretty sure she's right--his pretend play lately has been putting his toys through morning and bedtime routines. We'll see how it goes.
Incidentally, I hate being the mom who whines about summer. I loved the last few summers we've had, spending most mornings out at parks, bringing a picnic lunch, watching the boys play, and enjoying the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. And I was looking forward to this one too! Still time to salvage it; the hard part is just getting out of the house--once we're out at the park or wherever, things are back to beautiful. I suspect if we can put Merry back on a more even footing, things will vastly improve.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Doggie Heaven
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| Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/9Kz3f |
Around this time last year one of our dogs had to be put down. I wasn't sure what Merry understood beyond "Zoe's gone, she's not coming back." But for some reason he's been asking about her lately, and we had one of the longest conversations we've had. Definitely the first about such a difficult topic.
It was incredible and terrifying, because I was simultaneously going "ahhhh! He's asking questions, this is amazing!" and "ahhhh! How do you explain death to an autistic 5 year old?*" and "why did I even bring up doggie heaven? I don't even know if I believe in doggie heaven, what a great start to his religious education!"
It went something like this:
Merry: We're going to see her again soon gesturing to the stuffed dog we named Baby Zoe years ago
Me: No sweetie, Zoe is in doggie heaven, she can't come back.
[The next day]
Merry: Tell me about the dog places.
Me: Do you mean the vet? The pet wash?
Merry: Tell me more dog places.
Think I see where this is going
Me: Are you asking about doggie heaven?
Merry: Yes. What do dogs do there?
Me: uhhhh, they run and play, eat tasty food and sleep on comfy pillows!
Merry: And we'll go get her soon.
oh no, I'm going to have to use the D word
Me: Love, Zoe died. We can't see her again, we can't bring her back.
ooohhh, I'm so not ready to talk about people heaven, pleeeease don't ask about people heaven and the possible intersection with doggie heaven
Merry: *long pause* Our other dog isn't going to doggie heaven.
Me: No, Millie's healthy, she'll be with us for a long time.
Merry: She's not going to die.
Me: She will some day, all dogs do. But not any time soon.
Merry: She's not going to die!
Me: She's going to stay with us for a long time, you don't have to worry about it. Lets get ready for bed!
*or any 5 year old, really. The only wrinkle autism adds here is that I'll probably get only one shot at this for years and very little feedback on what he's thinking about it.
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
Getting back on the writing horse! I missed a few days because of a family visit, but the important part is starting back up again.
Next month's book club read is Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. I started it up with absolutely zero idea what it was about and stepped straight into the twilight zone. Quick background: We're relatively recent transplants to the Seattle suburbs and the Gaffer has worked for two of the big tech firms up here. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? takes place in Seattle and out of nowhere the novel's opening hit viscerally, terrifyingly close to home.
Within the first few chapters we're mired deep into the high-stress tech industry, vicious private school parent politics and the hazards of blackberry vines. Although the setting is several miles away from us and several social strata higher, it feels like turning over a pleasant log and finding a bunch of maggots. But worse, because I actually enjoy entomology way more than stressful social situations.
*Deep breath* But other than the gut punch of the opening, I'm really enjoying the book. The characters are vibrant, the plot is intricate and delicately crafted, and its overall a fun read. Four stars.
Next month's book club read is Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. I started it up with absolutely zero idea what it was about and stepped straight into the twilight zone. Quick background: We're relatively recent transplants to the Seattle suburbs and the Gaffer has worked for two of the big tech firms up here. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? takes place in Seattle and out of nowhere the novel's opening hit viscerally, terrifyingly close to home.
Within the first few chapters we're mired deep into the high-stress tech industry, vicious private school parent politics and the hazards of blackberry vines. Although the setting is several miles away from us and several social strata higher, it feels like turning over a pleasant log and finding a bunch of maggots. But worse, because I actually enjoy entomology way more than stressful social situations.
*Deep breath* But other than the gut punch of the opening, I'm really enjoying the book. The characters are vibrant, the plot is intricate and delicately crafted, and its overall a fun read. Four stars.
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