Pumpkin Time!

I love autumn, the leave outside are so gorgeous I often want to stop in the middle of the road and capture the moment with my camera, but that would be dangerous, so I don't. I also love pumpkin pie, possibly my favorite dessert ever, and I have tried a couple of different varieties of squash this year in my pies. I used some called Sweet Meat squash, and they were quite good, and this week I tried this one, a Cinderella Pumpkin. Perfect name for them, if you've seen a big one they have a definate fairy tale apeal. I apparently overcooked it a bit, because the pies were a bit dry, but tasty. So far I still prefer sugar pumpkins, partially for ease of use, both the Sweet Meat and the Cinderella Pumpkin were hard to scoop out without getting bits of skin, but the Sugar Pumpkins are easy to separate from the skin after baking in the oven for about 45 minutes. I usually get about a four pounder and get two to three pies out of it. Alexa recycled her Curious George Costume for this Halloween. We programed "Trick or Treat" into her talker, and David took her round the neighborhood a little bit.

I made a hat and wanted Alexa to model it for my Ravelry pictures, she defaults to this goofy grin when we ask her to smile. Still pretty cute.

And this blurry picture (she won't hold still) which I still love because of her direct gaze.

We have been sick for the past few weeks, first me, then Alexa and yesterday David started. Parent teacher conferences were last Thursday and Friday, and today was a random day off of school, so Alexa and I are both ready for her to go to school tomorrow.

Toothless girl

Alexa lost the other front tooth this morning, so she has a large gap!

We made this video a while ago, Alexa loves the sound of clothes being shaken out!

We got an iPod and app that are going to act as a talker for her. We are in the process of programming it to her personal needs, but so far she loves it, and is actually more verbal when using it rather than less.
David is very busy teaching his class at OSU, and I am only surviving the reduction in child care assistance because Alexa goes to school all day. Today I put a quart of home canned peaches on top of the refridgerator to photograph for the talker, and she opened the freezer door causing it to fall and break on the floor. I barely managed not to cry. That was one of only 14 quarts of peaches that are meant to last the winter, and they were a lot of work to can, not to mention costly.
Today was my first day to volunteer in Alexa's class, and it was quite fun. I love her class, there are so many sweet kids, and stories and music. Today I got to do art with the kindergarteners. There are 5 new boys in Alexa's class in kindergarten, so it is a bit difficult to manage all of them sometimes. Often they need to be physically held in place in their chairs, and the one I was wrestling with today weighs more than Alexa, so I am kind of tired this evening! Still, we got to draw skeletons, and then it was library day too, so much fun was had by all.

August already

Summer has been so busy that I don't know where to begin. When Alexa had her 6 year old well child visit to the doctor, he said that she had dropped below her growth curve on height, so he referred us up to the CDRC feeding clinics again to make sure she didn't have some vitamin deficiency that was keeping her from growing, though she did grow about 4 inches this year, which seemed like a lot to me! We also were referred to some specialists in neurology and psychology to help give us a diagnosis for her. Developmental delay is not a diagnosis beyond early childhood and insurance companies for one, begin wanting something more at her age. It also could help us get other services for her if she had some sort of syndrome that had foundations raising money for it. To be honest, I was kind of hoping for a diagnosis on the autism spectrum because it seems like there is a lot of help out there for those with autism. Fortunately or unfortunately, the doctors don't seem to think this fits her. She is far too social and interactive, and doesn't display the repetitive self-soothing behaviors that autistic kids tend to.
The feeding clinic weighed and measurde her and they think she is tall enough, but still isn't gaining enough weight to keep her BMI up in a good range. So we are back to trying to fatten her up by slipping fat into her vegetables, and trying to expand her diet. The dietician warned me that we can't just offer her the things we know she likes, or she will always be this picky. The difficulty is that she is very stubborn, and can't be forced into it. When we were kids my parents made us try some of everything on the table, but I think we were a little older than Alexa is now. Right now we just have to sneak a little of something new into the things she already likes, so we put a little peanut butter on some of her crackers, or add some raisins into her oatmeal. One of the most frustrating things for me is the food waste. I also get frustrated when she stops eating something that she used to eat. About 6 months ago she loved Craisins, but now she won't touch Trader Joe's dried cranberries. Probably because the package is different. She will eat grated cheese, but not cubed or sliced. She won't eat crackers that are any other shape than Annie's Bunny crackers. She won't eat Bunny Grahams. Her favorite food this summer is bell peppers. A very low calorie food!
In addition to all the food fun, we had a rotten day back in July when we were first scheduled at the CBA (clinical brain anomaly) clinic in Portland. We got a call cancelling our appointment 45 minutes before the scheduled time. I was already in Portland. I was so mad. Then when we got home that afternoon, Alexa fell and cut her face right at the edge of her eyebrow, and it had to be glued at urgent-care. (Where it always takes three hours, even when there are only two other people there.) Alexa lost her first tooth (I think this was on August 5th.) We didn't know it was loose of course, since she couldn't tell us. She just walked over to David with blood coming out of her mouth, and he asked me if I knew how she hurt herself, and then she spit something out, and I realized she must have lost a tooth. About two weeks later she lost the one right next to it. (I kind of pulled that one, she wanted me to help her, but it was very challenging, those baby teeth are so tiny!)

We went to the fair with Penny, Chris and Christopher. Alexa loved this vehicle the best, but I can't remember what is is called, a loader? I should know this, since we have about 5 truck books, but half of them are from the UK where they call dump trucks tippers, so I forget what they are called in the U.S.

The had a smaller backhoe one that she got to play in. She was in heaven!

I figured out how she gets so much food in her hair when she eats. She drops food in her bib, and then looks down to scoop it out, and her hair gets in her bowl. I started putting a bandana on her head as a sort of second bib, but it looks kind of cute this way. She has started to love wearing hats so she leaved it on without complaint.

The picture is unclear because my camera lens had a fingerprint on it. (A small finger...) Summer's almost over, school starts in two weeks, and Alexa will be in first grade. I am very excited!

Summer finally!

I realize that I have not blogged here for about three months, so I apologize for that. My laptop broke and when David took it to the recycling center he forgot the usb insert for the wireless mouse, so I am without a mouse for my new laptop, and I have a hard time with pictures with only the touchpad, though I did manage these, I just couldn't edit them at all.
I have been doing my best to keep Alexa busy this summer, because if she doesn't get enough exercise and attention she runs around the house like a little crazy person. She has recently begun to love to wear hats, and when I let her try this one on, she wouldn't let me take it off even though it was too big for her since it is mine. She does look very cute in it though! We go to the park a lot, and swimming in the pool here at the apartment complex.
We went to Ryan and Carleen's for a barbeque and Alexa enjoyedf trying to play croquet, though when I told her to hit the ball with the mallet she used it like a hammer instead of the way I had in mind :)

We went down to Lisa's house and had a playdate, but we didn't bring Alexa's swimsuit, so she wore some of Marrisa's pjs to play in the pool. She loves water so much!

David got on the part-time staff at LBCC and is teaching a month long astronomy course starting next week. He has been very busy preparing for it since the first time teaching a course requires a huge amount of preparatory work planning lectures, labs, and writing exams. We are glad for him to have the opportunity to get some teaching experience though, so we aren't complaining. Anyway, David does love astronomy.

We are mostly enjoying our new apartment, it stays pretty comfortable, even on the hot days. We just close it up when it starts getting too warm and keep the shades closed so the sun can't shine in too much.

April Already?

It sometimes seems like I miss whole weeks, so I'd better try to update here. We have sold the house, we signed the closing documents Wednesday. There was a bit of a problem with water under the house, so we had to hire a guy to dig a drain around the house before the sale went through, but it did finally. We will be moving in June to an apartment about a quarter mile away from us. Some of the big news: Alexa is toilet trained! We spent two weeks working on it very hard, but now she really seems to have it. She still wears pull-ups at night, and she has an accident every 2-3 days, but she wears underwear all day every day, and her accidents are always at home, which tells me they are actually within her control..

We had her parent-teacher conference and Alexa showed me all the things she has learned so far. She can write her name, with a little prompting. (She loves to write A's) She can read about 10 words. She knows all her colors, all her letters, numbers 0-3 very solidly, 4-6 sometimes. She can pronounce quite a few letters now, so I believe she will begin to have some speech in the next year or so. Her a and e sounds are beginning to sound different from each other, and she can say c, h, m, g, y, all the vowels, (although they still sound somewhat alike, and she isn't very good at o.) She has also managed to jump now and then. This has taken a long time to learn, so like toilet training I am very excited by this.

I made her another pair of Unmentionables (that's the name of the pattern for these pants.)

She outgrew her shoes last month, and we got her a pair size 11, and then a few weeks later she didn't want to wear those either, so these are her summer shoes and are size 12. If anyone wants last year's Keens (purple size 10) let me know!

A few more fun February photos

Alexa is really great at riding her tricycle now. She routinely rides in a mile long circle around our neighborhood. She goes very fast sometime too. It seems like it took a year or two to get to this point, so we are really proud of her. How often have you seen a really great milk moustache?

I am again trying to let her hair grow out. It is really cute in pigtails! Every time I get out the camera to take a picture she goes to stand against a door or the refrigerator. This is how they do it at school. I began volunteering at her class one day a week. My first day was last week, and I am so excited about it. It was very fun, and I learned a huge amount on my first day. I think it will help me be a better mom, and will help me know how to work on reading and writing at home in a way that does not conflict with the methods they use at her school.

We went to Seattle this weekend to visit the auntie and cousins. Alexa had a fever all day Saturday, but bounced back to normal on Sunday.

We played at the park a bit before the long car ride home.

I think I can safely say we have sold the house. There is always a slight possibility that something won't work out, but we have accepted an offer, and are hoping to close midway through March. We will move out in May..we worked out a plan with our buyer to stay in the house until then. We still don't know about the post-doc position David has applied for, but if it doesn't work out, we will move into an apartment here in town until something does.

And February

Once again I have let more than a month go by and no blog entry, so I am sure I will forget things, but here's my best effort at catching you up. Alexa finished another session at The Little Gym, and so there was another "Show." This is always highly entertaining. Alexa has learned some great skills here, but the funniest part was where she ran to another family after every performance for congratulations and high-fives. Since she is so friendly, this other family was happy to oblige! Valentine's day brought a huge amount of candy to the house. Alexa is a part of two classes, and received Valentines from both groups. Some of her teachers also made some lovely cards, and one made a beanbag Valentine!

We stayed home for Valentine's day, and I made a nice meal. Alexa even ate the same food as we did, garlic mashed potatoes and the last of my frozen corn from last summer! She didn't eat the tri-tip of course.

I met with Alexa's teachers today to write her IEP for the next year. They are great people, and I wish we could stay in Corvallis so she could be in that classroom for three more years. (Among other reasons..we don't want to move away from all the folks we love who live here.) Unfortunately there is still nothing to share about David's job hunt.

We are getting close to selling the house, but I'll wait to share until everything is worked out with regard to that. I'm sad about that too, I have loved this house.

We have had two weeks in a row of horseback riding lessons together with Tayler and Reese. So much fun for all!

I have been going to Pilates classes for a few weeks now at my gym. I have done it before from videos at home, but now I am doing the hour long classes. If you haven't ever tried it, you should, it helps my posture and keeps my back and hips and shoulders in good shape. It's one of those things that produces noticeable results quickly!

To Finish off 2009

I knitted Alexa a mommy and baby sock monkey. They will complete her family, since she has loved the now one-eyed, nearly bald daddy monkey nearly to death. She is starting to understand about presents, but never tried to open the packages before Christmas.

We were at the beach in Florence again with David's side of the family for Christmas. It was sunny and gorgeous this year, and Alexa loved it.

We had them all to our house for New Year's eve, but they left before midnight, all except for Carolyn, who spent the night with us.

Vacation was fun, but Alexa is glad to be back in school. We have put our house up for sale. Since David is looking for a job, and it is unlikely to be in Corvallis, we have decided to put the house up for sale in hopes that it will sell before we have to move somewhere else. We will then live in an apartment until that time comes. Keeping the house clean and neat enough to show almost all the time is hard, even though we will show by appointment, we have to keep it almost ready all the time.

David has a part time post-doc for three months with a professor at OSU. He has been a voluteer post-doc for a few months already, but it will be nice to have a little money coming in. We are hoping that the experience and references from this will help him find a paying position soon. He does very well working from home, although would do better if we could manage to leave him alone more.

I am still cooking from my new Julia Child cookbook. I made a cake last night with 4 eggs and no baking powder. It was called a butter spongecake, and turned out very well. It is gone already. It gets fluffiness from the whipped egg whites instead of baking powder or soda. I also have made a wonderful quiche, every bit as good as the ones at the French Bakery. (Not due to any great prowess as a cook, I just followed the directions.) I am working out often, and so far not getting fatter, but I am keeping a careful watch on the weight!!

I hope you all had lovely holidays and will have a terrific 2010!!