Time off from the Blog-o-Sphere

Micah, wearing his BAHA, driving the tractor at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia

BAHA-less Micah with his Velcro sunglasses


Thea's New Year's Day masterpieces




Chef Thea with puffy hat created by her Mom

Thea's unique take on fashion: The "I'm Everything" Look

I have been full of good intentions that have not manifested into action, at least regarding writing up a new post. The plague departed, the Christmas holiday came and went, New Year's came and went, and all the stuff I wanted to write about is just a big blobby mass in my brain now that it's the middle of January. And I am a slug. Big time.

Big news: Thea is reading The Backyardigans Ready-to-Read series, which is just amazing since we've not exactly been doing anything more than reading to her and sounding out letters.

Micah has about 30+ words or so, which means he's moving up to about the equivalent of a one-year old in terms of speech (supposedly the average one year old has command of about fifty words). Not that he uses them consistently and some almost never on command.

Tomorrow thanks to the MLK holiday there is no PIG (parent-infant group) at Summit Speech School, which will be a nice break. Micah seems to benefit from whatever they're doing with the kids, but the mommies group is going to be the death of me. Same stories, same schticks, different week - and it would probably be horrible un-PC of me to say, can I just go read a book in the lobby? Considering that the school codes the time we're there as 'respite' care, it would be nice if it were a true respite instead of listening to the same predictable stuff from the same people week in and week out.

Thea, Micah and I went to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia last week - where the parking rates have risen even beyond the extortion I remember while I was a student at Penn. The parking was 2/3 of what it cost in admission fees to the museum for the three of us. It will be interesting to see what the museum will turn into when it moves to Fairmont Park sometime this year - and if there will be a parking fee.

Six months have passed since Micah's adoption. Our social worker came on New Year's Day for the post-placement interview, and Friday I finally summoned the strength to take Micah for his bloodwork. Two sticks, because his first vein collapsed. The two phlebotomists had the second tourniquet on and the vein tapped before I could have a fit (Micah's fit was already in progress and was mostly due to being held tight rather than being stuck.) Wednesday I take him in to see the doctor for the paperwork that goes along with the labs.

And in only 41 days, the boy turns two. . . .