Welcome October!

It's creeping up on two weeks since I've written anything - and with that comes the feeling that I MUST write something, but to me blogging should be for enjoyment, not out of any sense of obligation.

We're now about nine days away from Thea's birthday, and still no solid plans about what to do for it.  The obligatory cupcakes and stuff for school, once I find out about any food allergies in her class.  Last year since school was so small, I made goody bags for everyone, but now the pre-K and K is as big as 1st grade.  Making almost two dozen party bags just is not on my agenda.

Thursday and Friday the other NP in the office and I got to attend the Pri-Med CME conference in Philadelphia.  First day we drove, which was fine until we got over the Betsy Ross bridge and hit traffic.  Friday we drove to Haddonfield and took the PATCO high speed line to 8th and Market and walked to the Convention Center.  It was nice have that feeling of being a commuter again, not that I would want to do it on a regular basis.

The conference was good, just long sessions.  But Karen's friend Judy got us seats in the back (easy exit) right near an electric outlet - and I dragged my laptop along both days so when both my mind and my butt started going numb, I could get some work done, check email and otherwise entertain myself.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, we had the first parent-teacher conference at Thea's school.  Not terribly exciting: she's reading at an early 2nd grade level, her Chinese is impressive given that she gets utterly no reinforcement at home (unless you count playing her favorite CD of Chinese songs at bedtime) and she's otherwise a good kid.

Thea and I seem to be getting over our upper respiratory infections just as Steve and Micah are starting out with the same.  Micah's nose has been running like a faucet and he has a total aversion to wiping his own nose due to not wanting to get his hands messy.  He's not allowed to blow his now per his ENT's orders - not that Micah even knows how.  He does the sound effects of nose blowing, without the actual blowing out of the gunk.  Next appointment is Wednesday, and we have an IEP meeting at school that day as well.  This time the school district's case manager is actually venturing out to Summit School for the meeting.  Earlier this year when we were in the thick of the IEP she said that she 'always got lost going up to Summit.'  Now she's either got her bearings or has a GPS because the meeting is there so she can observe Micah.

Last weekend we went to the Autumn Moon/Lantern Festival in Philadelphia's Chinatown.  Thea's school was carrying a banner in the parade, and a group of parents and children had dinner at Rangoon, a wonderful Burmese restaurant.  Both Thea's and Micah's lanterns did not survive - Micah was running, tripped and fell, ripping his lantern; Thea's Pokemon lantern's wire broke.  But minus those two little glitches, the kids had a great time.  Thea watched a martial arts demonstration that just fascinated her, Micah got to go in a bounce house - despite our fears that children twice his size would bounce him into a pulp.  I'll be able to upload photos later today.