3.26.2004

Laundry Listing Again

What is up with Leelo? He's been repeatedly waking before 6 A.M. By waking I mean jumping into our bed in high-octane playful nutty boy mode. Aiigh! We never go to bed before midnight, so you can imagine our bleariness. Seymour and I have a tacit deal to man alternate mornings. One more example of why cuteness makes Darwinian sense, in Leelo's case.

We are seeing some more definite regular kid behaviors. Some of these are independent of his ABA learning, such as his jealously telling Iz to get the hell out of Seymour's lap by saying "Izzy all done!" Others are extrapolations from his play training, such as being able to go to any Brio-style train set up, connect all the magnetized trains, and have a great time pushing them all over the track. He never did either of these things before.

The boy still has plenty of nutty moments. Again, we've given up on trying to figure out why and concentrate on the fact that he's making steady progress. Although he has had a cold, we did reintroduce eggs and raspberries...

Also, we've been implementing a lot of changes in his supplement regimen lately, trying to decrease his doses of some minerals (the high doses were meant as chelation preparation and we're not doing that), as well as employing multivitamin combinations like Super NuThera to decrease the number of pills we have to crush and juice he needs to drink each day. Word to the wise: Super NuThera Wild Cherry syrup tastes like reaaaaally sweet kerosene.

And then there's the girl. Last night she wrote a six-page book about her zoo trip. I had to tell her how to spell about four words, and remind her to use periods at the end of her sentences. Otherwise the book was entirely her creation. Also she wrote it in ballpoint pen, not pencil. In fifteen minutes. She only made two mistakes (backwards S, and "adventchure").

Apparently, she is "in" Esperanza, or at least they are already talking about how to deal with her--according to my spy friend whose daughter is a second grade student there. We're supposed to get the official word this week. Once it arrives, and if she is indeed in, I think I'll see if I can corner the principal and ask her what exactly she expects from her incoming first graders. One thing I know for certain is that they're not required to know Spanish.

My ultra-cool friend Ambah is coming to hang out tomorrow. We met as exchange students at the University of Ghana. She gets her kicks out of putting on a ninety pound pack and striking out into the Sierras with a map and a rough months-long time table. When she's not tending her farm in Costa Rica, cycling across the country, or spearheading another of her firm's righteous environmental lawsuits.

She is the ideal person to accompany me on my dream hike from the top of Skyline into my own backyard via Hudddart and Edgewoood parks, and has agreed to do so. (Seymour, also, would be ideal, but someone has to watch the kids.) It'll be a mere stroll for her, but the giant redwood/oak forest/bay views scenery should compensate for any boredom. Plus I get to talk to her/find out what's going on in her life for at least three hours.

If we get back in time I will bring her to Moomin's birthday party.

Seymour is training hard for his first-ever mountain bike race, the Sea Ottter in Monterey. Were it my first race, I would have perhaps chosen a geared bike rather than a single-speed, but he's going to kick butt anyhow. And Iz is convinced that he's going to win. I don't really care, as long as whatever he's doing keeps him looking all fine like that. Yeow!

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