Very Disturbing News

We got very disturbing news today.

Rachel, a woman in Tiffany's Myotonic Dystrophy support group, died suddenly this week from complications relating to her Myotonic Dystrophy. Over the weekend she began getting weak from lack of Oxygen in her blood until Tuesday she finally went to the hospital, where she died Tuesday evening. Lack of Oxygen in the blood is a complication of Myotonic Dystrophy.

Tiffany does have low Oxygen in her blood – she sighs a lot, as if to catch her breath, and has sleep apnea, which is related. However, it sounds like Rachel's low Oxygen was worse than Tiffany's.

This has come to a shock to us because Myotonic Dystrophy is supposed to be a very slowly progressing condition which does not generally cause life-threatening issues until old age, and even then the issues are generally manageable. (A pacemaker may be required at some point, for instance)

Rachel is the first person we have know to die of complications from Myotonic Dystrophy.

Alex’s Parent-Teacher Conference & Excel Testing

Tiffany and I went to Alex's Parent-Teacher conference on Tuesday evening with his teacher, Mrs. Gallo. We were pleasantly surprised. Alex's behavior is steadily improving, and he is participating very well in class. He received 94/100 on his end-of-chapter math test; the average score in the class was about 90. The questions Alex DID miss were ones that he had either skipped or rushed through. The teacher gave him a beginning-of-third-grade reading test, and he passed it very well. Although his penmanship is atrocious, the writing is very good when he has a story that he wants to tell and he applies himself. When he is given a topic, however, he seems to have trouble deciding what to write. Mrs. Gallo suggested that we have him draw pictures before beginning the writing – this seems like a very good idea to me.

Although our primary reason for testing him for Excel has been as a gateway out of Sifton, we decided with Mrs. Gallo that, because he has been sooooo close for two years, and because he says he enjoys the test, we will have him tested again this year.

In the past, we have taken the school district at their word that the Excel test is one that cannot be studied for. However, we have since spoken with psychologists who have told us that the standard test Evergreen uses for Excel is not very well accepted professionally specifically because it CAN be studied for. Because our boundary exception to Fisher's Landing is only guaranteed for one year, and because we are TERRIFIED about sending Alex back to Sifton, we WILL be studying for the Excel test this year.

Unscheduled Dentist Visit

Today I went to Parkrose Hardware to pick up some socket adapters for work and helped myself to a bag of their popcorn. In fact, the popcorn is why I went to Parkrose Hardware instead of Baxter's! Just after leaving, I was chomping away at the popcorn when I heard and felt a SNAP . . . I broke a molar in two! This was surprising because I was not chewing unpopped kernels, and I was not chewing hard.

I called our dentist, and was able to get an appointment in less than 30 minutes. I rushed to work to let them know I was going to be out for a while, then to the dentist office. Because Tiffany was at her Myotonic Dystrophy support group in Beaverton, and Alex had a half day of school, I had to call Grandma Kennedy and ask her to pick up Alex.

The dentist told me that I needed a crown, and that he suggested that we do it today. I decided to get it over with, but that this was NOT what I had in mind when I woke up this morning. He told me that this IS what he had in mind . . . he had woken up and thought "I hope I can do a crown today". He must have a boat payment coming due.

Within 2 ½ hours of the break, I was out of the office and driving back to work. I had not eaten lunch, so I was hungry, and decided that I deserved Burger King. I went through the drive-through and ordered a Whopper, medium fries, and a large Diet Pepsi (or do they have Coke?) Unfortunately, because I had so much Novocain, the fries tasted very similar to cardboard, but not quite as moist. The Whopper was only marginally better.

A Long Saturday

Yesterday ended up being a long day, activity-filled from beginning to end.

Our first activity was going to the Camp Lewis Day Camp preview with the Cub Scout pack. We were to meet at York at 8 AM; we slept in until about 7:30, so we were really rushing to get out of the house, but we did make it. We arrived at Camp Lewis by 8:30, registered, and started going around to the activities. First was BB gun shooting, then archery, then (as Alex did some crafts and such) standing around the outdoor fireplace. It was a cold morning! Again, Alex asked if he can have a bow and arrow. I'm pretty sure he's going to get one for Christmas.

About 11:00 we left Camp Lewis and went to Pomeroy Farms to get our pumpkin. We had never been to Pomeroy Farms, and Alex wanted to go to Bi-Zi Farms again instead, but we forced him to try something new. We had fun at Pomeroy Farms. It is quite different from Bi-Zi Farms . . . better in some ways, lot as good in others. First, Pomeroy does not have a corn maze or pumpkin catapult. Alex was not happy about the catapult, but we appeased him about the Corn Maze by promising that we would take him to one in November. Another good thing about Bi-Zi is that they might charge more for admission, but everything is included – the maze, any pumpkin you can carry out of the field, even a warm drink. Admission to Pomeroy is a little less, but they charge extra for a pumpkin ($1 - $8, depending on the size), a warm drink ($1 for a smallish paper cup), and making a scarecrow ($8). Although Bi-Zi has a larger pumpkin patch, Pomeroy has a better pumpkin patch. When wandering through the Bi-Zi field, there is no doubt that you are looking at pumpkins that grew right there . . . many are rotted or otherwise unfit, so that you have to walk around quite a bit to find a really good pumpkin. At Pomeroy, every pumpkin is good, and there are a lot of pumpkins. In fact, I wonder if Pomeroy doesn't have a stock of pumpkins that they scatter through their field. The Pomeroy hay ride is more interesting. The road wanders for ½ mile or more through woods and fields, with scarecrow scenes around every corner. Pomeroy has a few animals, and had a country band and magician for entertainment. The magician, Professor Bamboozle, was quite good. After watching his ½ hour show one time, Alex decided to stick around and watch part of it again; we finally had to MAKE him leave!

After leaving Pomeroy Farms, we stopped at Izzy's for lunch and visited the Parrot Perch in Hazel Dell. The parrots there are quite interesting . . . there are about a dozen of them that are free to roam the store. Many of them talk. In the back, they have some baby parrots, still with their grey baby feathers.

Finally, we began looking for Alex's Halloween Costume. He wanted to be a skeleton when we began. His problem with that is the Karate school's Halloween party on Friday, where no scary costumes are allowed, so he would have to forgo the mask. We offered to paint his face like a skeleton for that party. After looking at quite a few skeleton costumes, he changed his mind and wanted to be a Star Wars Clone Trooper. Again, he tried on many costumes – they all either did not fit, or were pretty cheesy. Finally, he decided he wanted to be a Zombie Knight. It took a LOT of looking and coaxing, but we finally decided on a Crusader Knight costume, added a sword (of course), and bought some makeup to make his face into a green zombie face. Now we need to alter the costume (the face of the chain mail does not fit around his head) and figure out how to paint his face as a zombie. My first try this morning had him looking more like the Wicked Witch of the West.

A Missed Opportunity – Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Alex has spent the past week reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books nonstop – some of them more than once; he is now nearly finished with the latest book, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days". I just found out that the author, Jeff Kinney, is on the release tour for this book, and was at a Powell's in Beaverton on Monday evening! He has a full-time job and does not tour much; this was a whirlwind trip down the West Coast with only about 5 stops, then he goes home. I can't believe we missed this opportunity! I'm sure it would have been a madhouse, with a LONG line, but I wish I would have known about this.

Alex is treating these books with extra care, and has given them a shelf of their own – taking care that they are always placed neatly and in the correct order. He would have LOVED to have them signed!

Also, I really like the idea of him meeting an author to show him that REAL people write books. I think it's important to show him that authors, actors, athletes, politicians, firemen . . . whatever . . . are REAL people. That way, he is aware of the opportunities, and that HE can do any of those things.

Chess Club

Tuesday night was our first PTO meeting at Fisher's Landing – it was quite long (2 ½ hours) and interesting.

I met with Julie Williams after the meeting to discuss the Chess Club. She showed me the equipment that has been purchased – 10 vinyl boards with large weighted pieces and storage bags, a bunch of chess pencils and wrist bands, and notebooks for recording games. It's all stored in a large plastic tote. Although we are limiting the first 6-week session to 20 students, we already had more than 40 forms turned in as of Tuesday; this despite them just going home on Friday!

I will be looking for some good "How to teach chess" books. Also, we will have a meeting with all of the volunteers next Thursday to come up with our game plan. In addition to me, there is one grandfather who seems excellent for this undertaking – he has run tournaments for years, and writes for a chess magazine – but he does not want to commit to organizing the club on a full-time bases; I believe there were at least two other parents who are willing to help – but again, not full-time, and we are looking for more adult help, even if they do not know how to play chess.

I also found out why Julie looks familiar to me (and I to her, evidently) . . . her daughter was in CYT's 'Sound of Music' and Julie worked backstage for the show. I happened to be wearing my CYT t-shirt to the PTO meeting!

Family Game Night – Star Wars Monopoly

After Karate today I offered to play a game with Alex tonight. I suggested Yahtzee – Alex countered with Star Wars Monopoly. Tiffany, Alex and I played Star Wars Monopoly from about 6:00 until 8:00. The agreement was that at 8:00 whoever was playing would finish their turn, and then we would count the money to see who won.

About 7:30, all but one piece of property had been bought, but nobody had a set to put houses on. Tiffany was trying to trade with Alex to give them both complete sets, but he would not do it. Finally, against Tiffany's protests, Alex gave me a property that completed a low-rent set for me and I gave him Boardwalk to match his Park Place (they have different names in Star Wars Monopoly, of course), but I had to agree that I would not charge him rent on the set he gave me. Deal! Of course, this was a pretty bad deal for me and a very good deal for Alex, but it was even worse for Tiffany. I just wanted Alex to win. I immediately bought hotels (spaceports) for my properties and Alex started putting houses (cities) on his two. Not long after, Tiffany landed on the last piece of vacant property and finished herself a set.

At 8:00, we sent Alex off to take a shower while Tiffany and I cleaned up the game. We sold all the houses and mortgaged all the properties to liquidate everybody, and then put everybody's money in piles for Alex to count. The final net worths were: Jeff - $2402; Alex - $3815; Tiffany - $3860, putting Tiffany ahead of Alex by $35. While he was in the shower, Tiffany took a $100 bill out of her money and gave it to Alex. When he did the final count, the score was, as far as he knows:

Jeff - $2402

Tiffany - $3760

Alex - $3915

We then asked him how much he was ahead of Tiffany, and he very easily set up and solved the subtraction problem. Then he was off to bed.