2am writings

 I think right after I wrote the last entry, Bertram came down with a cold.  None of the rest of us have gotten it.  It's a bad cold, he's really stuffy and has a productive cough.  He's had 3 negative covid tests (2 at home and 1 at Kaiser).  So, since he was sick, he couldn't go to school and missed the whole week before spring break.  (He wasn't actually feeling poorly, and had no fever.  In the before time, I probably would have just sent him to school.)  So I was bummed about that.  And his teacher didn't get a work packet to me until Thursday of that week.
(She seems like a nice lady, but she's super disorganized.  And I'm not sure if she actually "likes" Bertie, since he is a problem student.  I can't remember if I wrote this before, but they had a sub two Fridays in a row.  It was Bert's favourite sub, so he was stoked.  And both those days were thumbs-up good days.  I asked him, why do you think you work better with Mrs. R?  He said "because she's kinder."  Which broke my heart a little.  If it were the beginning of the year, I would have asked for a teacher swap, but we're almost done now).
I had him doing a math workbook, letter writing practice and either spelling, or research. He has been very into both the Titanic and ancient Egypt lately.  But mostly it's been lots of reading and screen time.  It's nearly two weeks later and he still has this cold.  (We called the advice nurse, but she said colds in kids can last up to two weeks.  So I guess after that, if he's still all gross we'll call back and see the doctor.  

Bronwyn is very into the new Disney movie Turning Red.  Before that we watched Encanto almost daily.  Now we watch Turning Red almost daily.  I'd seen some reviews where people were upset because it mentions periods, and rebellious teenagers.  Eyeroll.  There are a whole slew of rebellion teens in Disney movies (Cinderella, Rapunzel, The little Mermaid, Belle, etc).  Anyway, she's liking that.  She's been doing well with food practice and even ate a piece of cheese and a chicken nugget, unprompted.  So there is some progress.  

I joined 24 hr fitness last week.  (Though none of the close ones are 24 hours.)  I joined a gym maybe 10 years ago.  Then my Crohns got bad (before I started Humira) and I quit. But I decided I should be exercising, hopefully to lose some weight, and just to be healthier in general.  I've done three classes so far (zumba, yoga and body pump).  Zumba was not as fun as I remembered (eg: it's way more complicated).  But I really enjoyed the yoga and body pump classes.  I'm really sore from a body pump I did on Monday.  So I've just been using the treadmill since then.  I'm signed up for another one Friday, hopefully I'll be in fighting shape by then.  There are a couple of other classes I want to try, but haven't gotten the chance yet.  I figure, during the week, after I get Bron to school I'll head over.  Usually there is a class at 9 or 9:30.  There is also a lap pool, but I have no clue where my swimsuit is at the moment.  

Aaron and I have been having our weekly date night.  Usually we just go out to eat, since we need to get the kids to bed.  This week we got take away food from a Jamaican restaurant, and had It's-Its for dessert. It's been nice to have a set weekly time without the kids, to just enjoy being alone together.

Why I am up at 2am:  (Around 1am) I think I was in a twilight sleep, when I heard someone (something?) bang on the window a couple times.  Scary. Aaron was in the bathroom at the time.  And he said it wasn't the window, it was him dropping his phone on the floor.  None the less, I was scared and now awake.  Combine that with him instantly falling asleep and snoring.  So I came out to the living room, and here I am.  In my 2am glory.

 Bertram has been doing better at school lately.  We had a mini IEP meeting on Wednesday that went pretty well.  On Wednesday, he got his Invisalign.  They were supposed to glue on little anchors, but Bert wouldn't let them.  The orthodontist said we could try them without and see how he does.  He didn't want to keep them in his mouth.  I was feeling worried.  But Thursday we practiced wearing it after school.  Today he wore the top and bottom after school without issue.  (He was playing with them a lot the first couple days).  Tonight, he agreed to sleep with the top one in.  Which is a big change, since he was concerned about swallowing it.  We're going back next Wednesday to follow up.  Bertie has said he's ready to switch to the next trays, but I'm going to wait til the next appointment.  I feel like, in general, Bert's attitude has been improving.  He is just fun to be around.  We did an ADHD assessment ad we're waiting to hear back about that.  We're also meeting with the district psychologist to see if there might be a program that would be a better fit, as being in a class with 27 kids is a lot.  So a lot is in the works.

Bronwyn has been doing well too.  She has been doing food practice in ABA.  Before that she would mainly eat Ensure and squeeze applesauce, and sprinkle in French fries, pretzels, crackers, cookies, ice cream and sometimes pancakes.  That was about it.  The first few times of food practice were awful.  She pretty much cried for 30+ minutes straight and not try anything.  Or we'd sort of pin her down and pop something in her mouth.  It was hard to be part of and hard to listen to.  But like potty training, it's like something just clicked.  The first few times she tried anything, she'd gag.  But it got better.  This week she's tried: peanut butter, strawberries, chicken, turkey, pineapple, apple, sauced pasta, tomato, banana, refried beans, buttered bread, pear, chocolate cake, yogurt, cheese, edamame, carrots, peas, chicken nuggets, and probably some things I'm forgetting.  The peas and carrots were the only things she didn't like, she cleaned her plate every time.  We've been letting her watch YouTube only at meal time.  And as long as she is taking bites she can keep watching. Hopefully, we'll be able to wean the videos away in the future.  But she actually sat at the table and ate dinner with us tonight (with the videos), and I can't remember the last time that happened.  Also, she had been very adamant that he didn't want me to give her bangs.  But I really hated the hair being in her eyes all the time.  This morning, she finally let me cut her hair.  I did it really quick, but it actually turned out really well.

I've still been tired all the time, but I've been getting some things done.  I've mostly stayed on top of cleaning.  And I got a couple paint by numbers to do.  That's been really enjoyable.  I finished a flamingo one, and I'm working on a big Pokemon one (Eevee and Pikachu) for Bert.  I got a book on how to crochet from the library, so hopefully I'll be able to figure that out.  Last library visit, I grabbed four books, and I didn't like any of them.  It was disappointing.  Like, I wonder if my attention span isn't long enough for books anymore.  My yardwork is pretty much done.  I've been listening to a lot of podcasts.  Depression is still looming, but I've been staying ahead of it pretty well.  I took a break from social media.  I got tired of seeing stupid and upsetting opinions.  I don't know how to separate my emotions from stuff like that.  I started noom at the beginning of the year.  I've lost 8 lbs, but completely stalled.  I'm still trying, so hopefully my body will catch on a t some point.

Aaron and I did an adult thing and bought new couches.  The couches we had were Aaron's cousin's cast offs.  They were lumpy and sinky, and I got tired of it.  I started out looking at Ikea.  But we were looking for a sofa-loveseat set, and Ikea didn't really have anything like that.  I looked around online a little.  We'd looked at Living Spaces previously, but didn't find anything that spoke to us.  The other thing if we have very specific dimensions that the couches need to fit in our tiny living room.  I settled on Ashley Homestore, because they had a lot online.  Last week we went, and spend an hour trying and retrying couches.  We found a set we liked and the sofa has a bed in it, which is good to have.  We spent a little more than I wanted (around $2000), but we figured we'll have them a long time, and since we actually found something we like, that fits our room.  It was supposed to be 4-6 weeks for delivery, but both pieces were delivered today.