Bronwyn Interview 2 years 7.5 months

1. What is something mommy always says to you?  Rachel!

2. What makes you happy? Bert-bert's birthday!

3. What makes you sad?  Angry monsters

4. What makes you laugh? Ha ha loud (then growls)

5. How old are you? 2

6. How old is Mommy? 2

7. How old is Daddy? 5

8. What is your favorite thing to do? Mario

9. Who is your best friend?  At school

10. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Cookie

11. What are you really good at? Bronwyn Alice Keeley

12. What are you not very good at?  Bronwyn Alice Keeley

13. What did you do today? At work, at school

14. What is your favorite food?  cookies

15. What is your favorite song? 39 (by Queen)

16. What do you want for your birthday this year? Get some doggies

17. What is your favorite animal? Lion

18. What is love? Red balloon

19. What does daddy do for work? .at work

20. Where do you live? San Jose, California

21. Where is your favorite place to go? Oh! The Places you'll go!

Bertram's 6 year interview

1. What is something mommy always says to you?  I love you

2. What makes you happy? Hugging you

3. What makes you sad?  Not being with you.

4. What makes you laugh? Tickles, although I hate them

5. How old are you? 5, I mean 6!

6. How old is Mommy? I don't know

7. How old is Daddy? I don't know

8. What is your favorite thing to do? Play Legos

9. Who is your best friend?  Kaylee, or my school favourite is Liko

10. What do you want to be when you grow up?  BattleBots Builder

11. What are you really good at? Building Legos

12. What are you not very good at?  Closing my eyes in bed

13. What did you do today? I don't know

14. What is your favorite food?  Pizza

15. What is your favorite song? Yellow Submarine 

16. What do you want for your birthday this year? Lego Millennium Falcon

17. What is your favorite animal? cat

18. What is love? Hugging and Kissing

19. What does daddy do for work? .Gives us money

20. Where do you live? San Jose!

21. Where is your favorite place to go? Stay at home.

How has it been two months?!  I can't remember everything, so I'll go through pictures.

 

I went on a bit of a macaron kick.  It's awesome when they turn out, and frustrating when they don't.  I've made a few batches and only have a 50% success rate. I made a pistachio batch that was really good.  They are tricky, time consuming, and fussy cookies, but so yummy.  One issue is the use only egg whites.  I have not had success with boxed egg whites, so I end up with  left over yolks, and thus far, I am not a good custard/pudding maker.  I need more practice.

I counted (not including the macarons) I think I made something like 360 cookies for Christmas.  I made grandma's Christmas cookies, which I didn't take a picture of, for some reason.  I made the gingerbread pictured above.  It actually tasted good, unlike all the gingerbread I've had previously.  My piping needs work, but I enjoy the practice when I can get it.  I also made cookies for my dad and FIL for gifts.  I think I did chocolate chip, a short bread type and peanut butter.

Christmas Eve

Christmas day. I really didn't take a lot of pictures this year.  We all had matching PJs.  Kids got too many things, but lots of books, which I can get behind.  We had a nice dinner with the extended family.  It was kind of weird.  The holidays went by fast, and didn't see as fun, I think because we didn't have Grandma.  I'm still not sure I've acclimated to the new normal.

We went up to the Legion of Honor with my dad to see the Tissot exhibit.  We left Bron with Aaron's mom.  Bertram had a good enough time.  I really try to expose him to as much as possible, even though he hates it.  

The kids both got new scooters.  They both need more practice.

We went to the mall on New Years Eve day.  They did a Noon-years eve.  So we watched the balloons come down.

Bron got some necklaces.  She really likes them.

We went to the library for Music and Movement, but it was cancelled that day.  So they just played.

Bertram got a Giant Bubble maker for Christmas.  They both really enjoyed that.  I need to buy some more of that solution, and bottle it when we're done, so we don't waste it.

We went to the Aquarium on the last day of Christmas break.  Aaron took the day off.  It was a Monday (because we restarted on a Tuesday, for some reason).  So it was fairly empty.  I got Bertram's (blurry) picture with the scuba diver.  The octopus was moving around, which is always neat.

I signed Bron up for a parent and me ballet class.  She really likes it, but definitely follows her own rhythm.  

Bron got a tea set for Christmas.  She really likes it.

Bertram has lost two teeth!  

Playing

It's 100 day at school this week.  We glued 100 eyeballs.  

Bertram has Pinewood Derby today for scouts.  This is the evaluation of the car.  I did all the painting, but Bertie did the design.  

Bertram played a "prank" at school on Friday.  I'm not entirely sure how it was supposed to be a prank.  He cut the hole, and said it was an accident, the joke (I guess) was that it was on purpose.  I'm a bit bummed, I really liked that shirt.

We got these cool "high" chairs from Ikea yesterday.  They are like normal chairs, but tall.  And they're some kind of firm plastic, so I can clean it easily.

And lastly, the most exciting (and secret) thing: WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!  I had been looking at prices, and we have decent savings (and taxes will be in soon).  Bertram has been wanting to go for probably 2 years.  We're going to surprise him on his birthday, and then we'll go over Spring break.  

ASD stuff:
We had Bertram's IEP meeting on Thursday.  It was much more pleasant than I expected.  Bertram is going to continue speech at school (and through Kaiser), and he is going to have an evaluation for OT through school.  We have been approved for group ABA but I'm still waiting to hear from Kaiser about that. 

Bertram's behaviour at school, last week, was fantastic.  He had two days that were all smiley faces!
Aside from that, things are much the same.  He's been reading a lot, and getting better with phonemic awareness. 

Bronwyn has been talking a lot lately.  She loves to identify all the things she knows.  When she eats she likes to say "big bite!" She can count to 20, identify 1-10, and knows and can identify all the letters.  She loves reading, singing, dancing, and helping.  Now, if I could get her interested in using the potty...

And she is also awake, so now I have to go...

Today/ ASD

Today Bertram had his ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) eval with Kaiser.  We had a few concerns that mostly coincided with school.  There were a couple concerns with preschool issues (that he didn't want to participate in the Christmas or graduation program, really gloaming on to one friend).  Then, this year, with kindergarten, he has been having trouble with transitions, doing work he isn't super interested in, cooperative groups, things of that nature.  He had a couple instances of rocking himself, pulling on his ears, or just laying down on the floor.  (The rocking and ear pulling were new, as Aaron and I had never seen them).  We have been in communication with the teacher a lot, mostly trying to make sure he isn't too much of a distraction, and is keeping up.  We had his parent/ teacher conference last week.  He is doing well academically, and his behaviour is improving (but is still an issue).  He is reading at a 3rd grade level, but his comprehension isn't quite that high.

For the first part, we watched him through a one-way window, as he did different tasks with the evaluator, and we talked to the other doctor about what he was doing, whether it was typical, and translating as needed.  Then we had a break.  Then we did an interview with the doctor and Bertram did an analysis of his ability to learn (I can't remember what that part was actually called), but he scored average, or above average on all that. But in the end, he is ASD level 1, though fairly mild.  The next step will be receiving the full report, and then we will step up ABA therapy.  And we'll have to get a full IEP set up through the school district.

It all feels a little overwhelming at the moment.  And I feel a little sad that there are now more challenges that he'll likely face.  But we'll cross those bridges as they come.

Bertram was sick for almost 2 weeks, he had pneumonia at the end.  Then I got sick, I'm still recovering.  Aaron is sick and Bron isn't feeling great either.  We all got our flu shots, so at least there's that. 

We filled out an ASD questionnaire for Kaiser and Bertram has an evaluation in the beginning of November.  It takes all day!  I'm not overly concerned, as we've been pretty vigilant since he was tiny.  But if there are services that can help him with any issue he has, then lets take advantage.  He's been doing well at school lately.  We have parent teacher conferences right before Halloween.  His handwriting is really improving.  And as much as he says he doesn't want to go, he is always excited when he arrives.  We had walk a thon last weekend.  Bertram walked 5 miles, which is pretty good.  His attitude was pretty good most of the day, so we were all happy.  (Well, I was grouchy by the end of the day.  I was already not feeling well, and then walked a lot).

Bronwyn has been reading a lot and talking a lot.  Well, "reading".  That kid loves books.  She will often put a book in my hand and say "read this book".  She likes the Sandra Boynton books (Bertram did too), and The Pokey Little Puppy (which I hate).  She likes dancing, and songs that tell you to do things.  There is on called the Pinocchio song that she really likes to do.  She likes to pretend play having a picnic, or feeding her babies or neigh-neighs. 

Bertram has been sick with a fever and cough for a week.  He just left to see the dr again (I think he was there on Monday). It looks like he will miss 6 days of school, which is bad enough on it's own, but next week is Fall Break.  Which means he is out of school for 2 weeks. Also, I'm going crazy, mostly being stuck at home, with at least one whiny kid (though usually 2).  Bron has been mildly sick off and on, and we were all sick over last weekend.  So it's been a rough week.

Aside from the illness, it's been really hot.  It was close to 100͒ for 3 days.  I am so ready for Fall.  I think we're supposed to have a cold front coming in.

I changed my meds a couple weeks ago.  I didn't feel like the Cymbalta was working anymore.  So I am in the process of switching back to Zoloft.  One (or more) of my meds is making me super sweaty.  Not in a smelly way, just like embarrassingly damp.

School is going ok for Bertram.  It seems like he gets easily frustrated, so we've been working on that.  He started going to see the counselor (Mr Tony) once a week to help with interpersonal skills.  He should be starting Speech at school before too long as well.  He likes school.  The only homework they have is reading, whatever he wants.  He loves reading, so homework is easy. 

Grandma's house closed yesterday.  The little house is going to be torn down and made into a 3000sqft two story house.  That will not fit in with the neighbourhood, and will likely be worth twice as much as any other house on the street.