Review: GlassesUSA internet optical store

Although I haven't had medical insurance in more than a dozen years, when James' job has offered it, I have had vision insurance. I am myopic to a ridiculous degree, and my dad's eye history is abysmal (although by my age, he'd already had at least two retinal detachments - and, yes, I know you only have 2 retinas, but one detached twice -, glaucoma, and cataracts; so I kind of feel like I've dodged a genetic bullet at this point).

I had planned to go in for a check-up when James lost his job and before the insurance expired... truly, I did. I don't know whether I've mentioned this, but I have a baby and that often gets in the way of my plans. Point is, I never made it, and three days after it expired, I sat on my 17-year-old glasses.

Fortunately, we'd built up a reserve in the HSA, so even though I had to pay for my eye exam, it didn't put a dent in our household budget. As an aside, Modern Eyes at West Campus is awesome! James had planned to watch Mal for me while I got examined, but he'd been up late working on a prospective job homework assignment, and I didn't have the heart to wake him. The doctor and the staff were so calm and accommodating to my having a squirmy and occasionally noisy kid with me.

One good thing: the last time I got a contact prescription (which was probably at least 6 years ago, and maybe longer... but thanks to the doctor who kept faxing that aged prescription into 1-800-Contacts), the doctor said that he thought my eyes were getting lazy. One of my eyes was at -750, and the other at -850. He dialed them both back to -650 and said my eyes needed to work or they'd get worse. Well, this time, the eye doctor said she felt like I could go back to a -600 in both eyes (the glasses prescription is different, closer to my old contact prescription, which I don't understand, but I'm not an optometrist!... or a postmistress, which is how spell-check suggested my original misspelling of optometrist be corrected.).

She gave me a laminated script for my glasses, which I brought home and immediately got online at GlassesUSA, My friend (whom I've never officially met, but have known for more than a decade and a half, and who sent me her fat clothes after I had D and most of my wardrobe was in storage in Spokane for 3 months) had recommended them, as they have a fairly wide variety of frames that aren't too expensive.

Here's the first good thing: If you sign up for an account and to get email from them, you get 50% off of your first purchase. Understand that you also have to purchase a care package for your lenses, depending on which level of frame you get; mine cost about $50 for scratch-coating, and... whatever else was part of the deal. Anyway, the half off is for the frames and base lenses so, for instance, my discount was $52 but I paid about $100 total.

Have you brought frames in the store lately? That's a mere pittance!

Okay, but here's the sort of awesome fun part about GlassesUSA: You can upload a picture of yourself (facing straight ahead, please) and then work to center some hash marks on your pupils (or center your pupils on hash marks, whichever) to get a virtual preview of how the glasses will work on you.

Pretty cool, right? Also, you can search by size of frame (s,m,l), style (square, circular, browline, oversized, etc.), color, material, brand, and several other parameters. You get to view the glasses front-on both by themselves and on your own face (or pick one of their stock models, all of whom are more attractive than I am, so that doesn't help me.), then also from the side and at an angle.

In the end, these are the ones I chose.

Now, as someone with extreme myopia, I knew one thing for sure: The glasses would not look like this on my face. I have thick lenses, even with the new, awesomely-improved-over-grade-school thinner lenses. Still, the lenses make my eyes look smaller and beadier, so that would be a thing.

After I placed my order, I immediately realized that I'd stupidly forgotten to put in my discount code for half off! So I both clicked on "live chat" on the page, and when I was holding for a rep there, I also called them. Within five minutes, they'd refunded the $52 to my debit card, no problem. That was great customer service!

It took about two weeks to fabricate, ship, and receive my glasses. They sent out email updates when the glasses were put together and preparing to be tested, and when they'd been shipped.

I love that the box they come in is tiny; it's just the exact size of the glasses case... which is really sturdy and nice! Maybe all glasses come in such cases now. I wouldn't know; I have never died. (That's true, but it was an auto-Harry-Potter reference.) I wouldn't know; I haven't bought glasses in nearly two decades!

I was super excited to find them a lot brighter than the glasses online. I like the plum better than the blackish purple. Also, nice wipe. Hopefully I can keep that in the case for ever and never have to use the tail of Mal's onsie again.

How fun are they?! I love them!

And last night, there was a really cool sunset... or at least it seemed so from the light pouring into the back of our house. The back of our house is opposite the sunset, which meant that although it was cloudy, brilliant sunlight was spilling all over the tall condos behind us and reflecting our way. I wanted to see it, so James and I walked down the street and all the way up to the top of a parking garage (yes, I was carrying my baby in my arms; I'm kind of a rock star that way... a very tired rock star) so we might catch a glimpse of it. But what I noticed most was the detail of everything!

I was looking out over the Austin skyline and the trees and the office buildings, and everything looked like Google Maps 3D or something. It was like seeing a high-def television for the first time. I guess I was so used to seeing perfectly in contacts and whatever it was in my old glasses, that I hadn't realized how inappropriate the prescription was. Now I can see everything! Although it took me about two hours to get used to how things seemed to slope up from the bottom, and be closer to me than they "felt" before.

And what do they look like on? Here.

I like them! They're actually not too terribly close-looking to how they appeared online, though. Don't remember? Don't want to scroll up? Well, let me help you out there.

Now, aside from the fact that one of those photos was taken (and doctored) by a professional and the other was a living room selfie (and the first taken back when I was able to actually fix my hair), you can see the the frames are actually quite a bit larger on my real face than they were the picture I uploaded. The website actually gives physical measurements so you can compare it to your existing frames, but... me? Math? Pehh. 

Final conclusion: Neat experience, great money-saver, and the glasses are not flimsy crap. They are well-made and have a 365 day warranty. However, I'd probably stick with small frames (these are medium) because I do like that general line. The upshot of having bigger frames, though, is that my field of vision is a lot wider than it was with my old glasses. Last night when I drove to Krispy Kreme for doughnuts at 9 PM, I had none of the "I hate driving at night!" fear that I have had in the past when trying to navigate traffic in the dark. So I'm happy with my purchase and thrilled with what I paid.

Fourth and final full day of the Texas Unschoolers Conference 2015

This morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (and ready for cacao!), James and I went to a funshop put on by Chocology owner Linda Johnson (and her daughter, Madeline). This was the first seminar/class/what-have-you that we've attended where there have been children! At 9 AM, even! (Daphne was still asleep; she had waited for the wi-fi to come back on last night.)

Linda briefly went into what chocolate is and where it's grown, but then quickly got to the tasting. She imports and resells chocolate from Belgium, so we were given a piece (called "couverture" by people who care about that kind of thing) of white, milk, and dark chocolates.

It was interesting to me that the milk and dark chocolates appeared identical (there is actually more color difference in this picture than when I held them in my hand), so I thought maybe I'd gotten two of the same kind. But no. The chocolates were smooth and had the perfect "snap" (white "chocolate" doesn't, though) and amazing. American chocolate can try, but we can't do it.

Next, we were given samples of Fat Ass Fudge, recently obtained by Chocology and featured at some point in the past on Shark Tank. At the risk of offending my father and his Christmas offering, this is the best fudge I've ever eaten. So smooth. So "bedicious."

Dark chocolate with nuts, white chocolate, and cappuccino. Yursss.

Linda and her daughter are on a very long road trip, a "Giving Back Tour," which you can follow here at their blog. This is literally where the rubber hits the road, educationally-speaking. I was about to get on a soapbox, but am choosing to avoid digression.

Finally, Linda had a challenge: she'd hidden gummies in chocolate pudding, and whoever found 5 got fudge. One dad got into the act (James probably would have, but he'd taken Mal outside so I could finish the event, since Mal had decided to be fussy and noisy; I have a great husband!), and watching the kids' different strategies was a lot of fun.

After that, we came back to the cabin, regrouped a little, and headed over to "coffee chat," which was a discussion about talking about sex and establishing bodily autonomy with your child from an early age. It was very good; mostly, I did the right stuff with Daphne (even though it hurt my Mema's feelings when I defended Daphne's right not to physically greet her :( ) but the refresher is always good. She recommended a couple of books and I'm going to order the first soon. For younger kids, there's It's Not the Stork! and then for older kids, It's Perfectly Normal.

One of my favorite things about this talk was the introduction, where Amy mentioned that, regarding cookies, we don't keep cookies away from our kids until they're 10, then kind of say, "They have flour in them" if they ask a question, then give them a book when they're 12 and tell them not to make cookies until they feel like they're ready. Just starting the conversation from a young age helps. I use the word "penis" with Mal, but do still call his scrotum "junk" sometimes. I probably won't stop that. I think it's important for kids to learn slang.

James was going to go to Jack in the Box to get us lunch so that I wouldn't have to get Mal into the car seat, but then we realized it's so close, we decided to walk. Hot, muggy, sunny, but a good time together.

Outside of the fence line, we scavenged about 50 Nerf bullets, only about 6 of which were marked. Score!

We got to the restaurant, ordered our food (for Daphne, an ultimate cheeseburger with ketchup as the only sauce; "So no cheese?" Um... no. Why would we order a cheeseless cheeseburger? "So, cheese... and do you want mayo?" NO, JUST KETCHUP!), and Mal was so good, sitting in the stroller and chewing with intensity on one of the Max Nerf bullets. But ten minutes later, we didn't have our food... and they weren't busy. At fifteen minutes, I remarked that we should have gotten the food to go. James posited that our special order had messed things up. After 20 minutes, he went and told the cashier we'd like the things to go... and found out that they'd totally cleared our order out of the system and never would have made it. *sigh*

But it worked out, because we got to eat as a family. And Daphne's burger did have mayo on it.

Mal was tired but resisting sleep, so I took him swimming. I tried to fashion a pool noodle I bought in the park office as the "boat" device we used in swim classes, but a) it's been too long and he FREAKED out and b) he needs a sturdier noodle 'cause dude is a hoss. But he laughed and enjoyed the pool for about half an hour, then started zoning out.

We came back to the cabin for him to nap, then went over to the swap meet and market. We ended up buying a pound and a half of "scratch and dent" fudge (it was just the label; I mean, who cares? but yay for a discount!) from Linda, and I got a DK animal encyclopedia for Mal. It's perfect in that it's a small format (thick but not unwieldy), but of course he just wanted to eat it, so we'll save it for later. If he's anything like Daphne was, he'll be buried in that book for hours one day. (I know, so far he's *nothing* like her, but he does seem to appreciate animals.)

There was a cookout at 6:30, and I met another lady from Austin. Her son is 12, and I don't think Daphne met him, but maybe we can reconnect at home.

At 8 was a showing of "Class Dismissed," which I wanted so much to see... but after only one brief and one hour-long nap today, Mal was DONE. I started packing up in the cabin, but he was sobbing by 7:45, so we came upstairs to play a while in the dark and help him unwind, then he was out by 8:30. We will leave in the morning after a final "good-bye" (to which Daphne wants to go) and should be home in time for lunch, but able to miss rush hour traffic.

It's been a great long weekend!

Some things to think about from the Texas Unschoolers Conference 2015...

This is just some random stuff that's been knocking around in my brain all weekend. I don't have answers or maybe even anything remotely interesting, but just things over which I have been ruminating.

Kids
They don't have a homogeneous appearance. A friend posted this to my Facebook timeline last week:

When my mom saw it, at first glance she thought it was a picture of my friends and me. Looking at it on my phone, it could have been. Although the girls are individuals with slightly different takes on the look, it is still very certainly one specific look. And there is the same sort of similarities in todays' girls (boys just kind of look classically boyish most of the time... except for mullets). They might have variations on a theme, but there is a conventional norm that is overall the aim. Not here.

The girls here, you'd be hard-pressed to lump together in regards to inspirations for their style of dress, hair, or deportment. Flock of Seagulls? Blue? Pink-to-blonde? Afro? Shaved except on top? Long? Straight? Ponytail? Trucker hat? Big floppy sun hat? Sweat jacket even though it's 80? T-shirt? Sci-fi captain-inspired outfit? Same thing the entire 4 days? It all goes, and they all hang out together. It's like when no one tells a kid what is "normal" appearance-wise, they have the freedom to pick. Maybe it flatters them, maybe it doesn't. No one tells them they have to change, and they're comfortable and happy. 

I was telling James about this and thought of two things: First, the recent story about the girl had to fight for permission to wear a tuxedo to her school prom... and, honestly, this shouldn't have had to be championed by a lesbian rights group, because straight girls might want to wear a tux to their prom, too, and what's the big deal? I can't even believe that this is a thing. But secondly, I remembered a girl who once rented an old-time Southern belle dress from a costume shop instead of getting a modern dress when she went to her senior prom. Was it the best look for me? Um, I mean "her"? Not according to her stylish friend, who after the fact advised her what the styling should have been (if only I'd known him in high school! She. Him. Someone else entirely). However, that person was excited about the idea, and comfortable, and happy. I'm not sure how I escaped the vortex of "normal," but I did. And in that case, I was totally un-self-conscious.

Anyway, it's satisfying to know that these kids get to be themselves without having to fit that expression into the confines of what is considered "not distracting to the educational process" or tantamount to social suicide or labeling.

Dads
There are a lot of dads here! Dads in the seminars, dads watching kids so the moms can go to seminars, dads baby-wearing, dads up to their eyeballs in the process. When we were having dinner with Dr. Gray on Thursday (yes, I'm going to milk that for all its worth), he was talking about how it's often the fathers who push back against unschooling, and how he's always wondered why. After exploring options such as personality, ideas about formal education leading to better jobs, etc. he said he thinks the actual explanation is the most boring: That moms make the educational decisions about their kids, and that dads are left either to agree or oppose. The dads here aren't passive. They're present. I love it!

Discipline vs. Coercion 
This is one of the big ones. I have to think on this one a lot. Unschooling is practiced on many levels, but at its core is the idea that kids have passions to follow, that frog-marching them through extraneous curricula is disservice to them, and that they will learn what they need to know.

For a lot of families, that carries over into their parenting. I've read from and heard about parents who think if you tell your child "no" about anything, you're not technically "unschooling," but I think that is actual "unparenting," and it's not what most of us are about.

However, in talking to another mom about attachment parenting, she said something that sort of bridged a gap for me in regards to how unschoolers make the leap to less (or no) demanding parenting: I had mentioned that I'm not philosophically an attachment parent but had become one in practice, due to Mal's sensitivity. She said, "Well, at its heart, attachment parenting is about responding to a child's needs, and that's what you're doing. It's considering the child a full person from day one, and it sounds like you've got it."

That sounds so simple.

And maybe it is.

Bridging the gap between infant care to parenting a toddler and child, and then pulling in another bridge from the educational philosophy of "they have what they need and it will work," I've started really considering the difference between disciplining a child and coercing or attempting to control them.

In the past few months with Mal, I've felt very ashamed and regretful about the ways I tried to control Daphne when she was a baby ("It's too early for her to be waking up!" and angry about it), and then when she was a little kid ("Sit here and do this!" while she cried, but I was determined to win a battle of wills, even if the actual thing wasn't important).

I've rolled my eyes when I've read things about not "making" kids say "thank you" or "please" but just modeling it for them and trusting that they will pick it up. Things like that. But then a couple of things have happened:

1) I see my 13-year-old, who very dutifully said "thank you" and "please" and was quite pleasant and often compliant as a child (though not always), and who never swore, though she knew of swear words, etc. now testing the limits, as teenagers are wont to do. Eventually, and for the rest of her life, she's going to have to choose whether to be socially engaging or not, inoffensive or not, and all of the etc.s again, so where did that "training" get us? She has learned to express gratitude in her own way, and my forcing her to say a cursory "thanks" really didn't do anything for that. I could have done the same thing by thanking people myself, and talking to her about how kind they were to be so generous. Then her expression of thanks would have been genuine instead of mandatory.

2) I read something that appealed to the "black/white"-I-get-how-kids-think part of my brain: Forcing a kid to say something to receive something or stay out of trouble is, in practice, teaching them to lie to get what they want. "I'm not sorry, but if I don't say that I am, then I will get grounded."

When I worked at Boys Town, I was continually frustrated by the process of behavior modification. I saw them playing the system. They would act compliant to build up points to get things they wanted, but they weren't internalizing the discipline. They were still sneaking out, acting out, running away. I talked about it to our house coach guy, and he said, in essence, that it was the program for all of this time because it worked... that if the kids acted a certain way long enough, they'd become the person their behavior indicated. I'm not sure I believe this. I think it has to be the other way around. That whole "overflow of the heart" thing the Bible talks about.

What is the point of all of this? At present, it has more to do with Daphne than Mal, but I need to think it through for him, too. We don't have any "screen time" limits with Daphne but have thought about it because of how late she stays up and how late she sleeps. Also, I have signed her up for things she might be marginally interested in, but wouldn't choose to go if I weren't forcing her. And I'm really thinking about my motives and am reconsidering a lot.

I need to think about it for a while. Like I said, I don't have any answers. I was listening to "Focus on the Family" recently when a guest said that he thinks one of the biggest mistakes parents make is trying to have "a great kid," when we actually need to parent toward "a great adult."

Thinking... thinking...

This group and The Church
Oh, man, unschoolers are an eclectic group. But you know what? So far, everyone with whom I've talked, even if they've had a different idea about something than mine, has been lovely. If they disagree, they'll often first affirm me and then reframe what I just said toward their thinking, without making me feel like I'm doing it wrong. There are families with two parents, single moms and dads, at least one lesbian couple, every color of the pigmentation rainbow, different socio-economic levels, varying ages, etc. And everyone is getting along and I think has genuine affection for and interest in each other. This is how The Church should be! I've experienced it before, where it feels like "home" from the beginning, but not always, and not even a majority of the time. It's a wake up call to me to create that vibe myself.

Third Day of #TexUns15

This morning, Mal woke up super early. He had been fussy all night, and drinking all night, and I was just exhausted by morning. We'd also managed to kick/roll the fitted sheet off of the mattress, so we were lying on the waterproof mattress cover which is fabric, but also plastic and hot. James hung out with Mal for a few minutes so I could wash my face and get dressed, then Mal came downstairs with me.

It rained heavily during the night, and I had the front door open. Mal loved the sweet morning smell and the sopping floor boards on the porch. We went out there for him to eat some breakfast, and by then James was up, having apparently been awakened by the dealing with the boy first thing in the morning.

After James' breakfast, Mal was already threatening to get fussy, so I decided to take him over to the young 'uns childcare area,where there are tons of toys, so he could play and make all of the noise he wanted without bothering his still-sleeping sister.

At the chilcare center, I met Nadja, who is a recent Austin resident. We have RV living in common, and it was nice to have someone to talk to while Mal burnt off some energy and James tried to catch up on emails (job stuff... but also the connection here in the park is spotty, and it takes about a million hours to do anything).

Mal was sleepy but overstimulated when I got back; he fell asleep, but only for about ten minutes. After the mini-nap, James and I took Mal to the swimming pool to work off some energy. He giggled and had a big time the whole 45 minutes or so we were there (which is double the time he could hack in swimming classes).

We had lunch and I woke Daphne up in time for the Nerf Gun Battle.

Here's a sort of funny thing:

In Peter Gray's book “Free to Learn,” he talks about games his generation of children invented when they were left to play on their own. He says something about how they'll talk and discuss and hammer out rules and plans for two hours before they start playing. This is what we witnessed, arriving at the Nerf battle site. Two kind of leader kids seemed to take over, finalizing details between them (when you get hit, this is what happens; no head shots; etc.). Kids kept arriving, and they kept shuttling them into one team or another. About 15 minutes into the process (which was ridiculous; I kept trying to get Daphne just to open fire on people), an adult showed up with flags so they could do it “capture the flag”-style... and he had the rules for them. He also chose two captains and when their team-selection slowed down, he divided out the rest of the kids. It was probably more expedient than what they were doing, but it was also extremely ironic, given the whole “kids need time to play that isn't directed by adults” world view that is espoused by a lot of us (and one of our keynote speakers).

That said, there were several adults involved in the Nerf Gun Battle. But they were playing as fellow team members, not as authorities, and the kids accepted them as peers. Actually, the grown-ups might have gotten a wee more intense than the kids. Daphne and James ended up being on different teams, and she pretty much killed him a lot.

Click below for full album.

From April 2015!

I wasn't playing because I was wearing Mal, who was on the verge of a nap. He fell asleep for about an hour, waking up right as James and I sat down for the “Unschooling Teens” talk by Sue Peterson. Fortunately, he was happy to crawl around on the floor, playing with stuff out of my purse, pretty much the whole time.

I will say that there are several things I've heard so far that have given me a lot to think about. In this session, during the Q/A, especially, I was convicted to check my motives about sending Daphne to things like coding camps. *sigh* I really hate being convicted.

When James and I got back to the cabin, Daphne was already gone for the cosplay funshop. James had a snack and headed over to the unschooling dads' roundtable, while Mal and I just hung out and watched TV and got snacks ready for tonight. D dropped in when the seminar was over, dropped off a foam sword she'd made, and disappeared to a friend's cabin.

James, Mal, and I went to dinner but didn't see Daphne until hours later. We didn't stay for the “sock hop” because dinner was so raucous, we were already burnt out from the noise. Now the internet appears to be down for the count, so this post and all of the pictures are going to have to wait until tomorrow. Think I'll go downstairs and talk to D about her afternoon.

Friday at #TexUns15

This morning, Mal and I got up before everyone else (natch) and hung out for a while on the front porch. It had rained all last night, so was coolish and extremely muggy... but we got no more rain during the day, so that was nice.

At about 9:30, we walked over to the event center for a pancake and get-to-know-you breakfast.

We have met two families from Austin now. One lady, whose youngest daughter hit it off with Mal yesterday, is Hannah from Belly Love Massage Therapy. Hannah is very generously offering free 10-minute chair massages this weekend, and James and I both got to take advantage of that (while the other made a name tag at the craft table). I'm going to call her and set up an appointment when we get home!

At noon, Daphne went to a teen pizza and pool party, then after James and I had some snacks at the cabin, I took Mal swimming. We ended up in the indoor pool, as the outdoor pool was so chilly and noisy, Mal was sort of catatonic. He loved the other pool, which only had a half dozen kids in it and was significantly warmer.

This afternoon, we got to hear Dr. Gray speak. Mal was kind enough to fall asleep while James and I walked around the park a bit (and I waxed nostalgic about living in an RV park, if not necessarily the inadequately-insulated RV itself).

James listens to Dr. Gray.

After the Q/A, there was a group photo (where we met the second family from Austin) and then we were all on our own for dinner. James, Daphne, Mal and I went to Cooper's Old Time Pit Barbecue, and lord o'mercy, was it incredible. We got the family (of 4, so maybe some overkill) pack of brisket and sausage. It came with cole slaw and potato salad, but we also got corn on the cob and mac and cheese individually. They had bread, sauce, beans, and onions available in the dining room. Well, the most amazeballs thing was the brisket. It had a salty, crunchy rub that was delicious, and we got the lean meat but it was still fall-apart soft and packed with flavor.

We ate ourselves into a food coma, then came home and Daphne went to do a teen hangout but saw a cat she liked, and the cat followed her home, and they sat out on the porch for a while. We had a quiet evening and got to sleep through some awesome thunderstorms.

Texas Unschoolers Convention 2015

This afternoon, we took the minuscule road trip to New Braunfels to the Hill Country RV Resort for  Tex'Uns 2015 (see what they did there?). Today was mostly about getting set up, signed in, settled in, and saying "howdy" to people.

We got everything put up in the cabin, took a bunch of art supplies over to the crafting area, walked around to get the lay of the land, and then cooked some Pizza Rolls for the informal pot luck tonight. I know, I know. But I have a baby. It was enough to get everything here; I literally could not think of anything to make for dinner.

We signed up for a few things, including a cosplay "fun"shop (instead of workshop, because unschool, mkay?) for Daphne, 10-minute chair massages for James and me, and a pool/pizza party D will go to tomorrow.

From April 2015!

Malcolm loves our cabin. We let D have the bedroom with the king-sized bed (so she can close the door and use her white sound machine), and we're sleeping in the loft with two full mattresses on the floor. We can't stand up, but it's huge and Mal has been crawling all over the place, looking at the window, and giggling about the whole thing.

When we went over to the main lodge for dinner (fortunately, other people brought things like fruit and veggies and sandwich fixins and Dutch oven cake cobbler), we were kind of off to the side while people arrived. I saw Dr. Peter Gray come in; he's speaking tomorrow evening. He got his food and went outside to sit at a table, so James went out with his dinner and sat with him (I might have asked him to).

We enjoyed an eclectic meal with Dr. Gray, who said he was born in San Antonio but has no memories of Texas, as they moved away early. Also, that it was 50 when he left home today. Ugh, it is so humid here. But the humidity beats the thunderstorms that were predicted.

I hope we have a chance to swim tomorrow. The pool has a 6-inch section, and I think Mal will have a blast. I hope D will meet some kids; I saw a few girls sitting in the main lodge this evening at dinner, and I feel like if they have a chance to say "hi," just maybe. Several people told D they liked her Pine hat.

Very tired; looking forward to the weekend. Click on the "April 2015!" link above (at the cabin) for more pictures.

Mal's first games

Twice this week, Mal has initiated games of sort. He's participated in "peek a boo" (and enjoyed it) as well as rolling a ball or car back and forth, but he's never started the process. Until this week!

The first "game," if you will, just involved Mal forcing himself to laugh to get us to laugh. When we laughed back, he actually cracked up a lot. (And mostly without hiccups, thank God! FINALLY!) I got a video of his fake laughing... I had to keep feeding him, though. :)

When Mal was a newborn, after I'd change his diaper, I'd pick him up and lay on my back, then say, "Baby attack!" and have him come at me like he was tackling me. I'd lay on the floor and pretend to be knocked out, and say things like, "I never saw that coming! I can't believe it!" I've done it more recently as he's been fussing to get out of his "seat" toys like the piano and ExerSaucer... but not in the past month or two because he's way too heavy!

I don't know whether this was a throwback to those memories, or just something he made up, but today's game had more of an actual structure, simple as it was. Mal started off by standing beside me where I lay on the bed and then throwing his head into my torso. He would then giggle, stand back up, yell, and do it again. Of course, I acted very shocked and injured. He did this about a dozen times.

My husband saw it and went to pull out my camera, saying, "What do you bet he won't do it again?" (as per usual, when we get out the camera) However, he did catch it a couple of times as Mal was tiring out. Oh my goodness, it was the cutest thing!




He's feeling a bit better from the ear infection, but we're still fighting it! I think it spread to his other ear, too, so I'm even more determined to wrestle him twice a day to get as much of that medicine down as we can. If we can just get him well, he's being a lot of fun and happily busying himself on his own a bit nowadays. The good times are starting. Yea!