Author: Doris

October is Rett Syndrome Awareness Month.  Edda’s doing well – healthy (except for the Rett, if that makes any sense) and happy.  Edda often gets up at 4:30 am.  Usually one of us wakes up then and crawls into bed with Edda and cradles her back to sleep until a more reasonable 5:30 am.  We switch nights so I only get up super early every other day, but I’ve become so good at this that I can pretend I’m still sleeping when I walk over at 4:30 am and then go back to sleep promptly as soon as Edda’s body curls around mine.  Since Jeremy’s been traveling this week, I’m keeping Edda company every morning.  If I can’t get her to go back to sleep, then I’ll turn on a little TV on her dresser and she roams the room while I try to sleep some more.  This is when she’ll often come back to the bed and sit on my head.   I do still hope for a cure for Rett, but as she gets older, it all seems to fade away.  It’s as if I can’t see it anymore, that the borders are fuzzy and I can never get it smack in the center of my field of view.  

On the left coast, Jeremy saw Ben and Maryann and watched the 18-inning baseball game between the Nats and the Giants.

Then to the Mission, where he stumbled upon a riotous dinner party thrown by Donald in his tiny apartment.  Delicious homemade pasta was served.

On the right coast, Vince sorted through and organized a three-inch-tall pile of schoolwork.   I try not to cringe when I look at his binder.  Nothing in life gives me more pleasure than a well-organized school binder.  Apparently, Vince did not inherit that gene.

Max, on the other hand, has tendencies similar to me.  Every once in a while, the world will overwhelm her and she just wants to hide out under the bed.

Logan slept over last night.  Pizza and popcorn all around.

After he left, Vince made himself some ramen.

I dressed Edda fancy today in a fur vest.  It’s cold here.  Brrrr.

Jeremy is out of town for the week.  Dropped him off at the BWI shuttle bus at 6 am today.  He’s not usually gone for the weekend, but he wanted to see some friends in SF, so it makes it an extra-long trip.

Vince is dressing like a lao gong these days – oversized white undershirt and ill-fitting slippers.  Now he only needs an upside-down bucket to sit on while he reads the newspaper and grumbles about politics.

Took the kids to the flu shot clinic at our pediatrician’s this morning.  Get your flu shot!  That’s right, you!  Don’t turn around and think that I pointed to the person behind you.

Vince introduced Edda to another flu shot clinic client.  Her mom recommended that we try out Special Olympics bowling (which is where they were headed to after the flu shot).  I’m loathe to sign the kids up for anything new because I don’t like to drive them anywhere on the weekends (because I’m lazy that way), so I kind of hemmed and hawed and mentioned that Edda can’t really use her hands.  She said brightly that they use these bowling ball ramps and they have volunteers to coax the kids to do amazing things.   I don’t doubt that.  I’m sure Edda would bowl if I took her bowling. Her daughter, the girl in the yellow shirt, is on the competitive bowling team and is hoping to go to regionals next week and then maybe states later on.

Vince actually watched the needle go in.  I can’t do that if I’m getting the shot myself.

Dora says corn = eating smart.

Vince pumps his first tank of gas.

We made it back to the DMV in time for Sunday night dinner. I saw these cookies on the stove and I was excited, but we didn’t get to eat them for dessert.  Maybe they were earmarked for other sweethearts besides us.

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Oof, I should have done better on today’s test on diabetes, respiratory and cardiac.  That’s what I get for playing all weekend instead of studying.  Moving right along now to infectious diseases – stay away from birds, bats and cats if you are immunocompromised, OK?

Quick trip to the Hudson Valley to take advantage of the 1.5 days off for the Jewish New Year. Jeremy, the kids and Nat went up first.  I stayed behind to do some school stuff and then took the bus/train up myself later in the week.

Jeremy worked for part of the time he was there, giving a talk at Williams and taking in conference calls.  He also cooked a lot.

Saturday, we went to West Point for a philosophy talk.  Bob was the only one who went to the talk, the rest of us had fun on the fields and went to the visitor center.  This hoodie game went on a little too long.

Hung out near Ike.

West Pointers on the right.  Bard students on the left.  But maybe you could have figured out that one on your own.

The highlight of our West Point trip was eating in the mess hall.  It’s huge.  All 5000 cadets are in formation at noon outside the mess hall.  Everyone is seated by 12:10pm and lunch is over at 12:30pm.  It’s here we learned that the penalty for missing class is to walk back and forth across a courtyard with a rifle and dress uniform for five hours.  If you are caught on a horizontal surface with a member of the opposite sex, the penalty is up to 120 hours of marching.

Emy and her boyfriend Seth cooked us a wonderful pasta dinner in their totally cute place in Tivoli.  Vince declared all of Tivoli “Instagram-able”.

We said goodbye to Pip and Andres.  Thank you Nat for coming with us and working and giving up your weekend.  You were so much help, especially when I was in DC and Jeremy was working – we couldn’t have done it without you.

New year road trip.  Synching the phone to the minivan.

Ruby gets a footwell.

Maxi gets her crate.  She was so excited when Jeremy put it in the van because she knows she’s going someplace special.

Loading Edda into her spot.  Van full.