In their studies on Karen Miller's students, Ganschow and Sparks found that by being taught phonological skills in one language, the students improved their phonological awareness in English also. This finding has led to a variation on the method of teaching phonology in the target language: teach the fundamentals of phonology in the student's native language before foreign language instruction begins.

That is, students are taught to recognize phonemes, to decode, or read words, efficiently and to encode, or apply the sounds to the written language. Basically, they learn what language is and how its sounds and parts function. Application of this knowledge to the language they are trying to learn is the next step.

This has proven an effective remediation as well. In fact, so strongly do Ganschow and Sparks believe this, they now recommend very strongly that such phonological skills be much more heavily stressed when children are learning to read. They feel students' reading and language skills will be much stronger, and future problems with foreign language acquisition will be headed off for many.

Another one of H1's concert

These were taken with my camera - so not the best - but I am suprised by the sound quality

reading update

For those of you following the whole reading disability -

From: H1 Teacher
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 10:56 AM
Subject: reading update

Linda,

I wanted to give you an update on H1’s French reading. In November, she read a level 2 book with 93% accuracy. Yesterday she read a level 3 book at 87% accuracy. However, that score was figured counting the 6 times in the story the word “réveillé” showed up and H1 said “regarde” each time. Other than that, she made 2 errors. Her accuracy percentage goes up quite a bit if we don’t count those 6 errors. I will continue to keep you posted throughout the trimester!

Have a wonderful winter break!


WHOOOOO HOOOOOOO

Can you handle a few more H1

ignore the scuff to her face - she insists she doesn't know how it was done; however, my sources, seem to have seen a young blond girl in an Ariel swimsuit doing a little rough housing at the pool when I was teaching lessons

Happy Holidays!

Just a little H1

H1 was really sick this last week with pneumonia - so we were trying to do anything to make the time go by....

Yea for H2

Edited the names - but I am sooo sooo happy!

----- Original Message -----
From: H2's teacher
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 5:01 PM

Hi H and me,

I am writing to let you know how delighted I am in H2’s behavior since Thanksgiving break. As I am sure he has told you ( I apologize for not always taking the time to color in his calendar), he has had nothing but green days since coming back from break.

I am sure you are convinced, as I am, that H2’s improved health and resulting better sleep have been key factors in this change, although I certainly do not rule out extra effort on Hunter’s part! You have said that the color-coded days help H2 stay motivated – do you feel that we should continue this practice to keep up this momentum, or is it soon time to try things without it? My feeling is that continuing on another week or two until he starts to establish his good habits is a good idea and we can reevaluate afterwards. I invite your feedback.

Thank you for all the support you have given H2 in this process – I certainly hope he is feeling better, healthier, and well-rested!

Krista

Microsoft has banned my email!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apprantly I am a spammer -

I am a room parent to two class - each with 24 and 26 students, I send out regular emails...Then I have taken over the girl scout service unit communications and I send out emails to our service unit leaders around 100+. I have sent a lot of emails recently - and now cannot get past the block. GRRRRRRRRRany help?

----- Original Message -----
From: H1's teacher
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 6:03 PM
Subject: Wednesday 11-28
Hello!

Your child was one of those in the class who switched their name with someone else for the day on Wednesday the 28th when there was a substitute teacher in the classroom. Several students switched name stickers with someone else and some created a new nametag for their desk. The sub was confused, but was aware something was going on.

I talked with your child today and he/she helped write an apology note to the sub. This was a good time to talk about what to do when someone else has a bad idea and wants you to join in, but you need to say no and do what is right. I also explained that when I leave sub plans, I leave specific, pertinent information about many of the students and that in changing names, the sub was not directing specific help or other assistance to certain students.

Nothing further needs to be done about this incident, but I just wanted to let you know.

Thanks,

H1's teacher

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ummm yeah.....

Censorship>

So on a message board I frequent - someone posted the following:

So, I was having a conversation yesterday afternoon with my friend in Texas. I do love her dearly, but we have very, very different parenting styles and thoughts on what kids need, so we're careful about what we discuss. We both love books, so we talk about them a lot. I mentioned that Cameron really likes the "Little Critter" books by Mercer Meyer. Her response was that she "wasn't into books where animals dress up in clothes and act like people".Umm, what? I sort of laughed because I never really thought about it. They're cute books and they usually have
moral or lesson, and my kid likes them. The only books I've decided to forego at this point are the Grimm's fairy tales. Hansel and Gretel was my favorite story growing up, but that and the other stories in the book are very, very dark so I've decided to just put the book aside for now.

Then another poster said:

As a former school teacher, my opinion will always be ... no censorship. We have come across a not so nice word before in library books and we always talk about how those are not nice words. She hears them anyways since we play with older kids, so she might as well know they're not nice and mommy doesn't allow her to say them. I know she's young to grasp the concept, but I'm starting now.

My take -
I agree with 2nd poster to a point - well, I thought I did. But the more I think about it - I do agree with some censoring. I think that when you keep exposing kids to any language, they can get "desensitized" to it. My kids spend their kindergarten year in a French classroom. The kindergarten year is a "linguistic" bath. The kids learn the language by hearing it again and again and again. I prefer my kids not to experience the American a linguistic bath of swear/certain slang words. So I choose not to keep exposing my kids to it during a wonderful story time, "unless" it is integral to the storyline. My kids know the words and we have had discussions about our "family's rules" with respects to certain words; however, when a "bad" word comes up, I generally will change it.

That said, I do not enjoy the Junie B Jones books, she is just not a very nice girl and the amount of times the words stupid & dumb show up - it is like watching a movie that you can't get over how many times the F-Bomb has been dropped to know what the movie is about. They are not enjoyable for either H or I to read to the kids, so we don't pull those to the front of our home library; however, we do have a few and if they really want to read them, we will read with the censoring.

Looking for a new digital camera

Due to the car break in And video camera AND unfortunately car radio....

Any links would be appreciated.

Some recent pics

Well H1's conference was interesting

Granted, I have not gotten her report card yet; however, I H and I did meet with her teacher.

Her teacher made wonderful comments like
"I look at who she is and I wonder what she is going to do. She is going to do something so great. She is going to make a huge impact on something."

She is reading (in French) at Level 2 at a 93% proficiency. About half the kids in her class are at a level 6. The rest are somewhere between the level 2-5. So yes, she is on the lower end. BUT she is progressing. H was really concerned about it and her teacher kept telling him that he needs to only compare H1 to H1. Don't compare her to other kids, just look at where she was and where she is now.

The way I look at it is that she only started getting the "right" tools for her this summer. The "old" or other ways of teaching to read did not work for her. The Level 2 is where the kids were at the end of first grade, so once she started getting the right tools, she "caught up" within 6 months. All I want her to do is keep progressing and to feel good about reading.

She is really proud of herself and things are coming together.

The one downer of the day, was speaking with her reading resource teacher. She made a comment that H1 wasn't coming along as fast as she should, or rather, as fast as she assumed that H1 would. I was pretty upset about this, wondering if something else was wrong... and then I realised....
That this was the same teacher that said at a table across from me last year and she hesitated putting kids is special ed reading so early (IE assigning them in grade 1) because may times they move so fast that she doesn't think it was a true disability, but just that they had to "grow into" (the whole concept of their "window opening").
I remember her wondering and almost assuming this would be H1. I knew it wasn't, but I could see she wasn't 110% convinced. What this shows her, is that - no H1 is progressing, but not to the extreme that you can say - 'see special help was not needed'. She is now truly seeing the dyslexia come out and she is understanding there is more here than meets the eye. Like I said, at first I was upset by her comment, then I remembered where it came from and I am all good now.

Holly is comfortably reading leveled readers in English - not without help, but she is getting there. Compared to where we were last spring the improvement is amazing. Her confidence is back, her willingness to try is back.

30 girl swimming event on Saturday

Had my 30 girl swimming event on Saturday - my troop plus two smaller ones. It was loud but the girls and the moms had a GREAT time. The girls really behaved well.

I was a little overwhelmed, worried about safety, worried about the gaurds getting stressed, worried about the moms thinking it was all good... BUT the best comments happened at the end - All the girls were clamouring at their leaders... when is the next Brownie meeting? When do we get together again. That made me feel so good.

BUT THIS IS THE BEST
Then right at the end, after Holly and I cleaned all the lifejackets up, put the large foam boards back (HUGE frogs, butterflies, -- this was the favorite part - relay races with them)put the lane line back in, all that fun stuff.... (not) (She also was there an hour early helping me do everything else, get the lane line out, get the noodles ready, greet all the girls.)

Holly looks at me and says, "Mom, you did all this? You planned this big thing all by yourself? How come?"

I looked at her and pointed right at her.

She looks at me - "You did all this for me?"

I looked straight at her again, "Of course I did, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. I wouldn't be a girl scout leader if it wasn't for you."

She stood really still, and looked me in the eye and said, "Wow." Then she hugged me and said, "Thanks mom."

"No problem" I said -

Thinking back - What I was really thinking is -

No, Holly, thank you. To see you growing up and spending time with you. To know that we have "our thing", is super important to me. So much of our time together is struggling to do homework, working on reading, carting everyone here and there and the time we do spend gets interrupted by the urgent needs of the other kids. You give up so much to be a great big sister to them - I hope you get as much back. You bring so much extra love to our family. Thank you, for being who you are.

What makes me happy?

Someone asked me this - thought I would post my answer here

What makes me happy -

Feeling a sense of peace.
Those few moments when the house is quiet, hopefully clean
The kids are engaged in a fun activity at home -
be it playing outside,
or playing cards inside,
or reading a book with me
When everyone is content and I know their own "cup" is full.

Those are the moments that make the chaos seem worth it.

black cloud above this family WILL NOT lift

The black cloud above this family WILL NOT lift.Both of our cars were broken into last night. I waited four years to put a new radio in my car - we did it LAST month. BOOM it's gone. I am just sick about this.

H2 - poor kid

he is completely backed up again. I sent him to school with the Miralax today. I feel so awful for him - I cannot imagine what his body must feel like.

We also go the nasal spray for night time issues. One thing the dr said was that because he is so backed up - that when he lays down, the pressure is taken off his kidneys and his system can function, which may be why he produces so much urine at night. ....

The thing that frustrated me was that the dr gave me a ton of info on the potty pager and night time bedwetting. THE KID is NOT wetting his bed. The problem is he is getting up 5 times a night to go to the bathroom.

Oh and here is another one

I decided to go inactive on Tupperware for a little bit. I just cannot keep track of it right now - that was a huge yucky feeling decision to me.

Speaking of the Dr

I went to the Dr on Monday my thyroid is off again - got new meds
And I had to talk with the sleeping issues (mine on top of Hunter's) Ed says that I am snoring all the time. I have been waking myself up too - he said it was never this bad EVER


I was referred to the sleep clinic today - I had a huge long survey to fill out - 1+ hours of "questions" then they did an exam

Now I have to go in for an overnight sleep study and possibly the whole next day. They kept coming back to apnea and get this - narcolepsy - because of what happens when I fall asleep during the day. They said it could be extreme sleep deprivation too... When we went back - I could seriously - and I am not exaggerating tell them the last night that I slept a full nights sleep. I literally have no idea -

H1 - crossing the midline

I think by now most of you know about H1's reading. Her emergent dyslexia is coming to be - not so "emergent" more like "hello, here I am."

As she progresses in her reading, which is coming very fast. As she progresses in her spelling - (she was getting 2 out of 8 right - to last Friday a perfect score with both challenge words spelt correctly.

I get this email from her teacher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello! I wanted to let you know something interesting about yesterday's spelling test. As you saw on the test she brought home, H1 scored 8/8 +2. However, the first time she took the test, she had the sheet of paper turned around and the red line and 3 circles on the right side instead of the left. She wrote the numbers 1-8 on the right side of the red line and then wrote every spelling word completely backwards, starting at the red line and going to the left. Every word was spelled correctly, though.

For example:
siof enu 1.

I later asked her to write the words again because she had the paper turned around the first time. The second time she wrote what I sent home yesterday.

I showed the 2 tests to (her reading teacher) and we were both surprised and also amazed that H1 was able to write them all correctly while backwards. It is interesting, though, that she didn't notice while writing them that the words looked funny. It seems like the fact that the red line was on the other side of the page is what got her confused.Have you ever seen something like this before?

Thanks for all of the work you do at home with H1. You are so dedicated to your children and a great mother!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok.... hmmmm

so I got to thinking -

Hmmm - I didn't realize that. (with the red line) BUT, I have seen her completely flip them around. I see specific "sets of letters" flipped around often. ON is the most common.

What I find strange is that even after she was done, and she looked at both sets of tests, she couldn't "see" the difference? That would surprise me. I can see when she is doing it - that it happens. It is like the mirror in her head gets turned on. - But once she is made aware of it, she is able to correct it.



I tend to "hear" it - when she is reading. She will start the word from the wrong side.



The sheets that she is practicing on look like this




- and the books before were lakeshore learning writing journals, neither of which have a "red line". Our "method" is I have created a book that has a set of pages for each day - she writes out her words every day. If she just sits down and does it - she is done in under 10 minutes. And we take a spelling test, at least 3X before Friday. The "tests" (which I thought were the "most" important seem to really stress her out.) I moved from taking the test and then having her respell the words she got wrong, to always having her write them all out and then test at the end and start the day fresh the next day. Writing the words on her time line, seems less stressful.


I let her take the test by using the air spelling also at least once, and then she takes it at least 2X written out. I know the yellow dots are not where you are teaching them to start (they still start at the top) - but other than buying an expensive handwriting program - this is what I am working with. (I am debating buying the schoolhouse fonts program...) From what I have been reading, the more I can enforce the handwriting that it (the handwriting) becomes less of an issue and/or stumbling block in learning to spell and read. Then they focus less on how to "draw" a letter and can focus on the "bigger" picture of the whole word. I am just happy that she is working and it is not a struggle.

So...
where to go from here. The method I have is helping her understand, read and be successful with her spelling tests. That is all good.

I spoke with my SIL, who I think, many of you know is an OT. She spoke about the concept of crossing the midline.
She gave me a host of activities. The more research I did - the more that lead me to see the issue of crossing the midline can be HUGE with ADD also. Wow - so many things are coming together... Poor crossing body midline, affects child’s handwriting and the ability to learn new academic concepts.

Children with ADD or ADHD typically have problems with cross patterning movements, as they do not feel comfortable crossing the midline of their bodies. This problem with crossing the body’s midline of the body is because the left and right sides of the brain do not fire in synchronicity and they do not communicate well with each other.



So....

Crossing the Midline, or the ability to move hands and feet across the body and the ability to coordinate hands and feet together, helps students to learn new physical skills and is also important as students learn to write and draw. Encourage children to cross the midline with these activities:

1. Wheelbarrow walking
2. Playing hand clapping games like "See-See my Playmate", "Miss Mary Mack", and "Miss Susie"
3. Learning string games like "Cat's Cradle" and "Jacob's Ladder"
4. Playing hopscotch
5. Painting on an easel or drawing with chalk on a large chalkboard or sidewalk
6. Stirring pancake batter or other ingredients in a large bowl
7. Pedaling on a tricycle or bicycle

This is something I find interesting
27. Have the students work in cursive script. It is more difficult to reverse the letter pattern in cursive writing than in manuscript printing. This strategy will encourage more muscular power control and thus a more distinctive tactile/motor pattern for each letter.


OK that's all I have time for right now. I have a lot more research to do.

H2 night issues

I think most of you know the issues we have in the past struggled with regarding, night time wetting, daytime...

down the long road to Miralax - then to nighttime dryness. He had spent the last 3 months waking up every night, almost 4-5/X to go to the bathroom. He rarely has an accident.

But - what is happening is he is sooo sleep deprived. I got a call from his teacher the other day about him punching other kids?!?!?!? This is not my H2. Everyone that knows him really well, was like - "What?!?!? H2?! So I knew it wasn't a case of just mommy wearing rose color glasses. He has always been my rule follower in school. His preschool teachers just laughed at how toe the tie he was.

Both H and I were coming down on him so hard for this. We were coming down so firmly on his defiance. Then I was going over something that has really helped H1 for another friend who is going through some ADD issues and I was rereading the sleep study issues - and this just jumped out at me

Recent research has verified that chronic poor sleep results in daytime
tiredness, difficulties with focused attention, low threshold to express
negative emotion (irritability and easy frustration), and difficulty
modulating impulses and emotions

Hello.... of course I knew this - I knew his sleep was affecting this - but somehow to see it in black and white. Needless to say - I will be calling the ped first thing on Monday to make an appt. I already had been on the phone with them a month ago - asking if there was anything I could do and they wanted me to wait it out some more, but nope - I am not going to. I know there is medication that will help with the nighttime urination and I want to give it a try. If anything perhaps just a few weeks on it can reset his clock to not have to pee so much at night and he can get sleep.

My heart just hurts remembering him, with the daytime stuff. When the dr. got down on his level and said, "H2, look at me, I want you to know this is not your fault." I remember the look on his face, like a weight was lifted from his. I remember him running across the room into my arms. I remember him looking like, 'see mom, it's really OK to love me.'

All the while, we parents, thinking we are doing the right thing by being firm... ugh.... You always read about kids getting away with murder, so we probably toe the line to being firmer, and then this happens and you feel like a failure as a parent. When your child's basic needs are not being meant (sleep - and in the previous situation health related) of course, they cannot behave. Discipline is NOT the answer. Crappy parenting is certainly not the answer. UGH.

This is the note I sent to his teacher today.

Krista -
I have done a lot of thinking regarding the issues that you brought up on Wednesday. I want you to know that I am taking this very seriously. I even went as far as to request a suggestion circle in my ECFE class, where all the parents have older child and the parent educator responds too.

First, let me say, his punching and defiant attitude when "caught" is not OK and never will be OK. I do not expect the behavior to be tolerated. I do, however, want you to be aware of a few things and hopefully it will shed some light on this.

I truly believe the root cause of this behavior is sleep deprivation. As I told you on Wednesday - Hunter is in a not so good place physically and emotionally right now. Most of this, though after taking with him and really going over the last month in detail - I believe is physical. He has not gotten a full night's sleep since prior to August. I will be setting a dr appt to hopefully get the nighttime issues under control with some medication. I don't like to go the medication route; however, we have tried behavior modification, diet changes and other natural approaches to this since August. We both know the following - but it really helped me to see it in black and white.
Recent research has verified that chronic poor sleep results in daytime tiredness, difficulties with focused attention, low threshold to express negative emotion (irritability and easy frustration), and difficulty modulating impulses and emotions

Some background:
You know (per our first conference) that Hunter has gastrointestinal issues. This spring and into summer we dealt with him wetting his pants, every 20 minutes. His behavior was off the wall erratic. Turned out his was so constipated (sorry, I cannot think of a polite way to say it) that he couldn't even feel the pain anymore. He went on Miralax for 3-4 months and was better. I explained at our first conference that he absolutely needed enough water breaks during the day to not have this occur again. We are back to accidents. I have asked him how many water breaks he gets a day and he says 2. This could also be adding to his erratic behavior. This is frustrating to me, because we had this under control, when I was in charge of what and how much he drank during the day.

At the same time that we were able to stop the Miralax, Hunter was "ready" for nighttime dryness. He has been getting himself up 4-5 times a night since before school started (mid July). This has been going on for 3+ months. I called the ped a few weeks ago thinking that this cannot be good for him, he has not gotten 2 straight hours of sleep in 2+ months (at the time of my call). The ped at that time recommended waiting it out a bit longer. With the new information about his classroom issues, I am not going to wait it out any longer.


Where to go from here. This is a list I came up with for us to work together.

Set positive expectations for behavior.

• I will reinforce that each day morning about what behavior to expect
• I would like some type of communication daily from you regarding this. It can be as simple as - he can have a card in his backpack that says it was a green (good) yellow (OK) or red (really bad) day.
• I will work on the positive reinforcement when he has "x" amount of green days. I will speak with him about what went wrong on the red days and have appropriate consequences at home.
  

Giving Hunter tools and reminding him to use them to deal with his frustration.

• We talked about making the room bigger. (He can go and push on a wall, relax, then push on the wall again.)
• Hunter is a boy, use the shoulder to shoulder method of talking to him if something has gone wrong. Do not take the no eye contact as defiance.
• Giving him lots of large motor movement. Taking away a recess will be counter productive at this point - he is already struggling to deal with out of control emotions, we both know physical activity will help that.

Making sure he is getting adequate water during the day.

• I may have him drink some type of fiber filled drink in addition to his snack.
  ( I know that juice drinks are not normally OK - but the timing of the Miralax is important, (so that he can make it to the bathroom and have enough time for his system to adjust before bed. In the morning before school would not be ideal for him - that would put him in a bad place at lunch time. Lunch time, I would be concerned that he wouldn't finish it and the school day still has 4 hours, so snack time seems to be the best time. Then he should be home, and have enough time for his system to settle before bed - so we don't exaggerated the already horrendous sleep issues.

I will be setting a dr appt to hopefully get the nighttime urination issues under control with some medication.

• I don't like to go the medication route, but I think the root cause of this behavior is sleep deprivation.
  

I hope this works for us, but most importantly, I hope we can work together to help Hunter through this. I do not think this is the developmental stage of seeing if he is going to be bad or good. There are much larger issues that need to be dealt with first. Once all those are off the board, then I think we might be able to go down that road. Let's hope that we have no need to.

Once again, thank you for meeting with me on Wednesday. I really appreciate you and all the work that you do with such a large class of kindergarteners. You are such a blessing in Hunter's life. I know that together, we can help him through this.

Don't hesitate to call me on Monday if you need/want to talk more about this. I work until Noon, but I should be home from 1PM on.

Linda

No Disney for us

See the below comment - I haven't mentioned it aloud for fear of it not working and lo and behond it is not working out.

Both Ed and I were so excited. We thought Disney might actually be within reach for us. We found cheap (relatively) plane fair and then we were going to stay at a resort on my parent's time share for $89/week. The largest cost would have been park admissions.

It would have been tight - but we figured we could make it work. After all that has gone on in our family since August 1 - we really wanted a family get away. We knew we would be spending money on it and figured out how much we could afford and it looked like it was going to work... and no dice.

None of the hotels that are within the time share are open. I am so seriously bummed about this.

how true how true how true

A friend of mine posted this on her blog -

"It's only money" works for me until we don't have it anymore. "

People who always have money have no idea the sheer amount of stress that having little money to do with can place on a person or on a family.

Whew check 2 things off the list

New family/parent communications! DONE
AND
today I went into the back with my new treasurer for the troop and she is officially in charge of all troop finances!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK GOD! We are doing the final financial report together, so she can learn what needs to be done and then I am done done done done done!

Did I say done?

I need to write this down for me

This is not as much as a "Whoa is me post." - as a "what the hell was I thinking?" "Answer - clearly I was not." post.

I keep thinking I have way way way too many balls up in the air - and you know what - I do - but I cannot think of which one to drop - but one will - I just hope that they don't all come tumbling down at once. This is all in additional to being pretty close to a single parent for three active children 6 days a week (Ed is home on Sunday - gives a whole different meaning to thank the Lord on Sundays)

1. Girl Scout leader to 15+ girls
2. Service Unit Liason for New Member Events
3. School K-Daisy organizer (ugh... who, how many, what troops.... UGH!)
4. Room Parent K
5. Room Parent 2
6. New Family Chair School
7. RE teacher (gave that up, only to)
8. 1st Reconcillian & 1st Communion teacher
9. Swimming deck manager
10. Group Swimming teacher
11. Private swim teacher
12. Soccer Coach
13. French Student (me not the TT)
14. Hosting a french TT (like have a 21 year old child - not in a bad way - just not the adult help, but it is what it is)

oh and did I add - I had a tooth break off and need to get a crown tomorrow?

a small haiku

for a friend

mother's denial
of far away teenage years
comes closer each day

H3's first day

H3 and I take an ECFE class - one day she goes with me and I stay for 1/2 the time, then have a parenting class for the last hour, then one day she goes for 2 hours by herself.

I did it with H2 and it was soooo much fun for him. The teacher is amazing!

she is so darn proud of her elmo backpack. It is the same backpack that H2 used for his 2 year old class and H1 used when she was 3

H2's 1st day of K

waiting for the bus at the neighbor's house accross the street

getting off the bus at schoolteacher Mlle Smedstad
his TT - M. Remi

Another glipse of H at work

This was kind of funny - it took me a little bit to find the actual video - but once you watch the video - if you know H really well, you will laugh... trust me - it is soooooo him.



Not sure about loading the video - he is a around 46 sec mark - right around when they are talking about the people getting their marching orders from MNDOT

The Invisible Woman

This struck such a cord with me.

The Invisible Woman
By Nicole Johnson

It started to happen gradually. One day I was walking my son Jake to school. I was holding his hand and we were about to cross the street when the crossing guard said to him, "Who is that with you, young fella?" "Nobody," he shrugged. "Nobody?" The crossing guard and I laughed. My son is only 5, but as we crossed the street, I thought, "Oh my goodness, nobody?"

I would walk into a room and no one would notice. I would say something to my family - like turn the TV down, please" - and nothing would happen. Nobody would get up, or even make a move for the remote. I would stand there for a minute, and then I would say again, a little louder, "Would someone turn the TV down?" Nothing.

Just the other night my husband and I were out at a party. We'd been there for about three hours and I was ready to leave. I noticed he was talking to a friend from work. So I walked over, and when there was a break in the conversation, I whispered, "I'm ready to go when you are." He just kept right on talking.

That's when I started to put all the pieces together. I don't think he can see me. I don't think anyone can see me. I'm invisible.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?"

Obviously not! No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude -but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress;
it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought this for you." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees." In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

* No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
* These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
* They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
* The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God
sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great
cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become." At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own
self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

H1's 1st Day of School 2007

Here she is with our neighbor and our TT from France

Gotta love the diva glass - Hunter starts tomorrow

And for some kicks from the last two years

Minnehaha Falls hike

We went to the falls - definitely not as much water as last time, but still pretty none the less. We then made the mile hike to the Mississippi River. Not that impressive of a point in the river, but still there. We went without adequate water, since we weren't planning on actually making the full 2 mile round trip. Whoops... I kept hearing Angie.... stupid people - why don't they have water....

The kids made the hike well, Hunter did a few falls, (helps that we were by a creek to wash him off so I could assess the damage) but with good coaching, he is realizing how he needs to handle falls on a hike and how to avoid them.

We ate Lunch at the sea salt eatery - all the kids liked the fish... me... nope.... the kids enjoyed the bubbles

i

yes that was him

The first pic - He couldn't be sure... I forgot that he only has the white hat - then when he moved to lead his hat changed color - but he confirmed yup it was him in the orange. A few of you asked where the picture was - it was in the paper the other day.

Last night he was there from 7AM Sunday to 5AM this morning and is back at work by 11 AM...

I know his hat is orange - and I know his tan shirts that I keep washing.... 2nd pic - I am pretty sure that is him crossing his arms.
Imagine - this is what you spend 20+ hours a day looking at ... and it is your job to figure out what happened.... yuck~!

Small Updates

Sorry I haven't been able to post - I am still feeling like a load of bricks is keeping me down.

The removal of the bridge is now a 24 hour operation, which means.... Ed's forensics team is now a 24 operation. Tuesday he THOUGHT he might be home by 7PM - no.... try 12:30 AM.... poor guy, he feel asleep in all of his clothes.

Things are useable for the new TT - but far from "finished" I do have more painting to do - stairway, etc (no that wasn't on the orginal plan, but I noticed Ed filled in holes from the old gate and I primed them and now I have to paint. I hope we have that paint left.

I cannot for the life of me keep up on things here - but I will get better at it I am sure, lots of moms do this single mom thing, but I know trying to get ready for the TT on top of it has made me a little crazy.

The kids are not sleeping well at all. This is sooo not a time for a revolt. UGH. For the last two nights, I have not slept more than 1 hour in a row, not an exaggeration. I am sure they are feeling the stress too.

just a small pot stirrer

But I want to have another look at this - the media needs to look a little at themselves too....

I am looking for a kstp news piece from almost 10 years ago when H was part of a team (who was working with a private firm at the time) that closed down a bridge across the Mississippi river. I recall watching that piece being amazed at how the slant was that they were just trying to make it hard for the private bridge owner and the commuters. I remember being so frustrated wondering if they had a clue the hours of inspection, the conversations, the tough decisions that go into that decision and all the news was reporting was the commuters frustration. I don't think one person in that whole news cast said thank you....

Yeah, what he said

reprinted from
http://www.startribune.com/commentary/story/1352036.html

Tom G. Peterson: Maybe mistakes were made -- but maybe not
The bridge failed. That doesn't necessarily mean that those who engineered it did.

Tom G. Peterson

Published: August 09, 2007

The litigators are lining up to file their lawsuits. The politicians are posturing for public opinion. The media is maneuvering to manufacture ratings. And the case-study writers are commencing their background work.
Yes, the world of self-interest is alive and well. These are the people who will judge those most closely involved with the Interstate 35W bridge.

Yet no one in these professions faces the daunting task of securing and maintaining the well-being of your family and mine. That burden falls on the civil and structural engineers of our communities. These are the men and women who take most seriously the need for their decisions and judgment to be flawless, because they realize that the safety of structures designed for use by the public can never be in doubt.

The bridge collapse was a tragic event. Lives were lost. People were injured. No one would suggest that this was acceptable occurence, least of all the engineering community. But those who surmise that this "just can't happen" do not comprehend the complexity of the situation.

Those quick to assign blame will assume that structural engineering is a perfect science in which all is understood. It is not. Those anxious to litigate will assume that all is known about loading conditions, the strengths and behavior of construction materials, and the effects of environmental conditions. It is not.

Mistakes may have been made, but one possibility is that they were not. One possibility is that every engineering professional associated with the design, construction, maintenance, evaluation, inspection, analysis and remediation of this bridge over the past 40 years may have performed his or her job responsibilities with competence and integrity. And the accident still happened.

It has been suggested that cost was an issue in decisionmaking. Of course it was. The public demands that it be so. Economy is an integral part of engineering, as with most professions. But the suggestion that safety was or is ever compromised by engineers for the sake of cost is ludicrous.

Engineering is a profession characterized by high standards for ethics and integrity. Witness the collapse of the twin towers. No one blames the structural engineer of those buildings, yet that engineer questioned his own judgment in not fully considering the possibility of a jetliner crashing into the side of the building. How's that for high standards and integrity?

There will be monetary settlements. That is the nature of our litigious society. But if any good is to come of this tragedy, it will not be because of the efforts of the lawyers, the politicians, the media or the case-study writers. It will be because of the hard work of professional engineers, who will implement the lessons learned.

Once the investigation is complete, we will rewrite design manuals, update code requirements, reissue material property information, modernize inspection techniques and alter product and construction specifications. Most importantly, we will teach the next generation of engineers. We will share our experience and our expertise, because that is how we strive to improve our profession and safeguard the welfare of the public.


Tom G. Peterson is an engineer in Eden Prairie.

H has a new job

He is now not just quasi managing the forensics team. He is managing it. His boss has stepped down from his role within the whole 35W bridge incident, because he is just too close to many of the decisions made over the last few years, so it was thought best that there not even appear to be a conflict of interest.

So... H has now gotten the promotion to principal, but what a way to get it. H did say that he felt totally confident in his role and was pleasantly boosted up when his boss and others higher up also told him they have complete confidence in his abilities. Never hurts to have someone say they trust you to handle a job as big as this, does it?

He has been working super close with the people from NTSB - so it has definitely been an interesting experience for him

as a side note -
I have been able to paint most of the TT's room - with the exception of a part that needs to be mudded, I have to do another coat on the ceiling and on the walls, and I plan on getting the room prepared today to lay the floor. I guess this is bringing different things out in all of us.

H3 turns 2 on the 2nd

I don't want to pass this day by - I will post pictures soon!

A special tool

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy - you're home!!!"
"Daddy did you fix the bridge yet?"
"Daddy do you know what happened?"

hugs, shouts of joy and questions

Late Friday night, the kids were up late, a few HOURS after bedtime, but we got a call from H and he was on his way home. I told the kids they could wait up for him.

Since the bridge collapsed, they had not seen Daddy. Now, for some families, this wouldn't be a big deal, Daddy is away a lot, they are used to it. For our family, it is a big deal. But I had already taken the time to explain to the kids, why Daddy wasn't home and that it might be a while until they saw him. They knew he was going to be tired and he was working really hard. I let them see the images of the bridge on Thursday. Not the gruesome ones, just a few, so that they could understand what all the fuss was about.

I had explained the bridge collapse to them and explained what Daddy was doing. But in their kid world it was all changed a bit..


After the above questions, they turned a bit more serious... H2 asked H -
"Daddy, there are still people under the bridge?"
"Yes, honey there are still people down there."
"In the water?"
"Yes."
"Are they dead, Daddy?"
"Probably."

Daddy had to take a bit of a break - OK let's be blunt - he had to use the bathroom.

H1 and H2 sat on the couch talking very seriously to each other, the super hushed tones were evident.

H comes back into the room. H1, "Daddy, H2 and I decided that we would be extremely good and that we will ask for a very, VERY special tool that will help you fix the bridge."

They were so sincere, so honest in their hearts, that a special tool could fix this for Daddy.

H just hugged them and didn't try to change what they thought. They are still kids, let them have their dreams.

H met the president today

We have to wait for the white house pictures of him and H though.

Granted, we wish it were on better circumstances. H answered some questions and the took pics. I hope to have them soon.

H is currently managing the forensics team working on the potential cause of the collapse. Technically, his boss the head metro area engineer is in charge, but H is really leading it. H calls it quasi managing. That is not to say anything against his boss, his boss is tied up in meeting after meeting, so H is on site almost all the time.

When I get a chance - the stories he tells of the first night are amazing. He was watching all the kids be taken off the bus. (He was in a different part on the bridge area, but he could see it) The way the beams fell - 3 seconds soon and the bus would have been under the beam that crushed the semi driver in half.

Us

Many of you have been asking about the bridge and Ed. We are fine, Ed is working a lot. He is currently working with a team of other bridge engineers on the forensics of the collapse. Needless to say - he is way tired and really just overwhelmed.

His presence lives on

I am just sharing an email to I received due to the other posting:

Lyn,I just wanted to let you know that I was really moved by Nathan's story and what you posted...I haven't been able to get him or his family out of my mind...I've shed a lot of tears for him and his family. The day after you posted that, I got a mailing from St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, a charity that I sometimes give to (though honestly, I often just throw them away). I just wanted to let you know that I made a donation in memory of Nathan. I didn't even know him and I don't know his family, but no child should have to go through that.I'm sure this has been difficult for you and the members of the other board as well. I'll keep you all in my thoughts through this difficult time.

today was the day

I could not breath when I first read this.

Nathan Michael

Each day

I wake and log on and feel a tug in my heart when I log onto Nathan's Page I can't help but wonder - "is today that day?" My heart just aches for them. Nathan is the same age as H1. I met Susan (the mom) when we were both pregnant with our 1st. She has two other ones, close in age to H2 and H3. I cannot imagine the pain that she is in, and I pray to God that I never can truly understand, because that would mean that I would lose a child of mine. The inconceivable - to lose a child. The decisions that they have had to make are heart wrenching.

Flowers Flowers everywhere

My Sister and her long time mate bought a new home a few months ago. They have over five acres - and so much is in its natural state - with the exception of paths that they created.

Hannah loved all the mulberry trees!






I dug up a bunch of these and will transplant them in my "fence garden"

It is sooo beautiful there - I cannot get over the fields of corn flowers.

The next Tiger Woods?

Wait - not so fast - here is H2 after his hole in one


Here is H1 right BEFORE her hole in one.

Aunt V - never got a hole in one
Niether did G-pa HHere is the whole golfing crew