Asbestos Report

I got all the lab tests and paperwork back from the asbestos removal folks. If you'll recall, they ran a negative pressure HEPA filter for all three hours they worked on the floor. I didn't know they would send the filter to a lab for analysis afterward. Guess what?! Ripping up five layers of flooring (one middle layer containing asbestos in the backing) generated 6 dangerous (it's only cancer-causing in a certain fiber size range) asbestos particles that were captured by the HEPA filter.

Six.

So, one part of me is like, "Sheesh! Six is no big deal! I could totally remove the asbestos-containing vinyl in my bathrooms at pretty low risk to myself."

And the other part of me is like, "Whoa. Just one of those could have given me lung cancer."

The beginning of the serviceberry harvest!

Sometimes you feel like a nut.

He asked me to take this picture. I promise he did.

This little stinker stole my seat (15th percentile for length at 18-month visit), but I gave him leeway 'cuz he's had a fever and hacking cough for four days and this is the first day he's acted 90% normal.

Ta da!

Cabinets are in. Appliances are in their proper places. Still missing the countertops, sink, and any kind of lighting, but it's good enough that we're moving our kitchen stuff back into the kitchen :) Huzzah.

Further Insight into Buddy

Now that school is out and I'm with these kiddos almost 24/7, I'm learning a lot more about Robert. For one, he's crazy fast/abstract with mental math. This morning, he was helping me with dishes for a little extra money. We agreed that this particular pile of dishes was worth $0.80. He worked and worked, then said, "I think I'm more than half way...probably three fourths or three and a half fourths. How much money is that?"

I responded, "Well, one fourth of $0.80 is $0.20, so how much is three and a half fourths?"

He grins and looks away to start calculating. I have to turn away so he doesn't see how freakishly interested I am in hearing his response.

"It's, um, $0.70!"

Totally right. I think I shrieked.

The next thing I've learned about Robert is he shares some mild OCD tendencies from my own childhood. We were walking to the car from an appointment and he was taking a really strange route, and pausing, and doing something funny with his feet. This wasn't the first time. He's been doing these funny hand taps and turns and steps for a week or so now. Anyway, we finally got to the car and while the other kids were busy buckling and such, I kinda asked Robert in a quiet, casual way what he was doing back there on the sidewalk. He got a little embarrassed smile and said, "I don't want to tell you because it's not a good reason." I assured him that I was just curious and there was no good or bad about it. He relaxed a little and confessed that sometimes there are things on the sidewalk that he wants to walk around, not over. Later, he expounded that he gets kinda excited/antsy when he gets the urge to walk around something (instead of over) and he can't do it for some reason. He also feels the need to touch things symmetrically. If he bumps into me with his right elbow, he'll turn around so he can bump me in the exact spot with his left elbow. And when he steps on a sidewalk crack with one foot, he feels compelled to step on the same crack with his other foot so it's balanced.

That was totally me as a kid. I don't remember the symmetrical touch dominating my life, but it was a strong tendency I held even through middle school. It bothers me much less these days, I promise.

Let's see how this develops over the next few years :)

Whoosh

It didn't strike me until we were biking home from the last day of school this afternoon:

"Wait. That was kindergarten?!"

It flew by. Deceptively so. There was a momentary twinge of regret. Or was it sadness? I'm not upset that he is growing up, just a little disappointed that I couldn't savor it as thoroughly as I might have liked.

Fourth grade and first grade, here we come!

Adventures in kitchen-free cooking

I made a pineapple upside-down cake in my electric skillet today...not pretty. Hope the kids don't find it too ugly to eat tomorrow. Last day of school!!

Ugh.