Glow in the dark YARN!!!!

Can’t contain my geeky excitement!

Bernat makes glow in the dark yarn!

!!!

Pattern for Abby’s sunshine sweater

Heidi asked for the pattern for Abby’s sunshine sweater. It’s a seamless bottom-up raglan sweater, and they are incredibly rewarding and simple to knit. My third completed project ever was a bottom-up raglan sweater for toddler Bede. Anyway, the pattern is available in the excellent book, Knitting without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann and also online in Knitty Winter 2004.

I really recommend the Zimmermann book, or any of her books really. She will change the way you think about knitting, in a good way.

SleepyKats at Etsy

I have an Etsy shop, yay!

Only one item in it for now, and the banner isn’t up yet for the shop, and, and. But still.

It’s at http://sleepykats.etsy.com and be sure to tell your friends. And tip your waitresses.

Abby in her sunshine sweater

003, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

Notice “o hai!” G-Lo in the corner there.

What’s on your table?

dining table, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

Been a while since we had a round of this! Here’s what ours looked like yesterday. Click through for notes.

Your turn!

Added bonus – the front of the fridge!

front of the refrigerator, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

Gilbert and the Red Sweater

I’m knitting Gilbert a sweater for his birthday. He requested red. I love, love, love knitting with red wool. It feels so festive and traditional.

Pictures later, Bede needs help. “Fix it your Dell? Okaysure, innagetchoo fix it Dell.”

coffee update

In my extensive coffee research (that is to say, what you guys said combined with one Google search) I have learned that you can buy green coffee beans, that Episcopalians like fancy coffee, and that Walmart has fair trade coffee. Here’s some background on that, and here’s the actuality. These guys are against it because they say Walmart is evil.

Me?

Walmart here we come. And if it stinks then we’ll try the other suggestions.

coffee?

So what are the best fair trade coffees? Price is the main consideration, since they all taste pretty good. Kind of tired of feeling like I’m supporting child labor.

stim city

I used to really dislike the word “stim.”

But now I don’t.

That said, Bede and Faith are Stimmy McStimmersons. Bede is running back and forth in the living room shouting out “Cheerleader! So and So! What’s Her Face! The Ugly One!” over and over (yes, I let my kids watch Homestar. I am a baaaad parent.) and Faith is spinning in circles. Faith is getting Aspie-er and Aspie-er as she gets older. Just like her ma. Ahem.

Calm down guys! Gee whiz.

TLAPD

TLAPD, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day, yarr!

It be Talk Like A Pirate Day, mateys! Our wee crew be plannin’ a pirate park party with some of our ne’er do well pirate friends, avast!

In the meantime, ye should watch this song me hearties, sung by the inventors of TLAPD!

YARR!!

baby penguin

baby penguin, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

We had the annual “Wearing of the Coats” afew days ago, to see who needed a new one etc. (as it turns out – nobody, this year! Found one to fit Bede, yay!)

Anyway doesn’t Gloria look all fwuffy?

hard day

Today has been very difficult. Bede has been unsettled all day, and inflexible. He used to be like this pretty much all the time, and it’s made me realize how different he is now than he was a year ago or so. With children you don’t see the big picture unless you look for it, because you barely notice the incremental progress each day. That’s true of all my kids, not just Bede.

Anyway, he’s had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, which means I have too. It’s made worse by having no place to put Gloria for a nap right now, so if she’s not in my arms she wakes up pretty much instantly. It’s developmental for my kids to do this at this age – I think it’s related to separation anxiety and learning to be mobile – but it’s not any easier to deal with. Especially in this particular house, where the location of Gloria’s room and the stairs combine to make it damn near impossible to get her to nap. Sigh.

But back to Bede. Since we had to put away the swimming pool he’s been having a difficult time. At least I assume that’s it, since he’s not getting the lovely deep pressure from the water every night. I’m going to get some beanbags I think. They’ll get peed on and drink dripped on and so forth very quickly, so I need a waterproof bag with a washable cover. Also going to get a full size futon for the floor in front of the tv to use instead of a rug. I love my rug but it’s gotten peed on and drink dripped on just like everything else in my house and it’s difficult to clean because of the deep shag pile. If I got a futon the kids could sit on it, fall asleep on it, be rolled up and squished with their heads sticking out while they giggle uncontrollably, etc. And with a waterproof cover with a washable cover for it over that it’s easy to clean.

All of this doesn’t convey the difficulty of the day, and frankly the last week or so. I think Bede has spent about 3 hours crying, moaning and screaming from about fifteen minutes after he woke up to about thirty minutes ago. The climax was Bede biting Trixie on the thigh REALLY hard, enough to break the skin in a few spots, her screaming in agony and me instantly snapping clean. in. two. seeing red and literally chasing him around the house roaring NOOO BITE! while I took about three stinging slaps at his rear end and he cried and cowered. Long time readers of my blog will recall that I am NOT a spanking parent so I see this as a HUGE failure, culminating in Bede reinacting the whole event by biting his arm, saying “No bite, Bede!” and then smacking himself on the leg and crying. Also, “Ouch, Mama!” So, yeah, I feel like a complete and total bullying jerk. I know he hurt Trixie and all but I should not have reacted the way I did. He seems to have forgiven me as he climbed up in my chair and hugged me but he has little psychological choice in the matter, what’s he going to do, divorce me and get a new mom? I guess I need to work on forgiving myself. It’s not likely to happen for a while.

Just generally an awful day. I hope tomorrow is better.

the Seanigan

027, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

Sean’s in-progress cardigan!

superbrain for superboy

Bede is very intelligent (self-taught reader by age 2, hacks our passwords frequently) very autistic (unable to carry on a conversation, refuses to wear clothes) and very disabled (must have 1:1 aide in public and constant supervision at home.) He is quite the puzzle, to use a tired metaphor. So it was with great interest that I read this in the Telegraph: Autism is caused by a ’supercharged’ mind.

Children who develop autism have “supercharged” brains that are so clever and sensitive that they make everyday experiences utterly overwhelming, new research claims.

“Our hypothesis is that autistic people perceive, feel and remember too much,” Kamila Markram told the New Scientist.

Faced with this “intense world” , autistic infants withdraw, with serious consequences for their social and linguistic development, she added.

Repetitive behaviours such as rocking and head-banging, meanwhile, can be seen as an attempt to bring order and predictability to a “blaring world”.

Most of the theories surrounding autism involve the idea of an underperforming brain but the Markrams believe the opposite is true with the brain being “supercharged”.

Their research, which included studying their own son who is borderline autistic, is backed up by one of the most replicated findings in autism which is abnormal brain growth.

At birth the brains of autistic children are small or normal sized, but grow unusually quickly.

By age two to three, when symptoms of autism occur, their brain volume is roughly 10 per cent larger than average.

Sounds right to me.

Finger-flick to Autism Vox.

Bede!

015, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

Trixie with the blue eyes

012, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

Gilbert asleep

018, originally uploaded by feebeeglee.

So angry I could spit

I’m livid with anger at the Chinese toxic formula sicknesses and deaths.

I am all about breastfeeding.

Obviously.

But I know several women who HAVE TO use formula because they have very low milk supply. Low supply affects a lot of women, I’ve read various statistics, but I’d say five to ten percent is reasonable. And that’s not to mention all the women I know who were misinformed by doctors and others and ended up with formula because they eventually had no milk due to poor advice on breastfeeding.

The current theory is that someone is diluting the milk with water, then adding melamine powder to make it look like it’s actually high-protein milk. It’s not accidental.

Somebody in China just doesn’t care that this is killing babies. Living, breathing, lovely babies. It’s just luck that this hasn’t happened here.

Enraged.

the GREAT State Fair of Oklahoma!

Like every other year ya went!

Sean, Faith, Abby and Gilbert are off to the State Fair this afternoon, possibly under heavy clouds but hopefully no rain. I think this will be the first time Gilbert’s been old enough to do any rides, so I hope he has fun. He wants to ride the Ferris wheel, which he has examined for months in Go Dog Go! “Go around again!”

The girls have planned out the entire trip, I am told. Rides and food and rides and food and rides. And food. And cows and chickens.

Have fun kids!