Daley Ponderings

And another trip for this week, out to the Kuhns.(need to update these directions after the trip. This one is more of an experiment, trying to stay off of Allegheny River Blvd, Freeport Road and 28 at rush hour) Estimated distance: 15 miles. Start at St. Mary's Cemetary at the entrance on... (More)

At church on May 7, Jonathan washed his hands in the bathroom completely independently for the first time - turning on the water, reaching the sink, reaching the soap, turning off the water, drying his hands. I offered to lift him up as usual, but he said, "I can do it!" And he did! The... (More)

We don't really know what happened, but we hadn't seen any robins at the nest for a while. Three weeks after Easter, I became suspicious, and now for sure these eggs won't hatch. We're going to clean up the whole window area and hopefully next year we will have successful robin hatching. (More)

On our flight to Boston, I made sure we had plenty of snacks. Jonathan was eating a fruit leather when he held it up and exclaimed, "Looks like Nebraska!" It really did! A recent set of bits Jonathan has seen is fruits and vegetables including: apple, baby corn, banana, broccoli, cabbage,... (More)

This is the hardest one I have ever worked on. [ Update 10/24/2006: thanks to you all reading this post and posting other links, I have since found more interesting ones -- look through the comments - the one posted on October 9th appears to be pretty hard, though maybe I just made a mistake on... (More)

On Saturday morning, April 1st, I saw the mother robin checking out the nest over our door. I put up a blanket over the window (since I never got to finding a one-way glass) so our comings and goings would not disturb the nesting. There are no eggs yet, and I have not seen her again. I... (More)

I got a notification from a credit bureau today saying that a new account had been opened by: Verizon Pen, PO BOX 165018, COLUMBUS, OH 43216. Since I haven't changed phone service since last year, it seemed odd that there would be a new account from Verizon.My mortgage company had their backup... (More)

Colin Portnuff, a guy who uses an AAC (alternative augmentative communication) device to communicate, was recently at a conference that some guys from my company (DynaVox) also went to. He has ALS , which is a degenerative disease of the brain. A number of our customers have ALS; I am not... (More)

Jonathan's favorite bits recently are Fluorine, Estonia, Great Gray Owl. I'm pretty sure he does know the Estonian flag, but he has now started this game where he goes through them and calls them all "Estonia." I think he just likes to say the word! But yesterday, he was doing that,... (More)

Recently, Jonathan has liked to sit in his little chair with his guitar, strumming and singing, "I love Mommy. She is beautiful. I love Mommy." Now there's a sweet Valentine! On Thursday I was uploading the pictures from the camera, which turned out to be a big job because there were still... (More)

I have proved it to myself. Eating too much sugar drains my energy, making me tired and lethargic. On the positive side, cutting down on my sugar consumption gives me energy to last through the day! I have heard and read many things about refined sugars, eating raw foods, eating whole foods,... (More)

As mentioned on the GirlTalk blog , there are a what I think is a disproportionate number of men in the Sovereign Grace churches that believe the best way to show affection to other men is to make fun of them, particularly in public. (I suppose I am continuing the stereotype published by the... (More)

Based on an excruciating headache Wednesday afternoon, October 12, that did not go away, Jon and I headed to West Penn Hospital Emergency Room at 10:30pm. A friend came to the house to watch Jonathan while he slept. Here is an aside - it was so good for Jonathan that he did not come, he would... (More)

So much exciting stuff happened today that I want to get it written down now, even before we post about our vacation to Canada this weekend. Jonathan made up his own rhymes today and was obviously pleased with himself. "Toe-oh-bo" in the morning and "Hello, Moe! Hello, Joe!" into the phone in... (More)

Mom found this house while canoeing in the Merrimack River, and thinks it is just perfect for us. It does look great! There is a lot of land (13 acres) and a lovely place for the Black Rabbit to launch from. We have gotten used to Pittsburgh housing prices, so anything is a shock, but this... (More)