Typical Tuesday

I'm off to an interview for a waitressing job after I write this post. I've waitressed before, at the Terrace Grille and the Apple Tree Inn. At both places, I really enjoyed it (for the most part) and the money was really good (I think I averaged $10/hr after taxes).

As many of you have probably experienced, once you've entered a job field you get quite picky and critical when you later employ someone else in the same position. Like when I was a grocery clerk. I got real good at bagging groceries, and now it REALLY irks me when baggers throw random stuff together- like bread with cans, or raw meat with kleenex. I've gotten to the point where I put stuff on the conveyor belt in the order I want it sacked, to avoid getting my banana's and tomatoes bruised, or my cereal boxes soaking wet from melting frozen items.
I'll admit, I may need help. Maybe I need to go to a group?

Hello, my name is Kim, and I'm a bagging snob.

Moving on...

Waitressing has not been any different. My server has to be really bad for them to get less than 15%. I'm very understanding about certain things (such as the way food is cooked not being the waiters fault). But I'm very picky about others. Like my glass of water getting empty. Or not having silverware. Or having to ask twice for something.

The one gray area, however, is how often to check your table, and how to kindly interrupt. I've had some waitresses come to my table so often, it almost feels like they're trying to hurry me up. Then other times I have to go searching for another waiter to find my own.

Since it has been a while, and it is different for many people, I'd like to know, how do you like to be served?

Physical Therapy Part II

Since Jeremy was gone last week, I didn't have the brain power to post. I don't know how you single mom's do it! 5 days and I was at my wits end.

Anyway, today we had our third session. It went SO much better than last week. This is pretty much what last week was like:



She caught on to the give-me-my-favorite-toy-and-then-take-it-away game and did NOT want to play. She was happy the instant she had her toys, but threw a fit the moment it was out of her reach.

And all we wanted her to do was this:

Doesn't look like much- but getting her to put one hand on the ground to support herself was the goal.

We didn't get much done because of the tantrums so we got a lot of homework. We had to find toys that she had to pull apart to build her stomach muscles. The therapist had these toys, but had no idea what they were called. There wasn't a label on them (what toy company doesn't put a name on their toy?) Does anyone recognize them? Know what they are called?


My mom has these Melissa and Doug foods with velcro that have been perfect! It took her a day or so to get the idea, but now Sam is a pull-apart machine. She tries to pull everything apart. Which means her markers are no longer in her toy pile.

We've also been working on reaching for toys while sitting, trying hard to get her to put weight on one hand while reaching with the other. I've really had to be creative here, as Sam is not stupid. Here's what I've come up with:

1) Getting a food she REALLY likes (like banana bread) and having her tip to the side to get a bite from my fingers.

2) Any toys she has to reach into (which has become a favorite game of hers now) like a bucket, her diaper bag or a toy with a door.

3) Sitting in the bathtub (which she did for the first time yesterday!!!) and having the water running. She immediately put one hand down to steady herself to play with the water using the other hand- it took everything in me not to squeal with joy and scare her!

4) Rolling a ball back and forth with Lucy. Or any activity with Lucy, really, as Sam is always reaching for her.

Hm...this is getting kind of long and I still have so much to say, so I think I leave this post as a cliff hanger.


TO BE CONTINUED!!!...

Kitchen Nemesis

I'm a good cook. And a good baker. Not great, but good. Give me a recipe, and I'm all over it. Seriously, I'm not an idiot when it comes to the kitchen, recipes or following directions (I was a teacher for heaven's sake- giving/following directions was my life!!)

But for the life of me, I cannot cook rice.

This is what burnt rice looks like. Which smells like burnt popcorn, if you wanted to know.

Don't ask how I did it, I have no clue.

Jer laughs, but this is a serious problem. If we lived (or even visited) a 3rd world country, we'd starve. And we are living on a rice and beans budget. Hello- this is half our diet!!

*sigh*

Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Old Oak Tree

Everybody now, "Awwww!"

I See London...

A huge pile of laundry and she chose to play with these.
And got stuck.

Unintended Trick

Every morning Sam wakes up and nurses. I then burp her and hand her off to Jer.

The burping usually goes like this, "Can you burp? uuuuuhh (burping noise) Can you burp for mommy? uhhhhh...can you burp? uuuuuuh..."

Which has now resulted in this:

Sometimes she "burps" so hard she farts too-- that's my girl!!

Baby PT

Monday was Samantha's first day of preschool. It was quite fascinating to watch the therapist work! Here's the photo re-cap with some scattered details:



First, we stripped her down and Diana (therapist) observed. There were lots of new toys, so it was easy getting Samantha to do what she wanted.

Distraction was key to the whole session. She got Sam to do things in 5 seconds that I've been trying to get her to do for months.

Such as this:

She showed us how to get her to bend her legs while sitting (Sam has a bad habit of sitting with straight legs- which is why she's always hated it!)
I love Sam's face here!

Then we worked on pulling up to standing. Crazy how we have to teach her to do this.

Again, distraction and enticing with the new toys was the key.And finally, Sam has a real bad habit of not holding on when she's in a standing position, as seen here:

Basically we have to hold down one of her hands at all times so she gets use to the feeling of holding on to something.

Homework: practice sitting at least 5 times a day for 10 minutes (or as long as she'll stand it- Thank you again Baby Einstein!) Every day Sam will sit for longer and longer! Today she'd stay sitting all by herself as long as I was sitting behind her. It's a little frustrating, but such an improvement, I'm not complaining!

Next week she'll be working with her on tummy time and leg reflexes. Right now Sam moves her legs in the same direction at the same time- which will make walking, bike riding, crawling etc really hard in the future.