Letters to Holly

Friday, January 27

Mrs. Hyde

Yeah, I'm not doing that door replacement until the weekend. I may need all day to drive back and forth from the store to get those tools the box didn't tell me I needed.

Your Grumbly Sister told me all her medications include "irritability" as a potential side effect. She apologized for being on edge. She clearly is. She goes from quiet to cursing over the least little thing. I do that too and I have no excuse of drugs. She pulled a back muscle from coughing (just like Sammy Sosa), and I gave her a half-hour back rub during the GOP debate. I can't say which made her more sleepy.

She says her friends' sons all spoke later than their girls and went from babble to complete English sentences almost overnight.That sounds right; he's babbling for prolonged periods, imitating speaking cadence if nothing else.

Picture of the Day
My weekends plans are exciting.


Thursday, January 26

Diagnosis: Moidah

So, yes, Your Sister has a sinus infection, and now she has a bag of prescriptions to take for it. She also has back spasms, making her a delight for all.

Because nature dogpiles us with obstacles, the pantry door has finally given up the ghost. I've kept this thing alive and in operation for years with repair, but it is now really most sincerely dead. The guide post that allows it to slide in the doorframe is dunzo, leaving the door to dangle from the hinges and making it a beast to open and close. We need to to keep out the cat and son, and it seems I'll install a new door soon, maybe tonight. Considering I'll need to trade cars and drop off the deputy after work before I buy a door and bring it home, that means Your Sick Sister has to fly solo with him at his crankiest. And, if I install it tonight, I'll have to carry the pieces from the garage to the kitchen to minimize the racket. I can't just buy replacement pieces to fix the problem; we need a whole new door installation. I can do it, but it won't be quiet or quick. If I do it after we eat supper, that's gonna put me finishing around 10 pm. Rassem frassem.

It was announced yesterday that Sierra Nevada will open a distribution center in Mills River.

Picture of the Day
Today is NASA's Day of Remembrance. The first official astronauts (as opposed to test pilots) to die on a mission were aboard what was later named Apollo 1, seen below. That crew was lost on Jan. 27. Years later, Challenger was lost on Jan. 28. Columbia was lost on Feb. 3.
 

Wednesday, January 25

The Masque of the Red Sniffles

Your Sister is going back to the doctor today to figure out what this lingering bug is. She's been in the sick bed almost exclusively since Christmas, and it's only getting worse. She breaks the time into two distinct colds, but I see it as an adaptive ailment. She went to this doctor two weeks ago and got a simple antihistamine. She tried some Tussin despite my suggestion she go for Mucinex, something to attack the wracking spine-bending coughing fits. She thinks she may now have a sinus infection.

The Deputy's cold is fading. His nose is clear, and his coughs are fewer. I think he and I have the same allergies. We all navigate the house via cough echolocation. He may think coughing is a form of conversation.

I am suspecting he's having trouble moving from sign language to words. He doesn't understand the distinction of saying something with hands and mouth. And he gets confused about saying an animal's name and speaking as if he was the animal. If you ask him to say "cat," he makes the sign language or meows. We're working on it.

He almost used a toilet last night. In the shower, he made the sign for poop, and I held him over the toilet. He didn't understand that he could befoul it without getting in trouble. So I put him back in the shower, and there he went, and he was upset that he made a mess. Cleaning the mess is sometimes easier than comforting him.

I'm gonna buy him an alphabet toy today for the commute. I think he's outgrown the old car doodads, and I worry he's falling behind in learning. Entirely our fault, if so. We're challenging him on colors as he plays with books, and he does seem intensely interested in "reading" these days.

Picture of the Day
We need therapeutic cookies.