Carson and I were talking last night about what he had done that day. Nothing major, just an overview of the things he experienced, to not only work on his story-telling and language skills (yes, I'm forever a speech therapist), but also so I feel as involved as possible in his life on those days I have to work. As we were talking, I asked him a series of questions that I thought was quite funny:
Me: Carson, what do you like most about Nana days?
Carson: Catching butterflies.
Me: What do you like most about Mommy days?
Carson: Having cooking and art days.
Me: Great. What do you like most about Daddy days?
Carson: Eating the marshmallows in the Lucky Charms.
I think I have clearly identified the weak link in my parenting armor: Ben.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Funny Comments
So I have two pretty interesting patients right now - both have traumatic brain injuries, which result in some pretty funny comments. Here are a few I heard yesterday:
Patient #1:
The nurse comes in to check on him while he's in the bathroom: "Are you OK in there?"
"Yes, and thank you for your interest. I can really tell you care how much I pee." (He says it with genuine sincerity).
After a 30 minute session where we are doing nothing but talking, he says: "You know, I just need some attention. If someone could spend just 10 minutes talking to me, I think I could get better."
I stepped out of his room for 2 minutes to get him some juice. When I came back in he says: "Boy, you look familiar."
Patient #2;
I brought in some applesauce and ice chips for him to try and eat, and he says: "You know, if I had a tail right now, it would be wagging."
(This didn't happen to me, but I heard about it and couldn't help including it) He's sitting on the edge of his bed getting dressed and has his shirt off. He looks up to the female occupational therapist and says, "I hope I'm not turning you on. I have my shirt off and I'm so muscly" (then makes a weak attempt at flexing his non-existent muscles).
Patient #1:
The nurse comes in to check on him while he's in the bathroom: "Are you OK in there?"
"Yes, and thank you for your interest. I can really tell you care how much I pee." (He says it with genuine sincerity).
After a 30 minute session where we are doing nothing but talking, he says: "You know, I just need some attention. If someone could spend just 10 minutes talking to me, I think I could get better."
I stepped out of his room for 2 minutes to get him some juice. When I came back in he says: "Boy, you look familiar."
Patient #2;
I brought in some applesauce and ice chips for him to try and eat, and he says: "You know, if I had a tail right now, it would be wagging."
(This didn't happen to me, but I heard about it and couldn't help including it) He's sitting on the edge of his bed getting dressed and has his shirt off. He looks up to the female occupational therapist and says, "I hope I'm not turning you on. I have my shirt off and I'm so muscly" (then makes a weak attempt at flexing his non-existent muscles).
Friday, April 10, 2009
Forced Volunteerism
Ben received an interesting email yesterday, that I felt compelled to share. Evidently, certain individuals have forgotten what both the concept and definition of volunteering and service really are. Below is the message he received:
"Brethren,
I'm sure you already received the other email we sent out regarding Stake Conference. Don't worry, this one is not a duplicate. This particular email is going out to those elders in the quorum who, according to our records, have yet to fill any sort of service assignment in the quorum (sealings, canning, moving, etc.) since the ward was created about a year ago. We realize that most, if not all of you have church callings which undoubtedly take up a good amount of your time, so time is limited. Thank you for fulfilling those callings that you already have. However, YOU are on our "hit" list now. We are going to be approaching you to help fill quorum assignments, until we've given everyone the opportunity to serve, at which point we'll rotate back through the list of all Elders in the quorum (approximately 90 in all).
Our next assignment is Sunday for Stake Conference. The Stake has tasked our ward with providing two brethren to assist with ushering parking, AFTER the general session. If you would like to volunteer, and avoid the possibility of being "assigned" this, or any subsequent duties, please let us know, and we can remove your name from further, similar emails. We will advise this same group of any up-and-coming assignments.
Thank You brethren for your faithfulness.
Elders Quorum Presidency"
Now, I'm completely aware that Ben is not a big fan of volunteering to help for things - mainly because he doesn't like to do things that take him away from his wife and kids (because we really do struggle to all be together for any length of time as is). However, Ben is always one of the first people to offer to help someone he knows do anything from manual labor, to finding a job, to watching their kids. So, to basically be told that he will be receiving constant emails and is now on a "hit list" until he volunteers, is completely backwards. As the adage goes: "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," and it's completely true. Because now, with this forced volunteerism in effect; someone who really would have helped under other circumstances, has now told me that he WILL volunteer, but volunteer to be taken OFF their list.
"Brethren,
I'm sure you already received the other email we sent out regarding Stake Conference. Don't worry, this one is not a duplicate. This particular email is going out to those elders in the quorum who, according to our records, have yet to fill any sort of service assignment in the quorum (sealings, canning, moving, etc.) since the ward was created about a year ago. We realize that most, if not all of you have church callings which undoubtedly take up a good amount of your time, so time is limited. Thank you for fulfilling those callings that you already have. However, YOU are on our "hit" list now. We are going to be approaching you to help fill quorum assignments, until we've given everyone the opportunity to serve, at which point we'll rotate back through the list of all Elders in the quorum (approximately 90 in all).
Our next assignment is Sunday for Stake Conference. The Stake has tasked our ward with providing two brethren to assist with ushering parking, AFTER the general session. If you would like to volunteer, and avoid the possibility of being "assigned" this, or any subsequent duties, please let us know, and we can remove your name from further, similar emails. We will advise this same group of any up-and-coming assignments.
Thank You brethren for your faithfulness.
Elders Quorum Presidency"
Now, I'm completely aware that Ben is not a big fan of volunteering to help for things - mainly because he doesn't like to do things that take him away from his wife and kids (because we really do struggle to all be together for any length of time as is). However, Ben is always one of the first people to offer to help someone he knows do anything from manual labor, to finding a job, to watching their kids. So, to basically be told that he will be receiving constant emails and is now on a "hit list" until he volunteers, is completely backwards. As the adage goes: "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," and it's completely true. Because now, with this forced volunteerism in effect; someone who really would have helped under other circumstances, has now told me that he WILL volunteer, but volunteer to be taken OFF their list.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Spring is Here
Well, the calendar may say it's Spring time, but if you look outside and see the snow coming down and wonder why you still can't put your winter coat away, you may think otherwise. But, despite the weather, Easter is on it's way. We got Easter pictures taken of the kids yesterday, and every time we try to get professional pictures taken it's an interesting experience. The last several times we have gone, we've been lucky to get one picture with both of the kids - and that one picture usually has a mad or sad Kiki. This time around, McKinley was actually somewhat decent, and after about an hour, we ended up getting 6 fairly good pictures. I was so excited to get something that actually had both of my kids smiling, that I had to post them. Here they are:
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