Technology Woes

As I mentioned, last week I purchased an iPhone. Oh, I was so excited...until I got home and discovered that the iPhone does not work with Mac OS X 10.3, which is what I have. Yes, 10.4 has been out for nearly 3 years, but I have just not needed any of the additional cool features it offers until now. And of course, "now" is less than a month before 10.5 is released (we think), and my local geek at the store is fairly convinced there will not be a reduced cost upgrade for us late purchasers.

And in the mean time, I have a PowerBook G4, and supposedly iLife 08 has some features that are not supported on a G4, only on a G5. And I only have 512 MB RAM, so just as I was about to upgrade that, I discover that the darn machine is obsolete anyway.

Grrrr. Add to that my husband's extreme lack of enthusiasm for spending money, and I find myself in a quandry. BUT: David has finally agreed to find me some money for a technology upgrade. BUT it's not, of course, as much as I'd need for a complete replacement.

SO, now the questions are:

1) Do I buy now, or just wait a few more weeks until 10.5 is released. (I think I'll wait; it seems silly to buy now if there is no upgrade discount, and "only a couple hundred" is still too much for a student mom with 3 small kids.)

2) What do I buy? I want to do a lot with video and photos and DVDs. The MacBooks, being the cheaper laptops, don't have great video. The PowerBooks cost too much. So do I get a regular iMac, which is a desktop machine, but costs around the same as a MacBook but with more power? And do I then keep my old PowerBook for when I'm out and about (using mostly Word but sometimes my Hebrew processor), or do I just suck it up and use the PC Laptop that's languishing in the closet?

3) And until I make a purchase, what the heck do I do about the iPhone? I could activate the phone technology by logging on from the PC (how's that for irony?), but I'm not sure I can get my Addresses and Calendar transfered over, which is a big part of why I wanted the iPhone - my PalmPilot is dying.

So that's my Technology Woes.

In other news:

Yesterday I drove out to Longmeadow MA for my cousin J's baby shower. She's not at all religious, and her husband is Irish Catholic, so that explains how I have a cousin having a baby shower (Jewish mamas generally don't). It was a lovely event, on the front lawn at her friend's house. There were flowers everywhere (the baby will have 2 flowery names, and my cousin's middle name is also a flowery name). She got tons of baby-loot; I seem to have been the only person who gave something just for J & J (I gave some money for going to see a movie, plus a DVD I made of their wedding reception and her dad & new stepmom's ceremony). My mother and sister were there, along with my new aunt and another family friend from Vermont. Very nice event.

But very long drive for me, over 90 minutes each way. I was soooo tired. Easy drive, mostly on the Mass Pike, but I had to stop for coffee both times.

A little rest at home (where apparently my husband and children had done nothing much all day), a quick dinner (which of course I had to make), and then we had to drive Sammy out to his friend's house in Lincoln for a Sukkah sleep-over. The mom, who teaches at the school, had invited the entire 3rd grade to sleep over (which is traditional in Israel and other warm climates, but fairly unusual in Massachusetts!). The kids had a blast. And since were were in that area, we stopped to visit with some other friends, so Micah could have a playdate with their son and we could see them (and Sofia was sound asleep on the couch the entire time).

Today, we were up bright and early to head off to Newton for soccer. It's fun, because there are a lot of MWJDS families this year, plus we have friends who go to Schecter (where the games are). We were all cheering and laughing at how little kids "play" soccer. (Another dad picked up Sam and his friend from the Sukkah party and brought them to Newton in time for their game).

Fly out of there at noon to drop Sam off at a birthday party (and Micah is invited to the younger brother's party next week). Then the 4 of us had a quick lunch, and then into the Mall to check out the Macs. Fortunately, this time I cornerd one of the really knowledgeable geeks. But we didn't buy yet, because I have to investigate - and fortunately so, since when I got home I realized I'm eligible for a student discount, too!

Picked up Sam, came home for about 90 minutes, got Sam showered, and then we were off again to our friend's house for dinner in their sukkah (and they are coming to us tomorrow). Then home, wash Micah and Sofia, and now they are all IN BED! Yeah.

Oh, so now I have about 18 pages of Hebrew homework, so ta-ta!

Twisty Ties

Do I lose my status as a Domestic Goddess if I use twist ties from the produce department to tie my daughter's hair back? My neighbors thought it was a rather Martha Stewarty-thing to do. I couldn't find any hair bands and we were on our way out the door to play (and the boys had grabbed handfuls of the twist ties when we were shopping). Anyway, it really did work, held that pony tail better than some of the "official" hair bands we own!

"Twisty Ties" is also a good name for this post, because this morning we followed the twisting turns of our lives to have a playgroup with people (to whom we are "tied"). (Ok, I'll stop with the metaphor - it makes sense to me, but 'nuff said). Anyway, back about a year and a half ago, they'd held a Down syndrome playgroup/meet&greet at our EI center. There were a handful of moms and kids, ages ranging from about a year to nearly 3. Several of us moms had planned to get together on our own - and that very week, one of the babies in the group died suddenly (see Because of Sophia, Maria's blog). So we never got together. But this summer, another mom started emailing us, and eventually I had the idea of asking to use the center (and invite new families).

It was lovely. Unfortunately, two of the original planners didn't make it (kid issues), but we had my friend N and her 2 month old, one of the other "original" kids who is now 3, another boy Sofia's age, and an adorable little Miss of 15 months. We also got to use the center, and our Speech Therapist and another OT stayed with us.

I was proud to be the official facilitator, and I called on everyone to share their stories or words of wisdom. It was so nice to meet or see everyone!

Here's Sofia, hinding in the stairwell after playgroup - she loves this spot!

I'd forgotten when I scheduled this that today was the 2nd day of Sukkot and the boys would not have school, so before the playgroup, I dropped them at my friend J's house - her two girls are very good friends with my boys (her older daughter and Sammy look identical from the back, same long dark hair, slender bodies, same height). They all came back to our house after the playgroup, and we had lunch in the sukkah, and the kids rode their bikes and played while J and I relaxed and chatted a bit.

Then I packed my gang back into the minivan to race to Sudbury for my haircut (which I'd also scheduled for during the holiday!). Sofia fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep in the stroller during the cut, but of course woke up for snack at the Cafe afterwards.

Here are Micah and Sam playing on the Nintendo DS during my hair cut:

A quick stop at the grocery store, and home again. Micah and I were on the computer (I made a DVD last night for my cousin, of the wedding pictures from last July), Sofia and Sam were playing. Eventually Sofia and I went outside with Sam to visit the neighbors (that's when I grabbed the twisty tie for her hair).

We had a really nice dinner in the Sukkah. The weather has been just lovely today. Not too hot, not cold yet.

Oh, and I just love the fact that Sam askes every week who we are having over for Shabbos dinner, and gets really annoyed if we are not having company. Today he invited the other neighborhood kids (but they couldn't come). We still had a nice Shabbat, but I'm so glad that he's taken the idea of Guests so seriously.

Just stuff

Too many individual topics to be able to tackle them all at once with justice, but her egoes:

1. One of the little girls on our T21 online board has just been diagnosed with Leukemia. Dr. Leshin, on www.ds-health.com, says the following about leukemia:

Leukemia is more common in children with DS, being seen anywhere from 10 to 30 times more often than in the general population of children. The vast majority of cases occur in the first 5 years of life. In the first 3 years of life, nonlymphoid leukemia is the most common form of leukemia in children with DS; after age 3, approximately 80% have acute lymphocytic leukemia and 20% have nonlymphocytic leukemia. The actual treatment of leukemia is beyond the scope of this article, but it is worth noting here that children with DS who develop AML seem to respond to chemotherapy better than do children without DS; with ALL, the response rate appears to be about the same.

It's always terrifying to find out a child has a terrible illness. Our online community will hold C and her family in our hearts as they enter this new phase of their lives. For more info, see Carey's blog, Dream Big.

2. Sukkot started tonight (I promise, I'll take photos soon). Since David is on his way to Utah, I had my friend D and her girls come over. They brought a Muppet Show video - I think D and I had more fun watching it than even the kids did - and then we ate in the sukkah. But the MWJDS kids had all gone Apple Picking today, in 90+ degree temps, so they were tired and crabby, and Sam and A started melting down at each other.

3. I bought an iPhone!!!! I gave the poor sales guy a hard time, because he was new and clueless (I actually had a word with the manager, suggesting more training). BUT then I got the phone home and discovered that I don't have the appropriate version of the Mac operating system to use iPhone!!! Grrrrrrrr. Fortunately, a friend of ours has a family pack and an extra license, so he's coming tomorrow to let me upgrade. How annoying.

4. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtful comments about my previous post. It does help to know that I'm not the only mommy who sometimes forgets that their child has an extra chromosome and sometimes gets confronted with it rather suddenly.

My daughter has Down syndrome!

Ok, yes, I've know this for 3 years, since before she was born. Yes, we work with it every day. But once in a while, it just bumps into me.

Today was one of those days. We had ballet class again. And this time, since there was no photographer to distract us, the class could stay formatted as it should be. So I got to watch 7 little girls somewhat follow along with the teacher, and Sofia just take it all in.

She did participate a bit, including putting on a tutu (and cleaning everything up, better than anyone else). But when we got to the songs, which were new or new versions of songs we know, she couldn't keep up. They were too fast.

It didn't bother me. It was just interesting. And it gave me a little taste of what life might be like for her when she's done with the coddled and protected world of Early Intervention.

David says he "sees" this all the time, but I don't. We've got three little friends who are all about the same age as Sofia (all their names start with "A"!). I've watched Sofia around these girls all their lives, so I don't "see" anything different. This is just the way they are together.

But seeing a group of girls I don't know, and moms I don't know, and a teacher I don't know, threw me for a loop. It wasn't quite a punch in the tummy, because it didn't make me sad about the situation specifically, but it did make me fearful about how her life will be if she doesn't have someone really looking out for her in school. I hope that she always had good, caring teachers, but how can we always be sure?

Here it is, Sofia's newspaper photo, from the MetroWest Daily News, Local section, Wed. Sept. 19, 2007, photo by Allan Jung. (There, that's the best I can do for a credit!)

I'm not sure which version of the paper had it in color and on the first page of the Local section. All the papers I bought had it in black and white on the 2nd page, but my neighbor left this color copy in our mailbox. MetroWest Daily serves a whole bunch of towns, so there are probably different Local sections for each area.

Yom Kippur went well, but I really think the boys and I are allergic to the church where we hold services. I had a pounding sinus headache all day, which got worse after I ate in the evening, and Micah was all stuffy both evenings, but fine at TI in the morning.

David went with us to Soccer this morning, and it was really fun. We have a lot of parent-friends there (and there were some extra friends I have not seen in a while). After soccer, we went to lunch with another family and their boys. Crazy - the 4 boys were STARVING, and Papa Gino's was understaffed.

We put up the sukkah this evening, and I started hanging lights. Will do more tomorrow. Now I've got to catch up on my Hebrew homework!

In honor of Micah's head

Well, we were having a delightful time playing on the playground after school today, right up until Micah fell off the monkey bars. I thought he was just ouch-hurt and scared, so I was hugging him, but then I felt something wet. His head was bleeding. And heads bleed A LOT! My shirt was soaked, I had blood all down my check and neck.

Fortunately the school was still open, so we ran inside for ice. It's really just a tiny cut, too small even for a stitch. But it took a while to get it to stop. His hair is all matted down now. He's promised me that he'll be more willing to wash it after he watches a movie first.

Last night was Parent Night at the boys' school. It was the first time I've had to bounce between 2 grades, but it worked out (especially since I already had a meeting scheduled for today with Sam's teacher and the reading specialist anyway). It was so nice to see what they've been doing for the first 11 days of school. Micah's self-portrait was really incredibly detailed. He even spelled out "Niagara Falls Canada" in tiny press-on letters because that was the shirt he was wearing.

Sofia continues to trash the house every day, and then finally fall asleep in the car on the way to pick up the boys. Ugh. I have to figure out how to get her to nap earlier.

Oh, and she was in the newspaper today! A friend called at 7:30 to say she would bring it to school. Delightful picture of Sofia sitting in my lap, wearing a crown and doing some stretches.

And I bought new eye-glasses today, although I can't go pick them up now (since my shirt was covered in blood, we decided to come home instead). Tomorrow, then.

You Know She's a Toddler...

...when you lock yourself in the bathroom for a few moments of privacy, and suddenly she starts BANGING on the door and screaming.

...when the baby who always went to sleep at night really easily cries so much it wakes up Micah and he begs you to go sing to her more.

...when she refuses to nap, and instead trashes the house, but as soon as you get in the car to pick up the brothers, she falls fast asleep.

...when she wakes from her naps, cuddles for exactly one minute, and then runs off to climb the jungle gym at the brothers' school playground - with no help.

...when she grabs your hands to show you that she REALLY wants you to pick her up NOW.

...when she tries to draw on the minivan and the garage door with chalk, and when you gently try to guide her away, she does a nice little fake-out and goes around you to do it some more.

So anyway, here's my "Tiny Tot in Tutu":

Taking things off the shelf:Sorting stars:

And this evening in the driveway (the chalk incident, among other fun things):

Sofia and Sam:
Sam and Micah:
Yes, Mommy and Sam!