Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Ancestry.com
Today as I was updating my journal with a Tyoma video, I recalled that Dad's uncle was a Vaudeville performer. Of course, I got to googling to see what I could find out, and whoa, I was surprised. The only Miller in the Vaudeville listings is Emmet miller, a semi-famous musician, know for influencing country music. I couldn't find much more, but apparently he did alot of his performances in blackface. I'm a bit shocked. The Mueller's were abolitionists and it seems incongruent that a generation later we'd have minstrels in the family. Probably not him.
Curious, I signed up for a free trial at ancestry.com. I sucked me in like an immense blackhole. I spent almost my entire day engrossed in searches, trying to piece together my Dad's family. His three uncles were quite brilliant, and one of them had an "eidetic" memory like Tyoma. Of the other two, one married a Native American and disappeared into the mountains (prospector/trapper) never to be heard from again. The third wound up working for the Bureau of Investigation, (what the FBI was before it was FBI). I am very curious to track these men and see what became of them, especially since one of them might have been similar to Dad and Tyoma. We shall see.
Right now the most phenomenal thing I have discovered is the peculiarity of names a century ago. I recall childhood stories told to me by Grandmam, with such lovely sounding names as Pearl, Ruby, Olive, Della, Rose, Lillian and Ivy. I somehow had the impression that these named were unique to our family, but as it turns out, these were just popular names for the time period. Here's a great link for popular names for each year. Be warned, this site is addictive!
Anyway, I was quite surprised to find household after household full of iterations of these familiar names. I was also surprised by the size of the households, it seems that women had children until they burst. Thank God for suffrage, Bless you Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood, Ortho Tri-cyclen. What would I do with seven children? Lordy, what am I going to do with even one during winter break?!
Curious, I signed up for a free trial at ancestry.com. I sucked me in like an immense blackhole. I spent almost my entire day engrossed in searches, trying to piece together my Dad's family. His three uncles were quite brilliant, and one of them had an "eidetic" memory like Tyoma. Of the other two, one married a Native American and disappeared into the mountains (prospector/trapper) never to be heard from again. The third wound up working for the Bureau of Investigation, (what the FBI was before it was FBI). I am very curious to track these men and see what became of them, especially since one of them might have been similar to Dad and Tyoma. We shall see.
Right now the most phenomenal thing I have discovered is the peculiarity of names a century ago. I recall childhood stories told to me by Grandmam, with such lovely sounding names as Pearl, Ruby, Olive, Della, Rose, Lillian and Ivy. I somehow had the impression that these named were unique to our family, but as it turns out, these were just popular names for the time period. Here's a great link for popular names for each year. Be warned, this site is addictive!
Anyway, I was quite surprised to find household after household full of iterations of these familiar names. I was also surprised by the size of the households, it seems that women had children until they burst. Thank God for suffrage, Bless you Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood, Ortho Tri-cyclen. What would I do with seven children? Lordy, what am I going to do with even one during winter break?!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Telephone Call
I spent the morning shopping at our local Walmart Superstore and have concluded that the majority of folks present were very sullen. No errand running husbands, feisty senior citizens, or soccer moms. Not even the obligatory lovey-dovey couple. Just grim cart-rolling, button-pushing zombies. I tried to make a few jokes, but they all fell flat. My cashier didn't even give me the "Bitch, please'" look I get when I'm trying to be funny. I wondered for the hundredth time if petulance is spread by a virus. Maybe that's why they have those shopping cart sanitizers everywhere.
While I perused the dairy section looking for gooey yogurt deliciousness, my cell phone rang. It was Egor calling. His voice sounded so odd that I was immediately alarmed. He asked me "Where are you?" without preamble--ratcheting up my anxiety further. "What's happening?!" I asked, hoping not to sound panicked. He took a long pause, during which my heart sank. I was certain that he was in terrible trouble, or that some unspeakable thing happened to Tyoma.
He started to speak again and stopped. Certain that he was summoning the courage to reveal something truly horrid, I grasped the cart and truly began to panic. Again, I asked as calmly as I could, "What's happening???"
He must have detected my alarm because he began to laugh. I was irritated and strangely, only moderately relieved. He laughed for a bit more and said, "I'm at home now and was wondering if you could bring me a donut." For a moment, I was too stunned to appreciate the humor of the situation. Then I was relieved. Heh.
While I perused the dairy section looking for gooey yogurt deliciousness, my cell phone rang. It was Egor calling. His voice sounded so odd that I was immediately alarmed. He asked me "Where are you?" without preamble--ratcheting up my anxiety further. "What's happening?!" I asked, hoping not to sound panicked. He took a long pause, during which my heart sank. I was certain that he was in terrible trouble, or that some unspeakable thing happened to Tyoma.
He started to speak again and stopped. Certain that he was summoning the courage to reveal something truly horrid, I grasped the cart and truly began to panic. Again, I asked as calmly as I could, "What's happening???"
He must have detected my alarm because he began to laugh. I was irritated and strangely, only moderately relieved. He laughed for a bit more and said, "I'm at home now and was wondering if you could bring me a donut." For a moment, I was too stunned to appreciate the humor of the situation. Then I was relieved. Heh.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Morning Video
This odd jumble is Tyoma working on fractions and multiplication. Sometimes he really gets it, others, it's stream of consciousness, baby!
Happy Valentines Day, Girls
This is one of over 24 hearts that we made for Valentines this year. It was great fun to make the cards together, although it will take me two months to eradicate all the glitter. Tyoma made most of his valentines for girls, since he only has a few male classmates. I think he likes it this way!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Your result for The Broad Autism Phenotype Test ...
Autistic/BAP
You scored 116 aloof, 106 rigid and 86 pragmatic
You scored above the cutoff on all three scales. Clearly, you are either autistic or on the broader autistic phenotype. You probably are not very social, and when you do interact with others, you come off as strange or rude without meaning to. You probably also like things to be familiar and predictable and don't like changes, especially unexpected ones.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Another Snow Day
Whew. So here we are again, drifting through another snow day. T seems to be feeling well which is a quite a relief after the series of colds/bugs he has had since school started again. E is downstairs quibbling with T over the next activity to play. I suspect that I need to print out a mid-morning schedule. Thank heavens for Boardmaker!
I must say, never underestimate the power of a simple toy for a child. I picked up a tally counter for the little guy. I gave it to him as a "snow day treat" and he has been counting everything in sight. My original plan was to use the counter as a motivator to eat, but it's become much bigger than that. This morning he counted up the number of "book cubes" we have as well as items of furniture and socks on the floor.
Papa needs to blow snow out of the drive way, after about five inches our pissy snow thrower chokes.
I must say, never underestimate the power of a simple toy for a child. I picked up a tally counter for the little guy. I gave it to him as a "snow day treat" and he has been counting everything in sight. My original plan was to use the counter as a motivator to eat, but it's become much bigger than that. This morning he counted up the number of "book cubes" we have as well as items of furniture and socks on the floor.
Papa needs to blow snow out of the drive way, after about five inches our pissy snow thrower chokes.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
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