Enthusiasm Wanes Fast

Last night I reminded Natalie that she has school in the morning. She burst into tears and shrieked, "I don't want to go to school! I don't like it!"

I asked her why not. After a few sobs she said, "Because I'm not with my Daddy!" More sobs.

What can do but hug her?

As she started to calm down a little, I pointed out that when she's at school, I'm at work, so we're really not apart any longer on account of school. That, of course, was no help. "But I'm not with my Mommy or my Mom-mom either!"

Natalie went to "camp" over the summer, which consisted of half days at a kid-size gym, so she's had some introduction to being away from family, but I guess the two full days that she spends at school are probably hard on her.

I bet she comes around soon, though.

Rugrat

It's been almost four months since we've posed anything about Aiden, so here's an update about him. Aiden is . . . large. At his six-month checkup, he was in the 90th percentile for weight and off the chart for length. The week before last he weighed in at 22 lbs 4 oz.

Aiden has a very different personality from his sister. He's inquisitive and will study an object, particularly wheels, for quite some time before putting them down. He's also an explorer, trying to find all the places he can get into, going after electrical outlets, plastic bags, pieces of paper -- basically, anything we're not supposed to leave lying around. In that way, he's helping us start to keep a tidier house. Of course, it's hard to keep the house tidy because of another of his qualities: he likes to be picked up and held. In fact, he can quite angry if you put him down, even for a second.

Aiden has something like 8 teeth now. He eats like a horse and will consume any sort of baby food that we put in front of him. He seems particularly fond of sweet potatoes.

Aiden has been crawling for a while now and is able to pull himself to a standing position with no difficulty at all. He's definitely much more mobile than his sister was at this age. We expect that he'll be a early walker.

One more thing about Aiden, he apparently doesn't know that babies are supposed to be afraid of loud noises:

Speaking of Back to School

Danielle is going back to school, too. She had decided to go back to work full-time this fall, but then the county started having budget problems and was laying off teachers instead of hiring them. Then, a few weeks before summer was over, the county starting re-hiring some of the teachers it had laid off, and it looked like there might even be a few openings. So we waited, but got no calls for interviews.

Finally, a week before classes start, Danielle calls the director of human resources and says that she wants to know if there are any positions to interview for. Sure enough, there is one opening in the county, and Danielle is scheduled for an interview. It goes well, and there is only one other applicant, but Danielle decided to call human resources again. She says that she wants the job, but is willing to interview for other positions as well. Lo and behold, another position has just been created. It's in the school Danielle wants to work in (the one she liked best during her time as a substitute teacher), and it's for 3rd grade, which would be her first choice. She interviews and is hired on the spot.

So, at left and below, you'll see Mrs. Smith's classroom. Danielle has a hard job. While most teachers teach or one two subjects, and has students rotate through so that they only have to prepare one or two lessons, Danielle has her kids all day. So she teaches them everything, and has to prepare a full day of lessons. She's been working 10 or 11 hours days all week. Hopefully, once she finishes getting her classroom set up and gets more into the swing of things, she'll be able to work a more reasonable schedule.

Off to School

It's official, Natalie is in school now. We enrolled her in a cooperative pre-school (which means that each parent has to be the teacher's assistant twice a month and be on a committee), and Wednesday was her first day. She'll go all day on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then half a day on Friday.

Natalie really liked her first day. The next morning when she woke up, she cried when I told her that she couldn't go to school becayse it was Thursday. And no wonder she likes it. It's mostly about playing with education toys, which are great, even though they're educational, because they're new to her. More importantly, preschool has the one thing she wants more than anything else in the world: other kids to play with.

I suppose her enthusiasm for school will fade over the years. Speaking of enthusiasm that will likely fade, Natalie loves her dentist! She was looking forward to her appointment all week so that she could get prizes and the hygenist would "tickle her teeth." When we left, she said, "I wish we could go to the dentist again." She had no cavities, otherwise her opinion of the dentist might have taken a quick downturn.

Benefits for Anna

Hey there folks! Just wanted to pass along that there are some things in the works as a benefit to Anna. She is doing extremely well, but still has a long road ahead of her. She has such determination and spirit, and is pushing hard everyday. Because she has to take a leave of absence from the Baltimore County Police Department, she will lose some health insurance benefits as well as her pay. So, there are some benefits going on to help alleviate her medical expenses and other such things. One is in Rochester, NY (where Ron is from) and the other is a golf benefit here in Arnold (Bay Hills on September 8th). Here's the info for the NY benefit if any of you happen to be traveling there!!! Of course we can always take donations. I am sure we will work on something more local as well, and I will keep you all informed of that. Also, if any of you are interested in the golf benefit, let us know. Dan, who does not golf, is planning to participate along with a good friend of ours! I believe they do this stuff in teams of 4 (I know less about golf than Dan does!), so let us know!!!

Also, I still have the rubber gray bracelets that say "Strength, Courage, and Double "O" They are $5 a piece and the proceeds go directly to Anna.

BENEFIT CONCERT FOR ANNA OTTO
Routine Surgery Turns Traumatic

Anna, went to University of MD Medical Center on Tuesday March 4th for same-day surgery on her jaw, to correct TMJ. Due to complications from Anna’s
surgery, she experienced a brain hemorrhage, which put her into a coma for several weeks. Four months later Anna is still in the hospital, but continues to improve. She is awake and alert, but still has a long way to go. Anna works for the Baltimore County Police Department, but will have to take a leave of absence because of her injury.
The reason for this benefit is to help Ron and Anna, due to the fact that Anna is losing
some of her health benefits and all of her pay.

Please join us at
“The Roost”
4853 W Henrietta Rd
Featuring Music by Local Band 50/50
Sunday, July 27 at 2pm
$10 Presale/ $15 at Door
Family $30
Admission Includes Happy Hour Prices for Food and Drinks
Door Prizes and Auctions
To purchase advance tickets, or if you would like to make a contribution to the
“Anna Otto Fund”,
Please contact Julie Cunico @ (585) 581-1001 or julie.cunico@frontiernet.net

FYI: Julie is Ron's sister. If you are interested in making a contribution outside of the benefit, you can contact me no problem. Julie is in charge of the NY benefit, and has been a tremendous support to both Anna and Ron throughout this ordeal!

Recital

Thanks to Connie we have some smuggled video of the recital. It was a long day, and despite having strep throat, Natalie did very well.

Natalie:





Me:

Natalie's Dress Rehearsal

O.K. I am going to be putting up a regular informational blog here in a little while, but I wanted to put this up as a sneak peak for all of you that are going to the recital or for those who aren't able to go to get a chance to see her dance. For the dress rehearsal we had to have full make-up and costume.

There are only two little girls in Natalie's class, Natalie and Abigail. Abigail was on vacation for the past couple of weeks, so it had only been Natalie in class on Friday. She was starting to get lonely..."It's not as much fun without Abigail." That I can understand with how much of a social butterfly Natalie is. Anyhow, when we arrived for the rehearsal, Abigail was nowhere in sight! The teacher and all of us crossed our fingers, but Abigail still hadn't arrived when it was time for the girls to go on. So, they sent Natalie out by herself. She took cues from her teacher on the side but performed for the small audience all by herself. By the end of that performance, Abigail had arrived, but she was not happy. She cried, and screamed, and they talked her out on stage, but only Natalie did the dance. Abigail stayed in the background crying. So, they asked if we could stay for a little while, and they would try to get the girls on again to see if Abigail would give it a try. I had to race home to get myself ready, but my mom stayed with the kids, and said that Abigail and Natalie did get a chance to get back up on stage, and this time things went a bit smoother. I have no idea how the actual recital is going to turn out, but one thing I know for sure is that Natalie will have no problem performing!!! She keeps asking me who is going to be there, and then telling everyone Aunt Joyce is coming, and my cousin Chloe is coming!!! She is quite excited. She told me that she had " a little bit of stage fright, but not too much."

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8900242728576200265&hl=en