Finally, another update.

Okay, a bit to cover, so you'll all get the short version. Here's some selected pics from the last two months.

Balen is doing well, now 13lbs or so. He was in the 10% for weight, now back up to average at 50% of the population by weight. He was showing signs of having a loose hip socket, which might go away on its own, but we should have a specialist look at it. However, we need to get the military healthcare HMO set up properly, but you need a SSN card first. However, that card isn't showing up for some reason, so we don't have a SSN yet, etc. So that's our main hurdle with that. He is sleeping from 9pm to 4am or so every night, then eats, then sleeps again until 10am or so, which is working out nicely. That gives Michel time to get some stuff done. Which is rare. He is eating well, and peeing well. I have begun to call him "lil sprinkler". This morning he sprayed his leg, his face, and the wall, all in one attempt at changing. I made the mistake each time of thinking he was empty... at least it wasn't on me this time.

Abigail is doing well in school, getting 100s on everything for the most part. However, she is having a slight talking issue in school on occasion. She shows moments of angelic behavior, but lately they have been rare. She is a dreamer, and is stuck in la-la land all the time. Yesterday she amazed us by getting ready for school in 30 minutes, when it can take up to 2 hours (when we let her). She sings, she dances, she forgets what she's supposed to do... Soon I'll post our recent procedure for dealing with her misbehaviors. It seems we have gotten the deception under control. She told a few outright lies, but learned quickly that gets her in MUCH more trouble than whatever it was she was lying about. All privileges gone, immediately, instead of one or two.

Fine, here's what we do: the 10 privileges are 10 squares on a piece of paper, next to a 10 item "Trust and Obedience Scale", from 0-100%. When she does something bad enough to deserve a decent punishment (e.g. disobedience, doing poor homework, or lying) she loses anywhere from one to all of her privileges. Lying loses them all. Disobedience loses one of our or her choice. The privileges are TV, coloring, reading, video/computer games, stuffed animals, toys, desserts, nice dinners (flavorful vs simply healthy), playing with friends, and late weekend bedtimes. We have these round, black magnets with silver numbers on them marking 1-10. If she loses a privilege, her rating goes down 10% and the magnet marks the privilege she has lost. She now can see exactly what she has lost, and she can see how much we can trust in or rely on her. It seems to be working. Naturally, we use those as rewards for good behavior as well (like when she got ready in 30 minutes yesterday morning, she also got a donut from Dunkin Donuts on the way to school).

Here's the scale


Michel has been wonderfully taking care of Balen and Abigail during my numerous absences of late. She is working hard to keep up with a needy baby, a needy daughter, a needy house, and a needy husband. I can't say enough about how well she's doing. I just need to tell her more. In any case, she is going back to work in a couple weeks, during which I will be gone on a month long TDY to Alabama for a stupid professional military education school called S.O.S. (squadron officer school). It's good for the career in case I decide to stay in.

I have been flying a bunch. The past 3 weeks has seen me cross the Atlantic 6 times. I have been to Vilnius, Lithuania (airport only), Paris (a night and a day), and Luxembourg (a day trip from Spangdahlem, Germany). Check out the pictures in my travel album. I leave in a week for 30 days of powerpoint and flickerball for more Air Force education at SOS. I am not looking forward to it, and neither is Michel. Also, the car is in the shop, the transmission in my protege finally let go. It probably has something to the fact that I missed swapping the fluid at 60k miles, and just finally did it at 95k miles, when it was already starting to come apart. Oh well. New tranny, new clutch, over $2k in repairs. But at least it's paid for. Better then dying on me on the way to Alabama, too.

Here are some good videos for you to watch, too:
Mommy's day 13.8mb
Me walking down Champs Elysee in Paris 2.3mb
Glorious Balen 26mb
Abigail's on a pony 40mb