Sunday Even Ramblings

Lots of things have been going on this past week. First of all, I lost 2 pounds. Now I only have 14 pounds to go until I hit my first goal. If I keep up at a 2 pounds per week loss, I'll do it a week ahead of schedule.

Alison had an evaluation with Early On last Monday. For the most part, she did really well. She's still way ahead on her verbal and personal-social skills. She's still behind on gross motor. She doesn't walk backward (heck, she's just mastering walking forward), she doesn't kick a ball, she doesn't walk up stairs, she didn't start climbing into an adult sized chair until Wednesday, and she will not stand without holding on to or leaning against something. Well, I take that back, I started trying to really work with her again and can get her to stand for 10 or 15 seconds here and there. She's also behind on fine motor now, primarily because she wouldn't stack more than 2 blocks. The aggrivating thing about it was that she stacked the first one with no problem and then totally lost interest, almost as if to say "hey, I did it once, what more do you need?" Well, we needed her to do it at least once more, preferably twice. I'm not terribly worried about her fine motor skills, though, because this is the same girl who has no trouble poking her fingers into her ziti and eating them off her fingertips when we go to Fazoli's. At any rate, we're fully prepared to get a referral for physical or occupational therapy at Alison's Spina Bifida clinic appointment tomorrow, not because of the evaluation on Monday, but because her spine is crooked (and because she doesn't stand alone). One thing I've noticed since we've been able to get her to stand alone a little, she seems to stand straighter when she walks. A true improvement or wishful thinking? I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

My sister-in-law has apparently broken off her engagement and moved back to her parents' home again, for the second time since January. Apparently this time it's for good. Although she never said anything when Kevin talked to her last night (more on that in a minute), we've heard through the family grapevine that she's pregnant again. She already has a 3 1/2 year old from a previous relationship. So now she's going to be a 24 year old unemployed, uninsured mother of 2 living with her parents. I wish I could get her into a one-on-one chat with Dr. Phil so he could ask "what were you thinking?"

Last night we went out to dinner and to do a little shopping and came home to a message from Kevin's sister saying that their dad is in the hospital (and has been since Thursday). He was apparently admitted because his pneumonia didn't seem to be getting any better. The did a CT-scan and found a spot on one of his lungs. He is to have a biopsy tomorrow, but even without it the doctor is 95% certain it's cancer. He's also optomistic about his chances. They've caught it early and should be able to manage it surgically and with chemo. I hope that it will be enough to get the rest of the family to quit smoking. Kevin's sister has said that she has already quit and that her mom has cut way back in an attempt to quit altogether. Kevin is, obviously, concerned and we are prepared to go to Virginia at almost a moment's notice if we need to.