Fawnahareo’s Place

“Tornado” seems like the theme for the weekend.

For one thing, it looks like one hit the kitchen. Despite the fact that someone came and helped me wash all the dishes on Friday, the dishwasher is full and both sinks and counters are overflowing.

For another, we had quite an action-packed couple of days.

Saturday afternoon we went to the annual Rendezvous Sourdough Festival.  We went to enter Nanuq in the dog-howling competition, but though we arrived a few minutes before its advertised 4 o’clock start, we missed it because the organizers were not running on Yukon time and it was already over.  (There were a lot of people who were disappointed because of missing the event… I hope the organizers have learned a lesson!)  However, we did get to enter Nanuq in the last dog event, the dog tricks competition.  He won second prize with his dancing, his verrrrry slow death (Michael points a finger at him and says “bang” and he lies down but takes many promptings of a finger across the throat to actually “play dead”), and barking on command.  His prize was a fancy medal and some dog treats, which luckily contain no ingredients to which he is allergic.

I had Halia in my amauti, and I’d forgotten how much attention it can generate.  Three or four people asked to take my picture, and a bunch more asked curiously about where I got it, where it comes from, whether it’s a traditional design, and so on.  Several excited moms pointed at me and explained to their kids that there was an actual baby in there.  The kids loved it when I’d kneel down to show them the real baby inside.  Anyone who wants to feel like a superstar for a short time should just go to a large gathering carrying a sleeping baby in an amauti.

Today, we all went for a ride in an honest-to-goodness one-horse open sleigh, pulled by a gigantic horse named Rocky and driven by our intrepid next-door neighbour, Atlatl Mike.  Michael will have a full post on that adventure soon, I’m sure, complete with pictures.  (Incidentally, I think it rather ironic that I am really not comfortable around horses — am, in fact, allergic to them, so I’m also physically uncomfortable — considering I was born in the Year of the Horse.)

The other tornado of the weekend was Miss Jade herself.  I’ve re-tooled her keto recipes to conform to her new ration and found that the meals are still okay, at least the ones I’ve tried so far.  Since we often had trouble getting her to finish her meals and the new ratio actually makes them smaller, it hasn’t been such a bad change.  And holy smokes, I’m not sure if it’s the diet change or just a zooming recovery from her cold, but she was an incredible ball of energy these last two days!  Yesterday and today she played outside for over and hour after coming back from our outdoor adventures, and her energy never flagged once.  This is huge for her!  And aside from bad pre-breakfast seizure activity (the norm), she’s been having great days, seizure-wise, too.  And talking up a storm, too!

I actually have slightly mixed feelings on all this.  Today Jade was bouncing around from one activity to the next with very short attention span (hence the tornado moniker) something we normally see when she’s coming out of a bunch of seizures.  It’s hard to decide if this is “normal” three-year-old behaviour for Jade or just her body getting adjusted to its new higher level of fuel or what.

But, what the hell, I’ll take it!

1. I have been tagged for the “25 Random Things” meme on Facebook 7 times.
2. The biggest reason I haven’t written on the blog in so long is because I haven’t felt like blogging.  Sorry, it’s true.  The strain of watching Jade’s cold cause seizure upon seizure, her lack of appetite, plus Halia having a wee cold and trouble breathing was all just adding up to become insurmountable.  I couldn’t find the motivation to sit down at the computer when I losing my mind.  Seriously.
3. There’s a squirrel sitting on the back fence outside my window.  (Okay, that was random.)
4. By Sunday last week, I was so finished with everything, I was swearing (almost under my breath) as I was forcing Jade to finish yet another meal she didn’t want to eat and I had a strong urge to fling dishes around in the kitchen.  It wasn’t pretty, people.
5. On Monday, Michael and Jade left for Vancouver.
6. I felt like I was on vacation.
7. I spent all morning running errands, blissfully taking my time at the shops.  All Halia needs is a few fresh diapers and my boobs… no rush to be anywhere!
8. I spend the afternoon baking a birthday cake pie tart thing for a friend.  It was clear that I am out of practice, as the process ended up taking far longer than it should have.
9. Did you know that if there’s a crack in your pastry shell, any uncooked custard you might pour in will leak out around your tart?  (It will.)
10. Did you know springform pans aren’t leakproof?  (They’re not.  At least, mine isn’t.)
11. Did you know that custard won’t set if you fail to turn the oven back on after cleaning up leaked custard?
12. Thank goodness the element the springform pan was sitting on was just small enough that the custard leaked all around it, not into it.  That would have been a bitch to clean up.
13. Jade recovered from her cold sufficiently that she did great, seizure-wise, while she was  in Vancouver.
14. Her EEG on Tuesday afternoon showed that although we’re seeing fewer seizures, she’s having more sub-clinical seizures than before.  (Sub-clinical seizures are seizure activity that are not outwardly apparent, but can be seen in the electrical activity of the brain.  They can impact Jade’s learning and behaviour.)
15. Jade’s epileptologist was pleased to see Jade so much brighter than at the start of the diet.  In order to see if we can get a handle on the sub-clinical seizures, she recommended increasing the ratio of Jade’s diet from 4:1 to 4.5:1.
16. This means Jade will be eating even more fat than before.  I haven’t worked on the recipes yet to see how they will be impacted, but I am not excited about this.
17. We have also dropped the final amount of Keppra, so Jade is now down to two medications.  Yes!
18. I had no Internet access while Michael and Jade were away because Michael took the modem with him so that he could work.
19. I had such a long list of things I wanted to do while Michael and Jade were away.  I knew I couldn’t possibly do them all, but I made a pretty good dent. I painted a quote on Halia’s wall, hung some shadow boxes, and made a mobile out of some little stuffed teddy bears my Oma sent to her for Christmas.
20. I would have been happy for Michael and Jade to stay in Vancouver for one more day (although this would have added to the six solid hours of cooking I did on Sunday to get them ready for the trip).  However, I felt quite refreshed by the end of Tuesday night, and almost ready to take on two kids again.
21. I was planning a joyous blog post for today since I got a chance to recharge my batteries and feel more or less sane again.
22. Sadly, Michael’s mom phoned this morning and told us that his Pop (her dad) died last night.
23. Pop deserves so much more of a post than a mention in this list, but I’m not sure I can rise to the occasion.  In a nutshell, I think he was the ideal people think of when they talk about “a good man”.  Stoic, chivalrous, witty, and loving, I feel privileged to have known him.
24. Even though we had legitimate reasons, I feel guilty about cancelling our trip to Toronto / Ottawa at Christmas.  We haven’t seen Granny and Pop in person since Jade was 10 months old.  I hope he knows how much I love him.
25. There’s no good way to end this post, but it’s 3 o’clock and time to give Jade her afternoon snack.  (I love you, Pop.)