April 2021

Here is a link to all of our photos and videos from April 2021. 

Season of the Ticks

This month it really did feel like Spring, and it has been nice to get outside a bit more. Unfortunately, the bugs feel the same way. We've been warned about ticks since we moved to New York three years ago, but in that time we haven't seen any. That suddenly changed this month after a visit to  a favorite nature park with ponds and tall grasses. After coming home, Alex and I took a bath and I found a couple ticks crawling on me. The next day I found one more crawling on my phone while sitting in Alex's bed that must have lingered on clothes or a blanket (I then used my phone to take a photo of it and identify it). A week later, there was another one on Alex's neck after napping in this bed that I had to pull off with tweezers. Maybe it was another one from that same outing that was lingering in his bed somehow (even after doing laundry). It's hard not to be a bit paranoid and angry about ticks after that. Lyme disease is a real concern in the Hudson Valley, which was one of the first places it began appearing in the U.S. in the late 90s. Now it's also in the northwest, and will probably start showing up elsewhere before too long.

Easter in Endwell

We made a trip to the Binghamton area to stay at our home in Endwell for Easter.  We had no major plans and just enjoyed a long weekend doing family things. We tried an egg hunt for Alex in the backyard, but he wasn't too interested. The Easter bunny brought him a Lego tractor and he anxiously hovered around me as I put it together. Our families sent some nice Easter gifts and goodies, too.  We cooked a nice fish dinner and watched some General Conference as well.

Comfort Objects

Since early on, Alex has rarely been without a comfort object. He often has to take these things with him when we go somewhere, or from room to room. Bottles have often filled that role, and still do. For a while it was spoons (when he was about 2), but that was replaced with cars, trucks and tractors. It's never been a stuffed animal, as he just doesn't show interest in those. Sometimes it's something very random, like when we took out the bug repellent this month he decided he wanted to keep one of the eucalyptus bug spray bottles with him all day. Lately, two particular small pillows have been his buddies, and he loves to hold and squeeze them. You'll see in one of the videos below where he tries to take all of his comfort objects with him together - his two pillows, two cars, and a bottle.

ABCs

Alex has known the alphabet for a while, but I don't know if I've ever had him do it on video. He doesn't always articulate it very well though, and sometimes skips the middle of it. You'll see a few videos of me trying to get him to say the whole thing. He has practiced this at home and at school, but it is also something that he has learned at least partly from videos and iPad apps that he likes.

Random Tidbits

Alex is still doing well with potty training, and will go all by himself sometimes. His Hot Wheels collection continues to grow as we still use those as rewards and he has come to expect them now, although he seems a bit less excited about them.  Alex and I visited a farming museum that had a lot of tractors out. One of the volunteers there was real friendly and told us all about them and let us sit on one and watch them get ready for their tractor pull competition. Becky continues with her speech clients and they are doing well. Relief Society also keeps her busy and she organized an activity over Zoom this month, which is always a challenge. I continue working mostly from home and also managing the AirBnB. One guest stayed for a week and left 132 empty beer bottles (nicely packed up in their cases). In New York, you can redeem glass bottles for five cents, so I did that and got enough money from them to buy dinner. My job is expecting all employees to fully return to the office by August 1. There is a lot of pushback on that, as many feel they have proven they can work more productively if allowed to do so from home on occasion. The employee union will challenge the university on the August 1 policy, and I hope they are successful. In the meantime, as places start hiring again, I'll also be looking for work closer to the Hudson Valley if possible.