Daniel's Nickname

Around here we call Daniel "The Bun"  Here's why.  When he was around 5 months old and growing fast I started calling him Daniel Bunyan after the folklore human.  This was shortened to Bunyan, then Bunny, finally becoming Bun, or The Bun.  Occassionally he's called Bunner.

The Bun

Bun is my youngest son. He has Lawrence Moon Bardet Biedl syndrome. That is hard for me to discuss. He was born with 12 fingers and 11 toes. His toe was amputated at 5 months. His toes 2 weeks before his first birthday. His arm was in a cast on his first birthday. His foot has a weak joint where the inner baby toe was removed. He has a horrible scar on his hand. He has a slow metabolism and so he is over weight and very tall for his age. He could go blind when he gets older, he could have kidney problems, he could need hormone therapy to go into puberty, he could be sterile. He may be mentally retarded. He may not feel pain the way "normal" people do. He is speech delayed. He has autistic tendencies.





These are all the uncertainties that I deal with when I deal with my son. Do you have any more questions. I think this about covers Bun's syndrome and I hope it does because I am so tired of answering people's questions.





Here's a little more about Daniel. He has a great memory. He has beautiful blue eyes and thick curly hair. He is my little helper boy and I love him. He is my Bun.

Kipper the Dog

This kids show has entranced my youngest son Bun. It is the story of Kipper, a brown dog, and his various friends. His best friend is Tiger, a grey dog, and he also has, for friends, Jake, Pig and Arnold. Mouse lives with Pig, and he had pet gerbil named Roly Poly in one episode.

Kipper is an unusual show for kids. It's very quiet and nothing too bad ever happens. Pat has a problem with one episode, when Mouse joins the cast, and Mouse is seen washing her bottom with Kipper's toothbrush. Later on Kipper brushes his teeth with the brush. Pat always watches it, the squirms and complains about the affair. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I enjoy reading the books to the kids because the illustrations are simple and to the point. The pictures focus on Kipper and whatever he is interacting with at the moment. No backgrounds and no borders. My kids follow along with the story better this way because there's nothing to confuse them with.

My Library

The Pittsburg library is a location where I have spent a good percentage of my life. I can easily claim to have been going there for 30 years, but it may be more, but not that much more. From the story book section as a child to teen romance and Anne of Green Gables as an adolescent, to the research section as an undergrad, I know my library in and out.

Right now, I can thank my library for saving me a small fortune in audio books. Pat has a long commute, two hours a day. He has an I-Pod that I keep filled with audiobooks to ease his time. Considering that the average cost of an audiobook on I-Tunes is $20 and Pat goes through two to three a week, I save about $60 a week, just on audiobooks.

I also save on my books. How many times have you bought a book, brought it home, and by the time you get around to reading it you find that you really don't like the book at all. Now I check any new books that I might want to buy out of the library first, a test drive so to speak. Then, after I return it, if I want to read it again I will add it to my library

Also, I save a lot on movie rentals. Not only do I try to get new releases, but also the classics that we feel we should see. This allows us to take chances without financial risk. We don't have to question if we really want to spend our money on said book / movie, we just get it free.

Now I find myself going full circle back to the children's room. I love watching Mini-Me and Bun listening to story time and checking out books just as I used to do. The city wanted to move the library a while back, but the funding for a new building fell through. I'm glad because I live my old library.

Small Parts

I hate toys with small parts. Now, I don't mind the kids having die cast cars, blocks, card games and the like. They're a part of childhood. What I do mind is when they dump them on the ground then wander off. I don't know if Bun likes the sound or if he just wants to make me mad. It frustrates me because I feel helpless as I want them to play, just not to make a mess. Daniel doesn't understand how to clean up. Alex does, but getting him to do it is like herding cats. I can do it twice as fast when I do it alone. So, I do it myself and feel martyred over it or I ask Pat to do it when I'm putting the kids to bed then get upset when he doesn't. Oh well. They'll grow up eventually.

Reading

I read to Mini-Me and Bun by the hour. We cover armfuls of material from the Berenstain Bears, to Froggy, Dr. Seuss and High-5 Magazine. I usually don't mind reading to the kids, except for the times when Bun starts turning pages in mid read, or when he wants me to read one page then skip 5 then read another. I know this is what's best for their language development. It also gives me a secret sense of pride that my kids listen to the teacher in story time and can answer the questions about what's being read. My only rule is to not get any books that I would hate to read. After all, if I'm not going to read it, why should I frustrate the kids by having those books around to begin with.

A Parent's Identity

As a student I could always identify myself by name and by year in school. In college I could throw my major in for another piece of identification. In corporate America I had a title and an office where I worked to show the world who I was. Now, as a parent to boys with an increasingly large social circle, I have found a new title. At school events I find the introduction going as follows - Hi, I'm Mini-Me's mom, or I'm Stephanie, Bun's mom, how are you. So, now, my identity revolves around my children, perhaps more than I feel comfortable with right now. Still, when I think about it, it's not that bad. I am doing what is most important right now, taking care of people who can't take care of themselves, which described my job in corporate America as well.