Of Sleepovers

TGM is off tonight at her second sleepover. She is staying with her friend Mia tonight so that she doesn't have to go with me to a 2-hour doctor's appointment in the morning.

If the lead-up and drop-off is any indicator of the sleepover's success, I'm not sure she'll want to come back home.

When I made the announcement to her today that she would be going over to Mia's house tonight, the response was instant excitement! She helped me pack her bag with pajamas, pillow, doll, and bedtime music, so it was clear that she would be staying for the night. No hesitation was ever expressed.

JM and I dropped her off on our way to clogging this evening. TGM and Mia were off to play immediately. After the adults had their obligatory exchanges of information and reassurances, I stepped into the room to say good-by to TGM.

Me: TGM, would you like to come say good-by to Mama and Daddy?
TGM (barely glancing at me from her play): Good-by.
Me: Please come give Mama a hug good-by.
TGM obediently comes and gives a hug.
Me: Would you like to give a hug to Daddy?
TGM: No. (Heads back off to play.)

Fwd: Bates InfoTip: Still Using Google?

8-22-12 - Just found this saved blog post from over a year ago. Not sure how accurate the numbers are a year later, but I still found it interesting.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mary Ellen Bates <mbates@batesinfo.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 3:07 PM
Subject: Bates InfoTip: Still Using Google?
To: youngamethyst@gmail.com


Bates InfoTips
What's YOUR Search Engine Now?
Summer 2011

Most people have assumed that Google will always be their go-to search engine. In fact, the verb "to Google" suggests that, for most of us, Google defines what a search engine is. I'm reminded of Velcro, Kleenex and Escalator, all brands that have come to represent the generic product because they were the first and the best in their field. (OK, Google wasn't the first search engine, but it was the first to use link analysis to calculate relevance.)
I recently saw a press release from Hitwise, a firm that studies web market share and consumer activity. According to Hitwise, Google's share of the search engine market is down to 66%, from 71% a year ago, with Bing its nearest competitor at 28%, up from 25% last year. Even more interesting to me was that, based on Hitwise's analysis, the "success rate" of searches was significantly higher for Bing (80%) than Google (68%). Wow! [cue the music from "Jaws"]
Google earned the market share it has by consistently delivering better, more relevant search results than its competitors. While it still owns the lion's share of the market, that percentage is inexorably dropping, and Bing-powered search is gaining. (Since searches on Yahoo are actually powered by Bing, Hitwise combines the market share of bing.com and search.yahoo.com.) And the fact that Google has a relatively poor success rate compared to Bing means that we may start talking about "Binging" a question rather than Googling it.
Google has made its search results page attractive to info pros and researchers; the left margin is full of ways to filter or spin your search. Try it on blogs! Search discussion groups! Limit to the last six months! Narrow it to your local area! It's hard to resist the impression that you are conducting a comprehensive search as you work your way through all of Google's search options.
Bing has some search features worth considering, though. In addition to the usual specialized searches -- news, images, video, map and shopping -- it has an interesting Visual Search feature. Right now, there are 90 "galleries", collections of information on topics ranging from world leaders to US stocks and the top Twitterers. Within each gallery is a browsable collection of images representing each item in the collection; in the World Leaders gallery, for example, there are close to 350 photos of heads of state, each linked to a profile compiled from the CIA World Factbook. You can further filter the gallery by region, title or type of leader, or skim the images to identify a particular person. These galleries may turn into valuable tools for quick answers, particularly if info pros could create their own galleries.
I have just switched my default search engine on my browser to Bing and I'll report later on how it works with research queries. So long, Google. We'll still be friends, but we're no longer dating. I've got my eye on a good-looking search engine over there who just might make me happier than you do.

---

"May I publish or reproduce this InfoTip?" Be my guest! Just credit the source, Bates Information Services, and include the URL, www.BatesInfo.com/tips
In addition to InfoTips, I publish Info-Entrepreneur Tip of the Month, written for fellow independent information professionals.
I also blog at Librarian Of Fortune and tweet as mebs.
Do you need strategic business research?

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TGM @ 3

My dear little girl--I must call you that as you are no longer a baby and have grown up in so many ways!

You are definitely the most verbal of our friends around your age. You regularly use full sentences and entered fully into the "why" stage a few weeks before your 3rd birthday. Your "why" questions have led to discussions of communion and Batman's motivations. You like to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and have come up with rhythmic non-sense phrases for which we have yet to identify a source.

You've memorized The Lord's Prayer, John 3:16, Genesis 1:1, and Psalm 23. You can spell your name verbally and in sign language.

You still have a fascination with the alphabet. You can recognize all the printed letters--upper and lower case. You are beginning to associate phonetic sounds with the letters. It scares me sometimes to think that you may be reading before your 4th birthday.

You enjoy wearing dresses and would wear them all the time, if we had enough for every day play. You like to play dress-up and princess, especially using the wings, wand, and garland/crown you received for your birthday from your friend Dax. You and Daddy dance around the kitchen.

Your favorite movies include Cinderella, Princess and the Frog, and Peter Pan. You'll ask me to be Peter Pan or Wendy to your Michael. Or I'll be the stepmother to your Cinderella. Or we'll take turns being Cinderella's Fairy Godmother and singing "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" to provide coach, dress, and other accouterments for Cinderella to go to the ball. Or you ask me to kiss you and you'll pretend to turn from a frog into a Handsome Prince.

You also enjoy coloring and painting. You'll try to draw around your own hand, as I've drawn around it so many times.

You've caught onto how to use a touchpad mouse and will watch a whole series of Mickey Mouse videos on YouTube, when I let you. You haven't gotten the hang of an external mouse, but with laptops and tablets around the house, you haven't had as much chance to play with those. On Uncle SC's tablet, you like the ABCya.com website with Alphabet Bingo, Alphabet Match (memory game), and a few books that the site will read to you.

You've already had one friend, Julian, move out of the area this year. We are anticipating the departure of Aria and Rowan at the end of the month. You've played with Aria and Rowan regularly since you were born and even had your first sleep over at their house just a month or so ago. You still get to see your other best friend, Mia, at church. Dax is another friend that we try to see for play dates every so often.

You are fully potty trained in that you are wearing full-time the panties that Grandma Gates made for you last Christmas. We've put in a request with Grandma G for the next larger size, as you are outgrowing the ones you have. You aren't independent about it--you always want me to help you undress, wipe, and dress.

You like talking about the baby in my belly and about being a big sister. I'm not sure how much you understand about how that will change your world! You've picked out the names Aria and Jesus for your baby sibling.

You also think the flower girl dress that was given to you for Uncle SC and Sarah's wedding is very pretty. You ask to wear it and are looking forward to having the dark blue bow that Grandma G is making for the dress.

Once again, we've had multiple opportunities to celebrate your birthday this year. In Virginia, you and Rowan had a joint birthday party with a Garden Party Tea theme. Mrs. P had so many wonderful ideas and beautiful ways of doing things. That may be the fanciest birthday party you'll ever have! :-) Then we made a trip to Kansas and arrived the day of your birthday. Your second cousin James was celebrating his birthday the same day, so Grandma G took the "dot cake" you had requested and we all went to James' birthday party to celebrate with family there. Later in the month, we visited Pennsylvania and Grandma Mc made frosted brownies to celebrate your birthday. We didn't have to coach or coax you at all to blow out the birthday candles on your cakes this year!

Next week, we'll be seeing the doctor to see how much you've grown physically this year. I know you can't wear the same clothes and shoes you were wearing a year ago!

As much as I've written here, I still feel like there is so much about you that a post like this misses. Like how you'll whine and throw fits, especially when you are tired, but you will go through your bed time routine and go to bed pretty well, most nights. Or how you only like to eat foods you can identify (not so much casseroles and such) and will just refuse to eat what you don't recognize, even though there are no snacks for you later. Or how you show sympathy for others' hurts and share your toys with others.

It's been a joy to watch you grow these past three years. I'm so looking forward to watching you continue to grow and pray that I will not be a hindrance in you becoming a beautiful young woman with an outstanding love for God and others.

Project Gutenberg Founder Dies

This week, Michael Hart died. He is arguably the first eBook publisher--in 1971, he published the Declaration of Independence on the computer network at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He dedicated his life to establishing and continuing Project Gutenberg--more than 36,000 free eBooks representing over 100 languages.

TGM @ 2

To TGM:

It's hard to believe that we have enjoyed you as part of our family for two years already!

We had a big party (and a smaller party) last weekend. Grandma Mc, Aunt K, Aunt M, and Cousins Christina and Wyatt were all visiting for the weekend. And Jer was with us for the weekend. You had a blast playing with them all. It was a bit rough the first evening, especially, working on the sharing, but everyone seemed to adjust and get better at it as the weekend progressed.

Great Uncle Dale and Aunt Angie also made the trip for the party on Saturday evening and Uncle SC and Miss Sarah made a point of being around. We had brownies and ice cream for the evening and you blew out the two balloon-shaped candles by yourself.

On Sunday evening, we invited all our clogging and church friends and some other friends to the park and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. I think a total of 38 guests showed up during the evening! You had a grand time playing on the equipment with friends. You weren't able to blow out the candles that evening, but I think it might have been that you just were so excited and intimidated by all the attention that you weren't ready to try. Jer was very willing to help you out--great big brother that he is.

This evening, you and I took a walk around the neighborhood. You'd been asking to take a walk all day. Along the way, you picked up sticks. The first one, you ended up sharpening because you enjoyed rubbing it on the sidewalk. You also found a piece of money (a nickel).

You've started to identify things that belong to people--such as pointing out Mama and Daddy's house as we arrive home. As we were walking around the neighborhood, you pointed out cars and trucks and identified them as "not ours" along with some of the houses.

There was a lawn decoration with two birds that you counted. It also had six flowers, but you had a harder time counting them. When we climb the stairs at home, you can count to 14. Right now, one of your favorite books is the Lifesize Animal Counting Book that Grandma Mc gave you. You like to count everything 1-10 and have someone count the 20 butterflies and 100 creepy crawlers for you.

You also like putting things back away. Maybe not so much cleaning up your toys, but straightening items on the grocery store shelves. On our walk, you were picking up the small rocks on the sidewalk and putting them back in the rock beds where they belonged.

You like music and singing. One of your favorite music CD's right now is Alphabet Jam. You can sing the ABC song. You are able to recognize most or all of your letters at times (though not perfectly everytime). You are starting to talk in sentences and carry on conversations. You know a good number of signs as well and will try to use them to clarify what you are saying when we don't quite understand you.

You love watching the Signing Time videos and pick up new signs from the videos all the time. One of the videos has the sign for "roller skates" with people roller skating, so you've been asking for roller skates for the past couple of weeks. Maybe we'll pick you up a pair with one of the gift cards from your birthday party.

Other songs you like to sing include "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", "Jesus Loves Me", "If You're Happy and You Know It", and other action songs that you've learned in library story time. At clogging, or when we put on the clogging practice music at home, we'll see you dancing along to the songs. Some of the moves--like the ending pose of "Dance" you know and can do even at home by yourself. And you often follow along and imitate the moves at clogging--like bowing during "My Country 'Tis" and holding the arm positions in "Old Dominion."

You have your first set of clogging shoes with glue-on taps. You've mostly gotten over your phase of needing to wear shoes at ALL times. But you do still prefer to have shoes on, including your soft-soled Robeez which we let you wear as night shoes. You got two pairs of shoes for your birthday--one pair with the light-up soles and the other Converse sneakers. Both are larger than what you currently wear so that you can grow into them. You've been wearing the light-up shoes, even if they are too big for you, but I found a blister on your toe this morning that might be from those shoes, so I'll be trying to curb your wearing of them until they fit a bit better.

At the doctor's office this week, they measured you at 32.5" and 22 lbs. (I think you are at least 33"--you were trying to look up and see what the nurse was doing while she was measuring you.) Based on their measurements, you are less than 20% percentile for both height and weight for your age. The doctor wants to check you again in six months, but I'm not too worried about it. Grandma G says that I weighed about the same at 2 years old, so there is plenty of reason to believe that you'll continue to grow well.

We are looking forward to what you'll accomplish in the next year and with the rest of your life!

Things We've Done Recently

1. Gotten new phones. JM and I picked out phones together about 7 months into our marriage, when he switched from his parent's family plan to my family plan. We replaced those nearly-4-yr-old phones this past week. I'm still deciding how much I like the new phone. It's growing on me. But the first day I was pretty frustrated trying to get the hang of the touch screen. And I'm still trying to figure out the most efficient way to make phone calls. There's days when I wouldn't mind going back to looking up the number in the phone book, picking up the phone, and dialing the number. At least then you actually memorized the most frequently called numbers.

2. We saw a rainbow! It was a double rainbow for a brief while. I took TGM for a walk down the block to get a better view. Since then (more than a day), everytime we walked down the block, she asks about a rainbow. I haven't decided whether she is remembering or looking for another rainbow...or maybe both.

3. TGM got her first scraped knee that got her a band-aid. She's seemed a bit more clumsy over the last few days than she had been--tripping on her toes when she's walking and such. Today, she stepped up on a decorative rock beside our sidewalk and ended up tripping or losing her balance. I hope she's just going through a growing phase that's throwing off her sense of proportion or something.

4. TGM is still getting new teeth. She now has a total of 15 teeth. The last three have been coming in at a rate of about 1 every 2-3 weeks over the last month and a half or so. Due to get about one more tooth, I think. Haven't tried to feel for it yet.

5. Went to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum Fly-In and How To Become a Pilot Day on Saturday morning. Spent about 3.5 hours there. Jer liked the military helicopters and planes. He claims his favorite part of the day was playing a flight combat video game and some Transformers paraphernalia and video clip related to the scene in the film that was shot in the museum. TGM also really liked climbing into the helicopters. When she had to get out, she'd immediately ask if she could get back in again. She also got to sit in a gyrocopter and some planes. JM and Jer were also fascinated with the possibilities of model rockets, as presented by one of the local clubs.

Little Fire Fighter

Round Hill Hometown Festival

The floor is holding up the jacket!

Semi-recently Read Books

Superfreakonomics by Levitt & Dubner. Never read Freakonomics. Thinking I'll have to pick that on up soon. I think the part that really got me to thinking was "How much good do car seats really do?"

Skipping a Beat by Pekkanen. A contemporary drama. Told from the perspective of a wife whose husband had a near-death experience and came back determined to give away all of his assets, including his $70 million business and their mansion of a home. She'd already been contemplating divorce and now he want her to give him another chance. With the near-death experience and the husband's make-over in priorities, I kept expecting it to have some spiritual aspect to it. So the biggest disappointment about this book for me is that I felt like the author practically went out of her way to avoid mentioning God or anything truly spiritual.

The Year We Were Famous by Carole Dagg. YA novel based on history. The author's great-aunt walked across the U.S. with her mother.

Before I Fall and Delirium by Lauren Oliver. YA novels with endings that are a very mixed feel of happy and sad.

Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. The lives of an African-American deaf man, an electively mute woman living in a mental institution, her newborn daughter, and a reclusive, retired school teacher collide. I found the bulk of the book a good read, but really felt like the ending was contrived.