Twitter, Facebook, etc.

I just wrote a new post to my Cafe´blog and a new book review to my Examiner page.

Lately, I've been trying to increase my presence on Twitter. I used to think Twitter was dumb and for people with delusions of grandeur unless they had a business, were a celebrity, or had something serious to share with people.

I still think this. So, how does that apply to me? Well, I have this Examiner page and the Cafe´blog with this multiracial family theme, so it's been a challenge to increase readership (mostly for the Examiner page, since I can actually make money from it; pennies mind you, but money nonetheless). Twitter is probably the only thing that will help increase readership and help me to connect with like-minded people that support multiracial families/causes.

So I unchecked the "protect my tweets" option, started seeking out folks and basically ended my Twitter hibernation. And it has worked. Not increasing readership (yet), but gaining more followers and people actually re-tweeting my posts. People that have 100-500 followers, who might also start following me.

Another thing that I am grateful for is making a connection with author Heidi Durrow, who published her debut novel a few months back (the book I review in the above link). She is a Portland native, but lives in L.A.. She is biracial; part African-American and Danish and is such a sweet lady and always responds to my tweets and emails. I hope to meet her soon; we missed each other when she had a book signing at Powells in February (Craig was recovering from surgery).

I've also found that I am naturally separating my Facebook situation from my Twitter situation. Almost every person on my Facebook are family, friends, or former acquaintances/co-workers/classmates, i.e., people I know or knew personally. Most people on Twitter are people I do not know personally, but share a common interest, such as multiracial families, writing, politics or parenting. This separation seems to work for me.

Anyhoo, that's about it. Check out the blog post and the book review; let me know what you think! Oh, and here is my Twitter page.

The Weekend

Had a fun-filled weekend. Saturday was really nice because the weather was absolutely gorgeous! We took Gabe to a playground Saturday morning that we just discovered within walking distance of our place. Then later, after nap, we went downtown and got dinner at Cha Cha Cha where they have very inexpensive, yet large and yummy burritos. Then we took a bit of a walk and got coffee at Caffe´Umbria. We both got cafe mochas, but I was not impressed. It was just okay, I think Stumptown mochas are better and taste richer.

Then Sunday morning, we had a playdate with our friends Amy and Steve and their son Silas. We met them in our childbirth class at Legacy Emmanuel. They reside in Northeast Portland, not far from New Song, the church that my mom loves to go to when she visits. I always get a kick out of Silas, because in terms of eating habits, he and Gabe are total opposites; Silas will eat anything, to the point where Amy is still like, "Should I be curbing his foods?" It's just interesting, because it really just amounts to all children being different and that's a great thing!

I've decided to have Gabe take his dance class at Peninsula Park Recreation Center, which is actually just four blocks from Steve and Amy, instead of at a rec center closer to us which is in the Tualatin Recreation district. Not only is the class at Tualatin three times the amount of the one at PPR, we have to pay an additional $67 dollars being out of district! That's like over $100 for Gabe to basically freestyle for 45 minutes. Cost for the class at PPR: $18, plus $5 because our taxes do not go to the City of Portland (they go to Beaverton and Tualatin).

While the PPR prices are much more reasonable, I was thinking to myself, wow, it's like we live in some odd limbo land or the Twilight Zone; we live in Portland, but our taxes go to Tualatin/Beaverton, yet we are not in district for the Tualatin Rec. Centers…confusing!

Anyway, this weekend we are going to drive to PPR just to scope things out, see how long it takes to get there, etc.

Craig's PT, Gabe's dental appt.

This morning, Gabe went to his dental appt. He didn't like it. In fact, I am fully convinced that the boy is traumatized. He started crying as soon as he saw the dental assistant. And started crying when he saw the dentist.

However, despite this, the visit went well overall. How, you ask? He got his teeth bathed well in the fluoride treatment, and the doc got a good look at his teeth. They are all in the same condition they were in last time, which is good, because we don't want it getting worse.

One tooth, the one that got chipped, had some staining and doc wanted to make sure it was just staining, but in order to do that, he needed to poke it. But, because Gabe was not happy, and we were able to get the treatment on well, doc probably didn't want to press his luck.

If it can be called luck, because Gabe really did cry a lot.

So, we are going back in June, and doc said to just watch that tooth. It's possible that the staining he saw was chocolate because Gabe ate a portion of a chocolate chip flax seed muffin for breakfast (I did brush them afterwards). I didn't tell doc that, though.

So, Gabe recovered quickly. He's a trooper.

Craig has doctor appointments all this week, all related to physical therapy. In addition to PT, he is getting acupuncture, active release technique (ART), and ultrasound. We'll report later in the week how things go.

I wrote a blog post today on my Cafe´au alit blog about a controversy surrounding coverage of a women's blogging conference in Baltimore. Some women bloggers, many of them mothers, felt the article was biased and condescending (it certainly didn't help that it was placed in the fashion and style section, instead of the business section).

Let's see…nothing else to report. I am making mental plans for Easter dinner, but haven't consulted with anyone yet. I do need to do that, though.

Craig gets stitches out, toddler dance

Craig had his stitches removed this morning and is going back to work tomorrow. He went alone, so when he came back he told me that he had a grumpy nurse. She snapped the thread, while trying to take the stitch out, because she was being all violent. Who knows what put her in a snit, but really, some people need not come to work if it's that bad. Especially if you're a nurse, caring for people and such.

Today, the idea popped into my head to have Gabe take a dance class. This will of course cost money. I like finding activities that are free, like the storytime down the street at the cupcake shop. It's a great standby just to get out the house, but I think Gabe will benefit tremendously from a toddler dance class.

So I am looking some up, preferably at recreation centers. There is a pretty good one not far from us, the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation Center. They have a dance class for toddlers that starts April 2. This is a strong option, because it's close by. There are other recreation centers in Portland, and I got one suggestion from a friend that lives on the East side, at Peninsula Park. It'd be a little longer of a drive (probably like 10-15 minutes longer), but a pro would be that there would be people there I know. And it's only once a week.

Hope everyone is having a good week…anything exciting happening for people?

Gabe goes potty for the first time

This morning I put Gabe on his potty, like I did yesterday. I have been doing this a few days, but not expecting anything or trying to pressure (I was still basking in glow stemming from the fact that he was even sitting on it) him. I try to help him get up because he'd been sitting there for about three minutes or so and I thought nothing happened. Well, he really didn't want to get up. So I let him sit there for a few seconds longer.

Well, lo and behold, I look in the pot and there was pee!

I was shocked, because I hadn't expected him to do anything in there for a few months. My goal was just to sit him on there a few times a day, including right after he gets up in the mornings and after a meal, and just get him used to it. When we first got the potty a few weeks ago, he didn't even want to sit on it, period. So I felt he came a long way from that, to actually sitting on it with clothes on, then sitting on it without a diaper.

After the grand event, both Craig and I made a BIG deal about it and Gabe liked that a lot. Of course, I know he is not totally trained but it's definitely progress.

Anemia, Craig's wrist update and eating out

This morning I woke up feeling sick. For the first five or ten minutes after I got up, I was ok. I took Gabe's diaper off and he sat on his potty for about a minute or two (nothing happened). Then, I just started feeling weak, like I felt when I became anemic in my six month of pregnancy. I barely got Gabe into his high chair and asked Craig to feed him while I made a smoothie for myself and laid back down.

I got up around noon and felt like 5 percent better, ate a little lunch and then basically laid back down with Gabe to nap at around 1pm. When we got up at 3pm, I felt 90 percent better. And now this evening I feel pretty good and gave Gabe his bath.

I'm think it was anemia because it felt familiar (the extreme weakness, like I'm about to pass out), I'm really prone to it and I felt better after resting. I haven't been taking vitamins regularly since Gabe was about 15 months old. So I think I need to start taking my multi-vitamins with iron again and probably to get my yearly check-up.

I was really disappointed because the weather was nice and it would have been nice to go out and do something. We ended up going out later to get coffee and walk around. So tomorrow, I think we will venture out and do something a little more exciting. The weather is supposed to be nice again.

Craig is still feeling good; he can stretch his fingers well, but his wrist is still sore. He's been watching movies on Netflix at night; Food Inc. and Helvetica (Craig says that if you're not a designer, you might not like Helvetica). Food Inc. was about the capitalism of the food industry and how exploitative practices contaminate food and abuse animals and workers.

Friday morning we went to Marie Callender's Restaurant to have breakfast. We had a coupon and it ended up cost $12 including tip. Being that it was a weekday morning, I should have known mostly elderly people would be there, many of whom probably don't like kids. But people always look and stare, like they expect the kids to have a major meltdown any minute. Or they stare because they never saw an interracial couple with a kid before. Anyway, I don't appreciate people being all up in my grill while I am trying to eat.

For the love of collards

I made a connection with another Portland Examiner, Aqiylah Collins, who writes about holistic health. This month she is doing a series of articles to celebrate Black History Month, highlighting African-American foods. Her latest article is about the history and health benefits of collard greens and she quotes me talking about how I love my mom's collards. Mmm. I want some now, actually.

I also finally wrote my book review for the novel Push. I'm going to try to update my Cafe´au lait blog more.

Craig is doing well with his wrist, but he is getting a little tired of wearing the splint. We went to Burgerville, a Northwest burger chain, for lunch on both Monday and Tuesday, so that was fun. Today I took Gabe to storytime down the street at the cupcake shop. The weather here is lovely, clear skies and comfortably cool. I'm sure the rain will sent back in soon, but for right now it's great.

Hope everyone is having a good week!