Hurricane Ida Update/Baylor Medical Students Babysit Our Kids/Weather this Week

HURRICANES AND WEATHER

As I write this post, Ida is a hurricane with 105 mph winds (that's a healthy Category 2). It looks like it will strike the northern Gulf coast somewhere between Lousiana and the Florida panhandle very early on Tuesday as a low end Category 1 hurricane. A Hurricane Warning has just been issued for a portion of the Missippi coast to a portion of the Florida coast with a Watch extended further west and east on both sides.

In the Pacific, all is quiet.


For the US, highs will be in the 70s to 80s from the southwest to the northeast (except New England where highs will be in the 50s and 60s). Highs will be in the 50s and 60s out west and north behind an eastward moving cold front and associated upper trough.


For Houston, Monday will be less humid. Cold front arrives overnight Sunday into Monday with rain as it passes. There is a coastal flood warning in effect but this actually has to do with a trough in the western Gulf. After Monday, there will be several days of fair, pleasant fall weather (like last week) and then some showers over the coming weekend.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Let's do picnic or picnic, pronounced peek-NEEK. Find out about a special picnic Gordy and I hosted in the AND MORE section.

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AND MORE

On Friday night, for the 5th year in a row, Dr. Lorraine Potocki in the Baylor College of Medicine at Texas Children's Hospital and the Baylor Medical Students took care of Smith-Magenis Syndrome and Down Syndrome children so that their parents could have a night out. This year, they really did it up big with Sesame Street characters like Bert and Ernie, unicycle performances, Gymboree entertainment and great food provided by Chick-Fil-A. Each child was paired with at least one medical student partner. Sarah had two helpers, Nina and Zena. Joey and Zara were busy checking in each child. Thank you so much!!!


That night, our group of parents of children with Smith-Magenis Syndrome headed to D'Amico's Italian Restaurant in Rice Village. It is crazy, busy around there on a Friday night, but they cleared a space for us. The food was fantastic and the wait staff excellent.


This year, in our home, we hosted Randy and Mary Beall (president and wife of the president of Parents and Researchers Interested in Smith-Magenis Syndrome). They brought along their 24 year old daughter Laura who has SMS. They also brought another little girl with SMS whose family was busy at a tournament for her sister. We had a great, albeit intense time. You see, people with SMS have a huge zest for life and a persistence to get what they need which I would venture to guess is second to none. Saturday morning, before the picnic, I am making breakfast in the kitchen and at times, I had all three of the girls right on top of me. They were all wonderful of course. But, I must say, it was quite comical at times. We all had a good laugh about it. We also enjoyed seeing the similarities and differences. Such an experience sheds a lot of light on what we deal with day to day, because you see behaviors that they all have in common.

The picnic was wonderful. First of all, it was on Saturday, when the weather was gorgeous! The only problem was that a full bottle of sugary soda got spilled and the bees came in a throng. We finally had to remove the most sticky cooler to a location beyond the children. I washed it off and that helped. The bees weren't mean but they sure knew what they wanted. Last year we had a cotton candy machine. Well, the bees had gone crazy hovering around. One bee landed in a little girl's hand and she started messing with it and it stung her. So, we didn't do the cotton candy this year. We had a scavenger hunt, played fall bingo, did a cookie walk, played a new game called sticker attack, bounced in the moonwalk, and enjoyed favorite songs. Thanks Megan for providing the outstanding selection of music. We had sensory nook with a big tub of bird seed which the kids enjoyed shoveling and digging in (and sometimes sitting in). And there was a reading nook with all kinds of kids books. We also were treated to a wonderful hamburger/hot dog lunch with Gordy and Keith doing the cooking. Everyone brought something and we thank them all for that. Our most distant family came all the way from Mexico City. And, we had several families from the San Antonio area. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

Well, you can imagine that we are pretty pooped. So, that's all for now.

Have a great week everyone!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman