A Breakthrough

(Maybe).

Ben finally seems to be making some progress with his occupational therapy sessions... at least, it seemed so this morning. He is still nowhere near being able to copy most letters/numbers/shapes without help, and most of his chalkboard drawings this morning still looked like jellyfish. But on the bright side, he seemed to settle on using his right hand almost exclusively this morning (although when I commented on it to the therapist he gave me an impish grin and immediately switched to his left hand). Also, she had him do some pencil activities using a pencil with a small pencil grip on it to facilitate holding the pencil correctly. He held the pencil perfectly using the pencil grip, did not complain about doing the work sheets, and paid careful attention to his work.

I ordered some of these pencil grips for him just now on Amazon -- they are smaller than usual pencil grips and have patterns on the sides to help him know which finger goes where. I hope I will be able to fit some onto his crayons so he can practice the proper grip at home doing coloring activities.

He also seems to enjoy doing connect the dots activities so I am going to see if I can find a workbook of connect the dot drawings for him to do. Not only does it help him practice his pencil skills, it also helps with number recognition and counting, as you must connect the dots in the correct order. I was surprised and pleased to see that he could do this with no help this morning, properly recognizing double-digit numbers (10,11 etc) to connect all the dots in the correct order. You go, Ben!

Becca at 15 Months

I remembered it's time to give an update on Becca's milestones. Except I'm too lazy to look up how I did it before so this time just freeform....

As previously noted, she started walking without assistance at about 14 1/2 months. After a couple of weeks of practice, she is toddling all over. She is still wobbly but usually doesn't fall down spontaneously anymore -- though a strong breeze might be enough to do the trick ;)

She is getting pretty good at feeding herself with a spoon, and very stubborn about it. She will rarely let me feed her anymore, and prefers using a spoon over her fingers even when using her fingers would be easier. This makes mealtime a bit annoying and results in a lot of food ending up in her lap. On the bright side, she now has 4 teeth (almost - the top two front teeth are finally coming in now). Ben had I don't know how many teeth at 15 months but I have a picture of him munching on a whole apple at 15 months so I know he had a lot more than four.

She still does not have many more words than at last report, though she now says something that sounds a whole lot like "Look, see?" when she points at something. So we'll give that one to her. She is starting to "talk" constantly though -- a very conversational-sounding stream of babble that I have no doubt will one day soon resolve itself into some recognizable words. Especially now that she's getting some more teeth to make different sounds with ;)

That's all for now I think... will update again at 18 months.

A Long, Long Weekend

I see I'm being chastised for not posting since Thursday. So here's the rundown:

Friday - very annoying. Ben was off, I was supposed to work, and Becca's day care was technically open but there was only one other kid there who was leaving at 1 so I also picked Rebecca up at 1 so that the staff wouldn't have to stay all day just for her. Needless to say I got maybe an hour of work done, and then had to spend 3 and a half hours working Friday night after the kids were in bed.

Saturday - Better. Went to the mall and got some half priced shirts and a dress at The Lucky Brand Jeans Co,, drank a bottle of wine after the kids were in bed.

Today - Tired. Went to the gym, watched a lot of (very improbable) football. Ben decided he would root for the Cowboys just to get under Joel's skin, but after it became evident that he wasn't going to get to do his touchdown dance anytime soon, he retired to the bedroom to watch Krypto the Superdog.

Chanukah - Over. Ben connived two presents out of me on Friday when I had him home with me while I was trying to get work done, so we gave him his last present yesterday. He liked all of his gifts, and enjoyed playing with most of Becca's gifts also. Becca's favorite still seems to be the stuffed Santa, and her least favorite is definitely Tickle Me Cookie Monster (he made her cry).

To sum up, after a four day weekend, two days of which Joel was at work all day, I am almost looking forward to working tomorrow.

A Christmas Snake

It was unseasonably warm today, even for here. I think it was in the upper 60s, and mostly sunny. It was so warm in fact that one of the numerous grass snakes around here must have decided it was springtime. I know this because as I was taking the kids outside to go over to the JCC to play basketball, Ulysses trotted up onto the porch with the snake in his mouth.

He dropped it, and since I could see it was still alive, I herded Ulysses into the house and hoped the snake wasn't hurt too badly. When we got home from the JCC a couple hours later, the snake was gone. So I said, "Oh good, it looks like the snake got away."

"Or maybe," Ben said, voicing my unspoken thought with uncanny accuracy, "it just went away to die somewhere else."

A Perfectly Wasted Day

About once a year -- if I'm lucky -- I will have a company holiday that the kids don't also have as a holiday. Today was my day. I'd been looking forward to it for weeks, wondering what I would do with a whole day off from work without the kids... I had thought of lots of things I might do, all of which I had a lot of trouble remembering this morning after I dropped the kids off.

I also still didn't feel very well from my recent brush with the flu or whatever it was, and I actually did have something I needed to do for work. So to recap: a) didn't feel well, b) had work to do, c) couldn't think of anything to do.

After watching The Food Network for a while I suddenly remembered that Joel had mentioned wanting peppermint bark from Williams Sonoma so I decided since I had nothing better to do I might as well go see if I could get some. So I went to the very crowded mall, on Christmas Eve... only to discover that the mall in question did not have a Williams Sonoma. That's odd, I thought... I could have sworn I'd seen one around here somewhere... So I decided to drive (against my better judgement) to another mall. Where I got stuck in loads of traffic because that mall entrance is a clusterf*ck even when it's not Christmas Eve. No Williams Sonoma there either. So I came home -- two wasted hours later -- and checked online (which of course I should have done to begin with) and discovered that the Williams Sonoma is across from the first mall I'd been at, but not actually in it, hence why it was not listed on the directory. I did not entertain the idea of going back there, so Joel's peppermint bark will arrive in 5-7 business days ;)

Not exactly the relaxing day I had envisioned. Oh well... there's always next year.

Chanukah, continued

I meant to post last night but the daycare germs struck again and instead I spent the night throwing up a lot. The kids are not sick (yet), but I blame all germs on the day care so I expect one or both of them will get sick at some point in the very near future.

Nanny and Papa took Ben to see a play of The Velveteen Rabbit yesterday, which he enjoyed very much by all accounts. He was well-behaved so got his Chanukah present from Sunday plus his present from Monday, so he was happy. His Sunday present was a Vtech laptop from Nanny and Papa, and his Monday present was a scooter (which he proceeded to ride around the living room since it was too dark and cold to ride outside). Tonight he got a camera, which was also a big hit.

Here is a picture of Ben with his scooter, and Becca, whose favorite present so far (ironically) seems to be a stuffed Santa that one of her caregivers at the day care gave to her.

Just One More

Since I didn't get to post a picture of Becca with her first Chanukah present, here is one from this morning.

Happy Chanukah

For most of us, that is. Ben's Chanukah, at least the gift-receiving aspect, will begin tomorrow because despite countless warnings he refused to behave himself tonight. The most disturbing part was that upon realizing that he wasn't getting a present, Ben did not throw a fit. Oh, he whined a little bit, but in the end he really didn't seem to care all that much. My conclusion is that he gets so many presents anyway that Chanukah is not all that special. So I am currently mulling over a no-presents-unless-it's-Chanukah-or-your-birthday rule.

Ben wasn't poorly behaved all day; in the morning we baked cookies (and made a thorough mess in the process) and in the afternoon he went to his friend Maya's Chanukah party, where he was for the most part well behaved and consumed large amounts of sugar. Once we got home though it was all down hill, and by dinnertime it basically seemed like he was provoking us on purpose so that he could see just how far he had to go before losing his present. When I finally sent him to his room, he seemed glad to go.

Eventually he sidled back downstairs and watched the assembly of Becca's present, a cool play house thingy with lots of levers and buttons to press, from Joel's parents. Becca was too tired to play with it by the time I finished putting it together, so she'll have to check it out tomorrow.

I did get a few pictures throughout the day - Enjoy. Happy Chanukah!

Saturday Update

For those of you suffering through the snow in the Northeast I would helpfully like to point out that the current temperature here in Charlotte, at 9:30 PM, is 60 degrees. (But it is raining).

Today I took Ben to a birthday party here, where after I threatened him with no Chanukah present tomorrow, he behaved himself perfectly and participated in all of the activities with enthusiasm. (He's had a little problem with participating in group activities at birthday parties lately).

We met friends for dinner here, which was very good (first time we'd been).

Ben and I made cookie dough this afternoon, but haven't had a chance to bake the cookies yet (dough in the fridge). They are chocolate crinkles, or as I have always called them, dog dirt in the snow cookies.

Tomorrow we have a Chanukah party to go to (which means probably I will have to threaten Ben one more time so that he'll behave himself), then we will celebrate the first night of Chanukah with Joel's parents. And watch the Eagles game, of course. Full day.

Class Chanukah Party

Here is a picture from Ben's class Chanukah party, as promised.

Odds & Ends

There's not much going on, so just a few random updates:

Ben's class Chanukah party was yesterday at lunch, consisting of pizza, salad and cake. No latkes, which was disappointing to me. When the designated picture-taker emails the pictures she took, I will post one or two. Though I am not sure when that will be since I am pretty sure her son, who unfortunately sat next to my son at the lunch, came down with strep throat yesterday afternoon.

Ben met with his Thursday occupational therapist, Michelle, for the first time this morning (since we had to cancel his first Thursday appointment last week because Ben was sick). He took to her right away, and was very impressed with her office, which had loads of toys, christmas lights and other interesting distractions. Key word being "distractions." He performed with his usual high level of boredom, frustration, and as the therapist put it "a self defeating attitude" during the drawing activities she did with him. For example, he began scribbling all over the page when she asked him to color a picture, and did not even try to color inside the lines.

What can I say about Rebecca... she has not injured herself since her injury-prone weekend, but she has an alarming tendency to sprawl flat on her face at any given moment with no warning. She did it this morning but fortunately there was nothing around for her to hit herself on. I was packing her diaper bag in the kitchen and I heard a THUD and when I went to investigate she was still lying sprawled on the floor, not hurt or upset just taking her time to get back to her feet. Sometimes I could swear she does this on purpose.

I ordered her a new diaper bag, from Baby Sherpa -- after watching the video demonstration, I was sold! I ordered the Short Haul variety. Her current bag is too small and has a rip in it. I also finished up my Chanukah shopping for the kids. Ben's I did mostly at Target and Rebecca's I did mostly online (after doing Ben's and not wanting to repeat the crowded-toy-aisle experience).

This weekend is shaping up to be busy, with Ben having invitations to a birthday party on Saturday and a Chanukah party on Sunday, dinner plans in the works for Saturday night with friends, and Joel's parents coming over Sunday night for Chanukah.

My Future Zoologist? Maybe Not.

I saw Ben's future career as a zoologist go down the tubes this morning:

BEN: Guess what animal I'm thinking of. It's brown.
ME: Does it have fur?
BEN: No. It's a kind of bug.
ME: A worm?
BEN: No.
ME: A spider?
BEN: No.
ME: An ant?
BEN: No.
ME: I give up. What is it?
BEN: A hedgehog!

Tis the Season

The neighbors are starting to bring over holiday goodies. Ben helped us eat cookies over the weekend that one of our neighbors brought over Friday night, and tonight Becca graciously helped us out with a Moravian sugar cake that appeared on our doorstep courtesy of the neighbors across the street. The scrape on her chin is from accident #3 of the weekend - she smashed herself in the chin with a basketball while trying to duplicate big brother Ben's dribbling skills. (Note to self: Doodle is too short to dribble. Do not let her play with a basketball again).

The Dangerous Sport of Walking

Rebecca could use a football helmet. She has split her lip open twice in the last 18 hours. First was yesterday afternoon when she tripped in the bathroom and hit the left side of her face against the bathtub, resulting in a puffy cheek and a bloody bottom lip. Then this morning she tripped in Ben's room and hit the right side of her face against the bedrail, resulting in further injury to her bottom lip, on the other side. Her screams robbed Joel of his morning to sleep in. Poor Doodle and her fat lip.

Cuban Food

Tonight Joel and I were introduced to Cuban food, which was delicious. Joel ate a plantain for the first time and professed to enjoy it (some of you may be shocked at this). He also was a big fan of the fried steak (though who wouldn't be).

Ben was a big fan of his new babysitter, who is one of the nurses Joel works with. He was quite happy to usher Joel and I out the door and have her all to himself. He convinced her that he sleeps with his lamp on and his door open, so when I went to check on him there he was, sound asleep with the light on and the door open. Taking advantage of babysitters is a skill learned early I guess. He tried to convince his last one that I let him have sugar mixed into his Pediasure. I am sure he will get more creative as time goes on.

Zero to Sixty

I've been waiting and waiting to be able to post a video of Becca's first steps. She's been "cruising" for a couple months now - walking holding onto furniture, my hand, or pushing her walker toy. But whenever you tried to coax her into taking a step on her own she'd either get down on her knees and crawl, or stand there and start crying.

But I'd been getting pretty suspicious over the last couple of weeks that she was perfectly capable of walking and was stubbornly choosing not to. Her balance seems great - she climbed up the baby slide at Monkey Joe's the other week and went down all by herself. She climbs on and off her rocking horse all by herself. But she stubbornly refused to walk.

Until today. So the moment you've all been waiting for... Or at least I have... Here she is without further ado, at 14 1/2 months, taking her first steps. Yes believe it or not, I had never seen Rebecca walk until about five minutes before this video was taken:

Bored to Tears

Ben, that is. He is victim number 3 of the stomach virus that's been making its way around the house. His is a milder form and consisted of nausea and diarrhea but no vomiting. The diarrhea seems to have subsided by now as well. I kept him home from school today and for the morning he was quite content to lie in my bed watching TV while eating saltines and drinking ginger ale.
This afternoon, once he started feeling better I presume, the boredom set in. At one point he looked at me forlornly and said, "Mom, I am so sad. I just want something to do."

Ben's boredom aside, having him home today was not nearly as bad as some other times he's been home when I've been working. He's been pretty mellow and has allowed me to get a lot of work done today.

Ben should be all set to go back to school tomorrow, and now my only worry is that Joel will come down with the virus just in time for dinner Saturday night (we have a babysitter lined up and are going to a Cuban restaurant with some friends).

More Free Stuff

I started my holiday shopping by digging out a bunch of gift cards I'd accumulated over the last year or two and never used. I had two $25 Best Buy cards, two Babies R Us cards (one $25 and one $15 that was actually given to us when Ben was born by the realtor who sold us the house in Blackstone) and a $5 Barnes & Noble card that Joel produced from somewhere. I ordered two DVDs for Ben from Best Buy (still have about $10 left on one of the Best Buy cards), a music table/activity center for Becca, and a book for Joel. All told it was about $120 worth of stuff which I had to pay about $30 out of pocket for.

Not stopping there, I also redeemed 10,000 American Express rewards points for $100 in Cheesecake Factory gift cards (Joel and I had been planning to go shopping and to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory sometime soon).

I also got a free meatball sub for lunch today. Yay me :)

Day Care Germs & Jellyfish

I caught Rebecca's germs. I had convinced myself she had no germs and that her throwing up was a fluke (gag reflex maybe or something) but of course I was fooling myself. I woke up yesterday morning feeling nauseous. I dragged myself out of bed and got the kids dropped off and then spent the rest of the day in bed. Today I am feeling moderately better but still not great.

I took Ben to his occupational therapy appointment this morning. I'm still not quite sure what to make of it. Pardon the expression but he tends to enter retardo-ville when we walk through those doors. Today for example he was crawling around on the floor for no apparent reason. The therapist now has him help her make a list on the chalkboard of the 5 activities they will do during the hour. She helps him make the numbers 1 through 5 (having him trace her numbers) and then asks him to draw a picture of each thing they are going to do. The only problem is that almost any time you ask Ben to draw a picture of something he draws a circle and then draws a bunch of long lines coming off the bottom of it. So today for every picture he was asked to draw that's what he drew. If he'd been asked to draw a jellyfish I would have considered that precocious, but jellyfish was nowhere on the list.

The problem with the list is that the "fun" stuff - trampoline, swing, scooter board - all seems to end up at the front of the list, and the writing activities end up last. With all the fun stuff out of the way there's not much incentive to coax him to sit down and practice his writing skills which as far as I'm concerned is the whole point. He either goofs off or gets downright obstinate. Today he was obstinate. I narrowly resisted pointing out to him that my copay for these visits is $20 a session so he damn well better do what he's told. Hopefully Thursday's appointment will go better.

How Do I Look?

Okay so I am fully aware that babies are not able to recognize themselves in a mirror until around 18 months old but I swear this is what happened: Rebecca draped one of Joel's ties around her shoulders, then crawled into the bathroom, climbed up on Ben's stool, and checked herself out in the mirror.

Sick Day

Becca's sick day was pretty uneventful. She was very well-behaved, and work was very quiet, allowing the day to go smoothly. She discovered Sesame Street and Barney which she enjoyed very much - jumping up and down in her Pack N Play (which I set up next to my desk so I could keep an eye on her and attempt to get some work done) and pointing at the TV screen. I am not sure if I should feel bad for letting her watch so much TV today, or bad for the fact that she's barely ever seen any Sesame Street or Barney until today since Ben monopolizes the TV with Power Rangers: Jungle Fury and Ben 10: Alien Force. At any rate, she was happy. I was happy. There were no more vomit incidents.

Jinxed

A couple of days ago I was marveling to myself that it has been so long since the last time Becca has been sent home sick from day care. I think it has been a good three or four months, which in germy-daycare-baby terms is just forever. Her immune system must be getting so strong, I mused.

Well, clearly I jinxed myself because today I got the daycare call - she'd thrown up everywhere so could I please come get her? She considerately waited until 4:15 pm to do her upchucking, so it was not a great disruption to my day... except that the 24 hour rule (must be vomit-free for 24 hours before being allowed back to day care) means she has to stay home tomorrow. Even though her vomiting does not seem to be accompanied by a fever or any other symptoms.

Tomorrow will be an exercise in multi-tasking.

Cute and Cuter

Our alarm system is set to chime whenever one of the three doors (front, back, garage) opens and Becca is now trained like Pavlov's dog. Whenever She hears the door chime she says "Hi! Hi! Hi!" before she even sees who it is. Her little head will be swiveling towards the door to look to see who's there but she's already saying "Hi! Hi! Hi!" She'll do it even if she is in a different room and can't see the door. So long as she can hear it she says hi. It's very cute.

Joel drinks a glass of lemonade a day now because it is supposed to prevent kidney stones from forming. The other day Ben kept asking for lemonade and Joel finally asked, "Why do you keep pestering me for lemonade?!" And Ben said (with a sheepish look on his face) "Because I don't want to get a kidney stone!"

A Quiet House

Abby, Mike and Charlie left for home late this afternoon. I am sure Ben will miss having his cousin to play with. They played very well together -- for the whole long weekend I don't remember having to break up any fights over toys or anything. Ben did not bat an eyelash at having all his toys strewn all over the house -- he loves company. I think he probably is happy to have his room back to himself though. Becca moved in with him for the last four nights so Charlie could sleep in her crib. She seemed to sleep pretty well in her Pack N Play in Ben's room and the one morning she woke up early (today) and cried, Ben did not wake up. That kid sleeps like a rock.

Abby and I took one last trip to the mall this morning (I took the day off since they were not leaving till late afternoon). We both upgraded our cell phones to the new EnV. It is very nice. My old phone was 3 years old and bought from a friend who claimed it took crooked pictures. As a matter of fact it did take crooked pictures so it's nice to have a phone that takes straight pictures. It is also nice to have a qwerty keyboard since my texting ability on a regular phone keypad is abysmal.

After shopping, lunch and playing with our phones, I took Abby, Mike and Charlie to the airport and then went to the gym which was very crowded from everyone trying to work off their Thanksgiving dinners. Now I'm spending my evening trying to get the house straightened up and mentally preparing for going back to the grind tomorrow...

Shopping

Pretty much the only time I ever go shopping for myself is when my sister comes to visit, because I hate picking out clothes for myself. Abby loves picking out clothes so I let her lead me around by the hand twice a year and tell me everything I need to buy. Today was our designated shopping day - Joel and Mike dropped Becca off at Joel's parents' and took Ben and Charlie to see Madagascar 2. Abby and I spent six hours at the mall. I got makeup, two pairs of boots, a dress, two pairs of jeans, three shirts, a coat and a purse. I also got my ears pierced (again, I had them pierced before but hadn't worn earrings in a few years so I had them done over again).

It was a very exhausting shopping experience since Abby shops by outfit... so she picked out a dress for me and then dragged me all over the mall looking for a pair of boots to wear with it. Then picked out jeans and shirts and dragged me all over the mall again looking for a pair of boots to wear with those. Very inefficient. I am very tired now and my right ankle is killing me. I seem to have sustained an injury somehow. But I am happy with all of my purchases so it was worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last year I spent two or three solid days preparing for Thanksgiving, with the help of my sister and sister-in-law. It was totally exhausting, because in addition to hosting Thanksgiving (for the first time) for a dozen people, I had a two month old baby and was still pretty sleep deprived.

This year was a lot easier. Less people for one thing - 7 adults and three kids. Also I ordered all the side items -- stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, etc -- from a local meal assembly center. I picked them up yesterday and all I had to do today was put them in the oven. And cook the turkey, which I brined overnight in a mixture of vegetable broth, apple juice, and spices.

Consequently there was not a whole heck of a lot to do today. Abby, Mike and Charlie arrived this morning and we spent a lot of time hanging out outside. The weather was very nice (sunny and around 60) and lots of our neighbors were out enjoying the day while their turkeys cooked also. So there was an impromptu gathering in the cul de sac, where the kids ran around and played and the adults chatted. Charlie kept taking off down the street for no apparent reason, but other than that it was very enjoyable.

We also got Dad to download Skype and got a video chat going, though we couldn't time it properly to wave at each other during our Thanksgiving meals. Maybe next time.

Below are some pictures of Ben, Becca and cousin Charlie playing in the back yard this afternoon before dinner.

Doodle's New 'do

Doodle and I are practicing with the one-and-only hairstyle she can achieve so far. She is practicing not screaming and thrashing around while I am doing her hair, and I am practicing doing her hair while she is screaming and thrashing around. More specifically, this morning we practiced putting a bow in her hair so that she can wear one with the Thanksgiving outfit I have picked out for her. I think I managed it fairly successfully despite the screaming and thrashing.

Surgeons & Therapists (Update)

Joel went back to work yesterday after his kidney stone surgery, and he also had an appointment to get the stent that was placed during surgery in the bladder/kidney passageway removed. That seemed to go fine until he got home and started having terrible kidney stone -esque back pain: Apparently again a misinterpretation of the doctor's words about "some discomfort" for the first 24 hours following the removal of the stent. He seemed to be feeling better this morning and went back to work again.

Ben had his second occupational therapy session and "interpretive results" conference, which was just as I suspected... his fine motor coordination is below average in two out of three measures, and normal in a third. His hand, arm and shoulder strength is also weak which may be an underlying cause of the problem. She recommended two sessions a week because our insurance only covers 60 consecutive days of treatment from the time of the evaluation (don't get me started on that). So far we've got Tuesdays at 9am nailed down but still need to figure out when the second session will be. In today's session he worked on upper body strength (pushing himself down the hallway while lying on a scooter using only his arms), fine motor strength (working a big piece of putty around to find the beads and coins hidden inside - he LOVED this), and fine motor precision (copying shapes on a dry erase board - much more interested in erasing than in drawing).

As a sort of related aside - which I relayed to the OT this morning - Ben brought home a cut out of a turkey the other day. He told me he had asked Spencer to cut it out for him, because he couldn't do it. Spencer had done a fair job, but had accidentally cut the feet off. He also told me he had wanted to color in the whole turkey so that no white was showing, but his hands had gotten tired so he got one of the other kids to finish most of the rest of it for him. Then this morning while struggling to get his gloves on (no it is not cold enough for gloves he just likes wearing them) he commented that his classmate Aaron knows how to do gloves and he asks Aaron help him with his gloves before recess. So apparently he is delegating fine-motor related tasks to other kids at school. The OT had a good laugh over this.

The Search for a Hat

Among other errands today, I took Ben hat shopping. I had promised him he could get a new winter hat, because he seemed very unsatisfied with the one that he had. I took him to Children's Place, where he tried on every hat in the store and found none satisfactory. I took him next door to Gap Kids, where he again tried on every hat in the store. This time I paid closer attention to what he was doing, and realized that he was putting every hat on and then pulling it down over his face, and then saying "Nope... that won't work..." I finally wised up and realized that Ben's search for a hat was not fueled by a desire to keep his head warm; rather it was fueled by a desire to have something to pull over his face while playing superheroes on the playground with his friends. So I took him across the street to Wal-Mart and let him pick out an Iron Man ski mask. I've got one very happy four year old, now.

Becca Doodle

Thursday Night Update

Joel seems to be feeling a lot better. His pee still looks like cherry Kool Aid though. I think he's going to call the doctor in the morning to find out if that is normal at this stage, still. He's watching Tropic Thunder in the other room right now. I was watching it with him but then I realized that I have zero interest in war movies, even when they are comedies.

Becca reportedly took two steps at day care today. I was not able to get her to duplicate her efforts at home.

Tonight at bedtime Ben told me he loved me so much that on my birthday he wanted to get me "beautiful red and yellow flowers." Then he added that if I were to get mad at him (any time between now and my birthday I presume, which is in July) this offer of flowers would be off the table. I took the opportunity to explain to him that everyone gets mad at each other sometimes, and that when we are mad we need to talk about it and learn from it how to behave so we don't make each other mad. He listened carefully, nodded his agreement, and then continued to assert that no flowers would be forthcoming if I were to get mad at him. At least I tried.

Therapy

Ben was evaluated this morning by an occupational therapist. She warmed him up by letting him bounce on a trampoline, and then she sat him down and had him use a pencil to fill in shapes, draw shapes, connect the dots, and other activities. She also watched him use scissors, stack blocks, string beads, stick pegs in a peg board, and a variety of other things. About partway through Ben really started to get fidgety and just wasn't into it at all, so she let him crawl through a tunnel a few times, and turned it into a number game where he had to announce what number he was going to bring through the tunnel, pick up the correct number (which were puzzle pieces) and put the piece into a puzzle after he got through the tunnel. He enjoyed that, and then she sat him down again for more hand exercises - picking up pennies, sorting cards, etc.

At the end she let him lay on his stomach across a hammock-swing and grab onto a rope to pull himself over to her, take a puzzle piece, swing back, and put the puzzle piece in its place. He absolutely loved that, though he needed a bit of help with the puzzle.

Watching the whole process was quite interesting for me. Ben followed directions very well, until he got bored - then he would intentionally do the opposite of what was asked, snicker, and look at the therapist expectantly to see if she would catch on. He was also a little bit more hyper than usual, probably because of all the attention and the new environment (or maybe because of the donut I let him have for breakfast on the way over?) My own evaluation of Ben's performance was that he did terribly with most of the activities involving the pencil and scissors, and pretty well with everything else. Watching him with the pencil and scissors was interesting, because he used his right hand for those but for everything else -- block stacking, bead stringing, penny-picking-up, etc -- he used his left hand.

Next Tuesday we have the interpretive results session, and another therapy session for Ben, since the therapist did say she thought he needed treatment, but that we would go over the results and treatment plan next week. So, I will let you all know how that goes next week!

Surgery

Joel's kidney stone surgery went off without a hitch today. That's from the urologist's point of view; Joel is not so thrilled. Joel wasn't sold on the whole idea in the first place, considering that after some initial discomfort the kidney stone did not bother him at all. That's because it hadn't gotten stuck anywhere, and according to the urologist (who was almost young enough to be Doogie Howser and I am not exaggerating all that much because according to Joel he skipped a year in elementary school and did a 6 year undergrad/med school combo program) you just can't leave a big kidney stone hanging out in there because eventually it will cause problems.

I've always been of the opinion that human beings are just not proactive creatures by nature, and Joel especially had trouble getting past the fact that he was not in any pain from the kidney stone and yet still had to have the surgery. He would have preferred, I think, to wait until the kidney stone actually caused a problem before having it taken care of. But the urologist didn't seem too keen on this idea.

Anyway, the actual surgery took 25 minutes, but we were at the hospital basically all day since we had to arrive two hours prior, and Joel spent several hours in recovery afterwards. But don't let the short length of the procedure fool you! Apparently a urologist can inflict a lot of pain in 25 minutes! We learned (probably re-learned, considering past experiences) that when a surgeon says you'll have "some pretty significant discomfort" this actually means "You will be in horrible, horrible pain."

So... that's about where we are at right now. Bright side -- for me anyway -- I got most of the way through Newsweek's special election edition magazine while at the hospital today. No real bright side for Joel on this one I'm afraid.

Grandma Fix

I promised Mom a "Grandma fix" -- i.e some pictures and/or video of Becca... so here's one of each. Enjoy, Mom!

Nothing to Write Home About

The weekends that Joel has to work are usually pretty boring, but this one was ultra-boring. I spent most of it at home with the kids doing nothing in particular. Ben (and I, by virtue of proximity) spent a lot of time watching the Phineas and Ferb marathon on Toon Disney (actually a pretty funny show...) and Becca spent a lot of time trying to run the cat over with her walker-thingy, which she has gotten quite good at wielding. (Since she apparently has the balance and coordination to push it all over at top speed, turning on a dime to chase the fleeing cat, why does she not have the balance and coordination to stand for even 10 seconds without holding onto anything? Much less walk without holding onto anything? A question for another day).

The high point of my weekend was finally getting a Costco membership (had been meaning to do this for like a year now) and stocking up on diapers and wipes. I was very happy to see that the diapers and wipes are half the price at Costco as they are at the grocery store, for the same brands. I was even happier to see that Costco sells gasoline, and it was $1.91/gallon this morning. I was so excited that I filled up the tank even though I had another 2 days probably before I would have really needed to. I can't remember the last time I paid less than $2 for a gallon of gas. Very exciting stuff. (Yes it is pretty pathetic that I am using the word "exciting" to talk about cheap gas and diapers, but admit it... you'd be excited too especially if you have a gas-guzzling car and a diaper-guzzling baby like I have).

The Week Ahead - Surgeons & Therapists

This coming Tuesday, Joel will have surgery to have his kidney stone zapped. He never passed it, and it's very large, so it's just hanging out. He's not in any pain, but it needs to come out apparently. It's a short outpatient procedure but it requires being under general anesthesia, a couple days of missed work, and just generally does not sound fun. Hopefully it will go okay. He has a second stone floating around in one of his kidneys; I am not sure what the plan is for that one. Then he'll hopefully be put on some medication to try to prevent new stones from forming.

Then on Wednesday I have Ben scheduled for an evaluation with an occupational therapist who specializes in fine motor issues. I decided that thinking about holding Ben back from kindergarten due to what so far appears to be an isolated developmental issue is not the way to go. Rather, I will have him evaluated and undergo any therapy that he might need so that when he gets to kindergarten hopefully he'll be all set. And if not, they have occupational therapists at school too.

Stay tuned next week to find out how both appointments go...

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Today was parent-teacher conference day at Ben's preschool. I was surprised to hear from Ben's teachers that they think he might benefit from doing a pre-kindergarten year next year instead of going to kindergarten. A word of background - Ben would be a "young" kindergartener, since he turns five in June and students entering kindergarten in our district must be five by August 31st. However, I always planned to send him at five, since 1. that's when I went (my birthday being the end of July), 2. he always has seemed developmentally on-target or ahead of the curve in most areas, 3. He's already taller than most of his same-age classmates; if he were older than most he'd tower over them even more, and 4. I don't want to pay for an extra year of preschool!

Anyway the reason why they are concerned is because he is far behind the other kids in his fine motor skills, specifically the ability to write his letters. He recognizes his letters, but writing and drawing I already knew he has trouble with. For example, yesterday he brought home a drawing that he and his friend Maya had collaborated on. Ben had drawn a whale, and Maya had drawn a person. The person was clearly recognizable as such, if childish. Ben's whale was basically a big scribble. If you ask Ben to write his letters, he can only do a couple of them recognizably. If you asked Ben to draw a person, no way would he be able to draw one like Maya had done for him. It would probably be a big circle with a couple of other circles inside and a couple lines coming off at random places. (When I relayed this to Joel he said "That's how I still draw people!")

But I digress. The point is, I am not sure if I should take seriously the teachers' concerns. They also mentioned he is one of very few kids in the class who is not showing a clear handedness preference, which also I have noticed. But other than the writing/drawing/handedness, they have no concerns - in every other way he seems perfectly bright and mature. So I don't know if having trouble in just this one area is enough to hold him back a year. Coincidentally, we got a flier in the mail today about a "kindergarten readiness" seminar next week, so I am thinking I should attend it. I am also thinking of talking with his pediatrician, to see if they have some sort of kindergarten readiness assessment we could have done to get a second opinion. Decisions, decisions.

Another Dorky Car Seat Post Part 2

Although I am fairly certain that no one cares but me, I did promise an update on Ben's new booster seat. Well, here it is (though getting a picture with Ben actually in it is asking too much). So far the verdict is, well, so far so good. Attaching it to the latch anchors was not quite as easy as advertised, partially because my car's latch anchors are well-buried in the crease between the seat back and bottom, and partially because I installed the seat a couple of hours after my thumb-bashing/fainting episode last Wednesday and so I was rather handicapped at the time. After a lot of shoving, it did "click" into place as advertised, though.

It seems comfortable so far and the seat belt seems like it falls correctly across Ben's shoulder, and I am thrilled with how much less room in the car it takes up than Ben's old high-backed seat. Now there is room for a human-sized being (even an adult one!) to sit in between Ben and Rebecca, if necessary. Very exciting to have reclaimed part of the back seat... sigh... yes I know, I need to get out more... I have a very low threshold for excitement these days.

Home

I left Cancun around lunch time today and was home by dinner time. The flight passed very quickly; the same cannot be said for the line to go through customs and the drive home during rush hour traffic. Ben was very happy to see me (and the toys I brought him). He kept hugging me and saying "I missed you so much Mommy!" It was very sweet. Becca even seemed excited to see me, though really not much more excited than she gets when she sees me first thing in the morning or when I pick her up from day care. But it was still cute. Ben seemed taller to me, and Becca's hair seemed longer ;) Though I guess neither actually grew in the four days I was gone. Though I am sorry to leave the beach and the warm weather behind, I am very glad to be home! I had lots of fun, but I don't think I would have been happy to be away any longer than I was - I was starting to miss the kids too much.

Waves

So we went out and did our one non-lying-on-the-beach activity this morning. It was supposed to be a "jungle tour" where you ride waverunners through a mangrove swamp and then go snorkeling. Well, they weren't real waverunners (as you can see by the picture), and there was not much jungle involved in the mangrove swamp. We saw a heron or stork or egret or some such thing, and that was it except for the fish we saw during the snorkeling part.

Driving the waverunner (type thing) was fun, though Abby back seat drove the whole time and was worried about falling off. I wasn't worried about falling off, I was just slightly worried about losing my (one and only) contact lens in a wave. Which didn't happen, though we did get swamped a few times by some big waves. The biggest of which almost did knock Abby off, but she held on though she did scrape her foot and knee. She got treated at the first aid station when we got back to the dock. It wasn't due to my driving, I swear!

Anyway now we're back, after a detour for some lunch and souvenir shopping. A nap is looking awfully good right about now.

Surf

The rain had cleared out by this morning, leaving a lot of wind and rough surf in its place. We played around in the surf this morning but it was too rough even for me. So we abandoned the beach after a while and read by the pool and then went to the spa for our scheduled sessions.

I had a chocolate massage, and Abby had a chocolate body wrap. The difference seemed to be that hers involved being rubbed all over with melted chocolate and then being wrapped in cellophane, while mine involved being rubbed all over with melted chocolate and then being rubbed all over with melted chocolate some more. And there was some incense-burning, palm-frond waving, and ukelele playing thrown in there too (something about cleansing the spirit). At any rate, it was spirit-cleansing and everything (I guess), but I spent most of the time wondering how this chocolate mess would come off of me. (Turns out there was a shower in the room that I hadn't noticed). It did smell very good though (like brownie batter) so I was sad to wash it off.

Afterwards we sat by the pool and read some more -- having finished Slam, I started on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. Tomorrow we're getting up bright and early for some sort of jungle tour thing... it involves riding a waverunner through a mangrove swamp, and then some snorkeling, apparently. I'll let you know how that turns out. I've never driven a waverunner before.

Rain

Just so you all don't get too jealous, I'll let you know that it rained almost all day today. We got in about an hour of lying by the pool this morning before it started. Then we decided that we'd make today our shopping day, so we took a taxi to one of the big malls here, walked around for a while, then walked to another big mall that we were told had a movie theater, but all the movies were in Spanish and it turned out to be an outdoor mall as well, so we got rained on quite a bit. We ended up coming back to the hotel and reading by the indoor pool and going in the hot tub. Not the best day, but then again I suppose a rainy day in Cancun is better than a sunny day at home, anyway! Hopefully we'll have better weather this weekend.

A Room With a View

Here is the view from our room in Cancun. I just arrived at the hotel a little while ago, and Abby should be here in about half an hour I think. Her flight got delayed. Mine was smooth sailing, or flying rather, and between the flight and the customs line I got 2/3 of the way through Slam by Nick Hornby which I picked up in the airport in Charlotte and it's turned turned out to be an entertaining read. I don't have anything else to blog about at the moment, having just arrived, and the sun is almost set now so no more pictures till morning.

Mexico

[Hum the James Taylor song here]

I am leaving for 4 nights in Cancun in about, oh... half an hour. Bringing my laptop so if the hotel has wi-fi (they better considering how expensive it is) I'll post at least one picture of myself lounging by the pool...

Ben separated from me surprisingly easily this morning (I guess he got used to it from my two Harrisburg trips recently), and Becca was, of course, oblivious.

The Age of Obama

Four years ago on election night I vividly recall looking into the eyes of my baby boy with despair... despair that it would be four long years before we would have a chance for a fresh start and the opportunity to begin to move the country back in the right direction. This morning I looked into those same eyes and I was filled with optimism and hope. The road out of darkness will be long and filled with challenges, but the light at the end of the tunnel is shining brightly. All over the country Americans have spoken loudly and clearly: We are ready.

I ushered in this new chapter in American history with a bang this morning. Literally. Let me preface for those of you who don't know me.... no, I was not hung over or otherwise impaired this morning, I just have very low blood pressure and I am stupid. This combination means that I know I should eat and drink as soon as I get up in the morning to get my blood pressure up but I almost always go about two hours between getting up and eating breakfast, and occasionally I have a little accident as a result.

So this morning I was, as usual, getting the kids ready for preschool and day care. I didn't have the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs up, and I caught Rebecca making a beeline up the stairs. I ran to grab her and in the process I somehow whacked my hand, just under my thumb, really hard. It started to bruise and swell instantly, and I started to feel dizzy instantly. I put the baby down, put the gate up, grabbed some ice and sat down at the kitchen table. Next thing I remember I was lying on the kitchen floor.

And now in addition to my hand hurting, my head, knee and generally the entire left side of my body (which I landed on) is rather sore. Fortunately Joel is off today -- sleeping off a late night of election-watching. I roused him out of bed and he fed me and put me back in bed and took care of getting the kids to school.

Ben witnessed my fainting, but didn't realize what happened so wasn't scared, just confused. He thought I somehow tipped my chair over, and lectured me about how to sit in my chair correctly so I would not tip it over. I told him I would try to be more careful - and I will.

Rebecca's Endorsement

I tried to get Rebecca to endorse Barack Obama for President, but I was less than successful. I guess she has a mind of her own! Or maybe she was just more interested in eating her breakfast in peace.

Election Eve Jitters

Even though the polls are looking up, we've got a case of Election Eve jitters in this house. Even Ben can feel it:

BEN: I want you to vote for Barack Obama tomorrow.
ME: I'm going to.
BEN: What if you forget and vote for John McCain instead?
ME: I won't forget.
BEN: What if you do?
ME: I won't
BEN: What if you accidentally vote for John McCain?
ME: I won't
BEN: How do you know?
ME: I just know!

On the Phone

Not the best video, here, but I figured I'd post it anyway. I was surprised (and slightly worried) to see that Rebecca, at 13 months, already knows what to do with the phone. Maybe Ben did too at that age and I just don't remember.

Double Feature

Thanks to Joel's parents, we were kid-free today in honor of our 6th anniversary (this past Monday). We went to brunch at Brio, then went to the mall where Joel bestowed a mall gift certificate on me to use for new clothes, but due to my neurotic and decidedly un-feminine nature I decided to wait until my sister visits for Thanksgiving so she can make sure that I spend it properly. So instead we went to the movies, where we saw not one, but two movies. This was my idea because we hardly ever get to go to the movies anymore. Due to timing more than anything else, we saw Zack and Miri Make a Porno, followed by W. I enjoyed both of them. Then we picked up some dinner (hadn't eaten since brunch) and got home in time for me to tuck Ben in. After about 9 hours away from the kids, I really missed them! Don't know how I will do in Cancun later this week (Thursday - Monday).

As an aside (after reading Abby's latest post), the switch off of daylight savings did not go so badly. Becca, Joel and I all woke up promptly at 6:15 (exactly an hour early) and Ben slept until 7. So he was the only one who capitalized on the extra hour of sleep.

Trick or Treat

I took a lot of pictures while we were out trick or treating tonight, and afterwards I realized that once you've seen one picture of Ben collecting candy, you've pretty much seen them all. We live in a great neighborhood for trick or treating, so it only took going up and down 2 cul de sacs before his pumpkin was full and he was ready to come home. Becca suffered in her butterfly costume through the pizza party and parade, and then retired to the porch to hand out candy with Nanny and Papa. Here are some pictures. The pictures of seemingly random people interspersed are some of our neighbors who we went around with.

Deja Vu

At lunch time today I dropped off Ben's kindergarten registration forms for next year at our neighborhood elementary school. This required filling out a three page registration form, digging out Ben's birth certificate, and finding three forms of address verification. The address verification I felt was a little excessive; I had to provide my driver's license, the deed to our house, and this month's electric bill. That last required me to dig through the trash, because I had paid the darn thing the day before and chucked it. Fortunately I found it in reasonably good condition, with just a small amount of, ahem, pancake syrup on it (which I carefully wiped off so hopefully the secretary at the elementary school was none the wiser).

The last time I'd been in an elementary school before today was probably when I was sixteen or seventeen and used to go with a friend sometimes to pick up her little sister from school. So it was a little weird. Weird to think that in the coming years this unfamiliar place will become intimately familiar to me since starting in August we'll have one or both kids enrolled there for the next ten years. Weird to think that two years ago at this time I was combing through greatschools.net and other resources compiling spreadsheets of elementary schools trying to find the neighborhoods with the best public schools in anticipation of our move to Charlotte. And here I was two years later walking in the door of one of them with registration materials in hand. Weird weird weird.

Good TV

I just got to watch a half hour Barack infomercial followed by the Phillies winning the world series. Who could ask for a better night of television? (Now if only they'd make four inning baseball games the rule, I could actually manage to sit through a whole one).

Yes, Joel is happy. Hopefully this has erased the specter of '93 (is that when it was?) from his psyche. Now if Obama wins on Tuesday maybe I can have my husband back instead of the quivering mass of nerves I have been living with lately...

Another Dorky Car Seat Post

Lately I have become so annoyed with Ben's car seat. First, I tried to take the cover off to wash it, and failed miserably. In the process I discovered that the user manual indicates that according to his height, he has outgrown the 5-point harness. On my to-do list was to remove the harness and convert the seat to a belt-positioning booster. So finally I got around to doing that this morning, and in the process became even more annoyed with the seat. With the harness removed, the extra padding on the seat is not held in place by anything so it falls right off, leaving the seat (I imagine) very uncomfortable. Additionally there's no way to remove the tether, latch straps, etc that are used with the harness system so you just have to bundle them up behind the seat. Which might be fine except that with the booster there's no way to anchor the seat in place so it just sits there on the seat. I have not driven the car yet with the seat this way, but I imagine it will be sliding all over the back seat. As if I didn't have enough to complain about, the base of the seat has sharp edges which dig into the car's leather seat.

So rather than put up with all of this, I decided it was time for Ben to get a new seat. We got a good two and a half years or so out of the old one, so I don't mind parting with it. I just ordered his new one, so he'll have to put up with the old one for a few more days.

The one I ordered him is the Clek Olli booster seat. Because I am such a dork, I am so excited by the fact that it "clicks" into the car's latch hooks, so is anchored in place (no sliding around). I also appreciated the different colors to choose from (I chose the "treehouse" pattern), and I am sure I will appreciate having only one big bulky seat in the car instead of two. Now when we have extra passengers in the car, it will be very easy to "snap" Ben's booster out to move to the third row, or just chuck it in the trunk if he's not traveling with us.

Anyway (since I am such a dork) I will post a follow up when the seat arrives to let you know if it lives up to my high expectations :) (Considering that it was 2 or 3x as expensive as most other backless boosters, it better).

Mistaken Identity

Yesterday afternoon when I picked up Ben from preschool a woman came up to me in the parking lot. "Hey there!" she said. "I was just answering your email!" I didn't recognize her but I smiled and said hi, and then continued buckling Rebecca into her car seat. I was trying to figure out who she might be, but I was starting to think she had me confused with someone else. I had sent two preschool-related emails that day, but neither one seemed likely candidates for the email she was referring to. Only one of them was to someone I did not personally know, and both had been replied to hours earlier.

She continued to stand next to my car, peering into it as I got the kids into their seats. "Hmm," she said. "I didn't think I knew you had two."

Now, probably at this point I ought to have confessed to her that I had no idea who she was and that she probably had me confused with someone else. But I was still wondering if maybe I was supposed to know this person. She had clearly seen Ben as she peered into my car, and he had not been a tip-off that I was not who she thought I was. So she had both me and Ben confused with another mother and son? Was that possible? Was it not only possible that there is another mother who picks her kid up wearing ratty jeans and a rattier sweatshirt, without makeup, but one who also has a son who resembles Ben? This seemed rather unlikely to me also, so I continued to nod and smile noncommitally until she finally headed into the school.

I forgot about the incident until this morning, when it suddenly occurred to me that I might run into this woman again, and she might continue to think I was someone else. It would be like that Friends episode where Chandler's coworker keeps calling him Toby and asking who this Chandler guy is (I just happened to see this episode again recently as I was channel surfing). I briefly considered parking on the other side of the lot, modifying my drop-off and pick-up routine, and/or wearing a disguise so I wouldn't be "recognized" by her again. But then I realized that if I did this my life might actually turn into a Friends episode, and so rather than risk that I shall simply correct her if again I run into her and again she mistakes me for someone else.

But hopefully I won't run into her again.

Politics & Sports...

...are apparently indistinguishable in Ben's mind. For a while his tendency to confuse Barack Obama with a football player had me slightly concerned (are the only black people he sees on television football stars so he thinks Obama must be one?) After a while I discarded this theory and decided instead that my four year old boy simply cannot conceive of a "contest" where either Obama or McCain will "win" without framing it in sports terms. So in his mind, Obama and McCain must both be sports stars of some kind.

Yesterday for example he was dribbling a ball around the living room and shooting it into an improvised "basket" (the stair well, which was blocked off by a baby gate) and narrating his version of Presidential politics - "Barack Obama has the ball! Oh no! John McCain got the ball! He's shooting - he scores! Mom! John McCain scored! Oh no! Barack Obama fell down! He fell down, Mom! Look! OH NO - HERE COMES GEORGE BUSH!"

I hope that Obama fares better in the actual election contest than in Ben's version of it.

Lizards and Halloween Parties

This morning we were getting ready to go to a Halloween party at a neighbor's house when Ben said, "Mom, come look - there's a lizard in the kitchen!" He said this rather nonchalantly, so I assumed he was teasing me or referring to a toy lizard. So I ignored him at first. He persisted, so finally I glanced into the kitchen - and sure enough, there was a lizard in the kitchen. So I chased this lizard all over the kitchen and finally trapped it with a paper plate and cup, and put it outside. And then we went to the Halloween party.

Rebecca was cranky (tired and hungry) and Ben was poorly behaved, wanting only to play with Carson's power rangers instead of participating in the games and activities. We left a little bit early, after both kids melted down at once and it became a little too much for me to manage (Joel was at home sleeping off the Denver fiasco - we could not disable his car alarm so his car is still at the airport). I got a couple more pics of the kids in their costumes, though, so all was not completely in vain (I did not however have the presence of mind to take a picture of the lizard in the kitchen - sorry).

Of all the Places to Lose Your Keys

In the... let's see now... eleven? years I have known Joel, he has never lost his keys. Yes he has misplaced them a time or two... I recall they somehow wound up in the trash once... But he has never permanently lost them. Until today apparently, when he called me from the airport in Denver to say he was about to get on a plane to fly home (a day early from his conference) and could not find his keys.

Houston, we have a problem. Not only does this mean I have to go pick him up at the airport later tonight, it also means that in all likelihood we will need to have his car towed from the airport to the dealership because his car alarm is on and the only alarm-turner-offer-beeper-thingy is attached to his keys. I have a key to his car but if the alarm is on I won't be able to start it unless there's a manual override button somewhere, which I don't think there is (the guy at the dealership said it would be red and to the left of the steering column and I don't recall ever seeing such a button in his car).

So... of all the places to lose your keys, why does it have to be Denver, with your car at the airport?!

Behold, the Power of Cheeseburger

This morning at 10am Ben's teacher called and asked if I could come take him home - he'd been crying and saying his stomach hurt. So I picked him up and he lay on my bed and watched cartoons for a while, drank some juice, and acted morose until I suggested maybe he was well enough to go to McDonald's for lunch? After devouring a Happy Meal, he seems much improved. Which means it is probably going to be a long afternoon.

Fear of Elevators

I think fear of elevators is called "clautophobia" but I cannot find a clear consensus on that. Whatever it's called, Rebecca has it. Which is very surprising to me considering her usually mellow personality and the fact that I have rarely seen her be afraid of anything. But today was the second or third time that she freaked in the elevator at Ben's school. For a while I avoided using the elevator because I knew she didn't like it, and then today I forgot and I put her in her stroller to go in to get Ben this afternoon. So of course I had to use the elevator to go up to the second floor where Ben's classroom is since I had the stroller. She started screaming bloody murder as soon as the elevator door opened and again on the way back downstairs even though I took her out of the stroller and held her on the way down - it didn't make her feel any better. I really don't understand what about it scares her. Should I practice avoidance or try to desensitize her?

Non Sequitur

When we're driving in the car Ben sometimes requests specific topics of conversation. This morning he requested to talk about dinosaurs. What about them? I asked. He said he wanted to know how there had come to be dinosaurs a long time ago and why there weren't any anymore.

So I obligingly launched into an abbreviated explanation of life on Earth - how life started in the water, eventually leading to fish, amphibians, reptiles, and dinosaurs. Then I explained about the climate of the Earth at that time and how likely a meteor crashed into Earth and caused the weather to become too cold for dinosaurs and how they eventually all died and mammals took over. Warming up to the subject - no pun intended - I explained the differences between mammals and reptiles and how mammals are better suited than reptiles to live in colder climates. I ended with a soliloquoy about humans-as-mammals and how our brains make us the most dangerous animal of all. I was really rather proud of myself, especially considering this was all before my morning coffee so I was not properly awake.

When I finished my speech -- which Ben had remained remarkably silent through -- I asked did he have any questions?

"Yes," he said. "Did you know that Stretch-Out on Krypto the Superdog can turn into anything? Like if Krypto or somebody is in the water, he could turn into a boat."

Hmmm... looks like I lost him somewhere...

Another Round of Becca's Birthday Pics (Belated)

Among the guests at Becca's first birthday party were Joel's aunt and uncle, his cousin Paul, and Paul's wife Elissa. Since Joel's aunt and uncle lived in Florida until recently, and his cousin lives in Philly, it was a special treat to get to see them. Yesterday we received pictures and video from their visit, so here is a small sample:

Apple Pie

The apple picking adventure may have gotten two thumbs down, but the resulting pie gets two thumbs up.

And no, I don't intend to eat this one all in one sitting. Though it is tempting. Especially with vanilla ice cream...

Apples!

This afternoon we went to the Apple Harvest Festival at Windy Hill Orchard. Joel gave the excursion two thumbs down -- it was about an hour away and pretty pitiful in comparison to the apple orchard we visited in New Hampshire during our stint in Blackstone. (It also contained what I would consider to be the rattiest restroom facilities I have visited in North America. Although Joel did not visit the facilities himself, my description was greatly disturbing to him).

However, there were some highlights along with the lowlights --

Ben's first caramel apple:

Rebecca's first cider donut (shared with mommy):

And apples! (I think I am going to need to make a pie or three...):

Unwilling Subjects

Ben and Becca picked out their Halloween costumes this morning - okay, I picked out Becca's for her. Although we tried them on when we got home, neither of them were very willing photo participants.

Clone Trooper Ben (sans mask), complaining that he wants his lunch:

Butterfly Becca, taking off:

At some point I am sure I will get some better pictures...

Just Like on TV

Okay not really.

My grand jury experience was interesting, moderately exciting, and a little disappointing in some respects. The first thing I was disappointed in was that the (two pairs of) agents who drove me from and to the airport (although they did for the most part look the part and produced cool badges) drove regular cars, not black Suburbans with tinted windows like I'd hoped. They were also all very nice and friendly.

I was also disappointed by the judge who swore me in beforehand, since he was not wearing a robe, his "chambers" looked like a regular office, and although he did the "raise your right hand and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth" bit, apparently they dispense with the "so help you God" part and the Bible nowadays. Disappointing. (Maybe it was a little too un-first-amendment-y?)

Although it was moderately exciting to be accosted by reporters in the lobby outside the attorney general's office ("Excuse me, can you tell me if you're here for such-and-such case?" "Ummm... I'd rather not say..." "Can you at least tell me your name?" "Uuuhhh... no, that's okay. But thanks for asking....") they were print reporters with their little pads and pencils at the ready, not television reporters with cameras and microphones. Also disappointing.

The grand jury room, though with more (bored-looking) jurors than I'd expected -- I forgot that grand juries have more than twelve -- looked more like a classroom, and the witness stand was far less intimidating than the ones you see on TV. And there was not a judge in the room. Again: disappointing!

The court reporter was cool, sitting right by me typing away furiously. I'd like to see a copy of the transcript so I can see how many times I said "Uhhh", "y'know" and "like". I tend to say those things a lot when I talk and I am totally unconscious of it usually.

Otherwise, the proceeding mostly involved explaining the context of emails I wrote at work between two and five years ago and describing projects I worked on and what went on at meetings during the same two-to-five-years-ago time frame. Remembering the emails and projects I was pretty good at (seeing as how they had the emails nicely printed out and displayed on an overhead projector to refresh my memory), but the meetings for the most part I couldn't remember much about. ("Let's go over who else was there. Was so-and-so there?" "I think so." "How about so-and-so?" "Maybe." "So-and-so?" "Don't remember." "So-and-so?" "Yes! She brought sandwiches!")

I mean really, who remembers much about work meetings, even ones at which allegedly illegal activities were discussed, except who brought the sandwiches? I was pregnant at the time, and sandwiches were very much on the forefront of my mind. (Mmmm... those were good sandwiches... Not worth going to jail over, but good sandwiches).

Second-hand Story

I missed a blog-worthy moment tonight at home - Joel gave Rebecca a bath, and as he took her out of the tub she pooped all over the floor. I might add that since I switched her to whole milk a week or so ago, her poops have been very, shall we say, messy. Thankfully Joel's mom was there and helped get Rebecca cleaned up and ready for bed while Joel cleaned up the floor and threw away his socks (they were not spared). I am sorry I missed such a made-for-blogging moment. I miss my babies already (yes even a poop story had me wishing I were home...)

Anyway I'm at my hotel in Harrisburg, ordered some room service, watched the debate, and now I am watching CNN's post debate coverage and wondering what debate they watched? Because it certainly wasn't what what I just watched... No... no debate rant tonight, I'm too tired. (I know you're disappointed). Off to bed...

There and Back... Again

I'm flying to Harrisburg again today (returning tomorrow night), where I will be testifying at a grand jury proceeding. I just got a call from the attorney general's office, confirming my arrival time and letting me know that two "agents" will meet me at the airport and escort me to my hotel. I asked where specifically at the airport I should look for these agents, and I was informed that they have my picture from my PA driver's license and would be looking for me in the baggage claim area. (I resisted mentioning that the picture in question is 11 years old and if they can recognize me from that I shall be very flattered indeed). I'll be bringing my laptop with me this time so I'll blog again tonight if there's anything blog-worthy to report.

Ben's preschool is closed again today (for Sukkot this time), but he has a babysitter until 4, at which time Joel's parents will take over until Joel gets home. Joel has a page and a half of instructions for my day and a half departure, mostly pertaining to Rebecca... Ben, of course will not hesitate to point out to Daddy at every opportunity "That's not the way Mommy does it..." But Rebecca is not so vocal yet.

Chastised!

The other day, as Ben suffered from boredom, we had the following conversation:

BEN: I want to do something special. What can I do that is special?
ME: I don't know...
BEN: God gave you a brain in your head - why don't you use it?

I would like to point out that I have NEVER said anything remotely like this to Ben. Upon questioning, he informed me that one of his teachers says this sometimes in response to "I don't know" answers. Who knew preschool teachers could be so harsh?