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.