High Five!

My Big Little Girl

Becca is really starting to respond to directions now. Today she:

1. Got Ben's coat and gave it to him when I asked her to
2. Went and waited by the stairs when I told her it was time to go upstairs
3. Brought me a book when I asked her for one
4. Said "daddy" when I asked her to say "daddy" (but would not say mommy, of course).
5. Gave me a hug when I asked for one
6. Gave me a kiss when I asked her for one (which was actually kind of gross because her upper lip and nose are all chapped from her latest cold).

Of course, she did her fair share of ignoring me today, too, generally when the words "don't" and "stop" were involved (as in "stop throwing your food on the floor"). But I choose to focus on the positive.

An 'I Have Nothing to Post' Post

It's been a quiet couple of days and I really cannot think of anything much to post. But since I am obsessive-compulsive about blogging now, I don't feel as though I can let another day pass without blogging something.

So, a few tidbits:

1. Ben is learning to sing the 50 states in alphabetical order. Apparently only through the Cs so far. But still, I was impressed: "Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut..." (That's right, isn't it?) But now he keeps asking "Can we go to Alabama? Can we go to Arkansas?"

2. Becca's teachers report that she seems to enjoy art activities the most out of all the kids in her class. They say they feel bad when it's time to take the crayons (or whatever) away from her - she cries. Maybe she will take after me in the art department (unlike Ben who clearly takes after Joel!)

3. Ben really knows how to butter me up. Apparently he is trying for a new toy and learned this past weekend that the temper tantrum he threw over a toy I wouldn't let him have was counterproductive. So tonight I got about six "I love you mommy"s, as well as a "I'll never forget you", "I love you more than anything" and "Your necklace is beautiful!" All of this was of course followed up a little while later by the mention that MAYBE on Saturday, if I have money, he could pick out a toy - "But not an expensive one. Five dollars!" How can I say no to that now?

For Grandma

Who misses Becca's top-knot.

Mmmm, Pancakes!

One of Ben's classmates told him about a pancake house that his parents take him to dinner at sometimes, and Ben (naturally intrigued by the thought of chocolate chip pancakes and hot chocolate for dinner) has been asking to go every day for a week. The trouble was I didn't know what pancake house he was talking about. I finally ran into his friend's mom at school and asked her where it was.

And so tonight for dinner we took the kids to The Original Pancake House which turned out to be by far the best place I have ever been to for pancakes. Ben got his chocolate chip pancakes (which I sampled - delicious), and I got a Dutch Baby, filled with fresh sliced strawberries, powdered sugar, and lemon juice. It was sooooo good! We will definitely be returning. You can actually eat healthy there as well (but where's the fun in that?)

The kids are now working off their pancake-induced sugar highs by wrestling with each other.

Twirly Girl

Rebecca's new favorite pasttime is spinning in circles until she falls down. It doesn't take very long.

At Least One of Them Listens to Me. Sometimes.

This morning Ben, Becca and I were in my bedroom and (as usual) I was trying to cajole Ben into his shoes and coat so we could get going. "It's time to go!" I said (for the umpteenth time). "Get your coat!" Ben, as usual, was dawdling (trying to catch the last few minutes of Grossology on Discovery Kids).

But Becca, upon hearing me tell Ben to get his coat, toddled full speed into the kitchen, grabbed Ben's coat off the chair it was laying on, and dragged it over to me. Wondering if perhaps this was extraordinary coincidence, I told Becca to go get her coat. She turned around (almost falling down in her haste), toddled back into the kitchen and grabbed her coat.

Proof positive that she is starting to understand a lot of what I say... though I think most times she, like Ben, tends to ignore me...

44!

With the snow day and everything I didn't really get a chance to watch much of the inauguration. I did see the swearing in ceremony, which I called Ben into the room to watch. He was in the midst of changing into dry clothes after another foray into the snow.

"I can't, Mom! I'm getting dressed!" was his response when I called to him.

"I don't care!" I yelled back. "I want you to see this! Come in here!"

He appeared, minus his shirt. He looked from me to the TV, scandalized. "But I don't have my shirt on!"

I grabbed him and pulled him onto my lap. "This is a very important day," I told him. "Barack Obama is about to be sworn in as President. I want you to see it."

Ben peered at the TV in confusion. "But football is on Sundays."

"This doesn't have anything to do with football. Watch," I commanded, as the chief justice began the oath of office.

Ben watched dutifully, then hopped off my lap. "Now can I put my shirt on?"

At least I tried...

WHAT IS THIS WHITE STUFF?!

For those of you who've seen my latest Facebook status, yes my fear has come to pass... We got about an inch of snow during the night (still flurrying lightly). Ben's preschool closed for the day (this is Charlotte, remember; people panic at the mere thought of snow). Becca's day care is opening at 10am, so I intend to drop her off in a little while. But whether or not Ben will let me watch the inauguration remains to be seen... I haven't gotten to watch anything but Justice League so far...

The kids (okay, Ben) already went out for some fun in the snow. Becca stood on the sidewalk for a while looking bewildered and then loudly voiced her displeasure. It is pretty cold and I don't have snow pants or anything for her... Or for Ben for that matter. Even Ben is growing so fast still that it seemed like a waste to invest in snow pants that they might get to wear once or twice before they outgrow them.

Ben even got to go sledding a little already, since one of the neighbors was out and had an extra sled. His son had already gone inside to warm up, so he took Ben up the hill and gave him a push down. Ben thoroughly enjoyed himself, but got cold fast due to his lack of proper snow apparel so we didn't stay outside for too long.

I am sure we will be back out later, but here are some pics from our first foray in the snow:

Dirty Faced Girl Wearing Hat

(Photo By Joel)

All You Can Do Is Try

With today being "Martin Luther the King Day" (try as I might I could not get across the concept that his last name was King, he was not actually a King), Ben's preschool was closed. Becca's day care was open, so I dropped her off as usual since I decided I'd use the holiday to spend some quality time with just Ben.

We started the day out by meeting up with two of our neighbors (Cheryl and Elizabeth) who both have boys around Ben's age (Carson and Matthew) at a place called Sports Connection. They have a room with inflatables (slides and trampolines and stuff) and a bowling alley and an arcade. We bought combo passes for the inflatables and the arcade, and the boys played in the inflatables room until Ben was literally dripping with sweat. One of Ben's classmates turned out to be there as well, so Ben had a plethora of companionship. After he was worn out from the inflatables we went to the arcade where I helped him win enough tickets for a prize -- he picked out a plastic alligator and a mini slinky.

After a couple hours at Sports Connection Elizabeth took her son Matthew home, and Cheryl and I took Ben and Carson to lunch at McDonald's. Everyone in south Charlotte apparently decided to come to this particular McDonald's for lunch, because it was mobbed. We had to wait a few minutes for a table to free up. Ben and Carson ate their lunch at supersonic speed and then played in the Play Place thing or whatever McDonald's calls those playgrounds of theirs. It was a very big one, and climate controlled (ie indoors), unlike some we have been to. Anyway Ben played for quite a while, and another of his friends from school happened to be there as well so he was quite happy.

After we said goodbye to Cheryl and Carson, I decided to take Ben to the movies since it was still early afternoon. After a brief sojourn to enjoy a hot chocolate, we saw The Tale of Despereaux which I wouldn't say was a rousing success, but at least he did sit through the whole movie. Though the last half hour was on my lap.

So anyway my point to this whole story is that despite my best effort at taking Ben out for a fun and memorable day, it all unraveled anyway because on the way home from the movie he realized that he had left his little plastic alligator and mini slinky on his tray at McDonalds, where it had (we surmised) ended up in the trash.

So he cried all the way home.

I tried...

Benedict Arnold

To make the Eagles' loss even more painful for Joel, Ben enthusiastically cheered for the Cardinals throughout most of the game. And when I took him upstairs to bed, I said, "Go give Daddy a kiss goodnight, he is sad that the Eagles lost." And Ben said loudly, "Well I'm not! I'm a Cardinals fan!"

As I got him ready for bed though he suddenly seemed sorry for his traitorous behavior. "When you go downstairs," he said, "tell Daddy I really did want the Eagles to win. I just got confused. They both had birds on their helmets."

Errands, Poop, Parties, and More Poop...

...or, "Anecdotal Evidence of the Efficacy of Prunes."

We had a full schedule lined up for today, and with Joel working it was just me and the kids. Our schedule was: toy store, shoe store, lunch, hair cut, birthday party. This would keep us out of the house from approximately 9:45 am until about 3 pm. The kids both woke up promptly at 7 and this was unfortunate because I had to suffer through quite a bit of "can we go yet?" from Ben before I finally conceded, at 9:40, that yes we could go.

Wait, back up a minute. I forgot to mention two very important things. First, it was really cold this morning. I am not used to it being really cold, and I may have gone a little overboard in dressing Rebecca. I put her in knit tights, a onesie and jeans on over them, and a sweater. Second, Rebecca was cranky and constipated this morning. We fight a constant battle to keep her regular, thanks to her love of milk. It had been about 48 hours since her last poop. So I fed her two jars of apple-prune baby food at breakfast and hoped she'd poop before we left the house. She didn't. (At some point during the prune-feeding it did cross my mind that maybe two jars was a bit excessive. I'd never fed her two at once before).

Okay so we completed our first errand at the toy store uneventfully. We got a present for the birthday party we were going to later and had it gift wrapped, Ben picked out a little robotic bug that's actually pretty cool, and Becca picked out a monkey Beanie Baby.

Next door to the shoe store... I had Ben's feet measured and confirmed that the sneakers he was wearing were a full size too small. Whoops-- Bad Mommy! No wonder he was starting to say they hurt his feet... Picking out a new pair of shoes turned out to be a bit of a challenge because Ben has suddenly become very opinionated about his footwear. He wanted shoes that light up, but they didn't have any in his size (he's now a 12.5 or 13). Finally the sales lady brought out a pair of shoes he liked, because his friend Russell has the same ones and Russell is the fastest boy in the class. Convinced that Russell's athleticism stemmed from his footwear, Ben happily agreed to the shoes.

After solving the footwear issue I became aware that Rebecca, quietly wandering the store, had taken a Very Large Dump (henceforth known as a VLD). We vacated the shoe store and went to Wendy's for an early lunch. Changing Rebecca involved removing all her excessive layers of clothing, and I had to do this on the bathroom floor because there was no changing table (thank you Wendy's). I did have a changing pad though, a rather large and padded one, so it wasn't as totally gross and disgusting as it might have been.

After lunch I took Ben to his hair cut appointment, which was also uneventful, and then to his friend's birthday party. At some point during the party Rebecca took VLD#2. Again, off with the layers of clothing. This bathroom had a changing table, but it was propped up unassembled against the wall. Nice. Again, on the floor.

We finally got home at 3pm and I took Rebecca, who had fallen asleep in the car, up to her crib. About an hour and a half later I went to get her up because (with Joel having arrived home from work) we were getting ready to go out to dinner. There she was, wide awake, sitting in VLD#3 which was all over her... out of her diaper, all over her clothes, all over her crib sheet... and, when I picked her up, all over me. This time all her layers of clothing, and some of mine, went straight into the wash.

There could be so many morals to this story... but how about One Jar of Prunes is Plenty?

Awwww....

Some day, when they are throwing chairs at each other and trying to strangle each other with the garden hose (What? That was just my family?) I will show them this picture and remind them that they love each other!

Farewell OT, You'll Be Missed

This morning I took Ben to his final OT session. Among his list of improvements are that he can now snap his jeans, he is using his right hand much more consistently for fine motor activities, his cutting skills have improved, he is getting very good at doing puzzles, and his pencil-holding technique has improved. His ability to copy shapes and letters is still pretty piss-poor, I must admit.

But still, progress is progress. I am in the midst of assembling his "therapy box" of stuff for him at home. The supplies I ordered the other day arrived this morning (that was fast), and I have a few more things to do such as to a) get a big tupperware bin to put them in, b) get some index cards for practicing cutting, and break some of his crayons into small pieces (sorry Ben, this forces you to hold them properly).

As I expected, when we got into the car after saying goodbye to both his therapists, Ben started to cry. He becomes attached easily to his teachers and caregivers, especially female ones who give him undivided attention! "I want to keep seeing them forever!" Ben sobbed. The tears continued for about ten minutes, and then he sniffled, "The only thing that will make me not sad anymore is a toy."

I told him that if he's good he can pick out a small toy on Saturday since we need to stop at the toy store anyway to pick up a present for his friend's birthday party. His mood improved quite substantially after that.

Can I See the Camera Please?

Becca, shortly before bashing her lip on the side of the bathtub yet AGAIN, earning her bloody lip #3... or is it #4?

OT Update

This is Ben's last week of occupational therapy because of insurance limits. He has 3 appointments this week - his two regularly scheduled ones plus a makeup session tomorrow evening (I had to cancel an appointment when he had the stomach virus).

He has started to make some progress, as noted in previous posts, so I am taking steps to ensure that his progress continues. I signed him up for a weekly pottery class at the JCC which started today, called Mud Muffins. He told me all about his first class, how they made clay ladybugs and fired them in the kiln (though he called the kiln a "toaster" at first, before correcting himself partway through his narrative).

I also ordered him some stuff from a web site I found that has all kinds of cool games and toys for occupational therapists. I got him some putty, a building block set, Wikki Stix, a tracing book, and beads/laces. I am going to put everything in a bin (along with his crayons and coloring stuff we already have) and let him pick from the bin to do 20 minutes a day of whichever activities he wants. I'll let you know how it goes ;)

Daddy's Good Luck Charm

I'm not quite sure what it was about the football game that held Becca's attention for so long, but she sat with Joel for quite a while (thirty minutes?) watching it intently. Maybe she is showing an early affinity for football. Or maybe it was just the crowd noise and the bright shiny helmets... Ah, the power of HDTV...

The Zoo

With all the illnesses we've had going around lately, combined with Joel's work schedule and cold winter weather (okay not as cold as it is for some of y'all I admit) we haven't "done" much lately in terms of weekend activities. So today we decided to take the kids to the Riverbanks Zoo, in Columbia, SC. This is a 95 mile drive south of here. The forecast for Columbia for today was mostly sunny and in the upper 60s, so we bit the bullet and made the hour and a half drive each way. The kids are not really used to long car rides since we don't stray too far from home these days. But they both did pretty well. Becca snacked the whole way down and slept the whole way back, and Ben was hyper and antsy on the way down (as one might expect) and for the most part quiet on the ride back since he was pretty tired. He whined for the last ten minutes or so but that was it.

The zoo itself was fun - lots of animals to see, as well as a carousel, play area and some other kiddie activities. It was chilly when we got there but warmed up quickly. Becca was very interested in looking at all the animals; Ben was always thinking ahead to the next animal he wanted to see instead of enjoying the one he was currently looking at. The only meltdown of the day happened in the reptile house; Ben got scared of the crocodiles and Joel had to pick him up and carry him (kicking and screaming) past them so we could continue through to the other exhibits. Becca looked a little bit concerned when she saw the elephants; otherwise she was very interested in and unfazed by all of the animals we saw.

Below you will find a slew of pictures. Enjoy.

A Little Bit of Everything

We'll just call this post A Little Bit of Everything.

1. Our health insurance only covers 60 consecutive days of occupational therapy treatment per diagnosis per lifetime, so next week will be our last week of occupational therapy for Ben. His Thursday therapist, Michelle, had a physical therapist do a quick evaluation of him this morning to see if PT can pick him up and work with him for another 60 days. The physical therapist had him stand on one foot, catch a ball, walk up and down stairs, and jump off the stairs from varying heights, all of which he completed with flying colors. Then she asked, "Can he gallop?" "Yes," I said, "But he can't skip." "Oh", she said, "I wouldn't expect him to be able to skip until he's 5." "I CAN SKIP!" Ben yelled, and skipped perfectly down the hall. "Okay," I said, "I guess he can skip." The PT turned to the OT and said, "I think this is going to be a stretch."

2. Ben is my portable infomercial. On the drive from OT to preschool this morning he told me, "Do you know what you need? You need these bags that you put your stuff in and then you vacuum out the air and it makes it really flat and saves a lot of space. Do you know what else you need? If you have house plants, watering them is so much work. You need these packs that you fill with water and put them in the dirt with the plant and it waters the plant for you and gives you beautiful flowers! Do you know where I saw these things? I saw them on TV!" (Really? I couldn't've guessed.)

3. A uniformed police officer is now stationed in the lobby of Ben's preschool. We got a notice yesterday that they are increasing security because of the situation in Gaza and because the other Jewish preschool in Charlotte was vandalized the night before last. I suppose I should feel safe knowing that my son's preschool is probably the most secure preschool in Charlotte. When I took Ben in, his class was not in their room like they usually are at that time so I took him down to the office and got to watch the office staff check all the security cameras to see if his class was on the playground, communicate via walkie-talkie with the staff on the playground, and then finally confirm that his class was at the Judaic library which is in the next building over from the preschool. I could not just walk into the library from the outside, I had to be buzzed in after announcing myself and my business. Very secure indeed. But I still worry sometimes.

4. Our garage door motor broke. The repair man just finished fixing it, and now I am $145 poorer. But at least I can put my car in the garage again now...

Twice in One Day

Yesterday was a pretty tiring day. Joel had a colonoscopy scheduled for 7am, which required being at the hospital at 6am, which required getting up at 5am. (I told Joel that for future reference I don't get up at 5am unless there is a vacation involved). Joel's parents took the kids to their house for the night Monday so we didn't have to worry about them Tuesday morning. We were home by 9:30, and Joel went to sleep and I went to [my desk to] work, while drinking a large cup of coffee.

That would have been the end of my story, except that around 2pm after Joel had woken and eaten finally (after having had to fast since Sunday night) he announced that he had a 102 fever. Unfortunately he didn't have any other symptoms like a sore throat or runny nose that might explain the fever. I say unfortunately because Joel has at least one known remaining kidney stone floating around somewhere, and with his recent fasting (and stomach virus) we were worried that dehydration might have pushed the stone into a bad spot and caused an infection, which would be bad.

So back to the hospital we went, this time to the ER, where bloodwork, urinalysis and CT scan confirmed that yes he did have stones, but they didn't look like they were in a bad spot, and the bloodwork and urinalysis showed no signs of infection. So we chalked the fever up to the flu, or remnants of the stomach virus, and got home around 7:15.

Joel's parents had picked up the kids for us and fed them dinner (honestly don't know what we'd do without them -- thanks again guys!!) and only Ben was still up when we got home. I took him up to bed and he talked my ear off nonstop even when I was trying to brush his teeth. I finally got him into bed and went to bed myself about an hour later...

Hoping today is a lot less eventful!

My Little Girl is All Grown Up

Okay not really.

But Rebecca did move from the infant room to the toddler room at her day care, as of today. She didn't have as much separation anxiety as I thought she might have, and the tears stopped as soon as she saw that the staff was getting ready to serve breakfast (cheerios and milk this morning). It was so cute to see her sitting like a big girl at the (really really short) table, waiting for her cheerios (while clutching her stuffed bunny to her chest).

The upside of the toddler room, of course, is that it is about $15 a week cheaper than the infant room... woo hoo... still costs a small fortune. In the fall, she will start at the school Ben goes to now. The advantages of that are better/bigger facilities, more experiences/well trained staff, and the cost will be a little bit cheaper than where she is now. The downside is that I'll have to pack her a vegetarian lunch like I do for Ben now (right now I don't have to pack her anything at all because her day care has a kitchen and provides breakfast, two snacks, and lunch every day, as well as milk and juice).

The other down side (potentially) is that she'll be in the one year old room even though she'll turn two a month after she starts. Blame it on the late September birthday -- she misses the cutoff to be in the two year old room by 26 days, just like she'll miss the cutoff for kindergarten by the same amount (she won't be able to go to kindergarten until she is almost 6). Hopefully she will not be the oldest by far in the one year old room... Poor family planning on my part I guess ;)

Breakfast

We did something this morning that we haven't done in a while; we went out to breakfast. We went to The Flying Biscuit, which is quite delicious for both breakfast and lunch, and has many healthy choices in addition to the not-so-healthy ones. I opted for not-so-healthy, and had some delicious french toast, and Joel had an omelet. Of course, we also had some of the signature biscuits with cranberry-apple butter.

Unfortunately, Joel seems to have finally succumbed to the stomach virus that has been making its way throughout the house the last couple of weeks, and he experienced his breakfast in reverse this afternoon -- not so delightful anymore. Poor Joel :(

Sick Again...

I guess it's just that time of year because Rebecca is sick AGAIN. She's had a really junky cough/runny nose for the last couple of days and last night she spiked a fever to 103. I took her to the doctor this morning and she has ear infections in both ears which hopefully explains the fever. I gave her the first dose of her antibiotic a few minutes ago. My kids have never met a medicine they didn't like, so as soon as she saw the medicine dropper, she squealed with delight and happily slurped it up along with some Motrin. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

I also got her some saline nose drops, which I am sure she will love (not) which I'll try before bedtime. This morning when she woke up her face was covered in dried snot. So lovely. We'll see if we can avoid that tomorrow morning.

Happy New Year... (Yawn!)

Joel and I rarely have gone out for New Year's and since the kids were born we've rarely (never?) even stayed up until midnight. So this year we decided to go out, with the help of Joel's parents who babysat the kids.

We started out here and then walked across the street and met friends for dinner here. Our dinner reservations were for 9pm so we had a leisurely dinner and then went upstairs to the bar area at about 20 minutes to midnight and watched the festivities in Times Square on TV.

It was a very fun evening but since I didn't get to bed until after 1, I am a little tired. Ben, thoughtful boy he is, is still sleeping right now. But Becca dear and her nasty cold (poor thing), was up coughing and fussing by around 7 or so. Joel and I agreed that I would get up with the kids and let him sleep in, and then later on when Becca goes down for her nap I will take a nap also.