18 Month Checkup and Torture Session

This morning Rebecca had her 18 month well exam. Her "stats" are as follows-- weight: 24 lbs 10 oz (50-75th percentile) height: 33 inches (75-90th percentile), head circumference: 19 inches (90th percentile).

Joel had asked me to ask Rebecca's doctor to draw a couple labs to check her iron levels (as part of Joel's ongoing paranoia about iron deficiency anemia). Given Rebecca's love of milk and carbohydrates and her pretty much universal disdain for every other food item that might possibly contain iron including but not limited to any type of meat or vegetable, I thought this might be a reasonable request.

Unfortunately, in addition to the unscheduled blood work, Rebecca was also scheduled for two vaccinations today. So after the physical exam (during which she kicked and screamed and cried) she got two shots which made her kick and scream and cry some more. Then, as if that weren't enough trauma for one day, it took two nurses plus myself to hold her down for the blood draw. She screamed during the needle stick, while I was getting her dressed, all the way out to the car, and all the way to day care.

When I got home I called Joel and told him that the next time he wants Rebecca to have blood drawn he can be one of the three people holding her down, not me!

Laurie Has a Pig on her Head (and Rebecca has a Bump on her Head)

I took the kids to the Laurie Berkner concert this afternoon, leaving Joel home get some more last minute studying in for tomorrow's board exam.

It was almost an incident-free excursion. The almost occurred shortly after we had arrived (early) and found our seats. There I was, congratulating myself on having found the concert venue with no problems and all of that, and Rebecca had to go and ruin it for me. Our seats were in the balcony section. Since we had like 20 minutes to go until showtime, I was letting Rebecca walk back and forth instead of making her be in her seat or on my lap. It's kind of hard to describe the layout but what happened was is that she was walking to a wall about four feet from me, then turning around and walking back to me. What I couldn't see from the angle I was sitting at was that there was a very small gap between the wall and the row of seats in front of us. So here I was thinking she was perfectly safe with nowhere she could hurt herself, and then she turned around, took a step backwards, and fell through the gap between the wall and the seat in front of her. So basically, down one concrete step, backwards, headfirst. (Can we say OUCH?)

I jumped out of my seat and over the row of seats in front of us and grabbed her, but of course she was crying hysterically. After a moment I saw that her lip was bleeding, and we had attracted all sorts of attention by this point and some ushers escorted us to the first aid station where a medic from CMC looked her over and gave me gauze pads and an ice pack for her lip. Rebecca was probably more upset over a strange man trying to put ice on her lip than she was of the actual pain she was in.

After we got back to our seats -- after having to file an incident report also -- Rebecca calmed down. I saw that in addition to her lip, she had bit her tongue when she fell so that had been bleeding too. She drank some ice water and put her head down on my shoulder.

As soon as the music started, she picked her head up off my shoulder and squirmed around in my lap to watch and clap and bop her head to the music. After a while her injuries were totally forgotten and she looked like she enjoyed the show even more than Ben did. I let her stand right in front of me, and she held onto the back of the chair in front of her and bopped and swayed and clapped through the whole show (which was an hour and a half long).

So that, by the time it was over, I had almost forgiven myself for making her miss her nap and almost subjecting her to traumatic brain injury.

Dogs, Dogs, Everywhere Dogs

I just got back from taking the kids to watch some of the AKC National Agility Championships, being held this weekend in Concord (about 40 minutes from here). The GPS got us there without a hitch, and it is worth mentioning that I would have been really nervous attempting to take the kids someplace like this by myself, relatively far away and someplace I had never been. But with the GPS the drive was no problem - Yay!

There was definitely no lack of dogs there. Dogs in the parking lot, dogs being exercised next to the arena, dogs coming out, dogs going in, and of course dogs in the different arenas running obstacle courses. We found seats at the biggest arena and watched for quite a while. Rebecca sat on my lap and was just as entertained as Ben was, and she clapped along with everyone else when each dog finished. The dogs had to jump over hoops, crawl through tunnels, go up a see-saw and down the other side and through a bunch of other obstacles all in a certain order and as fast as they could. This kept Ben entertained for quite a while.

When he started to get restless -- saying he wanted to pet some dogs -- we went outside where there were plenty of dogs for him to pet (though I made sure he asked permission first). Ben was very good at identifying the different breeds. If he didn't know what it was he would ask, or if he did know he'd say "Excuse me, is that a .... (insert breed)?" He got quite a few correct, and the owners were very impressed. He even saw and correctly identified a Puli, among others. Way to go Ben - Mommy's little dog breed savant.

Ambitious Plans

Joel is spending the weekend doing some last minute cramming for his board exam, which is Monday in Raleigh (he's driving to Raleigh Sunday afternoon and staying overnight). The forecast is calling for rain. Up until about 4pm today I had no idea what I was going to do to keep this kids occupied and out of Joel's hair this weekend. Then I did some internet research and came up with a plan.

Tomorrow I am going to take the kids to the AKC National Agility Championships, which are being held... well... somewhere vaguely near here, north east of Charlotte someplace I think. All I need to know is my GPS knows where it is ;) I figure this will be perfect for Ben and his new-found love of dog breeds... I mean, what could be better than getting to watch all different kinds of dogs run obstacle courses? And even better, admission is free. Hopefully Rebecca will enjoy watching all the dogs too (as long as we don't get too close to them, then she will freak).

Further research led to the discovery that the Laurie Berkner Band is playing in Charlotte on Sunday afternoon, and tickets were still available. If you have kids you probably know who Laurie Berkner is. It' s a good thing the dog show is free because Laurie Berkner tickets so aren't free. In fact I was rather amazed by how NOT FREE they are, even for children under 2. I hope they like it, and I hope Rebecca doesn't mind missing her nap for it!

Anyway, wish me luck with my ambitious solo plans, and wish Joel luck on his exam!

So Totally Not My Fault

Last night I was on the phone with my brother-in-law, insisting that he could let me drive his new Lexus sometime because even though I appear at times to be a terrible driver, I have never been in an accident.*

Today I was in an accident. How's that for ironic?

For those overprotective relatives reading this (Mom) I will say right up front that it was a minor accident and everyone is fine.

As I have indicated in the title of this post, it was SO TOTALLY NOT MY FAULT! This is what happened: I picked up Rebecca from the day care and was on my way to pick up Ben from preschool. I was waiting to turn out of our development onto a busy road at rush hour. An old lady was standing on the median in the middle of the street waiting to cross. There was no light or crosswalk or anything. There was a break in the traffic. I started to turn. The old lady stepped off the median and into the path of my car. I stopped suddenly. The car behind me (also waiting to turn) rear-ended me.

It felt like a pretty hard hit, but happily my car was only very minorly damaged. I cannot say the same for the hood of her Cadillac though, which was pretty well smashed. Since I drive a big car (Honda Pilot) the hood of her car hit the rubber rear bumper of my car, scratched it up a bit, and popped out one of the reflector thingies (which didn't even break).

The woman driving the Cadillac was very nice and very sorry, the old lady was very nice and very sorry, and a woman who witnessed the accident and stopped was very nice and very indignant at the old lady for stepping in front of my car. Rebecca (my only passenger) was indignant at me for leaving her in the car while I got out to talk to all of the above-mentioned people, but fine.

Anyway, I got the woman's insurance information (turned out she has USAA same as we do) so I am sure getting my very minorly damaged car repaired will be no problem.

*Except for one accident when I was 16 and had just gotten my learner's permit (so totally my fault) and two car vs cement pole in parking garage incidents. (Two separate cars, same garage, two different poles).

Jealousy

Joel's brother Mike got a new car this week. Hey Mike can I drive it??

Weekend Review

I took Ben to a birthday party this afternoon at the Charlotte Nature Museum. Since I have only been there once -- even though it was last weekend -- I didn't really remember how to get there (yes my sense of direction/memory is that bad). So I used the GPS. It worked very nicely though I noticed it did not take me home the same way it got me there. When I walked with Ben inside, the birthday girl's mom informed me that if I wanted to, I could leave and come back when the party was over. Normally my thought process would have been "hmm well I'm not really sure where I am or what's around here so I don't know where I would go so I might as well just stay." But today my thought process was "I have a GPS and it can tell me where the closest Starbucks is -- SEE YA!" So I went to Starbucks and had a cup of coffee. I love you, GPS.

I bought airline tickets last night, so that makes it official that we're going to Puerto Rico with friends from June 1 - 7. Our friends have relatives who own a beach house that they're letting them (and by extension us) use rent-free for the week. Now that it's official I'm getting really excited!!

We invited Joel's parents over for dinner tonight and Joel used the grill for the first time this season to grill salmon and chicken kabobs. His friend Jon talked him through the salmon-grilling and it came out pretty well. Just slightly over-cooked. Ben, surprisingly, ate the token piece of salmon we put on his plate, then asked for seconds and even thirds! Becca, not surprisingly, smeared her salmon, chicken, rice and salad all over her high chair tray and then whined until she got a banana.

Kid of the Week

Next week is Ben's turn to be Kid of the Week at preschool. This involves making a poster, bringing in his favorite book and toy for show and tell, and bringing in a special snack. Tonight I helped Ben with his poster. I got him started by printing out a few pictures and then asked him what else he wanted to include and then printed the pictures he asked for. (Some of the things he asked for were pictures of him and Rebecca as babies, a lot of Ben 10 Alien Force pictures, a chihuaha, an ice cream cone and stir fry -- thank God for Google images). I tried my best to let him do it by himself as much as possible. The somewhat messy result is below. He asked to write the E and the N in his name by himself, in case you are wondering what the scribble at the top is!

She Must Have Been Hungry

Tonight we had to pick up Joel's car from Firestone. Every time Joel takes his car for an oil change the oil change turns into about $500 worth of work. Today the oil change turned into an oil change, a state inspection, three new tires, and an alignment. Maybe it's a good thing that Joel is delinquent about getting his oil changed and doesn't do it every 3,000 miles.

Anyway after we picked the car up we decided to have dinner at Chili's since it was dinner time and a Chili's just opened across the parking lot from the Firestone. Rebecca was very cranky so I could tell she was hungry. Normally I would just give her some food off of Ben's plate and/or my plate because she never really seems to eat much at dinner time. But I decided to get her a kid's meal of her own tonight since she was so cranky. She ate her whole bowl of macaroni and cheese (not a small bowl, either) and when she was done she put her arms around the bowl, put her head down on it and gave it a big hug. I am so not kidding -- she hugged the bowl! Then she ate half of Ben's basket of fries, and a few pieces of Joel's broccoli.

Now, unfortunately, she is fussing in her crib - maybe she has indigestion?

Parent Teacher Conference

Earlier this morning I attended Ben's second (and final) parent-teacher conference of the year. His first parent-teacher conference back in November prompted me to send him to occupational therapy for a couple of months to improve his fine motor skills (until our insurance stopped covering it).

There were no surprises at this morning's meeting. His teachers agreed with me that his fine motor skills are improving in many areas -- cutting, doing puzzles, buttoning his clothing, he is even starting to do zippers by himself now -- but his pencil skills still suck. ("Suck" was not the precise term that they used but almost). They said he'll need a lot of practice over the summer to get his writing skills past the point of utter disgrace before he starts kindergarten (again, I'm paraphrasing). And I knew all of this already.

The good news is that all of their other feedback was very complimentary. They said he is extremely smart (no paraphrasing there -- "extremely smart") and retains every piece of information he's given. (They also said that he's the last kid you'd think would know all the answers because he sits in the back and looks like he's not paying attention!) They said he is very sweet and respectful of others, loves his friends, enjoys helping the teachers, and genuinely seems to enjoy being at school.

Now if only he could write his name without it being upside-down and backwards...

Happy St Patrick's Day

From a not-so-Irish family. Though Rebecca could pass.

My Dad Is So Awesome

This afternoon Dad bought me a Garmin GPS. It is, like, the coolest thing ever, and I have no idea how I survived for so long without one especially given my amazing ability to drive around in aimless circles whenever I attempt to go someplace new.

Now when I drive around in circles it will be with a PURPOSE because a computerized voice is telling me to.

Thanks Dad! You rock!

Say Cheese

This morning Ben was mugging for the camera at Monkey Joe's. I guess he decided that making goofy faces was more fun than running away screaming:

Becca on the other hand was far too engrossed in the serious business of positioning herself atop a slippery slide to give the camera much notice:

The Nature Museum

Yesterday morning my parents and I took the kids to the nature museum, which is a good was to waste a couple of hours on a rainy day. In the afternoon I put Dad to work installing an overhead light fixture in the master bedroom, and then Mom and Dad babysat the kids so Joel and I could go out to dinner and a movie. Here are some pictures from the nature museum. The last one could be titled "Bribery" and goes something like this:

BEN: Can I get a toy from the gift shop?
ME: If you let me take your picture!

Here Comes the Rain

Mom and Dad arrived yesterday evening from Philadelphia. Just in time for their arrival the weather turned from sunny and 75 to rainy and 45 leaving me to point to the green grass and flowering trees as proof that YES IT REALLY IS SPRING HERE I SWEAR I WAS NOT MAKING IT UP! What's worse, it looks like the bad weather is going to be with us all weekend long.

Mom and Dad went to Grandparents Day at Ben's school today, which they (and Ben) enjoyed very much. Ben is thrilled to have two whole extra people visiting who will do puzzles and play Concentration with him. (He thoroughly kicked my mom's butt at Concentration last night).

Becca, who doesn't know my parents very well yet, has warmed up nicely to my Mom. They exchanged some high fives last night. If there's one sure way to get into Becca's good graces, it's to offer her some high fives (or cake). She likes my Dad from a distance, but if he gets too close she squawks and throws herself into my arms and buries her face in my shoulder. It's nothing personal, Dad -- you're just too damn tall!

Mordecai the Irritable (and his Irritable Mom)

Today Ben's school is having a costume parade for Purim. A moment after I took this picture Ben ran away screaming "NO! DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE!" To which I responded, "You're mean!" And then Joel sent us both to our rooms. Okay, not really. But almost.

Pretty... BUT DEADLY!!

Okay... not deadly. But, the trees are beginning to bloom (and these trees, whatever they are, I don't even know) are EVERYWHERE. In every yard... hundreds of trees! THOUSANDS OF TREES!

Which can only mean one thing: allergies!

The newest Victim of the Trees is poor, defenseless Baby Becca. Her nose has been running, her eyes have been crusty, and the other day I noticed when we were outside that the skin under her poor little eyes got puffy and pink and blotchy. At her appointment this morning to follow up on her ears, her doctor prescribed her an allergy medicine. Her ears are all better, but with the runny nose and gooey eyes continuing, she thought we should try an allergy medicine to see if it helps. Hang in there Baby Becca! It's going to be a long, long, spring.

Rebecca's First Ice Cream Popsicle That I Let Her Eat All By Herself

First she licked it, then she created some lovely sidewalk art with it, and then she licked it some more. I, wonderful parent that I am, was too busy taking pictures to intervene:

Sunny and 80

That's the forecast for today. I am just rubbing it in for those of you reading this blog from the Frozen North Where it is Currently Snowing. I am going to leave out the part where it's supposed to be rainy and 50 from Thursday through the weekend, just in time for my parents' visit. Sorry mom and dad!!

Daddyless Day

Dear Daddy,

I hope you are having a good time visiting your friends. I was very cute and very annoying today, and threw about 1,000 temper tantrums. I also refused to eat anything except carbohydrates and ice cream. To make up for being so annoying, I let mommy take some cute pictures of me. We had a lot of fun today. We ate ice cream, fed the ducks and fish and turtles, and went to a cul-de-sac party where Mommy drank a marguerita but all she gave me was a lousy cup of juice. I spent the whole time driving backwards around in circles on Mason's Big Wheel, and Ben spent a lot of time getting acquainted with Ted and Todd's rat terrier, Gracie. I think he wants one. Here are some pictures of me being cute at Ben & Jerry's, being cute at the pond, and being cute at Qdoba where Mommy fed us a quesadilla for dinner. There's also a couple pictures of Ben but he was not being very cute. Oh and there's a picture of a turtle too. Ben was feeding it. I was picking pieces of bread up off the ground and eating them, and that's when Mommy decided I must be getting hungry. There's no pictures from the cul-de-sac party because Mommy couldn't drink, watch us, and take pictures at the same time.

Love, Becca.

It's a Good Thing She's Cute

Because lately every thing that comes out of her mouth is "MINE! MINE! MINE! WAAH! WAAH! WAAH!" All day. Every day. Doesn't matter what you've got, she wants it. This morning she threw a fit at Target (her 17th fit of the day) because I wouldn't give her a bottle of laundry detergent.

The Mattress

We have a queen bed in our guest room, which gets a surprising amount of use. Guests, obviously, sleep there (and we have guests at least 4 times a year), and Joel sleeps there when he is on call so his pager (and subsequent phone conversations) don't wake me up in the middle of the night. I spent an entire three months sleeping there, when Rebecca was a baby and was waking up to nurse at night so I could be close to her room (we have a first floor master bedroom for those of you who might not know).

This mattress has been the subject of much controversy. It is a very soft mattress, and sleeping on it is akin to sleeping on a giant marshmallow. Some of our guests have enjoyed this, and some have proclaimed that I am trying to permenantly disable them by making them sleep on a giant marshmallow.

For those of you who liked the mattress, I have bad news for you: The mattress has been replaced by a very firm mattress, akin to sleeping on a slab of concrete. And for those of you for whom sleeping on a giant marshmallow was torture, I have good news for you! You will now be sleeping on a concrete-like slab of a mattress when you come visit me.

I do not want to hear any more complaining from either side! Can't we all just get along?

Rebecca's Buddies

For a while now Rebecca has had two stuffed animals that she prefers over all others. Coincidentally (I thought) both are bunnies. One is a pink blanket with a bunny head that I try to keep in her crib for bedtime and naptime but she ends up dragging it all over the house anyway, and the other is a brown bunny that I don't even remember where we got. She takes that one to day care with her and pretty much never lets it go. She also eats with her bunnies, which can be rather messy.

Since we're coming up on Easter, we've seen a lot of stuffed bunnies out and about, and each time we see one Rebecca reacts fervently. As a result of this (and the fact that I have a hard time saying no to her) we have been accumulating quite a few bunnies lately.

While I have heard her say "Bunny" correctly before, she more often calls them "Buddies." Here's Rebecca relaxing with her latest "buddy":

Snow

The look of horror/fascination on Rebecca's face pretty much sums up my feelings about today:

In Like a Lion

Apparently the saying about Marching coming "in like a lion" is true even in Charlotte sometimes. After raining all weekend, the temperature has dropped and the rain has turned to snow, with 3-6 inches forecast by morning.

Right now it looks like there's about two inches down already, and I am sure that if not another flake falls there still will be no school tomorrow and pretty much just short of mass panic in the streets. You'd think it was radioactive waste falling from the sky by the way people around here react. You may think I am exaggerating, but I assure you I am not.

Anyway, besides the weather incident and the thought of having the kids home with me all day tomorrow while trying to get work done (yeah right), the weekend has been rather pleasant. There was the aforementioned dinner/movie date, and then dinner at the home of one of Ben's school friends last night, and today Joel's parents had Ben for most of the day since they were taking him to see a play downtown. Joel and Rebecca and I dropped Ben off at their house and then met friends for brunch, followed by grocery shopping and a nap.

A good weekend, now finishing off with white radioactive waste falling from the sky...