Changes

Change is coming to the Kaplan household... well for Rebecca anyway... Tomorrow is her last day at the day care on our corner, and Monday she begins at Charlotte Jewish Preschool's August interim session. We will miss her friends and teachers at Chesterbrook, some of whom she's known since she started there as a baby... Especially Maria, who loves Becca's dancing and often slips a biscuit, muffin or donut to Ben in the mornings in an attempt to fatten him up...

I am excited for her to start at CJP though, where she will get to go to the splash park every day for the rest of the summer, and make lots of new friends! It will also make afternoon pick-up time easier since Ben is at the JCC campus for summer camp and will be going to the after school program there as well when kindergarten starts in a few weeks.

The Difference Between a Balloon and a Ball

Rebecca has been playing with a balloon she got at the grocery store for several days now. This is nothing unusual, since they give away free balloons at the grocery store and the kids always ask for them when we go. Usually they play with them for half an hour, then lose them on our 20 foot ceilings despite the fact that I tie them around their wrists. After a day the balloons come down and they kick and throw them around like balls until I get annoyed with having half-deflated balloons kicking around and they mysteriously vanish....

Well today Rebecca discovered the difference between a balloon and a ball. She has a little beach ball that she sometimes likes to try to sit on, and today she decided to try to sit on her balloon. I saw her trying to position her little tush over it and warned her not to sit on it.... but since she never pays any attention to me she sat on it anyway.

It popped, of course, leaving Rebecca sitting on the floor utterly mystified. "It popped," I told her. She stood up, examined the spot on the floor where the balloon had just been, and spread her hands questioningly. Then she said, quite clearly, "Why did it pop?" I explained to her again that you can't sit on balloons. For the next five minutes she walked around aimlessly, looking for her balloon and asking "Why did it pop?" over and over again.

Visit

This weekend we had a visit from Carolyn, who was on her way to a business trip in Orlando. She arranged an 18 hour layover so that she could visit with us and meet Becca for the first time. We had a great time showing Carolyn around -- we went out minus the kids (thanks to Joel's parents) and ate way, WAY too much food on Saturday, and yesterday we went swimming at the JCC and later Joel showed Carolyn around some more and took her out for barbecue on the way to the airport.

Apparently, we may have killed her by overfeeding her since Joel says she was feeling rather ill when he dropped her off at the airport. Carolyn, we hope you are okay! As Joel confided to me later, four restaurants in 18 hours might have been a little too much.

Being Cute Gets Me Out of Trouble

So says the shirt Rebecca is wearing today.

A Little Too Big for That

I saw bad things about to happen, and like any good parent, I grabbed my camera (the stroller broke about five minutes later).

Not a Movie About Bunnies

Yes, my son actually did this to his poor sweet sister tonight. He was watching Jurassic Park 2 in my bedroom, and had asked Joel to put on a certain part involving lots of dinosaurs and mayhem. I wasn't in the room, so I don't know what actually was on the screen except I could hear quite a bit of roaring and screaming going on.

Ben came out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Becca was sitting on the floor reading a book. He said, "Becca, do you want to see a movie about bunnies?"

"Yes!" Becca said, and got up and followed him into the bedroom.

A moment later I heard Becca's dismayed "Oh no!" as she saw what was happening on the tv, and then she ran out of the room crying.

And Ben watched her go, looking rather smug.

Home

I arrived home from Harrisburg last night, after missing my connecting flight in Newark and having to wait three hours for another one. Ben was very happy to see me and very appreciative of the stuffed dog (from the Harrisburg airport) and "petrified dinosaur food" (freeze dried mint chocolate chip ice cream from the Newark airport) I brought him. Becca didn't react to my presence any more strenuously than usual, so I don't think she noticed I was gone. She didn't pay much attention to the stuffed bear I brought her, either. Oh well -- at least one of my kids appreciates me ;)

Hello from the 'burg

Harrisburg, that is. I arrived early this afternoon and spent most of the afternoon reading through stacks of printouts of emails that I'd written, been written to, been cc'd on, etc... some dating back as early as 2002. As I commented to my lawyer, half of them (the ones I was only cc'ed on) I hadn't really read the first time around... what cruel punishment to make me suffer through them again! I mean, imagine if you will, being handed every email your name has ever appeared on for a five year period and asked to please read them over again? Quite torturous and tiring. The silver lining was that I was able to meet a friend for dinner afterwards, and now that I'm arrived at my hotel (finally) I am going to relax and read for a while... I started Neil Gaiman's American Gods on my two flights today.

On the home front, I hear Ben visited the nurse at camp today for a sore throat, but seems fine now, and Becca spiked a fever tonight - poor Becca! Joel and I were just commenting on how she hasn't been sick in a while. Oops - guess we forgot to knock on wood. I hope you feel better soon Becca! I'll be home tomorrow!

Ill Advised

About once a year I undertake a thorough washing of Rebecca's car seat, involving the removal and machine-washing of the fabric, and the hand-washing of the straps and base. Today I undertook such an endeavor, and (as if it wasn't enough of a pain in the ass by itself) I combined it with a dis-assembly and washing of the kitchen booster seat, which has a machine-washable covering as well. This undertaking was precipitated by a disastrous spilling-of-the-chocolate-milk on the car seat yesterday, turning her once lovely soft and pink car seat into a stiff, grayish-brown stained shell of its former beauty.

Why I am choosing to undertake such a time-consuming and difficult task in the middle of a work day, the day before leaving on a business trip (i.e. I have a million other things to do) is a question worth considering. However, I am hopeful that by the time I have to go pick her up later this afternoon, her car seat will be as fresh-smelling and pretty and soft as the day she first sat in it. Hopefully.

UPDATE: I finished washing the seat, put it all back together and put it back in the car. And I only have one piece left over... hmmm...

Movies

Joel wrote a list a few months ago of movies he wanted to see, and gave it to me for safe-keeping. I promptly lost it, but rediscovered it a couple weeks ago while cleaning off my desk. So in the last two weeks we've rented and watched quite a few good movies. This week alone we've seen Gran Torino, Doubt, and The Reader. We also went to the movies last night to see the new Harry Potter movie, which I felt didn't live up to the hype. (Which is usually how I feel about them, but this one particularly so).

The Week Ahead

Next week is shaping up to be an eventful one. I'll be flying to Harrisburg, PA on Tuesday morning and returning Wednesday afternoon in order to make another appearance in front of the grand jury investigating the so-called "Bonusgate" scandal. Then next weekend friend and fellow blogger Carolyn (Life With Alex, Rachel and Abbydoodle) will be visiting. We are very excited for Carolyn's first trip to Charlotte!

Taking the Plunge

Yesterday Ben brought hom a note from camp. It read: "Dear Mr. & Mrs. Kaplan, We would like to inform you that Ben did an amazing job at swimming today. He swam by himself, and even jumped in without holding on to someone. It is really a joy to have him in our camp group. Sincerely, Danielle, Marcus & Brian."

One of Ben's anxieties about the pool has always been jumping into the water by himself -- he just hasn't wanted to do it. Rather, he has wanted to, but just can never seem to work up the nerve, even when he knows the water is shallow enough for him to stand in. But yesterday he apparently conquered his fear, and coerced his counselors to send a note home to prove it. It is really remarkable how his confidence in the water and swimming ability have improved over the last few weeks. Great job, Ben!

Sibling Rivalry: the Beginnings

I've noticed a disturbing trend over the last few days... it is looking like the sibling rivalry is beginning. The kids are starting to figure out how to push each other's buttons. Ben pushes Becca's buttons by pretending to be a dog -- knowing very well that she does not like dogs. He gets down on all fours and sticks his tongue out and pants and chases her. A few minutes later Becca will get back at him by stealing something of his --preferably something soft, like a sock he's trying to put on, or a stuffed animal. She'll run away with it and shove it into her mouth and slobber all over it because she knows that Ben HATES it when she puts his things in her mouth. And before long they're both whining at me and I'm scolding Ben for scaring Becca and trying to pry a sock out of Becca's mouth. Ah, the things to come.

Because Turtles Never Get Boring

Okay, not a post about turtles, but when I took this picture of Rebecca today, turtles happened to be what she was looking at. A lot of people tell me that Rebecca looks like me, and I have to say I just don't see it. But I do think she might look a little bit like me in this picture. Maybe.

An Unexpected Errand

This morning the kids and I were getting ready to head out for our usual round of Saturday morning errands -- today's scheduled stops included the grocery store, the car wash, and the gas station. But as I was walking around to the driver's side of the car after helping Ben with his seat belt, I noticed a baby turtle in our driveway. Now, we have seen many little snakes and lizards in the driveway since our move to Charlotte, but this was the first time we'd had a turtle pay us a visit. Since it was so little and Ulysses was eyeing it hungrily, I decided we needed to add another stop to our list of errands. I put the turtle in a bucket and gave it to Ben to hold and on our way out of the development we drove over to the lake (the lake I didn't know we had until a couple months ago). Ben released the turtle in the grass by the lake, and Becca waved and called "Bye baby! Bye turtle!"

Purging

Yesterday I decided it was about time to "purge" some of the kids' old toys and random junk. I try to do this about once a year. I go through all their toy boxes and make a pile of toys to donate to charity and a pile of toys to throw away -- happy meal toys, things that are broken, missing pieces, etc. I ended up with one full trash bag of toys to donate, and two full trash bags of stuff to throw away. In the process, I organized some of the toys in Ben's room -- put all the matchbox cars in one container, all the action figures in another, etc.

When I do things like this I usually have bad luck and about 10 minutes after Ben walks in he starts looking for a toy he hasn't played with in three years that just happens to have been "purged". But this time -- so far -- I have been lucky. Ben walked into his bedroom, looked around, and said "Why is my room so clean?" Then he noticed the box of action figures, some of which he hadn't seen in so long he'd forgotten he had them. "AWESOME!" he yelled. "Mom! Look what I found!"

So I Won't Get Called a Slacker

There's not much going on but I'll blog anyway because if I don't, Kathleen will call me a slacker! (Yes, I saw your comment the other day Kathleen... Where's YOUR blog, huh?)

Anyway, the rest of our weekend was pretty quiet. Joel had to work all weekend, but his parents took Becca for most of the day Saturday so Ben and I got to see a movie -- Ice Age 3 -- and made a blueberry peach cobbler. After Joel and Becca returned home we took said cobbler across the street to a 4th of July barbecue that our neighbors were kind enough to host (along with their 1 year old triplets! If that were me, I'd have a ready excuse not to ever host a party, for at least the first four years. It'd go something like "Me? Host the barbecue? I have triplets!")

Not to excuse the lack of blogging, but work has been really busy so far this week. I think everyone returned to work on Monday and decided to pile on me every project that they procrastinated over starting last week because it was a holiday. One of the bad things about working from home is not being able to get away from the work! I worked until 11:30 last night, and all day today, and since my "office" is in my bedroom, I have spent probably 90% of the last 36 hours in one room. I made an exaggerated point of watching television in the livingroom tonight instead of the bedroom, just to get away for a while... even if it was only 30 feet away ;)

Finally, all of us here at Bringing Up Ben and Becca would like to wish the folks over there at Lessons from Charlie, most notably Abby, a speedy swine-flu recovery... we hope that you're on the mend and that we will hear no more stories of bodily fluids, trips to the ER, and fainting in nail salons.

Dancing Girl

Here is a little video of Rebecca dancing before the fireworks started last night.

A Full Day

Yesterday was a very full day, as we got a jump on the 4th of July festivities a day early. The kids were both off from camp/day care, and Joel was off from work. We spent about three and a half hours at the pool, then came home and put Becca down for a late nap. Then Ben's friend called and invited him to come over to play, so I took him to his friend's house for two hours.

We had plans to go out to dinner and watch the fireworks at Providence Country club with another couple who are members there. Dinner was great because they have two kids who are older than Ben, and Ben was quite happy to play video games with them during dinner and entirely ignore all the adults. Becca was quite happy to bop to the music that was playing in the restaurant all during dinner, so we were able to take our time, which was good because the fireworks weren't starting until 9.

After dinner we made our way to the country club and set up a blanket and some chairs. Ben immediately took off his sandals and took off running around the edge of the golf course, around the lake, in the sand trap, etc, with the other kids. Becca, having been given a glow stick, and of course with more music to entertain her, happily danced and played with her glow stick for about an hour. It was great.

And then the fireworks started. They sent up a couple little ones earlier in the evening, to test I guess, and neither of the kids were bothered by them. They both were quite delighted actually. But when the real fireworks started, they both tried to leap into my arms at once. Becca made it to me first. She didn't cry, she just jumped into my lap and proceeded to quietly watch all the fireworks with her head against my chest and her neck awkwardly craned backwards so she could see what was going on. Every once in a while I would ask her if she wanted to turn around so she could see, and she would very calmly say, "No."

Ben on the other hand, totally freaked when the fireworks started. "I WANT TO GO HOME!" he screamed between sobs. Joel quickly led him away inside the clubhouse, where he couldn't even be enticed to watch the fireworks from the window. He spent the whole time in the men's room. I was a little disappointed for him that he was too afraid of the fireworks to watch them, because he had been looking forward to it for days. But, Ben's meltdown aside, it was a great evening!

One More

Just one more shot of my future basketball star!

Nothing Wrong With Those Lungs!

Ben had his 5 year-old well exam this morning. He is 47 1/2 inches tall, and 43.8 pounds. The doctor commented that he has had quite a growth spurt this year -- his height is even further off the chart than it used to be. She showed me the growth chart where she plots his height every year... the dots are always floating above the top line... this one was floating way above the line, so lonely out there in space.. According to this height predictor, Ben's adult height will be 6 '3 (and there's no way to enter 1/2 inch so I rounded down to 3 '11 instead of up to 4 feet). ("How is that possible??" will be Joel's exact words when he reads this).

I brought up my concerns about his weight, which I do every year, and she blows me off every year, saying his weight has always been around 70-75th percentile, and his BMI is fine, so I have no reason to be concerned about the fact that I CAN SEE EVERY SINGLE BONE IN HIS BODY.

Since he's entering kindergarten, Ben needed quite the round of shots at this appointment -- five separate sticks! I mean, my God, that would have made ME cry! I tried to prep him for it while we were waiting... thought I was doing a good job as a parent... I told him the story of how when I got my shots at my 5 year old appointment I didn't understand what "shot" meant and thought I was going to get shot, like with a gun (not true but it sounds good when you tell it that way and it made him laugh). I told him how I hid under the table and kicked the doctor. That part is, unfortunately, true.

I also broke out the story of how when his Grandpa (my dad) was a little boy he had polio, and how he woke up one morning and couldn't move his arm. I used this story to explain why he needed to get the shots, to keep kids from getting sick like Grandpa did. He was quite interested in this, and asked me to tell the story twice.

Of course, none of this seemed to make the shots any better. I held him, he SCREAMED BLOODLY MURDER from the first stick to the last, and after the third one when she switched to the other arm to do two more (TWO MORE! THOSE BARBARIANS!) he was kicking and screaming and I had to pin his legs in mine.

When it was all done, and he had five bandaids and a cherry ice popsicle, he looked at me with big brown tear-stained puppy dog eyes and said softly, "Ouch."

I felt terrible, of course, by that time beginning to think that polio might be preferable to subjecting him to such torture. But I reminded him that he doesn't need a single shot now until he's eleven. "By that time," I told him, "you'll be taller than me, at the rate you're growing!" That made him smile, a lttle.