Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 5772!

Ben blows the Shofar - not as easy as it looks!

Making Me Nervous

I am half-tempted to make her get back in the baby swing, or wear a helmet. It seems my baby girl is growing up... does not need me to push her on the swing any more.

Handsome Boy

A bit less cheerful after realizing that going to Erev Rosh Hashanah services with me meant having to sit still for an hour and a half. But still handsome.

Rainy Weekend

The last few days (week, really) has been really rainy, with hardly a day going by without major downpours. On Saturday, with Joel working and the kids already having soaked themselves in the rain (note to self: asking to play outside in the rain with umbrellas DOES NOT mean not getting soaked), I decided the best course of action was to meet a friend at the movies to see the re-released Lion King. Ben grumped that he didn't want to see it/ had already seen it, but ended up enjoying himself anyway of course, Rebecca was scared by the final battle scene between Simba and Scar at the end, for which she sat on my lap with her head buried in my shoulder, but seemed to enjoy the rest of the movie, especially the music.

Birthday Outfit

As usual, Rebecca was not very open to suggestions about what to wear to her birthday party. Eventually, a black tulle skirt joined the ensemble.

Happy 4th Birthday Becca!!

So hard to believe that four years ago I had a baby girl!! Yesterday we celebrated her birthday with an hour of Jump N Play at Sports Connection with 20 of her friends, a Princess and the Frog cake, and dinner with Nanny and Papa, followed by opening lots of presents. It was a rather exhausting day, especially for Joel who had to work this weekend and also has a bad cold. Below are a couple of pictures and the happy birthday video.

Waiting for party time....

This is the problem with a 3 pm party....

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Comfy Kitty

It occurred to me that I never posted a picture of Rebecca's new "big girl bed." We had such issues with first the bed being delivered but no mattress, then the trundle/storage unit being back-ordered FOREVER, and then when it finally came the mattress we'd gotten for the trundle wouldn't fit so we ended up selling it on Craigslist because BJ's wouldn't take it back, and buying a 4 inch foam mattress instead for the trundle, which then of course we also had to wait for it to come into the store...the saga continued on and on ad nauseum. Anyway, finally it was all straightened out, but by then I was so exhausted from the whole ordeal I didn't think to take a picture. Until I happened to walk past her room today and saw a) the bed neatly made by the cleaning lady and b) the cat curled up on it, so I went for the camera.

School Update

Ben got his mid-quarter progress report yesterday. His teacher cited minimal areas of academic achievement that need improvement, except for handwriting (big surprise there). She said she wants him to participate more in class discussions, and participate less discussions with his friends ;) We have a formal conference with his teacher scheduled for the end of October.

Rebecca started a dance class on Wednesdays that she gets taken to/from in the afternoons. She loves it and was so excited when she asked this morning if today was her dance class, and I said it was. She also started gym class with the famous coach Dan, and seemed rather miffed because, as she told me about 20 times, "he did not remember my name". Coach Dan has known Ben for years, but this is the first year he's had Rebecca in gym class. Apparently Rebecca felt he should have known her by osmosis.

I also signed her up for a second dance class, on Tuesdays, after hearing from no less than 3 different people that when Rebecca took the class during summer camp she a) loved it and b) the teacher apparently talked about Rebecca to so many people that it got back to me from at least the 3 people mentioned above. Finally the J actually called me to ask if I will enroll her in the class, which starts in October. So I couldn't really say no! When Rebecca found out she was going to have dance on Tuesdays AND Wednesdays, she was so excited!

Random Updates

1. Our friends Joanna and Eric welcomed baby #3, Joshua Kyle, on Thursday. Yesterday afternoon after apple picking we picked up big brothers Jared and Evan for a playdate/dinner date to give mom/dad/grandma a little break from the older kids. We went to Lorenzo's pizza, which I might add is a fine establishment especially considering I've been craving all things carbs (pizza, pasta, biscuits,cereal etc) with this pregnancy. After that we found a Rita's italian ices close by, which is not a small feat in Charlotte considering there's only a couple of them around here. Joel's favorite dessert is Rita's fat free frozen custard. I could use some more pizza right now.

2. Ben started Hebrew school this morning; he very dramatically threw a bit of a fit at having to go (because the first time he has to do anything new he gets a bit nervous and upset). I snapped back at him that all his friends have been going to Hebrew school since Kindergarten and he would have been too if we'd gotten around to coughing up the $2500 yearly Temple/Religious school membership dues before now. That hushed him up and he sullenly departed with Joel, and returned two hours later proclaiming how much he likes Hebrew school and how 3 of his friends are in his class. MOMMY TOLD YOU SO.

Baking with Apples

--And we still have way too many apples left.

Apple Picking

By the time I usually think about picking apples, apple season in NC has passed (yes surprisingly there is such a thing as apple season in NC). The good place to go for apples is Hendersonville, but at 2 hours away, it's a bit of a hike for a day trip. Sometime I'd like to go there though, for a weekend maybe. Anyway, today what with the fall-like weather lingering on, we decided to take the kids up to Mooresville, about an hour north of Charlotte, to do some apple picking a little closer to home. The kids picked enough apples to make about a thousand pies (I see some pie baking in my future) and then checked out the resident farm animals, and the family dog. Our friends Melanie and Jeff met us there with their daughter Amelia (Rebecca's BFF) and we helped them pick some apples and then went out to lunch. It was a successful outing, and the rain held off for the most part.

A Taste of Fall

Today was the first day since May or maybe even April sometime when it was cool enough for long pants... and light jackets! The high temp today is only supposed to be 63, and cloudy as well. I was excited to dress the kids in long pants and light jackets. Of course, I had to go *buy* long pants and light jackets for the occasion... as the kids have either grown so much and/or lost all their outerwear since the last time they had to dress for cool weather.

About two hours after he arrived at school, Ben came home again with stomach pain/nausea/diarrhea. But at least he got to wear his new clothes.... ;)

Football Party

We had a little party yesterday to kick off Eagles football!! GO EAGLES!

Definitely Not the Sickest Kid in Clinic

This morning Rebecca got to visit Daddy's work for a follow-up blood test. When I told her she had to go for another blood test she cried, but then cheered up when I promised (okay bribed) her with a Zhu Zhu pet for good behavior. She was very happy up until the actual moment of blood-drawing, telling me in the car on the way that she is proud to get to go to Daddy's work and see his friends there. After the blood draw, she was less thrilled and as we got back in the car to go home she announced in no uncertain terms, "I am NEVER going back to daddy's office again!" Her blood work, as predicted, showed normal or almost-normal all around. Hopefully she will not ever have to go back to daddy's work again, at least not as a patient! :) And now, I must go buy a Zhu Zhu pet...

Not a Positive Role Model

Last Sunday Joel and Ben attended a pool party as part of a father/child program we signed up for with the JCC as an alternative to cub scouts this year. We were not thrilled with cub scouts last year. So this year we're trying J Tribes. They divide the fathers/kids into "Tribes" based on age, each tribe has a leader, and they meet once a month for planned activities and have a few camping trips and other all-tribe activities during the year.

So like I was saying, last Sunday Ben and Joel met with their group at the neighborhood pool of their assigned tribe leader. Joel's comment when they came home was that he hadn't asked this guy (the tribe leader) what he did for a living, but he sure looked like he had a lot of money - fancy neighborhood, had mentioned his boat, etc.

As it turns out, not even 24 hours after the pool party the police raided the guy's house and found $60,000 worth of marijuana,and equipment used for growing, distributing, etc. Both he and his wife were arrested on numerous charges of possession/intent to sell, etc.

I guess a) that answers the question of where the guy was getting all his money, and b) Ben's tribe is now leaderless.... Maybe we should go back to cub scouts :P

Something About Zebras

Thursday night Rebecca came down with a fever and started complaining that her back hurts. She continued to run a low fever yesterday and continued mentioning that her back was hurting. The combination of fever and back pain had Joel and I thinking maybe she had a UTI, so we scheduled a visit to the pediatrician, for which Joel left work early and met me there.

Rebecca's urinalysis was normal, but was sent out to culture anyway just in case. Of course when Joel comes along to a doctor visit and happens to mention that he's a pediatric oncologist suddenly we found ourselves with both a nurse practitioner and a doctor in the room, and some probably unnecessary testing. So in addition to the urinalysis, which was all I was really concerned about, Rebecca got a strep test and a CBC. (She was NOT HAPPY about this).

The strep test came back negative, but the CBC came back with (if I recall correctly) abnormally low counts on all 3 of white blood cells, platelets and hemoglobin. Now it was Joel's turn to be NOT HAPPY, because instead of assuming like most sane people that she just has a virus and agreeing to bring her back in a week to have a repeat CBC, I had to talk him out of taking her straightaway to his clinic to have leukemia ruled out. I did not quite succeed in talking him out of this, because he scheduled her for first thing Monday morning to see his boss.

There's a saying in medicine something about primary care doctors are used to seeing horses all the time so when a zebra comes along once in a while, it can be hard to spot. Being a specialist, I think Joel has the opposite problem, and sees zebras everywhere he goes. Rebecca, as you can probably see from the pictures in the post below, has not been acting particularly sick anymore.

Friday Night Dance Party

Last night we took the kids to Smashburger for dinner and then had some ice cream and spent a little time relaxing outdoors and listening to what was probably one of the last outdoor concerts of the season. The kids were cute and happy to mug for the camera, so I got some cute pics.

So Annoying I Just Had to Blog About It

This could be kind of a long winded one. Basically here's the background: Joel has a massive amount of student loans. He's on a graduated payment plan, meaning for the first 48 months of repayment, he paid one amount, then the payment goes up for a certain number of months, then up a little more, then remains flat for like another 20 years. His student loans are serviced through Sallie Mae, and they advertise that if the first 48 payments are made on time, they will drop the interest rate 1%.

Joel started paying his loans back when we moved to Charlotte, so just over 48 months ago now. So he called to find out, were they dropping his interest rate after making 48 on-time payments? The answer he got was No, because his account showed a delinquency in 2005.

Joel was not paying his loans in 2005, he was under an in-school deferment at the time. It took him about a month of repeatedly calling Sallie Mae for them to finally acknowledge that yes, he was in deferment in 2005 and there should have been no delinquency recorded against his account from back then. But then they said, your 49th payment was delinquent, so while we would have given you the 1% interest rate reduction, we would have taken it away again anyway because of that delinquency.

Joel's 49th payment was made on time, it just accidentally was for the exact same amount as the first 48 payments, instead of about $100 more, because of the aforementioned graduated repayment plan which kicked in that month, and I had been under the impression that it kicked in the following month.

To which Joel's response was... Yeah but if you'd actually given me the 1% reduction like you admit now you should have, the payment I sent in for that 49th payment was actually too high, not too low! (Because a 1% interest rate reduction on Joel's enormous principal balance is a savings of a couple hundred dollars a month in interest). To which the reply was.... Uhhhh.... I'll need to check with my supervisor and get back to you in a couple days.

Again.

In case anyone from Sallie Mae is reading this, you guys all suck.

Back to School Night

Or as they call it in our district, Curriculum Night. But when I was a kid, it was "back to school night". So that's what I still call it.

Anyway, first on the agenda was a meeting for 2nd grade parents only concerning the TD testing which all second graders in the district undergo next week. TD stands for "talent development", and it is the gifted program. Next week the second graders take an aptitude test, and those scoring in the 96th percentile or above will automatically be put in the TD program. Those scoring in the high 80s but not at the 96th percentile will be given the opportunity to take a skills assessment test as a way to place into the TD program. Then there are two other methods for placing children, including a gifted assessment questionnaire filled out at the end of first grade for each student, and a portfolio of the students' classwork. Children who are not officially enrolled in the TD program may be enrolled in the "catalyst" program, which is for students who perform very highly in certain areas (such as reading or math) but not all areas. With the test results, students will also be given a "SAS" score, which apparently is very highly correlated with IQ and is a number on a similar scale to an IQ score (from 50 to 160).

It is all very stressful for me and Joel, who know we have a very bright boy who can't find his way out of a paper bag it seems, sometimes. I mean, yesterday he said he wanted to race me down the stairs at Rebecca's preschool (me in the elevator and him taking the stairs I should say), and I came out of the elevator... waited for Ben... and waited... and waited... He got lost. How, you ask? He went upstairs instead of downstairs. Now, I am not great with directions either, but I generally do know that down is how you get out of most buildings, not up.

Following the TD meeting was a blissfully short PTA meeting, and following that was a meeting in Ben's classroom to meet the teacher, go over homework policies, daily schedule, etc. Ben was very excited to have me sit at his desk, he left me a note, and left Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in prominent view on his desk, to show me that this is what he is reading during IWT (independent work time). He's only a couple chapters into it, but yes, Mom was impressed! Of course, finding his desk was easy, because it was the one with the note left on top with the most illegible handwriting :P

Lunch Date with Mom

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Movie Night

In the neighbor's driveway.

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Sweet, And Not So Sweet

Sweet:

Yesterday when I brought Rebecca into school her teacher went out of her way to tell me how much she enjoys having Rebecca in the class, and especially about how funny and smart she is. Sensing the attention, Rebecca decided to ingratiate herself further by coming over to me and kissing my belly goodbye ("I want to give the baby a kiss!") to which her teacher said, "I have never seen anything so sweet in my whole life!"

Not Sweet:

I got a call from Rebecca's best friend's mom last night. Apparently, Rebecca has been telling her friend Amelia that she will only be her friend if she wears a certain pair of shoes. So yesterday Amelia arrived in the requested pair of shoes, presented herself to Rebecca, and Rebecca turned away from her saying, "I still don't want to play with you!" Which, as you might imagine, left poor Amelia crushed. So this morning before school I had to give Rebecca the lecture entitled We Do Not Discriminate on the Basis of Footwear or Other Articles of Clothing. I did get her to acknowledge that if her friend did not play with her because of what shoes she was wearing, she would feel bad. However she kept trying to argue the specific example with me, as if she has some strange rationale in her head that while yes, we should not choose our friends on the basis of footwear, in this *particular case* there are mitigating factors. I am not exactly sure how the Footwear Drama is going to play out today... All I can say is, if preschool involves this much drama, I can't wait for middle school...