Errands, Swimming, and Burgers

That about sums up our Saturday. Joel had to work this morning, and I took the kids out to do some shopping. We got most of Ben's school supplies -- he has this Kindergarten school supply list, which specifies in great detail everything he needs down to brand name, quantity, even color (such as "1 100 sheet count wide ruled marble composition book - red." If I had gotten him a green one, what would have happened? Would he start kindergarten with an automatic strike against his name? The kid who brought the wrong color marble composition book to class? Not wanting to take any chances, I passed over green, orange, and black and got him the red one. The list specified four folders with holes, but since no color was specified I let him pick Transformer ones. I hope that is okay.

After the school supplies, we purchased a necessity for our upcoming 10 hour drive to Philadelphia next weekend -- a dual screen car DVD system.... it comes with two nine inch DVD players that strap to the back of the driver & passenger headrests. They plug into the cigarette lighter, and can be connected together to play the same DVD on both players, or they can be used separately to play a DVD in each one. After explaining to Ben that this was only going to be used on long car rides, and not every day, I hooked it up to familiarize myself with it and make sure I knew how everything worked.

So for the rest of the day (to and from the pool and to and from dinner) the kids got treated to one of Ben's DVDs (Krypto the Superdog, which they both like) while we rode in the car. It was totally creepy because neither child uttered a peep -- at least not directed at me -- during any of these four car rides. Becca did squeal with delight a bit, and when we got into the car after dinner and the DVD player started she clapped and said "I got my doggie back!" I am not sure if she was referring to the Krypto the Superdog DVD or the fact that when you turn on the DVD player a pair of dogs shows on the screen while the DVD is loading. Anyway, they were both enthralled by it, and it's coming out of my car first thing tomorrow and not coming out again except for long car trips.

This afternoon, after errands and naps were finished, we met friends at the pool and then all went to dinner together. We went to Big Daddy's which we'd never been to before and is supposed to have really good hamburgers. Well, let me tell you -- THEY HAVE REALLY GOOD HAMBURGERS! I don't even really like hamburgers all that much, to be honest with you, but I had this hamburger that had fresh mozzerella, and pesto, and tomatoes, and onions, and pickles... let me tell you, it was the best hamburger I have ever had! I ate every last crumb. The kids (all four) were all very well behaved which gave the adults a nice chance to talk and enjoy our meals.

So to sum up -- Good day. Good Burger. Mmmmm....

Becca Update

Becca is doing much better -- thank goodness corneal abrasions heal quickly! She was totally back to her old self by yesterday afternoon and her eye looks completely healed now. She's also adjusting to her new school, although she still fusses when I drop her off. Her drop-off fits are getting less strenuous though, and as soon as I leave she gives up and gets on about the business of having fun. She attended her first preschool Shabbat this morning, which I hear she enjoyed very much (lots of singing involved, and challah... Rebecca's two favorite things: music and carbohydrates - what's not to love?)

The summer is flying by - Hard to believe Ben only has one week of camp left! And a week from right now, we'll be on our way North to visit family and friends in Philly...

Becca on Drugs

Becca has had a bit of a rough day... She woke up screaming in pain around 11pm last night, and it seemed apparent that she'd scratched her eye somehow while sleeping. She would settle down after a few minutes and sleep for a half hour, then wake up screaming just as loudly. This pattern continued till about 2:30 am, when she fell asleep until 7am and then woke up vigorously screaming again. I decided that listening to her scream for 2 hours until her pediatrician's office opened was not an option, so we loaded both kids up and headed for the ER.

Once there Becca was examined by a "student doctor" who looked at everything except her eye and suggested that maybe she was teething or had an ear infection. We politely disagreed, and pointed out the fact that she was holding her hand to her eye and screaming "My eye! My eye!" He didn't seem quite convinced and went to round up his attending for a second opinion.

The attending was fortunately a bit brighter. She gave Becca some Versed to calm her down (Becca became very happy and uncoordinated) and it still took 3 people to hold her down for the eye exam. The exam showed a big corneal abrasion right in the middle of her left eye. Once confirmed, she received a prescription pain medication which knocked her out for about three and a half hours, and I managed to get Ben to camp (who I should mention spent the two hours at the ER watching TV in the exam room and being very good).

I am happy to report that Becca, now awake, is no longer screaming and clutching her eye, though she does whimper every now and then and say "My eye again!" very pitifully. Hopefully we will all sleep better tonight and she'll be able to go back to school tomorrow. I am supposed to follow up with an opthamologist, and she's got antibiotic cream and more prescription pain meds (though we're hoping she'll be okay with just Motrin).

First Day

Today was Rebecca's first day at her new school. She was quite happy as we made our way into the building, but then grew increasingly apprehensive as she slowly realized we were there to drop her off this time, instead of Ben. She didn't want to let go of me, so finally I had to (unfortunately) hand her over kicking and screaming to one of her teachers. It was rough, but I was confident that she'd be fine. When I picked her up at the end of the day her teachers reported that she'd had a good first day overall -- a little clingy and some crying here and there, but she ate well, slept well, and seemed to be enjoying herself for the most part. I am sure she will have a great time once she adjusts to her new surroundings. I'll update again at the end of the week!

Birthday Surprise

For those of you wanting to know (Kathleen), Joel took me to Blue for dinner last night, where I had the most delicious meal ever, so delicious (and filling) in fact that I have only had to eat once today... hmm maybe that's not good... Anyway, I had the crabcake appetizer, the poached pear and baby arugula salad, the filet with risotto, and two desserts -- an orange flavored creme brulee and the molton chocolate cake which was definitely the best chocolate cake I've ever had! After dinner we saw Mamma Mia! at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, tickets courtesy of Joel's parents (thanks guys!!) We stayed downtown overnight, and slept until 10am this morning, a feat not accomplished (simultaneously anyway) since the days before kids...

Almost Famous

Click here (It is the online version of the JCC's fall program guide) and scroll down to the big black and white picture on the second page... yes, the boy with the deer-in-headlights look is mine!

Kid Free

In a couple of hours Joel and I will be KID FREE for a whole 24 hours courtesy of Nanny and Papa (Joel's parents) who are hosting a sleepover tonight. I am not sure what we're doing exactly, as it's a surprise for my birthday but I am looking forward to it! Despite this adorable face, she's being quite a little pain in the butt this morning and her brother's not being much better... But I am sure I will miss them anyway! (A little).