Too much excitement

January 25, 2008

As I write this, I can feel the exhaustion dragging at me. It has been a far too exciting night. It started at about 10:30 pm. We have a monitor in Xander's room and at about 10:30, I heard a high pitched sound, almost a squeal, coming from his room. So I went into check on him. He was in distress. I picked him up and brought him into the bedroom. Tom got up and got the nebulizer and we used it on him. He was very good. When the first dose was done, we put him in a warm bath and called the doc. The doc on call (not Dr. Oriel) said that we could use the nebulizer every 20 minutes but that we might want to get him to the ER. Given that we were both exhausted and I thought it probably a BAD idea that we drive, we tried using the nebulizer again. He seemed better, though still hoarse, so I took him back to his room and lay down with him. Then at some time around 1:30 (Tom says) he woke up in acute distress. Tom got the nebulizer out again but Xander began to scream and cry about how his tummy hurt. He was hysterical and his breathing was beyond labored. So we called 911. The firemen came and continued the treatments, adding oxygen. When he appeared to getting worse rather than better, they called Medic One. Medic One arrived, assessed him (by this point there were 9 people in that tiny bedroom of ours) and concluded that he needed to go the ER. Through it all, Xander was a trooper -- exhausted but doing his best to respond to what was being requested of him. They got us (Xander and I. Tom stayed home with Jason, who had awakened just as we were leaving) into the MedicOne Van and I sat on the gurney with Xander, wrapped in his Nemo blanket, clutching his bunny and wearing his nebulizer mask, on my lap. Half way to the Hospital, Xander decided that he liked the young medic who was riding in back with us and began to sing to her.
We got to the ER and went straight in. The Medic gave the nurse the history then, explaining to Xander that she would be back to check on him, went off to fill out paperwork. Then the Dr. came in -- Steve Johnson, I believe his name is. He was very good, very calm. He explained to Xander that he needed to check him out. He listened to Xander's chest -- 'Whoa! Did you swallow a frog? It sounds like you have a frog in there!' he said. Xander gave him a quizzeled look and said 'No, I think it was probably a Bumblebee!' The nurse started choking and had to turn away. The doctor didn't even blink. 'A Bumblebee! Thats not good.' Then he examined Xander's throat and nose -- 'Do you have any boogers in there?' he asked. 'No.' Xander said solemnly 'I ate them all.' Choke. All this time, Xander had been wearing the nebulizer. By this point he had had about 8 treatments + oxygen.
After examining Xander, the doctor turned to me. 'We are going to give him some medicine and a different breathing treatment. It sounds like asthma but there also seems to be a croup component. It doesn't sound like pneumonia. We will give him the treatments and wait about an hour. If he improves, we will send him home. If not, we will need to admit him to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital.
Xander was then given a nasty tasting combo of steroids and codeine cough medication plus anti-nausea meds. He drank it like a trooper. The nurse told him he could have a popsicle for being so brave and asked him if he liked green? He said 'Yes, I like all colors.' She smiled and brought him a lime popsicle. At that point the young medic came back to say 'Goodbye'. She saw that he was eating a popsicle and said 'Oh, Lime is my favorite!' Xander smiled and said 'It is one of my favorites too!' The nurse, who was looking in said, 'He likes all the colors. Aren't we lucky?' The Medic grinned and nodded, 'Oh yes. That IS lucky!' She said 'Goodbye' and Xander allowed as how he would 'like a little quiet'. I turned the light off and he snuggled down with his bunny.
About 10 - 15 minutes passed. The breathing tech showed up. He explained that he was going to give Xander an 'Epi' treatment and asked if Xander had ever used an inhaler. I said 'No' but that I think he could try. The Tech was doubtful but said 'I'm willing.' And guess what? My little trooper did it. He was beginning to get restless towards the end of the process but held out when the tech told him that, when he was finished, the tech would set it up so that Xander could give his bunny a breathing treatment. That was a treat. He finished up and then very seriously administered saline to his bunny. ( The breathing treatment intrigued him because, as I pointed out to him, he was being allowed to 'drink the clouds' as he had always wanted to do!)
A short while later -- sometime around 5:15 am, the doctor came in and examined him. His o2 level was at 90-95% so they decided that they could send him home. He thanked everyone but was VERY happy to leave. Tom and Jason came to collect us and, Jason informed me, Jason told his father to 'park close so that Xander doesn't have to be out in the cold air for too long.' Xander fell asleep in the car.
So now it is 8 am. Xander is sleeping. His breathing sounds rough again. I have propped him up and that seems to be helping. I hope it is. We were given 3 days dose of steroids for him and told to nebulize him every four hours. We were also warned that tonight may be rough. I fear that they are right. I have called the doctor and left a message. Now we will see what we will see. I should check our supply of albuterol -- make sure that it is current. I should probably get some more as well. This has been too much excitement. Even now I feel like crying -- maybe that is partly because I am so dead tired but partly... oh well.

Images from Egypt

So what have we been doing 'in school?' Well, currently we are studying Egypt. Jason was quite surprised to realize that the Africa map does not show the White Nile, only the Blue. We have read about how the two rivers join to create the 'Great' Nile that flows through Egypt -- And yesterday, we watched a National Geographic Special called 'The Mysteries of Egypt.' That was a wonderful show, narrated by Omar Shariff, it talked about the history of Ancient Egypt, its Mummies, Pharoahs, Pyramids and fall. There was also a special segment afterwards on the making of the Imax film -- soon to be showing at the Pacific Science Center. I have promised Jason we will go.

Meanwhile, we have been reading a lot -- Jason has read me two novellas -- Mummies in the Morning and Tut Tut. I have two I am going to read to him... and maybe he can read a bit of them himself. They are 'The Golden Goblet' and 'A Place in the sun.' Then there are all the picture books -- and we have found several truly lovely ones:
The Scarab's Secret
The Winged Cat
Muti's Necklace
Tutankhamen's Gift
Both boys have enjoyed these books, though I think that the Scarab's secret came out as their favorite.

And we have built with legos. Here is a picture of the three projects completed -- a pyramid, with yellow outside bricks to represent the pyramid's link to the sun, a canal barge for carrying the Pharoah down the Nile, and the Sphinx. The first and the last, I helped to build. They were hours long projects and man! Was I sore afterwards!

January 17, 2007 - More news is some news!

The drama continues:

The other day, while at a meal -- cannot now remember whether it was lunch or dinner -- Xander held up his spoon in one hand, fork in the other and announced 'And now I SHALL CONQUER THE WORLD!'

Without a blink, standing at the sink, I replied 'No. According to the Internet site on World Conquest, you can't do that until you have finished your food -- ALL UP!'

Xander looked askance at me.

Jason, quick as a wink: 'Yeah, because if you don't eat it all up, you won't have the energy for conquering the world.'

Xander, still somewhat suspicious, looking from brother to mother: 'And then what?'

Jason, glancing at me 'And then you have to get Mom's permission. It says so in the book -- 'No world conquest without your mother's permission.''

Xander was NOT impressed. 'I'm done then.' he said 'Can I go play?' And off he went, to conquer the legos pile.

_________________

Then, this morning, after using the toilet, he went dancing down the hall, singing something loudly. It sounded...odd. So I asked him (my mistake) what it was he was singing. He gave me his under the eyebrows grin and said 'The power of underpants is that you can take your penis out!' Seeing my face, the imp chortled and charged the rest of the way down the hall singing his risque song. Sigh. Will I never learn?

_________________

It has been hard, though, recently, what with Tom working ungodly hours. Hard on him, no doubt -- he is tired and stressed. Hard on the boys, though, as well. The other night, after several nights of not seeing daddy before bed, Xander burst into tears. 'I want to hug my Daddy!' I suggested, without thinking to carefully, I admit, that I could be a 'pretend Daddy' and I could give him a surrogate hug. He thought about that a bit and decided that that would do. His elder brother, however, was having none of it. 'I don't WANT you to be Daddy! I want you to be Mommy and I want Daddy home!' Sigh.

Earlier, Xander had offered to 'punch Boeing in the nose' if they kept Daddy away in Singapore too long. (Both boys were worrying that Tom would be there during Christmas. Thank heavens the wasn't!) Jason explained that that wasn't feasible because Boeing was too big, too many people. Xander's response was 'line'em up!' He is occasionally terrifying.

Thank heavens for Little Boys

Oh, I know that I am getting old. My bones remind me of this constantly. The other day I was on the floor for several hours, helping Jason construct a Legos Sphinx as part of our unit on Egypt. When I stood up, I almost couldn't. Sigh. So yesterday, I decided to try stretching. I got out the Tai Chi Video that I had borrowed from the library and went through the 'Warm Up' portion. Sad to say, my muscles are so tight that I am still sore from doing it.But it is a better kind of sore, one I recognize from my running days so I will do it again... and again... and again...

But enough about me and my aches:> Time to talk about boys and about the funny things that accompany their days...

The first story involves both boys. We were sitting at the breakfast table when, for no reason that I could discern, Jason said 'I don't think Goldilocks behaved very well.' Huh? He went on to explain that he thought her behavior in going in uninvited and then using the bears' furniture and eating their food was wrong... and that running away when confronted with her behavior was even more so. Xander, who had, of course, been listening intently, allowed as how, maybe she was scared that they would be mad (which, of course, they were!) Xander does not like 'mad' -- it is the only thing, apart from death, that truly scares him. Jason allowed that that might be so but that she should've thought about that BEFORE she took their things. I suggested that part of the problem was that she was lost, hungry and scared and had gone in seeking shelter. Jason said 'She should've waited until they came home and asked.' Then he asked 'Why was she lost?' Oh, man! I had to dredge into my memory of the story... I said I thought that her parents had been working and that she had gotten bored and wandered off. Jason thought about this and then allowed as how, if it had been him, he would either have offered to help his parents OR if he couldn't do that, he'd've told them where he was going. Xander, thinking intently this whole time, allowed as how, if it had been him, he'd've had a BIG stick and played Jedis close to Mom and Dad. Jason agreed that that was probably the best solution and I just stared in astonishment. Boys.

That same day, while I was attempting to get things put away from a grocery run (Xander was exhausted, not having napped and the day was too grey and rainy for them to go out again), Jason collected his copy of Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Wicked Wedgie Woman and proceeded to read it to his brother... from cover to cover! That took about an hour or so. I was amazed and impressed with both of them. Xander sat and listened intently for most of it -- though there was one bit that he decided he didn't like and so he got up and ran about until that bit was finished. Jason just read and read. And then, when it was time for bedtime books, he volunteered to read more chapters of 'Tut, Tut' -- the second 'novel' that he is reading for the Egypt unit. I allowed as how I wasn't sure that Xander wanted that and Jason said, in that voice all avid readers will recognize, 'But I want to know what happens!' He has certainly taken to reading.

Updates on the year

(Here are the boys in the Santa Suits that their Nonna Donna made for them)

Hmm

Let me see: Mom came for Christmas. Sorry to say I was a grouch. Tom had been shipped off to Singapore for a week plus prior to her arrival (He actually returned several days after she got here) and I was at the hair pulling point. At any rate, a day or two after she got here, we took the boys to the McDonald's playspace in Issaquah (opps, almost spelled it with an 'a' -- Jason has given me grief about that in the recent past:>). The space there is large -- to quote one of the boys' friends 'it is as tall as a sky scraper!' While we were there, Mom and I sitting below while the boys played in, around and above, the following event occured... Xander, who had been charging around, came down to his grandmother and, with his hands on his hips, said 'Did you see how I stood up to that bully? I don't like bullies and I never have!' Mom was slightly confused. Then Jason came down and the story was explained. It seems that a slightly older boy got angry at Xander. I am not sure what precisely occured but it offended Xander's sense of self. Being Xander, though, he was proactive. He went down and collected a group of other children then set off in search of the boy. When Jason came on them, the kids were 'confronting the bully' with Xander in the lead. Jason intervened, explaining gently that just because someone gets mad doesn't necessaryily mean that they are a bully. Apparently this intervention took because a short while later, I saw Xander playing with the boy in question... go figure.

More recently I was informed by my successful negotiator that when I sing (in the guise of Missy Coyote) I sound 'like a sheep with discomfort' -- a bad play on words around the idea of 'distemper'... yes, he kknow what distemper is. He has heard about it via Hank the Cowdog. Amazing what one learns from the series. We are planning to do a Texas/Cowboy unit centered around the book. Should be fun, with lots of possibilities.

Right now, however we are deep in Egypt once again. Jason has become fascinated with Indiana Jones (there is a fourth movie coming out in May) and archeology. At the moment, he is building a legos 'maze' pyramid. I have found, on the web, instructions for making mud bricks (to scale) and for using them to build a scale model of the Great Pyramid at Giza. I know what our weekend project is going to be!!!