Newest mad moments

Sigh, it is really too early in the morning for this. I just clicked to the fact that our clock in the bedroom is set 1/2 an hour early. That means when we get up at '4 am' we are really getting up at 3:30! No wonder the coffee pot hasn't turned on yet...

Anyway, though I am wiped out and want nothing more than to return to bed and sleep, I figure I should use this quiet time to get something written here, there having been so many things that have happened recently.

First, a Xander story: I was talking with Tom the other night about having mercifully repressed the deaths of some of my animal friends. Xander, who listens even when you think he is not, suddenly piped up:
'When I was this (holding fingers barely a pinch apart) big, I had a pet that died.'
We looked at him, as deer look into headlights. 'Hmmm?'
'Yes. My pet cucumber.'
'What?!' with a choke.
' My Pet cucumber' he explained, 'She was a dog, and she liked cats and children. But...' he trailed off sadly, 'she died of alamonia.'
So now, I was caught. 'Alamonia'
'Yeah' he said 'Like in Hank'
(He is referring here to the 'Hank the Cowdog' series of books)
'Ah,' I said, light dawning, 'you mean Pneumonia!'
Tom, who had been listening to this interplay, couldn't resist 'What is so New about it? Its
been around for centuries!'
Xander looked from Tom to me, waiting an explanation.
I threw Tom a stifling glare and said 'Pneumonia is the illness, love. Alimony is something
else entirely.'
Xander, who can be VERY interested in words, decided not to pursue this particular line of thought, thank heavens and instead decided to expand on his 'Pet Cucumber' stories.

Flash forward: I take Jason to baseball practice. When we get home, Tom informs me that he and Xander had had a conversation about his ex-dog and that the dog's name was actually 'cucumber' but Xander called her 'Pet Cucumber' for short....
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In other news, Jason has decided to start writing poetry, again. There is a poetry contest through the local library system. People submit poems, they are judged and then, in May, there is a 'Poetry Coffee House' where people come and read their poetry to an audience. So now we are going to have a mini unit on poetry for the next week -- with lots of readings of poetry -- and Jason is going to keep a poetry notebook. When he has a satisfactory collection, he will select from amongst it and we will submit it. Should be an interesting process. Thank heavens for the electric typewriter. It makes it much easier for Jason to write.

There is also a book writing contest called 'Written and Illustrated by...' We have read a few of the books from the series and, in fact, one of Jason and Xander's favorite authors, Dav Pilkey, was one of the early winners. So I guess we are submitting for that as well!

All this writing and creative output comes on top of all of Jason's other activities: He is playing Little League (with me as coach), he is taking Tae Kwon Doe two days a week, he is in Tiger scouts every Tuesday, Swimming TTH, we have Earth Scouts once a month and Legos club twice a month. Man, I am getting exhausted just thinking about it all.

Little League Coaching

Occasionally I am overcome with bouts of complete insanity. That must've been the case when I signed up to coach Jason's little league team -- 13 seven and eight year old boys! Tom, thank heavens, can take Xander off, most of the time because he has announced that HE should be on the field as well...

So here I am. We have had two practices and we have more this month -- every weekend day and a couple of weekdays. Then games start on the 31st and run through the middle of June. Jason should be getting enough exercise though -- swimming starts today and he wants to take Martial Arts as well which are TTH and Saturday. (The nice thing about the Saturday class is that Tom can take it with him!)

Oh heavens! Wish us all luck! I am still sore from two days of running with/after little boys for an hour and a half each day. My one hope is that I may actually lose weight -- and do it without further injuring my knee... Well, my biggest hope is that Jason and the other boys enjoy playing:>

A Roman Vignette

Okay, so there I was, sitting on the couch doing schoolwork. Out of the hall marches Jason. He is swathed in scarves. He stops and poses before me smiling. I blink. 'I am a Roman Senator' he announces and marches off back down the hall. Then here comes Xander, also swathed in scarves. 'I am a Roman Senator too!'

'I guessed' I replied, 'What is your name?'

'Julius Ceasar' and off he marches.

I sit there blinking. Here comes Jason. He looks sad.

'I need a name too!' he tells me.

'Umm... how about Cicero?' (Now WHY did I suggest that?!)

Sunshine fills his face. 'CICERO! YEA!' and off he goes.

That evening, I tell Tom the story. He looks at me solemnly.

'Didn't Ceasar conquer Egypt too?'

' Well, yeah, I guess, sort of' I respond decisively.

He walks away, shaking his head and muttering 'This is getting spooky!'

Arizona Trip and Aftermath

February 22, 2008

Wow! It has been awhile since I wrote -- and so much has happened in the interim. Course since no one save me reads this thing, I don't suppose it matters much:>

Anyway, let me see:

We left for Arizona on Feb 7. Just days before Jason had woken with ear pain and when we took him to see the doc, it turned out that he had dual ear infections going. Now the current thinking is that one should leave ear infections alone but I said 'No, we are getting on a plane in a couple of days and I KNOW what can result from burst ear drums. No.' So the nurse practitioner put him on antibiotics. She also checked Xander's ears at the time. They were clear.... then!

Well, Jason woke at 3:00 am on the morning we were to leave -- which was fine as we had to be at the airport by 5 am at the latest. We ended up having to wake poor Xander though. He recovered from that, however, given the excitement of a car ride in the dark, a ride on a bus, a train and then a plane. Actually, by that point, he was close to ecstatic!

The flight was more or less uneventful. Jason and Tom spent it playing the DS and the Leapster L-Max. Xander spent it drawing. On the descent, however, I began to suspect that I had an ear infection -- and by the time we landed, I was sure of it. Ouch! On top of the discomfort, however, there was the fact that I was now deaf in my left ear. (Turns out, I still am!)

We picked up the rental car and our suitcases and drove to the hotel in Apache Junction. There was Mom, all primed and waiting. The boys, of course, did not fall asleep in the car as I had hoped so we told them that they had to rest for awhile before going out to the pool. Tom, Jason and Xander all fell asleep:> When they woke, several hours later, we dressed and went to the pool and everyone had quite a bit of fun. However, when we were getting out of the pool to go change for dinner, Xander began to complain of ear pain... and at dinner that night, he threw up. Sigh. He slept fairly well and the next day we went to the Ren Fest.

The weather was gorgeous, bright and sunny. We wandered at will -- Xander with me and Jason with Tom while Mom sort of wove in and out around us:> By noon, however, the littlest one was wearing out. Lots of noise and excitement. He declined the Joust -- was too tired and hungry so I left Tom and Jason to watch it and took Xander to find some food. Despite some miscommunications, we found each other in the end and were able to get everyone back to the car. Xander was asleep by the time we got to the hotel.

That night Xander woke complaining again of pain and this time, though it was Sunday morning at 2 am, I climbed in the car and drove until I found an all night Pharmacy. Got pain meds and decongestants and headed back. (Jason on Elepant)

The next morning, we got in the car and headed for Tucson. It was near lunch time when we got to the outskirts so we decided to stop at Tucson Mall and let the boys play at the playspace. That went well though Xander encountered a nasty 2 year old who went about pinching and pushing people. When his father was confronted with his behavior (for a second time) his response was that the other kids should've done it back. Gads! No wonder there are bullies in the world!

We ate lunch and headed to Mom's house. Once again, Xander was gone when we got there. He slept, poor tyke, and woke up fairly late -- but thrilled to be at G'ma Pat's. She is one of his most favorite people in the world. While we were in Tucson, he said 'I want to move here and live here. It has sunshine, warmth, and Gma Pat!' Such company my mother keeps!

We had a busy time -- the zoo, Old Tucson studios, the Desert Museum and an abortive trip to Urgent Care (never got seen) when I decided that I did not look forward to having both Xander and myself on a plane with ear infections. :? We even had a couple of not so busy days when what we did was go to the Bookstore and then to a nearby park. We saw Dad a couple of times but Joan was busy trying to arrange for her father's care and was unable to get away.

Then it was time to leave. Sigh. The good news was that we returned to sunshine, if somewhat colder weather. The bad news was that we left Gma behind and that Daddy had to go to work the next day.

And then, just to keep things even -- I got sicker. After some gentle nudging, I finally went to the Doctor on the 20th. He said that there was an ear infection and that it looked like, since it hadn't been treated, it had spread throughout my system. Oh, joy! So now I am on antibiotics -- Xander is too though in his case (Thank Heavens) the ear infection apparently cleared itself up and all he is battling at this point is a sinus infection! Gawk. And here I was thinking we'd dodged the winter bullet. No such luck, it seems.

Now we are home, the sun is still shining, the weather is still cold. I am deaf in my left ear and may have to tolerate that for a couple of months until the fluid behind the ear drum (if that is what is causing the deafness) gets reabsorbed. Xander is recovering with lots of sleep as is Jason and Tom, that iron man, is back to working late hours.

As it was, we messed up Tom's bday. I was sick and had a late doctor's appointment. We did get him a happy birthday banner and a cake but had to eat the cake the following night (late) because of how late we got home from the doctor's appt and dinner. And then, on Saturday we will go over to his parents' place for a small bday celebration. I pointed out that while it wasn't a great fantastic party -- it certainly is turning into a long one:> Sort of like most of our parties these days.

Update -- February 4

It is 5:53 am and here I am again, attempting to get some writing done before the crowds arise and the day begins.

Well, post ER... we all became sick. Tom slept, or at least, lay down, for most of the weekend. The rest of us went around feeling miserable -- me with a blazing headache and stopped up ears and the boys with sore throats, coughs and sneezles. The worst part for them, I think, was having sick parents. We weren't much fun, I know. Hopefully our 'lazy' days will ensure that we are healthy when we get on the plane on friday. MEANWHILE... I have a zillion things to do that didn't get done this weekend. Sigh. Isn't that always the case?

Nonetheless, I am happy to report that the boys are getting better and so am I. Tom, I worry about. He is still abed, still sleeping and plans to work from home today.

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.

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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?

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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!!!