Cap't Jack and Willie the Kid

A Fishing We Will Go

2011-08-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Today The Captain and his dad crawled out of bed at the wee hour of 4:30am to make a charter boat trip at 6am. It will be the first time The Cap't has been on a boat and that him and his dad have gone fishing together. Of course preparations needed to be taken before 4:30am because who uses their brain at this ungodly hour? Extra clothes were packed, lunches were made. (Two peanut butter & nutella sandwiches for the Cap't for those wondering) Camera was given and they were only reminded about 20 times to take pictures which means I'll be lucky to get one grainy picture of my husband's phone. The Cap't was fairly eager to hop out of bed but was, of course, full of several rambling questions and statements. "I will need a life jacket." "Yes, they will have them there." "Are they the yellow ones? Will it fit? What if I don't like it? Can't I bring my own?" "If you want to go on the boat you have to wear the kind they have like everyone else." "Okay. Well, I need my fishing pole." "They will have them there. You're is too small. It is the kind for fishing off docks and in lakes." "They have bigger ones than MINE?! Awesome!!" The inquiry and expressions did not stop until they left the house and I'm pretty sure they went on for the 1 hour drive. Of course I went back to bed and after laying down for awhile I realized, I too, had questions. What if the Cap't gets seasick? I didn't pack any medicine for that? What if his feet get wet? He doesn't have extra socks. I didn't remind my husband that the Cap't has never been on a boat before. (Only a ferry) He needs to be extra careful so the child doesn't fall over. On and on this went in my head until I finally went back to sleep. Then around 6:58am I was woken up by a naked 3 year old wanting to play games on my phone.

Miles of Milestones

2011-06-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Friday was the last day of preschool for the Captain. The last, last day. As in no more preschool. Ever. I think this is harder for me than it is him. I feel like an anomaly in this situation. It seems like all the other moms are excited to be moving on. Maybe I just have a hard time with change, but moving on to kindergarten just seems so HUGE. The part of me that has a need for control is freaking out. Preschool was just so contained. Like he was in some sort of safety bubble. uninfluenced by any "bad" kids. I remember when he first started preschool at 2 1/2. Both of us were excited and couldn't wait to have time away from each other. We waved and smiled and off he went. There were ups and downs but with each year he wanted more and more and loved it. I wanted so badly for him to have a great first school experience and he did! Better than I ever imagined. So on Friday it was just so bittersweet and I cried with the teacher. I never thought we'd make it to that day. Some kids cried too, but the captain stay strong and smiled. I had prepared him for this day and put on the happy mom face when talking about kindergarten at a new school. So when everyone around him was crying he held firm and with all confidence said, "it's okay mom because I'm going to come back and visit all the time." As we left school that day we walked with other moms and kids to get slurpees. The day had been filled with carnival games and sunshine. Of course we had to end with a slurpee. What else could we do? Then, like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, the class teacher comes over and sits with the kids and we get her a slurpee too! It was a perfect memory to end the day. Now, I'm sure you're wondering how The Kid fared through all this. Being as it was his first YEAR of preschool. I was soo nervous to leave him that first day. I cried all the way home. Then I sat by the phone certain they would call me with news of an injury. The weeks went on and I never once got called to come! Success! The teacher and I both laughed about those first few weeks. Confessing how nervous we both secretly were. Holding our breath the first time he used scissors and climbed up the slide ladder. Seems so silly now as we watched him run around the play yard. So for me, this school year felt like miles of milestones. Now onto the next new adventure!

The Magical Musical Box

2011-04-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

Normally this time of year I would be passionately talking about my ever growing garden. Seeds starting to sprout, new bed being built, flora and fauna, etc. Not this year. It seems we are no longer in Kansas anymore Toto. Wait, maybe we are in Kansas! So far we've had sun, rain, sleet, hail and snow. All in one day. We are just missing the tornado and I'm certainly not hoping for that! With all the crazy weather here in the PNW, it sadly means we've been stuck inside for way too long. I've been starting to run out of creative indoor activities. We've done the art and craft box, we've done the cardboard boxes, we've even done a garage sand box (under the bed box w/ lid and wheels. Fill with 1 bag of sand. Play in garage in the rain. It's portable.) We have now moved on to The Music Box. This is a toy box filled with a collection of musical instruments, and not the ones you normally think of. There are no tubas, or trombones in this box. Think Kindermusik style instruments. Sticks, and bars, and clackerheads! Below is the list of our magical marching band. Put on costumes, blast some music and bang away!

The Magical Musical Toy box

2 drums, 1 wooden with mallets, 1 plastic with plastic sticks

2 tambourines, big and small

4 seashell castinets

2 clackerheads

2 shaker eggs (we had more but the cats hid them)

1 set of bars with mallets.

4 jingle bells, differing shapes and sizes

spoons, the kind that smack together

2 harmonicas, 1 plastic, 1 metal

1 slide whistle

1 kazoo

1 recorder

2 sets of sticks, big and small

2 sets of sand blocks

wooden spoon with wooden bowl

6 shakers, random collection

2 sets of guiros frogs

An assortment of bowls and spoons from the kitchen sneak out during our jam session as well. After an hour of this, I'm pretty sure I've met my gym quota for the day and the kids are sure to be ready for lunch!

A Filmaker in the Family

2011-04-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Last week The Cap't came to me and told me he wanted to make a lego movie. I gave him my camera and set it to video and told him to go at it. After about 5 minutes he cam back and said, "no mom. I don't want to be in the movie. I want to make the kind where the legos move by themselves." I realized what he wanted to do was make a stop motion movie. Think Gumby or Mr. Bill. So we went to the internet and found a plethora of links to teach us how to make a lego stop motion. So again I gave the Cap't my camera, set it to auto, put it on the tripod and showed him how to frame the picture. We spent about 5 minutes together and then I left him to his own devices. He spent 2 days taking about 350 pictures. He picked out music and I dictated dialog. He made all the decisions, with my guidance. The pictures were then uploaded. We deleted the bad ones and I transferred them to imovie. From there the magic happened! Below is the final product! A little over 3 minutes, the Cap't has his creative collective out for the world to see! Enjoy!

Birthday with Friends

2011-01-31T20:50:00.000-08:00

Some days I feel like I've woken up to some sort of weird experiment or at best, a kooky Japanese game show. Just when I think challenging times are behind me, wham-o! "Let's see what happens when we do this!" What does this all mean, you ask? Let me explain...Middle of last week we had a new sectional delivered. Woohoo! The Kid and I were home and were positioning into, well, position! I went upstairs for a moment when suddenly I heard a sickening, thud. Then, the silent cry that only mom ears can hear. (something like the dog whistle thing.) I raced downstairs and realized The Kid was testing out the bounciness of the cushions, and since I hadn't pushed the mammoth thing against the wall, his face tested out the hardness of the window ledge. Yeah, it's hard. His forehead grew an egg in front of my eyes and by the time we were upstairs, his right eye was looking like he took a left hook in a prize fight. His nose was slowing matching the rest in swollen size. Ugh. Somehow one of the japanese judges was on my side (remember how I'm on a game show?) and had me infuse the child right before the chaos began. I'm sure I have a lot of kharma to make up for that favor! All in all, life went on. Nurses were called, extra infusions were given along with ice, kisses, hugs and a few sweet treats. Fast forward a couple days. (still infusing...) The Kid had turned the big 3. This meant the annual well check. All went well until the doc freaked out over his being 42 solid lbs. Personally it's no big deal. Height and weight all evened out and when I asked her to check out the Captain at age 3, uh yeah, he was about 40. Eventually they stop gorging themselves and stretch. Why do I bother with this obscure moment of well checks, weight, and shots? Yeah, shots. Oh because, the one shot The Kid DID get, left him with CELLULITIS! Cellulitis is a bacterial infection that can become extremely life threatening if not treated. Sunday morning The Kid woke up with an arm almost twice it's normal size! What the hell?! Any parent would freak out over this right? Yes. But I was not freaking out from the usual, "what's-wrong'with-my-kid's-arm!" parent reaction. I was freaking out because his birthday party was in 4 hours and a call to the nurse was sending us to the ER to confirm the cellulitis. Seriously?! I want off this damn game show RIGHT NOW. I forfeit! This was not ANY old birthday party. This was The Kid's first "real" birthday party WITH FRIENDS. I made a fancy cake and cupcakes. Oh no, this was not going down this way. So with encouragement from our nurse who said we can make it we raced off to Seattle. I'm pretty sure I told every medical personnel I came in contact with that it was The Kid's birthday party with friends. When the countdown was zero minus 20 minutes and we were still in the exam room waiting for "Mr. attending doctor" to give us his pope-like blessing to leave, it was time for me to take charge. Somehow I found the guy and convinced him to let us leave while I promised to give the antibiotics that very day from home. Yeah, yeah, sounds good but we have a party to go to! Not sure how we managed it but The Kid and I made it to that party only about 5 minutes late! Take THAT you jerky little bacteria! And your game show!

Post Script: The Kid had a blast. The party was a success and cake and ice cream were happily had by all!

Published!

2011-01-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

I recently wrote an article for our local Kindermusik blog entitled "The Process." This wasn't the first blog post for them but it was the first to really be recognized by complete strangers. As a lover of literature and a (someday)aspiring novelist, it made me proud and feel "published." Not only did it go to our local kindermusik blog but it was asked to be posted on the Kindermusik International blog site as well as another mommy blog in Canada. Heck, my writing has gone international! Woohoo! Below is the article as well as the links to the other blogs. Thanks strangers!

http://studio3music.com/blog/
http://mindsonmusic.kindermusik.com/
http://www.mommyagogo.ca/index.cfm?pagePath=Articles/The__Process_&id=29730

"THE PROCESS"

As a mom of 2 very different boys, one with sensory processing issues and one with a severe bleeding disorder, I know things in my house can be far from considered normal. I remember going to Kindermusik when the older one (with SPD) was little. He was always so BUSY!

It seemed like all the other 6-9 month old babies were happy and content to sit in their mommies’ laps and smile and clap with the music. They would wave as the shakers were put away and smile again when the next song would start. Not my baby. He would crawl around the room, looking under curtains, pulling himself up where ever he could. He’d look for anything out of place to discover and get into. I was practically chasing him around the room!

When shaker time was over, he’d fight to keep that thing in his hand and when the shakers disappeared, he’d scream and cry through the entire next song. I’d quietly soothe him, whispering in his ear. I could feel all the other moms looking at me. Sometimes we’d leave the room until things got calm.

This is when I’d come back and Miss Allison would talk about “The Process.” My younger boy never had this issue, although his deal is to just lie like a log on the floor during the dancing music. Everyone just dances over him like he’s a prop on the carpet. Of course I’m used to being the family that stands out in a crowd. Neither child really follows anything.

After years with Miss Allison and learning from Montessori school, I have become adjusted to knowing what “The Process” really means. At 6-9 months old, the older child was processing everything in his environment. Including the music and songs of Kindermusik. A week or two after learning a new song or dance he’d try mimicking it at home. Not often in class. He was too busy there. Too busy PROCESSING everything.

The little one does the same thing. He may just lay and roll on the floor in class, but on the way home he sings every single word to every song. I learned something else about The Process over these 5 years as well. Letting go of the Perfectionist in myself.

This year's gingerbread house!

After setting out all the supplies for our family gingerbread house, I had ideas of creating a masterpiece, but after several summers of Kindermusik crafts and home art projects I knew the house was going to be anything but that. The boys jumped right in icing and decorating until every bit of candy was either on that house or had been eaten.

Throughout, I kept reminding myself that it’s all about THE PROCESS. I’ve seen other moms do all the gluing and sticking and messy work for their art projects or have a separate “kid’s Christmas tree” so that the “real” tree can look like Martha Stewart’s, and that’s fine. Those trees are beautiful and the projects look just like the originals.

What I’ve learned about The Process is that as much as I want that perfect looking tree and gingerbread house for my very own, I remember the original ones even more. I remember the hand turkey with 3 eyes and feathers on his head but none on the fingers part. The gingerbread house with candy only on one side or only decorated with the blue candies. I remember the Santa picture that I had to be in with my sweats on, hair a mess and no makeup because the little one would not go near the man in the red suit. This is all part of The Process.

The Process, where not only the children are learning and growing and absorbing, but I am too! The perfectionist still wants to fight it but I remember all these things to keep her at bay, and until the children can hang outside Christmas lights on their own, I can still light up the neighborhood in my own Martha Stewart-ness. So the next time you see us dancing to the beat of our own drum, you can stare, it’s okay. We are just processing and making memories while doing it.

-posted by Kindermusik mommy Heidi Forrester, who still hopes her gingerbread house will one day look like the picture on the package.

The Act of Giving

2011-01-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

One night at the dinner table after The Captains birthday and right before Christmas, he announced that he wanted to give some toys away. "For kids that don' have any." I told him that sounded like a great idea. He volunteered to give away 5 so I looked at The Kid and said he should give 3 toys away. (One for each year of age.) He promptly yelled that he was only "2 1/2!!" After a few moments of negotiating we all agreed on 4 toys from The Cap't and 2 toys from The Kid. We left it at that for awhile and got through the mounds of holiday gifts and declared it was finally new year. Back into our normal routine I asked the kids to go to the rooms after dinner and pick out the toys they'd like to send to Kids Without Toys. Surprisingly, they said okay! The Cap't quickly dug around and found a couple of crappy fast food toys and a couple of random toys he pulled out of who-knows-where. I had to praise him for trying. It was really the Act of Giving that I wanted to teach. We'd get to the other stuff later. I went to The Kid's room and pulled out two bins of toys from the closet and asked him to pick two toys to give to some other little boys. Sure enough he picked out two toys and promptly dropped them into the sack. I pause here only to wonder what is going on in their little heads. Hopefully they are so smart that they realize they have so many toys, they could open their own toy store. Really though, it's more like, out of sight, out of mind. The Kid actually picked out two good toys. I hope it doesn't come to bite me in the butt later when he's looking for his Fisher Price rocking guitar or his truck that the kids are convinced hollers "comcast to the rescue!"
Once they finished with this task, I thought, "wow! That was sooo easy! I should do this every week!" Instead I challenged them. "Now go pick out 1 stuffed animal to give to babies." Happily and feeling great about their giving, they yelled "okay!" The Capt came out with some random bear. The Kid came out with a cute red and pink turtle with big sweet eyes. The kids gave this to me last Valentine's Day. I was a little sad about this but I started this and was trying to prove a point. Well. The Capt did NOT want to give the animal up. Let me tell you first off that the kids have not looked through these stuffed animals for months! The cats drag them out on occasion but the kids kind of have their 1 or 2 favorites at bed and that's it. Call me Mean Mommy, but I stood my ground. The turtle was in The Kid's room and he made the choice. The Capt burst into tears and wouldn't stop crying over it! I really started to feel bad. I had to come up with a plan. I decided to let him make a swap. He could save the turtle BUT he would have to give up another stuffed animal. You know what? He did it! And the crying stopped. Maybe the Act of Giving should really be called the Art of Giving. Hm. We will see how it goes the day Salvation Army comes to actually take the stuff away.

Hop on the Potty Train!

2010-09-17T23:04:00.000-07:00

The Kid has pretty much been potty trained for about a year. He still asks when going to the bathroom, "Is this potty training mom?" Uh, no because you are already trained my child. Of course I am only saying this in my head. Out loud I just smile and say "yes! Yes it is!" Lately The Kid has somehow connected potty training with actual TRAINS. Now when peeing in the toilet he creates a whole scenario where his penis is the train and the pee is all the people getting off the train. "Okay" he says, "the people are getting off the train. Look at all the bubbles! There's a lot of people getting off the train!" At first I didn't get it and thought it was weird. Now it's just weirdly funny. Somehow I even worked it into getting him to go potty. "There are still more people that want to get off the train. Go pee."

Burritos On A Hot Day

2010-07-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

I love giving my kids a bath on a hot day. The Capt. is 4 1/2 and The Kid is 2 1/2 and they've always done well bathing together. I don't have to entertain anyone and outside of dousing each other with water and crying about it. They do pretty well. Side note: I have an extra towel on hand for the clean up afterward! Bathing in the tub on a hot day is especially fun because I liked using lukewarm water. Sometimes we have bubbles, sometimes finger paint, either way, it's all good! We have a special ritual after bath time that is what they really like the most. I get each kid out one at a time, dry them off, and wrap them up like a burrito. I scoop them up and pretend to eat them before depositing them on my bed. In the winter the insist on being chalupas. This is when I add an extra blanket to them on the bed and tuck them tight. I don't really know why they like this, but they do. They get a snack and watch a show and then it's bed! Voila! I'm wet and disheveled after all this, but nothing a glass of wine can't cure!

A Lovely Morning for Good Sleepers

2009-08-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

We recently took a weekend trip to Leavenworth. It's a cute little German town a couple hours outside of Seattle. There are rivers and hiking as well as wine tasting, etc. Something for everyone. We rented a cabin near Fish Lake with the Forrester Clan and enjoy some beautiful weather. The kids bunked downstairs near an Aunt and Uncle, while the rest of us were settled in upstairs. The great thing about The Capt and The Kid is that they are great sleepers at home. All is quiet by 7-7:30 and they are usually good for 12 hours. Traveling, not so much! They have a hard time settling down and for some God awful reason they can't stay asleep past 6:30! This trip was no exception. What occured the first morning with Uncle Colin was just priceless! I padded downstairs the first morning to find they were up at their usual traveling hour. Uncle Colin listened to them in their room for at least an hour. He commented that they were so quiet and happily talking and giggling together that he figured we must be with them trying to let everyone sleep. Okay moms, if your kids were quietly in their rooms together, would you think this was a good thing? Yeah. So as soon as he said they sounded happy AND quiet, I knew it was not good. They were happy and quiet because The Captain woke up and brought a whole bucket of red vines into the bedroom for he and his brother to share for "having a good sleep." I would be happy and quiet too if I got to eat red vines all to myself for an hour! What can you do thought, right? That's awsome.

snapshots

2009-08-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

There are some moments amongst the chaos that I would like to freeze in time. Here is one from this week.
At 7am the other morning I laid in bed and listened to the kids waking up. The Kid was calling "mama." At some point when I don't answer he will start yelling, "Heidi!" The Captain usually wakes up talking. What a suprise! When he hears the Kid he goes into his room...."Hi Buddy, did you have a good sleep?" The Kid: "yeah" The Captain: "Okay, stay right here and don't cry, Promise? Don't cry I'll be right back. Promise you won't cry?" I just laid in bed and listened to this. For some reason I just find it cute. What can I say, I'm their mom!

Barney

2009-06-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

This one is for Anne. She liked this little story so much, she thought I should share.
So Th Capt gets TV time. A little in the mornings, a little in the afternoons (in lieu of a nap, ie mommy's sanity break.) and a show before bed if it's been a good day. He sometimes chooses not to watch and if it's a nice day we tend to go outside to play in the sandbox anyway. So. The other morning he's in watching Sprout and a while later he comes to me crying. And I mean the tears were streaming and he was just sobbing. I thought, "oh my god what happened?" So I ask, "what happened?" He tells me, "Mom, I love Barney! Boohoohoowaaah!" Wait. You love Barney. That is why you are crying like you will never see the light of day? You love Barney. I didn't say any of this out loud. Only in my head. Instead I say, "Aw, Barney's a good guy huh? He loves you too buddy." And really he is a good guy. Maybe a little weird but his show does send a good message. (yes, I've watched several. So, anyway, whenever the Capt. watches Barney he always, without fail, hugs and kisses the TV for the "I love you" song at the end. This kid really Loves Barney! So feeling bad and generous I take him to the toy store to find his very own loveable Barney for his very own. AND he sings the "I love you" song. For at least three days afterwards The Capt dragged Barney everywhere and at least twice a day told me, "thank you so much for getting me Barney, Mom." "Awww, you're welcome Bud." I say while chuckling in my head.

Kevin

2009-05-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

So this is a conversation the Captain and I had a few days ago. It's still hard to explain without crying. Because I just laugh too damn much every time!

Capt: Mom, where's Kevin?
Me: I don't know. Who is Kevin?
Capt: No no, where is Kevin?
Me: I don't know. Where IS Kevin?
Capt: NO! Kevin mom. You know, Kevin!
Me: No. I don't know. You mean Kevin from Sprout? On the birthday show?
Capt: No, not the guy. Kevin. You know. Up in the clouds.
Me: (laughing so hard I'm pretty sure I might pee my pants.) Ooooh! You mean Heaven!
Capt: Yeah, Kevin, Heaven. Where is it?
Me: Um, yeah it's up in the sky waaay past the clouds.
Capt: Oh, okay.

We are not a religious family so we don't talk about Heaven or God or anything like that yet. We do have a book called Ten Little Fish and since the only thing that rhymes with Seven is Heaven, that is where the 7th fish goes. Hm, maybe the fish COULD go with Kevin from the birthday show. He seems pretty fun.

The Box

2009-05-12T20:14:00.001-07:00

A box is never just a box at our house. Sometimes I think we like getting things just for the size of the box! WE've had spaceships, trains, caves, tents and other creative adventures with our boxes. Many time I just give the Capt and the Kid washable markers and let them go at it. In fact I think the Kid thinks boxes are strictly for coloring on. The latest box came from our Radio Flyer wagon. I liked the box because it meant I could put the wagon together by myself without having additional "help." Our boxes also last for days and sometimes weeks, just not necessarily in the same form. The newest box started out as a puppet theatre. I cut a hole near the top on one side for the puppets and a hole near the bottom for the puppet master. We all took turns in the box and in the audience. The next day the puppet show became an "old dog house" before getting crashed and smashed upon. By the next day the box was in several pieces that were perfect for the Kid to sit on and color all around himself.
In the afternoon it was cut up into even smaller pieces by the Captain who like to just cut with scissors. The smaller the pieces the better. Our boxes slowly and secretly end up in the recycling bin. If either kid were to see the box dumped into the container, well, they'd cry. We love our magical boxes.

World Hemophlia Day/ What Is Normal?

2009-04-17T08:13:00.001-07:00

What is Normal?
I ask this because there are many times in a mom's life when you wonder if your kid is normal. They do things or don't do things and you quiz other moms and pediatricians to find out "Is this normal?" William is our second son and he has Hemophilia. This is a severe bleeding disorder that doesn't allow the blood to clot. Our first son Jack, is unaffected but also quite unique. Let's start with that one. When the time came for him to go head down in the womb, I felt him do a complete sommersault. While pregnant I always said that if he is as active out of the womb as in I was going to be in trouble! I am. He did everything ahead of schedule. I never worried if he was "normal" or on track in his development. In fact I couldn't keep up with reading those "baby's first year" books because he'd already done it by the time the month came around. He crawled and pulled to standing at 6 months and walked at 9. He talked at 12 months and was negotiating at 1820months. I always thought he was different than the other babies his age but never wondered if he was "abnormal." I was just trying to keep up! His personality matches his development. He is now 3. He never had stranger anxiety and is prett y much an ambassador for Friendly. He talks to anyone who will listen and will question, argue, or negotiate any chance he gets. People who meet Jack rarely forget him. You can't help liking him. (Unless your his mom and are tired.) He is challenging, spirited, precocious, and "active-alert." You get the picture. When I was pregnant with our second baby (cause we weren't busy enough with the first!) we really, in all honesty, wanted a girl but not for the usual reasons. Jack is such a big personality we thought being his little brother was just going to suck! Who could keep up with him? Always being "Jack's little brother." And we couldn't imagine having another one like him! So when the doctor told us it's another boy we were a little worried. Well, who knew we'd have two boys unique and normal in their own ways. It will be 1 year in May when we found out our little one, Will, (who was 5 months old at the time) had severe Hemophilia A, factor viii deficient. This means his blood can't clot. We found out when we discovered an abnormally large bruise on his chest. Blood tests and an overnight at Childrens hospita l confirmed it. It also means he looks like an abuse victim lots of time because, as we tell our 3 year old, "Will has hemophilia and bruises easily." Everyday toddler wear and tear leaves him with purple, bumpy legs. Will is now 15 months old and is cute as a button. His little personality is sweet, silly, and snuggly. He's very curious and ALL bo y. He loves to climb, explore, throw balls, run. You name it, he'll do it! So what is normal? In our house, normal means having an overactive, always thinking, non stop talking preschooler and a physical, athletic, risk taking hemophiliac in the house. Normal is what we make it. With Jack, normal means explaining why it's not okay to unscrew the hinges on the bedroom door. With Will normal is heading to childrens hospital to be infused with factor after getting a head bonk. This might not be normal for other families but it's just a usual everday at our house!
by Heidi whose mantra is: You will not be given more than you can handle!

The Garden

2009-04-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

Over teh last couple of weeks The Capt and I have decided on and planned out a raised vegetable garden. He picked out the seeds: Lettuce, carrots, peas and catus. (this is known to everyone else as cucumber.) He calls it this because the picture on the seed packet is an illustration of cucumbers and not an actual picture. So to him it's a cactus because it's green, "prickly" and has little yellow flowers on it. If you tell him otherwise he will argue with him. So I just humor the child. We then took the gang to Home Depot and bought wood and garden soil. We now have a 4x4 rasied garden. 2 weeks ago we were able to plant the seeds. We also picked out marigolds to help keep pests away. In 2 other containers we planted tomato plants and chives. A few days ago we were finally able to see some little sprouts popping out of the dirt! Today I showed the Capt. how the tomato flowers are going to turn into tomatoes and that we can cut the chives with scissors and eat them. He really liked this and plucked several chives to nibble on. Tonight I made myself a big salad. The Capt wanted one too. I told him he could go out and cut some chives for it. Who knew this would be so exciting. My crazy little vegatrian sat and ate a SALAD with carrots and chives and dressing on it! Oh, and croutons of course. He also eats the whites of hard boiled eggs "but not the yolks because that's where the baby chicks hatch from." I pretty much left that one alone.

New Words

2009-03-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

So a week or so ago we had a nice day. Woohoo! This led to a moment of spontaneity, something I love but rarely get to do anymore. Ha! I thought, "hey, let's go to the zoo!" I think The Kid had only been once and The Capt had been asking for awhile. We went over rules before heading in, part of our new strong willed routine. Once inside we decided to choose 5 animals we really wanted to see. This included a cow, the giraffes (of course) big cats and a couple of others that I can't remember. In the past the cows were a bit frightening. Definately not as quiet in the mooing department as the ones we've seen in books. At least the Capt. didn't cry when they mooed this time. He just covered his ears. The Kid looked startled at first and then scowled at them. I'm pretty sure he thought they were some sort of monster in disguise and NOT an actual cow. From there we took the usual Safari route and upon turning the corner, three soft faced giraffes were chewing away. The Capt quickly ran up to them and yelled, "Melman!" If you haven't seen "Madagscar" the movie, you wouldn't understand. I thought it was hilarious. Not sure the other people standing around had seen "Madagascar" but the outburst had perfect comedic timing. Oh yeah, The Capt wanted to see the gorillas but on the way there we decided to stop at the day and night exhibits. This is an indoor section of lizards and snakes and then noctural creatures. About 5 critters down as I was telling the boys what each snake or lizard was , The Capt peered in and then asked, "Is it venomous?" Uh, what? "Is it venomous?" He asked, in such a natural way as if he'd used this word many times before. How often in daily life would he ever hear me say "Is (something) venomous." I tried to act as natural as possible. "Um, why yes it is venomous." He continued the conversation with, "But not the babies." Somehow baby venomous snakes were a concern, but mama and dada venomous snakes were just the way it was. "Uh, yes the babies are too." "No, Mom." he tells me. "Not the babies."

family fun.

2009-03-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Capt wants to be a rockstar. No, really. A rockstar. Seriously. For at least a year(if not longer) he has talked about being a rockstar. And he was completely shocked to find out girls can be rockstars too!! One day I found him coloring all over his arms. I asked him what the heck he was doing?! He said that all rockstars have colors on their arms. I have no idea where he got this from. Anyway, lately he has progressed to standing on the couch with a golf club (aka microphone) in his hand while we sit on the floor and watch his "concert." He creates his own songs of course. Some are pretty funny. These shennaigans have now moved on to music in the car. He will ask for a rock and roll song and when we come to one that has some rockin' electric guitar and jammin' drums we turn it up really loud, open the sun roof, and jam away. All of us with our air guitars, head banging, bad selves. All of us except, The Kid. He usually just looks at us like we are complete wackos. Or idiots. Like he can't believe he's even related to us. Eventually he might start patting his hands on his knees but he certainly doesn't smile about it. I'm pretty sure he'll have disowned us by the time he turns 16. The second game is one we also play in the car. "I Spy with My Little Eye." The Capt loves this game even though he'll pick a color before he finds an object. Well, the other day we were playing this game on the way to Kindermusik. "I spy with my little eye...." the other person guesses and usually before the right answer there are a couple of, "Nooooo's." In a kind of sing song way that ends with a high inflection. Well after about 10 minutes, The Kid thought he would join in. Perfect! " No" is one of his favorite words! So The Capt and I just started by asking the Kid what he spied. "A tree? A blue car? my pants?" Every answer we got the same copy-cat "Noooooo." Maybe you had to be there but we laughed the whole way!

Magic!

2009-03-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

Okay okay, I know I have totally flaked on my blog lately. I've been in a horrible creative funk, but I think my inspiration is coming back to me. And trust me. This post is gonna be good!

So a coupel of weeks ago the Capt and I had a few moments alone. He was sitting on my lap and chatting. (Like when is he NOT chatting!) He started talking about how he and his brother were babies in my tummy. I just nodded and hoped this wasn't going somewhere scary. We'd already discussed that babies come out of a hole and I hoped this was still acceptable. Well. It got scary. He still seemed to be okay about babies coming out of a hole but now he asked, "how did they get in there?" I'm sure I had a deer in the headlights look and hoped I could play dumb. "Oh they just get there." I replied. "But HOW?" Okay clearly not going the way I hoped. I was trying to think fast so I stalled some more. "oh they just get in the mom's tummy. Mommy and daddy loved each other so much, blah blah blah that the baby just got there." I'm sure it was not sounding as casual as I hope since he asked again. "how?" I came up with the only thing I could when dealing with a 3 year old asking where babies came from. "It was Magic!" I'm sure I was getting sweaty and looking for another escapre route, but he hardly blinked an eye and said, "oh, okay." I was seriously not prepared for this conversation. Dada thought I should have told him, "some sort of tube." But that's his answer for everything. MY answer for everything now is it's magic.

Taboo

2009-02-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

So the Capt. watches TV. There. I said it. He's 3 and he watches an average of 2 hours a day. I don't feel guilty and I'm not ashamed. He started watching the Sprout channel when he was about 2. Since it was at this time that he stopped taking naps and I couldn't fight the battle any longer AND I was pregnant, I decided this was a simple way to have quiet time together. He would lay on my bed for about 45 min. and I could take a nap. I knew what he was watching and he was actually learning some stuff. Most of it animal related since he could watch Zaboomafoo over and over again. When The Kid came along TV became a helpful and safe way to keep him in one spot while I nursed or tended to the baby. Although there were days that trouble still occured, 99% of th time he'd watch a show for 15 or 30 min. and be done. These days we have a routine. He watches about an hour or so in the morning while I get ready and get morning things done. He doesn't even sit for a full hour but filters in and out of our bedroom to watch here and there. Most days he's at school or we are busy and when we get home in the afternoons he needs some quiet time. He will go lay on my bed and watch shows for about an hour. We have now branched out to the Noggin channel. Sometimes I watch with him. Other times I don't. At night before bed he gets to watch one show with Dada. That's their little time together. Sometimes Dada even finds an old school cartoon on youtube. The Capt. doesn't watch movies very often. We own maybe 2. We rent maybe 1 or 2 a month. Then we have family movie night with popcorn and The Capt stays up late. (Oooh til 8!) So there. It's out in the universe now.

The Captain's name.

2009-01-26T14:16:00.000-08:00

The Captain has learned how to spell his name. He's known how to do this sincce before Christmas. He's very funny about it though. There are 2 other kids in his class with the same name so the folders have their names and the Last inital on them. This now means that the Captain thinks his name has an F at the end. He gets very upset if you spell it and don't say "F". Every night he spells his name that hangs over his bed and asks how come there is no F. Every night I explain that the F is for his last name and since we all have the same last name, we know who he is whithout it. This, of course, is not a good enough answer and I'm sure no answer could be. So every night he asks where the F is and will probably do so until we hang one up there. This is so not going to happen. I'm just glad he's not tall enough to put one there on his own. Oh wait! Sshh, I better not think that out loud. He might have the house bugged!

Happy 1st!

2009-01-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

The Kid turned 1 year old this month. I really still can't believe he is one already. And we made it through his first year of hemophilia. Hooray!! We celebrated with family in Suncadia. A fancy moutain home resort. Of course Thye Kid was super sick on this trip. Bad cold, ear infection. Overall lots of snot. For his brithday we sang The Birthday Song, had cupcakes and let the other kids open his presents. Thanks to Uncle Colin, we got pictures. I am lame and forgot my camera. It was a sweet little birthday for the sweetest little boy. And the best part of it all? He took his very first steps! On his birhtday! So exciting! Now that he's one do we have to stop calling him Baby?

A long 24 hours

2009-01-04T22:30:00.000-08:00

So to start our new year off The Kid got his first mouth bleed. He's pretty dang cute right now but he's got one big tooth on the bottom and is trying to toddle around. Yesterday as he was trying to stand, he fell over. (As most new toddlers do) And he somehow cut the roof of his mouth with that pumpkin tooth. (So called because he looks like a carved pumpkin face when he smiles.) We were getting ready to head out for the day so I thought I'd just watch it a bit before calling in extra forces. Well of course it just kept oozing. It wasn't gushing or anything, just a nice little vampire smile every time he opened his mouth or smiled.
So I called in "the team" and decided to start the Amicar. Amicar is an oral medication that helps mouth bleeds clot. Mouth bleeds clot differently because of all that saliva. Amicar also has to be given every 6 hours. So The Kid got his dose and we headed out to Costco. The lucky pumpkin head also got a treat of frozen yogurt to help the bleeding as well. In case you haven't tried, putting ice in a baby's mouth is pretty much impossible. Dada came up with this idea and it was perfect! It slowed the bleeding somewhat and we managed to get through Costco without freaking anyone out. Good thing we are not afraid of blood! The Kid even nibbled on a little pizza. By nap time (which was super late) the bleeding was minimal so the Kid had an afternoon snooze. If he woke up fine we'd give one more dose of meds. If he was still bleeding, we'd discuss Plan B. Well he woke up okay but about an hour or two before bed time the bleeding picked up again. More Amicar and more frozen yogurt. By bedtime it had slowed so it was nighty-night as usual. Unfortunately that little mouth started up again around 11pm. Too soon fro meds so just more frozen yogurt...hmmmm....sounds suspicious! I was a little nervous putting him to bed but it really wasn't more than blood tinged drool. Yech! I set the alarm for 1am and tried to sleep. Read: "tried!" Again another round of Amicar. The baby barely woke up! And looking into the crib expecting some bloody tragedy, I only found a nickel sized spot of blood. Whew! Back to bed. All in all The Kid was a trooper plumped up on frozen yogurt, which after the previoius night's BurgerMaster vanilla shake, is his all time FAVORITE thing to eat. Two more doses of meds for a full 24 hours and mostly eating soft foods, I think the Kid made it through without any knowledge that his mother is now expecting a full head of grey hair on her head!
Oh and I WAS going to blog about the trip to Burger Master from the previous night, but blood stories trump beef. I promise to post pictures though!

Post Christmas update

2008-12-29T20:00:00.001-08:00

Okay, I'm having somewhat of writer's block, so sorry I haven't posted in over 2 weeks! We have had a ton of snow and birthday/holiday festivities. The Captain is finally coming of the gift getting/candy eating high he's been on. It's a difficult withdrawal process! Well, the Capt is now 3. He easily went from 2 and a half to three fingers. Although the other day he told me he still wanted to be 2 and a half. Anyway, not only is he fine with being three but he has turned a potty corner. Yup, I can now say he is 100% potty trained! One day he just started taking charge. He will now stop what he's doing, announce, "I have to go pee!" and run to the bathroom. He even poops on his own too! In the toilet! I can't remember the last time I threw underwear away. At last!! Woo hoo! I honestly can say it wasn't anything I did or didn't do. If anything, we just stopped making a big deal about it. We didn't get hyper excited when he went on the toilet and we stopped freaking out when he pooped or peed his pants. Our only rules were that he had to use the bathroom before we left the house, when we got home and before bed. So that's the good news about being three. The bad news? Terrible Twos have nothing on Maniacal Threes. More bossy, more arguing, more "I want to do it myself!" Way more tantrums. We rarely had tantrums during the two's. Now it's like a serious exorcist invades the child. The nice/voice mean voice technique works really super great during this time. I should end with some good so my last chit chat is that The Capt is missing school and know nows how to spell his name. He is learning how to write it but can really only get the J.
ANd not to leave the Kid out. So far so good this holiday season. Had a couple of nasty bruises during our snow in but we kept them iced and they seemed to do okay. Whew! He's really a little bruiser now that he is crawling like crazy and really really really wants to walk. He cruises the furniture and anything else stationary that he can. He babbles up a storm and says lots of words like, hi, dada, mama, bubs, jack, ball, yum and other blubbery stuff. Oh and he does not want to be left out of anything. Wants to do everything his brother does and even wants to eat at the table. Hates his high chair and really hates the changing table. Still totally loves his baths and the blow up tub guard I bought from One Step Ahead is awsome! I am loving his padded pants and just got a second pair in the mail. He's a pretty cute little guy and if finally getting some hair!

Busy Birthday Weekend

2008-12-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

This was a very busy weekend! The Capt had a super time at a Gymboree birthday party for his great friend Issac. He had a little run with another boy and we had to sit out for a few minutes with ice on his head and some tissue for a bloody lip, but he was good to go and even had 2 pieces of cake! The Kid had a blast as well and his Bruzwear pants came just in time to crawl around in. Plus he started hands and knees crawling tonight! I know this post seems rather boring but I'm pretty much done until tomorrow. Friday I wrapped presents galore! Then we whooped it up all weekend and we had a nice little layering of snow. The Capt was sooo excited to see the snow this morning. He was 3/4 naked before getting to our bedroom yelling, "there's snow! Come on, let's go outside!" This was at 7:30 AM. I don't know what he liked more, the snow or his birthday party. Although a few friends couldn't make it due to the weather, we still had a blast with lots of trucks, games, the pinata (of course) and the famous dump truck cake. Which I am quite proud of. Okay, so now we are on to Christmas!

Pants for bruisers

2008-12-08T22:43:00.000-08:00

A cool website with cool padded pants. Essential for a hemo baby like Will! Must give a shout out to my new long distant friend Kathryn who is the brains behind these cute pants! Bleeders and non-bleeders could use a little extra TLC in the knee department!
Bruzwear

voices

2008-12-07T22:19:00.000-08:00

I can't be the only mom who has certain voices. Today I started giving the Capt a choice of voices. For example. If I ask the Capt to do something I usually ask nicely and say "please." If it doesn't get done my voice changes and is more commading. Sometimes I resort to yelling. Of course I hate this and always feel bad afterward. (Okay maybe not always, but many times.) There is sometimes crying and time outs get involved. So I thought I would try something new. Tonight the Capt did not want to stay in bed at night-night time. Finally I asked him if he wanted me to use the nice voice or the mean voice. He chose the nice voice. As long as he follwed directions, I used the nice voice. Doesn't follow-mean voice. He does not like the mean voice. It's his choice.

Hex Monkey

2008-12-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

So for awhile now whenever the Capt is having a really naughty day we have been concluding that is has to do with some evil monkey invading the child's body. Today the monkey has a name. The Hex Monkey. This occured as the Capt. was running around naked yelling "hex monkey! hex monkey!" We do not like the hex monkey.

How questions, pulling up and baking.

2008-11-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting for the Capt to get to the "why" phase. I figured this would really be big for him. Now I'm thinking he is bypassing that question altogether. Instead he asks: "How?" Like leaving Dada's office the other day. As we leave the building he looks up and says, "wow, that's a tall building!" "How do the people get up there?" And getting onto the freeway he sees a parking structure and says, "what's that?" "How do the cars get up there?" I am required to explain everything in great detail. Or I get, how.how.how. I hope I'm smart enough for this! Oh! And the Kid this last week, started pulling himself up! Yippee! (I think!) He is really taking off. Today we lowered the crib and he just loves standing at his crib waiting for me to get him. What this also means is a lot more bruises. Knees, elbows and even feet! And I am sooo happy for bumper guards! Yesterday he was lowering himself from the coffe table and bong! his head bounced off the bumper guard. Whew! He went along his merry way. As far as baking goes, I will let the pictures explain. This is what baking with a soon to be 3 year old looks like. What you didn't see is the Capt getting started on his own while I was changing the baby. The Capt got the egss out and cracked about six into the mixer before I made it into the kitchen. While we didn't need six eggs, he did a pretty good job of keeping the shells out. I don't suggest any of you let your toddler try this at home. I guess I'll be making omelets for breakfast! Here's the finished products. The Capt of course made his snowmen in blue. The cheeks and ears were of his own creation!

Bedtime

2008-11-15T21:33:00.000-08:00

So, The Capt doesn't take naps. Hasn't for about a year. Trust me, I tried EVERYTHING! I came to terms with it, but am glad to say The Capt has always been a great night time sleeper. He has never slept with us in our bed and usually goes to bed fairly early (6:30-7:30pm) and gets up at a reasonable hour (7-8am) The digital clock has worked like a miracle during a recent rough patch when The Capt was getting up before Mom's happy hour, ie 7am. The clock sits on his dresser and he cannot get up until seven oh-oh. He's tested this a couple of times recently and I simply show him the clock, tuck him back in bed and tell him to wait until seven oh-oh. He usually falls back to sleep or plays quietly in his room (which we lock for his own safety.) The most current bedtime trend for the Capt is having a flashlight and reading to Lambie after lights are out. I took this route when he was getting out of bed and turning on his light and wrecking havoc after lights out. This solved it. Our routine goes like this. Jammies, 1 show (15 min.) brush teeth, wash hands, potty. Read 2 stories, hide under covers for Dada to come say good night and talk about the day. Mom sings 3 songs, kisses tedddy, lambie and baby lambie. The Capt asks for drink of water (which is a miniscule splash in a plastic cup.) Kisses and hugs. We used to have music and white noise of either a fan or a heater but The Capt decided that was no longer needed. Now he asks for his flashlight and a book. Currently it's a toy catalog or Where's Waldo. Sometimes he reads to Lambie. He stays in bed and is usually asleep within a few minutes. If he is up before seven oh-oh, I give him his flashlight and book and all is well. Ahhh...more sleep. Oh and this was a night where he insisted on sleeping with Elmo, who (by the way) can wear a size 2T.

The List

2008-11-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

This is a very busy time of year in our house. We are lookinf forward to holidays AND birthdays. The Capt is VERY into holidays at this time and Halloween was very exciting with all the trick or treating and cand involved. We have now moved into the upcoming birthday and Christmas. He knows that when it starts to get snowy and cold that his birthday will be coming. Since he has already experienced a couple of birthday parties and PRESENTS, he knows what is to come. Thus, "The List." We are getting bombarded with toy commercials and catalogs. We are emphasising gift "giving" but The Capt knows he will betting getting things too. With all that he sees he asks daily for different toys. " I want this, I want that!" And so I came up with "The List." Anytime The Capt asks for a toy he sees on TV or in a catalog, of which I freely let him browse or we look together, (the catalog, not tv.) I tell him that we will put it on "The List." Now I have never picked up a pen, or written anything down on this so called "List" he just trusts that there is one. My word! The list would be like, 20 pages by now! No, it is more of a magical list. And so it goes like this. Commercial for Clipo: "Mom, I want that!" Me: "Okay, we'll put it on the list! (:) smiley face!) The End. There are never any questions about the list. Where is the list, can I see the list, nothing. I highly suggests you try this with your own toddler/preschooler. I'm actually curious to see if this works with all of them. Dada and I secretly laugh about this and wonder if it will cause trust issues and therapy....naaaw! If they can believe in Santa, they can believe in "The List!"

To Treat or Not To Treat

2008-11-07T12:08:00.001-08:00

That is the question we must ask whenever The Kid gets a bruise. The learning curve is great but we are getting good at determining the answer in just the few months we've been dealing with his hemophilia. I will get to the head bonk shortly but let me first give a quick summary. In May we learned the Kid had severe hemophilia A. This affects his blood clotting levels of factor viii of which he has -1%. He does not bleed any more or any faster than the rest of us, he just bleeds longer. This is due to not having the factor that clots his blood. Ther are different types of hemophilia that is affected by different factors. You can go to the National Foundaton for Hemophilia to find out more or check out the Bleeding Disorder Foundation of WA as well. Anyway, last night during "the insanity hour" ie dad's home, dinner's on,and bed time is coming hour, The Kid was happily playing at his activity table when he leaned out to see a puzzle. And boom! Baby fell down right smack on a puzzle piece knob. Of course he used the middle of his forehead as well to catch his fall. He has not yet mastered the part where you put your arms down first. So right away a bruise formed. We iced it with our nifty little Nemo ice pack and sent him off to bed. Any other kid would have had a welt and all would have been well. The Kid on the other hand is a bleeder, so when he woke up around 9:30pm and we saw a lovely hematoma had formed, we knew it was time to call the nurse. I'm starting to get good at determining a good bonk from a bad bonk. My first question is "would I give him factor if I had it at home?" The answer in this case was "yes." So after speaking with superstar hemo nurse Renee, I packed up the little monkey and set off in the rainy darkness to Childrens Hospital. Some may ask why we don't go to our nearby hospital if we have our meds with us. The reason, the local hospital, as wonderful as they are, aren't set up to A.) treat hemophiliacs and B.) expertly find a vein on a chunky monkey baby. We want the fewest pokes and the least trama as possible so we stick to the best in kiddie care. The other great thing about our hemo team is that they call ahead to the ER and tell them we are coming. I must say I feel for the other families there (especially when there was a full house like last night) who have to wait for such a long time. For us we usually don't even have to wait. The first nurse was nice but couldn't get a vein after the first try and although I asked about the head vein, people were still freaking out that I even suggested it. She must have realized I wasn't messing around because after that first unsuccessful try, she called for the i.v. team. This nurse was older and wiser and although the head vein was discussed we opted for a fat little vein in his arm and after some prodding it was successful. Now here comes the learning curve. I hope others with little ones with or without hemophilia will feel this blog entry is helpful for any (God forbid) future trips to the E.R. Please ask questions! Don't feel rushed and try not to panic when presented with suggested options. At this point in our trip we were ready for our factor treatment. Then a nurse comes in and says we are going to get a CT. Um excuse me? First no one talked to me about this and second, why would they feel this is necessary. The nurse and the ct tech are not in charge so back to the room we went so I could speak to a doctor. My questions? Is this 100% necessary and why. If he is being given factor and he shows no signs of concussion or any other abnormal behavior, is the radiation risk and cost involved really necessary. Hemophilia treatment is extremely expensive. One of the most in the world. Cost does not outweigh the care for my child, but I want to be certain that we minimize any tests or other treatments that are not absolutely necessary. Honestly, I think the doctors last night did not even consider NOT doing it. For them, this was protocol. They were on auto pilot. I called Dada and he called Renee and we were on the side of thinking it was PROBABLY not necessary. However, since we'd be going home and putting the Kid to bed for another 8 hours and we couldn't be 100% sure about bleeding to his brain, I decided to go ahead with it. This is where I am gathering knowledge for another time. If it had been the middle of the day and we were going home to play, I would have opted against it. But better safe than sorry and now I have an experience to judge others with. In the end, I was right and the doctors told me so. We ended up being in and out a little over 2 hours. We were home about 1:30 in the am and when I opened the car door to get that baby out, his little peepers were wide open and he was laughing! Needless to say he went right to bed! And slept until 9am. So another hemo notch into our belts and to all the bleeder parents and non bleeder parents, please advocate! When in the ER especially, ask what is being done and why and what makes it necessary. I would not have changed my decision, but I certainly felt empowered by being able to have the choice. Oh and the Capt saw the bruise on the Kid's head this morning and concluded that red and blue make purple and he likes that color.

Election '08

2008-11-04T21:38:00.000-08:00

A historic day for all Americans. We are proud to be a part of it. It is a powerful feeling to know that we took part in this event. It is even more powerful to know that we will someday tell The Capt and The Kid about where we were and how we voted during this amazing time for our country. We are hopeful that this turning point in America when Barack Obama, the first African American president, will bring the change that we all need. A fresh start and a new outlook in many ways. We especially hope for great changes on the health care front. It will be exciting to watch history take place! Yes we can!

First Tooth

2008-11-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

The Kid finally had his first tooth come through! We've been waiting for at least a month for that thing to come in. With hemophilia you never know if the gums will bleed when the tooth breaks through, so I kept imagining peeking into his crib and finding him covered in blood. Whew! Not a spot of blood whatsoever. Just 19 more to go!! It must still be a little sore because he won't let me stick my finger in and so far only Grandma has actually seen "the tooth." I will now be on a stealth mission to capture "the tooth" on film.

Baldness

2008-11-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

The has been much talk about the Kid's hair, or lack of. It used to stick up in a natural mohawk, then whithin the month of Sept, it was gone. We've started calling him "Charlie" as in "Charlie Brown." And you just can't help it. I'm holding myself back from drawing Charlie Brown's face on the back of his head. The temptation is so great!

Halloween

2008-11-03T21:49:00.000-08:00

This Halloween was the start of the Capt's holidays. Including birthdays. He's getting it. Except he lumps it into the "pretend" catagory. Meaning he doesn't quite get that it happens once a year. He is asking to dress up and go trick or treating again "when it gets dark." The Kid, he's just trying to adjust to the time change and a cold. A note on his personality. I was just reading somewhere about "serious" babies. This is not a direct reflection on their personalities, it is simply their way of absorbing information. Well, he should end up as smart if not smarter than his brother then, cause he must be taking it all in! Here are pictures of our festive evening! The Capt went as "Go diego go" and The Kid went as a monkey or as Baby Fester, which ever you prefer.

Seven-oh-oh

2008-10-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

So about a month ago The Capt started getting up waaay too early. And he doesn't just get up sweetly. If he would get up and softly crawl into bed and snuggle, that would be nice. BUT he doesn't. He bounds out of bed and chatters on a mile a minute. He truly becomse recharged from sleeping. Too bad you can't take the batteries out or turn him off once in awhile. So this was going on for over a week and getting up before 7am is just not okay with me. I got him his own clock. A digital one with a light. Since he was going to bed around 6:30/7pm, we moved his bedtime a bit later, to 7:30pm. We told him he could not get up until Seven-Oh_Oh. Believe it or not. It worked! And he got cuaght up on sleep. Until last week. Today he was up at 6:23AM. Uh, Heck NO! And since we keep his door locked for safety reasons, he pounds on the door to let the whole house know "I woke up!"
I dragged my sleepy butt in there and stuffed him back into bed and stated "do not get up until seven-oh-oh." He needed his flashlight. And a book. Fine. You know what? He didn't make a peep until seven-oh-oh. Oh and if anyone knows how to get a stubborn kid to poop in either the toilet or pull ups, please let me know. I think I need to invent disposible underwear. Literally.

What hemophilia looks like

2008-10-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today was the first trip to Childrens Hospital in Seattle since The Kid's initial factor treatment. This morning at the changing table we discovered the biggest bruise to date. We kept an eye out but the hematoma under the bruise seemed to be getting bigger. At 3pm and a chat with our super great hemo nurse, Maia Kelley, we trekked over to the ER at Childrens'. I was nervous only because our first experience with pokes was not a good one. This time was the exact opposite. The ER was expecting us and we went in within 10 minutes. The nurse, Laurel, was familiar with hemophilia and babies! After a poke on each leg without luck, I asked about a poke to the head vein. She agreed those we the best and easiest to do. She was surprised by my ready acceptance to it as was the doctor. I guess lots of people are squeamish about IV's in a baby's head. Trust me when I say, trying to find a vein in a fat, healthy baby's hand or leg is way more excruciating than a nice visible blue vein, even if it is on the head. The Kid has very little hair anyway, so he didn't even need a shave! He was a trooper and had his binky and his lovey during his ordeal and I sang all his favorite songs. At one point during the leg pokes he even signed "all done!" That was just waaay too precious. It is still a moment for me when I think about it. The Capt. was a great big brother and we try to explain everything in his terms.
Baby is getting a poke like when he gets his check ups. When he's done Big Brother can come in and make him giggle. Baby Brother has hemophilia and that means he bruises easily and sometimes has to go to the hospital to make them better. And going into our treatment room The Capt exclaimed to anyone listening, "I'm going in to help my Baby William and make him giggle." We were in and out in 2 hours and now have another hemo notch in our belts! Oh and he won't keep the hep-lock thingy in his head. We did that in case he needs another treatment the next day. Usually the IV is in and out in a few minutes.) So don't freak out. Actually, too bad it didn't happen on Halloween, it could have been a really creepy baby monkey costume!

Refresher

2008-10-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quick backround for anyone just peeking in on the blog. The Captain is our first child. The fact that we had a second child was quite daring, since the first who will be 3 in Dec. is, let say, spirited, active alert, and quite the handful. He started preschool in Sept so that the family could keep their sanity. This summer was a challenge trying to keep him busy and he is just loving school 3 days a week. The Kid is our newest member who just turned 9 months old this week. He was diagnosed with severe hemophilia at 4 months. So far we are still in the honeymoon phase but between now and about 3 years we will be preparing for home infusions 3-4 times a week. I am a stay at home mom and I never have a dull moment. "Someone" is always taking something apart, getting in to something or other shenanigans. The little one has got the commando crawl down and looks like an abuse victim half the time, via hemophilia and lots of bruising. My current worry is that parents unfamiliar with my super active smarty pants will think the baby's bruises are outcomes of big brother's rough housing. So far, not the case. He's more likely to give his baby rough love than anything else! If you enjoy my blog, please send comments!

head bonks and hospitals

2008-10-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

So on Friday The Kid was playing with his little girlfriend. The two are very into the activity table scene. Well, the Kid just fell over. (That's what he does. He can stand there but he can't sit down.) So he landed with his head on a plastic container. Later that day he got a pretty good bump and bruise. I called our nurse and she said to keep an eye out. Well finally on Sunday I just wasn't convinced that it was fine and to everyone's humor (except the Kid's) I drew a pen mark around the bruise. On Monday I took him in and he checked out just fine. Hey, better safe than sorry! I guess it's part of the learning curve. Besides that The Kid is busy busy busy! Along with a fierce separation anxiety! The cuteset part of his day is when big brother gets into the car from school and says, "I missed you!" Awww....

Games

2008-10-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Capt is learning games at school. It's great! So far they have earned musical chairs, the hokey pokey and simon says. Tonight before bed we all played Simon Says. The Capt was Simon first, then we all took turns. It's funny what his Simon wanted us to do. Things like jump, fly, lay down. Now I know how to get him under my spell! Just tell him we are playing Simon Says! It might just work. Or at least work for a day before he realizes my trick! The Capt is also really getting into the holidays. He is excited about Halloween and is asking about his birthday. He talks about what kinds of presents he wants and who he wants at his birthday. I thought it was cute that he mentioned a couple of school friends.

another mom's blog

2008-10-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

This is not for the faint of heart as you can tell by the title.

A Dying Mom's Blog

I only read the last 2 entries, but it sure makes me grateful how fortunate we are! Live, Laugh, Love! Life is too short to do otherwise.

Toddlers and Screwdrivers don't mix...

2008-10-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Now don't be too shocked. Nobody got hurt. Let's just say we are lucky the door didn't fall on somebody. If the cap't could have reached the top hinge. Somebody really could have been flattened! Oh yes, today the Capt needed a screwdriver. Now before I explain, you must know that the Capt doesn't just go around willy-nilly as it sometimes seems. He is supervised to the best of a mother's ability. Probably more so. In fact at costco the other day a man in line said I was being too hard on him when I told the Capt to stop snapping the stanchions in the return line. Little did that man know that the next day, (being today) the Capt would decide he needed a phillip's head screwdriver. While I'm tending to the baby and trying to get ready this morning, the capt helped himself to the correct size screwdriver in the toolbox. From the garage. A real one. Did I mention the right size even? The end result? The Capt trying to understand why the door to the bedroom won't close. Um, hello? you just took the bottom hinge off Houdini. Luckily he's also OCD, so he was sure to put the hinge and screws in his own personal toolbox. What's a mother to do? Punish? Lock him away? No. Instead hold the hinge in place while he screws it back onto the door. Then hand him a box of pens to unscrew and screw again. (just kidding) he's already done that. I think I need a screwdriver...and not the kind with a handle!

Baby Loves Biter Biscuits!

2008-10-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

The Kid is branching out on food stuff. Actually, I'm finally allowing chunky food to grace his palette. He's been complaining about the pureed food so it must be time. These pictures just crack me up.

Mungus Whale

2008-10-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Today the Capt was singing. The song: "mungus whale." The Mungus whale has a big tale and splashes you. If you haven't figured it out yet, the "mungus whale" is humongous whale in child-speak. This just cracked me up and is being filed away with "noculars." The pre-cursors "hu" and "bi" for these words must come across as being completely separate words in the capt.'s mind. It's not like he can't say the word, he is somehow listening to them and determining that they aren't necessary, I guess. Hm, I think mungus whale could be a whole new species...

Quarters or no quarters

2008-09-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

So now that the Capt has gotten beyond 2 and a half, we have been trying to explain he is going to be 3. We first told him he wasn't 2 and half anymore, he was 2 and 3 quarters. He was very upset and put out his hands and said "but I don't have any quarters!" "I'm 2 and a half!" Now I've been prompting him to tell people he's going to be 3. Unfortunately he is one of the younger kids at school and now he tells people, "I'm gonna be FIVE!" With the appropriate hand gesture. Sometimes he laughs so I'm thinking he might be doing it as a joke. Hmmm....

Babies

2008-09-23T11:34:00.001-07:00

So this week the Capt has been discussing babies with me. Of course it's not the usual discussion. CousinJenn is pregnant and he commented that she had a baby in her tummy. I said yes. "Like when baby Will was in your tummy?" yes. (this next part is what got me.) "when the baby gets big he'll come out like baby Will?" yes. "how does he get out? Through a hole?" Well. Yes. Now this discussion always ends with "when the baby comes out through the hole." I think that is enough information for the time being. Probably too much, but we'll just let it be and hope for best. Mortification points on a scale of 1-10....only worthy of a 2.

Little Skeptic

2008-09-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

This of course, is The Kid. After getting the Capt to school we zipped along to Kindermusik. Hooray! One on one time with the baby! Right now I'm the only one having fun. Kindermusik is a 50 minute session of intentional touch, singing, music, dancing, instruments, snuggling,etc. All good fun stuff. The Kid seems to think there must be a catch. Or at least that's what his face seems to say. His expression is purely skeptical and until I and Miss Allison have proven otherwise, we will only be allowed one or two smiles. I will keep you posted as to when he has deemed the class worthy!

Making Progress

2008-09-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

It's just the 3rd day of preschool and we are all making progress. Today was the Cap't first day of taking his lunch. He was less than thrilled to be going to school today but was excited about getting to be in charge of his lunch and lunch sack. In fact, he was so excited that he opened everything up on the way and we had quite a spill. Slightly melted gogurt and water does not mix well! The Capt also started to complain about his school having monsters. Since the only monsters we really know are the ones from Sesame Street I explained that they must be pretty nice. No they are not. Once at school he was still not convienced so I helped wash his hands and showed him that both Mama and Dada would beable to watch him from the cameras in the room. This stopped the tears and I ran out as fast as possible. Now, this has been emotional for me. Not for the reasons you are all thinking. Yes, I will miss my child as he is growing up, etc. I am really just conerned that poop will happen. The school has stated that the children must be "independently potty trained." The teachers can only verbally help in the matter. This freaks me out. I still sigh in relief at home when the day ends clean and dry. Dada and I still high five each other when the Capt poops in the toilet and we have saved another pair of underwear. My guard is just coming down over the whole pee situation. Especially saince learning from his teacher that he "independently" went pee on his own today at school! Pooping. That is a whole different animal. Whether right or wrong, I have put the fear of God in the child not to poop at school, UNLESS, he can do it in the toilet. Otherwise he must wait until he gets home. Then I don't care what happens. (Okay I do but I have to go with the lesser of the evils.) Do I want to be mortified to get a call from school asking me to get my child for pooping his pants? No way. I would rather waste a pair of poopy underwear at home. So there! The other nervousness comes the day the Capt does poop at school. The teachers cannot wipe his butt. I'm just not ready for that hurdle. My current mantra: just one day at a time....

school update

2008-09-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

After 4 days at the Spanish Academy in Bellevue, we decided it did not meet our needs. I quickly scrambled around, talked to friends and checked out a popular montessori program in Issaquah. Lakeside Montessori is now The Capt's new school. Stayed turned for more info but today was his first day and he LOVED it. The best thing is that they have a webcam and I can peek in on him exhale when realizing he is not destroying the place and that he was NOT the kid having a tantrum during circle time. I think he is really going to thrive here and next week they get their class picture taken! In true Capt fashion when asking him about his school his favorite part was the playground with the train and then Oscar the (supposed) "blue" hamster that has a spinning wheel. Hmmmm, blue hamster.....

Yum!

2008-09-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Kid likes to eat. I am really not surprised since his brother was an avid eater as well. He is beginning to move beyond baby food and seems to exclaim, "Yum!" when something is agreeable. While The Capt has always been the spirited one, The Kid, is by no means a bowl of plain oatmeal. At Costco the other day he was all grins for his mom but as soon as the checker turned to talk to him, he glared as if the guy had said something totally rude. This could have been the case, I wasn't quite close enough to hear the contnet. So today we branched out on the baby food wheel and tried some real "people" food. Mangos were on the breakfast menu. A nice slice mashed up was received with a hearty "yum!" We tried a french fry at lunch but that went over as did toast. Stuffing his mouth full as if he was squirreling away some nuts or something. Um, I think we'll pass on that. Tonight was half an avocado prepared as a chunky mash. Also got a "yum" with raised eyebrows. I also thought, what the heck, and put some of that along with some baby pear on the tray and let him go at it. A rice cake was served on the side. That went well until the end. I suddenly looked over at thought, huh, where did the rice cake go? Then realized The Kid had little hamster cheeks with a little rice puff hanging out! Whoa! Waaay to much! Cheerios are also high on the yum list and The Kid will pound on his tray until they are delivered!

First day of school!!

2008-09-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

We finally found a school we deemed "acceptable" and seemed to meet most if not all of our needs. It is the Spanish Academy in Bellevue. It is new this year and after meeting with the Profesora, The Capt. was accepted to the "real" preschool class. Ie, 3-5 year olds. This means that he goes 3 days a week for 3 hours. Monday was his first day and he was very excited. He asked if I was going to "drop him" and then "pick him up." This was quite fine with him and he hardly looked back! It helped that we got to check out the classroom a few times. While I was fine dropping him off, I was totally nervous the three hours he was gone. Every time my phone would ring, I just kept thinking, "oh my god! it's the school! The Capt is out of control and they want me to come get him!" But everything was fine and I cried when I picked him up. The maestra even commented on what good manners he had! We made it through the first day! What a big guy! . The Kid had a first as well. No, not crawling yet. Although he gets on his hands and knees and then cries because he's not going anywhere! The other day at the park the Kid went on his first swing ride! This also meant he had his first "war wound." A good monster bruise on his side where he was leaning against the swing seat. It was ugly enough for me to draw a pen mark around just in case it might spread. But after a little ice all was well. He also is sitting up in the bath tub in his own little "pool." He LOVES the water. One of the few things that makes him laugh. Oh! And he has moved on to eating things like puffs and cheerios. Much safer than the toast he likes to stuff into his mouth. Baby heimlich sucks! Things are moving along quite nicely in our clan these days. Stay posted! It could change at any moment!

The Helmet

2008-09-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

While on vacation The Capt was finally convinced that a helmet was a good idea while riding his bike or scooter. Maybe too good. It somehow translated over to being a good idea while playing at the beach....

Imagination

2008-09-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

The Capt has really ramped up his imagination since we've been home. The other morning he comes into the kitchen on a mission. Opens the door to the garage and brings out the broom. I say, "uh what are you doing?" He says, "Mom, I need a broom and 2 boxes." It's 9 in the morning and I can't possibly see why the child would need this. I'm not sure I really want to know why he needs a broom and 2 boxes but I ask anyway. "I'm making a spaceship." He sounded pretty confident so for some reason I decide to help out. This is what he came up with.

The Clubs

2008-08-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

So the weekend before we left for CA, Dada took the Capt golfing. He didn't have his size clubs so it didn't go too well. But I guess the Capt didn't care because ever since hen he's been talking about golfing with his Dad. He's says he's gone fishing with his Dad too but that hasn't happened yet. Anyway, tonight we took him to get his very own set of golf clubs! It was very exciting and I was an emotional mom. Only because he was looking so damn cute! It comes with a driver, iron and putter and a miniature golf bag with the stand and everything. The guy even gave us some free balls. I wish I had my camera! We stopped at the park so he could practice. He was having such fun! He had his little blue golf shirt on with tan pants and then the golf bag slung on his back...it was a pretty cute sight. Once I get some pics...I promise to post!

The Rockstar

2008-08-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

Okay so for those that have known the Capt since he was a baby, they know that he's a little different. Not necessarily in a bad way. He has just been on a different schedule than most babies. Has reached developmental milestones early etc. His personality could be described as "Spirited" or "Active-Alert" if I'm in a positive mood, and "crazy, hyper, and unruly" on a not-so-good day. I have had people tell me his smart, gifted, genius and a possible presidential candidate someday. I just think he dances to the beat of his own drum. And if you've ever seen him dance, you know what I mean! He's definately quirky. He's "Just Jack." Well within the last six months he has talked about "being a rockstar." He saw a show on PBS called Raggs. I think it's lame but it's colorful, musical, and the characters ask the kids thoughtful questions so I guess that's why he likes it. The dogs play guitars. The Capt's Papa plays a guitar and his Uncle Larry plays and has guitars. He loves music so why shouldn't it all come together. He got a guitar for christmas from Papa and he has loved the strings right off of it! Well recently his being a rockstar has evolved. Oh and the child will break into song a guitar playing whenever the moment moves him! Anyway, the other day we were riding in the car and he had his notebook and crayin in hand. He tells me he is writing a song. I just hung on to the steering wheel so not to crash. You'd think by this point I would be getting used to his revelations/shennaigans, but no, I don't. They come so freaking randomly. He just throws this stuff at you when you least expect it! Well to top that off, two days ago he wanted to do some art. Great! We get out his scissors (yes I let him use scissors with the clear knowledge that only the hair cutting place can cut hair.) I try to use the ame tone as I use when talking about poison so I hope this works. So he's quietly cutting and coloring and gluing away for awhile. Quiet is never a good thing in this case so I look over and he has used washable markers up and down his arms. I ask what he is doing and why he did not color on paper. He tells me, "All rockstars have to have colors on their arms." Duh! Hello mom don't you know this? I'm like uh well your 2 and not a rockstar yet so you need to take a bath. And um where did he get this hairbrained idea? He watches Sprout and Noggin and I'm pretty sure there are no rockstars with tatoos on those channels. And if there are, I am going to sue them in about 16 years. Oh and moving on, he is starting to ask me how to spell things...that's a whole other topic that I am ignoring until absolutely necessary.

TheTrip

2008-08-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been blogging toomuch this week, but we are out visiting Nana and Papa in CA. Dada is off on business trips so we headed out to the Sunny State. The first challenge was making it through the airport and on the plane for 2 hours. I know that's not a long time, but it was my first time with The Capt and The Kid alone. The day before I actually had to lay down. I was so nervous! It went well until we had to leave Dada at security. Luckily the people behind me were understanding to the sudden meltdown. We made it through and The Kid was allowed to stay in his sling. We only waited about 20 minutes and The Capt really waited nicely before boarding. He recently started watching Blues Clues, so in hisbackpack he found a notebook and a crayon. That kept him busy! The flight was very uneventful. The Capt was some freak AngelChild. He buckled hisseatbelt and never got out of his seat! He spent most of his time watching a Thomas video on Levi's DVD player (thankyou thankyou!) until the battery died... by then we were decending. Sofar the trip has been great and filled with fun times. Until tonight. The Capt and The Kid have been sharing a room. This means they've been waking each other up at 6:30am. They usually don't get up until close to 8. This is bad for many reasons. The first is being unsupervised. The Capt likes to climb into the Kid's crib and play peek a boo. On the Kid's face. It seems that the Kid thinks its funny most of the time. I only imagine someone getting suffocated. Today the bad thing was The Capt finding a bottle of Mylcon in the suitcase and thinking the Kid needed some. The bottle was empty but there was a lot on the floor. Luckily the Kid survived. I hope he has nine lives! The last bad thing was like a storm brewing for few days from loss of sleep on the Capt's part. Tonight his head finally flew off and spun around the room. It happened after he was put to bed at, oh, 5:30! An hour later he said his tummy didn't veel well and he had to "throwup" He's never donw this before and this is now his cue to poop. Hey, at least there is one! So off he goes to the toilet. Well after about 10 minutes, he calls and Nana goes in. All I hear is, "Oh Lord!" That is never good. And then "Let me get your mom" When Your mom says this, it's really not good. My first instinct was to run and then I flashed to a happy place (which is no where near kids or poop) took a deep breath and went to check it out. Well. The Capt thought he would try to wipe his own butt! Um, being 2 and not being able to reach his own butt, it looked like a poopie massacre. I had to think positve to hold it together so I thought, "at least he was trying to be helpful?" I had an arsenal shy of a hazmat suit for clean up and just as the Capt was washing his hands I flushed. Really bad idea. The Capt had already flushed who knows what before he called us in, so a volcano of water came bubbling up and over the rim. I could only yell for My Mom and quell a crying toddler who thought he broke his Papa's toilet. Well let's just say after clean up, kids in bed and a couple of glasses of wine later. All is well. It is now all about ME and I'm off to find some chocolate!

Clean and Dirty

2008-07-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

The Kid is a funny little baby. Very particular with not so many words. He loves the bath and water which is super good. Although most parents with hemophiliac kids have said they never did anything different, I'm still thinking padding the tub is a good idea. And one of my favorite websites, OneStepAhead, has the best kid safety stuff. Of course liking the bath and liking having his picture taken in the bath is not the same thing. He is especially leery of the orange light that comes on before the flash. He has now been eating solid food for a few weeks. Still not convinced I'm NOT trying to poison him. If he does not want that food, that mouth is not going to open. He does like playing with the spoon and the bowl. So I figure, maybe he's an Independent. Let's see what happens! I gave him the spoon, scrapped the oatmeal onto the tray and let him have at it. He liked this waaay more than actually eating it! Once The Kid was allowed this pleasure and could see for himself that the oatmeal was not poisoned, he was more than happy to eat. Still leery of the orange light though.

A Fashion Statement?

2008-07-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

So The Capt has started getting interested in dressing himself lately. Not all the time and usually after he's peed his pants. And for whatever reason, his choice is to "go commando" with sweat pants. I don't know why and the answer he always gives me is something to do with his penis, so I just shake my head and chalk it up to a guy thing. Today, however, he was happy with putting on underwear AND shorts! He actually matched, until, I came back into his room to find him putting on these long bright green socks on with purple monkeys on the tops. I must have said something like "wow! what's going on in here?" and he simply replied that he was going to wear his "funky socks, Mom." "The ones with the monkeys from Grampa D." "Why did Grampa D give these?" What could I say besides, "because he thought you would like funky socks!" This satisfied and he proceeded to put on his super fast running shoes and go out and climb into the sandbox with them. But, since he is so OCD, that didn't last long. Too much sand.

This Week Part 3 Milestones.

2008-07-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today has been very exciting in the world of The Kid. He started off by vocalizing about everything! Another talker! His seem to sound more like "Blah,blah,blah,blah,dadadada,blah" He likes to yell this from his crib upon awakening. Being 6 months old now, I decided to try him out in the shopping cart at Safeway. I got my shopping cart cover and matching pillow out and we all piled into the car for a grocery store excursion. Oh and it's not called "Safeway" (I am told by The Capt) it's called "GroceryStore." Whatever Bossy. So The Capt picks out a shopping CAR and I get the Kid nice and comfy in his cart. He liked it! By the end of the trip he was grabbing for me in exhaustion. Made it home in time for some rest! Yippee! But wait! The day hadn't ended for that little baby. Both little pirates are fighting sniffly noses so we decided to stay inside to play cars. I put The Kid down in The Capt's room and he sat unassisted! Woohoo! Way to go! I thnk he was suprised as well. He kinda looked around as if wondering where his prop had gone. Haha! Tricked you Baby! after that he was back to his tummy. I guess he thinks that now he knows how he doesn't really need to do it. He's not one for showing off!

This Week Part 2 The Big Bonk

2008-07-24T22:38:00.001-07:00

So we got home Tues night just around bed time. I was in getting the Kid situated while Dada and The Capt wer in our room getting jammies on and settling in. This usually means jumping on the bed and other rascally behavior. Well all of a sudden I hear a big "Bonk!" Head hitting wood. My heart dropped and I rushed in to see The Capt in tears and a huge hematoma swelling before my eyes. We did the usual first aid and luckily there was no blood. I recently bought a Nemo ice pack thinking we'd be using it on The Kid, but I guess the Capt would be breaking it in instead. That and Arnica gel, which I swear by. Even if it really doesn't work (I think it does) it certainly gives me peace of mind. I called the nurse and we discussed a possible concussion. It was bed time so once everyone was calm, The Capt went to bed. Two hours later I was supposed to wake him up and get him walking and talking. This did not go well. I really couldn't get him to open his eyes let alone walk and talk. I carried him downstairs to Dada. He slumped into his lap. We just looked at each other and kept trying to get him more alert. Finally it was enough and we carted him off to bed. We weren't convinced he was okay. Was he just so tired from our busy week or did he really have a concussion? We could leave him sleeping for another four hours. We weren't comfortable with that and after browsing the internet, we decided to wake him up before we went to bed. This time we got him walking and talking. I called the nurse once more and we all agreed that he seemed okay. We let him snuggle into our bed and watch Caillou. Anything for our kids, right? Back to bed he went. I checked on him one last time when the baby cried and then an hour or two later I woke up and Dada was not in bed. The next morning I found out he had gone in and slept on the floor of the Capt. room. What sweet Dada he is. Luck for us it was garbage day so Dada on the floor got to wake up to..."the garbage can! the garbage can!" Whew! He's okay!
His head looked a little like a Star Trek alien, but he's normal as ever.

This Week Part 1 Camp I-VY

2008-07-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

So we were at camp I-VY this week. Sunday to Tues. We learned so much, met a great number of families and jumped right into the world of hemophilia! Each day after breakfast we took the kids to day care. Of course The Capt had a blast. Although there were several potty accidents. He must have been having too much fun. The Kid did well also. A lady named Charlie took charge of him and she happened to be a Severe A Hemophiliac as well. The real fun was for us. Each day we sat in a different parent discussion. We talked about everything from our own expereinces to asking teenageers questions to starting an I.V. on each other. By Tues night we were pooped out! We are defiantely looking forward to going again next year and making it an annual event!

Golf Gets in your Blood and Camp I-VY

2008-07-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

Friday kicked off our dive into the world of hemophilia! Dada and I volunteered at Golf Gets in your Blood golf tournament, auction and dinner event to support the Puget Sound Blood Center and the Bleeding Disorder Foundation of Washington. It was an amazing event and in just a couple of hours raised thousands of dollars to support a cause very dear to our hearts. Dada statred the day by helping out the golf event and I showed up to help with the silent auction and dinner auction festivities. It really suprised me at how powerful and overwhelming the night became watching the diners give so much money to help such a small program. In Washington state alone there are only about 500 people with hemophilia. The Kid's picture was a centerpiece for about 2 tables and we flashed his picture to anyone that wanted a peek. At one point I was so emotional talking about my story, that I think one of my tables ended up donatinga little extra! We hope to really be in the forefront of the event next year and maybe even host a table.
Our next adventure is Camp I-VY. An annual family camp for families dealing with hemophlia. This is the 33rd year and we are so excited to be a part of it. This will be a very important event for us as we will be able to really get to know other local families just like us and those who have a few more years under their belts. Since the Kid still just goes along for the ride he gets to be the center of attention sitting upon my hip for a few days. The Capt on the other hand is already being prepped for the big event. We explained we were going to camp and that we wer going to sleep in sleeping bags. He said he didn't like camp and wanted to stay in his own bed. This is natural for him since he has transition issues. Although once over them, dives head first into everything! So I figured he really doesn't understand what that all means and is trying to play it off. I had him help me find everyone's sleeping bags and haul them upstairs to his bedroom. Then he helped lay them out next to each other and then gather everyone's pillows. By this time he was starting to have fun. He was ready to get inside and then hide and get flashlights, etc. By the end of an hour I was a giant catapillar and he was trying to squash me! I think he's ready for camp. I hope we get to roast marshmallows...

Baby slings!

2008-07-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

I don't usually advertise for things, but who wouldn't want to win some free baby slings! I didn't think I'd be so addicted but most of you know how active Jack is and keeping Will in a sling or carrier has been a life saver. Jack hung out in a sling now and again, but nothing like this baby. Plus, with will's hemophilia, keeping him in a sling is sometimes a better choice than on a hard surface when we're running around.

A Day Out with Thomas

2008-07-13T20:12:00.001-07:00

So The Capt is a Thomas fan. He's not obsessed or anything, but he enjoys the show and likes trains. Well today we got to ride a Thomas train. Oh! And a school bus. I'm not sure which was more fun but it was all exciting. The school bus took us to the train depot where there was singing and coloring and storytelling and lego trains and Thomas stuff abound! We met up with cousins Sam and Genevieve, had lunch, walked around and of course, bought a Thomas the Tank Engine set. We saw lots of trains and finally it was our turn. The Capt and Genevieve sat together and held their tickets until the conductor came around. We tried seeing Sir Topham Hatt but the line was long and it was hot and waiting in line with a 2 year old alone is not so much fun, let alone when it is HOT outside. We got to see Thomas at the front of the train and the kids had a blast knowing that Thomas was giving us a ride. By the end we were melted and dirty and tired but we all had fun. We stopped for slurpees on the way home and both our boys were asleep in the car for about an hour. Woohoo!. I definately recommend seeing Thomas. http://www.trainmuseum.org/dowt/dowt_main.html Bring lunch and water and a few dollars for souvenirs.

Leaps and Bounds

2008-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

So the Capt. is learning to hang off things. A playground near our house has monkey bars. Although he can't swing across them yet, he can reach up and hang off the first bar. He also likes to hang off the "laundry bar" in the back seat of the car when getting out. As the Lee family was suprised to find out a coupel of weeks ago, the Capt. can unbunkle himslef from his carseat. In the beginning this was bad. I had to pull over on the freeway a couple of times and talk about the policeman being very upset before the novelty wore off. Now it's actually helpful. I can get the Kid out of the car first and the Capt unbuckles, climbs over and hangs off the bar before getting out. And whetever you do. Do NOT help him. He can do it himself and he will tell you so. Anyway, most of the time the hanging off things does not affect anyone else, but the other day at the new Crossroads water park, the Capt was at the top of the play structure and he was hanging off the bar ro the slide. This was fine until a couple of other boys wanted to actually slide down. The Capt continued hanging. I was at the bottom yelling and sweating. He continued his hanging. The Capt hung off the bar and pushed the first kid. I was thinking, heck no! Then the other kid pushed back. It was all over. The Capt and the Other Boy were brawling!! I looked around and didn't see any other mom to witness this so I marched up the play structure with the Kid in tow to break up the Capt's first playground brawl. I hope this is the last one for awhile. There was actually some good that came out of all of this. In normal manly fashion by the time the boys were finally down the slide they were already buddies. The rest of the time they climbed all about helping each other up the ladders with the Capt using his best manners with a "thank you" everytime his buddy lent an arm up. When it was time to go they were waving all the way to the car and as the Capt was getting into his carseat he says, "that was my friend." Yup. He's a boy.

suprising kids

2008-07-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

The Capt and the Kid keep the fascination of raising kids always exciting. Today during music class The Capt was listening to Miss Allison tell a story and the page was about 8 baby lizards and a momma. When she read "eight lizards, blah blah blah" The Capt blurted out. "There's not 8 there's 9!" Whoa. Um, when did he start learning addition??!! I know he wants to go to school and all, but can we start with learning to write your name and coloring inside the lines.
These last couple of weeks The Kid has been in sitting limbo. He hasn't been able to sit up unassisted but he's getting too dang big for everything! I've been trying to figure out the best way to give him a bath since he doesn't fit in his baby tub anymore and I'm still lugging him around in his infant seat. Well today he decided to sit up. By himself. It was alot like the rolling over. I knew he could do it but until he's good and ready, and has a good reason, he will do it all in his own sweet time. Now that I think about it. He does this with eating as well. Eating fruit. Not so much! Veggies loves 'em, but only likes to eat "people food" at dinner.
I especially love that both these guys are sooo different. The Capt is always on the go. Always has been from the first moment I felt him in my tummy. The Kid takes his own sweet time and is just happy hanging out in his crib with his lovey.

Taunting

2008-07-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Is it really that terrible to taunt your 2 1/2 year old? The other day I told The Capt he couldn't have a Vanilla Milk because he was having a tantrum. He replied. "I'm NOT a tantrum!" while arms and legs were flailing along with tears and a running nose. What could I do but shake my head, tell him "yes, you are a tantrum" and proceed to order myself a frappacino.

Top 10 reasons

2008-07-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

This is the Forrester Top Ten Reasons The Capt needs to go to preschool.

10. He has his backpack ready and wants to take the bus
9. He asks almost every day
8. He refuses to acknowlege the words "no" and "don't touch" Hmm maybe he just can't hear the decibels my voice makes when I say them...
7. His negotiating skills are getting better than mine.
6. Cleaning a gallon of apple juice after it flooded the kitchen floor is NO FUN!
5. He doesn't take a nap anyway
4. He counts to 30, uses scissors and knows his ABC's
3. He knows how to use a plunger. (and thinks it must be used everytime he pees in the toilet)
2. He says things like, "Of course, Mom" when he wants to do what I ask and "Actually, Mom" when he is telling me something.
1. As you can see in the picture, he knows how to apply his own sunscreen

Favorite Things

2008-06-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things and the Capt's favorite things right now is frozen Gogurt. The only problem is that his hands get chilly and he won't eat it all. I was cutting them in half for awhile but now he is asking for "the whole thing" My solution: Cut the toe off those little baby socks that never stay on babies. It is the perfect size to use as a Gogurt holder! (Taking a bow) I had a second favorite thing on my mind earlier today but the toddler/preschool brain has taken over. Hmm. (scratching head)

Imagination

2008-06-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days the Capt has been extra imaginative. Or at least more imaginative. I have noticed and random people have mentioned it as well. Yesterday he was a pirate. At Kindermusik at one point he even yelled out, "Pirates!" And used his music sticks as a pirate telescope. Today he kept telling people he was a Rockstar and would yell out, "Rock and Roll!" He also ran arouund the front yard like a" Hyena." I'm kind of curious to find out what he'll be tomorrow. I do humor him with these characters, but I not about to go crazy with it. Like I might say, "okay 'pirate' get your butt in the car." Or "All rockstars listen to their moms and eat their lunch." On the Kid front, today we tried applesauce. He had quite a puckery face over it. I guess more pukered than usual. I finally asked Dada tonight if he thought The Kid was happy. He just shrugged and thought it was hard to tell. He seems to think The Kid will end up being a really funny guy some day. My mom always talks about how I would only smile at the refrigerator. Now I smile all the time. I hope that's the case for The Kid. Mom, did you ever wonder if I was happy?

First Cereal

2008-06-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

I have been going back and forth about giving The Kid real food. He just turned 5 months old and I know my pediatrician likes to wait until 6 months old. It isn't like something magical happens as soon as they turn 6 months and he is getting pretty big so i thought, what the heck. So tonight I wiped down the high chair and mixed up a little baby rice cereal. I guess he liked it. He didn't cry or spit it out, so I think that means he thought it was okay. I know I can't expect him to get too excited. He just doesn't have that kind of personality. So I'm going to go with -he liked it. The pictures are very cute. I threw in a smiley picture too, just so you can see that he does smile once in awhile.

A Hand-full!

2008-06-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I've been a loser for not posting picturers the last few posts, but I promise to get caught up before the week is over. I'm too dang tired tonight to do anything other than type. The Kid was up alot last night. He doesn't like to be alone, I guess. He is rolling himself around in the crib and I guess wakes himself up and then gets crabby. He is now 5 months old so I guess it's time to teach him how to suck it up. This time around (as if crying it out isn't hard enough) is tougher because I worry that he could be hurt. So of course as soon as he stops peeping I run up there and check him out. So the really funny and not so funny part about today was that The Capt. was "a handful." All Day. I told him Evan was coming to play. He couldn't wait. He rushed out the door yelling "Evan!" when they got to the house. But then, anything Evan wanted to play with, The Capt could not share. Time outs happened. I probably looked like an idiot but what can you do when your kid is being a jerk. Later, we were out running errands so I could make up a reason to strap the Capt into the carseat for 30 minutes. He continued to act up in the craft store. I told him he had been a handful all day. He whined back. "I am not a handful! I am being crazy and running around!" Does this mean he is becoming self aware? Hmmm. Oh and don't ask about potty training. He still thinks pull ups are coming back. I had to tell him that since he turned 2 1/2 that we had to throw them in the garbage. This did NOT go over well. That topic can be left for another day...

This and That

2008-06-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

So the Kid is trying to scoot around these days. I shoudl say, on the days he is on his tummy on the floor. He's not even 5 months old yet! Yikes! Oh and he likes to stand as well. Oh and he LOVES the jumperoo. I think I told you that already but today instead of jumping his feet were actually walking. It's really pretty funny. And not funny. I'm not reasy for mobility! I'm stalling with all the fun baby stuff before diving into the not so fun toddler stuff. We are trying to get back on the potty wagon. This time I mean business. No more pull ups. Cold turkey. The Capt. did not like this. He still insists that it's "okay to poop in pull ups mom" That may be the case but you aren't wearing pull ups anymore, buddy. The Capt is now "in charge" of himself when it comes to the potty department. He is very stubborn and wants to do things himself so he is going to have to do this too. It is his responsibility to know when it is time to go and go to the bathroom and do it himself. Many of you know that we have been in the casual potty training mode for sometime now. He knows what to do where to do it and what comes out of where. Now he needs to apply it all on his own. Today is day 3. He had a couple of not so nice messes in his pants today and I am hoping that it will encourage him to use the toilet for ALL his business. He's doing really well in the pee department. We even had to make an extra stop today because he said "I think it's potty time mom." Tonight he learned what it means to poop in your pants. He had to help clean up. Okay for those of you with weak stomachs. This is sooooo not fun. I would much rather just deal with it myself, but I'm afraid I have to pull out the big guns on this one. Having a 2 year old wipe himself after pooping his pants should earn ME a super cool award or something. In my fantasy world I am hoping this only lasts a cople of days. (I don't think he liked doing it. I know I don't and that's why we are potty training to begin with!) I'm also hoping in this case fantasy will become reality. Please send good potty vibes my way. Miss Allison said the first kid is the hardest. I believe her because she is the best teacher in the whole world. (At least in the last 2 years but I can't imagine anyone better then her so we'll go with that.) Okay, I'm off to finish my disinfecting now.....

It's the Little Things

2008-06-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after driving around doing errands, we pulled into the driveway and The Capt unbuckles himself, leans in to me and says," I'm really proud of you, Mom." I don't know what I did to make him proud or to say that, but it sure brought a tear to my eye. I hope that means I'm doing something right! Today after The Kid woke up from one of his regularly scheduled naps I peered into the crib and his chubby little arms stretched out as if to say, "hooray, pick me up!" along with that perfect gummy grin! What else could I do but grab that baby and give him a big snuggle! Oh and by the way. The Capt has picked up one of my habits (along with others). He'll say something like "look at that baby, he's smiling!" Right now his favorite thing is to call that baby "chubbers!"

Just an Update

2008-06-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

I just want to thank you all for being sooo supportive during our trying time. I was really suprised by all the thoguhts, prayers, phone calls, emails, etc. that I received! I truly concider myself lucky to have such great people around me! So Wed, I had my blood drawn to see if I am a hemophiia carrier. i won't know anything for a couple of weeks. Willie The Kid started his Kindermusik class last week and enjoyed it. (I think) He was giggling during the dancing parts so that's a good sign! He can roll over both ways (I think) but chooses not to. He loves his exersaucer and LOVES the jumperoo. Today he was really wanting to stand on his chubby little legs and is sitting up supported pretty good. I won't be suprised if he crawls early. (God help me!) It's been a week since Addie moved and today the Capt was sad. He asked about soccer and I told him we would get to play outside next week. He asked, "with Addie?" and I said no because she moved away. He whimpered and had a really sad face and said "I miss Addie" *sniff* I have to just put on my mom face and tell him it is sad and convince myself it is a learning experience for him. Even if it does suck. Otherwise we are all healthy and happy. Nana and Papa are coming to visit for a couple of days next weekend and cousin Sam is having a dinosaur birthday. You know, all the usual everyday things!

Addie & Jack

2008-05-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Addie & Jack, Jack and Addie. They are two peas in a pod. Jack and Addie have been friends since they were just 6 months old. They have become the best of friends. What one does, the other wants to do. They bring out the best in each other. A simple thing, like eating a snack, makes them giggle at each other. They hug and kiss, they talk together, play side by side, and sometimes boss each other around. They make mischief together but can sit quietly and hold hands. They look out for each other in their own toddler way. Kissing each others owies, rubbing heads and patting backs. Jack sits on Addie's lap and Addie simply hugs him around the waist. They have been monkeys together, clowns together, goofballs, crazies, ice cream buddies and even had their first sleep over together while we waited for Baby Edith to join the world. I loved Adelaide the moment I saw her sweet, chubby little face. Today Addie moved away. I was so sad watching those funny little kids run around like any other day. Sharing their treats and laying next to each other on the floor. Addie and Jack, Jack and Addie. What will life be like without that little toddler duo?

You can do it!

2008-05-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

The resilience of babies. A day after The Kid's ordeal at the hospital he was rolling over! Me and Dada and the Capt were there cheering him on as he lay like a worm on the carpet. We were all yelling, "Come on you can do it, go baby!" The Capt was jumping up and down while we watched the Kid grin and giggle and finally flip over like a fish out of water. To this he received his own cheering section of clapping and screaming. It really was a joyous moment. It was then that I truly knew we would all be okay. Today we met with the Hemophilia nurse practioner. We dropped the Capt off at his older friend, Ryan's house and away we went. We learned so much and after an hour and a half sighed in relief that we really WILL be OK. There will be bumps and bruises along the way (excuse my pun!) but as long as we are carefully monitoring the situation, the Kid will grow up like any other. No one will be the wiser. The second step will be to get myself tested to see if I was a true carrier of this disorder or if it was a newly mutated gene. Ever day will bring something new, but wasn't that happening anyway? I'm going to go kiss that chubby baby now....

Sweet Baby Will

2008-05-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Our world has been turned upside down! A few days ago we found out that The Kid has severe hemophilia. Earlier in the week I discovered a nasty hematoma (really dark purple bruise with a knot in it) on his arm near his armpit. It was definately not something that could just appear due to even rough play with the Capt. He never seemed injured or anything so it was quite a suprise when I took off his clothes one morning. We sat on it for a day and the next morning went to the Dr. Thank God we were able to see our own pediatrician! Anyone else would have thought abuse. This freaked the bee-geezes out of me. But or Doc decided to run tests right away after a couple of other minor incidents of bleeding. We spent the rest of the day trying to find someone who could successfully draw blood from an infant. Let me just say this was not fun. The Kid and I cried together. Finally at the end of the day and about 5 needle pokes later, we were told we would be spending the night at Children's Hospital. One out of the five pokes continued to bleed... Somewhere around 10pm we were finally in our room. The Capt was with us all and was a champ. Luckily he got to watch Finding Nemo during most of this evening ordeal. Our room was shared with a little 3 year old girl on her second round of chemo. I was told by the nurses we got to room with the feistiest one! Now, I do not like suprises and like to know in advance what the plan is. I'm a planner. So this was one of the scariest, loneliest nights I can remember. Lucky for me I had the sweet little baby face to cuddle the whole time. I just didn't want to put him down, even when my arms were numb. Somewhere around 3am we were able to get his treatment going. This meant getting a temporary IV in place and 10 minutes of factor viii infusion. A half hour later another blood draw and results that it worked. Thus our journey now begins. Never in a million years would I have thought I would have two extremely unique and amazing boys. Never. At night I take a deep breathe, close my eyes and wait for the next day's adventure. Our house is never boring!

Scary things

2008-05-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

The Capt. is very funny these days (okay extra funny) Last night he told me not to play "his" music. (the music he has at night-night time) he told me it was "scary" and that there were monsters. How does he know about monsters??? Anyway I told him I would use the monster spray on it and then the monsters wouldn't be scary anymore. Somehow this worked. Then today during a NAP, (how shocking what is this? I'll get to it later) he must of had some pretty amazing dreams. He was going on and on about a giant and some kitties running and hiding from the giant and a bunch of other stuff that didn't make sense. So yeah, the Capt took a nap today. We came home from Kindermusik this afternoon and he fell asleep in the car. This is not totally unheard of. What is crazy is that I took him out of the car and laid hm in my bed and he stayed there. Asleep. I truly was beside myself. I looked around to see if it was a prank and I probably checked on him every 20 minutes but he slept for an hour and a half! The best part about this, besides getting the Capt less crazy, is I got to spend that whole time with The Kid. By myself. It was a beautiful thing and he was just chatty and grinny as ever. I can't wait until the Kid starts his own Kindermusik class in a couple of weeks.

Charks Blog

2008-05-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

I just want to give a shout out to my peeps. Charkie is the one that got it started. She inspired me to create a blog because I love hers so dang much! She is one of the most organized moms I know. She not only works full time but is an amazing mom to her little guy and has another little guy (if we can call him that) on the way. Plus she is able to keep up her blog along with lots of other projects. Please check out her blog and all the great "Jelly" pics!

Nana's visit

2008-04-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

I love when my mom visits. It always regenerates my mommyhood. The Capt loves it too even if he doesn't truly realize it. It helped us get back on the potty wagon with underwear. The Capt even has his own potty watch. It fits his little wrist and goes off at 90 minutes as a reminder to go. While my mom was here the new patio, aka Capt's yard, got some fun new toys. A sand and water table and a new tricycle! We spent lots of afternoons out here. The newest Capt phrase was in the car. We are just driving along, my mom and I talking, (which means the Capt is always asking what we are talking about and what happened) very nosy! Today he says, "Um, excuse me, I have a question." I always want to laugh my butt off at these comments but I try to act natural. So I ask him what his question is like it's completely normal for a two year old to talk to you this way. The Capt also decided to tote his "baby" around in the car today. This is a plush doll he got from his Auntie Cari before the Kid was born. It is anatomically correct (as much as a plush baby can be) and has a little shirt and diaper. He tries nursing this baby on occasion which is totally funny since the baby eats from his belly button and today the baby finally got a name. Chakie. Baby Chakie.

Getting ready for bed

2008-04-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

The Capt usually goes to bed fairly easily. We have our routine of jammies, teeth, potty. Then mom and dad and Capt sit and read 2 books. Hugs and kisses from dad, then mom sings songs, talk about our day, turn on music, the end. Tonight from under the door I hear.."Mama..." I go in. Get the Capt back in bed and he asks, "How's the weather?" I wasn't sure I heard this just right so, of course, I asked again. Same answer. "how's the weather?" What is this, small talk? I was really trying not to crack up. I told him the weather was fine but dark. It's night-night. I guess that appeased since it was quiet after that. What a character, this guy!

Dog Food

2008-04-25T22:09:00.001-07:00

I've been such a flake on my bolg! So to those of you who reminded me (you know who you are!) thanks for giving me a kick! :)
So here are a few happpenings in the Capt's world. He wants to go to school. He asks every so often. Or rather "tells" me. "I want to go to school." Ugh! I have to tell him he has to wait until he's 3. He's also very into pretending these days. It's very funny and sometimes you don't know he's pretending until he's crying because you didn't eat the pretend popcicle he gave you. Yesterday he was pretending to be a dog. He wanted cheerios. He got cheerios. Then I was told they weren't cheerios, they were dog food. The funniest part was when he had eaten them all he asked if he could have more "dog food". Good thing we were at home! Yesterday was also a rough day because the Kid had a 24 hour flu. Not fun! When a 3 month old is vomiting like the exorcist. Um, kinda scary. Luckily it only happened a couple of times and my mom was here visiting. The weirdest thing about it all was the day before he had his 3 months pictures taken and he was flirting with the girl taking his pictures. Cooing and giggling at her. Definately not his usual crusty self. Then the next morning. Blech! Thankfully it stopped as quickly as it started. Oh, and we paved the side yard of our house! A nice 12 by 29 foot space for scooter and bike riding. This has now been dubbed "the Capt's Yard" Which takes on a whole different meaning when friends come over. I realize now we need friends over to play more often. The Capt is not good at sharing his own toys. He is good at sharing other people's toys. Okay, I promise to stay back on the "blog wagon" more to come!

Toddler's Creed

2008-04-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

www.lexiemorgan.com/toddler.htm
This link was given to me by my mom. I am surviving my toddler, I mean motherhood because of her. Enjoy the tears of laughter!

Mine

2008-04-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

We have turned a new corner in the toddler department. I guess because we don't have enough corners. (Thought you could only have four) The Capt. would argue this of course but I digress...The phrase "That's mine!" has been creeping up on me this past week and I've been trying hard to ignore it. It's here to stay. This is the Capt. newest phrase along with "don't do that Mom!" Today on a hike I grabbed a little backpack from the back seat for snacks and what-nots we might need. About 1/4 of the way in the Capt realized this on my back and exclaimed. "that's mine!" I said it was really mine and I have been sharing with him. This time with more zest he hollered "that's my purse!" I know some of you are laughing about the purse thing. Monday he took a little black clutch filled with cars to kindermusik, but whatever. Funny thing about the backpack is he was just so mad about it. The spittle was flying out of his little mouth as he was telling me that I I could not have this bag. It was his. Finally when it came to blows, we took a time out. In the woods. Time out in the woods works waaay better than at home. The Capt also pleasantly waved "hi" to a few people as they hiked by during this spell and we explained we were having a time out. So I'm still figuring out how to deal with this new attitude and will keep you posted when I find a resolution, or, er, compromise!

Naps

2008-04-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

So many of you know that the Capt has refused naps for awhile now...we started the battle at about 18 months. Let's just say it was not pretty. If there was a method, idea, or trick, I tried it. If any of you out there are in need of suggestons, trust me, I've tried them all. We are both lucky to have gotten out alive! :) So instead of a nap the Capt goes on Mama's bed for about an hour and watches Zaboo with a snack. He does pretty good for about 45 min. to an hour. Probably the only time of day where every body part is not moving all at once. Especially the mouth. There is usually no talking. Yippee!! I learned to go to my mental happy place during this time and celebrate the small successes. ie. no movement vs. movement. It's not sleep, but I have learned to come to terms with it. Trust me, I was kicking and screaming just to get to this place. The beginning was, well, not good. The minute you walked in the door, you knew it was a bad no nap day. These days are better and more manageable, but these pictures are examples of what happens when mom just can't fight the battle in the afternoon. Art gone wrong. Oh and the face paint is washable markers. The Capt thought he would be a bunny. And just in case you were wondering, washable markers usually come clean, unless you leave them on your face. The Capt is also learning to use scissors. Not sure THAT's a good idea but it has been keeping him occupied for about an hour in the afternoons. We've been cutting up foam paper and using foam stickers (he can finally peel the dang things himself!). The rules: "only cut paper." And the cliched, "no running with scissors." It's actually pretty funny to say this "for real." The cutting of h-a-i-r has crossed MY mind, but there is no way on the planet I would ever say this out loud. God, I probably shouldn't even be typing about it!

Kindermusik

2008-04-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Unlike the wild times of soccer, the capt. is a completely different child during Kindermusik. We have been doing this once a week music class with Miss Allison since the Capt was about 6 months/8months old. He LOVES the class and would go home with Miss Allison in a heartbeat! Weirdly enough one of his favorite part about this class is snuggle time. I know, shocking, right?
Unfortunately the snuggle part is with Miss Allison, not me. PLease check out their site. www.studio3music.com Not only is the class fun, but it's like getting to enjoy a taste of preschool with them and they have the best toys and puzzles. Of course everyone knows the Capt. and are alrerady remembering the Kid. Here we are in class!

Bringing Up Boys

2008-04-05T20:01:00.001-07:00

This is the title of the current book I am reading. It is filled with a lot of interesting information on raising boys in a difficult society. Although it is heavy on Christian philosophy and I am not a religious person, I do appreciate the moral substance it brings. It is NOT for the feminists and may be difficult for the single mom to swallow, but i will be comparing it to a couple of other "boy" books on my list. I am interested in these books for several reasons. My younger brother and I came from a divorced home and was raised by a single mom for about 7 years. I watched my brother struggle with many issues that he still deals with today. I now have 2 boys and it is my responsibility to raise them honestly, safely, and with good morals and manners. To teach them to be responsible, courteous and smart. I want to be able to give them things and share with them, things I may not have had. I want to give them every opportunity to be successful no matter what path they choose and I want them to be contributing members of society. I want to pass as much good on to them as possible so in turn, they can do the same. I believe it is our duty and responsibility as parents to be the best role models and mentors to our children as we possibly can. Okay that's my soapbox for the day! Back to the legos and poopy diapers...and "no" you can't play golf in the house! Pictures are Baby Jack in blue and Baby Will in green/tan

feelings....

2008-04-04T19:50:00.001-07:00

The Capt. is learning how to express his feelings through words. It's really kind of funny but I try to be as empathetic as possible.
Lately he has been feeling scared. Not sure what there really is to be scared of, but still, I try to acknowledge these feelings. He's scared of things like scary music, ghosts (how does he even know what ghosts are?) Tonight was something all together different and not at all scary. I asked him if he wanted chicken for dinner. As with most toddlers, chicken in the so called, nugget form, is pretty much a staple. He said "no because it makes him sad." I asked why. He said, " because chickens go b-r-awk!" And he was Serious! I really tried hard not to bust a gut on that one! When the time came he still ate the chicken.

The Kid

2008-03-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

I know I don't write a lot of stuff about this guy, but he is certainly become waaayy cute these days. He is loving his tummy time as you can see in the pictures. He smiles and coos and loves being part of the family action. He went down for a nap today right around the time of the thunder storm. He did not want to miss out and cried everytime the thunder boomed. I just lovev this baby time and sure will miss it when it's gone. Also pictures of his cool room. I worked hard on it while pregnant and my dad came out and put down a beautiful hardwood floor. Lots of love went into this baby's space!

random stuff o' the day

2008-03-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

So I think it is really funny when th Capt. learns something from one of his shows. The other day he was having a snack and says, "look I'm eating with my beaver teeth!" Today we went to the zoo and rented a wagon. He has been wanting to get one of the zoo wagons every time we go. I finally decided we could do it. He hoped right in and , of course, buckled up! He proceeded to buckle and unbuckle at every stop. He didn't run off once! I was shocked. What a goofball! He has started going through a scared phase though and maybe that had something to do with it. Lately he's been afraid of the blender, scary music, um, yeah how does he know what scary music is? and today he ran off when I turned on the vacuum. Whose kid is this? Today he also went pee by himself. We have kind of gone back to pull ups full time temporarily, but today when i took his pants off I suggested (as usual) that he use the toilet. He agreed and ran off before I could get there and was peeing in the toilet all my himself...standing up. We showed him how to do this and we usually have to help (if you know what I mean) anyway, I don't recommend this if they do not go big potty on the toilet regularly. This has caused our set back. The novelty of standing up has made it so he doesn't want to sit down. Not so good! Anyway, good for him for having great aim today...last time he tried by himself he made it to the garbage can! I wish you all could listen to the Capt's rendition of the ABC song. Not sure how I can get it on this blog. If anyone knows, please email me! The Cap't "new" room. Same room just newly decorated.

Hands Off

2008-03-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

So I am learning a few things about myself and my kids while reading "How to Raise a Spirited Child" handbook. I am an extrovert who is perceptive and who can be persistent. I am married to an introvert who is very persistent. The Cap't is also an extrovert who is many things, but is very persistent and perceptive. I am learning new ways to get along and also new ways to get the Capt to do what I want (Mwah-ha-ha!) I discovered very early on that "no" is not a word that the Capt can hear. Within his extensive toddler vocabulary, this word does not exist. Someday, I am told, this will be good when he is an adult. It means he will not be a quitter.
Right now it is not helpful. So I started using the word "stop." This worked for awhile and then the Capt built up an immunity to it. "Don't touch" only works when he's done touching the thing. My new miracle phrase is "hands off". It is to the point. He knows what his hands are and he knows what off means. I also started saying things that sound more like a drill sargent or a cave man would say (not in tone, just in words.) Like today after Kindermusik. It was very rainy and we had to cross the parking lot to get to the car. I normally would say, "Okay, hold Mama's hand in the parking lot." Somehow toddlers instead hear "okay parking lot RUN!" Instead I tried saying "hold hands street". It worked!! I gave myself some internal high fives and tried again in the car. The Capt is learning to climb into the car and get into his seat by "Jack's self." Before getting there though he usually he finds toys, old goldfish crackers and stickers stuck to the floor and I end up getting him in by "mom's self". Today I told him "carseat sit down" He actually did it!! Not sure how long these new experiments, I mean, tricks, I mean ideas will last but I took myself to Starbuck's on the way home for a mom treat anyway.

addicted to blogging

2008-03-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

I admit it. I am addicted to blogging. This for 2 reasons. 1. I enjoy writing and telling my story.

2. I can also peek into other peoples lives and see that A) wow, I don't have it so bad after all. or B) I am in waaayy over my head. Plus I am also addicted to reality TV. I watch everything from Survior to Search for the next Elvira! So blogging fits right into to my voyeristic tendencies! The truth is that being a mom is the hardest job you will ever love. I love my mom friends and miss them when they move away. I want to stay connected to them and share my life. I also want other moms out there to know they are not alone when their kid tells the whole restaurant that he farted or worse. And that some days mom needs a time out so she doesn't just lose it. I also want to brag and share all the great, brilliant and funny stuff my kids do. Having a toddler is like being on a really fast, fun, scary roller coaster. Some days you want to go again and again. Other days you're begging to get off!

A day in the life...

2008-03-26T20:33:00.001-07:00

Wednesday's are soccer day. Now the Capt, really likes soccer day for 2 reasons. It is garbage day and he gets to wear his cool soccer jersey. If you live with a toddler, you also know that i doesn't always follow that order and that he may change his mind without any forewarning. Today the cap't wanted to wear his light blue sleeper pj's with the lions on it. This, of course, is not okay. People do not wear their pajamas outside the house. The cap't doesn't care. The fight to get dressed began. Somehow, as with everyday, we made it out of the door on time in somewhat of a presentable manner and on time. Nowadays during soccer, the soccer monster and I have made peace with each other. As long as the cap't follows 30-50% of directions, the soccer monster can run wild when necessary. What I discovered is that by doing this, the cap't gives himself his own timeouts! By the end of our 12 weeks I think we may have 100% participation...but I'm always willing to change my expectations! Fun was had by all and according to Addie, the Captain's official girlfirned, the 2 of them were just being "goofballs". After lunch with Dada, we made it home and began rest time. After several attempts of asking about going big potty on the toilet or in a pull up, the cap't instead defied me once again and just pooped his pants. I'm not sure why this still suprises me, but. It does. At it was not pretty. Giving a toddler a hose down in the shower in the middle of the afternoon is not what I call a "rest time" and I do not salvage underwear at this stage. I only have so much patience. It goes in the garbage. Now I'm left to figure out how to entertain the child the rest of the day. I decide to try the park with a friend. Almost there I hear a funny noise in the backseat and I think, "what is he doing back there?" I look around and he's asleep. Snoring. So off to Starbucks I go spend some quiet time to myself, feed the Kid, and head back home. Dada will be home soon and I pull up to the house. The Cap't wakes up and asks if we are going to the park. Um, no buddy you went to sleep. This was not okay for the cap't and he burst into tears. So we took a quick trip to the park and the cap't sat in the middle of the tennis courts and watched 2 random guys play tennis. This is what I love about the guy.

Easter Fun

2008-03-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

Not much to report on the Easter front. Fun was had by all and then we got colds. The Easter Bunny left baby carrotsd from the baskets to the front door and the Cap't deemed this a "mess" and proceeded to eat them up. These pictures are what it looks like when a toddler has partied too much! Today we laid low and I guess you know you've let your toddler watch too much tv when he is singing "Comcast to the rescue!" Oh, and hey! Thank you to everyone's feedback on my blog. I love hearing from everyone so please leave your comments. Most importantly I love sharing my adventures with you all! Enjoy!

I have to Pee!

2008-03-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

I know you think this post is going to be about the Captain. (Duh! who else is it about!) Well it is actually about me and how I realized today that it is just as important for me to go potty before leaving the house as it is the Cap't. It is extremely difficult to get from point A to point B with a toddler, let alone a spirited one. Well this afternoon we went to the park and while we were at the pond (go figure) I thought, hm I have to pee. Well not usually a big deal right? Right! Until you WANT to leave the park and the toddler does NOT want to leave the park. So I said, "come on let's run" bad idea for me and the pee. Cap't saw right through me. Instead he wanted to go fishing. Then I tried bribes. "Let's go have sips from the drinking fountain" a novelty that usually is a big hit. The Cap't must have sensed my desperation. He had to stop and step on a crunchy leaf. Meanwhile I prayed that after giving birth to two hefty babies I could cross my legs and "hold it" long enough to get home. "Let's go home and have easter jello AND cookies!" I had to pull out the big guns. The Kid was starting to get irritated and I defiantely would lose it if that happened. You would have thought this park was the yellow brick road or something, and after stopping to pet a puppy, point at some old gum, evaluate "peoples" playing tennis, we at least made it to the car! I can't believe I have not peed my pants yet. The Cap't finally climbed into the car and away we went. I think I was sweating, but, yes, I made it home and got a couple of high fives from a two year old for going "a big, giant pee"

Stayed tuned for our Easter adventures, but until then the pictures here are from a day with friends. Coloring eggs, doing some easter art and the usual toddler chaos!

Quote's of the day

2008-03-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

I am always amazed at the stuff this child comes up with! Today he was doing puzzles and says, "oh no! Double Drats!" What?! Supposedly, from what he tells me, he heard this while watching Super Why (one of our fav. morning shows) Later, when the Cap't was playing with Dada he starts climbing the stairs and says, "I like sweet, buttery corn" Stops and makes you think, did I hear that right? Where that one came from, I have no idea.

Willie the Kid

2008-03-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

So I talk about the captain a lot and I figure I should get the Kid in here once in awhile. Now that he is 2 months old, he is starting to get his own little personality. He smiles and coos. Sleeps through the night (yippee!) and is generally very pleasant and happy. He does however have a crusty side! He is very vocal and opinionated. He may end up being like the Captain, only with different traits of the spirited spectrum. For example. The Kid does not like to be left out of anything. If he doesn't like something, he tells you right away. Doesn't want to be in the swing, cries immediately. I think I went through a dozen types of binkies before I found the kind he "approved" of. If he's overly tired he cries until he's asleep. The other day we played outside and the Kid was in the front carrier. He did not want to face toward me...and cried about. As soon as he faced out...calm as could be, except, it was to bright in his eyes and the wind was too breezy. I swear he is destined to be one of those kids who can't stand tags on his clothes because they will be too itchy! Other than these, um, slight idiosyncracies he is pretty darn cute and will chat your ear off with goos and gaaas. If he's in the mood! The picture is from our St. Patty's day pictures. I'm sure he's thinking we're crazy and that he does not appreciate being stupidly dressed up. Good thing I'm still in control of this one!

Spirited Child

2008-03-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

So many of you that read my posts know the Captain and know he is a lot of, well, everything. I'm sure you've all thought, "she's got her hands full!" At least that's what you said on a good day! Well let me give you a summary of life with the Captain. At birth the first things said about him were...he's pink and he's chubby. From the moment he was laid on my stomach his big eyes were looking around. I don't think he's closed them since. He crawled and pulled up at 6 months, walked at 9 months and was talking at 12 months which was at the grocery store on his birthday and on the way out pointed to a balloon and said "Elmo". He hasn't stopped talking, walking, crawling, running, jumping, or any other activity since! This is just the beginning. If you truly want to know what I am talking about, please read "How to Raise Your Spirited Child" I cried when I read it because it meant I wasn't alone. There were "others" out therre like him. I wasn't doing anything wrong and he wasn't a freak. On really bad days I remember to tell myself that I will not be given more than I can handle. Then I put on my invisible superman cape, take a deep breath, and jump in. All the while counting the time between now and night-night time. So to all you momma's out there, having a spirited child means I have tried every solution to almost every problem that can arise in a world with a toddler. From the positive to the negative to the creative. Go ahead and try me! Oh and this picture? Was what the Captain looked like after a morning of eating oatmeal!