Water Works

She is in the bathroom.  I am sure she is done and is washing her hands.  Then I kinda just tune her out, getting distracted with other things.  I realize she is still in there and that I did just notice her coming out and getting a few dolls/animals...and she is back in the bathroom.

I come into the bathroom and see the water is still flowing into the sink.  She has learned to close the sink drain.  A waterfall of water is overflowing over the sink onto the floor.  I have to laugh...as I tell her in as stern a tone as I can...to please don't bathe her toys in the bathroom sink. (She had just had a bath a few hours before!)

The next day, she was proud to tell us that her stuffed puppy dog Jack was doing well at potty training! (Yep, Jack was potty training and then fell into the toilet).

A Very Willow Birthday Party...

On Sunday we had a Fourth Birthday party for Willow (whose Birthday is today).  We invited a few children from Preschool, family and friends.  Everybody came!

It was pretty chaotic, plenty of food, tokens and running around.  It was a lot of fun!

On the hot chocolate ride!

The purple girls!

Getting a crown and now blowing out the candles!  The cake was YUMMY!

Grabbing flying tickets with a friend!  She has over 700 tickets...

Activity time!  Big brother helps.

Dancing with Chuck.

Again with the hot chocolate ride--a favorite!

A Mad Time

Busy day started off by going to Boston Comic Con and going to see the Mad Magazine Panel.  We got to hear stories from Al Feldstein, Al Jaffee, and Paul Coker, Jr.

It was amazing to see and hear these guys talk about something that has been so influential to our family.

Michael started finding my old Mad Magazines when he was about eleven years old.  One of his presents for his twelfth birthday I got him a subscription of his own, which I renewed this year.

Michael brought the latest issue with him to the Con and he was able to get Paul Coker, Jr. and Al Feldstein to sign it.

Then he went up to the panel (before it was started) to talk to Al Jaffee.  I really don't know what he talked to him about, but he really felt it important to talk to him and not bother him to get his signature.

(He has a signature of Al Jaffee on a Mad book that his dad got him from NYC Con).


It was a very exciting way to start the day!

Willow also got a signed Paul Coker, Jr.--he also drew Frosty the Snowman; so, we received a print with Frosty wishing her a Happy Birthday from Frosty and Mr. Coker.

Four Years

Four years ago a long-awaited wish was about to come true.  In less than a week,  I was about to finally have that sibling for my son.  I was about to meet my only daughter.  I was so proud of how hard we had fought to get to that point.

Now...I am in total wonder at the darling little girl I see growing up in front of me.

She is full of energy and curiosity.    Her personality is developing and emerging and it is so wonderful to watch.

A glimpse at Willow on the verge of being FOUR:

• Recently the "whys" have begun.  Questions come quickly and with thought as to how the world works and why.  It is exasperating sometimes but it is rewarding to see how she is learning about her world.

• She loves to make up songs about almost anything.  

• She is a bit frustrated because she is not quite able to draw her letters, but we are working on it and her sense of accomplishment when she does it is incredible.  Her counting is a bit better--although she likes to throw in the occasional letter into the mix "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, R, 10, 11, W"    (btw, "W" is for Willow!)

• Favorite phrases: "...just joking!"; "...how about that, isn't that a great idea?"; "...oh, that is beautiful!"; "How about I play the baby and you be the mommy?"

• She has a sly grin and charming ways to get things she wants: another round of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse; some Dunkin Donuts; "just two more minutes"

• Her sense of style, with her love of shoes and tutus, dresses and barrettes.  Her love of pretty things in general.

• Our influences on her are evident in her love of zombies and monsters (especially werewolves).

• She loves her brother--has already says she wants to marry him when she grows up.

• Loves getting tickled, loves playing hide and seek and loves playing with the cats.

• She is very friendly.  She will come up to complete strangers to say "hi" and to ask where the bathroom is.  She is a little go-getter.

• She seems to have a love/hate relationship with bugs.  We recently tried to address this by letting her keep a beetle in a jar for a bit--to get her on board with the fact that bugs are a part of the outdoors life..she loved the beetle to pieces--but our cats also wanted to "love" the beetle, so we had her send it "home" in a patch of leaves outdoors.

• She loves climbing and swinging and running and dancing.  Sometimes all at once.

There is so much I wish I could capture about Willow here.  But my words are inadequate.  Spending time with her can be exhausting (I call her Whirlwind Willow).  Those times when she does slow down, I hold her in my arms, brush aside her hair from her ear.  That ear that I saw so long ago in an ultrasound...I cannot imagine our world without her.

Patriot's Day Weekend

Near North Bridge

This was a beautiful weekend to enjoy not only nature but history.  The weekend before April 19th (Patriot's Day) is full of activities.  We saw re-enactors on horses along Battle Road, we talked to a re-enactor who, as a British surgeon, showed us all the tools of his trade.

We did not see any of the battle re-enactments...mainly cuz Willow is not the long-haul traveler type that Michael was/is.  Half-way to anywhere she demands to be "uppy uppy" and she is just getting too old to be carried for any length of time by anyone...so we made our walks short but they were still interesting.

Today we went to Concord and took dandelions and dropped them from the North Bridge.  We watched them float down the river.

To enjoy the nature, the activity and to have the family together and relaxed.  It was a great weekend.

100 Years

Lyrics and Song Sample from HERE.

 the rich folks decided to take a trip on the finest ship that was ever built. the captain persuaded the people to think that the titanic too safe to sink


 chorus: out on the o-o-o-ocean the great wide o-o-o-ocean the titanic, out on the ocean, sinking down! 


the ship left the harbor at a rapid speed, carrying everything that people need. she sailed six-hundred miles away, met an iceberg in her way. 


 chorus: out on the o-o-o-ocean the great wide o-o-o-ocean the titanic, out on the ocean, sinking down! 


 the ship left the harbor, was running fast. it was her first trip and her last. way out on that ocean wide an iceberg ripped her in the side. 


 chorus: out on the o-o-o-ocean the great wide o-o-o-ocean the titanic, out on the ocean, sinking down! 


 up comes bill from the bottom floor said the water was running in the boiler door. go back bill, and shut your mouth, we got forty-eight pumps to keep the water out! 


 chorus: out on the o-o-o-ocean the great wide o-o-o-ocean the titanic, out on the ocean, sinking down! 

 just about then the captain looked around, he saw the titanic was sinking down. he gave orders to the men around: "get your life-boats and let them down" 


 chorus: out on the o-o-o-ocean the great wide o-o-o-ocean the titanic, out on the ocean, sinking down! 


 the men standing around like heroes brave, nothing but the women and the children to save; the women and the children are wiping their eyes, kissing their husbands and friends good-bye. 


 chorus: out on the o-o-o-ocean the great wide o-o-o-ocean the titanic, out on the ocean, sinking down! 


 on the fifteenth day of may nineteen-twelve, the ship wrecked by an iceberg ocean dwell. the people were thinking of jesus of nazarene, while the band played "nearer my god to thee." 


 chorus: out on the o-o-o-ocean the great wide o-o-o-ocean the titanic, out on the ocean, sinking down!

Checking out the Clarinet...

Last month we went to the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Family Music Day.  The concert was really well done (although towards the end, all the children were fidgety).

Before the concert, they had an Instrument Playground, where kids could try out different instruments...and even though Michael has one at home, and even though there was a long line...they wanted to try out the clarinet.

Back to Normal

Chewy came home Monday, has to check his white blood levels on Friday. My mom is moved in, but has lots of unpacking to do. I had a good interview and Michael missed his Social Skills class because of it. Yesterday, Chewy worked from home and rested. Today he goes in. And this morning I woke up with a sore throat.

Visitors

Lunch time and we walk to the cafeteria.  He sits with her (she has "helped' him with his IV cart) while me and the boy get food.  This time there is chicken with corn and green beans.  Enough for everyone!  And I pick up a burger (as requested by the patient) and two things of pudding (chocolate and vanilla).

We sit down and eat our food.  Everyone has their share, and he enjoys the food even more so (liquid diets are not fun!)  I almost forget we are at hospital and not just at some cafe at a museum.

We go back to his room and we turn on television to amuse ourselves in the cramped room.  "Sound of Music" is on...she sits on his lap and has a glass of ginger ale with him (they "clink" plastic cups).

We sit and enjoy watching her watch for the first time.  (If only there were not commercials...)

We are family.  We are happy.

19th Anniversary Dinner and Trips to the ER...

As my little description says on this blog--life is messy and chaotic.  And boy, the last few days have totally lived up to that!

So, April 3rd was our 19th Wedding Anniversary.  My mother is staying at our house until her furniture/stuff gets here, so she offered to watch the kids while we went out.  

Chewy took this opportunity to get all romantic-like.  He mysteriously had me meet him at Lexington Green (we were married in Lexington).  And then he took over driving (something that usually makes me motion sick). Not only was he driving, but he had me blindfolded too.  We arrived in Arlington, and I had a guess where we might be going...

See, we like to sometimes tell people we eloped...because essentially, we did in a lot of ways.  We had just moved 800 miles away from family and friends.  Young college graduates with no money.  Our families were not going to be able to give us a wedding (either there or where we were located).  So, we took upon ourselves.  We arranged the Justice of the Peace and the reception.  Which was at a Chinese restaurant in Arlington....which is where I thought we were going....

But as I started to steer us towards that place, my husband said: "Oh no, we are not going there...." and he took me to a nice romantic Argentian restaurant.

We had a romantic time...so much so that we decided not to go to the movie afterwards, but just hang out and walk together in the cool night air.

And then...well, midnight til about 9 a.m. Chewy was not feeling too good.  Abdominal pain and other fun (no up chuckn' tho).  

So, I postponed my job interview the next day to spend the day with him in the ER.  By 2 p.m. they had no idea what was up...and the pain medications seemed to be doing the trick....so we went home.

By 10 p.m. that evening, he had a fever of 102.4 and was delirious.  Soooo...back to the ER.  Where they ran several more tests (adding to the stomach CTScan of the afternoon, he had a head CTScan and more blood drawn).  By 4 a.m. they knew he had an infection and they knew that the antibiotics were seeming to work...but they had no idea WHAT was causing the infection.

Flash forward to today.  Chewy has been admitted to the hospital since Thursday and he has had a lumbar punction, a heart ultrasound and blood cultures drawn.  The antibiotics have been doing the trick but they STILL have no idea what caused his illness.  So, they want to keep him there for a few more days to make sure that he doesn't have another fever and to check out the blood cultures.

Yesterday, the kids and I visited him for lunch; today we will do the same.  I talked to him this morning and he is feeling fine and is BORED silly.

We are both still worried about the fact that they don't know what caused his infection.  However, we both acknowledge that his work schedule the past 2 weeks probably did not help.

Hopefully, he will be back home on Monday.

Meanwhile...I guess we won't be going back to that restaurant for a while...the associations are too strong.

Middle School Wisdom...

The Strong Spartans

By Michael 

Sources From: www.ancientgreece.com

The usual disgusting meal in Sparta was black broth.

It probably tasted worse than green moths.

Their women were freer than most.

But they weren't allowed to boast.

They played a key role in defending Greece.

But they never wanted peace.

In the Middle-Ages the Greeks admired them most.

They probably feared them as if they were ghosts.

They believed they descended from Hercules.

They were definitely not scared of bees.

They conquered Messenia for their materials.

If it was a movie it'd be a hundred year serial.

By 800 BC they had a lot of land of Greece's.

But they still needed a few more pieces.

They put most of their culture into the art of war.

They were definitely not a bore.

The Gerousia was a council of elders.

They must have had a lot of weapon welders.

All Spartans had the same amount of money.

No matter what you say they sure weren't funny.

The Wise Athenians

By Michael 

Sources From: www.ancientgreece.com

In Athens boys started school at age six.

They didn't have pencils they used pointy sticks.

The boys finished school at age 18.

Their people didn't have any jeans.

The men were the ones who did the shopping.

They didn't have any rabbits hopping.

In 600 B.C. it would be ruled by land owning nobles.

These people were admired by all the locals.

They didn't have any running water.

So some people got hotter and hotter.

Almost every household had a slave.

The people didn't have normal names like Dave.

During Dionysus's festival men performed songs.

They drummed their drums and gonged their gongs.

They used strigils to get dirt off their body.

Sort of shaped like a stick for playing hockey.

It's polis was 2,500 square kilometers.

At night it was cold because they had no heaters.

They had the best known acropolis in Greece.

I don't think their houses had a lease.