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.

Overwhelmed

Lots of things happening right now that are overwhelming me.

• I have a renewed interest going on in the job hunt area.  A lot of calls, some interviews are being arranged or have been arranged, including a second interview on Monday

• Trying to start the loooong process of de-cluttering, organizing and cleaning up our house so that perhaps we can sell it at some point in the (near?) future.

• Being without a job means the improvements we would like to do on the house for the above--are kinda hard (there are not a lot of improvements needed--but still, the money is not there)

• My mother has moved to Massachusetts from Indiana--and the chaos that is ensuing with changing her over (the fact that her furniture and stuff has not arrived YET, having to get her a bank account, etc.)  has hit right at an already chaotic time in my household.

• Chewy is on a HUGE deadline, so he is working constantly, leaving me to try to control the chaos...

• Oh, and someone is going to be FOUR soon and she is letting me know that daily!

Growing Up...

I am sure I am going to jinx it, but we have four nights in a row of no pull ups at night and no wet bed in the morning.

I bought some sippy plugs and sippy yesterday...I think the last ones we will have to buy.

She is now in 4T clothing and we are less than a month away from her Fourth Birthday.

In many ways a toddler, many ways a preschooler...all the signs are there--she is growing up!

Basket Memory

I don't even know where the basket came from.  I think I remembered when Chewy found it this weekend, but now I have forgotten.

Memory has been on my mind lately.   I am not sure if this is why this morning it struck me so deeply.

She found the basket.  I had set it aside to re-purpose (I have no idea for what).  She placed blocks in it (moving them from their proper and totally fine box).  She also put necklaces and an empty checkbox into the basket.

And the memory struck me as she pulled these items out of the basket.  The memory of a somewhat bigger basket.  Just as handcrafted and sturdy. That held toys.  That I played with at my Grammie's house.  I don't even know what the basket had been for originally (I am not even sure that my memory is correct when I say that I had plastic dinosaurs in the basket).  I just remember it was always brought out when I came over to play.

But I do know that the memory made me warm and happy.  I guess the little basket has already found its purpose.

Cat Love

The cats have been so cute and cuddly lately.  Early this morning, Kif came into bed, begging to be petted.  I vaguely have recall of him snuggling up to me, his paw near my face as I petted him as I fell back to sleep.  (Regretfully, Chewy woke up early and when he got up...off went Kif).

Gabby and Kif hanging out...

Wasting Time

We have 70 mins while we wait for his social skills group to finish.  Often it is a chore to fill this time up.  But not today.

The weather is wonderfully warm and spring is in the air.  She and I walk down the charming city streets of Lexington and she finds new discoveries at every turn.  For the first time in a while, I feel myself relaxing and not making myself fill the spare time with thoughts or errands.  We are just enjoying the warmth, the walk, the time together.

I am not trying to teach her anything (well, at a certain point, when she decides she must stomp on ALL bugs in her path, I do inform her that bugs make up a healthy diet for the birds that she was enjoying just a few feet away).  Earlier in the day, we had went to the Y and played in a class together.

But now...I am not trying to squeeze meaning out of this time.

She sees a shop and we go in and enjoy a cookie.  We start to walk back and we notice some dogs.  I noticed  how her eyes crinkle when she laughs.

Nothing extraordinary happened.

But it was my favorite part of today.

Passage

"Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it.  You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one.  If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next--and disappear.  That's why it's important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor memories.  Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives."  --Joshua Foer "Moonwalking with Einstein"

Reading this book has been very interesting...it is about memory and our brain and how it functions.  I am amazed at how much we still do not understand about our brain.

When I got to the above passage, however, it struck me how I have always always felt about my life and time--how often I seek to find something new, some new experience. Some times it is the yearly gaming convention, or summer at Cape Cod.  This coming Saturday we are going to a symphony concert (Willow's first time).  I realized how much I am grasping at something one cannot hold onto for long, how time slips through even when you are having fun (hey, sometimes I feel time goes faster when my weekends are full of these experiences...).

Life is full and fun and a one time thing.  So why do I let myself get into a rut?  I guess sometimes I need to be reminded.  And now I am off to spend some time with my nieces...cuz, they are growing so fast (damn, that time thing again!)

Looking Up to...

Michael's homework tonight was to brain-storm a list to help him with a long composition essay he will have to do for the state testing later this month.  The subject has to be on someone he looks up to.  He picked his dad (yeah, I do feel a little like chopped liver here...)

Michael has a great imagination, but is not always able to convert that creativity to his homework.  For homework and school work he tends to be quite literal.  So some of this list he made was quite literal...but some of this list was very insightful....here is a bit of his list:

*he's very smart

*his job is being a computer engineer

*he wears glasses, has long black hair, a beard and mustache

*he's tall and strong

*knows how to fix a lot of things

*he's kind and funny

*he plays role-playing games, board games, and video games

*he went to the colleges, Michigan State and MIT

*he's from Detroit, Michigan

*his birthday is July 5th, the same as his younger brother

*has one brother and one sister

*teaches me about computers and other things

*makes pancakes on weekend mornings

*bad driver

*good navigator

*likes "Star Trek" and "Star Wars"

*favorite movie is The Godfather

*has a couple of teeth missing

*likes to take naps

*has ADHD

*likes to read a lot

*broken toes

*went to Japan when he was 16

*went to Romania last year

*beaten up, old car

*likes Bar-B-Q

*likes horror movies

*likes chili and sushi

*leaves clothes and cups all over the place

*forgets to do the dishes a lot

*can't see the color purple

*bad singer

I am really hope I get to see the finished essay...

Total Con 2012 Wrap Up

It was a near perfect year this year...everything was packed and ready, we got there on time...I was able to get an early check in, Willow and I were able to go to the grocery store and pick up snacks, etc.  (We had a junior suite, so we had a kitchenette).

We actually had ALL the games we registered for (Pre-reg online worked this year!)

Both children behaved extremely well and we all enjoyed the time away.

Highlights: 

• Andre's games are always so much fun!  Chewy and I played the same set-up different nights (it is a 7 p.m. - 3 a.m. game).  We did not realize it, but we both played the same character! (He did a great job--I am not as good at Role Playing, but I am getting better--I think I pulled off a couple of good lines!)

• Michael got to play an Andre game with Chewy!

• Met up with some friends and got to enjoy some good food.

• Willow got to have lots of pool time!!

• Face painting!

• New Board Games!

• Ghost Rider Sentinal (and I was She Hulk!)

Perfect Moment Monday

On the 4th Monday of each month we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. The next Perfect Moment Monday event will be on March 26.

To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

Follow Write Mind Open Heart.

Between the Sunday night before and the Sunday night after, write up your own Perfect Moment.

Use LinkyTools on her website to enter your name (or your site/blog name) and the URL of your Perfect Moment.

Visit the Perfect Moments of others and let the writers know you were there with some comment currency.

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Moment #1 - Time Out: She has been very good most of the day, but we are in a hotel for the weekend and she is starting to push boundaries as any almost four year old will do.  We are playing outside the room on the patio in front of our room and she starts to play with the surrounding fake plants that make up the decorations of the hotel.  I tell her no.  She ignores me.  I tell her if she does it again, we will go into the room.  She does and we do.  I start to tell her why we are now not playing out there, and she starts to be defiant and then she tells me to "shut up!"  Of course we are on Time Out mode.  She sits in the hotel desk chair.  After a sufficient time, I come up to her to discuss why she was on Time Out and to let her out of Time Out.  She understands, but then asks me to leave her alone (before I can say her Time Out is over).  So...she slowly pouts in the chair and I decide to take the quiet time to read a book.  After a while I can see she is coming out of her sour mood, but she is quietly thinking.  And sliding off the chair as only a toddler can, to the point where her head and arms are on the seat part, her feet on the ground.  She slowly moves the chair back and forth in a circle/semi-circle.  Her thumb in her mouth.  I continue to read my book.  We our both quiet and while this started out as a punishment, by the time it is over...I can tell that we have both used this time to think, reflect...and start again.

Moment #2 - Time Out: I barely saw him this weekend.  Well, except for the few times he came in and said "Mom, I am going to go check out the Vendors Table; Mom, I am going to the video game room."  He had games to be at and play, he was on his own, yet with us.  He was safe and happy and having fun.  And while I did have a lot to do with it--most of the time, I was not a part of it.  He is becoming his own person without us.  Bittersweet but perfect.

Moment #3 - Time In: The second night in the hotel room...my turn to watch the kids while husband plays a late night game.  I read her some books, she snuggles a new stuffed animal.  She falls asleep next to her big brother.  And then I let him pick a pay per view movie from the hotel room menu.  It is not a movie I would have picked.  (There is a small part of me that wishes I could have picked from the several movies I saw, but I did say he could pick a movie!)  We watch it together in mostly darkness (so as to not wake her up).  He lays with pillows propped up next to her; I similarly propped up in the bed next to theirs.  We pop popcorn and watch the horror movie.

Game On

It is time for our annual pilgrimage.

Willow is still not old enough to really appreciate the youth games; Michael is pretty much playing adult/teen games. [sigh]

I foresee a lot of time in the pool time along with some gaming...I really like this convention, not just for the break in the winter time, but also being at a hotel and feeling like you are on vacation, even if it is only for a long weekend.

Ahhh...its nice to be a Geek!

Thirteenth Birthday

On Saturday, after the seal adventure we had a small Birthday party with friends and relatives.  We had pizza, fruit and veggies...

The star of the show (other than the Birthday Boy) were the cakes!!

Our friend Ana has made cakes for Willow:

And most recently, for me:

But she had never made a cake for her favorite "nephew".  (Mainly cuz her Birthday is 2 days later and she is usually too busy with things to be able to do so).  But this year, after my cake and how excited he was by it, she offered to make him a special cake for his birthday.  She asked him the theme he wanted--and he presented her with a CHALLENGE--3 classic monsters.  And he meant the classic Universal monsters--Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, and Wolf Man.

Ana, being the wonderful person she is--went all out and made him THREE Cakes!!  (Mind you, I had originally suggested a grave yard sheet cake with maybe some figurines of the monsters---oh, I was thinking too small!)

So, she spent HOURS on these wonderful creations (click the pictures to enlarge):

Michael LOVED them!!  He actually sat for quite a while all by himself in the kitchen, just sitting there, looking at them.  He really thought they were awesome!

When it was time to sing Happy Birthday, he sat by the cakes, reading his new Classic Monster book...

He only wanted three candles in the cakes, because he did not want to ruin them!

And then....Ana served cake!  Dracula was the victim!

It was a great cake and a great time!  I could not have asked for a better Birthday Day for my son.

(Later that night Michael and his friend made sure to cut Wolf Man in half...by the next day he was gone.  The Monster was finished yesterday morning...Michael got the last piece--Bolt and all!)

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Thirteen years.  I know it is so cliche to say that the time has went by so fast.  Part of me totally feels that cliche.  Where did that time go?  I barely remember some of it, it was just a whirl--sometimes too busy with daily life, sometimes too worried about things I could not control...but here you are.  Thirteen.  And still my boy.  Always my boy.

You have been a part of our lives so long, I can barely remember when you were not a part of it.  You act like a teenager and yet there are times you slip into our bed in the early morning hours to get some snuggle time before the day begins.  Sometimes I cannot recall what you were like when you were your sister's age.  And sometimes I wish you were still that small child.  But most times...I am just so happy to be able to see you grow and change into the young man you are becoming.


I worry about the teenage years and I worry about how you will learn to live in the world that does not always understand you.  I wish you could always be protected by me.  I will do my damnedest to protect you all I can.  However, I cannot shelter you so much that I hinder you--because you were born to fly.


Happy Birthday!

Seals!

Yesterday, as a Birthday present for Michael, we went for a Seal Encounter at the Aquarium.  I took Michael and a friend.  We spent about an hour before, enjoying the aquarium.

They saw sharks, lots of fish, turtles and petted Rays.

Then it was time for the Seals.  We went with a trainer inside the Harbor Seal exhibit and we met Chacoda ("Chuck")  and Amelia.  We had to clean off our shoes in soapy water before we entered.  Our point of view was like the seals--we could see other people looking in on us while we were inside meeting the seals...it was kind of surreal.

Our trainer was very patient with us and had us first wave to the seals.  (They waved flippers back!)  Then we held out our fists and the seals "Targeted" our fists--both seals have cataracts and cannot see as well, so we had to approach slowly at first.  I remember the female flared her nose to get a good idea who I was.  They are beautiful creatures.

We then petted them and felt their bristley-smooth fur. 

There was a professional photographer opposite us to capture these great images.   

(Click on images to make them bigger)

And then...we brushed their teeth!

Michael brushing Chuck's bottom teeth.  (His friend did the upper teeth)




We ended the Seal Encounter with a kiss...

22 Years...

Chewy was late from dropping the Boy off at school. Wondering where he was, I was a little surprised when he came home with a sheepish grin on his face and said, "Well, I wanted to get an anniversary cake..."

(I was thinking we were going to have enough cake in this house this weekend...but it was surely a nice gesture!) 

Twenty-two years ago today, I met my husband. We walked across campus in the snow (he had a hole in his shoe that I did not know about for days) and we had Bur.ger K.in.g.

Willow's take on it.

Random Bullet Point Post

Cuz I have too many things rolling around in my head to be comprehensive...

• Lately Willow has been randomly singing.  I mean, just off the top of her head, nonsense songs or parts of songs, made up songs about her day.  It is so cute and so much "her".  It is amazing to see her personality start to really form each day.

• I will have a THIRTEEN year old in the house in less than a week!  As usual, he perplexes me often and yet he is so my "little" boy too.  Since he has not told me what he wanted for a present/presents, when we went to the store this weekend I told him to pick something out.  And he picked a Pogo Stick (!) which he is playing with right now.  So unlike him.  But, his persistence with learning how to Pogo--so like him.

• So, a lot of my plans for the next few days are based upon his birthday.  On Saturday, I am taking him and a friend to have a Seal Encounter at the aquarium.  They get to be up close and personal with some seals.  I figured it was something special and different for this birthday.

• Also on Saturday, we will have a friend sleep over and have pizza and cake, friends and family.  No real theme, or birthday trimmings...although our friend Ana is going to make an awesome cake for him!  (Based on classic movie monsters)

• On his actual birthday, I was thinking of taking him out for lunch and a movie, just me and him.  (He has school vacation next week)

• End of next week we will be going to our gaming convention for a long weekend!  I am so looking forward to getting away from our everyday stuff and enjoying hanging out with geeks and gaming!

• Friday night Chewy and I are going to have a sitter and celebrate our 21st anniversary of our first date.  Our first date we had Burger King.  I think we will do better this time.  Movie afterwards.  Not sure what one yet.  Suggestions?

• Willow graduated to a booster seat this weekend.  It is so much smaller than the babyseat...and it has taken me some time to get used to the extra room...and the fact that she looks so much older in the new seat.  (But, thankfully, she is not banging our elbows with her feet anymore!)

• Signed Willow up for a couple of YMCA classes on Tuesdays....a mini chef course (how to make non bake treats) and a music and movement course.  It should be fun!

• Playing a lot of Word With Friends...kinda addicted!  If you are Fac.eB.o.ok and wanna play, look me up!

Wide Eyes...

Yesterday we went to see a wonderful marionette show.  (Please, click, it is worth watching!)

I find myself reliving various experiences from Michael's toddler/youth with Willow. This same exact play we saw with Michael (when he was about 6-7 I think).

It was so fun to re-experience the wonder and awe of a child--and remember with my teen.  We were right in front (which was so much better than the first time--I think we were waaay in the back then).  Willow's eyes were wide with each new character.  She did put her hands before her eyes when the giant squid appeared.

It was also fun to watch Michael re-experience this.  At first, he did not remember it.  Then, as we watched, he did remember and was enjoying watching Willow watch as I was.