Lovely but weird

For all who celebrated today, Merry Christmas. And for all who observed Shabbat, Shavua Tov (a good week, the traditional greeting when Shabbat is over).

We actually had a "traditional" meal last night - we went out for Chinese food with two other families! I must admit, I far prefer home-based Shabbat dinners! The restaurant was loud, the food was not very good (the boys had mediocre sushi, Sofia and I had awful Special Veggie dish. David at least got to eat shrimp, but he said it wasn't good either.). And I really can't wait until next week, when the same two families are coming here for Shabbat and New Years Eve!

Today was nice. Of course Sofia woke me up waaaaaaay too early, but eventually we dragged ourselves to shul. Sofia was in a miserable mood, got angry at David, and would only be happy in Mommy's arms. Sam and Micah and their friend led Ashrei, and did a great job, although they were all so short you couldn't see them over the top of the reader's table.

After services, there was a lunch - this was the first time they had asked for donations, and I guess enough of us had paid the requested price and several people had paid way more, so it was MEAT! This is a community that doesn't get much kosher meat, at least communally. Deli - YUM! (Why? 'Cause there is no place close by to get it, nearest is 40 minute drive, and kosher meat is VERY expensive!).

After lunch, there was a quick minyan (second service of the day) and then Game Day. Everyone had brought lots of board games and other non-electronic games. It was lovely to sit around and talk with friends and play. Sofia had fun with her princess dolls and some other girls (although she did drop several dolls over into the lift shaft of the small elevator that lifts a wheelchair to the stage - David had to climb over the wall to get them back).

Just as we were getting ready to go home, David came in carrying a magazine. There is a big brochure and literature display in the hallway, and he had found this magazine. Which would normally be just a normal publication from another Jewish organization, except...

...the older lady on the cover is my great-aunt Toby. Who passed away several years ago.


So that was reallyt weird. I started crying a bit. I really miss her! What an amazing lady she was. Here's the post I wrote when she passed away.

Ok.

Anyway, when we got home, David and I took naps, despite Sofia's best efforts to keep me awake. Then Dr. Who marathon, and now we are getting ready for the new Dr. Who special. YEAH!

It's supposed to blizzard tomorrow. We'll see.

Sam's IEP

Whew! I survived Sam's IEP meeting. Of course, the normal drama before: Sofia woke up at 4am with a stomach bug, and I spent all morning (while I was getting a massage!) trying to find a sitter since my morning sitter had to leave for work by noon. Sofia ended up watching Disney movies at my friend's house - and barfing on their carpet. But I was very appreciative!

Anyway, the meeting was good. There is NO DOUBT that Sam still qualifies for services. We were able to highlight the specific problems - anxiety, self esteem, reading, processing speed, word retrieval, etc. We only spent about 10 minutes on the actual IEP document, but we brainstormed a lot. David is in Baltimore, so I had him write out his statement, which basically boils down to "Whatever we're doing, it's not working. Sam can't read or write."

So.

We discussed some of the other teaching methods for dyslexia, and will be following up with several. We are also going to have Sam go to the public school for some reading support (yeah, more driving for me), which will not only get him support, but will also get him to start interacting with other kids who he will probably be with in high school.

So.

I'm satisfied. Maybe I'm naive, or we are just charmed. I hear from my friends who are either IEP parents or advocates how tough the public schools can be about services. Yet for my kids, it feels like they give us everything we ask for.

I also asked the public school OT, who has been involved with Sam's IEP since the beginning and who is also on Sofia's plan, to attend, and she was able to voice the question about whether he should stay at the day school, which eventually led to the compromise of having him come for some services.

Whew!

So now I have a sick child sleeping on my bed. Hopefully she'll be better and sleep longer - I'm tired!

Fish Killer!

Poor Sam. Sofia has killed "Gefilte Fish", the goldfish he got at school.

How did my delicate daughter manage to do this? Well, apparently a 3/4" long fish stands no chance against the following items being thrown into the tank:

- vampire "teeth" (poor fishy was trapped under these)
- a small (half-inch) teddy bear
- a larger (5") plastic grizzly bear
- a 2" round flat rock

Gefilte received a burial at sea this morning. He hung in for many hours after The Incident, but he looked so miserable, even Sam wasn't sorry when the end finally came.

In other news, I simply love our pediatrician. Sofia needed nebs again at 1:00 am (has needed them at 5am for nearly a week), and now has a rash all over her torso, so not only is Miss Sofia on antibiotics, but doc gave me scripts for both boys, who continue to be less-than-completely-healthy. So hopefully we will finally get rid of this "cold" that has been haunting us for two weeks.

Sofia came with me Thursday to cook at shul, but she did go back to school Friday. The luncheon was well-received on Shabbos - since it was Camp Shabbat (with reps from various overnight camps), we had a very kid-friendly meal of pizza, tuna, egg salad, veggies, and brownies. And lemonade! David was in charge of our kids, while I was in the kitchen the entire morning.

Saturday night, we got to go out as grown-ups with another couple, and had a FABULOUS time. And a bit too much tequila. But really GOOD tequila. And great sushi. YUM.

Sunday, Sam was singing in the Day School concert (all the area schools together). We got him a ride there with the principal, and David had to leave for the airport, but I got to the concert with the other kids about 45 minutes late, so I missed most of it. But heard the high school a-cappella group do an awesome version of Todd Rundgren's "Honest Work".

Took my kids and my "adopted" daughter (Sam's classmate, my friend's daughter) to Taam China for kosher Chinese food. Crazy, but fun. And David's flight got canceled, so I brought him some take-home food. (He left this morning instead).

Finally figured out how to get Sofia's movies loaded onto the hard drive of the Blu Ray drive, so now we don't have to touch the dvds any more. Whew!

I'm TIRED. Up half the night helping Sofia breath.

Sick Week

Both boys stayed home from school on Monday. Sam had a tiny bit of fever in the morning, threw up (on my carpet, thanks), and then was absolutely fine. Micah just felt awful.

Sofia did go to school, and Sam hung out at David's office with my friend D while Micah and I went off to Newton Wellesley Hospital. I had a hand checkup and he had his allergist checkup.

While we were waiting for my appointment, Micah popped a fever. Since my doc was running late, we went over to his appointment first. Poor kid felt awful. Slight temp. Just enough to feel bad.

And of course he lapped up the attention from his allergist, reporting, amongst other things, that he was being "hit and slapped and kicked" by a girl in his class. A-hem. In reality (I checked with the teacher the next morning) it's one of his best buddies, and not nearly as violent as it sounds...

So, after we finally saw my doc (I need to go to hand therapy, for "post op pillar pain" relief), we went to my friend D's house - she and Sam had picked up Sofia from preschool and we all had pizza. David showed up, too!

Micah stayed home Tuesday. In the morning the sitter was here, so I took Sam to school, and got to stay for all-school Tefillah. It was lovely, and especially nice because my mentor, the cantor who taught me my High Holiday "stuff" was the guest speaker. And Sam rocked his Torah reading!

We did go to tae kwan do, but Micah felt totally awful afterwards. But then, our former nanny, Betty, showed up for dinner and her yearly visit, so the boys were up until after 9pm. But they were very happy to see her.

So Micah stayed home again today. I took Sofia with me to drop Sam off, then came home and fell sound asleep for two hours! And Miss Sofia was giving herself a snot facial all morning, so she stayed home, too.

Micah's feeling better but Sofia's certainly worse. She seems to be feeling ok - went to gymnastics - but she looks horrible, face all red, eyes and nose running. Poor baby. Which means she'll be home again tomorrow. No fever, though, which is good.

So now I'm sitting in bed next to my honey, watching "Chances Are" and trying to figure out how to get more movies transferred over to the new blu ray drive. Yeah.

Tomorrow I have to cook for camp Shabbat at shul, but I also have to go to hand therapy and I'll have Sofia with me. Ugh.

Tuck & Roll

It's been a loooong week! Being on Benadryl for 2 weeks, and Steroid eye drops for a week, made focusing my brain on anything VERY difficult. Which wouldn't have been a problem if 1) I didn't have these kids and 2) I didn't have 35 lines of Torah to read on Saturday!

Sofia's been in A MOOD all week. Friday, it was "tuck and roll" when I took her to school - I couldn't wait to get away from her!

By Friday, I was also panicked because the 35 lines were not sticking in my brain, so thankfully I was able to give 10 lines to someone else.

And thankfully, my dear friend H invited us to dinner on Friday evening - Micah went home with them for a play date right after school, and Sam and Sofia and I went over later.

Thursday morning I also had a nice time shopping with my other dear friend D - we got a little punchy as we shopped, but it was fun. Put together our gift basket for the faculty and staff at the school.

Saturday, the boys looked SO handsome! Sam had his new suit, and Micah actually wore a sport coat (although his "dressy" pants turned out to be jeans - I lost that argument - but the outfit really worked).




Unfortunately, Sam started feeling ery sick during shul, and fell asleep as soon as we got home. Woke up with 102.7 temp, poor kid. Which also meant that he missed his other friend's bat mitzvah party in the evening. Fortunately, he is feeling better today - we went to pediatrician this morning, and strep test was negative.

So we hung out all afternoon. David came home from Copenhagen around 8pm, and after Sofia went to bed, the rest of us stayed up watching a DVD.

Today David had to deal with what we call "re-entry" - trying to get back into the swing of having three little kids around. It's difficult. Besides the trip to the pediatrician, I had a Zamir lunch to attend (we were honoring the Alto Section Leader, so a lot of us alums needed to be there), and Micah had a birthday party (which also meant he needed to buy a gift). Soit was kind of a crazy day.

But eventually we all had dinner together, and lit the chanukiyot (menorahs) together.





Oh, and a story from last week about Sofia:

Friday afternoon, we were eating lunch with my sister and the girls, and talking about Micah's gymnastics class. We were about to change topics, when Sofia piped up:

"Fia! Monkey Gym! Class! Fia!!!"

She didn't want us to forget to talk about her gymnastics class, too! It was the first time I was really sure she had been following the conversation. She was so totally engaged!

On another note, I heard from Dr. Skotco on Friday regarding the results of the sleep study.

- No Apnea
- No unusual Limb Movements
- Cardiac was fine

However, she had elevated CO2 and low Oxygen. Which of course could either be normal for her (since they didn't have waking levels) or could be a result of having to sleep prone on her back all night (if you've got low muscle tone, it could be just harder to breath fully when laying on your back).

So they are recommending a chest xray and blood gasses. I'll do the blood work when we do her regular blood tests for endocrinology. Not sure if I want to follow through with the chest xray. Will take the appointment with the sleep specialist, to hear what he has to say, but not making any firm decisions yet.

Meanwhile, she's successfully wearing underpants every day, and only having accidents once in a while. Biggest challenge is "spray" - she has an uncanny nack for peeing across the room - I'd thought only little boys could get that kind of coverage! It's because she's so interested in the fact that she's peeing, she leans over too far. Gross.

Micah has been having a lot of mood swings, especially during school, and we were starting to get worried...until Friday, at the school talent show, when we realized that all he truly needs is a microphone! They had to pry it out of his hands, and he was SO happy! (But I am still altering his diet, and pulling sugar and much of his starch. Now I need to find a protein he will actually eat.)

A Hanukah Miracle

My husband just experienced a Hanukah miracle. In Copenhagen, trying to find matches so he can light the travel menorah I gave him this year. Can't find matches anywhere. Tries and tries and tries. Sundown is coming...then he looks down, and finds...a LIGHTER on the ground! Just in time!

So here's another video... there are SO many!

So Far today

So far today, I have been:

- warming blanket (for Sofia in my bed)
- alarm clock
- bathroom monitor
- respiratory therapist (Sofia needed nebs, thanks, Lilie)
- psychologist (Sam was bemoaning his dyslexia)
- orthopedic expert (Micah twisted his ankle)
- short-order cook
- hair stylist
- chauffeur
- athlete (hey, humor me there - I worked out as hard as I could!)
- tech support geek (got the blu ray and the VCR both working!)

And it's only 10:00! Can I go back to sleep now?

But tonight is the first night of Chanukah, so here's one of my favorites: