First Day of School

Hooray! It's finally here! School is in session!

Ok, I do know that some of you are actually TEACHERS, and that you are destined to spend your days in classrooms full of kids, but you have the advantage in this case - my children behave MUCH better for other people than they ever would for me. So I will continue to gleefully dance the "Most Wonderful Day" dance, and thank you for going into such a noble profession. Better you than me!

[Actually, I'm generally ok when I have to deal with other people's kids. It's only my own who drive me insane.]

So we all drove up and parked on the hill (observing the new Traffic rules). David came, too, which was nice.

Here is my Kindergartener (Micah) and my Third Grader (Sam) on their way to school:

Micah was so eager to get there:


Do you think Sam's backpack is too big for him?


After drop-off, several Mommies and Daddies met for coffee at our favorite Starbucks (along with Sofia and one other young lady). It was nice that 3 of the dads were there; we made the boys sit at their own table.

Then Sofia and I left to pick up the babysitter, so she could accompany me to my hair cut and keep Sofia amused, but La Principessa fell asleep before we got to E's college, so I told E not to bother. I got my hair cut, and then walked around the mall a bit (Sofia stayed asleep during the cut and both transfers into and out of the car, but woke up at the mall).

I was looking for a new medical case for Micah, to take his EpiPen, Benadryl and Albuterol. Eventually I found something (not at the mall) - a Kodak printer bag, that's just the right size. I also bought a combination lock for it. The school said that as long as the kids cannot access it, I can keep it in his backpack all the time (important for playdates).

Sofia and I rushed home thinking we had EI, but the specialist called to say we were late to meet her at the center. Drats, I messed up. And there wasn't enough time. So we skipped Development this week.

Off we went to pick up the boys, and we all stayed on the playground for an hour and a half. Micah and the other kindergarteners were soooooo tired, but the teacher said he had a lot of fun (he, of course, gave it a "thumbs down"). Sam had a good day, too, although he didn't eat his sandwich until after school (because he was afraid that his nut-allergic friend was allergic to the incredibly nut-free sunflower-seed butter on his sandwich).

Now the boys are asleep. Miss Sofia is still exploring the contents of the laundry basket in my room, and I'm trying to finish the DVD for my friend, but I'm having some technical difficulties. David is off at his friend's house for a boys' night out.

Am I too optimistic?

Frequently, I forget that my daughter has Down syndrome. I forget that most kids do not "talk" with their hands, and that at two and a half, some little girls have even finished potty training rather than not even started. I see my daughter and all I see is an amazing little girl, a girl I love fiercely and of whom I am unabashedly proud.

Is that even close to what other people see when they look at her? When she says "baaah" and signs "more - ball - please", do people just see some poor kid who can't talk, or do they recognize the amount of communication that is really taking place?

I'm not sure why I'm thinking of this. Perhaps I was watching her at the pool today. She was having a great time, aside from the fact that she was exhausted. She kept wandering into the front office (I was right behind her), and exploring everything. I was so proud of how she was "talking" to me, but I got the sense that, to most of the people watching (grownups who know us from shul, and some other little kids), she seemed awfully "slow". It was interesting. I didn't feel the need to apologize, just to explain and clarify, but it made me aware that perhaps I see her through very different glasses than does the rest of the world.

Ok, enough introspection. I'm still crazy-in-love with my daughter! (Even if she did fall asleep at 5pm on the way home from the pool, stay asleep for the transfer from car to crib, stay asleep an hour later for the transfer back to the car, stay asleep on the ride to N's house, stay asleep for the transfer up to N's room, AND stay asleep through a Shiva with more than 50 people, only to wake up on the transfer back to the car. She's watching TV with us now.)

Micah had Kindergarten Visit this morning, and in less than 10 hours, both boys start SCHOOL!!!!!! I'll be doing the Mommy Dance.

Last "full" days of summer!

Whew! We made it through the summer. Tomorrow morning is Micah's "Kindergarten Visit", and then Thursday, they will be IN SCHOOL! Yippie!

Yesterday I took all three kids down to my friend's summer house in Rhode Island. She has a boy Sam's age and a girl one year younger than Micah, and the kids all get along great. See photos below. It was a long day - we ate lunch, then went to the beach for a few hours, then dinner. Sofia had a blast on the beach; she was tired, so at one point she was just lounging on her tummy, shoveling. She was coated with s. Later, she conned my friend into giving her a ride on the scooter. She was also sound asleep by 2 miles down the road when we left.

Today was also busy. Babysitter arrived 9am. First I took Sofia to the playground for her EI (co-treat with OT and Speech). Then I dropped her home and picked up Micah to do some errands, including getting his bangs trimmed (he's decided he want to grow his hair, too). Then I dropped him off and picked up Sam to go see Ratatouille. Cute movie, although the rat images were sometimes a bit much. Sam and I made a quick stop at the Christmas Tree shop, and I bought the boys "Boogie Boards" for the beach (yes, a day too late). Then I picked up all the kids and we went to the pool for a while.

Here are some photos of Sofia at the beach and on the scooter:Sitting Pretty

Uh, mommy, is this good for my skin?

Yuch, I got a mouthfull of sand!
Never too early for your first facial, right?

Sofia and S on the scooter

Faster, lady, faster!

Whee!

Active Day

Wow. I feel so strong. So fit. So buff. So...tired. And sweaty. We took all three kids canoing this afternoon! David sits in front, to handle the "strong" rowing, but I sit in the back both to handle the steering (yes, I like to be in control) and to keep an eye on the kids.

The boys did okay, aside from the occasional extreme shifting of weight from one side to the other. Sofia was a little unhappy. Sam had to keep feeding her (grapes and chips) or she would stand up and try to climb into my lap, which was a problem when I was rowing!

So we stayed on the water only for an hour, but it was a lot of fun. After that, the boys all looked around the "viking" castle near Brandeis (I think it's really a Civil War-era structure). Then we drove the long way out towards Worcester. We stopped in Sudbury at the Wayside Inn Grist Mill. It was pretty cool. The boys and I walked all around, while Sofia continued to take all of Dada's attention.

Eventually we got to Worcester (I took a short nap in the car). The kids played at a Playground for a while, and then we went to Sole Proprietor to meet my inlaws for dinner. Food was good, but Micah was a bit bouncy and all three kids got really tired when they were done eating. Eventually I ended up in the car with Micah and Sofia while the others finished their meals.

Yesterday, David and I got to have a "date" in Boston. He'd gotten gift certificates to P.F. Chang's when he was on a business trip recently, so we went there. i think I'm too used to the simple tastes of Japanese food, because the complexities of Szecuan really don't work any more - my tummy was aching all night. And I think we're getting to old to go somewhere quite to "hip" - it was just loud and crowded. But it was nice to be out just the two of us. After dinner, we walked through the Prudential Center and Copley, and up and down Newbury Street for a while. We were going to have tea later, but everything closed by 9:30! So we were home at 11:00. Sigh. Well, at least it was early enough for our babysitter to go out!

I'm supposed to take the kids to my friend's summer house in Rhode Island tomorrow. Should be fun - her son is the same age as Sammy, and her daughter is just a year younger than Micah, and they all get along well. And last time we were there, Sofia had a blast at the beach.

We watched "The Good Shepherd" on Friday. Odd movie. At the end, I asked David when it was actually going to start, because it just didn't really seem to have a point. Then we watched the deleted scenes, and I felt as if it was a whole different movie (one that made sense now). Oh well.

Oh, and we did go to shul yesterday - my first time all summer, and it figures we were back in the main sanctuary. But the kids did well. Sam stayed in services the whole time (because his friend R was there; she's a very good influence). Micah played with G and Sofia went to babysitting after a while. It was nice to see people again.

I can't think of much else. I've been surfing more, and fine-tuning the Blogarithm stuff. It's kind'a cool - I get an email whenever any blogs I read are updated.

Funniest eBay post EVER

Ok, I just about never use the acronym ROTFLMAO, but I have to this time. I was in tears, I was laughing so hard. Check out this eBay ad, and her blog.

Better day today. My friend came over with her girls. The kids all played outside a bit, then had lunch. I ran to the grocery store while they ate (I had no bread or fruit left!). Then they all watched a movie while Sofia had EI. She signed "red", "yellow" and "blue" and SAID "apple" and "umbrella"!

Then I logged on and found out about this woman's eBay ad and blog. TOO FUNNY!

Then we packed the kids (and the bikes and skateboards and scooter) into the cars and went to the Sherbourne playground for a while. My friend took her girls home from there. I took my kids for ice cream.

Now we're home, I've already given Sofia her bath. The boys are outside somewhere. I've got a meeting tonight, so our ex-nanny is coming to babysit, which makes the boys VERY happy.

If you scroll down, you'll notice I'm experimenting with BlogRoll and Subscribe to My Blog.

Trifecta of a Bad Day

Well, today sucked. In a nutshell, the Trifecta consisted of my husband telling my I was really failing at the domestic stuff (actually, he used a worse word!), my eldest son being a complete whiny mopy baby all day, my mother getting attitudinal with me because I don't ask about their problems enough. The frosting is that my babysitter had to cancel today (because her grandfather had a stroke), so I had to re-arrange my plans.

The boys had to go to "Sib Shop", the elder sibling playgroup at EI, while Sofia went to her group. Micah had fun. Sam looked like a grumpy, shaggy rock as he sat in the corner.

I was planning to take Sam to see "Ratatouille" this afternoon, but Micah's already seen it (with my parents) and Sofia freaks out in movie theaters, so that was off. After playgroup and some quick stops at the day school and at shul to drop off paperwork, we went home and Sam took a nap. I fixed the AT&T bill (which my husband had yelled at me about last night) and tried to find info on front doors, but no such luck.

After Sam woke up, we tried going somewhere, but Micah needed a playground and Sofia had fallen asleep in the car and Sam was still mopy so he wouldn't get out of the car. I sat on a rock between the playground and the car, trying to watch all of them and not cry.

After the park, I drove a bit and nearly fell asleep, so we came home. Sofia stayed asleep for the transfer to her crib, and I told the boys to play outside. I slept. Needed it, badly.

After my nap, the boys were better - probably because they were watching "Suite Life of Zach & Cody" and "Hannah Montana" on Disney. Oh well. I made dinner, we ate (the "we" being just me and the kids - my husband didn't get home until after 7pm).

The boys didn't fall asleep until almost 9pm, and Miss Sofia is sitting on my bed, watching "On The Town" at 10:24 pm. David had a meeting, so he was only home for about half an hour before he had to leave again, but he's home now (and on the phone, of course).

Grrrr. He did apologize (in email) to me, but I'm having trouble letting it go. Especially with the addition of Sam trying to guilt-trip me into giving him whatever he wants and my mother letting me know how selfish she thinks I am. The smart part of me is screaming that they are all wrong; the idiot part is taking them all seriously. I'm trying to ignore the idiot part.

But I'm making really excellent progress on the video I'm making for my friend's father's anniversary. I'm very proud of the work I do.

Technical Difficulties

Oy, what a day!

At 6am, David called to tell me he was starting his day in North Carolina. At 6:15, Micah came into my room asking if he could watch TV. This time I was already awake enough to not just dismiss him. I said no, but he should come cuddle with me. Uh uh. He wanted no part of that - so he went BACK TO SLEEP!

At 7:30 Sam went downstairs to watch TV (he doesn't bother to ask, and he sleeps later anyway). At 8:15 I took Miss Sofia downstairs, and was happily surprised to see that Micah was still a-bed.

At 8:30, the kid next dodor came over to spend the day with us. My boys adore him, he's 11 years old, an only child, and very sweet and fun. He was still groggy from his antihistamine, and my guys were still groggy, so I plopped them in front of a movie while I showered.

They watched about 30 minutes of "Pete's Dragon" before grabbing the "swords" and "daggers" (all plastic, of course) and having a mele. Then they went back next door to grab A's Yuh-gi-oh cards, which he nicely handed out to Sam and Micah.

Sofia's Speech Therapist was here 10:00 - 11:00. That was fun to watch, and K had a chance to see the boys in action too. Then I used borrowed paint pens to decorate Micah's cubby box for school, and touched up their TV trays. At 11:45, we decided to go do something. The plan was to eat pizza out and then head up to Westford (more on that below), so I ordered the pizza and got the kids ready to go...

...only to discover that I'd left the keys in the ignition of the mini-van last night, and the battery was dead! Ok. I've got jumper cables. I used to have to jump my "starter" cars when I was a college student. I know what to do, right? So I call my neighbor, another strong, able, capable lady (and she's almost exactly the same age as me, just a few days apart). And we try...

...but we can't seem to locate the "engine block" where we should clip the 4th clip! Argh. We try to call David - no answer. We try her hubby (same industry as David) - no answer. I try another friend - no answer. B suggests calling her father just as I start calling my dad. Dad tries to tell me where to clip it, but can't picture the inside of my minivan.

So I call AAA. And I call the pizza place and ask them to deliver it instead. And I spent some time putting Sofia's car seat back together, since I had washed the cover last night.

And AAA and the pizza guy AND the mail lady all show up at the top of my driveway at exactly the same time, much to the delight of the 3 boys and Sofia! The AAA guy showed me where the 4th clip could go (much of my car is plastic, so it was sort of tough to find a good place!). The pizza guy waited patiently. And the mail lady handed me my box of 500 photos I just printed at Winkflash!

The kids and I ate a quick lunch of pizza and bread sticks, and then finally we hit the road. We went up to Kimballs, which has excellent ice cream, along with a large mini-golf center AND bumper boats. It was mobbed, but we had fun. The boys all went into one boat together, with A driving, because my guys were so nervous (I stayed on the sidelines with Sofia to watch them). Mini-golf was long, and since I had the stroller with us, we had to get out half-way anyways.

Sam had to go to the bathroom pretty badly, so he was a nervous wreck while we ate our ice cream (he'll pee in public restrooms, but he refuses to poop!). We sat near the chicken coop, and somehow one of the chickens ended up on our side of the fence, which really freaked Sam out!

We got home at 5:30, finding A's mom and my babysitter E waiting for us. E and I put together a quick dinner for the kids (I was still full from the ice cream, most of which is now in my freezer). E said she'd thought I had a meeting, so I went searching my email. I have no idea why I thought I had a meeting tonight - I could not find anything. I did, however, realize that I have 3 meetings on Wednesday night. Oops.

So we got the kids ready for bed, and I left E to read to them while I went out. I wanted to get Sofia a TV tray, too, since she also likes to watch TV while she eats breakfast on these lazy days. I found the perfect pink tray in the first store I went to! Then I walked around Shoppers World a bit, buying more scrapbooking paper and some pens.

I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home to get some sushi and some ketchup (the boys did not like my homemade ketchup). Had a nice quick dinner at 9:30pm, and then painted Sofia's tray. It's lovely, with her name and a princess crown and some magic wands and stars.

At 10:10, I started locking up to come upstairs...

...and discovered that the door knob was broken! The inner bolt would not open, so the door would not stay closed. I grabbed the extra knobs from the garage, but there was no full set.

I called my neighbor to come sit in my kitchen while I tried to find a new knob. The grocery store and the 24 hour drugstore do not carry door knobs. But at least I figured out what to do in the mean time, using the spare items we did have.

That took another 45 minutes to get something working. But through it all, I've been really happy. It's all just so funny, and all fixable. And I'm having such a good time doing all this creative stuff (both the art and the fix-it stuff).

But now it's midnight and I'm tired! G'night.

Later: Crap. I just took a quick peek at the T21 board, and found out another little one has died. So very sad. She was very very sick. I thought about her this morning; the news last night had not been good, and somehow I just knew this morning that this was happening, but oh, it was so so sad to see it in print. And this is the 2nd kid on the board in just the past few months. The people involved on the board are just amazing, and, for better or for worse, we've sort of developed a "kit" for when one of the kids passes away. Tulips, food, scrapbook pages and other crafts. There are a lot of very wonderful people on the board, who all immediately jump on to help organize, or just to donate.

But my heart aches for the family.

In memory of baby G, Aleha HaShalom - May peace be upon her.