Washington Swimming

We have traded in the monkeys’ gymnastics classes for the swimming pool for the summer.  We joined a local pool and looking forward to long days in the sunshine.

Ok, we are also looking forward to those 20 minute sun breaks that we get here.  We had one of those exciting events today, so we rushed over to the pool after school to enjoy it.

The monkeys were thrilled with their new hang out, and had a great time exploring. There is a good sized pool that is about 2 feet deep that Jack spent most of the time in.  He enjoyed walking around on his hands putting his head under.

Owen went straight for the deeper pool (about 3 feet -where he can still touch) and played with Katie and Sarah.  Eventually, Katie and Sarah tried to teach Owen how to swim.  It was the sweetest thing – Sarah holding his hands and walking backwards while Owen kicked.  Then Katie giving him some pointers and encouraging, “That’s great, Owen.  Now let’s do it again!”  (Even sweeter was when we got home and Owen told me that they had taught him to swim and he now knew how!)

Today Lisa and I just let the kids explore and have fun, but our children do not yet  know the evil plans we were hatching from our lounge chairs.  Lisa and I have traded swimming lessons (by Lisa) for academic lessons (by me).  we planned out the books we might use, and the fact that the kids will have to earn their popsicles  by reading and playing math games…somehow I don’t think they will mind.

We got our 30-40 minutes of sunshine before that grey cloud hovering just over the trees (in the photo below)  made it’s way to us, covering the sun, and dropping rain on the pool.

We take what sun we can get…

(This is Owen and Sarah in the bottom left.)

Four Day Weekend

Owen had Friday off of school as well as Memorial day.  We were excited to have four long days to do some fun activities.  On Friday Owen seemed a little tired in the morning and not quite himself.  By the afternoon he was listless, pink cheeked, and had a 102 fever. Which kept going up, and up.

I rarely give the monkeys medicine for a fever – since their doctor recommends letting the fever do it’s job if it is under 102.  But Owen’s body kept getting hotter and hotter.  Even with  acetaminophen, it was 102 for two days.

Owen spent three days on the couch watching TV and sipping water. He had the flu.  Our Saturday out with friends passed by and Sunday with it’s nice weather (for Seattle) passed by as well.

Owen finally felt a little better today.  He woke with no fever and had an appetite and some energy. 

We spent the day in the yard fighting moss and weeds that were apparently competing with our children for height…  Eric and I attacked them with shovels, rakes, and gloved hands.  The monkeys attacked with The Force and other Jedi techniques.  I’ll let you guess who was most successful.

Tonight Owen was hoping that his sickness would get him out of school tomorrow, but the flu he had conveniently fit into a four day weekend.

All There

Tonight I decided to get a jump-start on Monday’s laundry.  I had brought down the laundry from the monkeys’ rooms upstairs and added it to the laundry that was already in the master bathroom.  Owen was taking a bath and Jack was following me around – so he was there too. 

I began sorting laundry into four piles and thought I would tell the monkeys how I was sorting it.  I figured it wouldn’t hurt for them to hear, even if I don’t expect them to do laundry anytime soon.   I stated the ‘name’ of the pile each time I put something into it.

“Whites and towels pile;  pajamas, socks, and underwear pile; regular clothes – light color pile; regular clothes – dark colors pile.”

Owen and Jack’s eyes followed the laundry as it came out of a hamper and moved to a pile.  Soon, Owen was mouthing the names under his breath while I said them aloud – I can imagine his little brain lighting up with the exciting knowledge that there can be rules and order even in dirty clothes piles… 

Soon, I shortened the names of the piles since saying the whole thing was slowing me down and the monkeys were obviously ’getting’ what I was doing.

“Whites and towels; pajamas, socks and underwear; regular clothes we wash in cold water, so, Cold-Light and Cold-Dark.”

Soon it was just “Whites, warm, dark, light.”  Owen easily transitioned to the new names, but Jack’s eyebrows became furrowed.  His eyes no longer followed each item as it was put into one of the piles.  Instead, they stayed focused on the “warm” pile.    After a few minutes he tentatively reached over and squeezed a handful of clothes from that pile. He looked up at me, eyebrows still furrowed, shrugged his shoulders and left the room. 

I am pretty sure that Jack was checking the “warm” pile to see if they had indeed turned warm. Which I thought was pretty funny.  But after he walked away, I wondered at his silence.  Usually Jack is a question asker or he tells you just what he thinks whether you want to hear it or not.  (and he will deny any other possible explanation other than his own.)  Normally, he would “correct” my pile label – but now I wonder what is going on in that little 4-year-old brain.  Maybe he is just getting older and is beginning to realize that there are times when he doesn’t quite understand what is going on.  Maybe.  But he gave me such a look that I swear he wondered if I was “all there.”  I am not “all there” all of the time, but I thought that kids were a little older before they realized these things…

I am beginning to hope that Jack corrects some mistake I make tomorrow – just so I know that he doesn’t think I am too far gone.

Birthday Theme

Most of the monkeys’ birthday parties have had a theme – chosen by Eric and I when the boys were really little, based on what we thought was fun or represented the monkeys.  Owen has had Thomas the Train and Rockets. Jack has had Monkeys, Garbage Trucks, and Pirates.  This year Owen waffled on his theme – it went from Star Wars to Spiderman to Toy Story to Batman.  As we got closer to his birthday, and he was changing his mind several times a day, I started to get nervous.  I bought some Star Wars rings a few months before yet Owen had pretty much ruled that theme out.  I was sure that would be his theme since he spends most of his time reading Star Wars books and playing Lego Star Wars.  I did not want to buy anything else and have him change his mind – but I also didn’t want to “force” (tee-hee) him to have a Star Wars Theme just because I had one thing in that theme.

I was looking around on-line one day and came across some Lego mini-figure shaped crayons.  I thought they were unique and fun and really represented something Owen really likes.  I talked to Owen about the possibility of having a Lego themed party and suggested that we could buy these crayons as the Take-home Gift Bag for the party.  He quickly agreed, but I waited on buying the crayons to be sure that he wouldn’t change his mind.

When I showed Owen various Lego mini-figures from Star Wars, Batman, Toy Story, AND Spiderman – he was excited, and I felt like it was “safe” to stick with Lego for the theme.

 

The website what I was going to buy the crayons from was one that sells thing that individuals make in their homes.  I thought about that and it suddenly dawned on me that Lisa had given me a Lego Mini figure mold she brought back from Legoland.  It was meant for making ice-cubes, but I guessed that it was what the seller had used to make her crayons.  So, I thought I would try it, and I found it super easy to do myself.  I was sooooo excited!  I just melted the crayons in a glass container that I put in a pan of boiling water and then poured the melted crayons in the mold.

It took me awhile to think of how to present them as they look the best standing all in a line.  I finally found small tins with a window in the front.  I bought some batting (that you use to make quilts fluffy) to make the guys stay put in the tins.

Here is Owen putting them together.  Owen thought putting together the first three tins was fun, but 16 tins was a bit tedious…

He quickly enlisted Jack and Mama’s help.

For the final gift-bag, we put in a little lego kit, a tin of crayons, a little tin of lego candy, and some lego brick shaped soap.  I made the soap from another mold that Lisa had given me! 

Making the stuff at home was fun, and I ended up getting good deals so that the cost of the whole bag was just a bit more than buying the crayons from the seller – and hers were just loose in bags.  So I am really pleased with the outcome  - but sad that I didn’t take a photo of the goodie bags…

Lame

This is how my poor baby went to sleep tonight.  In his swimming suit and goggles – in the car.  And sad.

Jack had a pool birthday party to go to that I just could not seem to find.  I looked at a map before I left and had the address, but could not find the turn to save my life.   We finally returned home to look up the location again. (since I left my phone on the counter and there are apparently no phone booths left on Earth anymore…)  “Wait here in the car while I run up and look at the address on the computer,” I said to the monkeys.  “Ok, Mama.”  Jack said – close to tears, “ and we’ll try not to panic.”  Despite my double-check of the address, I could still not find the place.  I pulled over and was about to type it in on my phone when I realized that the party was almost over and that my dear Jack was asleep.  What a lame mama I am!

*For some unknown reason, I spent more time on the internet trying to figure out why I couldn’t find this place even though it was too late.  I just felt so frustrated that I  knew approximately where the pool was.  I found that Google gave me wrong directions!  And Bing finally gave me the right directions – though too late.  I guess that is my fault for clicking a link rather than going straight to Bing…

Adenoids

Last Friday Jack had an appointment at Children Hospital to be looked at for some breathing issues he has had.  He breaths loudly through his mouth and doesn’t sleep the way he should.

At the hospital they ran a few tests and got an x-ray of his head to check the size of his adenoids which they thought might be the problem.  I guess enlarged adenoids can make it hard to breath through your nose.  The scan showed that the adenoids were indeed the problem and Jack will have surgery to remove them in a few weeks time.

If I understood correctly, the part that I circled in red below is Jack’s adenoid.  And the darker part that I scribbled in blue is his airflow.  If you look back at the top scan you can see how the airflow is “pinched” below the adenoids.

Right now I feel glad that there is something we can do about Jacks breathing.  When he gets a cold he has an even harder time breathing and it can be really scary.  The adenoids swell making nose breathing even harder than usual.  Several times Jack has been completely unable to breath when he was vomiting since he couldn’t breath through his nose and the vomiting cut off his flow through his mouth.  It is terrifying – to both of us.   Also, the adenoids can cut off the drainage tube thingys to his ears which is probably the reason that all of his colds this winter turned into ear infections.

While I feel relieved right now, I don’t know how I will feel when it comes down to the actual surgery time.  That might be a little scary. 

Jack liked visiting the hospital.  All of the staff spoke to him first asking him for his last name (which I had to translate: “your big name”) and his birthdate.  He was wearing a superman shirt with a cape and several times the staff asked, “Superman, have you seen Jack?”  Jack got to play games and read books and they even gave him a popsicle when he was getting a little antsy near the end.  For a two hour appointment – things went pretty well.

The nurse printed the head x-ray for Jack to take home.  When we picked up Owen from school, Jack was very excited to show him, but had left the printout at home.  “Owen, you need to see it.  The doctor took a picture of my head, and guess what?! I am a skeleton!”

Jack Is Strong

Jack was telling me how strong he was today.  “I can lift my brother! And I can carry very heavy things!”  He looked around naming the things that he could carry and lift. “I can lift the whole house!” he exclaimed, but then hesitated. “I think god can probably do that.  I think he can lift the whole world.”  Jack seemed a little forlorn at this thought – I guess disappointed that he wasn’t quite as strong as he wanted to be.  Suddenly his mouth popped open in a surprised smile.  “BUT! I can lift god!” he beamed.  I must have had a funny look on my face so Jack explained, “Because god is light.  My teacher says that god is alllllll light.”  Then Jack furrowed his eyebrows. “She says that he doesn’t have even a tiny bit of darkness in him…” he walked away – eyes still furrowed.

Owen is Six

My sweet boy!  Today you are six and are so so big.  You have sprouted up in the last few months both in height and in what you are able to do. Despite your growth spurts, I take a little comfort that you can still fit in the SUV tent that Daddy and I made for you for your first birthday.  You have taken to sleeping in it , and even with your legs stretched out, your body still fits completely inside.  You are also still happy to give me hugs and kisses in public.  And, you will find me and cuddle up in my lap when I am reading.  I love these times.

You read every chance you get and, if given the choice of who should read books before bed, you prefer to take turns– each of us reading one page until the book is done.

I am amazed at what a deep/practical thinker you are.  Like today, when Katie told you about “Chatters” was getting married, you wanted to know where he and his new wife were going to live! Your thinking helps you focus - earlier this week you spent 6 hours working on your Lego kit that Grandma Mary gave you for your birthday. That kind of concentration is inspiring - then again, I think it takes you about that same amount of time each day to get dressed for school…

You only ask for Lego sets for your birthday, and sometimes you also want a light saber.  You decided that you very-much wanted a tiny ladybug Pillow Pet after you picked that out for Katie and Sarah’s birthday gift.   Daddy and I gave you a Lego set and a bike with six gears and hand brakes.  (Jack and Daddy bought the bike at REI and hid it in Doc and Nana’s garage several weeks ago – and Jack was able to keep the secret this whole time!)  You seem to really like the bike , but seem a little overwhelmed by its size.  I have no doubt that you will tackle the challenge of the new bike with gusto.  You are so much more confident in yourself and are proud that you have faced several of your fears – I am too!

My six-year-old.  My sweet, caring, silly, thoughtful, polite, serious boy.  My Owen.  I love you – Happy Birthday.

Mothers Day Tea

Jack’s preschool class hosted a tea for all of the moms today.  We all had cookies and juice and were presented with a list of  facts about each of us – as seen through our little one’s eyes…

According to Jack,  I…am 20 years old, like the color pink, and enjoy watching commercials.  My favorite food is teriyaki and my favorite thing to do is read books to Jack.  The best thing about me is that I give him lots of hugs.     

I can’t say it is all entirely accurate, but at least he got the important things right, like my age…

Jack and his classmates sang songs, (like Taking Home My Baby Bumble Bee – ???)  played instruments (Jack followed directions to a T – I was super impressed), and danced (and invited us to dance too!)

Jack wasn’t too keen on the mother/son photos that we tried to take, but he did want to take one of me with my new broach that he made.