Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Bed Time Birds & Bees
As I'm getting Kai dressed tonight he reaches down, grabs his scrotum, and asks, "Mama, what is this nut in my wee wee?"
I responded, "That's called your scrotum. It's where all your seeds for making babies are when you grow in to a man."
Kai started jumping up and down yelling with excitement. "Yay! So I can make babies?!"
"Well," I said, "Men have seeds and mamas have eggs. You need to mix the seeds and eggs to make a baby."
"That's so cool!", Kai yelled. "So I can grow up and I can give you my seeds and you can make a new baby!"
"No sweetie. Boys can't make babies with their mamas. It won't work. The babies come out all mushy. When you become a man you're going to have to find another lady to give your seeds to."
"Awwww. Well that's ok. I can still grow up and make a baby!"
I responded, "That's called your scrotum. It's where all your seeds for making babies are when you grow in to a man."
Kai started jumping up and down yelling with excitement. "Yay! So I can make babies?!"
"Well," I said, "Men have seeds and mamas have eggs. You need to mix the seeds and eggs to make a baby."
"That's so cool!", Kai yelled. "So I can grow up and I can give you my seeds and you can make a new baby!"
"No sweetie. Boys can't make babies with their mamas. It won't work. The babies come out all mushy. When you become a man you're going to have to find another lady to give your seeds to."
"Awwww. Well that's ok. I can still grow up and make a baby!"
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Monday, April 07, 2008
Kai's hospital adventure and what happened
Kai had a pretty normal day on Thursday. I was working from home, spent most of my morning on the phone, Kai watched TV, played, ate, etc. At 2:30 we went out for lunch. He was complaining a bit that his stomach was upset, but he hadn't eaten much, so once he'd had a slice of pizza he was fine and I didn't think anything of it.
Afterwards he went to his karate class. During class he said again that his stomach was bothering him, but went to the bathroom and he was fine, then went back to class. I figured he was coming down with something possibly, but in general he seemed fine.
We came home at 4:00, I got on a 2 hour conference call, he had milk and cookies, and all was fine until about 7:00.
At that time I'd just finished work and Kai came over to me for snuggles. One second he was playful and fine, next he was doubled over screaming in pain. I called his doctor twice and didn't get a call back in about 45 minutes. I called my friend Theta from the neighborhood (she's the editor of the county's magazine so she basically knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING and she's got a 3 year old who's gone through a nasty year with illness herself so needless to say, she's a good person to call for fast advice) and asked her what hospital to take him to. At that time I didn't know about Hackensack Pediatric Hospital (http://www.humc.com/) or the fact that it's one of the best in the nation. She insisted to me to get him there, telling me that if for any reason he had to be admitted, I didn't want him getting admitted anywhere else. I then grabbed Kai up and left the house. As we were on the road and headed out of the house, his pediatrician called us back and insisted that I take him to St. Mary's hospital in Hoboken because that's where he works out of. He didn't say he'd meet us there, but said that if Kai had to be admitted, he'd be able to see over his care (whenever it would be that he'd show up. My experience with him is that he's a straight 9-5 doctor so I doubt he'd really come in until the next morning regardless and by then it would have been too late). We turned around and went to St. Mary's. When we got there the emergency room was full, but there were no real emergencies going on. The place looked like it was being run out of someone's garage to be perfectly honest. When I got to the reception desk they told me to sit and wait to sign in. We waited for about 10 minutes. Kai went in to another wave of pain (it was coming in waves that lasted about a minute or 2 each, in between Kai was fine or becoming lethargic as they progressed). It was OBVIOUS that something serious was going on and he was ignored. So I asked the receptionist if they prioritized young children in distress, she looked at me blankly and said she'd have to ask. The wave of pain passed and I asked Kai if he thought he could get in the car again and hold out until we got to another hospital, to which he said yes. Neither one of us wanted to stay there. It was a scary place and all I could think was that if they did admit him there, they'd kill him.
Anyway, I grabbed him up, got back to the car, and drove him to Hackensack where my friend told me to go.
Hackensack was amazing. From the second we walked in (valet emergency room parking) to the moment we left I was stunned with how good everything was, how effective they were even at 1:00 am when they ran him in to the emergency BE procedure (they let me stay with him the entire time, even when they were working on him and explained everything to both of us as things progressed. You just don't get that philosophy in general with doctors ANYWHERE), and in general, how happy and nice everyone was there. Nurses in particular. A sign of a good hospital vs. a bad one in my lengthy experience with them is if the nurses seem alert and happy. If the nurses walk around looking vacant and hostile to the patients, get your kid out of there because they're the ones feeling the worst of the trickle down effect of a bad administration IMHO.
Had we gone anywhere else they wouldn't have had the staff to take care of Kai as quickly as they did. Kai would have been left in agony till the morning, and then would have required surgery. This is a web page that sums up what was wrong with him pretty well in layman's terms with pictures.
http://www.pedisurg.com/PtEduc/Intussusception.htm
Afterwards he went to his karate class. During class he said again that his stomach was bothering him, but went to the bathroom and he was fine, then went back to class. I figured he was coming down with something possibly, but in general he seemed fine.
We came home at 4:00, I got on a 2 hour conference call, he had milk and cookies, and all was fine until about 7:00.
At that time I'd just finished work and Kai came over to me for snuggles. One second he was playful and fine, next he was doubled over screaming in pain. I called his doctor twice and didn't get a call back in about 45 minutes. I called my friend Theta from the neighborhood (she's the editor of the county's magazine so she basically knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING and she's got a 3 year old who's gone through a nasty year with illness herself so needless to say, she's a good person to call for fast advice) and asked her what hospital to take him to. At that time I didn't know about Hackensack Pediatric Hospital (http://www.humc.com/) or the fact that it's one of the best in the nation. She insisted to me to get him there, telling me that if for any reason he had to be admitted, I didn't want him getting admitted anywhere else. I then grabbed Kai up and left the house. As we were on the road and headed out of the house, his pediatrician called us back and insisted that I take him to St. Mary's hospital in Hoboken because that's where he works out of. He didn't say he'd meet us there, but said that if Kai had to be admitted, he'd be able to see over his care (whenever it would be that he'd show up. My experience with him is that he's a straight 9-5 doctor so I doubt he'd really come in until the next morning regardless and by then it would have been too late). We turned around and went to St. Mary's. When we got there the emergency room was full, but there were no real emergencies going on. The place looked like it was being run out of someone's garage to be perfectly honest. When I got to the reception desk they told me to sit and wait to sign in. We waited for about 10 minutes. Kai went in to another wave of pain (it was coming in waves that lasted about a minute or 2 each, in between Kai was fine or becoming lethargic as they progressed). It was OBVIOUS that something serious was going on and he was ignored. So I asked the receptionist if they prioritized young children in distress, she looked at me blankly and said she'd have to ask. The wave of pain passed and I asked Kai if he thought he could get in the car again and hold out until we got to another hospital, to which he said yes. Neither one of us wanted to stay there. It was a scary place and all I could think was that if they did admit him there, they'd kill him.
Anyway, I grabbed him up, got back to the car, and drove him to Hackensack where my friend told me to go.
Hackensack was amazing. From the second we walked in (valet emergency room parking) to the moment we left I was stunned with how good everything was, how effective they were even at 1:00 am when they ran him in to the emergency BE procedure (they let me stay with him the entire time, even when they were working on him and explained everything to both of us as things progressed. You just don't get that philosophy in general with doctors ANYWHERE), and in general, how happy and nice everyone was there. Nurses in particular. A sign of a good hospital vs. a bad one in my lengthy experience with them is if the nurses seem alert and happy. If the nurses walk around looking vacant and hostile to the patients, get your kid out of there because they're the ones feeling the worst of the trickle down effect of a bad administration IMHO.
Had we gone anywhere else they wouldn't have had the staff to take care of Kai as quickly as they did. Kai would have been left in agony till the morning, and then would have required surgery. This is a web page that sums up what was wrong with him pretty well in layman's terms with pictures.
http://www.pedisurg.com/PtEduc/Intussusception.htm
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/UVAHealth/peds_digest/intussus.cfm
As soon as we walked in they identified him as a critical patient and ran us back to the ER. The head of ER took care of us directly. She identified what was wrong with him based on his symptoms almost immediately and sent us back for an x-ray and ultrasound. Within the next half hour we were run through both. As soon as the ultrasound tech identified what was wrong, the radiologist was brought in, he did a follow up ultrasound while Kai was on the table, confirmed the blockage in Kai's intestines, explained to me that he had to have a Barium Enema to try to clear the blockage while they watched it, told me that because of the location of the blockage it might not work so to be prepared for them having to run him in to surgery immediately. I called Sanchie at that point because I wasn't sure if I was going to need her present or not and she headed out to us (I just had vascular surgery myself this past Friday and am still recovering) At this point Kai was falling in to unconsciousness in between waves so it was hard for me to try to explain to him what was about to happen. Within the next half hour, they got Kai in to the room for the BE, prepped him, and began. Unfortunately it began at the same time as another wave of pain hit Kai. Closest thing I can compare to what Kai experienced yesterday was being in labor for 6 hours. Anyway, they again let me stay in the room with him while they did the BE. They had to lay him on his stomach, push a catheter up his tush, and tape him closed. He was screaming in agony but was so brave. I kept talking him through what was going on and he was so good. He kept listening to me, he understood that they were fixing him and that this was necessary. He did everything the doctors asked him to do even though he was terrified and in pain. He was so amazing. He really was. They had to pump about 2 gallons in to him before they managed to clear the blockage and at the moment they unblocked him, he switched from being in pain to yelling that he had to poop and couldn't hold it in :^) Poor boo. I told him to let it come out and he just started yelling "EWWWW!!!!" He ended up laying in a pool of all of it by the end, shivering and stinky, but he was pain free and realized that he was ok. At the point when we got him off the table, Sanchie had arrived. The receptionist in the emergency room actually walked her through the hospital to find us. I was really surprised. We got him cleaned up and sat with him while his system cleared itself out, then headed back to the ER where he was admitted overnight for observation.
Anyway, it was really rough and he's under close observation for the next 6 months, but he's fine now. Once the enema was done and he was pain free he IMMEDIATELY bounced back and decided that he was having an adventure. He thanked all the radiologists and doctors who helped him get well, threw me out of the wheelchair they were carting both of us around in because he wanted to ride in it "by myself", and then actually jumped for joy once he found out we were staying the night. Go figure. The room was better than some hotel rooms I've stayed in to be honest, and there was a family kitchen and huge playroom on the pediatric floor. Seriously, I'm stunned at just how good the hospital was and am so grateful to Theta for INSISTING that I take him there on the phone, and the hospital itself. With what was wrong with him, I really feel the night would have gone in a MUCH different and MUCH worse direction if we had gone anywhere else.
That's it. We're home, Kai is up to mischief, we're cleaning the house.
As soon as we walked in they identified him as a critical patient and ran us back to the ER. The head of ER took care of us directly. She identified what was wrong with him based on his symptoms almost immediately and sent us back for an x-ray and ultrasound. Within the next half hour we were run through both. As soon as the ultrasound tech identified what was wrong, the radiologist was brought in, he did a follow up ultrasound while Kai was on the table, confirmed the blockage in Kai's intestines, explained to me that he had to have a Barium Enema to try to clear the blockage while they watched it, told me that because of the location of the blockage it might not work so to be prepared for them having to run him in to surgery immediately. I called Sanchie at that point because I wasn't sure if I was going to need her present or not and she headed out to us (I just had vascular surgery myself this past Friday and am still recovering) At this point Kai was falling in to unconsciousness in between waves so it was hard for me to try to explain to him what was about to happen. Within the next half hour, they got Kai in to the room for the BE, prepped him, and began. Unfortunately it began at the same time as another wave of pain hit Kai. Closest thing I can compare to what Kai experienced yesterday was being in labor for 6 hours. Anyway, they again let me stay in the room with him while they did the BE. They had to lay him on his stomach, push a catheter up his tush, and tape him closed. He was screaming in agony but was so brave. I kept talking him through what was going on and he was so good. He kept listening to me, he understood that they were fixing him and that this was necessary. He did everything the doctors asked him to do even though he was terrified and in pain. He was so amazing. He really was. They had to pump about 2 gallons in to him before they managed to clear the blockage and at the moment they unblocked him, he switched from being in pain to yelling that he had to poop and couldn't hold it in :^) Poor boo. I told him to let it come out and he just started yelling "EWWWW!!!!" He ended up laying in a pool of all of it by the end, shivering and stinky, but he was pain free and realized that he was ok. At the point when we got him off the table, Sanchie had arrived. The receptionist in the emergency room actually walked her through the hospital to find us. I was really surprised. We got him cleaned up and sat with him while his system cleared itself out, then headed back to the ER where he was admitted overnight for observation.
Anyway, it was really rough and he's under close observation for the next 6 months, but he's fine now. Once the enema was done and he was pain free he IMMEDIATELY bounced back and decided that he was having an adventure. He thanked all the radiologists and doctors who helped him get well, threw me out of the wheelchair they were carting both of us around in because he wanted to ride in it "by myself", and then actually jumped for joy once he found out we were staying the night. Go figure. The room was better than some hotel rooms I've stayed in to be honest, and there was a family kitchen and huge playroom on the pediatric floor. Seriously, I'm stunned at just how good the hospital was and am so grateful to Theta for INSISTING that I take him there on the phone, and the hospital itself. With what was wrong with him, I really feel the night would have gone in a MUCH different and MUCH worse direction if we had gone anywhere else.
That's it. We're home, Kai is up to mischief, we're cleaning the house.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Allowance, Toys, and a 3 Year Old's Lesson in Economics...Oh My!
Kai thought he had saved a fortune. He had $10. He's been doing his chores around the house so well, hanging up his coat and hat, putting away his shoes, cleaning the living room when it gets too messy with his toys, feeding all the fish, etc. He's been counting and counting all his money for weeks and wanted to go to the toy store to buy a toy with his small fortune. sigh. This is another one of my, "I should have thought this through in advance" sort of tough love lessons that wasn't intended to be tough love at all.Anyway, we went to his favorite store. It's got all the real educational toys, wood sets, lots of animal and pirate figurines, etc. I figured he'd get a small dragon and be really happy. What was I thinking! I never set his expectations. He walked in there with his piggy bank full of change, thinking he could get anything in the store because he was loaded, and 2 hours later he was fuming, depressed, and frustrated to tears when he realized what his $10 could and couldn't buy him. I mean, it was a really good lesson for him. He really GETS it now, the whole purpose of money, the reason why I work, what I mean when I tell him something is too much money, BUT...it was horrible. At one point he was in the front of the store screaming at me that we should just go with out anything because he didn't have enough money for anything cool. He looked like he was going to cry. I mean, there were a few things he was interested in, and he did finally choose an airplane and a skull that grows in water, but he REALLY wanted some other things and the comparison between what he wanted and what he could afford was, well, basically what I feel like every day only the poor little guy is 3.
I did hold my ground though and didn't offer to loan him any money or make up for what he had. He only had $10 to spend and that was it. Afterwards though I did take him to Books of Wonder and get him a bunch of books, then found a really nice world globe at the flea market really cheap, so his day wasn't a total bust, but man. The allowance thing was really rough. I REALLY don't want to discourage him. This was supposed to be a proud joyous moment where he got to spend the money he'd earned on something he liked. The next go round what we're going to do is set monetary value to his chores so he can reach an attainable goal of $20 which should afford him something cool without him losing his mind in the process. At least he'll be able to afford Hungry Hungry Hippos which he's desperate for, or Whack a Mole. The next shot at this I want him to feel a sense of gratification and pride when he buys something, not defeat. sigh.
anyway, that was our allowance/toy store adventure.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Monday, March 03, 2008
My Name is Spider-Man!
I now have to address Kai as Spider Man or he's refusing to do anything. Not kidding.ME: "Kai, go brush your teeth."
KAI: "I'm not Kai, I'm Spider Man."
ME: "OK. Fine then, go brush your teeth."
KAI: "Spider Man."
ME: "Are you kidding?"
KAI: "Spider Man!"
ME: "Sigh...[breathe a few breaths, then]...Spider Man, please go brush your teeth."
KAI: "OK Mom"
Monday, February 04, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Blowing Up Orcs
This weekend Kai decided would be a Lord of the Rings event. I own the special extended edition of all 3 movies, so getting through the entire trilogy is over a 12 hour experience. The first time Kai watched the trilogy, or part of it, we were in San Francisco while I was out there on business. We had rented a room with 2 Queen sized bed, and Kai was in heaven staying up in his own big bed and watching the Two Towers one night with room service pizza and everything. Since that first viewing, all trees are suspect of being ents, and Kai has begun collecting orcs, ogres, and trolls, (we've got a great toy store) to secretly form an army bent on destruction. In order to control the growing masses of evil beings, Kai then decided (after viewing #2 a few months ago) that we needed a volcano to blow them all up. Being the good follower of his scheming plots that I am, I fell in line and got him a volcano making kit and we began the journey towards the battle of good and evil.
The volcano however had it's own agenda, like the dreaded ring. It took 2 weeks to dry. Patiently, so patiently Kai checked it each day to see if it was ready to be painted. In the mean time, we went to pearly paint for some architectural model trees. We got a set of 5 pines to place around the volcano. He also found my old high school ring burried in one of his toy boxes. I found him tying the string from his wooden beads through it to make a necklace and getting very frustrated at the limited dexterity his 3 year old fingers had at making knots. "Here Mama. I need a chain." Obligingly I found him an old necklace chain, strung up the offending ring, and placed it on his neck. Kai Frodo was then born. Periodically there were sword fights, me being an orc at every occasion, then finally! This past weekend the volcano was ready. Kai pulled out the Fellowship of the Ring and we began to paint!
By the time the Two Towers was half way through we had our trees in place. Thus the battle for Middle Earth ensued in our home! Kai took the volcano and placed it on the floor. The armies amassed between our sword fights for good and evil. Aragorn faced Sauron, Saruman was defeated at Orthank, and oliphants took the field! 
Out came the orcs and goblins! Out came all the plastic elephants to be slain by elves, out came the knights and black ships, out came the monsters! The Riders of Rohan defended the keep, and the eye at Khazad Dum watched on.
Finally it was time. Solemnly, Kai brought the volcano back to the counter and took the ring from his neck. It was time for an end to all evil. As Frodo hung to the cliff, bereft from the loss of ring and finger, Kai let loose the dreaded Sturyvesant High ring in to the mouth of our own Orodruin. Fires bubbled, the seas churned, and all the orcs were swallowed in to the earth from whence they were made. Peace was restored to our home and the world can breathe knowing that it has a 3 year old champion to protect them from all evil.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Oh my! Gremlin precautionary measures!
So everyone is going to yell at me for letting Kai watch the movie Gremlins (1 & 2), but let me preface it with the fact that his all time favorite movie scene that he makes me let him watch over and over again is the dragon scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, so with that as a baseline for his fear factor, I personally thought that he'd find the Gremlins movies funny as hell. I mean it is his sort of wacky stupid humor. Well, he did. He thought they were funny as hell any time he peeked out from under my arm. For the first time in his 3 short years I saw my fearless son bury his face in my body, and with a horrified fascination, insist that I NOT turn the movie off. He instead wanted me to narrate what was going on during the scary scenes while he listened, but under NO CIRCUMSTANCE was I allowed to turn the movie off. After 1 he insisted on watching 2.
I know! I know! Beat me over the head! This is not age appropriate for a 3 year old, but he's not really a 3 year old in so many ways, and he watches some really intricate sci-fi already. His favorite TV cartoon is Avatar for goodness sake and he's followed the plot through 2 seasons. He loves Dragonheart and Aragon, he's watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy 3 times already (favorite characters are the Ent's of course and now he's quite obsessed with spotting "walking trees" in our neighborhood. He looks at Oak trees mostly to find their faces in the trunks), is half way through reading the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with me (I read), so basically, he's already way past the age appropriate limit. As far as he's concerned (until now that is), it all is exactly what it is, sci-fi and make believe. He's never had any issue separating it from reality,,,until tonight it would seem. I'm not quite sure why the gremlins freaked him out. I mean, they LOOK like Muppets. The orcs in LOTR are scary as hell but all they did to him was prompt him to want an orc and ogre army, build a volcano, and blow them all to kingdom come with it. These gremlins though, in particular the suspense of it all when they hatched from their cocoons, scared him. (OK, not terrified scared, but more of a fascinated but still hiding his face in my arm scared. He was having a hell of a lot of fun being frightened to be honest, then spent the rest of the day trying hard as hell to scare me...but still)
Anyway, tonight he went to the Nth degree in gremlin-proofing. It seems that his monster now eats cauliflower and raw eggs. I don't know why, and am not going to question it at the moment because his strategy was to feed his monster and leave a note in the monster's food box asking him to put any gremlins he found in to the lights. He actually dictated the letter to me to write, then signed it, "Love Kai". He then turned on every night light in his room, including his battery powered camping light that hangs over his pillow (for midnight emergencies). He had me leave the night light on in the bathroom, and then did a perimeter check of the living room, but shrugged his shoulders and said that the monster would get them out of there if they got in to the living room. Either that or it would seem that our cat, Monster, would scratch them.
I swear. He was absolutely methodical about how he was tactically protecting the house from gremlins, then once he was satisfied, sat down in his rocking chair and waited patiently for me to come read him his books. I kept looking at him and asking him if he was going to be ok, and by that time he looked at me like I was over dramatizing the situation that he now had under control and gave me that exasperated, "YEEESSSS MOOOMMM! Can we read books now?"
Well ok then. I'm waiting for 2:00 a.m.
I know! I know! Beat me over the head! This is not age appropriate for a 3 year old, but he's not really a 3 year old in so many ways, and he watches some really intricate sci-fi already. His favorite TV cartoon is Avatar for goodness sake and he's followed the plot through 2 seasons. He loves Dragonheart and Aragon, he's watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy 3 times already (favorite characters are the Ent's of course and now he's quite obsessed with spotting "walking trees" in our neighborhood. He looks at Oak trees mostly to find their faces in the trunks), is half way through reading the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with me (I read), so basically, he's already way past the age appropriate limit. As far as he's concerned (until now that is), it all is exactly what it is, sci-fi and make believe. He's never had any issue separating it from reality,,,until tonight it would seem. I'm not quite sure why the gremlins freaked him out. I mean, they LOOK like Muppets. The orcs in LOTR are scary as hell but all they did to him was prompt him to want an orc and ogre army, build a volcano, and blow them all to kingdom come with it. These gremlins though, in particular the suspense of it all when they hatched from their cocoons, scared him. (OK, not terrified scared, but more of a fascinated but still hiding his face in my arm scared. He was having a hell of a lot of fun being frightened to be honest, then spent the rest of the day trying hard as hell to scare me...but still)
Anyway, tonight he went to the Nth degree in gremlin-proofing. It seems that his monster now eats cauliflower and raw eggs. I don't know why, and am not going to question it at the moment because his strategy was to feed his monster and leave a note in the monster's food box asking him to put any gremlins he found in to the lights. He actually dictated the letter to me to write, then signed it, "Love Kai". He then turned on every night light in his room, including his battery powered camping light that hangs over his pillow (for midnight emergencies). He had me leave the night light on in the bathroom, and then did a perimeter check of the living room, but shrugged his shoulders and said that the monster would get them out of there if they got in to the living room. Either that or it would seem that our cat, Monster, would scratch them.
I swear. He was absolutely methodical about how he was tactically protecting the house from gremlins, then once he was satisfied, sat down in his rocking chair and waited patiently for me to come read him his books. I kept looking at him and asking him if he was going to be ok, and by that time he looked at me like I was over dramatizing the situation that he now had under control and gave me that exasperated, "YEEESSSS MOOOMMM! Can we read books now?"
Well ok then. I'm waiting for 2:00 a.m.
Monday, January 07, 2008
READING!!!
I'm so excited I'm about to burst!
Tonight at bed time Kai and I did our usual, but when it came time to read books he immediately grabbed this one baby book that he's had since he first began learning colors. It's about 5 different colored caterpillars turning in to butterflies. It's rhymey, got sparkly pictures, and raised velvet 3D caterpillars in it. You know the kind. Just right for 1 year olds. Anyway, he's been walking around with this book all of a sudden for days. I couldn't figure out why until tonight. When he grabbed it at bed time to read I protested, whining to him that it was a baby book and why did he want to read it. He absolutely insisted upon this book so I resigned myself to it figuring that at least book reading time tonight would be short, making up for the fact that we were getting to bed a little late, UNTIL, he began to read the book to me! OMG! I'm serious. He sat in my lap opened up the book, and began to sound out the words for me. He read it! I was so stunned and excited! I don't know if I'm going to get to bed tonight. I simply can't believe what happened. He didn't read the entire thing. There were words he couldn't sound out and needed help with but I'd say he read 80% of it for me. He's been carting this book around all week figuring out how to read it! I'm just so stunned. It's just been so sudden all of this.
I know I expected it, but now that it's here and hitting me in the face I'm realizing I don't have a plan. He's going to remain in the school he's in until he's 5. I feel it's a very healthy place for him as they're amazing educators who are truly devoted to helping him develop, but then what? I need to get my act together and figure out where we're going to be in a year so he can be situated some place for the next level in his schooling and home environemt.
While I'm awfully excited right now by what just happened today, I'm actually a little frightened by all of this as well.
Tonight at bed time Kai and I did our usual, but when it came time to read books he immediately grabbed this one baby book that he's had since he first began learning colors. It's about 5 different colored caterpillars turning in to butterflies. It's rhymey, got sparkly pictures, and raised velvet 3D caterpillars in it. You know the kind. Just right for 1 year olds. Anyway, he's been walking around with this book all of a sudden for days. I couldn't figure out why until tonight. When he grabbed it at bed time to read I protested, whining to him that it was a baby book and why did he want to read it. He absolutely insisted upon this book so I resigned myself to it figuring that at least book reading time tonight would be short, making up for the fact that we were getting to bed a little late, UNTIL, he began to read the book to me! OMG! I'm serious. He sat in my lap opened up the book, and began to sound out the words for me. He read it! I was so stunned and excited! I don't know if I'm going to get to bed tonight. I simply can't believe what happened. He didn't read the entire thing. There were words he couldn't sound out and needed help with but I'd say he read 80% of it for me. He's been carting this book around all week figuring out how to read it! I'm just so stunned. It's just been so sudden all of this.
I know I expected it, but now that it's here and hitting me in the face I'm realizing I don't have a plan. He's going to remain in the school he's in until he's 5. I feel it's a very healthy place for him as they're amazing educators who are truly devoted to helping him develop, but then what? I need to get my act together and figure out where we're going to be in a year so he can be situated some place for the next level in his schooling and home environemt.
While I'm awfully excited right now by what just happened today, I'm actually a little frightened by all of this as well.
Learning to Read - 12/30/2007
We went to staples today and got supplies to make flash cards (along with 2 new gold fish, a beta fish, and of course 4 new plants to make a forest for the fish. Kai set up his old fish tank in his room and got a pirate treasure thingy to go in the tank. he now has a fish tank with 2 goldfish and 4 new plants surrounding it on his desk since we moved his computer in to my office ;^) Tomorrow we're staying in and making our flash cards. He's pretty excited about it. We're going to cut pictures out of magazines to start. I got pre-made blank flash cards with a hole punch and plastic laminate. It should work. I think just the process of making them has him all excited.
Learning to Read - 12/27/2007
So Kai is starting to read and I'm looking for day to day ways to integrate learning techniques in to life rather than have sit down sessions to teach him. Supposedly I learned how to read at his age (actually a bit younger), and my memory of it was playing with my sister and a Montessori reading kit that my mother bought. It had flash cards and all sorts of games in it that were geared towards learning to read. Luckily my sister liked playing with it with me so in essence, my older sister taught me to read at a very young age. By the time I was in kindergarten I was reading at a 3rd grade level. The beginning of may public school problems for me in my life...
Anyway, Kai is sounding words out on his own and really is initiating all of this so I want to figure out ways to help him in his own process, as opposed to pushing a process on him which is what makes school and learning so painful.
He's had a regular computer for about a year and a half. My friend upgradedand gave him her old PC, and another friend gave him her old 15" flat screenmonitor when she upgraded as well. What I did was wipe my friends PC, locked it down tight from a security and age appropriate perspective, then we tend to leave WordPad open so he can type letters. I keep caps lock on and make the font size really large for him.
Other applications he uses regularly are his e-mail and the internet browser. He e-mails family and likes to send pictures to his cousin. Last year for his birthday he got the Kid's Tough Digital Camera so he's always taking pictures of me and the cat to load on his PC which is a lot of fun for him. I have to help him with the uploads, but his screen saver is the folder where we keep all the photos.
When he was about 18 months old he was animal obsessed so I downloaded about 500 photos of wild animals and set the screen saver up to randomly display them. He loved it and would name each animal as they came on the screen. Then we did the same thing with the alphabet. I've set up a favorites folder for him on his internet browser where we keep all of the sites he likes to play on so they're easily accessible. He's pretty good with the mouse and using it. He's made quick work of the alphabet site at Starfall.
Another thing that we have set up is a webcam so he can do video chats with his cousin in New Orleans. They both use Skype so they can sit in front of the computer and talk.
Lastly, he sometimes watched DVD's on it, but that's not going to continuenow that the PC is in my room/office.
Anyway, we just moved his computer from his room in to mine. His biggest complaint about his computer is that he can't work WITH me. Since I work from home part of the week, he wanted to be able to work at his computer along side of me, which is actually pretty cool. It also makes it easier for me to help him when he is working at it since I only have to reach over to him as opposed to getting up every 10 minutes to go in to his room which was really discouraging both of us and became pretty frustrating. He's been in here with me for the last half hour or so sitting at the next desk typing words. It's already so much nicer! I'm working and he's got WordPad up, asking me how to spell one word at a time so he can type them out. I just realized that down the road this is going to make the homework process so much easier and more fun for him as well.
Still, I'm realizing that telling him how to spell words is still a bit of a disconnect, so I was thinking of giving him a stack of flash cards to keep by the computer so he can see the pictures and type the words, but I just feel like that's begging for a mess. Then I thought of maybe printing out labels and sticking them on everything in the house so when he looks at an object he's got the spelling of the word to go along with it. I made labels for everything in the house last night. OMG! He's been so excited. He's been walking around the house pointing at things, naming them, then spelling them. He's given me a new list of word labels to make for things he wants to spell but I haven't labeled yet. It was a serious Helen Keller moment.
Anyway, Kai is sounding words out on his own and really is initiating all of this so I want to figure out ways to help him in his own process, as opposed to pushing a process on him which is what makes school and learning so painful.
He's had a regular computer for about a year and a half. My friend upgradedand gave him her old PC, and another friend gave him her old 15" flat screenmonitor when she upgraded as well. What I did was wipe my friends PC, locked it down tight from a security and age appropriate perspective, then we tend to leave WordPad open so he can type letters. I keep caps lock on and make the font size really large for him.
Other applications he uses regularly are his e-mail and the internet browser. He e-mails family and likes to send pictures to his cousin. Last year for his birthday he got the Kid's Tough Digital Camera so he's always taking pictures of me and the cat to load on his PC which is a lot of fun for him. I have to help him with the uploads, but his screen saver is the folder where we keep all the photos.
When he was about 18 months old he was animal obsessed so I downloaded about 500 photos of wild animals and set the screen saver up to randomly display them. He loved it and would name each animal as they came on the screen. Then we did the same thing with the alphabet. I've set up a favorites folder for him on his internet browser where we keep all of the sites he likes to play on so they're easily accessible. He's pretty good with the mouse and using it. He's made quick work of the alphabet site at Starfall.
Another thing that we have set up is a webcam so he can do video chats with his cousin in New Orleans. They both use Skype so they can sit in front of the computer and talk.
Lastly, he sometimes watched DVD's on it, but that's not going to continuenow that the PC is in my room/office.
Anyway, we just moved his computer from his room in to mine. His biggest complaint about his computer is that he can't work WITH me. Since I work from home part of the week, he wanted to be able to work at his computer along side of me, which is actually pretty cool. It also makes it easier for me to help him when he is working at it since I only have to reach over to him as opposed to getting up every 10 minutes to go in to his room which was really discouraging both of us and became pretty frustrating. He's been in here with me for the last half hour or so sitting at the next desk typing words. It's already so much nicer! I'm working and he's got WordPad up, asking me how to spell one word at a time so he can type them out. I just realized that down the road this is going to make the homework process so much easier and more fun for him as well.
Still, I'm realizing that telling him how to spell words is still a bit of a disconnect, so I was thinking of giving him a stack of flash cards to keep by the computer so he can see the pictures and type the words, but I just feel like that's begging for a mess. Then I thought of maybe printing out labels and sticking them on everything in the house so when he looks at an object he's got the spelling of the word to go along with it. I made labels for everything in the house last night. OMG! He's been so excited. He's been walking around the house pointing at things, naming them, then spelling them. He's given me a new list of word labels to make for things he wants to spell but I haven't labeled yet. It was a serious Helen Keller moment.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Bad Dreams & Breakfast
As I've said in the past, sleep is an issue for me. So much so that my great desire for a second child is probably never going to happen because of my fear of sleep deprivation. I was trying a few weeks ago to explain it to a friend. I need about 2 hours to wind down before my body can sleep, and once asleep, if I wake, the process begins again. That would be fine if I rarely woke at night, but I'm a very light sleeper. The slightest noise, vibration, or light will have me awake. Always have been. As a teen my parents gave me the basement of the house as my bedroom when I became too old to share a room with my kid sister. The boiler room was down there. Between the sound of the heater kicking on and off and the settling of the house, I slept an average of maybe 3 hours a night. I remember nights of roaming my parents house. You'd think I'd have the presence of mind back then to simply go to sleep on the couch, but for some reason I never did.
Anyway, back to the present. Kai and I have been home for a week and a half during the holidays. During a regular week we get home by 6:00, eat dinner, relax for half and hour or so, then get ready for bed, read books and I pack him off to sleep by the latest 9:00 so I can hopefully begin my own wind down by 10:00, falling to sleep if I'm lucky by 11:00 and hopefully not wake up till 6:00 when he gets in to my bed to nurse. I sleep in a pitch black room with ear plugs or white noise running in the background. Anything else and I'm doomed. Now that we're home for a while our sleep habits have gotten lax, so last night, realizing that work and school were beginning again in a few days and we needed to get back on schedule, I got him to bed by 8:00 (after wearing him out with a trip to the city and a roam around Chinatown), and got myself to sleep by 11:00. Woo Hoo! Good job!
Right.
At 12:30 am, someone from Chandler AZ (whomever it is at work who has my personal cell programmed in to your phone, I will find you! you must pay!) paged my cell phone which was plugged in and charging on my night stand. The thing was set to vibrate. This tiny vibration coming from my night stand every 5 minutes to let me know that I had a text message on my cell phone transformed itself in to the most disturbing dream I've had in years. I dreamt that there were leeches in my bed, only my blanket was the floor and the leeches were crawling all over everything. When I went to inspect where the leeches had come from, I found a huge, grotesquely mutated, silver fish with a gaping mouth in my salt water fish tank, one by one attacking and killing my fish and piling them in a small cup. My poor clown and puffer fish were lying limp over the side of the cup while the demon silver gulping fish banged it's head on the glass every 5 minutes or so. So I asked someone about it (don't remember who) and it seems that the fish had been put in an old planter pot where mosquitoes had been breeding, so in actuality the fish and the red leeches that were crawling all over everything were the mutated babies of the fish and the mosquito larvae. Makes perfect sense to me!
All of this from the teeny weeny little vibration coming from my end table because someone from Chandler AZ accidentally paged me on my cell phone somewhere in the middle of the night while probably out at a party or a bar or something horrendously fun that I don't do. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Needless to say, I was half awake, half asleep all night, semi-conscious of what was going on but desperately trying not to come in to full wakefulness knowing that if I did it would be 2 hours before I could possibly entertain sleeping again only to be woken up a half and hour later by the lactose vampire, so I slept, dreaming about crawling leeches, gulping mutated silver fish, and breeding mosquito larvae.
At 6:00 am like clockwork the vampire staggers blindly in to my room like a mole, attached himself to me, nursed for half and hour, put on the TV, then left to roam the house. I rolled over and went back to sleep having finally turned off the phone.
At 9:30 am I got out of bed. This is where it gets funny.
Kai has been making his own breakfast for a year now. It's not too hard. He opens the fridge, grabs a yo-baby drink, brings it to me to open, then pours himself some cheerios with milk, or grabs a yogurt and a roll. He's easy and I never actually taught him any of this. He's just Mr. independence and refuses to wait for me for anything which in the instance of breakfast is bliss, but not always. Anyway I digress. Lately though his palate has been broadening again. As I've said over and over again, he's a garbage disposal. You never see him unless he's got 2 hands full of something heading for his mouth. He'll try any food, and even if he doesn't like it, will try it a second time to be sure. He loves flavors and experimentation with food. It's actually pretty cool. He's a hell of a lot braver than I am when it comes to eating.
This morning I get out of bed to find an experiment in the making. Kai is sitting up on the barstool next to the counter. He's got a bowl full of breakfast rolls (about 5 or 6 of them actually all packed in to the bowl), a hard boiled egg, peeled, shells neatly piled to the side on the counter. He's holding a HUGE jar of Romano cheese, about to pour it all over the rolls and egg. I walk in just as he's about to start pouring. He stops, cheese bottle mid-air, looks at me and says, "I like stinky cheese Mama! I want to see what it tastes like!" To which I quickly grabbed 4 of the 5 rolls, popped them back in to the bag, and helped him pour without dumping the entire content of the bottle all over the counter, then went to make my tea, all the while gagging privately as I watched him out of the corner of my eye happily eat his egg, rolling it around in the Romano, and squish it inside the roll. Oh it was so disgusting but hey, nutritious right? He'd even gone so far as to pour himself a cup of milk so how was I to argue. He sat there MMMing and making all sorts of yummy noises.
Ah well. At least someone got something out of that misplaced call in the middle of the night.
Anyway, back to the present. Kai and I have been home for a week and a half during the holidays. During a regular week we get home by 6:00, eat dinner, relax for half and hour or so, then get ready for bed, read books and I pack him off to sleep by the latest 9:00 so I can hopefully begin my own wind down by 10:00, falling to sleep if I'm lucky by 11:00 and hopefully not wake up till 6:00 when he gets in to my bed to nurse. I sleep in a pitch black room with ear plugs or white noise running in the background. Anything else and I'm doomed. Now that we're home for a while our sleep habits have gotten lax, so last night, realizing that work and school were beginning again in a few days and we needed to get back on schedule, I got him to bed by 8:00 (after wearing him out with a trip to the city and a roam around Chinatown), and got myself to sleep by 11:00. Woo Hoo! Good job!
Right.
At 12:30 am, someone from Chandler AZ (whomever it is at work who has my personal cell programmed in to your phone, I will find you! you must pay!) paged my cell phone which was plugged in and charging on my night stand. The thing was set to vibrate. This tiny vibration coming from my night stand every 5 minutes to let me know that I had a text message on my cell phone transformed itself in to the most disturbing dream I've had in years. I dreamt that there were leeches in my bed, only my blanket was the floor and the leeches were crawling all over everything. When I went to inspect where the leeches had come from, I found a huge, grotesquely mutated, silver fish with a gaping mouth in my salt water fish tank, one by one attacking and killing my fish and piling them in a small cup. My poor clown and puffer fish were lying limp over the side of the cup while the demon silver gulping fish banged it's head on the glass every 5 minutes or so. So I asked someone about it (don't remember who) and it seems that the fish had been put in an old planter pot where mosquitoes had been breeding, so in actuality the fish and the red leeches that were crawling all over everything were the mutated babies of the fish and the mosquito larvae. Makes perfect sense to me!
All of this from the teeny weeny little vibration coming from my end table because someone from Chandler AZ accidentally paged me on my cell phone somewhere in the middle of the night while probably out at a party or a bar or something horrendously fun that I don't do. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Needless to say, I was half awake, half asleep all night, semi-conscious of what was going on but desperately trying not to come in to full wakefulness knowing that if I did it would be 2 hours before I could possibly entertain sleeping again only to be woken up a half and hour later by the lactose vampire, so I slept, dreaming about crawling leeches, gulping mutated silver fish, and breeding mosquito larvae.
At 6:00 am like clockwork the vampire staggers blindly in to my room like a mole, attached himself to me, nursed for half and hour, put on the TV, then left to roam the house. I rolled over and went back to sleep having finally turned off the phone.
At 9:30 am I got out of bed. This is where it gets funny.
Kai has been making his own breakfast for a year now. It's not too hard. He opens the fridge, grabs a yo-baby drink, brings it to me to open, then pours himself some cheerios with milk, or grabs a yogurt and a roll. He's easy and I never actually taught him any of this. He's just Mr. independence and refuses to wait for me for anything which in the instance of breakfast is bliss, but not always. Anyway I digress. Lately though his palate has been broadening again. As I've said over and over again, he's a garbage disposal. You never see him unless he's got 2 hands full of something heading for his mouth. He'll try any food, and even if he doesn't like it, will try it a second time to be sure. He loves flavors and experimentation with food. It's actually pretty cool. He's a hell of a lot braver than I am when it comes to eating.
This morning I get out of bed to find an experiment in the making. Kai is sitting up on the barstool next to the counter. He's got a bowl full of breakfast rolls (about 5 or 6 of them actually all packed in to the bowl), a hard boiled egg, peeled, shells neatly piled to the side on the counter. He's holding a HUGE jar of Romano cheese, about to pour it all over the rolls and egg. I walk in just as he's about to start pouring. He stops, cheese bottle mid-air, looks at me and says, "I like stinky cheese Mama! I want to see what it tastes like!" To which I quickly grabbed 4 of the 5 rolls, popped them back in to the bag, and helped him pour without dumping the entire content of the bottle all over the counter, then went to make my tea, all the while gagging privately as I watched him out of the corner of my eye happily eat his egg, rolling it around in the Romano, and squish it inside the roll. Oh it was so disgusting but hey, nutritious right? He'd even gone so far as to pour himself a cup of milk so how was I to argue. He sat there MMMing and making all sorts of yummy noises.
Ah well. At least someone got something out of that misplaced call in the middle of the night.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Sudden Passion for Tighty Whiteys
OK. Through out my dating life I've always had that initial, "Ewwww" if ever I saw a guy in tighty whiteys. I mean come on! What are they about? I could not for the life of me comprehend why a man would wear such horrendously unsexy repellant underpants, and shiver when the bleating response came back at me, "but they're comfortable!"
I have now fallen in love with the image of a scampering little tushy in tighty whiteys. Kai has been running around the house all day in just his underpants. No Sponge Bob today. No Spider Man or Shrek. Just plain old tighty whiteys and oh my! He's just so cute! His tushy looks so teeny and bright with his skinny little legs and belly popping out over the waist band, underpants drooping in the back. Sigh. It's sort of like having the old 1960's Pillsbury Dough Boy in my house, only cuter. Oh my!
I have now fallen in love with the image of a scampering little tushy in tighty whiteys. Kai has been running around the house all day in just his underpants. No Sponge Bob today. No Spider Man or Shrek. Just plain old tighty whiteys and oh my! He's just so cute! His tushy looks so teeny and bright with his skinny little legs and belly popping out over the waist band, underpants drooping in the back. Sigh. It's sort of like having the old 1960's Pillsbury Dough Boy in my house, only cuter. Oh my!
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Twisted Little Control Issue
I just got Kai in to bed, his own bed, at a reasonable hour, for the first time in over a week. Probably closer to 3 weeks to be honest. While we've been sick he's found his way back to my bed. I even reinstalled the bed rail on "his" side of the bed after he almost threw himself off the bed in a fevered delusion the other night.
I'm getting off track.
Now that he's sick and I'm not, he's focused on a particular little control issue to flex his 3 year old muscles over Mama. He won't wipe his own nose. I'm not saying that he's refusing to have his nose wiped. NOOOO!!!! His nose is running like a faucet. Long yellow, gooey masses of disgusting mucous every 2 minutes or so pouring out of his face for 3 days. His issue isn't that he doesn't want his nose wiped. On the contrary. He's following me around with a box of tissues wailing, "Mama! Boogies!" I can have my hands full, and he's refusing to wipe his own nose. I could be on the toilet and he won't wipe his own nose. He'll hand me to box of tissues and go, "Nooooo Mama! I want you to do it!" 3 days, every 2 minutes or so, and we haven't seen the outside of this apartment in 3 weeks. Does anyone want a little boy? At one point I couldn't drop what I was doing to wipe it for him and he had to wait a minute or two for me while I sat there trying to reason with him from the other room asking him why he couldn't just wipe his own nose just this once. By the time I got to him his face was covered. It was just beyond disgusting. It's not that he can't wipe his own nose. He's been doing that for a year and a half now. He can even blow his own darn nose. Somewhere in the past 2 days he decided that, as he puts it, it's my "job". "Mama. You doooo it. It's Yooooure joooobbb!"
I think I'm going to be thankful when I get to go back to work at this point. I'm going to get to my office, cling to my desk, and kiss my keyboard next week.
I'm getting off track.
Now that he's sick and I'm not, he's focused on a particular little control issue to flex his 3 year old muscles over Mama. He won't wipe his own nose. I'm not saying that he's refusing to have his nose wiped. NOOOO!!!! His nose is running like a faucet. Long yellow, gooey masses of disgusting mucous every 2 minutes or so pouring out of his face for 3 days. His issue isn't that he doesn't want his nose wiped. On the contrary. He's following me around with a box of tissues wailing, "Mama! Boogies!" I can have my hands full, and he's refusing to wipe his own nose. I could be on the toilet and he won't wipe his own nose. He'll hand me to box of tissues and go, "Nooooo Mama! I want you to do it!" 3 days, every 2 minutes or so, and we haven't seen the outside of this apartment in 3 weeks. Does anyone want a little boy? At one point I couldn't drop what I was doing to wipe it for him and he had to wait a minute or two for me while I sat there trying to reason with him from the other room asking him why he couldn't just wipe his own nose just this once. By the time I got to him his face was covered. It was just beyond disgusting. It's not that he can't wipe his own nose. He's been doing that for a year and a half now. He can even blow his own darn nose. Somewhere in the past 2 days he decided that, as he puts it, it's my "job". "Mama. You doooo it. It's Yooooure joooobbb!"
I think I'm going to be thankful when I get to go back to work at this point. I'm going to get to my office, cling to my desk, and kiss my keyboard next week.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
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