I'm Just Sayin'

Samuel, Vol. 1

Samuel was evaluated a year ago for speech and other developmental delays. He definitely needed speech therapy, specifically articulation. The therapist made a few other observations: he hadn't decided on being left- or right-handed yet, was easily distracted and unusually fidgety. Since he was only 4 years old, we decided to focus on speech and let the other things work themselves out. He made huge progress in articulation and I was immensely relieved. You know it's bad when a child's mother cannot understand 75% of what he says.

Here we are a year later and it appears that Samuel still hasn't determined his handedness and is still very easily distracted. (The fidgeting has improved some, probably because he's matured a bit.) His teacher and I have talked about this to some degree on several occasions. I agreed to have an occupational therapy evaluation done. He can't hold a pencil firmly enough to write letters on a page. The teacher has also mentioned that he cannot stay focused on one task to finish it.

I'm fully on board with the OT evaluation; I really think Samuel could benefit from some exercises in that area. What rubs me the wrong way is the push to get 5-year-olds to Focus. I think school has become so competitive that kids aren't getting to be kids any more. (For example, I referenced parts of speech in Samuel's homework in a recent post here and I wasn't kidding. More about that in a minute.)

I was scheduled to have a conference with Samuel's teacher this morning but we had to postpone it because her child is sick today. I hope I'm wrong about how the classroom is set up and how much work the students are expected to complete independently. I guess I will find out when we do get to meet.

Now, about the parts of speech. Samuel brought home a sentence diagram a few weeks ago. It consisted of a piece of paper with words glued onto it. The sentence read "The baby eats yogurt." Each word was cut in a different shape: circle, square, moon and triangle. The instructions were to review article, subject, verb and object. I asked Samuel about it and he correctly explained it all to me. I was very impressed and so proud but thought to myself that he wouldn't retain the information.

Two weeks later, Miriam's homework assignment was to change verbs from present tense to past tense. I was working on it with her and asked her what a verb was. She stared blankly at me for a few seconds and then Samuel piped up, "A verb is what the subject does!" I almost fell on the floor. (For the record, Miriam caught on very quickly once she remembered what a verb is.)

Since then, Samuel has demonstrated that he really does know his grammar. Obviously, he can retain information that he hears at school. I'm not concerned about that. What concerns me is that if this kind of thing is being taught in kindergarten, what will next year be? Will he be able to keep up then? What other subjects are advanced past a kindergarten level? I know I'm probably borrowing trouble from the future and I know I have to chill out on that. But he's already showing problems in the aforementioned areas so I can't help but be a bit worried.

Bleh. If you made it through that, bless you. I know I'm a tad paranoid. I'm also making what may be unfair assumptions about what is expected of my kindergartner. If I'm wrong -- and I so hope I am! -- I'll be happy to admit it.

Mocklate vs. Choxie

I like chocolate. I enjoy chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I do love fudge and hot fudge sundaes. But just a chocolate bar? Not so much. However, for a couple of years I've seen this stuff at Target called Choxie. The pictures on the box look really good and I've wanted to buy a box to try it. You want to know why I haven't? Well, I'll tell you.

Big dorks like myself, that know practically every Friends episode by heart, will remember an episode when Monica attempted to cook with some stuff called Mocklate. It was an artificial version of chocolate that was supposed to be healthier or something. All of Monica's Mocklate recipes were miserable failures. It was utter garbage. That's why I haven't tried Choxie -- I imagine it to be akin to Mocklate.

At least, I did. I finally broke down and bought a box of Choxie Truffles last week. Sweet mother of Buddha, they are awesome. They consist of a heavenly, light chocolate-ey, mousse-type filling surrounded by a layer of dark chocolate and sprinkled with shaved bits of white chocolate. The entire box is gone now and my mouth is still watering.

Moral of this story: don't let your favorite television shows -- entertaining as they may be -- color your perception of yummy confections. Or something like that. I don't really care, as I'm off to Target for more Choxie Truffles.

Thursday Thirteen: Memories from Early Childhood

1. Mom making my Cinderella birthday cake. age 2

2. Someone scrubbing my hands with stinky soap and putting a gown on me so I could see newborn Jennifer in the hospital. age 2

3. Dad singing me to sleep in the rocking chair. age 2

4. Tossing a balloon to my aunt over the shower curtain while I took a bath and she was babysitting. age 3

5. Making mud pies in the back yard with the kid that Mom babysat. He was so old, at least 5. age 3

6. Going on vacation with Grandma and Grandpa and being eaten up by mosquitoes. age 4

7. Wearing my favorite dress at least part of every day at Dover. It was red and covered with flowers. age 4

8. Watching Dad milk cows on the dairy and getting to feed bottles to the calves . age 5

9. Waiting for the kindergarten school bus by Granny and Paw Paw's honey suckle bush. age 5

10. Thinking that an 'E' should look like this: age 5

11. Lance being born and Dad telling Jennifer and me that he was a big baby; me thinking that meant he was already bigger than me. age 5

12. Playing dentist and pretending I had a loose tooth, only to realize I really did have my very first loose tooth. age 6

13. Trying to take my cat into the wading pool and getting the full benefit of his claws on my back as he scrambled away. age 6

And a bonus story because I can't leave it out --

A skunk spraying our front porch. While we were outside. With all the windows open. And box fans sitting on the window sills blowing into the house. age 6

Why I Cannot Wait for Thursday

And, the icing on the cake:

Selfishness

I feel bad for my boss. She fell while hiking last week and cracked her patella. Her left leg is in a brace and she can't flex her knee joint for the next 3 to 6 weeks. After that she will need several weeks of physical therapy. This is a very bad situation for anyone, but especially so for a nurse. One cannot effectively care for patients with in immobilized knee.

As bad as her injury is, I can't help feeling sorry for myself, too. I'm the only other full-time nurse in the office so I am picking up the slack. The old timer is lazy. Another sort-of old timer is slow. The fill-in nurses are good but they're fill-ins and they don't do the extra stuff like track down lab results and x-rays. They don't remember which nebulizers are accepted by which insurance companies or where the face masks are. They don't enter vaccine lot numbers or even know which vendor delivers insurance doses and which delivers VFC doses.

So, I'll be happy for my boss when her leg heals. I'll be really happy because she can go back to doing her job and I can pitch in when I have a chance. That might make me sound selfish but I can't help that.

Thursday Thirteen: To Do List

1. Cut the kids' hair. Both the boys need to be buzzed and Miriam's hair desperately needs a trim.

2. Take Solomon to the doctor. He swears that there is something "stuck to the thing that makes me be able to hear."

3. Wash the car. And vacuum it. And throw out the accumulated junk in it. And clean the fingerprints off the inside of the windows.

4. Stay on top of the laundry. I'm caught up and I want it to last as long as possible.

5. Call the apartment manager about the lights being out in the breezeway. Remember to tell them the kids' bathroom doorknob is jamming up.

6. Take the kids out for ice cream. They've worked hard this week and they deserve it.

7. Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

8. Make lasagna to use up all the extra marinara I made this week.

9. Watch the season finale of 'Swingtown.' And hope that it comes back to CBS instead of going to HBO.

10. Plan an outdoor activity for this weekend. Biking? Kites? Hiking?

11. Play trains with Samuel. He asked me tonight while I was busy with something and then we both forgot about it later.

12. Catch up on my Sim families. I haven't played in almost 3 weeks. I'm a little ashamed to say this, but I miss playing dolls.

13. Unwind. The last two work weeks have knocked the wind out of me.

Someone Should Call CPS

I am starving my child. He won't have energy to eat the food on his plate at dinner if I don't give him a snack at 6:15. He's going to keel over and die rightthisminute. He needs food, and he needs it now, darn it! The two peanut butter and cracker sandwiches weren't enough and he needs cheese -- lots of cheese. I don't care about him at all.

/facetious

What I Did Last Night

I work with someone who always asks me what I did 'last night.' She asks this in the same leisurely, half-interested way that people with no responsibilities ask each other what they Did Over the Weekend. If it were anyone else, it probably wouldn't bother me but she annoys me in lots of other ways so this is just one more straw.

(This same woman commented on my children being with their father for a month this summer and said, "Man, I wish I had had a set up like that when my kids were little." Really? You wish you didn't see your kids for a month and that during the school year, they missed their dad constantly? Really? You wish you had had that? She's also the same one that thinks everyone with state-funded insurance is lazy. She's a real gem.)

Plus, she's really out of touch with what it's actually like to have young children. She has 2 grown children and she seems to have forgotten what it's like to have them constantly needing something. For example, last week I walked into the office at 8:28, gulping down the rest of my lukewarm coffee from a travel mug with my first patient already in the waiting room. She breezed past me and said, "You have more time than I do in the mornings if you've already had your coffee." My jaw dropped. She had no clue that my morning started at 5:30 with a child's wet bed, a 5-minute shower and make up put on at red lights. I kind of wanted to kick her in the shin, just a little bit.

Later that day she stretched lazily and asked me, "So what did you do last night, besides go home and crash?" I was already ticked at her for the earlier comment about my morning and I didn't trust myself to answer nicely. So I didn't answer her. But if I had, I might have said something like this:

Well, I left here at 5:25 at a dead run to avoid paying $5 per minute per child for missing the 6:00 pm pick up deadline for the after care program. I barely made it there in time due to the horrendous traffic.

By the time we got home it was after 6 and all the kids had homework so I simultaneously signed homework folders, read homework instructions, cooked dinner, unloaded the dishwasher and moved more clean laundry to the ever-growing pile of clean laundry. We had dinner and finished most of the kids' homework.

Then I sent the eldest to the shower, bathed the middle child and put off the youngest's bath until this morning. I supervised the kids' teeth brushing, called their father so they could tell him about their day, picked up some toys, straightened beds, turned on night lights and music and finally turned out the light. I tucked in all 3 children and barely resisted the urge to pass out in their beds with them.

After that I cleaned up the dinner dishes, put away leftovers, swept the floor, reminded myself to take out the trash this morning, started another load of laundry and wiped up pee splatters around the toilets. I debated whether or not to watch television and decided to go to bed instead. And I forgot to brush my teeth.

Thursday Thirteen: Pet Peeves

I've been testy lately. I attribute that to a hormone surge and the fact that we aren't adjusted to the routine of the school year yet. In an effort to get it all out of my system, I'm posting a list of thirteen pet peeves.

1. Mouth noises: breathing, chewing, smacking, even certain sneezes.

2. Talking with one's mouth full: this is technically a mouth noise but it's so entirely gross that I have to list it separately (plus, I work with a bunch of people who do this all. the. time.).

3. Parents that smile dumbly at me instead of helping me wrangle their child onto the exam table.

4. People that invade my personal space; seriously, the 18 inches surrounding me in all directions should not be entered unless we share DNA or you have been expressly invited.

5. DJs talking over each other or music. Yes, I know you get paid to talk, but you don't get paid by the word, so chill.

6. Laziness. Pure and simple. I hate it.

7. Waste. Another simple one.

8. Parents who get more worked up about their kid's shots than the kid does.

9. After care program workers who can't explain to me the payment rate for my children and why my statement reads that I have a $60 credit but insist that I have to fork over another check for $112 for next week.

10. Kindergarten homework instructions that take too long to decipher so I end up doing whatever I think the kindergartner needs to do for homework. Come on, it's kindergarten. Does he really need to know the subject, verb and object parts of a sentence yet?

11. Cashiers who act like it's a huge chore to load up my reusable shopping bags as opposed to their cheap, wasteful plastic bags.

12. Parents who think that everything their kid does is cute, including grabbing at expensive medical equipment, slamming drawers and ripping table paper to shreds.

13. Whining. Oh, how I hate whining.

Well now, that's that. I'll take a deep breath and sleep better now. I hope.

Well Now She's Just Bragging

My daughter is a wonderful student. She works hard, listens well and is eager to please her teachers. She's too afraid to call attention to herself so she doesn't speak out of turn in class. She's usually at the top of the behavior mountain peak.

I suspected this would be the case before she even started school and the last 3 years have confirmed those suspicions. But tonight took the cake. We were talking about our favorite and least favorite parts of the day. Her least favorite part of today -- I only got one Scholar Dollar today.

As it turns out, Scholar Dollars are play money that the teacher hands out to students who make good choices. When a student accumulates a certain number of Scholar Dollars they can choose a prize from the treasure box and buy it with their well-earned monies.

So Miriam's bummer is when she fails to garner multiple Scholar Dollars in a single school day. I asked her how many she got yesterday and she wasn't sure. I asked how many she has total and she shrugged and said, "I don't know. A lot."

Now, my sons are very different stories. More about them in future posts. And, lest you think I play favorites, it's not bad stuff. They are all different kids, therefore they present me with different challenges.

A New Favorite Book

Girl With A Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier, is the story of young Griet who is hired as a maid in the home of Johannes Vermeer. Forced away from her loving family after tragedy has struck, Griet attempts to adjust to a new lifestyle of unending labor and servitude. She is overwhelmed by the changes but manages to work diligently for her employer. The one benefit to her position is the opportunity to work with Vermeer and, in her own way, influence his works. Faced with an impossible choice, Griet sacrifices her own pride and a work of art is born.

The inner turmoil Griet experiences is palpable. She comes from a society in which class lines are distinct and never crossed. Yet when the time comes for her to cross a line, she feels as if she has no choice. Ironically, her choice is forced by the fact that she is from the lower class. This choice ultimately leads her into a better life, but at what cost?

This was an enjoyable, quick read; almost too quick, as I'm still digesting the story and the slighter nuances involved. The writer's descriptions of every day life, scenes to be painted, paint colors and light are breath-taking. Often during my reading, I felt like I hadn't done the words justice and I went back to read passages again and absorb them. Chevalier is a gifted writer.

I enjoy historical fiction immensely and I especially enjoy stories that are actually plausible. This is one of those stories. It may sound strange, but I feel as if I know the girl in the painting now.

On My Window

This morning I was getting ready for church and saw the unmistakable silhouette of a praying mantis through the curtain on my bedroom window. The insect was on the outside of the screen and the kids and I watched it for several minutes. We were actually late for church because of it.



Funny story, I actually looked up 'praying mantis' at Merriam-Webster.com because I couldn't decide if I should spell it 'preying' or 'praying'. The former makes more sense to me because it's a carnivorous insect and preys on other insects. But I could see it being the latter also since it sits in the traditional position for prayer. Anyway, it's definitely 'praying mantis.'

I find it a tad ironic that I saw a praying mantis on Sunday morning while getting ready for church. It's even more so, since my church is not known for prayer in the traditional sense. Ha!

The Past Three Days

Friday afternoon, the kids and I witnessed a car accident. A head-on collision right in front of us. Both drivers were alone and were up and walking around afterward but they went to the hospital as a precaution. It was pretty scary.

I babysat Noah and Adam last night while Jennifer and Caleb went out. The kids and I had a lot of fun. I will never understand how kids can play so hard and stay up so late but still get up so early, though.

We went swimming this afternoon for what is probably the last time until next summer. The weather is consistently cooling off and we are so busy with school and work that I doubt we'll fit it in again.

Samuel stepped on a bee at the pool. He is such a tough kid and there is not much that phases him, but he cried solidly for 20 minutes. Hard. My poor baby. We came home immediately and put baking soda on it. He's had two doses of Benadryl and he let me put an ice pack on it. He is sleeping now. I hope it doesn't wake him up tonight and that he feels alright tomorrow.

Two tornadoes touched down 10 minutes south of here this evening. It doesn't seem like there was much damage so far. Several co-workers live in that area and I'm hoping everyone is okay. The storm blew past us pretty quickly. We had a bit of thunder and a lot of wind but no rain or hail. Now we are covered by some pretty awesome looking clouds.

I am tired.

Thursday Thirteen: Stuff in My Shower

I was going to post this last night, but my internet connection was down. Poo. It's not much but here it is anyway.

1. Burt's Bees Rosemary shampoo

2. Burt's Bees Rosemary conditioner

3. Tub of baking soda for exfoliating and occasional hair washes

4. Pumice stone for serious exfoliating

5. Bottle of apple cider vinegar, water and lavender oil for occasional hair rinses

6. Razor

7. Bar of Ivory soap

8. Tube of oatmeal and avocado mask, rarely used

9. Kids' strawberry shampoo -- for when they bathe there and don't like the other options

10. Bottle of baby shampoo for face washing

11. Washcloth drying from last night's shower

12. Wall hanging rack to hold it all -- only it holds about half of everything

13. 32-ounce cup for rinsing children's heads

I Was on the Radio Today

I don't know what got into me; I never do stuff like this. I called a morning talk show during my commute to work and they actually put me on the air. It was cool.

The discussion was about high school students using the internet for research papers. One of the hosts heard about a teacher who has banned the internet as a source for all papers in a class for a semester. She thought it was absurd and unreasonable that a teacher would do this "in this day and age." Her co-host thought it was perfectly acceptable because students should know how to use other research methods, too.

Anyone who knows me can probably guess which stance I took. I am firmly in the 'perfectly acceptable to ban internet use for a time' camp. I am of the opinion that knowing how to get around a library and use the card catalog (which is online itself) are valuable skills that everyone should have. The internet is a wonderful tool but it's not the only one available, therefore shouldn't be the only one relied upon.

There were a lot of reasons tossed around in support of both points of view. Someone mentioned the widespread plagiarism since the advent of the internet. Someone else brought up software that searches out pieces of papers and alerts teachers to possible plagiarism. Someone said that not everyone has a computer and someone else said that there are computers in libraries which brought the library back into the discussion. I brought up the fact that there are an ever increasing number of functional illiterates in our society and I think our lack of actual reading and writing has something to do with that. The woman host said flat-out, "I don't believe that." I laughed at her.

Like any discussion with no definite answer, this one traced itself in many circles. But it was fun to listen and discuss. And I was on the freakin' radio. :grin:

Religion and My Kids

A few choice quotes from my children in the last week, mostly unrelated and from vastly different conversations, either with me or with each other. The first two need no explanation. The last two were overheard during their live action game of Age of Mythology on Saturday.

The Bible says we shouldn't eat pepperoni or bacon so I'm not going to. Daddy doesn't eat pepperoni or bacon.

We have that movie at Daddy's house. We rented it and Daddy made a copy and took the other one back to the store.

All hail, Gaia!!

You didn't give enough favor to Kronos. You should do it again.

Too Creative for His Own Good

Solomon and I had a difficult bedtime last night. He pushed all the wrong buttons and by the time I turned out the light, I was too tense to tuck him in nicely. So I did what I do in that situation and told him that I'd be back in a few minutes to tuck him in.

I left the room to straighten up a few things and cool myself off. As I was organizing my desk, Solomon came out of the room and stood by my elbow. I ignored him for a few seconds, thinking that he might think better of it and go back to bed. He didn't so I turned to look at him.

I heard a sound.

A deep sigh. Go. Back. To. Bed.

He turned, stomped into the bedroom and threw himself on to the bed. It was a very hard landing and I heard creaking from the bunk bed. The kids have had drilled into their heads "Do Not Jump On The Beds" since I made that purchase more than two years ago. It's an automatic time out. I can't believe I am putting a child into time out after bed time, but so be it.

He goes to the spot in the hallway and I start his timer. He was appropriately meek and served his time well.

When the timer beeped, we had the very brief discussion about why he had a time out and why it's not okay to jump on the bed or throw oneself on to the bed. I don't feel the need to belabor this point because it's not a matter of him not understanding by now. But whatever.

I should know better than to ask, but I asked him why he had done it. He thought carefully before responding, "It's because I want to be in the Olympics and I need to practice so I can jump over those hurdles."

Yeah, I laughed, too.

Random Stuff

My post yesterday was the 100th post to be published on my blog. I have a total of 105 posts but 4 of those are in the editing process. Some of them might never be posted if I can't get them right.

It has rained almost non-stop since 7:00 pm on Thursday night. I've loved every minute. Most of it has been a very light rain but some was heavier. This is one of the only times I wish I was on the third floor of this building; then I could hear rain instead of Bigfoot. We had an amazing round of thunder and lightning this afternoon. One thunder roll lasted a full minute. It went on so long I actually became concerned that it wasn't thunder. Here is what the kids splashed in once the rain let up. Sorry for the bad quality -- it's a cell phone picture.



I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had seen 4 rainbows in one week. We've seen 3 or 4 more since then. The summer weather in Denver is perfect for rainbows. There is a brief, light rain shower almost every afternoon about 2 hours before sunset. This makes for the perfect angle of sunlight against clouds and dissipating rain. I captured one on my phone.



I think I might be developing a latex allergy. I've been at this job for over 4 months and I use latex gloves at least half a dozen times per day. Latex allergies can show up after repeated exposure and I think it's happening to me. My hands itch a lot at work. I put two and two together on Wednesday last week and started carrying nitrile gloves in my pocket. I noticed a little difference so I'll keep it up and see what happens.

We see quite a bit of wildlife around here. Rabbits are every where. Prairie dogs are every where and then some. There is a stretch of empty road near here with barren fields on both sides. Cresting the hill there can be a bit surreal because occasionally the prairie dogs seem as if they have taken over the road as well as the fields. I haven't hit one yet but I have a bad feeling that it's only a matter of time. Speaking of wildlife, here's a snake we saw one afternoon at Jennifer and Caleb's apartment. Can you see it?



Dinner is an interesting affair here some nights. We discuss our favorite and least favorite parts of the day. Sometimes we talk about the funniest parts of our day, which inevitably includes someone's experience with a fart. Kids. Sometimes we find funny things in our food. These conjoined carrots, for example.



We've been enjoying the Olympics as a family almost every night since the opening ceremonies. I get such a kick out of watching the kids cheer for the athletes. This is the first time they are really big enough to get anything out of the Games. And still, they don't grasp the enormity of it. Solomon asked me tonight if Uncle Jonathan has been in the Olympics. (According to Solomon, Uncle Jonathan hung the moon.)

Their favorite event is 'gernastics' and they keep asking me where the next 'Ulumpics' will be. I've tried correcting the pronunciation but it's not sticking. It's okay, though; by the time the next Olympics rolls around they'll be saying it correctly and I'll miss these mispronunciations. I tried to explain to the kids that the Summer Olympics are every 4 years and the Winter Olympics are every 4 years and that they are evenly spaced. That was a little too much to comprehend, though.

I feel as if there was something else I wanted to say here but I'm drawing a blank now. I guess that means I should wrap this up and go scrub a toilet. Don't you wish you were here?

Conflict

I've spent today being annoyed and happy, by turns.

Annoyed that I couldn't sleep in longer after staying up too late. Happy that at least I didn't have to get up for work.

Annoyed that the kids are bickering with each other. Happy that they are here and not in Albuquerque.

Annoyed that the Olympics are on so late at night. Happy that the Olympics are on.

Annoyed that there is so much school shopping still to do. Happy that I did find everything we need. (And grateful that a lot was provided.)

Annoyed that the boys insist on playing loud 'battle' games. Happy that they are playing together.

Annoyed that my eldest finds it perfectly acceptable to burst out in ear-splitting shouts of joy at the drop of a hat. Happy that he is so happy.

Annoyed that the summer break isn't longer. Happy that the school is such a good one.

All this conflict has given me a headache. I'm annoyed by that. I'm happy that it's bed time.