November Came and Went

November is nearly gone and I haven't posted since Halloween... how did that happen? Well, actually I know exactly how that happened... one word - Nutcracker. I jokingly told a friend the other day that it felt like I woke up from a Nutcracker-induced coma to realize that Thanksgiving was only four days away. November has just been a series of running and going. Nutcracker rehearsals ramped up both frequency and duration that culminated in four performances last weekend, my dad came for a visit, and Clara's soccer season came to a welcomed end.

My dad visiting was a surprise. He usually only visits in the summer, so this was really nice. He was able to see a little bit of our real daily lives. He was able to see one of Clara's soccer games. He was able to watch Clara's Nutcracker rehearsal and see her in her costume. He was able to walk Clara to school in the morning and be there to pick her up in the afternoon. He got some good bonding time in with the boys, too. Eli started expecting a share everytime "g-pa" grabbed an apple. The only thing that "rained" on his visit was the rain... and the cold.

I attended Lucas' parent-teacher conference. I liked the way that Lucas teacher approached the meeting. It was a bit different than any other PT conference I've attended. Mrs. Winston, Lucas' teacher, made a list of all the great points of each kid in her class. I wish she had made a copy so that I would remember all the great points that she listed for Lucas. She mentioned that he's a very smart boy, he has a good (yet dry) sense of humor, listens well, follows directions, and plays well with his peers. She only listed one point where she would like to see a little improvement: his communication with her and his classmates. He is such a quiet little boy, she wants him to speak up more and let everybody in on more of what he's thinking. I would love to see that happen at home, too!

Before I get too involved in talking about the next big events: Nutcracker, Thanksgiving, and Jason's birthday, I wanted to devote a bit of space to Eli's developing vocabulary. Not only has his word count increased (ceiling, street, motorcycle, helicopter, remote, etc.) and he creates his own words (e.g. "boing" to mean bouncing), but he has started talking in sentences (e.g. "Mommy sit down", "love you too", "read books please"). Although there are times that communication is still a bit of a struggle ("uck" could mean "stuck", "duck", "truck", "fork", "clock", etc.), I love that there is much more of a give and take to our conversations.

Ok... the Nutcracker. The Nutcracker encompassed 2 1/2 months of our lives with rehearsals and fundraisers and volunteer activities, conflicted with soccer practices and games, and required Clara to leave school an hour early each day that last week of dress rehearsals with a series of late nights. However, now that I've said all that, I think I'm just going to focus on the performance weekend for this post. She had four performances (two on Saturday and two on Sunday). Jason and I went to see the very first one on Saturday afternoon and everything that I predicted happened. She was absolutely beautiful and I was so full of pride at seeing her up there that my eyes overflowed. I came prepared to photograph and videotape her, then right before the curtain went up, it was announced that all photography/video was prohibited. It was incredibly disappointing, especially when you consider that she was only on stage for about a minute. I'm still not sure what harm it would have done, but I'm a rule follower, so instead we paid way too much for the DVD. I took Lucas to see her on Saturday evening. That was a mistake. He was miserable... too tired. My hope is that he took away something positive from the experience and won't remember how he whined, tried to lay down on the floor and then buried his head in his seat. Sunday, I volunteered to help backstage for the last performance. What chaos!! It's amazing how polished and organized the stage production is compared to what happens backstage. There were too many over-hyped, highly emotional girls in a relatively small space, which led to a few meltdowns, some makeup crises, at least one costume crisis and adults who couldn't hear each other over the din. And after it was all over, Clara announced that she is going to do it again next year.

This Thanksgiving was our first Thanksgiving not traveling to Florida or Missouri. It was nice not having to worry about the whole travel aspect, especially the packing part. And I was actually excited about the idea of cooking my very first Thanksgiving dinner, so excited that I may have gone a bit overboard. I cooked our Halloween pumpkin and used it to make the pumpkin pie (also non-Thanksgiving related, pumpkin soup and pumpkin cookies so far). I also did the stuffing from french bread that I cubed. I had to put Jason in charge of the turkey as I am just too squeamish dealing with raw meat of any kind. It would have been nice having more family around the table, but it was a very successful first Thanksgiving.

Jason's Birthday was today. I made him a chocolate-pumpkin cake with orange cream cheese frosting. It was delicious! After an exhausting morning of getting our holiday pictures taken, he spent the afternoon up on the roof, cleaning the gutters and putting up the christmas lights. It turns out that birthdays as we get older are just days with cake. It makes me wonder though... at what age or what point does the special fade from our special day.And now... on to December!

On and Around Halloween

It used to be that my posts were easily accomplished once each week, as a recap of the highlights of the previous week. Somehow, it's become more and more of a struggle to sit down and compose a post each week, to the point where it's more of a hurry and post before the next big thing happens... creating longer and less comprehensive posts. (sigh) So... here I am, once again, hurrying to post before my "next big thing", which in this case is my dad coming for a visit.

The Saturday before Halloween, we decided to head out to The Plains for their annual corn maze, which is always fun. We knew that it was going to rain that day, but hoped that we could maybe beat the rain. We thought about going on Sunday, which was predicted to be a much nicer day, but then we would have missed out on the Model Rocket launch. Jason read about it in the newspaper and thought it would be interesting to see and after mentioning it to us during dinner, Lucas just couldn't wait to see the "motor" rockets. We got there anticipating to just stay a short time and ended up staying close to an hour. Clara and Lucas were completely engrossed with watching them take off, pop their parachute, and float back down. I'm sure they would have been completely happy staying there the whole time, but I wanted to have time to get through the corn maze before we had to rush back home for Clara's Nutcracker rehearsal. We did the corn maze... in nearly half the time it took us last year, and even made it out of the maze with our mud-caked shoes before the downpour.
Then there was Halloween and all the wonderful festivities associated with it. Clara and Lucas participated in the annual Spookfest at the dance studio. It was a night of costumes, games, snacks, crafts, and a haunted house. Clara, her friend Isabel, and Lucas all wanted to try the haunted house. I was the one in line apprehensive about it (I have never liked haunted houses... EVER). However, being the adult, the parent, I was going to brave it to allow my kids to have an experience that thrills most kids. When it was finally our turn to go in, I took a deep breath and... it was Lucas who decided it was too scary to proceed. Whew!! I was saved from having to go in by my 4-year old! Clara and Isabel went through by themselves and came out smiling! Isabel claimed that it WAS scary (maybe too scary), but Clara didn't seem to think it was scary at all. On the drive home, Isabel kept asking me questions about the haunted house (I really think it disturbed her more than she let on) and it was always Clara answering with "it was all just pretend, none of it was real!"

Clara and Lucas both had Halloween parades at their schools (although the parade at Clara's school is technically called a Book Character Parade... so it can't just be any random costume, it has to be a character from a book and they have to carry the book with them while they parade). Both Clara and Lucas were robots. Lucas was a Lucasbot and Clara was T.H.U.D.D. (The Handy Ultra-Digital Detective), a character from the Andrew Lost series of books. I made both costumes out of cardboard boxes with spray paint and glue. Jason added a nice touch with some battery powered Christmas lights. The kids were so cute and got many compliments on their costumes. Unfortunately, we kept having issues with parts of the costume falling off, but thankfully the pieces could always get glued or taped back on when we got home. Lucas ended up parading with one of his robot arms completely detached from the body of the costume and Clara had to parade with a missing dial on the back of the costume. But did I mention how cute they were?? Halloween night was a huge success! Our neighbor told us that they had the best costumes hands-down! Of course, I won't forget to mention little Eli!! He was a bumblebee and wore the same costume that both Clara and Lucas wore when they were two years old. I'm not sure I will be able to part with that little costume that saw all three of my kids at different Halloweens. Also noteworthy... Eli walked the entire time that they were out trick-or-treating and would actually say "trick-or-treat" when people opened their doors.
Eli has had a bit of a transformation in the past couple of weeks. He used to only tolerate his baths. He would scream and cry at the beginning and then when it was time to get out, he would move so fast that I would be afraid that he would slip and fall. Now, and it was literally an overnight change, he loves playing in the bath. He splashes and lays down in the water and kicks and laughs and only screams when cleaning gets in the way of playing. In fact, the bathtub is one of the few places that he and Lucas can play together without fighting.

We met with Clara's 2nd grade teacher for Parent-Teacher conferences this past Monday. It seems like Clara is doing very well. Academically, we are not worried. In fact, she has been pulled out with a small group of peers to work on math with the Advanced Academics Programs teacher once a week. The teacher said that her reading level is currently at 24 (and most kids are at a 16 and should be at 28 by the end of 2nd grade). The teacher did give us a few things that she would like to see us work with Clara on: time management (her stories are very front heavy), prioritization (which goes hand-in-hand with time management), oral communication (asking questions and using her words when she gets frustrated), and reading interpretation(understanding the inferred meanings/morals in stories). Socially, we have seen vast improvements. She is liked and respected by her peers. She even has a few friends. In fact, I feel that the best news came from Clara's Special Education teacher, who told us that she would like to reduce the number of hours that are dedicated for Clara's special education services! How fantastic is that?! What a terrific sign that progress is being made!

Speaking of Clara's friends, I have to post about one in particular... Philip. Starting, briefly, from the beginning, there was this name that kept popping up in conversation with Clara. Philip is in her class. Philip eats lunch with her during her Special Education lunches every Tuesday and Thursday. Philip gets pulled out with her to work on math with the AAP teacher every Thursday. Philip is at the park every Monday (his little brother is in Mini Kickers with Lucas) playing "fairy money" with her for the entire time. Philip also has Asperger's Disorder. I have never seen her interact with somebody else the way she and Philip engage in play/conversation. It's like they just "get" each other in a way that no one else can. Two peas in a pod! During the conference, the Special Education teacher even commented on their link; the way that Clara can just dive right into Philips in depth talk about rockets and vice versa, Philip can keep up with Clara's detailed fairy world. For the Book Character Parade, Clara and Philip had the only two homemade costumes in their whole class (pictured below). In fact, after the kids were all dressed in their costumes, the kids crowded around Clara to admire her "very cool" costume. I heard a lot of kids asking who/what she was supposed to be, but Philip walked by without even paying attention to the other kids and complimented Clara on her great T.H.U.D.D. costume. I can't express how purely pleased I am that she has found a friend who truly understands her... I just wish that I did, too!

Just an (extra)Ordinary Week

Before I get too involved in the recap from our fall camping trip, I wanted to write about the unfortunate excitement we experienced on Friday (10/9/09) afternoon. On Friday morning, the elementary school that Clara attends (which is a lovely small neighborhood school) found that a rock had been thrown through one of the windows containing a bomb threat toward the high school. Both the elementary school and the high school were evacuated and investigated thoroughly by the bomb squad. It turned out to be a prank, but resulted in a lot of scared and angry parents. I was informed about the threat by one of the neighbors, who found out by trying to go and eat lunch with his child. That may be one of the scariest voicemail messages I've ever received! My heart was racing and my hands were shaking as I immediately turned to go and get Clara, but by the time I got to the school, the kids were all back in their classrooms. The school didn't inform us of the situation until 4:30pm! The school was following county policy regarding emergency situations, but many of the community parents are outraged that they weren't notified immediately and given the opportunity to collect their children immediately. Instead, all the kids were evacuated onto the soccer fields behind the school while the investigation took place... for 3 hours... in the hot sun, with no water and no facilities. I can totally empathize with why parents are so angry... but on the complete other hand, when I picked Clara up from school at the end of the day, she informed me that it was the best day EVER.

So the biggest part of this post was supposed to be about our camping trip to Seneca Rocks in the Monongahela National Forest of West Virginia. However, placed between a bomb threat and a flu scare... it doesn't seem as prominent as I would have liked. We had an absolutely wonderful time! We headed to the campsite directly after Clara finished Nutcracker practice on Saturday afternoon and arrived at the campsite with enough light to set up camp. Jason had a nice fire going by the time we were done eating (hot dogs and baked beans), so we enjoyed a little relaxing time by the fire before bed. During the night, the temperatures dropped into the 30s, which was really cold. We were snugly warm in our tents, sleeping bags, thermal and fleece (Clara actually wore her hat to bed the second night). Eli didn't stay in his sleeping bag very well, so luckily, we had brought some extra blankets to make sure he stayed warm during the night. Sunday morning, we woke up and had hot chocolate, eggs, toast, and bacon (well, no bacon for me, obviously) and then got ready to explore the area. We looked around the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center for a while and then proceeded on a hike to the observation deck just at the base of the "knife's edge". The hike was a 900 ft elevation gain in 1.5 miles. Clara had to stop a lot on the way up, but she persevered and did great! Lucas kept up with Jason really well and only started getting tired close to the top. Jason went on to explore the "knife's edge" (or what I've been referring to as the spine), which was too dangerous for the kids.

After returning to the car, we drove around for a little bit and then headed back to camp for dinner (green beans with macaroni and cheese) and roasted marshmallows! Jason's fire was perfect that night and Clara loved sitting by the fire writing in her journal about the day's adventures. Monday morning we enjoyed more hot chocolate, cream of wheat, and pears for breakfast... yummy. After loading up the car, we headed for Spruce Knob, which is the highest point in West Virginia at 4863 ft. I was looking forward to being able to look out on the carpet of color of the forest's treetops, but was sadly disappointed when the closer we got to the top, the cloudier it became. At the top, we couldn't see a thing... and it was so frigid! Jason and I took turns looking around while the boys slept in the nice warm car (Clara explored around with me). It was quite an experience... there were times when the clouds were so thick that even when Clara was standing just a little behind me, I could barely see her! And after all the fun, it was time to head home... back to a reality of back-to-back activities, car repairs, and sick kids.

And lastly, I have to talk about how our house was invaded by the flu today. After a perfectly normal day yesterday, Clara woke up this morning with a low fever and a headache. At first, I noticed something wasn't quite right with her, but she insisted that she was fine... so she proceeded to get dressed for school. After about two minutes, she decided she didn't feel very well, but still didn't want to miss out on school. Finally, after an additional couple minutes and by this point she had started whimpering, she conceded and got back into her pajamas. When I checked her fever a few hours later, it had risen by a degree, but still not too concerning. She rested on the couch all day, but wouldn't relax... she insisted on doing her homework and drawing. She finally relaxed enough to fall asleep around 1:30pm and slept for a couple of hours. When she woke up, her fever had risen dramatically to 102.6F. I gave her some Motrin and told her relax. While I had the doctor's office on the phone about an hour later, I checked her again... 103.2F! The Motrin hadn't helped at all. She was so achy all over, that just brushing up against her arm caused her to exclaim of the pain. After a dose of Tylenol and a bath, she seemed in a little better spirits. She typically reads by herself before bed, but tonight she requested to be read to... so I called Jason in (reading to the kids at bedtime is typically his domain) and then I was going to get the boys ready. Clara told me that she wanted me to read to her... her words were something like this: "I want you to read to me, Mommy. You were the one who took care of me all day and you were the one that I relied on... I want you." Needless to say, I had to compose myself and dry my tears before I could settle in and read. That was the most wonderful, loving and perfect thing to hear after the scary day we've had.

Lucas had an interesting day as well. He came home from preschool perfectly normal and then while he was eating lunch, he just couldn't hold his head up anymore. He went in and laid down with Clara on the couch and promptly fell asleep. He slept for 2 hours, woke up watched some TV (never moved from that spot), then about 2 hours later, rolled over and went back to sleep. Jason woke him up to put him to bed! This is highly irregular behavior for Lucas and he seemed like he was hot to the touch in the afternoon, so I just figured it was the fever, maybe he was getting whatever Clara had. However, Jason put him to bed and said that he wasn't hot at all. So I have to wonder... did all that sleep really help him? I'm guessing a lot will be determined in the morning.

A birthday and some very busy days

We have bid farewell to September and summer seemingly at the same time. Here it is October and quite brisk... the kids have been wearing jackets to school every day. I don't really remember an October this cold this early before, but I have to admit loving how it feels exactly like fall should.

We celebrated Eli's birthday a day late in the hopes that he would feel better after a couple doses of the antibiotic. He didn't really feel any better... just as I suspected, he was allergic to the medicine and the doctor ended up prescribing a new antibiotic Monday morning. Without getting too far off subject... I'm trying to stay focused on the birthday festivities. I made these little car cakes for our little guy who loves his "beep beeps", but he didn't even notice. He was so enthralled with the candles that once we blew them out, he just had a tantrum... he wouldn't even eat a little bite of his cake. I was incredibly disappointed, but kept telling myself... he's only 2. The highlight for Eli, though, was the presents. I don't think there was a single present that he didn't like. Even now, two plus weeks later, he is still playing with all his new toys... and he is ear infection free! Last week, he had his 2-year check-up. He is a very healthy boy, aside from the persistent runny nose and cough, which the doctor said is most likely allergies. His vitals: weight = 30-lbs (75th %ile) and height = 33.5-in (25th %ile). He weighs just 3 pounds less than his brother weighed at 4-yrs. The doctor says it's pretty normal for there to be such a wide discrepancy in the numbers and to expect that he'll hit a growth spurt during this next year. During the checkup, he did demonstrate his alphabet knowledge (which the doctor was impressed about). The worst part of the entire visit was when the nurse had to do a thumb-prick blood draw. Eli cried about the needle prick and he cried about having to have his hand held still while the nurse collected the blood, but he screamed and thrashed when the nurse tried to put the bandaid on his thumb. In fact, he pulled the first two bandaids right off, causing his hand to be covered in blood. The nurse finally had to put a third bandaid on, surrounded by tape to keep him from pulling it off. And then... after we left the doctor's office, he still cried every time he looked down and saw his thumb!

I took Eli in to have his 2-yr portraits, but wasn't completely happy with the results, so I have another appointment scheduled for the coming week. Let's hope that his nose doesn't look too red and that he doesn't permanently cling to me during the photo session.

Jason's parent's are home safe now. They had a nice visit here and we enjoyed having them. The kids really enjoyed them being here. Lucas and Eli took turns getting in bed with them each morning. Clara is still wearing the nail polish that Grammy painted on her fingernails and toenails. Eli still talks about his "papa" and "mammy".

Jason and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Jason's parents were here, so they watched the kids while we went out. It was really nice... especially since it's been since our last anniversary that Jason and I enjoyed dinner out without the kids.

Our weeks seem to be disappearing like magic. With Clara's and Lucas' activities, we stay busy constantly. This past weekend was a bit more than what we are used to (assuming one ever gets used to being this busy). Clara had to attend a dance-a-thon (a fundraiser for the Nutcracker) on Friday evening from 6-9pm. Although she was hesitant about going, we invited a friend to go with her and they both ended up having a blast. Then Saturday evening, she went to a birthday party from 4-8:30pm. I'm trying to think and it seems like that was the first time that she's been away from us in the evening... and definitely the first time for two evenings in a row! I'm really not used to her not being here in the evenings. Although it was much quieter (the boys were playing together so nice without her being there to antagonize them or scream when they do something wrong), I actually missed her.

We found out that Clara will be a snow angel in the Nutcracker. She has been to two rehearsals so far and seems much more excited about it now. At first, she was extremely upset and said that we tricked her into signing up and did not want to go to rehearsals. I am glad to see that the attitude has changed.

I feel like Lucas hasn't had much space in this post, but not to worry. Lucas is having a lovely time right now. He loves his preschool class and teacher. He loves mini-kickers soccer. He loves dance. He even loves going to watch Clara's soccer games. He is exploring a burgeoning interest in sharks, is scared of the newer "kid-friendly" movies, and hums songs from Phantom of the Opera while doing his puzzles. He loves his siblings and gives the best hugs. And on that note... I'll say goodnight!

School Begins and Sickness Prevails

So it's been a while. It's funny... there is actually this overwhelming urge to apologize for not writing every week. I know that's silly. There has just been so much going on and now that I'm finally writing... I don't even know where to begin.

I need to follow up regarding Jason's dad. He is doing very well... in fact, he is here visiting right now. He had his stitches removed last week and got the ok to travel from his doctor. They left their house on Wednesday and arrived here this evening.

We successfully saw two kids off to school. Clara started 2nd grade last week (9.8.09). For the first week of school, it rained nearly every day. In fact, it rained on the morning of her first day, but she still wanted to walk to school, singing "Singin' in the Rain" for about half the walk. Every day since, she's come home saying it was another "awesome" day. She likes her teacher a lot (and so do I). I really feel like this is going to be a good year... for ME! Last year, I never felt comfortable talking to her teacher... like I was always somehow on the defensive for our decision to move her up a grade. And it wasn't only me, I often wondered if her peers viewed her as the outsider (maybe not so much toward the end of the year). All I can say is this year they are all starting fresh... I, too, am starting fresh. I think Clara's teacher this year is also a little more free with the day-to-day communications, so that will be a nice change. Jason and I attended a Back to School night and were met with nothing but positive reinforcement that Clara is in the right place. Aside from the "she's such a sweet girl... always follows directions" sort of thing (which of course, we just eat up), we were also given a little insight into her independent efforts to socialize and be helpful to her peers, which is a really huge step not just for her, but for anyone with Asperger's. And let's not forget... Lucas also started his second (and last) year of preschool this past week (9.14.09). He really likes his new teacher. Each day he comes home and tells me who he played "blob monster" with that day. Apparently, "blob monster" is a game where one is the blob monster and the rest run away. Lucas invented that game and the other kids like to play it with him. Another quirk is that going into the preschool building and coming out, he insists on wearing his backpack on his head (with his arms through the straps). He calls himself "backpack head"... very creative name indeed. Well, the funny part is when he notices other kids noticing him. For example, there was a girl walking behind us who remarked to her mother "that boy has his backpack on his head" and Lucas just looked up at me and smiled great big. He is so ready for Kindergarten, though. Whenever someone asks him if he goes to preschool, he responds with "next year I'll be in Kindergarten at WSES".

Lucas went to his very first birthday party all by himself. He's been desperate to be invited to a birthday party without Clara, especially since he witnesses all the times that Clara gets her very own invitations. He was so excited and had a blast. I wasn't able to stay. That is a big change from when Clara started getting birthday invitations... with her, I went and stayed no matter how uncomfortable I was, making sure that she was having a good time... with him, I just dropped him off and left. I think I just feel more comfortable that he can be independent, that he won't be afraid to ask for things, and that he'll play with the other kids and have fun. I wasn't wrong. When we picked him up, he couldn't stop smiling.

Clara has been a busy little girl already. Soccer and dance were apparently not enough extracurricular activities for fall. We signed her up to participate in The Nutcracker ballet that the Burke Civic Ballet puts on each year. We asked her if she wanted to do it and she said yes, so we committed. Unfortunately, it is going to be incredibly time consuming (a lot of mandatory rehearsals and required volunteer activities) and cause many conflicts with her already busy schedule. She had to miss her very first soccer game of the season to attend Nutcracker auditions. There are at least two more soccer games that she may end up missing, plus at least one soccer practice. This doesn't include the birthday parties that she may miss out on as well. Of course, I'm complaining about it now, but when I see her performing on stage in her namesake's ballet, I'm sure that I will be bursting with pride and all these conflicts that seem like a big deal right now will suddenly seem worth it.

And poor poor Eli! He is turning 2 years old tomorrow. Our celebration has been put on hold though due to the fact that he is miserable. He started getting a cold last weekend and was noticeably improved by yesterday. Then last night he was up all night crying. I took him to see the doctor this morning and he has a double ear infection. He was so miserable today... all he wanted to do was sit next to me with my arm around him. Anytime, I got up to do something, he was crying after me trying to pull me back to the sofa. The doctor prescribed antibiotic, which I'm already afraid that he's allergic to. Tonight when I took his diaper off to put him in the bath, the whole side of his bum (on both sides) was covered in a bright red rash. The rash was how we found out Clara was allergic to Amoxycillin years ago. I'll be taking him back to the doctor tomorrow morning. What a way to spend your birthday, Eli! Poor poor Eli. The other two are also sick with colds. I'm just waiting for that moment when the ear infections start with them. Clara was already complaining that her ears hurt, but I know her and she has to be crying in pain before I take her to the doctor (her ears hurt with every cold). I'm curious to see how things look in the morning... will they be more improved? If I were an optimist... I'd be saying "yes". If...

Last Days of Summer

A friend from California was staying with us a couple weeks ago. It was really nice having the friendly company. It was so relaxed and familiar, I was actually sad to see him go. Hopefully, next time he comes, he'll bring his wife and kids! While he was here, he helped us with a home-improvement project, but was "stymied, thwarted, mission aborted" when he ran out of time. He was telling us that the phrase "stymied, thwarted, mission aborted" was from a Dr. Suess book called The Butter Battle Book. I liked the phrase so much I went to the library and got the book. I can't remember a picture book making me that uncomfortable before. It's this silly book about two towns who are at battle because each one butters their bread on the opposite side as the other. Of course the whole book is an allegory for the Cold War and at the end of this book, you know that the "Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo" is a nuclear bomb. I was actually squirming by the end. As an aside, the phrase is not actually in the book, but in the movie.

Clara's glasses made their first (of many predicted) trip(s) back to the eye doctor for a repair. Apparently, Eli got hold of them and completely bent them out of shape. There is a small piece that is broken in the hinge, but they are as back to "normal" as they can be. Poor Clara was so upset when she found them... too bad they weren't on her face where they should have been! I guess this gets filed under 'lessons learned'.

This past Sunday, our neighbor invited us to go with a large group of her friends into DC. She had reserved tickets for all of us to go to the top of the Washington Monument, something that I have wanted to do since we first moved here. The windows were tiny and slightly hazy, the area, though not small, felt tiny with all those people crammed into it, but the views were spectacular... totally worth it!

Yesterday we went to the National Zoo with a friend and her kids. I was amazed at how little interest my kids had in the animals at first. All the kids loved the Invertebrate House (which makes me think that a trip to the aquarium might be in our future). I'm trying to remember the exact turning point for Lucas... and I'm thinking it was the hippo. The hippo was the first animal that was sooo big and sooo close. After the hippo, Lucas was finally more interested in the animals than the info plaques along the walk. Of course, the interest didn't help him keep up and stay with our group... his constant lagging and disappearance increased MY stress levels immensely. Clara started off immediately wanting to see the red panda (she had read about one recently), took one look and started gathering leaves. In fact, that was pretty much how she spend the majority of the day... either imagining all the different fairies that could live and hide in the flora along the walk or checking her watch to let us know that it was past lunchtime. Eli and Lucas really enjoyed the monkeys, both big and small. At the end of the day, everyone had had a great time... it was definitely a wonderful last bit of fun before school starts.

Tonight we learned that Clara's second grade teacher will be Mrs. Thibodeaux and her special education teacher will be Mrs. Gillespie. I admit that with all new teachers, I worry that we will be starting from scratch within the system. I know that they will read her file and her IEP to familiarize themselves with Clara, but it's not the same as having that familiarity of having worked with her previously. Of course, as I type this I wonder... maybe that's a good thing? She has matured a lot over the summer and with all new teachers, there won't be any preformed judgements of how she will react/respond to situations. I'm just glad that Clara is excited and happily anticipating the new school year, because I (obviously) worry enough for the both of us.

We also found out tonight that Jason's dad had emergency surgery earlier in the day to repair a hernia. We are really glad that he is recovering nicely and will possibly be home tomorrow, however, we are waiting to find out if he'll be able to travel, as they were planning to come see us middle of this month (in time for Eli's birthday).

Shenandoah

For weeks leading up to our big camping weekend, Clara has been excited and wanting to talk about it and prepare for it. Every night after her reading time, she would chat with Jason or me about camping. She knew that it was going to be very different from camping in the backyard... I don't know how, but she did. And as the days got closer, she just oozed excitment. The smile that stretched across her face was contagious as we put fresh batteries in her camera and loaded it up into her backpack. She helped me gather all sorts of things that we would need. And the whole while that she was anxious beyond containment... I was hiding my worries. My fear that Eli would not be a good camper... that we would come home covered in ticks... that we would get there and have forgotten something big (like the sleeping bags)... that Clara would get horribly carsick... that it would storm on us in our tents. I just had to keep telling myself it will be fine... it always turns out fine.

Sat. - Our drive was full of sightseeing... we stopped at just about every overlook on the way. The campsite was perfect, we set up the tents and then headed to a ranger-led program. The ranger led us on a short hike up to Blackrock summit, the highest point in Big Meadows (3,092 ft) for a beautiful view. Then it was time to get the fire going. More than 2 hours later, the fire was still not going. This, of course, made it extremely difficult to roast hot dogs and marshmallows, but we managed. That horrid fire will be a funny story in months and years to come, though. The kids got to bed quite late. Eli was so overtired that instead of falling fast asleep, he was laughing and climbing all over both Jason and me... until all of a sudden he was quiet and still.

Sun. - Lucas woke us up dark and early (5:40am) the next morning with a bathroom run... so we got an early start. A breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit, and chocolate milk got us going strong. We started off with a nice long hike through the Big Meadow (in the early early morning... this area is a deer magnet). Clara and Lucas entertained themselves by climbing any tree or rock they saw along the way. After our hike, Clara and Lucas participated in a junior ranger program about insects. The ranger gave all the kids their own magnifying glass and told them to go hunt insects. Clara and Lucas absolutely loved it! Clara found ladybugs, frog hoppers, crickets, japanese beetles, and more butterflies than we could keep count. After lunch back at camp, we headed off for a hike to Dark Hollow Falls, which had an elevation change of 600 ft in less than a mile. Going down to the falls was easy, but climbing back up was very strenuous (Clara ended up with raw heels from her shoes... all the way up the mountain, she kept crying that her "heels were on fire"). After that, it was time to relax back at camp... with a much much better experience getting a fire going (thanks to scavenging for wood at empty campsites). Dinner and smores were done by 7pm! That gave us plenty of time before getting ready for bed to enjoy the show... of deer marching around and through the camp. This time, Eli gave out within 10 minutes of getting in the sleeping bag... he must have been worn out!!

Mon. - Eli woke up laughing! So... we were up at 6am and decided to wake Clara and Lucas to enjoy the sunrise at one of the beautiful vistas. Then we had breakfast at camp before packing up to head home. Before going home, Clara wanted to do one last hike... up to Hawksbill summit (the highest point in the entire park at 4,050 ft). So we did, Clara in her flip-flops (since she couldn't wear her other shoes), the trail had a 650 ft. elevation change in less than a mile. It was breathtaking.

So I think I've highlighted the majority of our weekend... with the negatives being the fire that wouldn't burn, the kid that wouldn't sleep, the kid that got blisters on her feet, and the kid that came home with his eye nearly swollen shut (turned out to be a bug bite). What I have omitted thus far was that Lucas wandered off and we couldn't find him!! This happened at the very end of our weekend (actually on our way home, we stopped at the Skyland lodge to get a couple pictures). It was scary and infuriating and did I mention scary? I finally found him after what seemed like an eternity of looking. The reason that he wandered off... he was looking for a trash can!! Even after I found him he was still saying that he couldn't find a trash can!! The ironic part? There were trash cans right behind where Jason was sitting when he went looking. After I calmed down, I was (and still am) determined not to allow this to overshadow all the great moments we had, as they sometimes can. In fact, I'm ready to do it all again... well, maybe after I rest for a bit...

Catching Up

I can't believe that it's been over 3 weeks since my last post. There has been a lot going on, but in all truth... my free time (that I would normally use to write a post) has been otherwise occupied reading my (750-page) book for my book club. For those interested... I did finish it and although it's not my typical pick, I did enjoy it.

So let's see... it's a good thing that I keep an outline of points of interest, otherwise I wouldn't remember what's been going on as there are constantly new things coming up that take all my attention.

July 25 - Jason stained the deck. This has been something that he has been wanting to do for some time. It made quite a difference as you can see.

We attended 2 baseball games at the end of July (23 & 28). The first game was at the Nationals Ball Park to watch the Washington Nationals play the St. Louis Cardinals. I spent a bit of time trying to decide who to root for... but since the Nationals didn't really provide much competition for the Cardinals, I ended up just wanting the Nationals to get on the board. Luckily, they got 1 run before the game was delayed and later cancelled due to the storms... storms that actually delayed the game twice.

The second game was at Camden Yards in Baltimore to watch the Baltimore Orioles play the Kansas City Royals. This game ended up being extremely similar to the one we went to last summer... extra innings with the Royals winning it in the 11th. Although I think the kids like the idea of going to the games, I'm not sure how much interest they truly have in the game itself. The first game, Eli sat in my lap the entire time but throughout the second game he was up and moving wanting to explore and climb into and out of every empty seat. Clara's form of entertainment remained fairly constant throughout both games... peanuts! She would eat the peanuts, then proceed to lick the salt off the shell and then place them on her fingers... repeatedly. Lucas snacked and snacked and snacked. I was so disappointed that I didn't bring more snacks to the first game because that is all Lucas wanted to do.

Aug. 1 - We spent a day at the beach, Clara's favorite summertime activity. Originally, we were going to spend a weekend, but decided that might be too much sand and sun. The weather was perfect for our day and the kids absolutely loved playing in the sand, Eli included this year. As previous years, though... Eli still did not enjoy the water (which I thought he might since he acclimated so nicely at the pool). He was thoroughly enjoying himself as long as he stayed on the sand, shovel in hand. We've been to this beach before and have always had a good experience. We like that it's not crowded. However, this year was a little different... it was crowded (not with people) with jellyfish! The jellyfish were being washed in by the tide (I guess), because they were quite numerous in the shallow area. We all ended up getting stung, but it wasn't bad... it burned for a bit at first and then nothing. Lucas was the first to get stung and I was just shy of panic mode when he came out from the water crying. I had heard stories of people getting stung and how bad it was, so I was really expecting the worst. By the end of our day, many of the jellyfish had washed ashore. I wish that I had had my good camera... that would have been a picture. Clara became focused on burying the beached jellyfish in the sand. Poor Jason came home from our fun day with the only real sunburn and what we originally thought was a broken toe. He kicked a stump or rock while moving quickly through the water, but didn't realize how bad he had injured himself until we got home and his toe (next to the littlest toe) was dark purple (almost black) and swollen. It's been almost 2 weeks and the toe is still a bit swollen and the coloring is almost back to normal. Poor Jason is paying for our day of fun in the sun.

Aug. 4 - I took the kids in for their portraits. This is Clara's yearly portrait (at 6 1/2 years) and the first time I've taken the kids in together. I thought they turned out pretty well.

Aug. 7 - Clara and Lucas both had dentist appointments. Lucas is always so good at the dentist... he just follows the directions so well and isn't afraid of anything. It took the hygienist half the allotted time to clean his teeth. She told me later that with young kids, they schedule more time and he was done with enough time that she could have also done Clara! Clara, however, is usually just the opposite... afraid of everything. When they tell her to relax and open her mouth, you can just see every muscle in her body stiffen up. The last time we were at the dentist, she had to be held down by the hygienist while the dentist examined her... it was painful to watch. This time she went back with the hygienist all by herself and even got bite wing x-rays!! I couldn't believe it when I talked to the hygienist at the end of the visit. What a change!! She just made me so proud. As far as results go... both kids came out with good results. Clara's permanent teeth look like they are coming in crooked, but the dentist said that he'll just keep an eye on them and see how they look once they are completely in.

Aug. 10 - Clara had her first doctor's appointment with the doctor at the new practice. I have to say that once again I had my expectations set high. I had just heard so much about this doctor (same practice as the doctor that Lucas sees now, just different doctor) that if I had had another bad experience, I would have literally been heartbroken. Finding that perfect doctor has proven to be quite an adventure for us. Well, immediately I knew that things were good when it wasn't a nurse that came out to greet us in the lobby, it was the doctor! She was so personable and completely on top of things... I just felt like she really had Clara's interests in mind as we talked. We talked about the Asperger's and how to approach it from a medical standpoint. Right now, her thoughts are to let the school handle it and if it starts becoming a hindrance to Clara's education, then bring it up again and we'll look at other options, such as a behavioral specialist or medication.

Eli has discovered the word "no" and it has preempted most other words now. It can be super frustrating. It used to be that when asked a yes/no question, he would respond with the typical "mm hmm"... not anymore... now it's "no". He used to respond with his version of a real answer to non-yes/no questions. For example, when asked "what do you want to drink", he used to respond "meew" (milk, of course)... and now, it's "no". I know this is just a phase (a phase that none of my other kids went through), but it is a highly frustrating phase... grumble!

I just wanted to include this little tidbit (I know some of you will appreciate this)... we went to the thrift store on Saturday and as usual came home with a load of books. The biggest find, though, was a near perfect jogging stroller for... wait for it.... wait for it... $7.50! Can you believe that?? When we bought it, the tires were flat, but Jason pumped them up and he's taken Eli for a ride every night since. I'm really excited to see how it rides this fall when we walk around Lake Accotink.

This weekend we are off to Shenandoah National Park for a long weekend of tent camping and hiking. Keep your fingers crossed that Eli is a good camper or it could be a VERY long weekend!

"side"

This past Friday marked the end of our commitment to the pool... hooray! Now through the rest of the summer, we get to go to the pool at our leisure. Although I would like to note that over these past seven weeks, Clara and Lucas have made nice strides towards swimming, but it's actually Eli who went from screaming if his toe got wet to playing chest deep in the water! In this picture, he's actually bending down into the water to retrieve a plastic fish... and yes, his chin and mouth are actually IN the water!

Saturday was a great day to be outside, the weather has been incredibly atypical for middle of July here. We took full advantage of the pleasant temps by having a picnic at a local park. Jason took Clara and Lucas to the Civil War Camp Day at Fort Ward (a preserved Union fort), which is a day each year where the reenactment society gives demonstrations (artillery firing, cooking, tactical skirmishes, etc.). Then to finish off the day... Jason camped out in the backyard with Clara and Lucas. This was their first ever experience camping. Clara has been wanting to camp out ever since we bought her a sleeping bag and tent last summer. They LOVED it! Upon waking, Clara proclaimed that she wanted to camp out "for real" next time. I do have to say that seeing Eli in the mix while they were setting things up and how happy he was, gives me some courage that maybe camping with him might not be as bad as I've been envisioning it.



I've also included some other noteworthy miscellany that's been going on recently.

Eli's vocabulary has grown exponentially this past month. Some of the words I hear daily include these listed here, but there are so many more. It's interesting that I can actually carry on a conversation with him on occasion.

- sandals, shoes, socks (all of which he says as he's bringing them to me so that he can go outside, which he calls "side")

- bite, seat, milk

- beep-beep (which means car, train, bus, truck, etc.)

- teeth, hands (both only when referring to brushing teeth and washing hands)

While I'm on the topic of Eli... let me just record here that his volume is out of control! He is so loud, which I know comes from having to be heard over his siblings, but he has taken to screaming just to get his way, which does NOT work, yet he hasn't given up trying. It can be incredibly embarrassing when he does that while we are out (like today in Wal-Mart)!

Lucas has taken to sleeping with his head at the foot of the bed. It is actually quite funny the routine. He still gets his story read on the pillows at the head of the bed, but as soon as it's lights-out time, he jumps pillow-less to the foot of the bed. There have been a couple of nights when I actually turned him around in the middle of the night (before I went to bed) only to find him back at the foot of the bed in the morning... silly boy! I guess this is better than that night I found him sleeping on the floor.

The latest thing though is that I've taken the computer away from them. It was just getting so out of hand, if we were home for more than two minutes, they would be asking to play on the computer. With all these toys and this beautiful weather, they do not need to be on the computer. So it started as just an afternoon and blossomed into a week. I had planned to gradually let them play on it a little bit each day, but realized that wasn't very practical. So Clara asked me if we could make a deal. Her deal was that they would stay off the computer for ten days and then get to play on it for one day. I loved her deal!! I did counteroffer though and we agreed that they wouldn't play on the computer at all during the week and they would have some time on the weekends to play on the computer. My intention there is that we will be doing other fun things on the weekends and they will get to the point where they don't even miss it at all. It is just so easy for the computer time to become all the time! I have to say though... I really liked Clara's initial offer.

I have been reading this book about Asperger's Syndrome (written by someone with the disorder) and am amazed at all the similarities, explanations, and just pure insights I've found hidden in it's pages. My plan is to re-read it and actually create a list of all the points of interest... maybe I'll even post my list.

Swimming and Picking

The last two weeks have pretty much been all about the pool. Every morning is practice followed by Lucas' swim lesson. Then every Monday evening the Little Vikings get to participate in a swim meet. It seems like Clara is progressing nicely. I have included the video I took from her 'lollipop swim' on Monday, July 7, 2009.

We all had a nice fourth of July. We enjoyed watching the DC fireworks from a grassy spot in front of the Pentagon. The fireworks mesmerized Eli completely... I don't think he blinked for the entire 17 minutes! Clara kept telling us what she thought they looked like... we heard a lot of "wow, a chrysanthemum". It was wonderful for us, too. We had a great view and we didn't have to deal with the DC crowds like we did last year.

Saturday morning we headed to a blueberry farm in Maryland to pick blueberries. It was just supposed to be a fun little outing for the kids, but it was so addictive... I found I couldn't walk by a bush without inspecting it for any remaining ripe berries. The five of us (yes, even Eli helped do some of the picking) ended up leaving with 8lbs of blueberries. That doesn't even count all the ones that the kids ate right off the bushes. At one point, Eli was eating the berries right out of the bucket faster than Lucas could collect them. I do think that will be something that we try to do again next summer.

It's also been quite a social week for me. I enjoyed a rather fun mom's night that lasted embarrassingly into the wee hours of the morning. Saturday, Jason and I went over to some friends for a night of Rock Band, which is always exceedingly fun. Followed on Sunday by a lunch with Jason's former coworker, which was highly enjoyable. Pretty good for a couple of anti-social-ites.

Goodbye June

We spent the weekend away, which was our first time away as a family since Christmas. It was a very nice change after spending most of last week at the pool. We spent Saturday at Colonial Williamsburg and Sunday at the Jamestown Settlement. I've already posted pictures to Flickr, for those who haven't seen them yet. Saturday was hot... really hot, especially for Clara who was outfitted in her colonial dress. And although the day seemed full of not-so-good moments: Eli nearly tumbling down a hill, Clara whining about being hot and sweaty, or Lucas whining about being thirsty and hungry, we still ended up having a really nice time. The kids got a chance to tread mud for bricks at the brickyard - their favorite part of the day by far! Jason got to witness an artillery demonstration, which the kids and I could not join him at since Lucas discovered his fear of loud booms. The first time we heard any of the canon-fire, Lucas took off running in the opposite direction of the sound. Talk about a scary moment... your kid fleeing into a crowd by himself! Of course, after the fact we can laugh about it. Sunday proved to be much more enjoyable all around... the temps were milder, and the Jamestown Settlement has a lot to see and do for both the adults and the kids. They have these full scale, fully functional, exact replicas of the ships that sailed into Jamestown in 1607 that the kids ran all over. I know that was Lucas' favorite part as he kept asking throughout the day if we were going to go back to the ships. In addition to the ships, there was also a Powhatan village and the James Fort to explore. It was great fun. The museum there was so expansive that we ended up having to skim through a lot of it. We took a break about halfway through our visit to get some lunch and then took the kids to a playground. It was nice to let them run and expend some energy before tackling the museum. I really loved taking a short vacation, but it reminded me just how much work is involved in trying to get away with 3 small kids. I guess that explains why we haven't done it since Christmas. Though I am feeling braver. This summer we plan to hit the beach for an overnight stay (our past beach excursions have all been day trips). Clara and Lucas are itching to camp out, which I would love... I have always loved camping, but I'm just not sure that I'm brave enough to try that yet with Eli still so little.

In other news, Clara had her first swim meet yesterday evening. For the Little Vikings, it isn't competitive at all, it's just a way to demonstrate their progress in a highly motivating setting. For this first meet, they had to swim the length of the pool with their kick boards. I could tell that Clara was putting forth her best effort, but I could also tell that her coach was assisting her by pulling on the kickboard part of the time. I'm anxious to see how she progresses throughout the summer. Lucas' swim lessons are going very well. After explaining to the coach that his name was not Lucas Black, the coach now refers to him in class as "Lucas Blah". So... Lucas Blah is doing much better... more attentive, even providing the model for behavior in some instances. He still seems like the smallest kid in the class, but size doesn't hold him back. I guess the biggest news is how Eli is doing at the pool. My post on Monday went into detail about how much he hated the water. Each day following, he got closer and closer to actually getting into the water himself, until Thursday he did just that. He spent most of the morning on Thursday in the water, splashing and having a grand time. Unfortunately, it didn't last. Friday he was back to just sitting on the edge splashing with his feet and that is where he has remained. I'm not disappointed... he is still having fun with the water... and knowing that he's gotten in once, I know it will happen again.

Outside of pool stuff... Eli is cutting teeth, finally! Four new teeth are poking through the gums and have been causing him an enormous amount of grief.

On a personal note. I just learned that my good friend lost a very dear friend. I feel very sad for her loss. The news caused emotions to resurface from when I learned of Jason's passing... emotions that I never really dealt with at the time, so whenever I think about it, it still seems very raw. I really miss him.

An End and A Beginning

Last week was Clara's last day of school. She is officially a second grader, which seems so strange to me still. They had an end of year party that I was lucky enough to be able to help with. I helped out with the water relay. It was fun... maybe even more fun since I was on the winning team over and over again. I don't know why it was so one-sided. At one point, a mom asked me to tip the scales in the other teams favor by tipping my teams bucket just a little to let some of the water out. Well, in my effort to tip the bucket on the sly, I accidentally tipped it over completely and dumped all the water out! I felt horrible... especially after hearing the repeated question "what happened to all our water?" Now it's time to forget about that and move on to the summer reading program! Clara has already informed me that when she gets her coupon book from the library this year, that we actually have to go to some of the places to redeem the coupons! In years past, it was enough just to have the coupon book. My little girl is growing up.

Friday the swim team put on the Viking Olympics. All the members of both the Vikings swim team and the Little Vikings took part in a six event olympic-style fun day. There were four teams competing and Clara's team came in 4th and were all awarded Copper medals. She did have fun, but said that it would have been more fun if they could have got in the pool... which is true! How ironic that the swim team olympics involved absolutely no swimming!! Below is a picture of Clara participating in the swim cap relay (the caps were turned inside out, filled with water and then dropped on each teammate's head... the number of caps that "stuck" were tallied) and Clara with her medal.



This past weekend was dance recitals for Clara and Lucas. The dance recitals turned out really cute. We were worried that Lucas wouldn't perform (based on his preschool recital), but we had no need to worry. He got right in there and did what he was supposed to do and even had the audience clapping for him. We are definitely signing him up for dance again in the fall... he seemed to really enjoy it. Clara's recital was great, as expected. Her teacher really creates some great dances for them. Clara's dance was highly energetic... the girls were in constant motion. I honestly don't know how they remember the moves. I have uploaded both recitals to my YouTube account for those interested in watching.



Jason had a nice Father's Day... a nice relaxing day. He got to grill out, which he had been wanting to do. In addition to the cards that we all gave him on Sunday, Clara had a special Donuts for Dads day at school. She presented him with a card, while wearing a tie that she made herself, and enjoyed a couple donuts. The class also did a presentation for the dads, which I have included below.





Today was the first day of "summer" for us. Clara's swim team practice moved to the morning followed immediately by Lucas' swim class. This was to be a great setup... Eli and I could hang out in the baby pool while the older kids had their respective time in the big pool. I was excited! We all headed out in our swimsuits ready for an enjoyable morning. Reality hit the moment we got situated. Eli does not like the water. Wait... that wasn't strong enough. Eli HATES the water. As I was lowering him into the water, the moment his toe hit the water he started crying, and he continued crying even after I caved and took him out of the water. And he continued crying even after he had been out of the water for some time because his swim trunks were still wet. It was almost (I repeat... almost) humorous how upset he was by his wet trunks... he kept pulling at them, like I was going to take them off! So instead of hanging leisurely by the baby pool for 1 1/2 hours, we were on parade (back and forth between the baby pool and the playground (neither of which he was content actually being near). Moving on to Clara's swim team practice... what a difference! The last two weeks, practice was in the evenings and the pool was crowded. Now practice is scheduled before the pool opens to the public so the pool is empty. The swimmers can hear the coaches clearly and I can see a huge difference between Clara's performance before and now. I can't wait until their first swim meet... that should be video worthy! And Lucas... ah Lucas! This was his first swim class... he did good toward the end of the class (and I know that it takes him time to warm up to situations), but I worry that he has designated himself the boy who doesn't follow directions. On a rather funny note... when introducing himself to the coach, Lucas proclaimed his name to be "Lucas blah" (I don't know why he says "blah" after many things, but it's something that he's picked up along the way from Clara). Anyway... for the remainder of the class, the coach referred to him as Lucas Black, so I kept hearing "Lucas Black, feet in the pool" and "Lucas Black, feet down" and "Lucas Black, turn and face me"... you get the idea. After swim, we headed home for lunch and Eli's nap. By the time Eli woke up, it was 3:30p. A friend recently commented that swim was going to make me unavailable to do other things this summer and I was sure she was wrong... swim is only in the morning after all! Well, if today is any indication of what our days will be like, then I'm extremely sad to say she might be right after all.

Clean Bill of Health

Lucas had his follow up appointment with the doctor today. The main concern was Lucas' ears, to find out if the Claritin was enough to get his Eustachian tubes functioning properly. After a visual examination, the doctor was pleased to see that there was no fluid and the tissue looked pink and healthy. He even had Lucas retake the auditory screening. All of Lucas' results were within normal range!! His lungs sounded clear, his nose and throat looked clear (which was a major difference from the last appointment). However, the biggest news (at least for me) that came from this appointment was his weight. In three weeks, he put on three pounds!! In three weeks he gained more weight than he did over the whole of last year. I know that his ears were the major point of concern, but having dealt with his weight issues now for over 4 years... that was definitely my focus. So the doctor wants me to stop administering the Claritin at the beginning of July. I understand his reasons (the Claritin was meant to help alleviate the allergy reaction from pollen), but he is doing so well now, I hate the idea of taking away the medication when dust is another major allergen, which is around constantly. I'm going to try not to obsess about what might happen next month and just revel in the fact that my boy is really healthy for maybe the first time in his life!

No worries

It's been two weeks since Lucas started on the doctor's allergy control regimen. I thought it would be a good idea to post an update. His appetite has become insatiable. He will eat his meal and then a couple hours later be hungry again. A few times he has even asked for seconds at mealtime. Those close to us know our struggles with Lucas and food. He was never hungry and at mealtime had to be forced to eat (most of the time this involved Jason actually feeding him!). So it really is amazing to see him with this huge appetite. And this is just part of it! He is sleeping so much better, too. Not only is he sleeping more soundly during the night, but he is also sleeping later in the mornings. I wish that I could say that all this resting and eating has given him more energy, but I honestly wouldn't know... he still prefers playing on the computer to running around outside. He is supposed to see the doctor for a follow-up visit (to check his ears) and I have to say... I'm anxious to see how much he weighs.

Ironically, I was just writing about how Eli's teeth have been super slow about breaking through, and then all of a sudden this past week... two new teeth have popped out. I'm wondering if more are on their way.

Last week Clara started Little Vikings, which is the junior swim team at our neighborhood pool. It's really more of an intense swim lesson. The hope is that the kids who are on the Little Vikings swim team will graduate and become Vikings, which is the competitive swim team. It's quite a commitment for both Clara and me. It's every day through July 17. Clara is loving it right now. For the first two weeks, it's all about the coaches getting familiar with the skills of each child, then the kids will get divided up into smaller groups with similar swimming abilities. Today, she was so excited that even after all the kids were dismissed, she continued practicing. She even jumped into the pool all by herself... multiple times!!

This evening we had quite a thunderstorm. After I coaxed Clara and Lucas out of their "safety room" (the library where they were hunkered down with their lantern in case the power went out), we stood at the glass door just watching the sheets of rain pour down. What the kids liked most was watching the hail (yes.. hail!) bounce around on the ground. They would scream and then laugh each time the hail bounced off the ground and hit the glass.

Allergies

Lucas' allergy test was this morning. Growing up, I've heard about allergy tests, but when the doctor was trying to describe to me what he was going to be doing to Lucas, I envisioned something completely different. So when we were in the exam room and the doctor started the procedure, I was completely unprepared for Lucas actually being in PAIN. The moment I realized that Lucas was being poked with needles, I felt horrible. I don't know exactly what I could have done differently though... there is no way to prepare a 4 year old without scaring him. The silver lining was that the whole procedure only took about 20 seconds. The doctor covered Lucas' back with 54 (I repeat... 54!) needle pricks! Luckily, the doctor didn't have to poke Lucas 54 times, only 9 times (thanks to the needle sets that each had 6 prongs). Anyway... after the first poke, Lucas knew he didn't like it and was writhing and crying. This is the same boy that doesn't cry at shots and just watched the nurse prick his thumb and squeeze blood out of it at one of the last appointments, so I knew it must really be hurting him. After all the poking was complete, the doctor said that he would be back with the results in 20 minutes, set a hand timer and left us. Poor Lucas continued to cry for at least 7 minutes and not even a lollipop would calm him. Once he calmed down, he was fine. In fact, tonight at dinner, I wanted him to tell Jason about his doctor's appointment and the only information he willingly gave was the fact that the doctor gave him a lollipop that he sucked on until he could see the stick. After a few prompts, he finally told Jason about how the doctor poked him on his back. It must not have been quite as tramatic as it seemed sitting in that exam room.

As far as the results go... he definitely has allergies, all of which are the inhalant type (ie, dust, mold, pollen). I was having nightmares about finding out that he was allergic to milk or nuts... considering that his main source of nutrition are milk and peanut butter & jelly! On the doctor's scale of 0 to 4 rating the severity of the allergy (4 being the absolute worst), Lucas' worst were 2s, which hopefully means that they are fairly mild. Of course, mild or severe is irrelevent when they are causing all these other issues (low weight, hearing loss, etc). So the course of action at this point is getting Lucas' bedroom as allergen-free as possible. This means getting him an allergy control barrier for his mattress, box springs, and pillow, making sure that his room is free of dust and pollen, and giving him a dose of Claritin every morning. The doctor wants a follow-up in mid June to check on how he is doing and seeing if this plan of attack has helped his eustachian tubes function properly. If there hasn't been any change, then at that time he may have Lucas start using a nasal spray. The doctor is optimistic that Lucas' allergies are mild enough to be controlled without allergy shots, so that is definitely a good thing. I guess I need to start looking into getting that allergy control barrier for his bed! The doctor did say that the chances are pretty high that Eli has some similar allergies, so now that the boys are sharing a bedroom, whatever I'm doing to help Lucas will also be helping Eli.

Just Eli

Tomorrow is Lucas' appointment for his allergy test. I felt like since that will probably encompass much of my next post and it seems like Eli has been getting left out a bit, that this post should just be about the littlest member of our family and how he's getting along.

Eli is constantly wanting to be with the big kids. He probably thinks he is a big kid. Whatever it is that the older two are doing, Eli will find a way to do it too. Sometimes he will struggle to get right in the midst of whatever is going on (like when they are playing a board game and Eli will climb into the chair with Clara and scatter game pieces all over the table and floor). Sometimes he will watch them carefully and then when they move on to a different activity, he will go and mimic what they were doing previously (a good example is how he mimics Lucas playing on the computer by just standing in front of the computer and moving the mouse around). Another good example is when the kids are brushing their teeth, Eli will use his whole body to push the older sibling off the stool. It is amazing to me that this little guy can outmaneuver his two older bigger siblings! Of course, I've already mentioned in a previous post how much he is loving being in the same bedroom as Lucas... how he will just smile as he watches Lucas gets into bed. One thing that I find rather amusing is that he will show interest in something just because Clara or Lucas are interested in it, like certain cartoons (he wouldn't watch them on his own, but if they are sitting there watching, you can bet he will be too).

He has recently really taken an interest in activities that require focused attention, like reading books and doing puzzles. Before now, he wouldn't sit still for any stories, except for his bedtime stories (which were always super short, like Goodnight Moon). Now, he has taken a real interest in listening to real stories. His current favorites are Clifford books and Thomas books. He absolutely loves it when the trains in the Thomas books sound their horns: "peep peep" and then he'll repeat the sound, "peep peep". Although he does like puzzles and stories, nothing can quite compare to his cars. Those would easily be his all-time favorite toy. His pattern of play is pretty consistent. He will go and get two cars, bring them to where he wants to play, line them up and then zoom them back and forth, occasionally looking up to smile.

Words are coming... slowly. He still uses "eh" and "mmm" to express much of what he says, but every so often he will mimic a sound or a series of words. Tonight at dinner, I asked the family who was hungry, to which Clara responded loudly "I am", followed almost immediately by Eli's mimicking voice. He doesn't yet articulate, of course, so his "I am" sounds more like "mm mum", but the inflection and tone are exact replicas. His list of words that are understandable has grown slightly to include ball, dog, outside, bite, nose (which he will point to as he says it), and goodnight. There may be more, but that's all that I can think of right now. He also knows everybody in the family by name, including Grammy and Papa (who were just here for a visit), Nana (who he talks to on the phone sometimes) and himself (he'll finish the sentence "and now it's time to say goodnight to..." by saying "eeeei", which obviously is Eli).

I think his teeth are actually coming slower than the words. He still only has 10 teeth, no new ones in over a month, but luckily he doesn't need all of his teeth to eat... he eats just fine normally. In fact, he far out-eats Lucas and at times will give Clara some serious competition. As much as he eats, it seems like he should weigh a whole lot more than he does.

Some other miscellaneous notes about Eli: he loves to walk outside, he hates water coming down on him (i.e. rain and showers), he loves to sing, he hates to have his hands dirty, and he is a fitful sleeper (tossing and turning all night).

I know that things with him will change constantly, but I feel like this gives a nice snapshot of what he's like right now.