Why play Rummy Kube when I can just critique others?

Sam was in hog heaven, literally, today. Swimming in the mud in the pond in VT. He soaked his clothing 3-4 times that I know of, and yet it never occurred to any of us to put a bathing suit on him.

Babysitter Extraordinaire and I took The Little Person to the science museum in Montshire. Unfortunately the on ramp to 91 was closed, so it took us an extra fifteen minutes to get there. We had such a great time that we decided to try out one of their short trails and. ended up at the water activities outside at the back of the museum. The Little Person got soaking wet, had a meltdown and was only mildly assuaged by the water BE got by buying juice, chugging half, emptying it and filling it with water.

I made a decent tikka masala for dinner with chicken, and opted out of round three of Rummy Kube. I will be up at four tomorrow and I want to be ready!
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School Lunch

Preparing school aged children's lunches has got to b one of the most thankless jobs on the planet. Aside from the fact that kids have less developed taste buds; kids are notoriously picky. What they like one week or one day for that matter, they probably won't like at another point. There's the fact that most lunches cannot be heated or refrigerated, and the waste from what is not eaten. Plus, what about they buy at school to eat? Then there are the allergies both for your child and the children they interact with. I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but sometimes what my kids eat for lunch doesn't lend itself to being packed up for school.

This summer I will need to pack two lunches every day that my children may or may not eat. That their teachers or grownups in charge will see and tell me whether they ate or not. They say they don't judge but, I know they are wondering why I send the soup when clearly child number one or two won't eat it.

These are the things I think about. Believe it....or not.
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Here's the Story, of a Girl Named Ami

So, here's my question about blogging. If I haven't blogged in a while, am I obligated to catch you all up with every detail that has happened since we last spoke? Because frankly, I don't remember most of it. Certainly not the tasty little tidbits you come here for. If I was forced (by my own self) to recount the last seven days, I fear I'd only remember the obvious facts, rather than the nuances that make a great story.

I promise to recommit myself to you, dear readers, if you give me another chance. I'll try not to have it go on this long again.

The good news is that Sam is getting an iPad for school. That is a huge relief. I still feel behind on doing daily one-on-one work with Sam, so I need to get on that. He continues to get up at an absurd hour, one that I will not repeat, since I will be visiting it in about six hours. Through The Little Person, we've made friends that I hope enjoy us as much as we do them. I feel struck by my recent realization that Sam is moving ahead in grade levels he surely hasn't passed. I'm still trying to come to terms with that.

I've found Sam a new swimming instructor, who will teach him at her home pool. We are crossing our fingers that this works out. The Little Person is going to learn from her as well. I'm cautiously optimistic...

We are working on some potential house renovations. Trying to alleviate some small problems, and also to stay in our house during construction. For Sam. Moving out would be really stressful for me as far as keeping an eye on Sam. Our house is such a safe haven for us with him. I don't think I'd realized that until just now. Have a few nice trips planned for the next several months. Without children. Taking advantage of the opportunity to connect with close friends from Juneau and high school (me).

The Little Person and I (and Gram today) have been going to the beach at the lake. I have really enjoyed it. It's a cool option to have nearby. I am looking forward to taking Sam. I think I will bring buddy, to be helpful with Sam (or The Little Person). Vegetable garden is coming along. More planting to do!

The thing that has taken up a lot of our time, at least our thinking time, is discussion about renovating our house. We would like to give the outside character as well as curb appeal and renovate two of the bathrooms. What we do is spend lots of time driving around and discussing what we like, or looking up pictures on the internet. Or drawing pictures (M, not me) to explain our ideas.

That's all I got. For now.

The Newest Member of Our Family

The Cecils have been busy watching frog TV. Max the frog is the newest member of our family. He has his own tank, picked out by The Little Person, along with a live plant, blue rocks, and a Spongebob figurine. The bet in our house is how long we can go before we have to buy a new frog...The kids are very happy to sit and watch Max, and it's killing them not to feed him constantly and tap on the glass. So right now he is on the kitchen table so they can be supervised and M and I can frog-sit.

Sam had a great day at school today. He even got up in the 5 o'clock hour, for a change. He is doing a little of the crazy laugh, otherwise known as inappropriate laughing. I know it sounds like a small thing, but he keeps coming over and hysterically laughing at Max the frog, very loud, in my ear, and it's driving me a little nuts. I can hear him laughing in the basement right now...

It's nice to have a weekend at home, and we are not going anywhere, but it's also a weekend largely without childcare. Fortunately, Babysitter Extraordinaire is coming to save us on Sunday night. Also, I am feeling TONS better, and a lot less exhausted since I started taking my medicine at night. Now I can stop Googling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I even managed to call a contractor to set up a meet and greet for our potential house renovation. Looking for a low-key, if not relaxing weekend of house/yard chores, and frog TV (and a little yoga...). We finally planted our vegetable garden, and it makes me happy to look at our little seedlings. Still working on security measures so that little creatures don't enjoy our strawberries before we do!

Next week, we meet with Sam's team to discuss the school purchasing an iPad for him. I am also exploring after school activities for him. I would like to find a good swimming situation for him again, and I have a wild idea about finding him a music teacher. On my longer term list is calling back the Dr. at the sleep clinic, but since I can't wrap my head around him having a sleep study, I have been procrastinating.

I have been too tired and as a result overwhelmed to even think about most of the things on my to do list, but now that I'm BACk, maybe I'll be able to take care of a few things. I am feeling guilty about not having done computer work with Sam after school in a while. Also, i need to find him a developmental pediatrician, and consider an eye exam. And did I mention he will need a spacer in his mouth since one of the teeth he got pulled won't come in for several years?

The Cecil Diet is going swimmingly. I haven't lost much weight, but I feel less squishy, if that makes any sense. I may have to cut out my current daily cheat-the chai tea latte one-cuppers that M bought me by accident instead of plain chai tea, and now I love first thing in the morning...

Working on a couple of mini-vacations, which give me something to daydream about at the crack of dawn, when I am up with Sam. I feel so lucky to be in a place with the kids and our life that I can even consider that. Reminds me of how far we've come and how many people we have to thank.

The Farm, The Walk, The Birthday, The Moms

Last time on Sammy Noodles...

Okay, so Tangerini Spring Street Farm was awesome. Besides the name. We even met Mr. and Mrs. Tangerini, the farmers. We picked greens, fed goats, played in the sandbox, hid in the hay maze and had ice cream. We also made some new friends, besides the barn cat. It was a beautiful setting, and a great way to wile away a Thursday afternoon. They even have farm shares just for flowers! I may have to get me one of those.

The NECC (New England Center for Children) 5K Walk/Run was Saturday morning. We split up the family, so M could take The Little Person to his soccer game with Grammy, and Babysitter Extraordinaire and I (she even drives my car!) could take Sam to the walk. Small flaw in the plan. The Weather From Hell. The Little Person arrived at his game, got on the field, the thunder started, and his coach promptly got them off and the game was cancelled. At first he was the only person who moved and responded to the thunder and lightening (M said everyone else kinda stood there and continued playing for a few minutes).

Sam and I picked up Babysitter Extraordinaire, she got in the driver's seat, and we drove to the venue. After we got there, we spent some time milling around in a building filled with other participants, none from our team, chasing Sam. Then we found the team, took a team picture, and they cancelled the walk. So we tried to register/get our bags of stuff, but the waiting was hard. Someone from Sam's school said they would collect everyone's bags, so we took off! We stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get Sam a chocolate glazed donut and put on a movie for him (god bless the DVD player in the headrests I got for my birthday). Then we dropped off BE, and Sam and I drove home to prepare for the party. After being up since 4 and driving around for 3 hours, I was pretty tired, so I barked out some crabby comments and then my family was happy for me to take a nap.

The party was GREAT! We waited till 4PM to make the call on the bouncy house because the weather was so iffy. We decided to go for it, and it was well worth it, even though we did have to unplug it a couple of times when the rain started. It turned out to be a really good mix of people, and I'm pretty sure everyone made some new friends. The food turned out well (thank you, Bob), and the Spiderman cake was AWESOME! No fighting or crying from the kids, and every adult seemed engaged in conversation with somebody else. We realized that this was our first real party since living here, and I think I would do it again. Sam loved blowing out his candles, and even got some alone time in the bouncy house. The only problem was that there was no official present opening, and the presents got opened and played with throughout the night, so we have no idea what was from who!

The next day, Mom, MIL and got massages and went for a nice lunch. I think everyone had a nice day. The MIL said it was the best massage she's ever had! The Mom wanted to stay all day and get more treatments! But we moved on to the lunch spot, found a great spot to have coffee, and then wandered next door for lunch. I had a lobster risotto which I ate every bite of. It was not heavy like I expected, and had wonderful peas in it. The pomegranate mimosa may have helped...We did a little shopping/wandering around and then took the long way home. I arrived to a beautiful pot of hydrangeas from my family. I was inspired by the 5 huge sweet potatoes we had, so I volunteered to make sweet potato enchiladas for dinner. A few games of Rummy Kube later and we called it a night. All's well that ends well.

Oh, a P.S. The boys made me really great presents for Mother's Day. It was really special to unwrap their gifts and read there homemade cards. I think it was my best Mother's Day ever!

With New Eyes

My goal for this week is to observe and appreciate The Little Person. Sure, he does a lot of things that drive me nuts, but he is beautiful and funny and Little. Still little. And I want to enjoy him while I can. While he still wants to be with me. I feel like I spend so much of my time yelling at him lately, and instead I am trying to have empathy. To snuggle a little extra, smile instead of getting mad, and be on his side a little more. So far, it's working.

Today we are going to Tangerini's Farm, in Millis. Friends of ours have a share as part of a CSA program, and gave it to us while they are on vacation this week. I don't think there is a whole lot growing yet, but I think it will be fun to go see the farm and the plants and animals. Plus, they have ice-cream.

Personally, I am exhausted. I feel like a broken record about the tired thing, but there we are. My mini goal for the day is to squeeze in a rest period. Maybe it is something beyond getting up at 4 that is making me so low energy. I think I will consider that...after a nap.

Sam took his iPad to school today to try it out in that venue. M took off all of the fun apps, so we'll see how that goes. So far, I'm going with no news is good news. This weekend is the 5K fundraising walk for the school that partners with Sam's program in our town. I haven't done a very good job fundraising, mainly because I hate to do it. It's still on my list, so maybe I'll get some sort of request/plea out tonight. Then on Saturday night we have Sam's birthday party. I am actually looking forward to it. I hope he enjoys it.

Thing One And Thing Two

Let's see, it has been a while. I had a post started, but now it seems to dated and tangential. I meant to post half a dozen times, but things kept happening. Not important things, just things. Make sense?

Sam has been good overall i guess, but weirdly into things. M's shaving cream. The matches. The pump soap. The knives (he actually is a good cutter). So there is that. And, recovering our schedule and structure post vacation. There has been more TV watching and more snacking then I would like. And he and I haven't done as much computer work lately as we had been prior to our trip. But I'm too tired to protest or put in the extra effort to change the situation. I don't know if it's his early wakings, or something in my own body, but I have been fairly low energy lately. Also, I seem not to have a lot of patience. And I feel frustrated at not keeping up on this blog, and generally being behind on my own stuff. And yet, I'm too tired to do much about it. At least not cheerfully.

That said, we had a great weekend in Vermont. It was fairly warm and humid, and so we spent a lot of time outside, running around, hiking and playing. Sam spent some time in the muddy pond, and there were some water squirters involved in the festivities. We even went to lunch at The Long Trail Brewery, on a particularly nice day. The kids did okay, but I remember feeling stressed and annoyed. We also got to have a nice dinner out at the home of some Alaskan friends now living east. Plus, there were a couple of additional Alaskan folks we hadn't seen since we've been back. So it was a very nice, comfortable evening with old friends. Then we arrived back to get the evening report from my MIL. Apparently there was some shaving cream shenanigans from both children, and they made a huge mess.

We went to the Aquatic center in White River Junction, Vermont on the way home yesterday. We purposely went on a weekday, and it was fairly empty. Which was perfect for us. the kids had a ball, and we enjoyed ourselves too. They had a water slide, a splash park/water playground area, and a lazy river (my favorite). The price was reasonable, and the staff couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating as we tried to prevent Sam from running, or going down the water slide head first. After the kids were exhausted, we left, bribing them with the lure of french fries. Amazingly, we didn't hit traffic, even leaving the Aquatic center after 3PM.

We came home and had a BBQ with my parents. They got all the food, and M just had to grill. I had just had it with the kids by this point, but the cherry on top was when we went to put the kids to bed, and take a walk while my Mom stayed at the house. M went to start the process, and found The Little Person in the bathroom, on the toilet. Great. Not so great was the poop on the floor. Apparently, he somehow didn't make it, squatted on the floor, and then got on the toilet. And got it on the shower curtain, his pants and other things I won't mention. M was in the think of it and didn't want me to come in and help, so I didn't. When we were finally walking later, I said that I was sorry he'd had to deal with that. he said it was fine. I said, "No, I'm really sorry, that sucked."

My loving husband looked at me and said, "I just felt bad for you." Confused, I asked why. M replied, " Because all I could think (while it was happening) was how I never want to have a dog again. Because that's what it reminded me of. Having to clean dog poop off the rug. And I feel bad for you, because I know how much you want one." And I was quiet. I knew I was supposed to feel sympathy for M having to deal with the whole encounter. But instead, I was pissed at the loving husband and the evil child for ruining my puppy dreams.