Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, my Micah Moo.  It's hard to believe that you're six years old.  I'm looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring as you continue to amaze us.

Bits and Jots

Once upon a time, I wrote a blog, not well and definitely not often, but I tried to maintain a chronicle of what was going on in our lives.  Having kids who have school and social lives, plus working full-time, has just about drained my batteries for blogging - and life has just been sort of normal:  no surgeries, relatively few doctors' appointments, no traveling. 

But every now and then there is a pang of guilt and today was one of those days.

I now have most Fridays off, which I am loving, loving, loving.  Not that I am actually accomplishing much, but sometimes it's not about how much I get done.

I've gone to a Friday Souper Sew and a The Sew Must Go On at Olde City Quilts, so I am still trying to sew and quilt.  I am also starting a Saturday Sampler at Pennington Quilt Works.  It's $30 for the starting package and then if the month's square is finished by the next Saturday Sampler meeting, the next square is free.  If it's not finished, the next square costs $6.

This morning I went to Ying Hua International School, Thea's alma mater for Pre-K through grade 1, to talk to the preschool class about nursing.  Though it wasn't much of a talk, it was more of a hands-on, let's try out the stethoscope and bandage up the classroom's stuffed animals.  The class was just so cute: there was the jump-right-in-with-boundless-enthusiasm kid, the shy-guy who has to warm up to what's going on, but once he does, he figures out how to disassemble the oto-ophthalmoscope, the little girl who has some mad bandaging skills and does it perfectly the first time.  I don't think they learned all that much about nursing, but I think they had fun.

Meanwhile, the kids are taking skating classes on Saturday mornings.  Thea's taking another trip through Alpha 2 during the next session; Micah is going back on the ice mostly to hang out with his friend, Benjamin.

Thea is in her second year of  Brownies, accumulating a few more patches and badges for me to sew on, selling cookies - it's her one chance to hang out with girls her own age.  We've been having friends from school over: Tommy, Jeffrey, Adam, for Wii dates.  We're lucky because Adam comes conveniently packaged with Veronica, who is in Kindergarten with Micah - and they live right up Krebs Road from us.  How lucky is that?  Thea just finished up her stint on Rainbow Patrol, which is her school's version of safety patrol, keeping kindergarteners from running in the halls.  The Third Grade Chorus is getting ready for the Spring Concert, chorus day is one day we have not problem getting Thea off to school; she already singing most of the spring program.

Micah is a chatterbox, much too much at times. Still needs a lot of working on patience, waiting and taking turns in conversation.  He's starting to read, which is a skill that also seems to require more patience than he is capable of.  Micah has a "I just want to do it, dammit" attitude, which just mesh with patiently trying to put the sounds that letters make into words.  After ice skating, it will be time to decide whether it's Spring Soccer or something else for him.

The 100th day of school has come and gone.  I've got to look up how this tradition came into being, it was not on the school calendar at Lewisdale Elementary School in the mid- to late 1960s.  There was an assembly at school, which Thea found to be too loud.  If the school year is about 180 days long, why would the 100th day be more of a cause for celebration than the 90th day or wherever the half way point falls?

Time to cut and sew. . . .

Back to the Winter Routine. . . .

Thea is off at skating lessons - she is in Alpha 2 and is happy as a clam that her friend Jeffrey will also be in the class.  Jeffrey was one class ahead of Thea but he didn't pass Alpha 2.  Micah went along to the rink (he's no fool, he wants the hot cocoa and the french fries without having to do the ice time to earn them).

The decorations and lights came off the Christmas tree, so this afternoon we'll see if the tree bag helps contain the mess or whether needles will be vacuumed up for the next six months or so.  It was a great tree, so the job of tree selection is Thea's.

Yesterday Thea's Brownie troop had an awards ceremony to give the girls the Try-Its and patches they'd earned over the past four months.  Thea had nine, so rather than hand-stitch them, I broke out the sewing machine and sewed them on. (Yes, I do know the badges are allegedly iron-on, but it doesn't last, and why buy 'Patch Attach' adhesive when I have a sewing machine.)  I have one thing to say to those who design the patches to commemorate the events: squares, triangles, and rectangles.  Sewing my way around a little reindeer was a complete pain in the butt.

Micah and I made the trip up the Turnpike to Englewood to see Dr. Choe.  Micah sat patiently while the debris was plucked from his ear canals, went off with Courtney the audiologist to the booth and back in to see Dr. Choe.  The audiogram is about the best result that a person who has had bilateral atresia repair can get: mild conductive hearing loss, meaning Micah is within 10dB of someone with normal hearing.  For his 'pain and suffering', we made a trip to Target.  (There is neither pain nor suffering, I no longer even help hold his head still; he giggles and says it tickles.)

Closing Out 2011

It's Hanukkah already?  Micah's first year lighting candles on his own.  We live for danger, and the fire extinguisher is just ten feet away.

And so it begins. . . .

Seriously, Mom?  A puppy hat?

Christmas Day, after starting to cook dinner but before we remembered the stockings.

Dinner, with stuffing recipes courtesy of Mom and Mina

Creamed Spinach, Mom's recipe again, two thumbs up from Thea and it only took one call to Florida

The stunned look of people who realized that Mom cooked an entire holiday dinner and it's actually edible.

Photo by Emad Al Junaidi:  Dinner stop at Annapolis Mall on the way home from dropping off Oma.  Front row: Micah, Nadia and Thea, back row: Norah, Janet and me

11:59:59 pm New Year's Eve, Rocking in 2012 with a gang who knows how to party

Thea's contribution to the Third Grade Heritage Festival on December 23, 2011, German cookies

Second Night of Hanukkah

Christmas Eve, after the children were snug in their bed

The 2011 Christmas Card Photo

Our last day of 2011 included a trip to the Apple store at Freehold Mall to sort out an issue with an iTunes card.  It affirmed all the reasons why I prefer shopping online.  Noise, chaos both in the mall and particularly in the Apple store, and no parking.  Fortunately the geek girl helped me sort out the issue and by the time we were home, the email with the resolution to the problem was in my in-box.

The holidays were good, it was the first Christmas spent in New Jersey for us.  We're usually in Maryland with my mother - and I have been with my mother for every Christmas, ever.  And this year was no different because after opening presents, making Christmas dinner, I flew to Tampa to fly home the next day with my mother who was visiting her cousin.  Sauerkraut, red cabbage, lentil soup and roast pork - a second, near midnight Christmas dinner.   Sauerkraut and lentil soup for breakfast.  Heaven.

Oma spent another night with us on her way home to Maryland, which the kids loved - though out six hour drive in the rain down I-95 back to LaPlata no one loved.  On our way back home to New Jersey we met up with our friends at the Cheesecake Factory, and the kids got to torture Uncle Emad while I got to catch up with Aunt Janet.

Good-bye to 2011, you were a decent year, for me at least.  The kids are doing well, are happy and healthy.  Micah is in a 'regular' kindergarten, Thea is in third grade at Wicoff Elementary. This is the last year they will be in the same school until Thea's last year of high school and Micah's first.

Fast Fragments

If video killed the radio, Facebook is on its way to killing the blog.  November was (once) National Blog Post Month where bloggers would try to write a post for all thirty days.  I decided to take in a new direction and not post at all.  Not a single day.

Not that there wasn't stuff going on, the perfect storm of time to write, my laptop and energy for the task.

So now we're in December, soccer is over, our trip to Oma's for the National Lutheran Home's Fall Festival is past, parent-teacher conferences were held, Thanksgiving came and went, the Christmas tree is up, the Wicoff School Third Grade Chorus concert was a success and the downhill roll to Christmas and Hanukkah is in full swing.

In the meantime, Micah has acquired a TOD (teacher of the deaf) who comes to his classroom a few times per week to work with him on his listening skills.  He's a sponge for any special attention, so he seems to enjoy working with her.

So basically I'm waiting for the Winter Solstice and the feeling that there is even just a shred more daylight at the end of the day. . . .

Photos to be added when time permits.  I'm happy that I finally got one good shot of the kids to be used for our holiday card, and the cards might actually get mailed out right around Christmas. . . . .

School Picture Day

School picture day:  No one goes to school happy.  I vetted Thea's outfit with her last night, so the only thing she's annoyed about is that the top is a little longer ("It's almost a dress!") and she has gym today.  Micah didn't like his shirt, a long sleeve button-down but he was mom-handled into it.  Then he rebelled and said that his BAHA was too noisy, and trying out every possible twirl of the volume wheel did not improve things, so he was just being ornery.

It took much studying to figure out which package to buy - and between all the add-ons: different backgrounds, retouching, borders, CD or email delivery, it was annoying.  I chose the $13.00 package with standard grey background for each. 

Thea told me that her picture will also be used in the third grade yearbook.  I told her that "back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I was in school, yearbooks didn't start until 7th grade."  To which she responded, "Mommy, you weren't alive when dinosaurs were on the Earth."  I think she missed the message, but by that time we were at the door to Wicoff, so it was time for a quick kiss for each.

GoalFest 3v3 Tournament

Today was a great day!  Six weeks or so ago, I registered the children for a three-on-three soccer tournament.  Thea played in it last year and loved it, both are playing in the recreational league this year and doing well - so it made sense, until I realized that the date coincided with Steve being away.

Oops.

Particularly since the schedule wasn't published until several days before the event, so I didn't know if I would need to be in two places at once.

Which is how it turned out.  Both Micah's kindergarten boys team, the Goal Scorers, and Thea's third grade girls team played in the even-numbered time slots.

Until one of the three kindergarten boys teams came up short a player, so Micah was re-shirted as a Raptor, and played three games on their schedule, then after lunch he was back on the Goal Scorers. He was on the field in just about every time slot from 11 am until 1:30 pm.

So when the teams he played for came in second and third, he got trophies for both.  Not out of greed, I sent him up to get the third place trophy with his original team, but the mother of one of the Raptors took a second place trophy for Micah.  Thankfully Thea's team won first place, otherwise a major snit would have ensued.

Unlike last years small, somewhat unobtrusive trophies, this year we have huge trophies topped by shooting stars.

Yippee.

Thea got out of 30 minutes of Mandarin because the awards ceremony ran late, Micah went off with his cheering section, Tesh, Mary and Jesse while Thea and I went to Rider.  (He was so cute, announcing to all of his coaches that "My babysitter is coming to watch me play.") Then we all met up for dinner.

The kids, all four of them, had a blast, so watching them have such fun with each other more than makes up for having to dust those damn trophies.  Thea has taken her three soccer trophies (two from GoalFest, one for participation last year) and created a little shrine to her athleticism on top of a cardboard canister that previously housed all the sabers and swords.