Ringing Out/Wringing Out 2010

 Last day of the year, one that I think was a good one for all of us, despite the quantity of whining found here.

(My) Mom finished her chemotherapy on March 15, 2010, and has grown back her hair which has turned more silver and curly.  Now if she's just take the wig and wig stand off of her dresser;  it looks like an aging Peruvian guinea pig.  She is back to being feisty enough to resent the follow up appointments with her oncologist, and one day she may realize that wrestling with unruly hair is better than wrestling with the after effects of chemo (though I give her major props for making chemo look easy.)

We moved to our new house on July 9, 2010, and most of the worst traces of the former owners' horrible decorating choices were eliminated by last week.  (Good-bye ugly brown powder room; old, dated borders around the top of most of the rooms upstairs; the dark,depressing royal blue bedroom with the blood red closet; the ugly green focus wall in the master bathroom, none of you will be missed.)  Thank you to Mike who offered good advice on colors, but also did not question some of my more quirky, Crayola choices.  I should have taken pictures of all the ugliness to regale you with the before and after of the transitions.

The kids had a good summer at their various camps; Micah is still talking about Princeton Friends Camp six months later and is anticipating going back.  Steve learned about the caring for the above-ground swimming pool at the new house, and the cost of the pool chemicals responsible for getting the pool to go from slimy green to blue did not bankrupt us.

We had a good week at Bethany Beach with Oma - our third trip back to a house that Thea and I first stayed at with Oma and Aunt Shannon in 2005 and we re-visited in 2007 just after returning from China with Micah.  This year we were joined by cousins for a night, which was wonderful.  Even if no one remembers the name of the hooker who rented a room from my great aunt (a room she called 'My Blue Heaven' according to my mother.)  The kids discovered boogie boarding and we learned that schlepping all the beach gear is so much easier with the little red wagon the children got from their aunt and uncle for Christmas last year.

Thea is involved with Girl Scouts, recreational soccer and ice skating, and for all that I might complain about missing her Mandarin-immersion school and the fury of the 2010 opening of the Mandarin charter school being thwarted, going to public school has made her more at ease in new social situations.

Micah had his second atresia surgery to construct his left ear canal on March 23, 2010, and a revision of his first surgery on September 28, 2010. We're probably the only parents to schedule surgeries around swimming lessons and pool/beach season, so that keeping him out of water didn't spoil his summer.  Micah's speech and language is on par with his normal hearing peers.  He loves his friends at his two preschools and is the social butterfly of the family.

We have a bottle of Sparkling White Grape Juice chilling in the refrigerator, Chinese take-out, chips and salsa and popcorn waiting.  Thea wants to stay up for the New Year.  Last year she fell asleep at 11:45 pm, this year she just might be awake for the arrival of 2011.

Happy (and healthy) New Year to all.  Thanks to all who have stopped by, and double thanks to those who have left comments along the way.

TBTB (Too busy to blog)

Too busy or so I think. It's just been more of the usual stuff on weekends, birthday parties for the kids' friends, ice skating lessons, the end of soccer, a few weeks were I worked all five days instead of having Mondays and Fridays off, and so on and on with the mundane details of everyday life.

Micah had both of his parent-teacher conferences and is a normal four-year old in terms of his speech and hearing, so this has us feeling confident enough to allow him to try the Mandarin-immersion charter school's kindergarten in the Fall.  He's still wearing one BAHA on school days, but on weekends at home, the BAHA is off more than it's on and it doesn't seem to make that much of a difference.  The post about his latest evaluation by the audiologist and Dr. Choe beat this one onto the blog

Thea's soccer and Girl Scouts have finished up for now; Brownies will start back up in January 2011.  Her only extra-curricular right now is the Mandarin language school on Sunday afternoons.

Our Christmas tree is up, we picked it up at a local farm.  The guy helping us was good at picking a nice full tree (I told him I have a lot of ornaments and we used to be able to have a 10+ foot tree at the old house.)  Decorating took until about 2 am after we got it in the stand, and it's a nice hodgepodge of about 80% of the ornaments that I've collected or been given.  We (read: I) decorate on the inside, I'm not into outdoor lights.  Why make PSE&G's holiday merry and bright?  Our neighborhood is a mix of Griswolds and Grinches, so there is no shame in not putting lights up.

Meanwhile the kids are looking forward to Winter Break and going to Maryland to see Oma.  I'm looking forward to a few days where I don't need to pack lunch boxes and make dinner - or look at a garage full of boxes.

Micah's Atresia Surgery Follow-Up

Note to self:  No more 9:00am appointments in Englewood, the NJ Turnpike traffic just sucks at around Exit 13/Exit 14.  I have become a lazy suburban slug, and do not cope will with ill-mannered, opportunistic weasels who do not believe in the use of the turn signals.  I hope they all get coal in their stockings.

The first part of the appointment was with the audiologist, Courtney.  Micah likes her, and she gives stickers, so his cooperation was no problem.  Then we had to park in the inside waiting area for his appointment with Dr. Choe.  Since I had two Matchbox cars in the back of the car waiting for the next trip to Englewood, Micah made bridges and garages out of brochures while another patient's spouse grilled me about Micah's ears.  This fairly observant guy noticed Micah's ear canals are behind his ear cartilage instead of in front of them.  Even without benefit of caffeine, I played the part of spokesperson for microtia/atresia because at the end of the story I could say that Micah is a normal four-year old in terms of speech and language and then resume playing Matchbox cars with him.

When Dr. Choe called Micah's name, he shot out of the waiting area and gave the doctor a running knee-level hug.  The report from the audiologist is that Micah still has a mild conductive hearing loss.  Dr. Choe took out the debris from the ear canals.  The right tympanic membrane has healed well and right where it should be.  The hearing loss is likely due to fluid behind the tympanic membrane, and since we're giving him Sudafed, Claritin and Nasonex there isn't much else to be done other than teaching him how to blow his nose.

The twice per week Ciprodex ear drops are finished, other than after going swimming.  Only swimming in chlorinated pools, no ocean or fresh water.  So good thing the pool at the hotel were staying at while in Maryland over the holiday is very, very well chlorinated if our past stays are any indication.

After the visit, Micah picked out a plastic camel from the toy basket (despite other more appealing choices), and we went out to the desk to make the follow up appointment in FOUR months.  We've never gone that long between appointments since just prior to the first surgery in August 2009.  Very good news since it will be April before we need to make the trip again.  Which almost counts as a Christmas present for me.

Went to Target for Micah's reward, standard operating procedure.  Picked up two more birthday party gifts for Micah's friends, Cameron and Max, had pizza with him and then dropped him off at Dutch Neck and made it to work by 1:15 pm.

Photo (Album) Op

Finally.  One advantage to waking up before everyone else on a Sunday morning: taking all those little red and white photo envelopes from Target and putting the pictures in an album, in a somewhat chronological order.  If I were really going for the extra credit points, I would have labeled them, but for now, I'm just happy they're in an album and I can still tell the difference between the photos of Micah's March 2010 surgery from his September 2010 surgery (different prints on the fabric of the hospital gowns.)

The motivation came from Micah finding the 2008/2009 photo album.  He had a blast going through it:  "Look at this!  Look at me!"  He isn't at the age where he is able to realize that I took most of the photos, or even why aren't there very many photos of me in the album (which is how I like it.)  Now he has two albums to amuse himself.

Somewhere around his is a third photo album that I bought before the one I just filled, but it got sucked into vortex of the move and has not been regurgitated, yet.  My wish for 2011 is that re-emerges before I start accumulating more photos.

Now I just need to make my grocery list and figure out where the Christmas tree is going to go and commit to the idea of buying new lights for the tree because unraveling the old ones is just not on my agenda.  I'm about hanging the ornaments, putting the lights on is just one of those little bits of miseries that must be endured to get the final effect.

3,000 Hits

It took three years, plus a month or so, but today the hit counter reached 3,000.  I like the map showing where the hits are actually coming from better, but it's only been counting the flags for a little more than a year or so.

Meanwhile in about the same amount of time it took the blog to accumulate those 3,000 hits,  Micah has made monumental progress with his hearing and speech.  As of this week, both of Micah's preschools have said that he is on par with his normal hearing peers.  Which means that for a child who has only been amplified for three years, he has managed to catch up to children who had an eighteen month head start in terms of speech and language, and he's funnier and smarter than quite a few of them.

Much to be thankful for: Micah, his ENT surgeon, Summit School and its teachers and therapists, Early Intervention, the audiologist who fitted and adjusted his BAHAs, every person who has spent time talking and interacting with Micah, and so on.

Full-Day Kindergarten and other updates

Micah was accepted into the Kindergarten at PIACS, the Mandarin-immersion charter school, for the 2011-12 school year.  Full-day, none of this half day, figure out where he will be for before or after.  Now all PIACS needs to do is find where the school will be located to be able to open in the fall.

Soccer ends this week.  I'm supposed to be the one buying donuts and hot chocolate, but I also made up little gift boxes with a raven finger puppet in a little box decorated with a raven/star/soccer theme.  I hope the fact that to use the raven as a puppet one must stick the finger up the raven's rear end will escape the girls' notice, at least until they get home.

Ice skating started last Sunday.  Micah spent most of his time on the ice - as in on his back, on his knees, on his side.  Thea had a lot of down time, too, but by the end she seemed to be getting the hang of it.  One more lesson before the Brownies skating outing on the 22nd.

This Sunday Thea has a test in Chinese school - her class is supposed to be able to recognize and read 118 characters to her teacher.  How the teacher is going to have individual time with all six students individually and still maintain order among the remaining five is going to be interesting.

Micah has his first classmate birthday party on Sunday at BounceU.  Thea's a little bit miffed that she doesn't get t go, surprisingly.

It is parent-teacher conference season.  Last week we had Micah's Beth Chaim conference, tomorrow is Thea's and then next week is the Dutch Neck preschool conference for Micah.

One month until Micah's next appointment with Dr. Choe.  His hearing seems to be doing very well, and his speech is just taking off and no more funky scalp now that we can shampoo his hair.

Psy Ops

Today and tomorrow the kids are out of school for the NJ State Teachers' Convention, so it was the perfect day to get our flu shots out of the way.  The school nurse at Micah's first school sent home a note on September 2nd to tell us that Micah's immunization history is missing a 2010 flu shot and that sometime between September 1st and December 1st, we should submit proof of his having been immunized.

And since she sort of dissed me one day when I was dropping off Thea's school physical form and immunization records by leaving me standing in her outer office while she rifled through her desk drawer in a somewhat disinterested fashion, I am in revenge mode. Micah was with me, so I was painfully aware of every fidgety second we spent waiting.

So my evil plan was to turn in the proof of flu vaccination on December 2nd or 3rd, which would be more symbolic and therapeutic for me than irritating for the nurse.  Pettiness as therapy.  Cheap, effective.

But we've had a couple cases of possible flu come through the office, so today was a good day to get the actual immunizations out of the way.

Until last night Thea springs this on me, "Mommy, I want you to give me my flu shot."

Really?  You must be joking.  Is this some sort of clever psychological warfare to see if Mommy has the stones to pierce her tender, young flesh with a needle?  (Me, who would get teary in 2004 when Thea got her immunizations.)

And if Thea's going to do something, Micah is sure to follow and he promptly tells me that he wants me to give him his flu shot, too.

Damn.

I'm pretty sure I can do one, but but both - especially if they crack and wail, not so sure.

So we stopped in at the office around 11:30 am, after running a couple of errands.  Both kids had EMLA cream and plastic wrap on their upper arms/deltoids.

Thea popped her arm out of shirt and didn't back down from the idea of my giving the injection.  In, out, bandaid on and done.  Not a whimper, not a tear.

Micah unleashed a stream of wailing the minute I sat him up on the counter and took off his coat.  But he too insisted that he wanted me giving the shot.  Fortunately Tesh was there to give him a hug and show him pictures of her daughter's school trip to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Then I got my flu shot, and the stick was painless but the vaccine going in hurt like HELL. I whined.  A lot. (Fortunately the kids were already back in the file clerks area so they heard none of it.)

Homecoming

Today was Micah's first trip to Philly to go to an event at Penn.  This morning Thea had her soccer game.  Another victory for the Ravens, even with three players out.  Next week they play the Blue Jays, against Thea's GoalFest teammate, Lauren - the winning streak may come to an end, because that little girl is a scoring machine.

Thea and I ran home after the game to pick up Micah and unload the muddy soccer gear and then we hit the road.  On the way we practiced saying "Philadelphia" with Micah, so when he saw the skyline he said, "Is THAT Phil-A-del-PHIA?"  He was very excited.

Homecoming events were already underway, so we went to the registration desk.  Many, many thanks go to the woman at the alumni registration who gave us an extra badge and scarf; I had originally thought that I'd just bring Micah, but Thea loved Homecoming last year so she wasn't going to let herself be left behind.

We made our semi-annual pilgrimage to the bookstore, which Micah, a lover of all things retail, really got into before we went to the Food Tent.   The best vegetarian chili, hamburgers, pasta.  Thea was into chili and pasta, Micah was into collecting pom-poms and practicing with the megaphones that were the table decor.

Then, The Button.  It's been a part of every trip to campus since Thea could walk, so now it was time to introduce Micah.  He loved it, promptly jumping to the ground from the highest point.  Twenty minutes later, they were still climbing, sliding, jumping and weaving in and out of the buttonholes.  Thirty minutes later, same.  Finally we made our way through College Green and up to the statue of Ben Franklin sitting on a bench, but no photo for our holiday card came out of it.  Thea wanted nothing to do with Ben, he's right up there with the Terra Cotta Warriors that were around the lower entrance of the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou in her book.  So we moved on to the trolley car at the entrance of the eastbound side of the 37th Street station where they entertained themselves for another 15 minutes.

Throughout this trip we had no spatting, no crabbing, no whining - if the Food Tent had had better chocolate desserts, it would have been a perfect afternoon.

When we got home, Thea wanted to watch a Pokemon DVD and Micah asked her if he could watch, too and 'snuggle with you and be cozy.'  It was just too cute, especially since Thea didn't balk and Micah wanted to stay glued to her.  They both disappeared upstairs with the DVD player and I didn't hear from them for over an hour. 

After dinner Micah and I were upstairs and an NJ Transit train went through with a very low rumble and Micah heard it because he asked, 'Is that a train going by?'  First time he ever acknowledged (to me, at least) hearing a train while he was inside the house.

Good day, all around.

Micah Update

Last week Micah had his four-week post-op follow-up with Dr. Choe.  His right ear is healing well and doing great. He was cleared for immersing his head again, the Ciprodex drops are down to twice per week, and better yet, we don't need to make another pilgrimage up the NJ Turnpike until December 15th.   At that visit, Micah will go into the booth again so the audiologist can check his hearing, both with and without the single BAHA he's still wearing.

Micah is hearing noises like the house creaking in the wind, the sound of water running in the shower upstairs and the softest whispering I can manage.

Meanwhile and far away, Micah seems to be doing well at his schools.  He seems to show a preference for Beth Chaim; just today he asked if he could 'take a break from Dutch Neck', the public school pre-Kindergarten program. 

Thea's 7th Birthday

My baby turned seven today.  I cannot believe it. 

Today was the 2nd grade field trip to the Audobon Society's Plainsboro Preserve, so only half a day of 'real' school. After school and before her Chinese lesson, Thea, Jackson and I went to Sugar + Sunshine Bakery for cupcakes and hot chocolate.  To his credit, Jackson had an apple pie loaf, but his parents probably are not loving me for any residual effects of a caffeine and sugar buzz.  Tonight we had tacos for dinner, Thea's choice - a last minute substitution for the roast chicken and a cake from Main Street Cafe - the traditional vanilla cake and buttercream icing that is becoming the traditional Albin/Grebe family birthday cake.

Movie Night

 From Saturday, September 22, 2010

Soccer Update:  Ravens 3, Falcons 1.  Thea scored the first goal in the game.

The principal of Thea's Sunday Chinese language school was looking for family's to take students from China attending Rider University to see the movie, Mao's Last Dancer at the local cinema.  She sent an email yesterday saying a few families had volunteered to go to the late afternoon show, but no one had gotten back to her for the 7:15 show and there were three students wanting to go.

Why not?  The movie trailer looked interesting.

All I would need to do is show up in the parking lot of the building at Rider University where Thea's class is at 6:30, pick up three students and go to the movies.

Two of the three showed up, Grace and Zoe.  Good thing I cleared the car seats out of the back seat, because both chose to sit there.  Which, thanks to reading Peter Hessler's Country Driving, I sort of expected.

The evening was an interesting look at the other end of the spectrum of China's one-child only policy.  These were two women who are both only children, studying half a world away from Guandong and Shanghai.  Both liked being an only child. Neither experienced any of the hardships of the era depicted as they were born long after.

We stopped at the Shop Rite after the film, and one bought $39 worth of sodas, bottled ice teas and Starbucks frappucinos and paid for it with her American Express Gold Card.

Both were curious as to Thea and Micah being born in China and adopted, and despite their English being excellent, it was both hard to explain international adoption, microtia/atresia, etc. in the course of a 15 minute ride back to the university.

The movie was great, by the way.

Photo Catch-Up

I never have the Ohm and its cable, the memory card from the camera and the flash drive in the same place at the same time I'm blogging, so invariably I've got to go back to old posts or shove a bunch of random photos into one post. So here's a few bits of September 2010:

Micah's First Day of Pre-K, v. 1.0.1

Thea's First Day of Rec Soccer - 09/18/2010

2nd Grade Girls' Soccer - Go Ravens!

Lion Dancer at Autumn Moon / Lantern Festival in Philadelphia - 09/18/2010

Mini Lion Dancers at Autumn Moon / Lantern Festival - 09/18/2010

Pool Toys - our pool is finally open!

Micah's Third Surgery - 09/21/2010, with Bunny Bear v. 2.0

I want to go home. . . . . 09/21/2010

Surgery Day

Today started at 3 am, an hour before the alarm was due to go off.  Thea had allowed Micah to sleep in her room, on a pallet on the floor because his room is being painted, both must have woken during at the night and (shades of Jet Lag 2007), we all were in the same bed.

The night before the kids went over to Thea's friend's house so both Steve and I could attend the 2nd and 3rd grade back-to-school night at Wicoff.  Kalani's parents must have held an exorcism as part of their evening plans because reports were that both Thea and Micah were very well-behaved.  B-to-S night was a complete disappointment after which the full impact of what we once had in the Mandarin-immersion program hit like a meteor.  (It didn't help that PBS showed "Speaking in Tongues" on language immersion programs and seeing a high school student who had been in Mandarin-immersion for about nine years giving a speech in Chinese and a child from the housing projects in San Francisco who was reading to his mother from his Mandarin textbook after being in an immersion program from kindergarten through 2nd grade.)  Not the best night before surgery.

Micah got scooped out of bed at 5 am, plunked into pajamas and a button up shirt and put in his car seat.  Surprisingly in the dark and without the GPS, it was an easy trip other than Micah treating me to "I don't wAAAAnt to have surgery" every five to ten minutes or so.  When we got the Ambulatory Surgery Center's check-in desk he was almost immediately asking the ladies there, "Where's my bracelet?"   And just as she's done twice previously, Shirley put Micah's ID band on and gave Bunny Bear a band, too.

Since this is our third time there, just about everyone looks familiar, and the nurse who took Micah's vitals remembered him (she may have been the PACU nurse's relief when she went to lunch on the first trip to the recovery area).  The anesthesiologist was new, but she was nice enough to get Micah's previous info from medical record (hard copies, no EMRs there) since the anesthesiologist in March was worried about hyperthermia (no, you wrapped a child who sleeps near naked year round in warm blankets and cooked him).  But Micah was scheduled for 7:45 and Medical Records opens at 8 am.  Helpful. 

After Micah got knocked out and settled on the table, I went back out to the pediatric waiting area which is just a small area carved out from the regular waiting area and fasting patients' waiting area.  Several adult patients and the persons accompanying them attempted to sit there, but Shirley waved them off ("THAT'S the PEEEDIATRIC waiting area, you can't sit there) which as the one person sitting there made me feel like the lone leper.

Two hours spent between Facebook, the EMR from work and the Kindle passed quickly.  There was one call from the ER - and after Shirley called me to the desk for the call she proceeded to attempt to untangle her rather fercociously twisted phone cord which made me want to wrap it a few times around her neck.  Just a call from the surgeon saying the right ear was done and he wanted permission to clean out debris from the left canal while Micah was still under anesthesia.  I'd signed Micah's and my life away in terms of consent already, so the call was unnecessary.

Dr. Choe came out a little bit later and said that he'd revised some scarring behind Micah's ear, drilled the bone to make a wider canal, but the reason for Micah's loss of hearing on the right was that scar tissue that formed pulled the tympanic membrane away from the ossicles and not regrowth of bone.  All of which is good news.

About fifteen minutes later I got to go back to the PACU to see my little guy.  He was cranky.  Each time he has had surgery, a different child has come out of the anesthesia.  First surgery:  irritable, crying Micah.  Second time:  peaceful Popsicle eating boy.  This time: sour, cranky boy with nausea.  He had some ice chips and then two little containers of apple juice, and then complained his belly hurt.  So Bunny Bear and I gave belly rubs, we survived a couple of dry heaves and spits and were on our way getting out of there.  We had total parking karma today, and I brought the umbrella stroller so once all the paperwork was signed, I could just pack him in and wheel him out.

Thus ends another atresia surgery.

On the way home we made the obligatory stop at Target where Micah chose just about the most obnoxious, noisy truck on the shelf.  The nice cashier saw Micah's gauze head wrap and just busted out with "WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIS HEAD?" and since it was a cross-cultural thing, I didn't answer with "NOTHING, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR MANNERS?"  On three hours sleep I was not up for being Little Mrs. Atresia Ambassador.

Then we dropped off our purchases at home and brought in the mail, went to Wicoff  School to see Tesh and Thea, then to Steve's office to say hello, then the farm stand in Lawrenceville for the wonderful corn, back to Princeton to the bank, then to pick up Thea at the after school Chinese program and a last stop at the pharmacy in Plainsboro before going home.  Then while I was shucking the corn, Thea and Micah watered the plants in the front yard, fighting for control of the hose the whole time. 

While Thea was doing her homework in the kitchen, Micah finally fell asleep while snuggling on the sofa with me.  Thea, Steve and I ate the corn while Micah was asleep and I got him up to eat his traditional post-surgery dinner of half-dozen steamed dumplings.

Since Micah's room is in a state of upheaval due to having it painted (bye-bye ugly, nicked up royal blue, bye-bye ugly lighthouse border.), color still undecided though leaning to something in the warm light gold spectrum, so he's with us tonight - and he needs to sleep propped up a little bit by pillows.

Follow up appointment is next Wednesday.

Six Days and Counting Down

Pre-op appointment with Dr. Choe today.  Micah got his ears cleaned out, which I always find fascinating seeing what comes out: right ear practically nothing, left year, a bit of waxy material and a bit of the beach.  Micah giggled through most of the cleaning, and did a fairly good job of remaining still all by himself. 

All systems are go for next Tuesday's surgery.  Pre-op audiogram occurred before the ears got flossed out, so I think that the slight suboptimal performance of the left ear was related to the coating of debris that was in there.

Meanwhile on the drive up to Englewood, Micah is making his case that his hearing is just fine, thank you and he doesn't really need surgery.  Until I told him that no surgery, no trip to Target for his handsome reward.  Brief moment to consider options, and he's fine with the surgery.

Waiting for the Priceless Part

2nd Grade Girls' Youth Soccer:        $240 (we get $75 back if we complete volunteer work, and this includes
home and away uniform shirts and a pair of black shorts)

Sunday Chinese Language School:   $525  (there goes Sunday afternoons for the next 30 weeks)

Brownies / Girl Scout Program         $100

Waiting for the priceless part, right now it just seems like a lot of  payments, chauffeuring, scheduling and logistical conundrums.

Meanwhile, the little one wants to play soccer, too - and the league has a pre-K group, but with his upcoming ear surgery, getting bonked on the head with a soccer ball for the next three months doesn't seem like a good idea.

Sixth Anniversary

Six years ago today, which was also Labor Day, we met Thea in person- and even though everyone on our travel group thought that they had been given the best baby, we truly know we were given the best one for us.

Right now the object of my affection is more into Phineas & Ferb than her adoption anniversary, so I have to get sentimental with the keyboard rather than the kid herself.

Labor Day Weekend

. . . not much a big deal around here.  Since we're in countdown mode for Micah's right ear (scar tissue revision) surgery, I made an appointment for him at Quest for his CBC.  The Jamesburg location was three miles closer than the one in Somerset, so even though it was uncharted territory, proximity won out.

The advantages of having blood drawn on the Saturday of a holiday weekend:  only one other patient at the lab.  We got checked in, Micah's blood was drawn and we were out of there in about fifteen minutes total.  The two phlebotomists were in, out and had the bandaid on Micah before he could say "I don't want a pinch!" (He asked me if this was like a shot and I told him it would be more like a pinch.)  Most of the whining seemed to be more for effect than actual pain.

Secondary gain from going to the Jamesburg Quest, it's nearby the Crate and Barrel Outlet.  I love that place, even just for looking around.

Following the 'pinch,' we had to make the obligatory pilgrimage to Target.  This was made more necessary due to the fact that Bunny Bear went missing earlier this week.  Really missing, not just misplaced and on a day where we made more than half dozen or more stops.  Problem solved by eBay, where there were vendors willing to sell their Bunny Bears for $30 (greedy mercenaries profiting from the suffering of others) to $99 (greedy b*st*rds with unreal expectations as to what a 12-inch polyester bear in a bunny suit is worth). 

There are variations of Bunny Bear on Amazon, but Micah's version is old school: the bear's bunny suit comes off, the newer versions the manufacturer (TY) cheaped out and made the suit part of the body, thus saving them 50 cents worth of fabric and labor costs.  The tale that we spun for Micah was that Bunny Bear went off to get a new bunny suit and would be coming home after he got his new outfit.  Thanks to package tracking from the USPS, I knew that as of Friday, the new Bunny Bear was in New Jersey, and by Saturday morning it was in Plainsboro.  What I didn't know was if it would actually be delivered.

So a decent bribe was needed to cover my  backside if the Postal Service failed me.  He picked out a stuff animal, a golden Labrador, who he named Lucky Bucky.  On the drive home from Target, Micah actually removed his bandage on his own - usually he whines about that almost as much as getting stuck.

His reward was the arrival of a small white plastic envelope which had his Bunny Bear.  The look of excitement and relief on his face was wonderful.  And no more midnight arrivals in our bed with the piteous announcement of "I miss sleeping with my Bunny Bear."

Thea starts school Tuesday; Micah has a short visit to his classroom on Tuesday, but this week is nothing but chaos as far as scheduling.  Micah's morning program at the Congregation Beth Chaim Preschool doesn't start until next week.  We still don't have a solid after school program for him:  the school district offers no aftercare for preschoolers, the Beth Chaim program does not want to take him back after school.  Underlying all of this is how do working parents with preschooler and kindergarteners manage in this throwback to a bygone era school district?

This past week the kids got their school physicals and immunizations, new shoes were purchase, haircuts gotten and school supplies collected.  Another reason to hate this school district:  both kids' teachers had marble composition notebooks on the supply list.  I have hated those things since 1970 when I was in Mrs. Isenock's 5th/6th combination class.  They are miserable for getting them to lay flat to write in them comfortably and I didn't think that they were even manufactured any more (and good riddance!)  Not only are they still made, but they are actually difficult to track down in the greater Princeton-Plainsboro area.

One day closer to the start of school. . . .

Hurricane Earl

At the beach in Mantoloking, with high tide thanks to Earl.

Micah and Aunt Ginny

Splat.  The longer we stayed on the beach, the more likely this scene was eventually going to happen.

Look at the hair to see how hard the wind is blowing. .  . .

Not many shells to be found, but leave it to my two to find something to use as a pretend sword.

This is my 'sword' from the previous photo.  The colors were much more beautiful than how the camera captured it.

Soooo. . . . .

I once again tormented our practice administrator to rearrange my schedule to be able to attend the Back to School Ice Cream Social at Wicoff Elementary School this afternoon, and

a)  Thea spent at least an hour this morning having tears and angst over having to visit her new school;

b) having 71 lbs. sitting on one's lap to be comforted eventually will make not one but two legs go numb, more so because another 35 lbs was trying to get in on the lap action;

c) 96 degrees is 96 degrees, even if there is a bit of shade;

d) an ice cream social, in my mind, is not those little cafeteria cups of chocolate/vanilla ice cream that were probably manufactured when I was in elementary school, circa 1968;

e) Thea is in the largest of the five 2nd grade classes, which is a really brilliant decision on the part of those who make that type of decision, a new child coming from a private school who has never been in a room of more than 13 or so children, genius, pure genius;

f) her teacher did not make a brilliant first impression in her welcome letter; numbers below ten should be spelled out, even I remember that little composition factoid, and I wasn't won over by actually meeting her as she seems to have few skills for drawing out a shy child;

g) did I mention it was 96 degrees?  And there were a few hundred noisy children, and their parents and siblings?  It was like being at Chuck-E-Cheese, if Chuck-E-Cheese was relocated to Hades;

h) and despite two potty trips before leaving for the event, Micah sounded the "I have to go potty" alarm; I found an officious looking person carrying a clipboard and asked her where the restrooms were and was told, "Oh, you'll have to find the Dr. Wellborn (the principal) because the building is not technically open."   You. Must. Be. Joking.  An event with several hundred little bladders running around and there is no provision for restrooms?  Really?  And I'm supposed to find a man I've seen once four weeks ago out of a crowd of 400 to 500 people while dragging around one child who doesn't want to be there and another doing the pee-pee dance?  Thank you very sparsely. My irritation with this place deepened about a dozen notches.

i) I went to talk with the woman manning the Girl Scouts table, and she wanted a completed contact form and to have the parent check off a volunteer position box; I'm not even sure if my child is interested and she wants commitment;

i) and even though the event was only an hour, Thea was begging to leave by 2:30 pm, and I could not really see much of a reason to stay.

Thus ended our first encounter with the larger Wicoff community. 

The only good thing to come out of it was that a boy who went to kindergarten with Thea will be in her class, and Thea perked up slightly when I told her she could speak Chinese with Brett and no one would know what they were saying.

Beach Babies

Random photos of a vacation in progress. . . . .

Boys at the Beach

I wish I had pictures or video of tonight, but it actually was sort of nice just to be in the moment.  Micah and I were the advance troops heading to the beach house to get set up for everyone.  Thanks to horrible traffic, we made it to the real estate office at 4:50 pm (it closes at 5 pm) to pick up the keys.

We just had gotten the car unloaded when Shannon and Willi came over.  Willi is about three months older and several inches taller than Micah, but four years old is four year old, and boys are boys.  They were in competition over toys, racing through the house, playing outside and actually helped me make up a couple of the beds - and then they rolled and bounced all over it.  Fortunately the boys seemed to enjoy each others company and I actually got to enjoy being around another grown-up after four or more hours of "Are we there yet?" from my traveling companion.  (Note to self:  Next time put the Thule on the CRV, it holds up to 35 lbs - I think he'd still fit.....)  The balloons they give to children when leaving Grotto's were a nice incentive for Micah (they only give them to kids who eat well....another fabulous moment of emotional blackmail.)

After dinner, we went to the boardwalk for frozen custard.  Thanks to parking karma and a residential parking permit, we got a spot one block from Kohr's.

After we were back from the boardwalk, Micah and I went to the grocery store, with every other vacationer trying to get a jump on laying in supplies for their week at the beach.  I think we've got most of the basics covered - at least we won't starve for the next couple of days.

Steve just called, the rear guard is arriving in the next few seconds.  Yeah!  Family week at the beach starts now.  Boy passed out on the sofa, he was holding out to see his Daddy, Thea and Oma, but sleep finally won.

The humidity here is making wonder how the BAHA will do.  I remember the hearing aid dehumidifier, for a change.

Tomatoes on the Brain

 A co-worker has had a bumper crop of grape tomatoes and has been bringing the excess to the office.  I can't resist, and have eaten enough to almost make my self ill.  Mostly because I've been using salt a little bit more than I should.  I have got to stop before I swell up like a tick.

It's one of the few reasons I like NJ:  Jersey tomatoes.

Finally the Weekend!

Glad this week is over.

Today was the day that I finally got my Amazon gift certificate from QuantiaMD.  Unpacking all the books from the move with more to come still when the storage unit is emptied and also with having gotten rid of quite a few books prior to moving, the lightbulb finally went off:  I have more books than the average person and they take up a lot of space and they are damn heavy to haul around.

So before lunch I checked my email, found that the gift certificate had finally been processed and off to Amazon I went to buy a Kindle.  Unfortunately, Kindles are on back order and the shipping date for today's orders is September 10.  I am excited to have something that can have a stack of books queued and waiting to be read, though the  whole delayed gratification stinks.  Having just finished Leslie Chang's Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, I am picturing what will become my Kindle being assembled and tested in a generic electronics factory in a city like Dongguan by some young woman who may have left her home at a very young age to go to work, live in a factory dormitory and who is constantly looking to move on to the next, better job.  I just hope she's not daydreaming as she assembles mine because I did not purchase the extended warranty.

Meanwhile the kids finished the week at Princeton Friends' Camp.  It was Greek Gods week, so the camp held an Olympic games.  Thea's team (Team Hera) was ahead on Wednesday when I picked them up, but today at dinner she said that Team Hera lost.  One more week at camp, and then the countdown starts for the school year. . . .

Thea will be in second grade at Wicoff Elementary School just down the road from home, teacher is yet to be named (and subsequently Googled). There will be five second grade classes this year.  Micah will be in the integrated preschool also at Wicoff.   The four-year olds attend the afternoon preschool session; the district has half day programs preschool and kindergarten, which is just perfect for a family with working parents (not).  So whereas last year Micah logged an hour on the road, but spent a full day at Summit and then an hour to home, he will now go to Beth Chaim's preschool in the morning, get picked up by the school but there and transported to Wicoff and then at 2:50 he will ride the bus back to Beth Chaim for aftercare.  Yes, the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district does not have aftercare available to preschoolers.  One more reason to further expand my burgeoning dislike for the district.

What this means for Micah is that in terms of distance he will be within a much smaller geographical area, but Micah will likely spend just as much time on the road as last year.

And once more I am beginning to wonder why the hell did we move?

End of the Week Photos

Zizo Soccer Camp ended today.  By bribing Thea with having Chinese food for dinner, I got her to pose with the group for photos.  I should have thrown in a pack of Pokemon cards so she would smile.

With Coach Zizo

Micah, photographed by his sister

Micah, photographed by Thea

Thea, photographed by Micah

It's a clownfish life for us,

it's a clownfish life for us,

in the water we play games,

soon everyone will know our names,

it's a clownfish life,

bloop, bloop.  

The kids are back at Princeton Friends Camp for the next two weeks, so we haven't heard the last of the songs from community yet.

Why I really despise the school district we live in . . .

. . . for participating in killing the Princeton International Academy Charter School and its Mandarin-immersion program for the 2010 school year:

On Friday, Steve took Thea and Micah to the playground at Wicoff Elementary School to burn off some energy after he picked them up at their camp programs.  Also at the playground was a grandmother and her grandson, the grandmother did not speak English. She however did speak Mandarin.  Steve pushed Thea to talk with her, and the woman seemed impressed at Thea's Chinese - and Thea spoke to her about Micah's hearing aid, his surgeries among other things.

Thea has been in Mandarin-immersion since mid-2007 at Ying Hua.  If all was right in the universe and good always triumphed over evil, the Plainsboro Zoning Board of Appeals had some backbone, and the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District didn't have a $100,000/year salaried public relations hack (when it doesn't yet have full-day kindergarten), Thea would be starting in second grade at PIACS and her Mandarin-immersion education would go forward uninterrupted.

Instead, and despite PIACS being put on a one-year fast-track for opening in Fall 2010 by the NJ Department of Education, the Princeton Regional and WW-P school districts have decided that they want no further charter schools opening in their respective domains and put a significant effort forth to stop the process.  (For this year.)

PIACS is re-grouping to open in 2011, but its charter school application is for Kindergarten through second grade, so unless the application can be amended to include additional grades, Thea is still out of luck since she will be entering third grade in 2011.

And to add to Friday's warm-fuzzy tale of Thea and the Chinese grandmother, today when I picked her up at Ying Hua's, the Wu Laoshi (who has known and taught Thea in aftercare since her pre-Kindergarten days) told me that Thea was her assistant teacher today, helping the younger students learn to count.  (While we were talking in the car on the way to pick up Micah, Thea spoke proudly of how smart 'her' student was and how quickly the student was learning.)

All of this adds up to my blood pressure hitting the boiling point at the sabotaging of my child's education.

Thanks to the WW-P school district, the Plainsboro Zoning Board of Appeals and all those uninformed souls who chose to believe the misinformation campaign waged against PIACS.  If I could sue you or otherwise make your lives miserable, I would.

Photos - Weekend in Pictures

Micah, Bill, Me, Jay, Mom, Thea

The Wedding Party

Bailah

Micah enjoying the wedding cake made by his cousin, Lynn

Thea

Yes, she's wearing a dress.  Just don't tell her it's a dress.

She thinks because she has shorts underneath, it's not a dress

The Treasure Hunt

or how the adults finished eating in peace

Mom, can I walk Chelsea?

The refrain for the weekend,
and then he walked her and dropped the leash.

I never knew that 50 year old cellulite could move
fast enough to catch her.