More Snow Photos and Rollerskating

 

Just chilling, literally.  Friday, February 26, 2010

  

Micah, about to put a hunk of snow back onto the driveway.

  Proof some of us can amuse ourselves

wherever life takes us: Micah having fun under the

hand-dryer at the roller rink.

 

Eight wheels or two: his driving still needs a lot of work.

Pizza Faces at Emily's Birthday Party

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Thea on skates, Micah peeved that he's not,

but even with two of us, we probably couldn't take on two kids

on wheels at the same time.

  

First she straps on wheels, then she rolls away.

The Cure for the Common Snow

. . . would be a Saturday afternoon/evening with families from our first China travel group.  The snow kept a couple of families away, but five families got together.  Lucas, the oldest baby from our 2004 trip, is now seven years old and he was a good pal for Micah to hang out with - especially since the boys were greatly outnumbered by a pack of very strong-minded six-year old.

Tomorrow, rollerskating!  Thea and Micah have been invited to a birthday party that will be at a roller rink in Kendall Park.  Let's hope that we all come home with no sprained ankles or bruised egos. . . .

Snow, Yet Again

If you are sick of reading about it, trust me, I am sick of writing about it.

For Snow, Round 2 Micah's teacher called Thursday night at 9 pm, Thea's English teacher called at 6:30 am to let us know schools were closed on Friday.  Last night I didn't even bother to look outside, I could hear the wind howling and I did not feel like taking an advance look at what I would be shoveling the next morning.

After breakfast (three different breakfasts, mind you) and a little bit of down time, I got the kids suited up for outside which sort of falls into the category of herding cats while trying to play dress up with them, minus the scratches and hissing.

Micah, once unleashed upon the snow, had an unfailing instinct for being exactly in the path of whoever was shoveling nearest to him.  And that was when he wasn't trying to put snow BACK ONTO the freshly cleared driveway.  I was ready to just dig a hole in a snow pile and shove him in.

Meanwhile, we have now accumulated enough plastic track for Micah's mechanized Thomas the Tank Engine trains to make life interesting.  Once upon a time, my younger brother had a set of grey plastic tracks - I can't even remember what the trains looked like - but I loved creating track layouts for him.  Now I get to revive my talents for Micah's benefit. . . . . 

 

Mom's still the trackmaster after all these years.

I think I used all of the track pieces except two. 

I'm fabulously impressed with myself, can't you tell?

  

Bill (the yellow engine) has the best battery life these days, so he needs to pull almost all of the freight cards,

otherwise he rides up all the other engines' butts and pushes them off the track (which Micah loves.)

The opportunities for crashing seem to have the most appeal for Micah.

Snow, Again

Micah's teacher called at 6:30 am to let us know school would be dismissed early, at 12:45 pm today.  And while checking email in between making breakfast and packing lunches, I found a message from Thea's school with the possibility it may close early, at 1 pm.

Then when Micah's driver arrived to pick him up this morning, the driver told Steve that our school district says that Micah needs to be picked up at noon, not 12:45 pm (and I guess the district somehow trumps the school since it pays the tuition that keeps Micah in the school.)  Part of me says why even bother, but it's Miss Danielle's last session with Micah before she starts her maternity leave, so we put Micah on the van and off he went.

Winter had just better damn well get over itself and make it snappy.  The first day of spring is 23 days away.

The Envelope

Saturday an envelope came in the mail from the ENT surgeon's office.  Paperwork, a thick wad of it.  Including a pre-op clearance form and a prescription slip to have a CBC drawn.  The strange thing is, I distinctly remember asking at Micah's December office visit did he need another pre-op clearance and blood work since it's been only six months since his last one and other than growing taller and a little bit heavier, nothing substantive has changed.

So I thought it was just bureaucracy in motion, one of the office staff just stuffed the usual sheaf of forms in an envelope. Send an email off to the doctor, and it will all be clarified.

But no, he said we could forego the CBC, but it was preferable if it was done.  Well, snot.  Now I need to make an appointment at Quest, prepare and bribe Micah to make this happen.  And cross my fingers the same phlebotomist is working, he nailed it in about one nanosecond before the whining could even get started.

I've already promised Micah a Nintendo DS for going back to the hospital.  He was getting balky and telling me that he only needed one ear fixed, he didn't need two surgeries, and thanks to the nice Nintendo carrot, he has not brought it up again.  And he will remember.  Friday night he had left a car the babysitter bought for him in the backseat of my car, and he was promised by his father that he would go out to retrieve it in the morning.  The first thing that came out of Micah's mouth as he woke up Saturday morning was, "Daddy, you put on pants and shoes and go get my car?"

(And by the way, Mommy went out to fetch the toy car in case you were wondering.)

More Lunar New Year, YingHua Style

Lion Dancers from Princeton Chinese Language School

 

New Year Celebration Dance:  Upper Grades and Kindergarten

Thea's New Year's Costume

I'm done with LNY, unless I get around to uploading videos. . . . .

Lunar New Year, YingHua Style

 

Welcome to the Year of the Tiger

Saturday, February 13, 2010

The Cast and Teachers

Martial Arts Demonstration

 

Mama Frog in the Drama, Tadpoles Looking for Mother

Our Star

  

I want to dance on the stage, too!

Weather Update

The phone rings tonight shortly after dinner:  my office is opening two hours or so later than usual.  During that call, another call beeps in so I quickly hang up with Nikki to allow the other call to come through: it's Miss Jennifer, Thea's English teacher, school is closed tomorrow (and Miss Jennifer and family are without power over in Pennsylvania, making any whining about no TV on Facebook seem obnoxious).  Then not more than ten seconds after I put the phone back on the cradle from that call, it's Miss Margie from Micah's school, which is also throwing in the towel for Thursday.

Not exactly earth-shattering news, though if we're getting plowed out as off the beaten path as we are, the roads that lead to our area must also be getting clearer.

The big news is that the snowplow came through the neighborhood, leaving us with a three to four foot high icy hump at the end of the driveway.  This was always the dreaded consequence of getting our street plowed when we lived outside of Chicago.  The driveway and sidewalk would finally be shoveled and the damn plow would come through dumping a foot or more of icy, lumpy sludge at the bottom of the driveway, effectively blocking the cars in.

At around 9 pm, I went into the bedroom at the front of the house and heard the sound of something like a snowblower; it was a Bobcat clearing out the neighbor's driveway.  Steve was quickly re-purposed from reading Micah a bedtime story to person ready to recruit that Bobcat by whatever means necessary to clear the bottom of our driveway.  But emptying the contents of his wallet didn't even come into play, the Bobcat was part of the community's snow clearing efforts.

Not that I take back any of my numerous gripes about our townhouse community and those in charge of it, but I do have a slightly warmer and fuzzier feeling toward them for a few brief seconds - or perhaps it's just the management company for the community.  The Bobcat;s help clearing the driveways of the walls of snow created by the plow was a first, at least in the nine years I've lived here.

The Wednesday Blizzard

 

And this is BEFORE it really started to snow hard. . . . .

 Micah eating snow while riding his toboggan

The kids with our neighbor, JoAnn

Hmmm, I don't know if the saucer is faster than the toboggan 

  

Bellyflop

Shelter from the Storm

  

And this is 15 minutes after everyone came inside. . . . .

Blast from the T-Shirt Past

It has to be at least 30 years old, it was from a long-forgotten fraternity pledge dance.  I saved it because I love purple, but I also stuffed it away and forgot about it.  Until last night when I was cleaning out stuff that Micah has outgrown. What you can't see is that after 30 years in a drawer, the design is ready to crack/chip and fall off.  In Micah's care, what survived 30 years will probably be done for in a few months.

Snow White

The first message I read this morning when I signed into the EMR was that the office was closing preemptively on Wednesday due to the snowstorm heading this way.  That was 8:45 am.

By early afternoon, Steve called the office to let me know that Micah's school was also planning on closing tomorrow.

And finally at around 9 pm tonight an email came from Thea's school with the same message.

I haven't even checked to see if there is any snow even falling, yet.

Princeton University hasn't joined in the snow closures; the university thinks itself above snow and is willing to let its employees risk driving in bad weather conditions or take leave.

I just heard the sound of tires crunching on snow.

Snowy Weekend

 

Saturday Morning

 

Sunday Morning

Thea: Mommy, we're making a spider web.

 Me: Oh, are you going to be like Charlotte in Charlotte's Web?

Thea: No, we're wild, poisonous spiders.

Micah: And we're going to drink your blood!

Nice.

 

 The Web as a Work-in-Progress

  

 The Finished Version of the Web

What wild, poisonous spiders do when their web is finished

 

 

Lunar New Year, Round 1 - Photos

YingHua International School's

Lunar New Year Performance

Princeton Senior Center - February 5, 2010

Waiting to Perform:  Michelle, Jonathan and Thea

 

Upper Grades and PreKs/Ks

 

Thea with Kalani and Shubhan

Midnight Faceplant

Last night shortly after 12 I woke to the sound of Micah crying from a location not on the bed.  He must have woken, started looking for Bunny Bear, found BB on the floor and then reached to grab him and fallen out of bed and onto his face.  Hugs, kisses, Bunny Bear placed in his arms, back in bed.

I didn't know the extent of the damage until I went off to the bathroom turned on the light and saw my t-shirt covered in blood.  Back in the bedroom, now with the light on, Micah looked like a baby vampire after a late night snack and it was a little bit of a challenge to find where the blood was coming from - I was worried about a through-and-through bite on the lip or something that would mean our 2010 trip to the ER was underway.  It was a bloody nose, and had stopped bleeding already.  He was incensed that I wanted to wash his face and examine his mouth, teeth and nose, but fell back to sleep pretty quickly.

The nights I try to got to bed early and get at good night's sleep just never seem to work out.

==========================================

Still semi-fervently praying for snow in quantities large enough to close the office on Saturday, and starting after I get to the grocery store (with all the other snow-panicked hordes) to pick up milk and a few other things.

===========================================

The little madame is dressed for her performance.  She's chosen last year's golden dragon costume and will be holding her new blue costume in reserve for the fundraiser next week.  Smart kid.  Unfortunately she wants to wear the blue silk shoes that go with the new outfit with today's ensemble.  I will resist cringing.  We're off to the Princeton Senior Center for the first dress rehearsal of YingHua's LNY show. . . .

Snow

I heard today that the weather forecast calls for snow Saturday.  Supposedly, a lot of snow.  And writing about it will probably curse it into not happening, but I am scheduled to work again this Saturday and if the roads are bad, I am not going to venture out.  With age comes wisdom, and fear of other drivers who are foolish enough to go out when the roads aren't cleared. 

I hope it snows.  A ton.  I'll even help shovel and clear off the cars.  I am praying for snow, in great fluffy heaps on our driveway, on our street.

=============================================

Meanwhile the kids had their swimming lesson today, which usually means they are exhausted and crabby by the time dinner is on the table.  Getting Thea through her homework on those nights is a tiny slice of hell.

Tonight they came in tired by happy, I had gotten home twenty minutes before they arrived and banged out a quick dinner, which they ate with virtually no complaints and with Micah's butt only coming off his chair about three times before he finished eating (and he was actually sneaking pieces of chicken off of my plate after he had finished his.)  Thea finished her homework and played Pokemon with her little brother (which somehow involved Micah using the strap from the diaper bag to harness himself to the little plastic trike in order to pull Thea around the kitchen and living room.)  And they were in bed by 8:40 pm.

Except while I was breaking my arm patting myself on the back, Micah wanted some milk, and then Thea came in and crawled into the bed because she was having a bad dream (wrong, one must be ASLEEP in order to dream).  But within minutes of her crawling in, Micah stopped thrashing around and went to sleep, and by the time I was back from brushing my teeth, Thea was out and it was only 9:05 pm.

I Can Be Replaced

Yesterday I was expecting to drive to Maryland to my mother's to accompany her to her fourth chemotherapy appointment today.

It was snowing in the Washington, DC area, according to my mother, and she didn't want me to drive in bad weather.  (Thank you to all the local TV stations who televised footage of traffic accidents and cars that had driven off the road.)   Supposedly the thought of me on the road would wind her up even more tightly than she is usually wound up (and she's pretty tightly wound to start with).

Snow didn't stop me in December, though I told her I would stay home and then started out anyway and made it there in one piece no worse for the wear.

This time she played the emotional blackmail card:  If you come down, I won't go to chemotherapy.

Well, heck.

I felt like playing the Mom card right back at her:  If you do that, you'll only be hurting yourself.  (I heard that somewhere before, like maybe she said it to me at some point in the last 40+ years.)

But I didn't.  I stayed home, so much for listening to classic rock and cleaning out my mental sock drawer.

 Mom said that her friend Jane would drive her, Jane having a four-wheel drive vehicle and no fear of snow.

I was mildly annoyed, especially since her oncologist wasn't going to be there.

Mom called this evening.  There was an NP covering for the oncologist, who herself is a cancer survivor.  She took more time with her than the oncologist usually does, taking her blood pressure and actually doing more of a physical exam than on any of the previous appointments.  She and Jane went to the Olive Garden for lunch and she picked up cranberry juice on sale on the way home.  Mom was absolutely chipper.

It was annoying that I am so easily replaced.

Meanwhile, instead of taking the day and kicking back, I went to work from 9 am until 1 pm and then came home to pick up Micah and Thea.

Thea finished her homework before dinner, the three of us went for a twilight bike (Micah) and scooter (Thea) ride around the neighborhood and it was a relatively pleasant evening with no meltdowns or spats.

The only bummer is that I'm on call again tonight after being on for the whole weekend.