Four of Twelve. . .

Tuesday was week four of Olde City Quilts' Learn-to-Quilt class.  Ten hopeful quilter-wannabes, one unfailingly cheerful and optimistic instructor.  Week two's square is at the bottom, week three's are at the left and top, and yesterday evening was is on the the right.

I love the one at the top the best, something about it and how the blue and white fabric looks just pleases me to no end.  And that blue and white fabric was the one of the five I chose that everyone was encouraging me to replace with another bolt, so that one is my "take that, haters" square.

It's better than therapy., and probably cheaper, too, and I haven't cut off any of my fingers with the rotary cutter, yet.

The class ends in mid-August, and by then I should have twelve squares done for a lap quilt.

Foreskin's Lament

Title cribbed from Shalom Auslander's book (which was a very good book, BTW.)

Today was the day Micah and his foreskin parted ways, his fourth time under anesthesia in less than two years.

The surgery was done at Summit Surgery Center in Voorhees, NJ, which was a pale approximation of our experiences at Englewood Hospital for Micah's atresia surgeries.  Whether you are for circumcision (Steve) or against (me, at least in this specific circumstance), in Micah's case, the debate is closed.

What I found completely appalling about the experience and people I was trusting with my child:

- requiring Micah's adoption certificate prior to surgery (I took it along the first two times to Englewood but never needed it); revenge was had by sending them the certificate which is entirely in Chinese with the exception of our names, our address and Micah's name; it had to be translated (no one asked me if there was a translation, which I have as well as a notarization of the translation, so I did not feel obligated to offer what I was not asked for.)

- the anesthesiologist proving that she did not consult the chart where 'Family History Unknown / Patient Adopted' is on almost every form I completed, and which also included the Chinese adoption certificate, but asking me has anyone in the family have any problems with anesthesia?  Really great for instilling confidence in a parent;

- the surgeon running three hours behind, we arrived on time at 10 am.  Upon registering, I was told that Dr. Packer was 'a little behind' which morphed into 'running an hour behind' and quickly blossomed to 'more than an hour behind.'  Fortunately we had a late dinner Sunday night, but Micah was really thirsty by the time he got his apple juice in the PACU;

- each time Micah was going to surgery with Dr. Choe, I put on a set of scrubs and carried him into the OR and stayed with him until he was under anesthesia, no such luck here, and since I assumed that this was the standard, I passed on the pre-op Versed for Micah and he got wheeled out of the room by four total strangers and was terrified.  Whoever at Summit Surgery Center decided that the cost of  laundering a few extra sets of scrubs that cannot be billed for was less important than a dose of Versed, which can be billed for deserves a blistering case of herpes;

- the urologist who told us that Micah would be in the bathtub within two days, and back in the pool a few days later who today told me that he's out of the pool for a week, see one item wish list above and add him to the list;

- I was repeatedly asked, 'You're here by yourself? '  Umm,no and yes, not that the question deserves an explanation, but we have TWO children, so one had to get to/from her summer camp program, the other had surgery today.  I was there with Micah, therefore not alone.  Steve took care of chauffeuring Thea. Divide and conquer, and BITE ME. Thanks for using a tone of voice that made me feel like an escapee from a leper colony.

The outcome of this is that I will forever be grateful the care we received at the Ambulatory Surgical Center at Englewood Hospital.   And Summit will feel my rage and wrath on the Press Ganey patient satisfaction survey.

Micah is doing fine, and has already came up to me and asked 'Can I take a look at my penis?'  So I helped him drop trou and check it out.  He seems satisfied that the major parts are still intact and is off to play with his surgery day loot.

Kindergarten Countdown

Micah will still have an IEP next year.  What I feared most was that the school district would say he did not meet the eligibility criteria to receive services.  He will attend mainstream, half-day kindergarten (yes, our district is one of those throw-backs to the 1960s) and receive 30 minutes of speech therapy per week aimed at improving speech and articulation.

Meanwhile the class size will increase from around 13 or so in both of his pre-kindergarten classes (which was up from six to nine in his Summit Speech School classes), so there will be more noise and voices to filter out to be able to hear the teacher.

They will also provide an FM system compatible with his BAHA.  Supposedly the principal had already contacted our case manager at Dutch Neck specifically about Micah and the FM system.

Micah will return to the ENT in August to have his ear canals freshly flossed out prior to the start of school and we'll be talking about getting a newer model BAHA for him.  I would like him to have one that sits a little more flush to his head.

We won't find out which of the four kindergarten teachers at Wicoff will have the privilege of teaching Micah.  Same for finding out about whose class Thea will be in.

And just when we thought all hopes for PIACS starting in the 2011-2012 school year an email came in saying that there is still a possibility that the school will open in September.

Vacation, in more ways than one

I haven't felt much like blogging since early May.  Too tired, too much to do and left undone at the end of the day.  Just not feeling it, feeling more like a hamster on a wheel.

Meanwhile, we finished the long march to the end of the school years for both kids, the end of spring soccer, the last Brownie troop meeting and making an autograph quilt for the troop leader (yes, smart move, figure out how to make a quilt and then start the quilting class four days later), the second grade field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, the end of Mandarin Sunday school and its graduation ceremony, an unplanned trip to Dr. Choe to check out Micah's ears, Micah's final IEP meeting of the year, a solo trip to Maryland to see my mother, Micah's kindergarten orientation at Wicoff School, several South Brunswick zoning board hearings regarding the charter school, several birthday parties, the repair of a broken water pipe that sent our water bill sky high, the repair of another pipe in the lawn. . . . not necessarily in that order.  Photos of some of this included in the previous post.

And now the summer starts, with a rotating schedule of summer camp programs:  Princeton Friends Camp, YWCA, WW-P Community Education, YingHua.  To know where they'll be I need to consult the calendar in the Blackberry.

Meanwhile, I started a Learn-to-Quilt class at Olde City Quilts in Burlington.  LTQ means learning to sew a straight quarter of an inch seam on a Bernina sewing machine that is probably worth more than my car and learning how to measure and cut fabric without severing one's digits.  Thus far, after two classes we've made one square for the 12 patch sampler quilt, based on the rail fence pattern, and my fingers are intact.  Tuesday's class is being rescheduled, but whenever it gets rescheduled we'll be making a nine-patch and another patch with triangles whose name escapes me.  Homework is to cut the strips at home for those two pieces.  So far I'm liking it, but whether I'm good at it remains to be seen.

Once Upon a Time. . .

Micah's Pre-School Diploma, June 3, 2011

Micah and Steve at Pre-School Graduation at Beth Chaim

Jonathan, Kevin, Felicity and Thea - YingHua's A042 Class

Thea's YingHua Language School Certificate

Excavation in the family room

Learn-to-Quilt, Square One

Our First Dinner on the Patio: Thea, Jackson, Micah, Miles

Thea sack-racing, in mid-hop

Starting line-up for the Sack Race

Watersliding at Jesse's Birthday

The Egg Toss

Our pool is open. . . .

and the water rats have arrived.

Micah and Thea paddle-boating on Lake Mercer, Memorial Day

Last Day of Brownies: Bowling Party

Thea at the Brownie Bowling Party, June 3, 2011

Mama Duck and Ducklings at the pond at Rider University, June 5, 2011

I wrote a blog, until I got a) busy (which sounds better than) or b) lazy (closer to the truth).  

Thea and Micah both have Saturday recreational soccer, which is different and less structured than Fall soccer.  Supposedly it's more like pick-up games for the K-12 group - the second graders gather at four of the fields and the coaches divide them up into fairly even groups.  This past week was the first week there was two boys fields and one girls field, which I didn't notice because we arrived five minutes late and I stuck Thea on a field with an odd number of players with a teen-aged coach who she has played for a few weeks ago.  I didn't notice until a few minutes later that it was all boys and of the three fields being used, they were divided up according to gender (a first).  My bad, though it didn't even come up in conversation afterward with Thea since she was more bothered by the heat and having to run her butt off.

The major discovery of this weekend is finding the box that had the envelopes that have the children's adoption documents.  Amazingly in a box labeled 'Important Papers.'   Soon to be on their way to the safe-deposit box after I get their passport applications submitted.

I made another quick overnight trip to Maryland to see my mother at the beginning of the month, driving down on a Friday night after picking up Thea from the Brownies' canal hike and cook-out in Kingston.  Mom and I made the most of the day, we went to the National Lutheran Home's Spring Festival and swung around the Beltway for a stop at the German Deli in Virginia - and the GPS didn't fail me though it could have plotted a route avoiding Seven Corners.  Cucumber salad and Olde World salami, just the best.

Back in time to take Thea to Mandarin class on Sunday and for Mother's Day.  Micah and Thea both had crafts made in school.  Micah pronounced the pen with flowers attached to it that Thea made "lovely" which was just so cute.

Micah is finishing up at Beth Chaim preschool on June 3rd, which is also the second-grade field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo and the Brownies' bowling trip.  And it's the day I need to have the thank-you present finished for the Brownie leader.  The girls did their part at the meeting on Friday, Thea and I worked on it a bit tonight, and with a bit of luck I'll have something finished by then; it's an autograph quilt and the fabric is from Juliette's Closet and has a Brownie theme  (who'd've though that Thin Mints would be put onto fabric?).  Thea got three more Try-Its, her cookie patch and a one-year pin at the meeting.  The Try-Its are sewn on, but the patch is going to wait until I can re-do a couple of the other patches that got a little skewed while I was sewing them on by hand.

Summer Camps are lined up through the end of August.  The most anticipated, if you are Micah, is Princeton Friends Camp.  He loved PFC last year, and still sings some of the songs.

This post was written around May 22, 2011 and stashed in the draft folder, waiting for me to upload photos, which (to me, at least) are much more interesting than anything I write..