Cute as Panic Buttons

Back to the Winter Routine. . . .

2012-01-07T11:39:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-18T13:35:00.001-05:00

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

2011-10-25T09:54:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-23T22:31:00.001-04:00

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.

I am in charge. . . .

2011-10-22T21:37:00.001-04:00

. . . channeling a very Alexander Haig-like vibe. In the Kingdom of Me for the next four days of my reign:

1. Guinea pigs will not have night lights.

2. The bed will be made EVERY day.

3. Smart Rinse after tooth-brushing will be optional.

As I think of additional edicts, I will post them. Husband is away, so the illusion of democracy is out the window. Absolute dictatorship until Wednesday night.

4. I can lock all the locks on the front door and put the chain on, and lock the door from the garage to the house before going upstairs for the night.

5. I can have my car's rightful place in the driveway (i.e. where I parked the entire first year we lived in this house until someone thought he had a better idea; I don't give a flaming fart about a better idea, I just want the left spot in the driveway.)

6. I can drive the kids to school every day rather than have them take the bus (and sit in the bus waiting for the buses to unload two at a time.)

Stand By Your Mom . . . .

2011-10-21T22:20:00.000-04:00

This week at Wicoff School the nurse was doing blood pressure, hearing and vision screenings. No matter that my children have both a physician and an ophthalmologist and have had appointments both providers in the past sixty days. Parents are not consulted or asked permission; it bothers me that biometric data is being collected and used by the school district for whatever purposes. It all just seems rather paternalistic and heavy-handed.

Anyway, my irritation on that issue aside, an envelope comes home informing us that Thea's vision is 20/40 in both eyes and advising us to seek the appropriate medical attention.

Funny (in a very un-amusing sort of way), Dr. Amy Wexler of South Jersey Eye Physicians found Thea's vision to be in the 20/20 to 20/25 range at the end of August. I did not feel particularly compelled to send the form to Dr. Wexler's office to waste someone's time completing it just so the school nurse could tick off a little box somewhere that justifies her existence. So I wrote my own note back to the nurse informing her (in case she missed the annual physical examination forms submitted for both children on the first day of school) that Thea (and Micah) have health care providers so I would appreciate no further screenings carried out on either of them. And then signed it with my name comma MSN, APN-C. Which is my heavy-handed way of telling her, my credentials trump yours, butt out.

Particularly I want to spare Micah from whatever is involved in this. I am hoping that the nurse's screenings started with the third graders and she is working her way down to the kindergarteners. Micah has an audiologist (and the school has copies of the reports) and he has an ENT surgeon/neurotologist. If Ms. School Nurse puts an otoscope anywhere near Micah's after-market ear canals, I will not be responsible for my actions. Our rule of thumb for Micah's ears is: If you didn't make those ear canals, you don't get to examine them. So that means if GOD wanted a look, tough beans.

But I digress yet again from the story behind the title of this blog post. After the school nurse found Thea's vision deficient, she handed Thea an envelope addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Albin. Thea handed it back to her and said, "That's not my Mommy's name, she doesn't like to be called Mrs. Albin" thus forcing the nurse to make up an new envelope addressed "To the Parents of Thea Albin." Which Thea told me she likes better anyhow.

I love, love, love that child, both for making sure the envelope was addressed appropriately and for giving grief to the school nurse, who I've disliked practically from my first interaction with her last year. It more than makes up for Thea fighting like badgers in a sack with Micah almost the entire way home from EDP's Lights On program the following night.

Happy Birthday, Beautiful Girl

2011-10-13T23:54:00.000-04:00

The Traditional Birthday Cake, Vanilla with Buttercream Frosting from Mainstreet Bakery

Thea preparing pita pizzas for her birthday dinner.

While having "Happy Birthday to You" sung to her.

Getting ready to blow out the candle.

Having a happy kid moment, prior to diving into her cake.

The intensely colored icing tinted her teeth in a rather disturbing blue.

Reading her birthday card from Oma.

Micah and Steve


Micah with lavender-colored plastic fangs: Other people's birthdays BITE.

October Rolls In

2011-10-09T21:06:00.001-04:00

Sunday, October 2, 2011 - Girl Scouts Bonfire at West Windsor Community Park

Thea in her Penn Nursing Science sweatshirt.

Waiting to roast marshmallows for S'mores.

Never pick the spot down wind from the fire ring unless you want to go home smelling like a smoked Virginia ham.

Happy 5th Birthday, cousin Elise!

You mean I can't keep it?

Back to the Same Old Routine . . .

2011-09-18T15:51:00.000-04:00

. . .Sundays in the hallway at the Fine Arts building at Rider University. Both kids' classrooms are on the third floor, so I can just plant myself in the corridor connecting the two halls and set up my laptop, iPad, etc. Micah was a little nervous about going in, which is unusual for him and he's struggling to throw off his first cold of the year (yes, thank you to the parents of the little beast in Kindergarten Extension who sent their child to school sick).

We finished the second week of school, which means homework is starting and Back-to-School nights have been held. Because the gym at Wicoff was getting its floor refinished, Kindergarten and 1st grade held their B-to-S night Wednesday, and the following night was for 2nd and 3rd. Both teachers seem nice and are radiating enthusiasm. Thea's teacher is just two years out of school, and this is her first class.

Soccer has started, and like Ying Hua, both kids' fields are on opposite side of the complex. Micah's team only plays for an hour, so it's a drop Thea off, got over to Micah's practice and game then go back to watch the end of Thea's game. Yesterday I had to work, and we were the snack family for Thea's team, so Thea made sure I was up early and we cut up oranges and put together a cooler with Capri Suns and water, and individual bags of chips, hand wipes and paper towels, loaded it with the soccer gear into Steve's car. I had already put their uniforms out (depending on whether they are home or away, they wear white or green each week.)

Next week Brownies start off, and I am trying to finish autograph pillows using leftover fabric from the quilt I made for Mrs. Church at the end of last year. The patchwork pattern Thea and I came up with (which someone has likely created years ago is cute and each pillow has something in common with the others and something unique.

Meanwhile the audiologist at Dr. Choe's office was supposed to send in whatever is needed for Micah to get a BP-100 BAHA from Cochlear. I got a call from the principal because he wanted to check on it so that the school could order Micah's FM system. She supposedly has sent the prescription in, but as Micah wears his BAHA on a softband, he's not in Cochlear's registry so when I called Cochlear I spent 30 minutes on hold while someone checked on it, nothing was found and I am still waiting for a call four days later. It's hard to believe one of Micah's current BAHAs is four years old.

Last night while we were eating pizza and watching episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar, Micah asked why his ears weren't like Thea's, while pointing to his ear canals. I told him that his ear canals were just like Thea's (I had to move her hair out of the way to show him), it's just that her 'holes' are in front of the cartilage and his are behind. Which seems to satisfy him, for the moment.

Quilting Class and Hurricane Irene

2011-09-03T19:23:00.002-04:00

Saturday at Olde City Quilts in Burlington, NJ. I made this! Start to finish in one afternoon. It's going to be on its way to my mother so she can have an indoor pumpkin without worrying about when it will turn to mush. Thank you, Eva, who taught the class and who has the patience of a saint and many, many little tips and tricks that I hope I will remember.

The classroom at OCQ was crowded today. While the Glorious Fall class was sewing away on one side, there was a group making quilt tops for Quilts of Valor.

My light-bulb moment for today was that quilters are nice people, I have met any surly, evil or mean-spirited people (with the exception of me and my classmates in the Learn-to-Quilt class the night we did machine appliqueing, but we came to class in good moods) at the quilt shop. Everyone tries to help each other, share and offer encouragement.

The tide going out in the backyard. The water was all the way up to the patio wall Sunday morning.

The far backyard swamp.

Checking out the backyard as the tide goes out.

What bored people without electricity do, manscaping.


Thea's watercolor rendering of her guinea pig, Gallileo

Sunday afternoon walk, something else to do when the electricity is out.

Thea's shot of the backyard Sunday morning, the sliver at the center back of the photo is the seat of a concrete bench.

Saturday night Hurricane Irene took our electricity sometime after 11 pm. Kids were in bed, I was in the family room with my flashlight (still in its packaging) was on the stairs. Nothing to do but put the batteries in the flashlight and go to bed. In the year we've lived here, the power has never been out for very long. Until now. We were without power until the early hours of Tuesday morning. Monday I went off to work with all my devices and their respective chargers. Electricity, it turns out, is my Achilles heel. I have a Kindle (with great battery life), laptops (so-so battery life), a Blackberry, an iPad and a camera and I love them all. No more East Coast hurricanes, for this year at least, please.

No matter, we survived, give or take a few shreds of sanity or a few brain cells hear or there. Overall we're lucky, I would not want to be living in Vermont right now. Camp is over, we had a week at work with only two or three providers working, time to welcome the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Hurricane Irene, Part 2

2011-08-27T23:09:00.001-04:00

Rain, rain, rain, rain.

And where is my family?

Out driving in the rain.

Meanwhile we have enough food to feed an army.

No air-conditioning.

Humidity or barometric pressure that is crucifying my sinuses.

Hurricane Agnes. Much more fun when I was 12 and clueless as to the potential consequences.

Hurricane Floyd: Umbrella stolen while I was working. In a prision. No honor among thieves or them work to incarcerate them.

Time to fill the bathtub. And thanks to this house, we only have one.

And find my flashlight. Power had flickered, but has managed to stay on. For now.

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-26T14:22:00.001-04:00

It will either be the worst meteorological event on the East Coast in decades or a whole lot of nothing, but either way, I went to Target this morning and bought a whole lot of somethings to ride out the storm without risk of starvation and thirst. Retail America benefits on the panic of the masses.

I even bought a pair of galoshes (on sale!) for me. I remember walking through thigh deep water during Hurricane Agnes in 1972 wearing sandals. Ick, ick and double ick. That will not happen again.

I also got the two of the last three flashlights at the Target in Princeton. Batteries included, thank goodness, because there is not a D-cell to be had anywhere in the greater Princeton-Plainsboro region.

Earthquake

2011-08-24T22:20:00.000-04:00

CNN and the local news stations probably covered it better than I will, but just in case Thea and Micah ever read this for the chronology of their lives, yesterday was the East Coast Earthquake. It was 5.8 on the Richter scale and its epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia. By the time the temblar traveled to New Jersey, it was a bit after 2:00 pm. My office was back to work for the afternoon session, and the patient I was seeing was a new patient, the adult child and sibling two of my other patients.

I was on my feet about to do the abdominal exam portion of the check-up when a rumbling came through the floor, the walls were moving, and we were all left looking at each other with "Did that really just happen?" expressions on our faces. Which was the same expression of the other faces I saw when I stuck my head out into the hall to see if anyone else felt anything. Everyone went outside, I managed to grab my purse, keys and tote bag, if that building, made of spit, tissue paper and Elmer's glue, was going to come down, I was not going to be digging through the rubble before making my escape.

My biggest fear was explaining to Thea that New Jersey CAN experience earthquakes; after she saw news footage of the quakes in Japan and Haiti, she was worried that something similar would happen hear. No, never we swore, very, very, very unlikely. Thea said she felt it, but was not scared, and Micah probably though that he was the cause of it all. The owners of the daycare where YingHua is holding its summer camp decided to close early (wimps) so Steve had to pick up the kids. Meanwhile back at my office, no patients cancelled and the remainder of the afternoon session went on as if nothing happened (and compared to Haiti and Japan, nothing really did happen.)

End of Summer

2011-08-20T21:08:00.000-04:00

Just what one wants to do on a Saturday morning is drive to northern NJ for a doctor's appointment (basically any activity other than 'sleeping in' would be the wrong answer), but Micah's appointment to have his ears checked had been moved from the 26th to the 24th and then from the 24th to the 20th. His ENT was willing to let him go for six months after his April appointment, but I wanted the debris cleaned out of his canals before school started. And I also wanted to talk with the doctor about getting a new BAHA 3. The unit sits a little closer to his head and supposedly has improved sound quality.

Micah also announced last weekend that he wants a new name, and he decided that this new name will be 'Alex'. Fortunately he's still answering to Micah most of the time.

Last weekend we went to Maryland to see Oma. We went to the Amish/Mennonite market, the cemetery to put flowers on my father's grave (his birthday was August 15) and to Watkins Regional Park. Unfortunately the rain kept the little train from running (a favorite of Micah's), but the carousel was still operating and they played miniature golf.

Sunday we went to the German Gourmet in Falls Church for salami, dilled cucumber salad, brotchen, etc. and then went to visit Christine, Jeff, Elise and Emma. Micah already has asked to go back to visit Oma so we can go back to visit the cousins again.

This week was the last week of Friends Camp, but the songs are living on, and on, and on - so now we have a repertoire of two years worth of PFC songs to draw from, and Taio Cruz's Rokstar has found its way into the car's CD player and the Dynamite song has replaced Taylor Swift as the current favorite.

Check, Check

2011-08-12T18:40:00.002-04:00

School supplies purchased, bagged, waiting on the floor of the dining room for September 6. Check.

Appointment with Dr. Wexler, the kids' ophthalmologist. Check. (Both kids are 20/20, for now no glasses. Major thankfulness for a colleague who gave me directions to an address the GPS did not acknowledge as existing.)

Appointment with Dr. Vare. Check. (Thea is in the 95th percentile for height and weight, Micah is the perfect middle of the road, at 50% in both. No shots, at least until the influenza vaccine is received and is released for use.)

Appointment with Dr. Choe for the quarterly flossing out of Micah's ear canals rescheduled yet again. The appointment has been moved from the 26th to the 24th to the 20th. Just what I want to do, drive to northern New Jersey on a Saturday morning, but having a summer's worth of debris cleared out prior to the start of school is a necessity.

Thea's disappointed that there is only a few more weeks of summer vacation. . . .I'm looking forward to the old routine. Soccer starts on September 10th, YingHua Language School starts the following day (and Thea is nowhere closer to finishing the green workbook than she was when YHLS ended in early June.)

I'm an Oma. . . .

2011-08-07T00:41:00.002-04:00

. . . to two guinea pigs named Darwin and Galileo. The brothers formerly resided at Lawrence Day School, which houses Ying Hua. Micah saw them every day for the two weeks that they were attending Chinese camp. He said he loved the guinea pigs; Chinese, not so much. So he began a lobbying campaign that eventually resulted in me sitting down and writing an application to the animal rescue group caring for them (which got a somewhat lukewarm reception which was annoying considering I've owned guinea pigs on and off since 1980.) Friday the universe came into alignment and I had the day off, so it was guinea pig adoption day. One trip to Petsmart for a cage, a bowl, water bottle, food, treats, Timothy grass and bedding. Then a quick trip to pick Galileo and Darwin up at the day care center, and then off to Princeton Friends School to pick up the kids. When I told them I had the piggies in the car, they were beside themselves with excitement, Micah especially. Thea fancies herself the pig whisperer, which is good because Galileo is the more skittish of the two.


Micah in his new role, Pig Daddy to Darwin


Micah at PFC's Family Night - BAHA on, for a change

Thea in the Ravens' village at Friends Camp.

Micah at the Cash Bash, August 6, 2001

Thea at the Cash Bash

We went to see our friends, the Cash family, at Cash Bash 2011. Rain did not stop this block party, a few tents, a few tarps and it just rolled on. The kids were soaked by the time we headed home, but they had a good time - and we got to return the bowl, the shirt and the swim vest they left behind when they came to our house in July.

Quilting class is coming to an end. Two more squares to be done in class (I've already finished one of them), one more to make at home. I bought the sashing and border fabrics last week. We had a short lesson in sizing the squares, which I think I'll need to review. Once, twice, probably three or more times. Measure twice, cut once. Works for carpentry, works for quilting.

Summer Rolls On. . . .

2011-07-29T07:51:00.001-04:00

I just realized that I have two, maybe three quilting classes left - and for my twelve square sampler, I'm supposed to be making three or four 12 inch squares on my own. I am behind schedule. Most of the squares on www.quilterscache.com that I like are 'two pins' or require paper-piecing. One-pin patterns are what we quilting rookies supposed to be choosing from but they are BORING, BORING, BORING, so I picked a one-pin, paper-pieced square to try my hand on.

After a few false starts, this is what emerged. It's based on a pattern called Carol's Star, but my variation on it was not to use my white fabric at the center, but to use my fifth fabric. It looks like a ninja throwing star. . .or a hurricane, it has motion. One down, three to go - or four if I decide the nine-patch that was machine-appliqued during the last class is not worthy of inclusion in the final masterpiece.

The kids are finishing up two weeks at Ying Hua. Micah has declared that he does not like learning Chinese, so he's in for a surprise this Fall because his father is intent on putting him in the Chinese-as-a-Second-Language beginner's class on Sundays. He can register Micah, I already took care of Thea's registration for A07 in June.

Starting Monday and for the next three weeks Thea and Micah are back with the Ravens and Aliens at Princeton Friends Camp, which will mean no complaints about getting up and going to camp - and lots of singing of the groups' theme songs (Who's that coming through the door? Quoth the Ravens, nevermore. . . .repeat a few thousand times, adding a decibel or so each time.) I still hope that the Quakers will have a civilizing effect on Micah, but he's still in his "I-am-a-karate-guy" mode with all of the faux Bruce Lee moves he can manage. Both of them want to try karate, so finding a class is also on my to-do list.

Meanwhile I'm buying school supplies (Third Grade list, done; Kindergarten list - just found it on Infinite Campus last week, so it's on the "I'll get around to it" list), registering for Fall soccer, figuring out my schedule so I can use the Friday and Monday I have off to go to Maryland (yippee, I get to work two Saturdays in a row. . . . ), getting the kids' annual check-ups and ophthalmologist appointments scheduled, looking for a trial of ice hockey for Thea Yes, ice hockey.

And find another quilting class for me. . . . ..

Saturday night, two-thirds completed

Messing with Mom's Head

2011-07-24T17:51:00.000-04:00

I love my children. They are the most lovable, aggravating, funny little people. Periodically, they have clandestine meetings to discuss how to best mess with my head, I am sure of it but I have been unable to catch them in the act.

This weekend Micah's plan was to go into his room on Saturday morning and diligently work for over an hour to clean out his bookshelves and remove everything that he found to be to 'babyish' and then he put all the books he deemed worthy of keeping back on the shelf. And then I when through the discards and return a few Learn-to-Read books and one that was a gift from one of his teachers. Overall, he did an excellent job.

Today Thea and I were out running errands and I stopped at WaWa to buy a Sunday New York Times. Usually when we stop for a snack, and for Thea, it's usually a Dov ice cream bar. Today since we hadn't had lunch, I suggested sandwiches. She breezed up to the touch-screen terminal and banged out her sandwich order, I ordered mine, grabbed the last Times and paid for it. When we were in the car, she unwrapped her sandwich and exclaimed, "Mommy, I don't know how anyone could NOT love baby spinach." Yes, my daughter orders a tuna on whole wheat with baby spinach. Go figure.

Rumblings. . . . .

2011-07-23T19:10:00.001-04:00

Micah likes to put his head on my stomach ever since he was a toddler. Today, without his BAHA on, I was laying in bed with my Kindle, trying to read while Micah was working in his summer workbooks. He leaned over and put his ear against my stomach and said, "I hear the bubbles. . ." and then bounced off the bed and got two of his maracas and asked if it sounded more like the wooden one or the plastic one. Since I can't put my ear to my own stomach, I had to grab him for a listen and tell him that he sounded more like the plastic maraca.

Pretty amazing, once I thought about it a little.

Square Number Six, WIP - Part Two

2011-07-16T22:31:00.002-04:00

The sewing machine is back from the shop and working great (though the platform that fits over the free-arm is missing.) The shop put a sticker on it that it was next due for service in July 2012. It has not been serviced from June 1982 until earlier this month so I'm not sure I'm going to be following that recommendation.

Tonight I finished the fourth square of the paper-piecing lesson. On my own. Four days after the class (i.e. enough of a time lapse to forget everything I'd learned.) And I did it, so all that is left is deciding how to configure them for the actual square.

Yesterday the shelves were finished in the family room. Major source of excitement in my life - about 22 feet of space for the piles of books that have been stacked and scattered throughout the house. And there is still one stack left next to the bookcase in the living room. Now all we need to do is replace the heinous green carpet that was installed by the previous owners (whose taste ranged from sparkly, abalone toilet seats and a navy room with a dried blood-colored closet).

Lastly, pictures of my sand rats from last Sunday:

Thea on the beach, July 10, 2011

Micah in Mantoloking, July 10, 2011

Square Number Six, WIP

2011-07-13T22:39:00.000-04:00

News from the quilting zone: It's a paper-piecing work-in-progress week. Three of the four squares that will make this square are done and the teacher loaned me the ruler used to cut the stitching lines so I can finish it. I think she was willing to loan out her ruler because I had the most improved attitude. I arrived at class early and announced that from what I had seen on YouTube, I'd rather have a simultaneous root canal and rectal than learn how to paper-piece a quilt square. But using her template and instructions, I completed 75% of the square even with having to rip out tiny stitches twice. I rock, at least in my own mind.

For the twelve square sampler, I need to pick three patterns from the Quilter's Cache web site, but most of the 'one pin' patterns (which means it is for a beginner) are dull, dull, dull. They all seem to be a re-working of squares we've already done. I bought the fabric for the back of my quilt, the blue fabric with the whitish coral-like batik print, my tribute to the fabric that just about everyone wanted me to not choose and which everyone seems to like now that it's in with the other four fabrics.

Meanwhile back at the Krebs Road homestead, two floor to ceiling built-in bookcases are being created by Mike, who is also painting the butt-ugly mantel white and re-hanging it (so it's level, which will be a new development). The progress over the past three days has been phenomenal, from framing on one side with one shelf in on Monday, to both sides done and ready for painting today. The wall behind the bookshelves will be purple. And once the paint is absolutely dry, in will go all the books that are stacked all over the living room, dining room, kitchen hall and wherever else. For all the nights I've driven through Princeton looking in the windows of the homes at the walls upon walls of bookshelves, I will have a smaller version that are all my own. Next the putting green green carpet will be out of the family room and the majority of the ghosts of owners past (and their horrific style) will be gone, at least on the inside of the house.

It's a full moon this week, which explains why the work week seems longer and longer, even though it's more than half over. The level of neediness and craziness, either together or separate is escalating with each day.

Square Number Five on July 5

2011-07-06T01:44:00.001-04:00

Square 5 of 12, no particular pattern, just squares laid out in a way I liked.

Square of the week, made using an interfacing grid that made all the corners sharp. It seemed like cheating, at least until I walked out of class early (which was a miracle since I arrived late, had to re-cut my squares down from 2.5 inches to two inches.)

This is what you get when you hear 2.5" instead of 2" (boring!)

We had a good Third of July with friends from our 2007 trip to China. Jillian and Micah share a birthday, shared an orphanage for the first 16 months of their lives and share an adoption day which is coming up on July 9th. Thea and Micah had a blast with Jillian and her siblings - having a family with five children visit is like an instant party: there were games, sword-fighting, swimming and food. We're very lucky that they were willing to drive down, and we're looking forward to driving up to the 2011 Cash Bash.

Albin and Cash kids, 2011

Albin and Cash kids, this time without Leigh Ann being cut out

Saturday was devoted to doing a little bit of cleaning and shopping to get ready. The kids spent the entire day in their pajamas or bathing suits, and managed to enjoy a day where we could stay home rather than chasing a schedule.

Four of Twelve. . .

2011-06-29T23:54:00.002-04:00

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

2011-06-27T17:20:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-21T13:41:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-20T15:51:00.001-04:00

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. . .

2011-06-19T22:13:00.004-04:00

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..

Boy Posse

2011-05-02T18:51:00.001-04:00

A trio of neighborhood boys rang our doorbell a few minutes ago and asked if Thea could please come out and play. Oh, and could she please bring her five light sabers? And her Beyblade?

Eager, hopeful little faces, wanting my daughter to come out and (play) fight.

I am feeling very old at the moment.

And when airhead daughter returned home, she had a blond moment and could not find three of the light sabers.

Photo Catch-Up - Spring Break 2011

2011-04-23T13:24:00.000-04:00

April 15: Micah in the audiologist's booth at appointment with his ENT, wearing his soccer uniform and thinking he's all that and a bag of chips. He had the debris removed from his ear canals prior to the audiometry and his audiogram was one of the best since his surgery.

April 18 at Oma's Special Park, running off some energy after being in the car for four hours.

April 18: at OSP, Thea's haircut, from a different perspective.

April 19 at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, on the dragon pedal boats. Thea's favorite part of this days.

April 20 at the Westmoreland Berry Farm in Oak Grove, Virginia, feeding corn to the goats.

April 20, feeding the goats without use of pulleys. Micah wanted no part of getting goat spit on his hands.

April 20 at on the porch at Westmoreland Berry Farm with Oma and Marlyce, while Thea was feeding the goats.

April 22, visting our cousins, photo minus one (Emma was napping and missed the egg hunt.)

Micah putting on his karate face, Thea enduring.

Elise and the cherry blossoms

Soccer, Worms, Reading and No TV

2011-04-11T10:04:00.001-04:00

The spring soccer is mixed teams divided up on the day of the practice, with boys and girls playing together. One of the boys on Thea's team took a direct hit from a well-kicked soccer ball right to the privates. All the other boys erupted in laughter and Thea just looked at them and said, "I know why you think that's funny..." I was proud of her because she walked right on to the field and started talking to the coach and told him right away, "I like playing defense better."

Right before soccer was the OLSAT test. Poor little first-graders had to endure testing from 9:00 am to noon. The second- and third-graders just had to suffer through an hour. Other than going to China, Egypt or Oman, I've not spent much time being a minority, but at the drop off for the test I think I saw maybe four other Caucasian parents. Thea was pretty unperturbed by the test. As all the other kids were being herded up the sidewalk to the school, she was stopping to pick up earthworms that were on the sidewalk from the rainstorm the previous night. So not to be outdone by my sensitive child, I had to pick up some of the worms too to save them from being trampled.

Thea is reading the Young Reader's edition of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, one of my all time favor books. She has been incentivized by the promise of a reward when she's done. The good thing is seems to like the story and it's leading to good vocabulary additions: meningitis, epilepsy, baptism, seizure, though it's a brain strain for me to get the concept of epilepsy into an explanation to fit a seven year old's frame of reference.

Thea and I are doing the Television Turn-Off week that started last Friday and goes through Thursday. Today is the halfway mark and neither of us has touched the TV remote or our Nintendos. After getting our passport photos done on Saturday, I let her have a look at Game Stop and she asked them to hold Pokemon Revolution (for the Wii) for her and we picked it up yesterday (she paid), and she didn't even waver about putting it in the box to be held until the reign of terror is over.

Little Brat in EDP

2011-04-11T09:47:00.001-04:00

In Thea's years at Ying Hua International School, I think all of friends and all of the teachers knew she was adopted. I don't think anyone, child or adult, every really commented on it, questioned either Thea or us. There were several children who were adopted internationally and a couple who were adopted in the US. Adoption just wasn't all that much of a big deal.

Friday I went to pick up Thea at Wicoff School's EDP (extended-day program), and she was sitting at a table with a bunch of girls (somewhat of a shock because she usually seems to hang around boys more), and as I snuck up behind her, I hear one of the the EDP ladies addressing the child sitting across from Thea, saying "You don't know the reasons for Thea's adoption." It seems this beast told Thea that she was adopted because her birth parents didn't want her.

None of this seemed to faze Thea in the least, she was busy making hand-drawn Pokemon cards, but I wanted to shred that little future social misfit into a million tiny pieces. Thea knows all about the day of her adoption, and what few details about her finding that we know. We talk about it on and off at home, if it comes up, but we've never really had any conversations about what to say to people outside of our family. (And there will be those readers who say give the little cherub the benefit of the doubt, forgive, blah blah blah. I saw her face, her expression was prissy, supercilious and mean.)

So while Thea got her lunch box, backpack and coat, I told the little beast, in as calm a tone as I could muster, that she could not presume to know the story of Thea's adoption because there are details that even we don't know and that what for me was the happiest event in my life was in all likelihood preceded by the saddest days for her birth family. But of course the little girl didn't seem to be paying attention, but since I'd already turned to leave, I heard the EDP lady say to her, "Kayla, did you hear what Thea's mother said to you?" and began to repeat what I said, but by then we were out of the room.

Little Miss Kayla, you have a lot to learn, and if you don't get a little more sensitivity in your soul (if you even have one), the next mother whose children are adopted may not be as Gandhi-esque as me. For now, you live and I'm glad that I only pick Thea up from EDP a few times per month. And so much for wishing she had a few more female friends, she has her friends in Brownies and can hang with the boys for now. All they seem to care about is video games, Pokemon, Bakugan and soccer, which is just fine.

Passports & Microtia

2011-04-10T14:58:00.001-04:00

Everyone's US passport has expired (except for Micah's and that's because I haven't applied for one for him yet.) Yesterday after taking Thea to the OLSAT testing and to soccer practice, we went to the UPS store to get new photos done. Then my evil plan is to send Steve's and my applications in to the Passport Agency and make an appointment with the post office in Princeton Junction to get the kids' passports done.

Right now Thea is in between haircuts, so her bangs are a little low and her hair is long enough to push behind her ears. While in Maryland in February, Miss Tammy, who gave Thea her very first haircut, trimmed the bangs, but Thea's bobbed/wedged style is the creation of Miss Flo at Snip-Its. Her hair had to be forced behind the ears, in addition to slicking her bangs off to one side with a little water, so that her eyebrows and ears were visible in the photo. It's a rule, according to the guy taking the pictures, so while we are satisfying whatever regulation the US government (the lovely people who brought you the Shut Down That Almost Was) has for biometric data, we have now a passport photo that looks absolutely nothing like my child.

And I won't even begin to bore you with mine, other than I would not use water on my bangs to get them out of the way, and the guy took about five shots before he got something he thought was acceptable. (I was in "whatever will get it through the renewal process"-mode. Do it, I look like this every day and there is precious little a UPS store clerk with a digital camera could do to make me look like Heidi Klum.)

What bothered me was that the photographer kept saying, I have to be able to see the ears. OK, fine for Thea and me, that's a little bit of fussing and pushing to get hair out of the way. Good luck seeing Micah's ears, looking at him face to face, you might see a bit of ear lobe off to the side, and then what to do about the BAHA. People wear their eyeglasses in their passport photos, why shouldn't Micah wear his hearing aid? To be safe, we had one set of with and one without done and we'll see what happens.

TV-Free for 7 Days. . .

2011-04-08T22:54:00.001-04:00

. . . .thanks to a flyer from Thea's school. Thea said she wanted to participate yesterday, and did well this morning before school, but the facade cracked a bit during the after-school / pre-dinner hours as actual withdrawal set in.

But she held firm, and we got back into the final chapters of The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, which we've been working on since before the move to Plainsboro. Micah got two Llama Llama books read to him, one by me and one by Thea.

All in all this TV-free, electronic-game free thing is not so bad.

Just don't touch my laptop.

Another IEP Review . . . .

2011-04-04T21:34:00.001-04:00

. . .all geared toward making sure Micah is ready for mainstream kindergarten. Unfortunately, I don't think he will be making the cut as far as being eligible for Extended School Year and the speech services that would go along with that. He's already met his occupational therapy goals as far as fine motor skills, his general education teacher, special education teacher and speech therapist all seem to think all is well.

But. . . .

Micah's tympanic membranes and ear canals are created, not indigenous. and they could change due to scar tissue, growth or whatever and that could affect his hearing. We work daily to make sure that everything is done to optimize his hearing: a steroid nasal spray, Claritin, Children's Sudafed, ear drops after baths or swimming. He is still choosing to use one BAHA to help him hear better. When he is in a classroom with twenty other little kindergarteners, he will likely need an FM system.

Go ahead and try to cut us loose. I've had the card of a special education attorney tucked away somewhere for almost four years.

If the school district tries to say that Micah is no longer in need of an IEP (individualized education plan), it has another thing coming. I already bear a grudge related to the whole charter school issue, I would love to be a festering little thorn in its sides.

Badgers in a Sack. . . .

2011-03-27T13:13:00.003-04:00

. . .would probably squabble less than my children. Today's issue was Micah's going to Target and Toys-R-Us to use gift cards he got for his birthday. At Toy-R-Us he hit a sale on Bakugans, chose wisely and got three battle gear for his Bakugan (as I understand it, some sort of combat accessorizing that can be attached to the Bakugan once it's opened.) At Target he wanted a game for his Nintendo DS and again got lucky with a sale on Spiderman, and he also picked out Pokemon styluses to further complement his device. (Points to me for figuring out how to get him into the Spiderman game and setting it up for the easiest level.)

Upon coming home with his loot, big sister's nose went majorly out of joint for a multitude of reasons. She's never gotten a gift card on her birthday (but what about the GameStop gift card she received for Hanukah?), Micah spent 'my' money (no, he actually used his gift cards and I used $0.06 left on one of his cards to print photos), and he should just hand over the battle gear as reparations for a piece of battle gear Micah thought she had given to him and he gave to a friend (rectified both by enforcement of a 'no trading' rule and by Micah purchasing a new battle gear for her months ago), his birthday was WEEKS ago and he's STILL getting presents, the litany of grievances was unending.

Thea's whining was horrific, made worse by Micah knowing his good fortune was a source of torment for her. What I hate about Thea's tantrums is that she does not go away, she sticks to me like glue and she is too big for me to pick her up and toss her in her room. She just wants to beat me over the head with the facts as she sees them, over and over and over and over.

Having just had a wicked headache last night, I was going to murder her if she set another one off.

Then she had the idea to go outside and work off her aggressions by using her brother's Nerf shooter and another mistake was made letting her go outside without reminding her to unlock the door. She did not remember to set the lower lock so that she could get back in, and Micah and I were upstairs and in the back of the house, thankful for the relative quiet. So she pounded and pounded and pounded until the lightbulb went off in her little brain and she rang the doorbell, which I heard and promptly went downstairs to open the door. To find an upset, even more hostile runny-nosed beast.

And after a lesson on making sure she can get back in if she goes out, everyone went back upstairs and Thea and Micah have been playing Lego Ninjagos for the past hour, peacefully. Go figure. And so went Saturday.

Photo Catch Up

2011-03-18T14:22:00.000-04:00

Happy Purim!

March 18, 2011

Thea receiving her four try-its and four patches, March 11, 2011

The end of the Brownie meeting, watching for the hand squeeze to make its way around


Thea's part of the Brownie promise: to be friendly and helpful.

Micah and Max at Sarah's birthday party, March 12, 2011

They are a pair of wild guys.

This is what happens when Mom goes for a refill of ice tea, trouble.

It's All Good Today. . .

2011-03-12T09:36:00.003-05:00

It's Friday, and I'm off today, and off Monday. Still with barking cough, and getting a little bit fed up with it, but otherwise today was good. I dropped Micah off at Beth Chaim, went over to Princeton to pick up my new pair of glasses (I now have two pairs of tortoise shell frames, the heir and the spare, so the red Ray Ban frames are back on the bench.) Briefly popped by It's A Grind for a beverage and muffin before coming home and going on a mission that could be best described as the Great Dust Bunny Round-Up of 2011. Side bonus was one more cardboard box of junk got sorted out and moved off the landing and I hung a few pictures in the bathroom. I'm back in fighting mode again.

After cleaning, I went back to Beth Chaim to retrieve the boy and zip back to Plainsboro to Thea's school for the Brownies award ceremony. Today was the day the troop leaders were giving the girls the try-its (badges) they'd earned and the patches for events they had participated in (the Bonfire, Ice Skating, Crafting for the Community and Thinking Day). Her vest will look much more interesting when I get around to ironing them and sewing them on.

Two minor annoyances this week that fall into that "Be Nice to Me or I Will Blog About You" category:

To get my new eyeglasses I had to have an eye exam, which was with a new provider. I had ditched the doctor Steve sees after Dr. Felton invited a student into the room without asking my permission which bothered me at the time. Add to it his personality being in the realm of a soggy Brillo pad, it was time to try someone new, so last time I saw Dr. Epstein and he was fine other than wanting to see me sign up for laser vision correction. But I had to switch my appointment to be able to switch Saturdays with Karen which landed me in Dr. Reynolds schedule. He was very nice, definitely from my part of the Baby Boomer age spectrum.

He did land one minor nail in his coffin by saying to me which will have me returning to Dr. Epstein or shopping for yet another provider in the group in two years, "I can ask you because you're a year older than I am, you have a five-year old and a seven year old?"

What out of any of that sounds the least little bit positive? Pointing out that I am OLD? Pointing out that most people MY AGE do not have children as young as mine? Yes, you can ask me, but the answer may not give you all the information you're looking for.

Momentary pause on my part to determine how much information I feel like sharing with a person I've met not more than ten minutes prior, and from whom my ultimate goal is to obtain a new prescription for glasses without being branded preachy psycho patient from Hell.

So the answer was (wait for it, wait. . . . ), "Yes, I do, a seven year old daughter and a five year old son." In that way signaling the discussion of the ages of my children vis-a-vis my age was closed. And on with the exam, is number one clearer or number two, number two or number three. . . .

Yes, I could have been the little ambassador mama for adoption, but his job was to examine my eyes and assess their health and write me a new prescription for glasses, not delve into how my family came about or what my ovaries and uterus may or may not have been up to in 2003 and 2006. Information that did not seem to be vital for this type of exam. Yes, I am an older parent. My 'problem,' if you see it that way, not his. If I really wanted to deflect, I would have told him my husband is going to be 60 this year.

The first pair of glasses made at the Optical Shop were ready last week, it took slight longer for the pair obtained through VSP. I am happy to retire my red/lavender frames which were bought to be a fun, every now and then pair but upon the disappearance of my tortoise frames last year and their failure to turn up when we packed up the house for the move they were 'it'. Major excitement on my part, it does not take much these days.

Next annoyance. Principal of Thea's school. DR. Wellborn. Doctorate by virtue of an Ed.D. degree, so in my hierarchical, pecking order conscious mind, Ph.D.-lite. He's pleasant enough, but when Thea went for testing at Wicoff last July, he introduced himself and was doing the jolly "Welcome to Wicoff" routine and had not grasp of how his audience was reacting. She took an almost immediate dislike to him since this was the first meeting and she's not great meeting new people especially if she senses someone is being ultra-friendly in a false sort of way, it is is just hopeless. And me, I'm just not that 'into' people who toss their titles around. (The principal of my long-ago elementary school was Mrs. Mary E. Long, no letters after her name, respect earned daily by her broad portfolio of skills.)

Anyway this week there were a few snafus with the transportation for Jackson and Thea to their after school Mandarin tutoring, so this email was the 'be on time' wrist slap.

At the beginning of the school year we had form upon form with our contact information, names, phone numbers, emails, etc. to fill in and return. And I also registered with the school district's Infinite Campus system (which I think of as Infinite Pain-in-the-Ass, but that's another story.) The school district has all my information and then some.

So when the email came with the salutation "Mr. and Mrs. Albin" I wanted to beat Mr. Wellborn, Ed.D.

Initial hostile reaction aside, the school's student population is predominantly Asian and Indian heritages and many of those married couples do not have the same last name, we are not some sort of anomaly in the community where we live. Secondary reaction, you obviously got the information from something I provided, so if my email address is correct, my name should be too, especially when I get the sense that he tries almost too hard to be the super-deluxe-PC type.

But rather than waste my time and energy getting myself branded psycho parent from Hell for asking that I be addressed by my correct name, I deleted the email. One more year of that place and Thea will move on to Millstone River and there will be a whole new set of people to irk me (though I remember that most of the Millstone River staff were very nice when Micah was there for ESY last summer.)

Every now and then I think about changing my name, mostly for the sake of having it the same as the kids' last names so I don't feel like I need to travel with their adoption certificates. But the kids don't have a problem with my last name being different (they rather like it since it gives them a sense of being in the Albin majority in our house and outnumbering the lone Grebe.) And I like my last name the way it is.

The Boy is 5. . . .

2011-03-05T19:05:00.001-05:00

. . . .which isn't all the different from four. Same quirky sense of humor, same love of Bunny Bear, same desire to be fed rather than feed himself, same middle of the night trek from his bed to ours.

Last Sunday, in between ice skating and Chinese school, Thea's Brownie troop represented New Zealand at Thinking Day (also known as World Friendship Day.) I am counting this as one of those rare days that Thea consented to wearing a skirt. For the short time that we could stay there, she got 29 stamps in her 'passport', had snacks from Australia and Taiwan, made lots of swaps and actually enjoyed herself.

Directionally Impaired

2011-02-26T22:55:00.000-05:00

Today was a day just destined not to go well. I got up early, got ready in time to make a stop at the Dunkin' Donuts for coffee and then went off to the hotel for a free CME seminar. Or what I thought was the right hotel, Westin, Wyndham. They both start with W, don't they?

And the email I had to print out to hand in (or face having to re-register on-site) had all of MY information but none about the conference's location. So what should have been an early arrival turned into being twenty minutes late since for the life me I could not figure out where a Wyndham Hotel was in Forrestal Village, and when I asked the GPS, it directed me to a Wyndham at Routes 1 and 9, 35 miles away. (Thank you very sparsely, Garmin.)

The Wyndham is actually in Plainsboro, to call it Forrestal is a fabrication bordering on a big, fat lie.

Amazingly, it's a rather large conference center, tucked back off the road so as to make it nearly invisible when driving on Scudders Falls Road.

I was glad I persisted, 4.25 hours of CME for free is not bad, and it was on diabetes, but the search and destroy mission to find the location set the tone for the day.

After the conference, my next quest was for large bottles of strawberry-kiwi juice. Tomorrow is Thinking Day (aka World Friendship Day) for the Girl Scouts. Thea's Brownie troop has New Zealand, so kiwis or something with kiwi in it will be what they are selling at their table. The troop leader wants large bottles to pour from instead of Capri Sun pouches.

First stop, Target. No luck (but it does have the Capri Sun Strawberry-Kiwi juice pouches). Next stop, Shop-Rite in Lawrenceville. Ditto (but it does stock the Capri Sun). Third stop, SuperFresh. History repeats itself. I give up and go home and get on the computer to start googling. K-Mart, which is not exactly around the corner, but in combination with a trip to Bridgewater Commons to return a jacket, it's doable.

In the meantime, I also fired off an email to the troop leader asking her where did she see the larger bottles of this stuff (not asking why she didn't convey this information in the first place)? So she called me (darned downstairs phone doesn't have Caller ID.)

McCaffrey's, back near the old neighborhood. The last place I would have checked.

Did I mention that my foot hurts like hell from the walking I did today even with the ugly boot on?

Did I mention that the V-8 Splash Strawberry Kiwi juice is a color not found in nature and does not look like anything I'd want to drink? Pair it with kiwi fruit, I bought and now need to find a way to peel, and I think we're going to have leftovers.

Friday's Coming . . . .

2011-02-24T22:43:00.002-05:00

. . . . . .and we're going to Summit Speech School's Family Fun Night! After work, after school, after Brownies, and after hitting the ATM. Micah is so excited to be going back to his old school and see friends and teachers. Thea is excited about the basket raffle, since her ticket won us the four-pack of ticket to see Elmo at the State Theater in New Brunswick, so she thinks she has the winning touch.

I worked every day this week, and I am ready for the week to be O-V-E-R, gone, done, history.

Friday is Summit School, Saturday is a CME at the Westin Forrestal in the AM, Sunday Skating, Girl Scouts Thinking Day at High School South and Chinese. I need a cup of coffee. . . .

Auricle Gazing, Musings from Micah

2011-02-24T21:37:00.001-05:00

Micah (looking at the TV a close-up, side profile headshots of two guys on 'Royal Pains'): Mommy, are all people's ears the same size?

Me: No, a lot of people have ears that look about the same, and most people have big ears, but all ears are a little bit different if you look at them closely. And your ears are just perfect the way they are, but remember how we talked about if one day when you are older, if you wanted big ears, Mommy and Daddy would help find a doctor to do it?

Micah: No, I don't want big ears. I don't like going to the hospital. I like all the people who work at the hospital and help people, but I don't like going to the hospital.

Me: OK. Go to sleep, little creep, little creep. Good night.

On Better Footing

2011-02-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

Ugly swollen foot, ugly shoe

Last Wednesday while unloading stuff from my car, I brought my rolling duffel bag into the foyer of my mother's house and then went out for another load. And promptly rammed my right foot into the wheels of the duffel bag, the only part that is hard. At the time it happened, it hurt like hell, but I have cracked my 5th toes multiple times and it usually hurts for a few days and then slowly improves.

Here's my foot one week later. The fourth toe still hurts like hell, the dorsum of the foot is swollen to the mid-foot. Time to throw in the towel, crumble, fold, go to the RWJ Diagnostic Center across from the street and have an xray done.

Before I even drove back across the street (yes, I drove, my carbon footprint be damned because my real footprint was killing me with every step), the radiologist was calling Karen with the results.

A non-displaced fracture near the base of the fourth toe.

That's all. For all the swelling, all the pain, that's it?

But the promise that the podiatrist would give me a nice shoe that would make walking a lot better and colleagues who will rearrange my afternoon schedule so that I could go to Foot & Ankle Group's Bordentown office won me over.

So with directions based solely on landmarks alone (no address for the GPS), I drove past Town & Country, past the Irish pub and into the parking lot between two small professional buildings, carrying the CD of my xray but no cell phone.

Dr. Clinch, whose name I've seen her consultant notes on patients and whose handwriting is difficult at times to parse out, was nice enough to wait after the end of her office hours just to see me. She said the xray looked a lot better than my foot actually did, and even went back to have a second look after she saw all the swelling on the back of my foot and pressed along the 4th MT, making me nearly howl. Possible stress fracture, nice - but both the toe and the stress fracture are treated by using the hideous Velcro shoe.

The difference in my hobble with the butt ugly shoe is phenomenal. Major happiness. Major decrease in pain. Major decrease in crabbiness and the desire to rip others' heads off. Total win all around.

Sometimes it pays to listen to one's health care providers.

Micah's Hearing, in his own words

2011-02-20T14:41:00.001-05:00

I've been a little bit slack on writing about Micah and his hearing, mostly because not much has been going on. His next appointment with his ENT surgeon is April 15, and he'll also be seeing the audiologist as well. He's wearing one BAHA to school, and a lot of the time when he's home he isn't using it.

Yesterday at the Lunar New Year party, our friend Amy went with Micah downstairs to the basement playroom. Amy is Lucas's mom, the one other boy in the flock of girls. I was still making trips out to the car to bring things in, and I'm hobbling thanks to smashing my right fourth toe into the rolling duffel bag while unloading the car Wednesday night at my mother's.

Amy told me that one of the girls asked what was the thing on his headband (his BAHA). He answered her that when he was born, his ears "weren't wide enough" so he went to the hospital and had surgeries so that he could hear better, but "sometimes I still say 'What?' a lot so I wear this to help me hear."

I am so proud of him, I could not have explained it that well if I were four years old.

The Year of the Rabbit

2011-02-20T00:00:00.002-05:00

What a bunch of gorgeous kids. The older ones, Thea in aqua, Ava in silver, Lucas in red, Kyra in white, Sorcha next to Kyra in red/white and Kitty in red, sandwiched between her little sisters, all met their families in September 2004. At least once a year since then we've gotten together, starting in December 2004. The kids have grown, siblings have joined families and now thanks to Wii and other toys and games, the parents can actually sit down and talk to each other.

If I ever had to spend a two week road trip in a foreign country again, I would do it with these people without a moment's hesitation. We're lucky that about half of the thirteen families live close enough to be able to get together.

Below the Mason-Dixon Line

2011-02-17T09:23:00.001-05:00

Thea, Micah and I drove down to Oma's Wednesday night. The roads were clear, one or both of the children took naps and I listened to 102.7 FM out of Baltimore and time-traveled back to the music of college. We had take-out KFC for dinner, and by 11 pm the kids were packed off to bed and I could open the laptop and finish up a few charts.

In my monocular focus to get from point A to point B, I didn't even notice there is no snow on the ground here. No piles of snow in the parking lot.

We're going to the German Deli over in Virginia today. Must replenish the Kinderschokolade supply.

On Call

2011-02-12T16:42:00.000-05:00

Switched my weekend to work from next weekend to this weekend. While I am eternally grateful to Karen for flipping with me, I'm also dreading being tied to a telephone until 8 am Monday. Two calls already, but related to electronic prescriptions not making it to the pharmacy at the speed of light - and one was for my last patient of the day (4:30 pm) who was calling at 5:30 pm because it wasn't there. If I do one thing when I send an electronic prescription I tell my patients that it usually takes more than an hour for a prescription to transit cyberspace to the pharmacist, and possibly more time for the pharmacist to actually fill it and put it on the shelf for pick up.

God save me from people who worship at Our Lady of Instant Gratification.

Other than work and call, we're going to a Lunar New Year dinner for PIACS, the Mandarin-immersion charter school that hopes to be up and running in the fall. Micah has been accepted into its kindergarten class.

Then the usual Sunday ice skating lessons - Thea will be moving from Pre-Alpha to Alpha, Micah is staying in the same class, and Chinese school, and making cupcakes without eggs for Micah's Valentine's Day party at Dutch Neck (mercifully, the synagogue preschool does not celebrate St. Valentine.)

Update: 11:46 pm call. 102 fever - do I need to go to the emergency room? Said a few naughty words after getting off the phone and went to bed. Do people really, really NOT know how to manage a fever? Really?

Weekend

2011-02-07T19:31:00.000-05:00

This weekend we had the Yeladim as our house guests, and for the most part we ignored them.

First, by way of explanation, they are not real people. They are two versions of a Beanie Baby-sized Dora the Explorer dolls that are packed in a Beth Chaim Preschool tote with a notebook and a little rectangular basket and dumped on unsuspecting parents at the end of the week.

The expectation is, for those overachieving, document-every-moment-of-my-child's-life parents, will write in the notebook the adventures that the Yeladim have while visiting the student's home for the weekend and include photos. Some parents go on for pages and pages, and gluing in near blow-by-blow photo montages.

And then there is us. Slacker parents. Parents who don't really think that preschoolers should be given homework. Parents who would rather spend with our children without a couple of grubby fleece dolls horning in on the action

So the Yeladim spent Friday and Saturday on our sofa. Thea and Micah were in the living room, playing games on the Wii on and off during the day. This was one of those rare Saturdays with nothing on the calendar, so we stayed in, and the kids were in their pajamas most of the day. Not exactly something I would want documented for time immemorial for all of the other parents in Micah's preschool to see.

Sunday was the usual ice skating in the morning, lunch and Chinese school in the afternoon. The Yeladim languished on the coach and did not seem at all bothered by this. (In some ways, they are the perfect guests.)

Steve and Micah were supposed to deal with this while Thea and I were at Rider University, but they managed to ignore the assignment.

Then during and after dinner we finally got going, photos were taken, a fast trip to FedEx Kinkos to print them and then a few fast sentences and a little glue stick action and it was done. We briefly flirted with the idea of changing Micah's shirt between photos, but then I felt like taking a stand for the slacker parents by putting five pictures instead of a dozen.

Sharing shrimp scampi with the Yeladim.

(And hoping they don't keep kosher. . . .)

Admiring Micah's Tu B'Shevat green bean plants.

Watching Super Bowl XLV with Micah and Thea

Good Night, Yeladim.

Tucked in with Llama Llama Red Pajama and Bunny Bear

Slacker Parents Unite!

Another Snow Day

2011-02-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

. . . .or rather an ice day, courtesy of the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District. 1 am, no news of the closing, 4:30 am no posting on the web site (a large snow slide from the roof crashed onto the back patio and the motion-sensor light went off and it woke me up). Finally, when the alarm went off, before going downstairs to make breakfast and pack lunches, I stopped at the computer and school was canceled.

It was also strangely quiet, trains between New York and Philadelphia were not running early in the morning, and it is strange how I've gotten accustomed to hearing the sounds of the NJ Transit and Amtrak trains.

Surprisingly, the inmates got along with each other today, only one small skirmish. So it wasn't a bad day, especially since the ice on the driveway that Thea and I slid around on last night was gone by midday. So we went out to Target for supplies (milk, broccoli, limeade) and minor bribes for continued good behavior - one Lego Ninjago each, and Thea used her own allowance money with the addition of 70 cents from me.

If that stupid ground hog is wrong, the kids are going to be going to school until late June, at the rate the school district is closing schools. . . .

Motherhood's Not So Shining Moment

2011-01-31T18:24:00.002-05:00

Today I was home with Micah, who had a fever on Sunday and who probably had whatever had gotten me last Tuesday. He was a pale shadow of his usual self yesterday, and was still in low battery mode this morning.

He spent the morning in his pajamas, being spoiled sick boy in our bed joined by his Star Wars Legos characters and Bunny Bear. I finally got a chance to load his iXL with the Batman and Toy Stories games. The iXL seemed like a really interesting device, and one of the accessories was a set of headphones that were the old fashioned kind (not the ear bud type, which I wouldn't want Micah to use and which probably wouldn't stay in his ear canals without the support of an auricle.) What I should of checked out was how the games get into the device. Not by a tiny cartridge like the Nintendo DSi, but onto the computer, through the USB port and into the iXL. Major timewaster, though one of the fun features is photos can be loaded into it, and then Micah can both flip through them, and also draw on them as well. It made for decent enough entertainment to keep him parked in the bed, under the covers - or he just felt lousy enough to stay put.

Mondays are usually my day to pick up Thea and Jackson to drive them to Ying Hua for after-school Chinese tutoring, so around 2:30 I got Micah dressed and organized (meaning he packed his backpack with the 'necessities' for travel: his iXL, a few Legos guys and whatever else interested him at that moment) and we set out.

The routine after meeting Jackson and Thea at Parent Pick-Up is to take them for a snack. Today the request was for hot chocolate, so rather than go to It's A Grind for cafe hot cocoa, it was Dunkin Donuts. Which still can be rather pricey if you're buying for three.

And since it was three versus two, Thea and Jackson got more grief from me than they usually do because they were trying to exclude Micah, and Micah wants to just be in the middle of what he perceives as their bigger kid wonderfulness he puts up with it. Usually I enjoy taking the two out for their snack, but today it was more of a referee job whose only benefit was the nice large coffee.

As we were finishing up, a large new model, white Yukon pulls up to the curb and the passenger door opens and two kids who are smaller than my two (who are 5 and 7) get out, the older of the two has a coupon and a credit card in his hand. No coats on, one of the two is wearing slippers without socks, both kids are a little on the chubby side. The two got to the counter, place their order and take it back to the car. I'm just sitting there taking it all in, somewhat stunned.

There is a woman behind the wheel of the Yukon, also on the more than just chubby end of the spectrum.

Once we finally get our table cleared and out the door, the Yukon is still there. The two children make another trip in and by the time everyone in my car is buckled in and we're pulling out, the lady who is working the counter at D-n-D comes out to the car.

OK, I'm no better than she is, I just bought some of the same high fat, high sugar snacks for children. But at least I parked my car, got out with them, sat down with them, talked to them instead of sitting for more than ten to fifteen minutes in a no parking/no standing area barking orders at two little ones who looked to small to even know what a credit card or a coupon are.

I wanted to smack her over the head with her designer knock-off bag.

Gripes

2011-01-31T12:06:00.000-05:00

I purchased the book, 'Home in the Morning' by Mary Glickman for my Kindle and it is the first book I think I may delete from the device. It was a good story, or at least it held my attention. Right up until the storyline moved to 1965 and the main characters were in Washington, DC and one of them got out of the hospital AND TOOK THE SUBWAY HOME.

I lived in the Washington, DC area from 1960 to 1974, and I remember the construction of the Metro system which started around 1969. I also remember riding the Red Line with my grandfather and brother in 1976 when we had come back to visit for the Bicentennial.

At the end of the book I went to read the end notes to see if the author would make any explanation for this glaring error. Nothing. Not that I would be totally forgiving, but at least if she said she was exercising a bit of artistic license, I could dial down the annoyance.

This ranks right up there with Kevin Costner running on the towpath along the C&O canal in Georgetown and then zipping into the Georgetown Metro stop and then hopping on a train that is clearly part of the Baltimore subway system in 1987's No Way Out. I don't remember much from the plot, but those little moments of movie magic live on.

Amazon owes me for recommending 'Home in the Morning' to me.

Out Damn Virus

2011-01-29T23:59:00.000-05:00

Written January 11, 2011

I've been down with a cold since around Christmas, and I'm just about the limit of my patience for the tiny little gnome I am imagining lives in my sinuses who is ladling gunk down the back of my throat. I thought I was done with NyQuil and Advil LiquiGels last week, but tonight I caved in and opened one of those allegedly child-proof blister packets. Thea's down with a cough, but no other real symptoms so she's just taking PediaCare Cough Syrup or Mucinex, and Micah's beginning to fake a bit of a dry cough because he thinks he's been left out.

If this is the immune system at age 50, it sucks. I have drowned myself in several gallons of orange juice or Simply Limeade. I have been taking my vitamins. I have been washing my hands or using hand sanitizer gel to the point where the backs of my hands verge on reptilian. All that is left to do is just wallow in misery and self-pity.

I finally unearthed the humidifier this afternoon because the master bedroom is drier than dry (and now we know why, the casing for the humidifier unit on the furnace is EMPTY. Thank you to the seller who I specifically remember asking what's that thing on the furnace and being told it was the humidifier and that the second thermostat-like thing on the wall was for the humidifier. A second thank you very sparsely to the home inspector who could have noted it on his inspection even though it was not really part of the structural and safety issues. If I didn't have reason to hate the sellers for there completely questionable taste in decor and their total inability to notice dust (on the mini-blinds, which could likely have been measured in millimeters and above the door jambs of every room in the house), I really wish a blistering case of herpes on them now.

Micah's 5th birthday is less than two months away, and we've finally got a place to hold the party. He expressed a desire to have everyone over to our house for a birthday party play date, but that is just not going to happen. He attends two preschools, each with about a dozen children in the class, plus a few extras including a friend for Thea and it starts to more like an invasion than event.

So Thea and I in the midst of Saturday's snow and with only vague directions set out to check on Pump It Up in Hamilton. We've been to three birthday parties at BounceU and one at Build-A-Bear in the past couple of months, which were all great, but since it's the same group of children another venue seemed to be a good idea. It is typical of those children's party venues, squirreled away at the back of an office/industrial park, but the interior was much more interesting and colorful than the red and purple of BounceU.

The moms who recommended Pump It Up said that the staff was high energy and really focused on getting the guests into the various activities. The guy who gave us the five minute tour lived up to that, I was beginning to wonder how much Red Bull or Five Hour Energy must one consume to be that peppy, and walk backwards while talking and showing us around. (Simple answer: I don't want to know.)

So we've locked in March 5, 1:30 to 3:25 as the date. Now I've got to pray that fewer than 24 cherubs RSVP that they will be coming.

One more item checked off the to-do list . . .

Saturday Chez Snow

2011-01-29T17:32:00.001-05:00

You never know what you'll wake up to at our house.

The costume bin has come home from the storage facility.

Striking a fierce pose!

Libby and Thea at the Girl Scout Cookie Sale

at Princeton MarketFair

Thin Mints Anyone?

Above and Below:

The reason I need to either learn how to drink or up my anti-depressant dosage.

And as Thea and I came out of Tiger Noodles where we went for lunch after the Cookie Sale, it was snowing again. Oh joy, oh rapture.

Snow Day, Part 3

2011-01-27T20:26:00.001-05:00

You know it is truly a snow day when Princeton University, which usually holds itself above forces of nature, declares that non-essential personnel are allowed to stay home.

This is a good thing because the non-essential Princeton employee in our household was crucial to getting our driveway cleared. It took a solid four hours of work, part of it with both of us shoveling, to dig out. And we were lucky enough to have our two-doors down neighbor and his snow blower do the sidewalk.

Then the phone just rang moments ago, and the news is that the idiot school district that could not make a decision about closing until this morning has already declared a 90 minute late start for Friday.

And thanks to all of this, the Advil is doing double duty, for swollen glands and a sore lower back.

52 days until spring, if I live that long.

Snow Day, Part 2

2011-01-27T07:40:00.003-05:00

If the weather forecast was event close to what was predicted, I was wagering that schools would be closed today. The unfortunate thing is that I woke up at 2:30 am, checked the school district's web page and nothing had been posted, and then at 4:30 am still nothing. Then at 7:00 am the phone rang and it was one of the parent's from Beth Chaim letting us know the synagogue's preschool is closed as are the West Windsor-Plainsboro school.

Good thing. Thea was up at around 10 pm last night and lost her supper. I bundled her off with a clean garbage basket and a towel to sleep with me. Steve's on the pull-out trundle bed in Micah's room, without his BiPAP machine so his snoring is shaking the walls.

Tuesday at work I felt a little like I was coming down with something, but it was the first Tuesday of working later hours with Sarah, so I figured just keep moving forward and eventually the day would be done.

But then I asked Robin to take my temperature. 102.9 degrees on a tympanic membrane thermometer, which I've always thought of as slightly under-reporting the temperature. Wow. I don't think I've ever had a temperature like that, or at least not since the early 1960s when I still had tonsils.

I was home Wednesday, feeling a little better at least until the Advil wore off. Chills and cold feet that could not be remedied despite crawling under piles of blankets and wool socks.

A least I managed to get out and clear the driveway. I have never been one for shoveling, definitely something on the to be avoided list, but shoveling with fever was actually not bad. Didn't even need gloves and I got about 90% of it done.

I also managed to complete a survey that awards a $50 Amazon gift card for about 30 minutes of picking around in my brain about diabetes care. Between that survey and one that will credit $85 to my ePocrates Visa and getting close to racking up another 80 Q-points on QuantiaMD for another $100 Amazon credit, I may have about $477 socked away in gift cards and cybercash - or half of an iPad or other tablet computer.

Other than that stuff, I was a guest of slug-puppy city for most of the day.

Frozen Solid

2011-01-24T18:08:00.001-05:00

This morning driving the kids to their schools, the dashboard thermometer in my car registered 11 degrees. I have never seen it that low and I am NOT liking it. Old, creaky bones and cold do not get along, especially when forced to walk on ice because some twit with a privileged attitude has taken up the ramp that leads from the parking lot to Thea's school and cannot move until the cones are removed after all the buses have off-loaded and driven away.

Dear Fellow Wicoff Parent with the Air of Entitlement: I am happy that your privileged little darling did not need to walk far in this bitter cold, but if I slip and fall because you are taking up all the non-icy space with your extra large suburban assault vehicle, I am going to punch your headlights out, literally and figuratively. Be forewarned. Love and kisses, Me.

Micah's seeming a little under the weather this afternoon - just as Thea and I are finally pulling out from whatever had us down for several weeks, and more snow is in the forecast. Lovely.

Christmas Photos

2011-01-12T16:26:00.001-05:00

It takes a snow day to finally update the blog,

and thanks to today's snow day if it takes a village

to raise a child, and I am in the market for a village or two

willing to take my two

for awhile.

In no particular order. . .

Micah on New Year's Eve, plastic champagne flute with ginger ale.

He made it to midnight, his sister gave up at 11:20 pm or so.

We made a gingerbread house at Omas's.

We got chilled to the bone at the ICE! show.

The little Whos in Whoville.

The roast beast.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.

Breakfast with The Grinch at the Gaylord.

Steve, Micah and Max, The Grinch's dog, who looked more gherkin green than brown.

Two Grinches.

Now this is The Grinch I know and love.

I adore that devious expression on his face.

Ringing Out/Wringing Out 2010

2010-12-31T19:53:00.000-05:00

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)

2010-12-17T18:13:00.001-05:00

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

2010-12-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

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

2010-11-28T09:10:00.000-05:00

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

2010-11-24T23:03:00.001-05:00

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

2010-11-18T00:09:00.000-05:00

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

2010-11-04T21:13:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-30T22:13:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-25T20:53:00.000-04:00

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

2010-10-13T21:32:00.000-04:00

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

2010-10-13T21:18:00.002-04:00

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

2010-09-23T22:38:00.001-04:00

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

2010-09-21T22:05:00.000-04:00

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

2010-09-15T19:05:00.000-04:00

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

2010-09-12T10:51:00.000-04:00

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

2010-09-06T17:01:00.000-04:00

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

2010-09-05T23:36:00.001-04:00

. . . 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

2010-09-04T00:31:00.002-04:00

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. . . . .

2010-09-01T23:09:00.000-04:00

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

2010-08-23T22:51:00.000-04:00

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

Boys at the Beach

2010-08-22T01:56:00.000-04:00

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 other's 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

2010-08-16T23:11:00.001-04:00

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!

2010-08-13T20:58:00.000-04:00

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

2010-08-06T23:21:00.000-04:00

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 . . .

2010-08-02T20:31:00.001-04:00

. . . 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

2010-07-30T22:48:00.003-04:00

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.

Bailing Out. . .

2010-07-23T15:37:00.002-04:00

. . .leaving the cardboard kingdom behind tonight and heading down the NJ Turnpike and I-95 to my mother's. Steve gets left behind to work on his own unpacking, getting rid of all the cardboard boxes that have been emptied and whatever. Today the upstairs hallway is clear for the first time and I managed to store in one bathroom cabinet what we formerly had in three or four under the sink cabinets - and I replaced the door handles on the bathroom sink cabinet. Pedestal sinks suck, new conclusion, alert the media. And I emptied the last of the wardrobe boxes, except for the one that has my wedding dress (and who knows what else); the entire container has been exiled to the extra bedroom/office's closet, Scarlett O'Hara style. I'll think about that tomorrow or the day after or the day after that.

Saturday we're headed to Frederick for a family event. Sunday we might take my mother to see a friend in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and Monday we head home to New Jersey.

Addendum: Thea conked out by 9:00 pm while we were on the road, Micah is showing an increasing aptitude for staying awake at night while in the car. He hung out with me, singing and talking - unfortunately much of the talking was of the "are we at Oma's yet?" variety and pithy observations of which cars had GPS systems and DVD players in them. Both made a brief stop in the bathroom and shuffled right off to bed. They are such awesome little travelers at times. Granted, they will be up at between 6:00 am and 7:00 am and I'll still want to be dead to the world, but for now, it's all good.

Glad we weren't on the northbound side of I-95 tonight, just north of Big Gun Powder Falls. It took me more than a few seconds to realize that I wasn't seeing any northbound traffic, then just before the Big Gun Powder Falls sign there were multiple police and fire/rescue vehicles, and all lanes were closed.

Me vs. Cardboard

2010-07-17T22:12:00.000-04:00

The boxes are still winning, or it feels like they have the upper hand. Just a few minutes ago, the remaining pillows for our bed emerged (from the one box I unpacked upstairs.) We still have not settled on a place for Coy Boy, the betta fish, so his aquarium is lingering in the styrofoam box in our bedroom.

This afternoon after I got home from work (which was the world's best Saturday, nine patients only - and even though #8 was having some major issues (visual hallucinations of his wife in a 25 year younger version, and only occurring at home), it was all in all a good morning mostly thanks to the staff keeping things moving smoothly), my goal was boxes, boxes, boxes and more boxes. In the middle of working my way through the garage, on a mission to find my wok and frying pan, the neighbor from 52 Krebs came over to introduce himself.

He's 85 year old, a World War II veteran (D-Day plus eight), has lived here 26 years and moved in a few days before Thanksgiving, his wife unpacked the entire house and had 32 guests for Thanksgiving dinner, his wife died eight years ago, a son lives down the road on Silvers Lane and moved here before my neighbor did, another son lives in Brooklyn, he spoke Italian with his mother, he drove a fellow soldier named Rausch who had immigrated to the US at age 15 and was then 38 at the end of WWII to a farm outside of Marburg to see his family for the first time in 23 years. He's quite a character, but by the time we were done chatting, I had had enough of the heat and gave up on the garage and went inside to cooler air and other boxes.

Still no wok or frying pan. No lamp from Thea's room.

Kids and husband went to the beach at Mantoloking today, so I had time to work on the house without little helpers.

Moved or Bye-Bye Brookline Court

2010-07-10T23:47:00.000-04:00

Three days of pack/load/unload are over and done with, the only casualty (other than sleep and sanity) is the living room carpet which has a two-inch tear from the TV armoire being lid instead of lifted into place. The kids' rooms are mostly unpacked, a lamp yet to be discovered for Thea's room, our room is lined with boxes still. The down comforter is missing-in-action and we may need to start scouting the boxes in the garage. The fourth bedroom/office/computer room is a disaster, and probably will be for a while.

Micah had a fabulous time with the mover, despite their not being the Imagination Mover, and they were all very kind to him.

The new owner of our old house, once known as Demon Spawn Home Buyer from Hell, mellowed a little around the closing date, then resumed her evil persona already in progress. I hope a meteor strikes her home the day after she's finished her renovations and remodeling. She is about the only person on the planet at the moment that I really would want to see reduced to a smoldering heap of carbon.

Meanwhile, with the unloading of the moving van going on, Micah and I had an appointment with the new school district to see about getting him enrolled in the preschool program. Everything went very well. Micah got to play with a big bin of cars and trucks, which was nice since most of his have been in boxes for awhile. The WW-P school district is not a friend of the working parent: the integrated preschool program is a half-day afternoons only program for four-year olds. So Micah would need to go to a preschool program locally, be picked up, taken to Wicoff Elementary School and then returned to the preschool program for after-care. Which to me sounds like he'll be spending as much time on the bus as he did traveling to and from Summit School.

And once all the in our face unpacking is done, there is the not so small matter of emptying out the storage unit.

I'm just happy that I found toothpaste (I used Thea's Tom's of Maine strawberry the other night and BLECH, BLECH, BLECH; if that were the only toothpaste on the planet, decay here I come) and my nightgown. I am going to bed.

Packing Day . . . .

2010-07-07T22:33:00.001-04:00

The landscape of the house has been transformed into some sort of sculptural cardboard wasteland. The kids love it - perfect for hide-and-go-seek. I love them for seeing the positive in a situation that does nothing but make me twitchy.

We had three packers arrive this morning, joined by a fourth later in the day. Packer #4 must have drawn the short straw because he got the kitchen. Steve got pizza at lunch for the whole group, and after lunch Micah and I took Tesh and the vacuum over to Krebs Road. I cleaned out the refrigerator, Tesh vacuumed and got rid of some cobwebs that had been left behind. I managed to finally pull out the metal casing from the halogen lamp in the kitchen. At the walk-through I noticed that the bulb in one of the two lamps above the kitchen island was burned out. The former homeowner showed me how to open the lamp and pull it out, but he didn't align the little nubs that hold it in, so the metal casing from the bulb remained in the lamp and on the first ten tries, I couldn't pull it out. Today, it finally yielded and we have two working kitchen island lamps.

Good thing because the refrigerator light was out and I found five different bulbs in the dining room lamp. Minor details that will have me haunting the aisles of Target and Home Depot.

Tonight the Plainsboro Zoning Board of Appeals was scheduled to hear the case of allowing Thea's Mandarin-immersion charter school to occupy space at St. Joseph's Seminary. The school district has mobilized itself against the charter school and is trying to turn the zoning request into a referendum on the charter school itself. The state board of education has already approved the application for the school, so the school district is attempting to hijack the process late in the game. Mind you, there are no language immersion programs offered within this school district, and no Mandarin classes offered in the elementary schools. And despite this, I have to still make nice with the school district because Micah needs to get into the system and start draining its resources.

Which is a fine welcome to the neighborhood. . . .I am not enamored of the political process in the Township of Plainsboro.

One More Day of Work

2010-07-05T22:58:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is my last day of work before the move. Micah doesn't have a spot at a camp or in the new school district's ESY (extended school year) program, so he'll be coming to work and going off with Tesh and her daughter Mary to the water park at Great Adventure. He'll have a blast, but he'll be toast by the time he comes back. Saturday, just with the few hours running around in the fountain, Micah was so fried he fell asleep and all the prodding, tickling and talking in the world could not rouse him to eat dinner.

And this is fine, because tonight I packed a good number of his toys and toy bins up, so if Micah is awake, alert and mobile at home, chances are those boxes may not stay packed for long. He's packed and unpacked and repacked the three boxes I've given him for the past two weeks.

On the other hand, as long as Thea has her tigers and her Nintendo DS, she's cool. The boxes that are piling up in her room are not seeming to bother her. (Audible sigh of relief from me, she's the one who hates change.)

Today the kids and I stopped by the house to hang up a shower curtain in the upstairs bathroom, put some bins for dirty clothes in the laundry room and just go through the bedrooms again to solidify where all of our stuff is going to go. No major changes other than Thea's bookcase can't go where I originally wanted it because it will block the one heating vent. Micah's room needs a paint job, the blue is too dark and too scuffed. There are wallpaper borders along the ceiling of the master bedroom, Micah's bedroom and the main bathroom. Going, going, going. Thea's room needs some color, too.

In time, all in time.

Holiday Weekend

2010-07-03T21:54:00.001-04:00

Today we went to the new house to pick up the keys and garage door openers. It was the first time seeing the house empty, the first chance to really start imagining what our furniture might actually look like. The furniture is probably the easy part, it's all the other accumulated detritus that is going to be the problem. At least it will be if we want to park our cars in the garage by winter 2010.

After the walk-through, the kids and I went to Sunshine and Sugar Bakery in the Plainsboro Town Center for cupcakes. Being the little patriots, they picked out vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting topped with an American flag. Being somewhat immune to the lure of a tiny flag on a toothpick, I went for coconut on vanilla buttercream. Then we went to Lowe's for more boxes and Staples for labels.

We finished our afternoon errands at Panera's for lunch and then some time playing in the ground level kinetic fountain. It has six paired spouts that are flush with the ground and that make different patterns. The kids love running through it, around it and in it. They were entertained for almost two hours. Usually we get sucked into the fountain when I am not prepared, but today I had bathing suits and towels in the car.

On the way home we made a stop at Wawa for a snack. The upgraded herself from a Klondike bar to a Dove bar - she prefers a wooden stick to hold onto. Micah wanted Double Bubble gum. I don't know who hooked him on that stuff, but he was chomping away long after the flavor had to have gone.

Tomorrow it's going to be 96 degrees, I think it will be a day to stay inside, in the air-conditioning, and label boxes. . . .after going out for coffee and the New York Times. Priorities on a Sunday.

Micah Update

2010-06-30T15:54:00.001-04:00

Micah is once again able to be in the water, on the water, under the water. Good news for Micah's summer.

Until September 21, when he will have surgery on his right ear to revise the scar tissue. Not so good news, but the hearing tests he had at school and the appearance of the tympanic membrane give us two choices: revision or hearing aid, and since Micah doesn't have a lot of cartilage to support a hearing aid, it would need to be one that sits in the ear canal.

So make a note, our new house's pool will be closing as of September 21. . . .

The surgical coordinator at the ENT's office was totally on her game: we walked out today with all of our forms, a surgery date appointments for a pre-op and one-week post-op appointment. Back to Englewood Hospital, one more time on the first day of Fall 2010.

Addendum: Just got the answer to a follow-up question, no additional donor skin needed for the revision surgery. Yeah! Micah's left leg graft site has developed a bit of a keloid, so I'm glad that he doesn't need to make another donation and risk another scar.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Mary

2010-06-25T09:47:00.001-04:00

This is my Aunt Mary. I cannot remember any part of my life when I have not an Aunt Mary. I have one American aunt, one German aunt - mine is not a big family, so by proximity alone she wins the aunt sweepstakes. She joined the family by marriage, and our family was better because of her. She came to concerts, first communion, family dinners and barbecues. She died in December 2009 and I have been meaning to write something about her for months.

Her home was where we always went for Christmas dinner. When I was young, she had a silver foil Christmas tree that had a light that sat on the floor and switched from red to yellow to green to blue. It was very, very cool. She had a wall removed between her living room and a third bedroom to accommodate an expandable table and an enlarging family, long before remakes and remodels came to cable TV.

Aunt Mary gave me my very first magazine subscription for Christmas in 1971, and in late December of that year, the January 1972 issue arrived with my name on the wrapper. In February 1972 the cover article was on Maryland. In May 1974, all of the issues I had received went in a box that went to our new home in Illinois, and in 1981, all of those issue and more went back in boxes to move back to Maryland.

Aunt Mary got us interested in candle-making when I was in sixth grade or so, though I don't remember what the spark that started this project. She invited my mother, brother and me to her home and we melted blocks of wax, added colors, poured it into milk cartons with or without crushed ice and made candles. And when a pot of melted wax spilled down my corduroy pants, she barely batted an eye (I didn't like those pants anyway.) My teacher, Sunday School teacher and choir director (junior choir was not terribly interested in actual singing ability) received candles that Christmas. After that, I remember going to the craft store at Prince George's Plaza with my best friend and using a hot plate in our basement to make more candles using a hot plate. No crayon in either of our houses was safe because it was cheaper than buying blocks of colored wax to add color to our candles.

Aunt Mary took me to the theater for several birthdays when I was in junior high. The last play we went to we picked because of the name: Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope at Ford's Theater. Theater was cultural, the location was educational, so it was totally something that Aunt Mary truly believed in. This was long before electronic media with theater reviews at our fingertip, there may have been a review in the Washington Post or the Star, but we missed it. The title just sounded like it should be entertaining.

Despite the catchy title, as plays or musicals go, it was a little dull even though it seems a bit like a church revival meeting. And in DC, only five to six years after the riots hat followed Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, Aunt Mary and I were the only to Caucasians in the audience, and if I am garden-variety Caucasian, Aunt Mary was practically bio-luminescent with her pale skin and salt-and-pepper hair.

When I graduated from high school in Illinois in 1978, Aunt Mary was there. She flew in less than two weeks after the birth of her second grandchild. She was interested in visiting the Bahai'i Temple in Evanston, and she was willing to trust her life to a 17 year old (me) who had just gotten her driver's license a mere ten days before graduation to drive her from Bolingbrook, up Interstate 55, onto Lake Shore Drive, and up to Evanston. The pursuit of a new cultural and educational experience was worth the risk of spending time in a car who had spent less than 15 minutes total driving on the interstate and who didn't really like driving on Lake Shore Drive as a passenger much less being behind the wheel.

On the morning after my high school graduation, when I came creeping home at around 6 am, the car driving me home passing my father's Volkswagen Beetle cruising down Galahad Road in the opposite direction and me diving down for cover. (My mother had locked my bedroom door to cover for me with Dad.) My mother trusted me and assumed that the adolescent who had given her absolutely no cause for worry was just spending time with friends.

While my mother was taking my brother to school, I sat at the kitchen table with Aunt Mary and briefed her as to where we'd gone after the graduation party. My three friends and I had gotten invited to one of the much cooler graduate's graduation night party, someone had a car and the bright idea of driving 50 miles or so into Chicago to the lakefront. We wound up near Adler Planetarium, walking around when a boat came close by on Monroe Harbor, we were whooping and hollering for them to congratulate us. The boat motored over to closer to the group, and the three or so people on board offered a ride, which my friend Barb and two of the guys accepted. The boat took off across the harbor and then the engine just. . . .died out, putt, putt, putt nothing. The six or seven of us left behind were a little concerned, and since the boat was just bobbing out there with our imaginations running wild on land, we flagged down a Chicago police car. Who then radioed the Harbor Patrol. Who then contacted the Coast Guard. And in the pre-dawn hours of June 29, the boat was towed back and our friends returned to us. We all nodded vigorously when the police officer asked if we were over eighteen, and luck stayed with us because he did not ask for identification to prove it. We stopped at the White Castle for sliders to celebrate our relief.

I think I finally told my mother that story when I was in my thirties. Aunt Mary kept my secret for more than 15 years. I still remember her listening to me tell of the adventure, which was much funnier in the re-telling than it was in the actual experience. The look on her face was priceless.

Aunt Mary loved learning, she had traveled to Greece, and when I was in college she was more interested in the Classical Civilization courses I took than I was, and the books I had to buy for that class probably got more use in her hands than mine. I still get a nervous twitch thinking about whether Middle Minoan I comes before or after Middle Helladic II.

I don't remember when Aunt Mary began quilting, but two of her quilts are in my home. The first was a complete surprise for my BSN graduation in December 1997; the second was a wall-hanging that was a wedding present. She was meticulous, a quiet perfectionist and her attention to detail came out in the precision of her cutting and sewing. I am glad that I asked her to sign that quilt so I could embroider her name and have both one of her quilts and an exemplar of her perfect penmanship.

She loved hearing about trips I took for work, and was particularly interested in our adoption trips to China. She loved my kids, and Micah's journey to language and hearing fascinated her.

There is much more to my Aunt Mary memory quilt than these, but these are the ones that have stuck with me the longest. June 25th is her birthday, and since that was the day she came in to the world and her life started its trajectory that would intersect with mine, this is the day I prefer to remember. Happy Birthday, Aunt Mary. I hope that you're having travel adventures, eating whatever you like and doing the occasional crossword puzzle to stay sharp.

Graduation Day Photos

2010-06-22T21:23:00.003-04:00

Summit Speech School

Graduation

June 21, 2010

Marching in to graduation with Angelina (note hand on hip).

On stage with Olyvia and Wesley

Singing his heart out.

Along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be, and SNAPPED. . . .

Miss Kaitlyn, the student teacher in Micah's class this spring;
Micah loves her.

When she finished her student teaching, Micah said,
"Miss Kaitlyn went back to college.

Do you know what college is, Mommy?
It's a little like JAIL."

My favorite animal is. . . . A FLAMINGO, because of the way it walks.

Some days, getting a decent group photo is like herding cats.

The little twerp was not willing to put his mortarboard back on for photos.

Graduation Day

2010-06-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

Micah has graduated, his 15 months at Summit Speech School have come to an end.

And the good thing is that he behaved while marching in (with one hand on his hip, the other holding his partners hand) and while on stage. He sang all three of the songs with the hand motions and when it was his turn at the microphone, he responded to the questions of how old is he and what is his favorite animal and why (four, and flamingo because of the way it walks) without being a goofball or uttering the word 'poop' or 'poopy' as part of the response.

He went to the persons presenting the certificates and shook hands, and then took a carnation from his teacher and brought it to me with his certificate, giving me a big hug. I was so proud of him and how far he's come.

The school's director gave a speech that sounded a little bit like previous years: graduation is more for the parents who have moved through learning their children were deaf or hearing impaired, the grief and uncertainty, getting help, having the children enter the programs at Summit and making it to this day. Since Micah was chosen by us, microtia, atresia and all, it didn't feel like I was the intended audience. No grief, no shock, it was more of a question of locating and accessing the resources to help him.

Micah wore a little white mortar board with an orange tassel, which he didn't want to put back on for pictures. His teacher put together a photo album for each graduate along with a CD of the slide show of the school year. We also got a packet of information for Micah's next speech therapist. It was all really nice - I almost forgot for a few moment that all of the stuff would need to be packed up - including the giant monkey with "Congratulations Micah" that was hanging on the wall in the auditorium.

Congratulations to my big boy, who want from 'up' to talking in sentences and paragraphs in 35 months and thanks to the many people who played a part.

Tomorrow it's off to camp at Princeton Friends for both kids, summer has begun.

YingHua's End-of-School-Year Celebration

2010-06-20T19:30:00.001-04:00

We are now parents of a second-grader. Thea's school had its close of school year celebration yesterday. Below are photos of some photos of the occasion, I wanted to get as many of the teachers who made the year such a great experience for her:

Packing Weekend Redux

2010-06-20T15:59:00.003-04:00

As if giving up one weekend to packing up the house wasn't punishment enough, this weekend was again devoted to the greater glorification of the cardboard box, with a packing tape chaser. I am sporting a Sharpie marker clipped to my shirt accessorized by a packing tape roll bracelet. A Glamor Don't.

But we have more time to devote to this chore because we don't have a set closing date for our current house.

Why you ask?

Demon-Spawn Home Buyer from Hell took her sweet time applying for her mortgage while she was attempting to shake us down for every last credit she could wring out of Steve, so her lender's appraiser didn't get his evaluation of our house done until last Wednesday.

The lender who is also swamped with thousands of other schmucks who are trying to close on their homes before the June 30th deadline for getting the tax credit and the lender is not feeling particularly compelled to act any faster than it normally would.

So instead of pack/load/move dates of 22nd/23rd/24th, we are now looking at 25th/28th/29th. God willing and we get a closing date this week.

I hate the DSHBfH and am very thankful my presence is not needed at the closing. I am happy she is buying this house, but if I meteor could strike her without damaging the surrounding neighbors reducing her to a smoldering heap of carbon. . . . .good times.

And now on a positive note, older child's school had its end of year celebration yesterday, which was a showcase of the children's work, a tea ceremony, a giving of gifts (the youngest children in the school received a gift made by a child in the next grade and so on, until Thea's grade where teachers gave a present; Thea's 1st grade teacher, Li Laoshi was the one to give her a present.) I got a lot of photos and have put them on Facebook, I'll get some put on the blog eventually.

What those of us who were not in the cardboard jungle were doing on Sunday afternoon. Micah, Mary, Thea at the FunPlex

Today the kids and I went out early to get coffee and donuts (and hash browns) at Dunkin Donuts for Fathers' Day. Steve got an extra hour of sleep, Micah found out that he likes D-n-D's hash brown nuggets and I dropped off a bag of clothes at the bin next to Speedy Mart where I buy the New York Times. The owner was shocked to see me so early, I usually pick up a paper in the early afternoon.

Tomorrow we have Micah's graduation at 10 am, and then it's officially summer.

And at 11:50 pm tomorrow night I turn 50. Eeew. I don't feel 50. My thumb joints, my left lateral epicondyle, and my left biceps tendon feel like they are 80+ from overuse, but the rest of me does not feel 50.

Back to the boxes. . .

Packing Weekend

2010-06-13T23:25:00.001-04:00

I literally have not left the house since I came home from work on Friday. No trips to the store, the post office or anywhere else.

I have packed boxes for two days. 33 boxes by my count, though the count sort of changes depending on whether I remember the box on the ottoman on the landing and the one booby-trapping the path to Micah's bed.

Every time I thought I had packed the last book, another stash materialized. Right now the only books remaining are the cookbooks in the kitchen, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and the next book on my to-read list.

But according to the guy who estimated how many barrels, cartons and other means of getting our household from Princeton to Plainsboro, 33 is a barely scratching the surface, and I am beginning to believe him.

Saturday, Thea and Micah went off to the boardwalk in Point Pleasant with their aunt, coming home with armloads of prize they had one. More stuff for me to pack. Six hours free to stuff boxes: fantastic, more toys to pack: not so fantastic.

When cardboard fatigue set in, I got online and put in change of addresses with journals, magazines, professional associations, licensing boards, banks and so on and so on. The whole weekend was like a root canal that went on for 48 hours.

Micah's Ear Update, 2nd Verse

2010-06-09T22:56:00.000-04:00

Another rainy ride up the NJ Turnpike to Englewood to see Micah's ENT. He's now almost three months post-op from having his left atresia repair, ten months out from the right atresia surgery.

But for the past two visits, the right ear, which is almost ten months out from surgery, has been the focus. After the May appointment we had to start putting the Tobradex drops in his right canal daily, and we had to give him children's Claritin in addition to the Sudafed to control the fluid that was behind the ear drum.

And today after cleaning out the debris from the canals, Micah's doctor re-inserted a sponge stent in his right ear. This is an automatic banishment from immersing his head in the bathtub or the pool for three more weeks.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

The silver lining is that the left ear is doing great.

The other part of the silver lining is that Micah sat in the exam chair and the doctor inserted an ear specula in the canal and used a tiny alligator clamp to pull out the debris and I sat in the chair four or five feet away. No head-holding, no hand-holding. He was a total pro- a few giggles and lots of talking ("Can I put my head in the wah-tuh now? over and over.)

I'm probably more bothered by the re-stenting than he is.

Micah's graduation from Summit Speech School is twelve days away. We're moving in 13 days. Other than the stuff already packed and in storage, nothing has been packed, so we are so behind the eight ball.

And I booked the same beach house we stayed at in 2005 and 2007 in Bethany for late August. I hope that Micah's right ear will get its act together by then. Fingers crossed.

Memorial Day

2010-06-01T23:40:00.001-04:00

Ready for the pool. . . .

You can't show this photo to anyone but family. . . .

wounds courtesy of a Friday afternoon bike ride.

This is my swimming cap.

Photos take by the big sister, always on the lookout for a flattering shot.

It's Memorial Day weekend for most of the U.S. - around here it's Reunions Weekend for Princeton University, which like Alumni Day at Penn, occurs the weekend prior to graduation. For me, it means avoid town at all costs because other than less parking, more people, it's Orange, Black and tiger stripes everywhere. Those colors are great for Hallowe'en but on a bright, sunny spring weekend, it just looks garish.

Yesterday I went into town, fool that I am, to drop of Steve's watch at a jeweler's on Nassau Street. Karma was on my side and I got a spot in the public parking garage and was in and out of the jeweler's in less than thirty minutes (free parking!).

Today Steve wanted to take Thea to the Princeton Community Pool and I wanted to go to a 3:30 pm meeting for the second-grade curriculum at the charter school that Thea will be attending in the fall. So we got a bit creative so that Micah could go to the pool which involved the following steps:

1. threaten the child to within an inch of his life about not putting his head under water;
2. use up some of the leftover Tegaderm used for Micah's skin graft sites to cover his left ear canal;
3. tape it down for good measure;
4. send husband to pool supply store for bathing cap to cover the whole shebang;
5. pray, and hope that Micah's ENT does not read this blog.

And all turned out well, children got to go to the pool, Micah obeyed the rules and both are on their way to becoming my little nut brown babies. These children could tan under a light bulb.

I brought home corn, and both kids went out to the front steps and shucked it all, on their own. No squabbles. Then Micah went out for a bike ride with Steve while Thea and I made dinner.

And then Micah passed out, just as the corn was being put on the table. Cold, immovable. I got one floret of broccoli in his mouth.

Thea's reading her library book, Steve tried interesting her in the original Star Wars, but she kept asking, "Is that a clone?", "Where are the clones?" Generational thing, Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt failed to draw her in.

Imagination Movers

2010-05-25T21:39:00.000-04:00

Sunday at Hershey Park

I'm trying to get a better picture, but in it's tiny form what you're seeing is Micah in the arms of Mover Rich, who was his favorite (as of yesterday, that is), Thea is between Mover Dave and Nadia. We went to Hershey Park for the Imagination Movers concert, arriving in time to get seats up at the top of the amphitheatre.

After the show we went on a ride on the cable cars, which Thea loved after overcoming her fear. Thea, Micah and I went on a second trip across the park; Steve passed since he wasn't to thrilled with the first trip.

While we were up in the air, Steve met up with Nadia and Emad, the Skyview cable cars are near the access to the amphitheater. It was a lucky coincidence for us - Thea and I made yet another trip on the Skyview with Nadia. Meanwhile the guys took Micah off for a train ride.

Micah and Thea went off on yet another ride on the Skyview (when Thea overcomes a fear, she overcomes it but good) with Emad and Nadia and I went on the Comet. My first roller coaster ride in at least ten years or more. Probably more. I think I left a kidney on the tracks after the first drop, a lobe or two of my lungs on the first curve all the while giving my vocal cords got a work out. And it will take ten or more years and a good dose of senility to get back on another coaster.

Nadia's sister Norah was at the second concert with her friends so we went back to the amphitheater to hang out for the photo-op, which is where the picture came from. Emad and Nadia and the kids were the first in line. While I was taking Thea to the restroom, the concert-goers returned, and Micah was in the thick of a girl posse, which means that he was practically unaware of the existence of his parents or sister.

Then after the concert was over and the amphitheater emptied out, the Movers came out, and you see the result above. Micah was thrilled to have gotten picked up by his favorite Mover, Rich - and he is firmly convinced that when we move to the new house, the Movers will be the ones coming to help us pack and transport our furniture and boxes. Reality will be quite a shock . . . .

Errands for Tuesday

2010-05-25T18:30:00.002-04:00

9:00 am appointment at the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District office to register Thea for Grade 2 and to start the process of getting Micah into the integrated preschool program. Still have hand cramp from completing all the paperwork and forms x 2.

Journey to the Verizon Wireless store to dump AT&T. The contract on my phone is up as of about two weeks ago; I got the phone Mother's Day weekend 2008 when my phone died while I was on call, so I made a desperation purchase that locked in AT&T for the past two years. Steve has hated the service from AT&T for ages, back in November I signed up with Verizon to get a mobile broadband device for my laptop so I could stop trekking to Borders for free WiFi while visiting my mother. (Steve last updated his phone in 2007 just after we returned from China and the analog phones were going the way of the dinosaur; we're not the types who go out and buy the latest and greatest gadget.) If I had to make the switch on the weekend, when the store is probably four or five times as busy, I would have thrown in the towel. Today, almost no one was in the store and I had the total time and attention of a very nice woman named Leslie and a nice techno-geek named Carmelo both of whom had the patience of saints. And other than the eventual bill, it was fairly painless which is more than I can say for any of my interactions with the CellularOne / Cingular / AT&T store over the past 10+ years. H-u-g-e sense of accomplishment checking that off the to-do list. Whistle a chorus of 'Ding-Dong the Witch Is Dead'.

Went to lunch with Steve at Chevy's and discovered that places that serve salsa are not the best for completing forms for summer camp programs and signing legal documents for the Princeton University mortgage office.

Went grocery shopping. Finished by 1:59 pm, with husband betting against me that I would not be done by 2 pm (had to give up Dunkin Donuts coffee to accomplish this feat.)

Dropped off registration forms at Princeton Friends School for two weeks of summer camp for Micah and Thea; very nice lady reviewing the forms.

Dropped off registration form for the Princeton YWCA camp for Thea.

Went to Forest Jewelers to get Steve's watch battery replaced. When it died, he took the watch - a very nice one that I bought him in 2001 after our engagement and after looking for a watch to meet his specifications of being very thin (or flat) - to one of those stands in the mall. And then wondered why the battery died not too long after. . . .

Met Micah's school van, to find that he can be pleased (to see me) and disappointed (that Tesh wasn't there to meet him) within the same nanosecond.

Micah and I were playing cards today after he got home and he spread out the cards to play a matching game, and as I went to pick two cards, Micah says, "No! Wait! Let me tell you the directions first" with the tone and inflection that made me hear either his teacher or his speech therapist. I think he's heard that phrase a few times.

Meanwhile back at the real estate agents' and attorneys' offices, communication from the Demon Spawn Home Buyer from Hell indicates the sale of our house might actually go through, so we are once again closed to tourists. (And the crowd says "Amen!")