3,000 Hits

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

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

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

Full-Day Kindergarten and other updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Psy Ops

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Damn.

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

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

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

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

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

Homecoming

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good day, all around.

Micah Update

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

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

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

Thea's 7th Birthday

My baby turned seven today.  I cannot believe it. 

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

Movie Night

 From Saturday, September 22, 2010

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

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

Why not?  The movie trailer looked interesting.

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

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

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

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

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

The movie was great, by the way.