Ringing Out/Wringing Out 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TBTB (Too busy to blog)

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

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

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

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

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

Micah's Atresia Surgery Follow-Up

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo (Album) Op

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

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

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

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

3,000 Hits

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

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

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

Full-Day Kindergarten and other updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Psy Ops

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Damn.

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

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

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

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

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