Back to the Winter Routine. . . .

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

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

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

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

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. . . .

. . . 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 . . . .

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.