Friday Night Leftovers

18 days of school left. I can't wait.

~~~

Sh.awn had another "episode" last night. He went from laughing and giggling with his brother to being very nauseated and sick in the span of an hour.

It never fails to scare the crap out of me. I hate this for my poor guy.

He's feeling better today, thank goodness.

~~~

I officially submitted the paperwork to switch insurance. Sigh. It would be nice to be pleasantly surprised about how wonderful it is.

~~~

Did I mention that Sh.awn's aide has a daughter in my class? Um, yeah.

Awkward.

It's even more awkward because the daughter is not the most motivated student. Sigh.

~~~

Sh.awn is figured out this whole school thing and is rocking it. Yay.

Ja.son is doing well academically, too. He's found a friend who could already be considered a "trouble maker." (If a kid is the trouble maker in kinder, I can only imagine what he'll be like by the time he gets to eighth grade. Jeez.) Ja.son has told me a number of things this boys has said and done, and I'm worried. Ja.son's one weakness is his confidence. I can totally see a kid with a stronger personality taking advantage of that.

I may have to do what I can to make sure they are not in the same class next year.

~~~

We go to Sesame Street Live tomorrow afternoon. Wish us luck.

~~~

Jack loves listening to the Sesame Street characters sing the ABC song. He listens to it over and over again.

Until.

He loves listening to it ... until I start singing along that is. Almost immediately he'll change the song if he hears me. I think he's trying to tell me something. What do you think?

~~~

You know what's big for the kids at work lately?

Drawing penises.

They're not even very good renditions of penises--the look more like crudely drawn rockets if you ask me--but they are everywhere. In books. On walls. The geniuses even draw them on their desks (and are shocked when I know it's them) and on their bodies. It's been lovely.

This little tidbit probably explains why I'm so excited about only 18 more days of school.

~~~

Stop by Danifred's for more Leftovers. :)

Yay! I'm Not Alone!

Thank you for your comments on my last post. I find this kind of thing fascinating, and it is nice to know I am not alone in my food eating quirkiness.  :)

Megan brought up an interesting point in her comment. She said, "There are certain foods that have to be eaten certain ways, though. Like you have to stick a fork tine through the hole in penne pasta, you can't jab it. You have to eat candy corn one color at a time."

Megan, you are so, so right. There are certain foods that must be eaten in certain ways. Let's explore a few of my OCD food eating processes.

M&M/Skittles eating

I'm starting with this one because a friend on FB had a discussion on this, and I'd guess many people have a certain way to eat these. First, I must separate all the candies into groups by color. Then, starting with the group with the most candies, I eat the entire color group by twos until I either no longer have two of the same color or that color is gone. I work my way through the other colors in the same fashion. When all I have left is the remainders in each color group, I'll sometimes pair and eat them. Most often, though, I become generous (ahem) and share with my husband :)

Chocolate covered candies

If at all possible, I must completely eat the chocolate off before I eat the insides. For example, if I am eating a chocolate covered caramel, I eat all the chocolate off of the caramel and then eat the caramel.

Tortilla chips

First I eat all of the unbroken chips. I try to eat them in two bites (I have no idea why) by placing the largest end of the chip in my mouth for the first bite. That generally leaves a fairly small remainder for bite number two.

After all the whole chips are gone, I'll eat the broken chips. 

Burritos

With a fork, I open the burrito so I can eat all the insides first. I eat the tortilla last.

~~~

Okay, I'm stopping there. I'm sure there are others I could add, but writing those out made me feel crazy enough!

Which foods do you have to eat in a certain way? Come on, there has to be something! ;)

Maybe It Is Insane

I generally have the same lunch every day. This is partly because my lack of extra time in the mornings. Having the same thing definitely makes lunch making a breeze. It is also because I am not, nor have I ever been, an adventurous eater. I do, however, have different orders in which I eat my lunch depending on how my day is going.

Bad day = dessert first. For the bad days, clearly there is a need for a pick me up and dessert is certainly a start. The closer we get to the end of the school year, the more often I indulge in dessert first thing.

Okay/normal day = sandwich first. I tend to start with the sustenance to give my stomach something to do. The benefit it twofold: 1) I get to stop that incessant grumbling my stomach starts to make approximately 20 minutes before the bell rings for lunch, and 2) it gives me a base so I can slow down enough to talk to colleagues and enjoy the lunch break.

After I start, my eating guideline dictates that I completely finish one food before I eat another. I also try my hardest not to let my foods touch. If I could, I'd even go so far as to serve myself one thing at a time and eat it before returning for a serving of something else.

My husband thinks this is insane. (Maybe it is insane, but it's my insanity.)

While I am content to eat the same things over and over, he's more of a different food everyday for the rest of his life if he could swing it kind of person.

I read somewhere (sadly, I couldn't find the article) that those who eat the same things when out at restaurants are generally more content in life. The premise was that those who constantly seek to try new things do so because they are always after something more or better. Sticking to the tried and true meals you love is akin to being satisfied with what you have. It's an interesting thought, I guess.

So what food quirks do you have? Do you do anything as crazy as I do?

Weekend Leftovers

This week is the deadline to choose our insurance plan. Based on the economics, especially now that Is.aac is out of work, I think we are forced to try out the HMO for the summer. I did go to the insurance fair the district offered and spoke to a woman in their pediatric division and was assured that they have people to meet our needs in all of our specialties.

I am not exactly happy with the decision, but there are not many options. My plan is to do all of this year's summer appointment (ped, neurology, neurosurgery/CT scan, possibly explore new walkers) through them and "meet" their doctors.

I am sad, though, to have to leave the doctors we have now. I trust them. They understand us and our needs. I hate that we don't really have much choice.

If I don't like the new HMO, it's open enrollment again in September (for November 1 start) and I can switch back. It will always be an economic gamble if we went with the PPO option, but I will do what I need to do if needed. 

*On a side-note, it does not make me feel all that great to hear all of this noise about a pharmacy strike looming for our new HMO. :/

~~~

Latest email from the teacher...

Can you believe how far we've come with these boys of yours? There has been so much progress and it has been so exciting to be a part of it. I could tell by their answers [on their teacher appreciation questionnaire] that our day-to-day has impacted them and that makes my heart smile! 

 

I love her!

 

I asked her if she's going to move to first grade because I don't know what we'll do without her. I was kidding. Mostly. Alas, that pesky issue of meeting the school's needs is going to prevent that. Bummer.

 

~~~

 

It had been hellaciously hot last week.

 

I know you guys are probably rolling your eyes at me, but in my neck of the woods, it is a rare day when the temp is in the mid 80's. It is even rarer when it hits 90's. I live two minutes from the beach, so it just doesn't get hot. The last two days, though, we were in upper 90's and broke 100 degrees.

 

My classroom does not have air-conditioning. With every single window and door open, it was still 93* in my room at 1:00. My document camera/projector even quit because of the heat. It was brutal.

 

I am so, so relieved that temps should be back to normal for us this week.

 

~~~

 

I got a tiny bit sunburned this weekend. I managed to miss a two inch by 1/2 inch section of my left upper arm when I was applying sunscreen. It's an angry red. Fortunately, other than when I directly touch it, the burn itself has been no problem.

 

The real issue is that I have hives. They started right on the sunburn and radiated out from there. It is the oddest thing.

 

And they itch like crazy!

 

~~~

 

5.weeks.left.thank.GOD.

 

~~~

 

I bought tickets to take the boys to a Se.sa.me Street show on Saturday. Now I'm wondering what the heck I was thinking.

 

I am really nervous about it. Am I the only one who breaks out into a sweat at the thought of taking her children out into the real world? I do take them out and all, but holy hell the stress involved in trips like this wears me out. The mere thought of trips like this wears me out.

 

This is clearly a case of the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

 

 

Stop by Danifred's for more Leftovers. :)

Weekend Leftovers - Short and Sweet

The countdown to the end of the school year continues. 29 days. Just under 6 weeks.

I can't wait.

Now I'm in the rush to finish everything I can before the end of the year. As much as I long for summer, I never feel like I have enough time to get through everything I need to teach them before they leave!

~~~

Sh.awn lost his fourth tooth tonight. Fortunately, we managed to get it out of him without him swallowing it. Score.

The Tooth Fairy needs to remember to visit tonight.

~~~

Ja.son blew my mind when he...wait for it...JUMPED TWICE in a row without holding anything. He fell after the second hop, but it was pretty amazing.

He's getting so strong and brave all of a sudden. He walks around the house fairly often, now. He turns mid step. He walks over things. I just watch him in awe. :)

~~~
For more Leftovers, stop by Danifred's. :)

Parents of Preemies Day

Yesterday, May 4, was Parents of Preemies Day.

Few things in my life have shaken my core like having my boys prematurely. While giving birth in itself is a life changing event, watching your desperately wanted babies struggle to breath and come to the brink of death more times than you'd care to count has a way of altering your very being in an overwhelmingly profound way.

Maybe we did have a more traumatic NICU stay than many. Maybe we faced a few more long term complications than most. But, I'd venture to guess that even the "easiest"* NICU stays have the potential to teach a person to never, ever take children for granted. The way a person sees the world will quite possibly never be the same.

The experience and its aftermath has haunted me for many years. Slowly but surely I've come to no longer say I failed my boys. Maybe I've even gotten to the point of mostly forgiving my body (and myself) for their early arrival. It's been, and continues to be, a painful process, but I think I'm getting there.

I know I'm getting there.

This year has been momentous for us, as I suspected it would be. After many, many years of keeping ourselves wrapped in a predictable, safe little cocoon, we let our fragile little preemies fabulous boys out into the big, big world of kindergarten. There were a few adjustments to make, but adjust they did.

They are succeeding.

They are thriving!

With each achievement they make on their own, I feel more and more confident in their future. I feel my need to shelter them lessen some. These boys are going to do amazing things and nothing is going to stop them.

It's been a different story for Is.aac, though. While I have felt my urge to protect them from the world ease, he has experienced the opposite reaction.

He's wrestled with new demons of fear, which leave him wanting to real in the boys' freedom. He's become the parent walking behind the boys with his hands out, waiting to protect them from the next hazard.

It could be, in part at least, due to the fact that he's now more of a caretaker for the boys since he's been laid off.

I think it's also because he's never had the chance to really deal with all of the emotions from the boys' early days. Now that there is no other direction for his attention at work...well, he feels the responsibility of keeping them safe in a much keener way.

We've been doing a lot of talking lately. About those days. About the feelings behind that time.

I've had a hard time working through how I've been affected, and I've had outlets to direct my emotions.

He's not had anything.

How powerless he must have felt during those days. The doctors and nurses told him much bleaker updates than they ever told me. (Which? I'm choosing not to really think about this.) His wife was an emotional/hormonal mess/guilt ridden mess. He was expected to be my rock, and yet he had no rock of his own on which to rely.

I feel for the him and what he endured during that time. I feel for him now.

So yesterday, on this year's Parents of Preemies Day, I spent the day celebrating my husband and his resilience, courage, strength, and commitment to his family. I thanked him for his support while I healed. It's now my turn to support him on his journey toward healing, too.

*I don't care how long you stay, or what the circumstances behind the it, no NICU experience is easy.