Post Christmas update

Okay, I'm having somewhat of writer's block, so sorry I haven't posted in over 2 weeks! We have had a ton of snow and birthday/holiday festivities. The Captain is finally coming of the gift getting/candy eating high he's been on. It's a difficult withdrawal process! Well, the Capt is now 3. He easily went from 2 and a half to three fingers. Although the other day he told me he still wanted to be 2 and a half. Anyway, not only is he fine with being three but he has turned a potty corner. Yup, I can now say he is 100% potty trained! One day he just started taking charge. He will now stop what he's doing, announce, "I have to go pee!" and run to the bathroom. He even poops on his own too! In the toilet! I can't remember the last time I threw underwear away. At last!! Woo hoo! I honestly can say it wasn't anything I did or didn't do. If anything, we just stopped making a big deal about it. We didn't get hyper excited when he went on the toilet and we stopped freaking out when he pooped or peed his pants. Our only rules were that he had to use the bathroom before we left the house, when we got home and before bed. So that's the good news about being three. The bad news? Terrible Twos have nothing on Maniacal Threes. More bossy, more arguing, more "I want to do it myself!" Way more tantrums. We rarely had tantrums during the two's. Now it's like a serious exorcist invades the child. The nice/voice mean voice technique works really super great during this time. I should end with some good so my last chit chat is that The Capt is missing school and know nows how to spell his name. He is learning how to write it but can really only get the J.
ANd not to leave the Kid out. So far so good this holiday season. Had a couple of nasty bruises during our snow in but we kept them iced and they seemed to do okay. Whew! He's really a little bruiser now that he is crawling like crazy and really really really wants to walk. He cruises the furniture and anything else stationary that he can. He babbles up a storm and says lots of words like, hi, dada, mama, bubs, jack, ball, yum and other blubbery stuff. Oh and he does not want to be left out of anything. Wants to do everything his brother does and even wants to eat at the table. Hates his high chair and really hates the changing table. Still totally loves his baths and the blow up tub guard I bought from One Step Ahead is awsome! I am loving his padded pants and just got a second pair in the mail. He's a pretty cute little guy and if finally getting some hair!

Busy Birthday Weekend

This was a very busy weekend! The Capt had a super time at a Gymboree birthday party for his great friend Issac. He had a little run with another boy and we had to sit out for a few minutes with ice on his head and some tissue for a bloody lip, but he was good to go and even had 2 pieces of cake! The Kid had a blast as well and his Bruzwear pants came just in time to crawl around in. Plus he started hands and knees crawling tonight! I know this post seems rather boring but I'm pretty much done until tomorrow. Friday I wrapped presents galore! Then we whooped it up all weekend and we had a nice little layering of snow. The Capt was sooo excited to see the snow this morning. He was 3/4 naked before getting to our bedroom yelling, "there's snow! Come on, let's go outside!" This was at 7:30 AM. I don't know what he liked more, the snow or his birthday party. Although a few friends couldn't make it due to the weather, we still had a blast with lots of trucks, games, the pinata (of course) and the famous dump truck cake. Which I am quite proud of. Okay, so now we are on to Christmas!

Pants for bruisers

A cool website with cool padded pants. Essential for a hemo baby like Will! Must give a shout out to my new long distant friend Kathryn who is the brains behind these cute pants! Bleeders and non-bleeders could use a little extra TLC in the knee department!
Bruzwear

voices

I can't be the only mom who has certain voices. Today I started giving the Capt a choice of voices. For example. If I ask the Capt to do something I usually ask nicely and say "please." If it doesn't get done my voice changes and is more commading. Sometimes I resort to yelling. Of course I hate this and always feel bad afterward. (Okay maybe not always, but many times.) There is sometimes crying and time outs get involved. So I thought I would try something new. Tonight the Capt did not want to stay in bed at night-night time. Finally I asked him if he wanted me to use the nice voice or the mean voice. He chose the nice voice. As long as he follwed directions, I used the nice voice. Doesn't follow-mean voice. He does not like the mean voice. It's his choice.

Hex Monkey

So for awhile now whenever the Capt is having a really naughty day we have been concluding that is has to do with some evil monkey invading the child's body. Today the monkey has a name. The Hex Monkey. This occured as the Capt. was running around naked yelling "hex monkey! hex monkey!" We do not like the hex monkey.

How questions, pulling up and baking.

I've been waiting for the Capt to get to the "why" phase. I figured this would really be big for him. Now I'm thinking he is bypassing that question altogether. Instead he asks: "How?" Like leaving Dada's office the other day. As we leave the building he looks up and says, "wow, that's a tall building!" "How do the people get up there?" And getting onto the freeway he sees a parking structure and says, "what's that?" "How do the cars get up there?" I am required to explain everything in great detail. Or I get, how.how.how. I hope I'm smart enough for this! Oh! And the Kid this last week, started pulling himself up! Yippee! (I think!) He is really taking off. Today we lowered the crib and he just loves standing at his crib waiting for me to get him. What this also means is a lot more bruises. Knees, elbows and even feet! And I am sooo happy for bumper guards! Yesterday he was lowering himself from the coffe table and bong! his head bounced off the bumper guard. Whew! He went along his merry way. As far as baking goes, I will let the pictures explain. This is what baking with a soon to be 3 year old looks like. What you didn't see is the Capt getting started on his own while I was changing the baby. The Capt got the egss out and cracked about six into the mixer before I made it into the kitchen. While we didn't need six eggs, he did a pretty good job of keeping the shells out. I don't suggest any of you let your toddler try this at home. I guess I'll be making omelets for breakfast! Here's the finished products. The Capt of course made his snowmen in blue. The cheeks and ears were of his own creation!

Bedtime

So, The Capt doesn't take naps. Hasn't for about a year. Trust me, I tried EVERYTHING! I came to terms with it, but am glad to say The Capt has always been a great night time sleeper. He has never slept with us in our bed and usually goes to bed fairly early (6:30-7:30pm) and gets up at a reasonable hour (7-8am) The digital clock has worked like a miracle during a recent rough patch when The Capt was getting up before Mom's happy hour, ie 7am. The clock sits on his dresser and he cannot get up until seven oh-oh. He's tested this a couple of times recently and I simply show him the clock, tuck him back in bed and tell him to wait until seven oh-oh. He usually falls back to sleep or plays quietly in his room (which we lock for his own safety.) The most current bedtime trend for the Capt is having a flashlight and reading to Lambie after lights are out. I took this route when he was getting out of bed and turning on his light and wrecking havoc after lights out. This solved it. Our routine goes like this. Jammies, 1 show (15 min.) brush teeth, wash hands, potty. Read 2 stories, hide under covers for Dada to come say good night and talk about the day. Mom sings 3 songs, kisses tedddy, lambie and baby lambie. The Capt asks for drink of water (which is a miniscule splash in a plastic cup.) Kisses and hugs. We used to have music and white noise of either a fan or a heater but The Capt decided that was no longer needed. Now he asks for his flashlight and a book. Currently it's a toy catalog or Where's Waldo. Sometimes he reads to Lambie. He stays in bed and is usually asleep within a few minutes. If he is up before seven oh-oh, I give him his flashlight and book and all is well. Ahhh...more sleep. Oh and this was a night where he insisted on sleeping with Elmo, who (by the way) can wear a size 2T.

The List

This is a very busy time of year in our house. We are lookinf forward to holidays AND birthdays. The Capt is VERY into holidays at this time and Halloween was very exciting with all the trick or treating and cand involved. We have now moved into the upcoming birthday and Christmas. He knows that when it starts to get snowy and cold that his birthday will be coming. Since he has already experienced a couple of birthday parties and PRESENTS, he knows what is to come. Thus, "The List." We are getting bombarded with toy commercials and catalogs. We are emphasising gift "giving" but The Capt knows he will betting getting things too. With all that he sees he asks daily for different toys. " I want this, I want that!" And so I came up with "The List." Anytime The Capt asks for a toy he sees on TV or in a catalog, of which I freely let him browse or we look together, (the catalog, not tv.) I tell him that we will put it on "The List." Now I have never picked up a pen, or written anything down on this so called "List" he just trusts that there is one. My word! The list would be like, 20 pages by now! No, it is more of a magical list. And so it goes like this. Commercial for Clipo: "Mom, I want that!" Me: "Okay, we'll put it on the list! (:) smiley face!) The End. There are never any questions about the list. Where is the list, can I see the list, nothing. I highly suggests you try this with your own toddler/preschooler. I'm actually curious to see if this works with all of them. Dada and I secretly laugh about this and wonder if it will cause trust issues and therapy....naaaw! If they can believe in Santa, they can believe in "The List!"

To Treat or Not To Treat

That is the question we must ask whenever The Kid gets a bruise. The learning curve is great but we are getting good at determining the answer in just the few months we've been dealing with his hemophilia. I will get to the head bonk shortly but let me first give a quick summary. In May we learned the Kid had severe hemophilia A. This affects his blood clotting levels of factor viii of which he has -1%. He does not bleed any more or any faster than the rest of us, he just bleeds longer. This is due to not having the factor that clots his blood. Ther are different types of hemophilia that is affected by different factors. You can go to the National Foundaton for Hemophilia to find out more or check out the Bleeding Disorder Foundation of WA as well. Anyway, last night during "the insanity hour" ie dad's home, dinner's on,and bed time is coming hour, The Kid was happily playing at his activity table when he leaned out to see a puzzle. And boom! Baby fell down right smack on a puzzle piece knob. Of course he used the middle of his forehead as well to catch his fall. He has not yet mastered the part where you put your arms down first. So right away a bruise formed. We iced it with our nifty little Nemo ice pack and sent him off to bed. Any other kid would have had a welt and all would have been well. The Kid on the other hand is a bleeder, so when he woke up around 9:30pm and we saw a lovely hematoma had formed, we knew it was time to call the nurse. I'm starting to get good at determining a good bonk from a bad bonk. My first question is "would I give him factor if I had it at home?" The answer in this case was "yes." So after speaking with superstar hemo nurse Renee, I packed up the little monkey and set off in the rainy darkness to Childrens Hospital. Some may ask why we don't go to our nearby hospital if we have our meds with us. The reason, the local hospital, as wonderful as they are, aren't set up to A.) treat hemophiliacs and B.) expertly find a vein on a chunky monkey baby. We want the fewest pokes and the least trama as possible so we stick to the best in kiddie care. The other great thing about our hemo team is that they call ahead to the ER and tell them we are coming. I must say I feel for the other families there (especially when there was a full house like last night) who have to wait for such a long time. For us we usually don't even have to wait. The first nurse was nice but couldn't get a vein after the first try and although I asked about the head vein, people were still freaking out that I even suggested it. She must have realized I wasn't messing around because after that first unsuccessful try, she called for the i.v. team. This nurse was older and wiser and although the head vein was discussed we opted for a fat little vein in his arm and after some prodding it was successful. Now here comes the learning curve. I hope others with little ones with or without hemophilia will feel this blog entry is helpful for any (God forbid) future trips to the E.R. Please ask questions! Don't feel rushed and try not to panic when presented with suggested options. At this point in our trip we were ready for our factor treatment. Then a nurse comes in and says we are going to get a CT. Um excuse me? First no one talked to me about this and second, why would they feel this is necessary. The nurse and the ct tech are not in charge so back to the room we went so I could speak to a doctor. My questions? Is this 100% necessary and why. If he is being given factor and he shows no signs of concussion or any other abnormal behavior, is the radiation risk and cost involved really necessary. Hemophilia treatment is extremely expensive. One of the most in the world. Cost does not outweigh the care for my child, but I want to be certain that we minimize any tests or other treatments that are not absolutely necessary. Honestly, I think the doctors last night did not even consider NOT doing it. For them, this was protocol. They were on auto pilot. I called Dada and he called Renee and we were on the side of thinking it was PROBABLY not necessary. However, since we'd be going home and putting the Kid to bed for another 8 hours and we couldn't be 100% sure about bleeding to his brain, I decided to go ahead with it. This is where I am gathering knowledge for another time. If it had been the middle of the day and we were going home to play, I would have opted against it. But better safe than sorry and now I have an experience to judge others with. In the end, I was right and the doctors told me so. We ended up being in and out a little over 2 hours. We were home about 1:30 in the am and when I opened the car door to get that baby out, his little peepers were wide open and he was laughing! Needless to say he went right to bed! And slept until 9am. So another hemo notch into our belts and to all the bleeder parents and non bleeder parents, please advocate! When in the ER especially, ask what is being done and why and what makes it necessary. I would not have changed my decision, but I certainly felt empowered by being able to have the choice. Oh and the Capt saw the bruise on the Kid's head this morning and concluded that red and blue make purple and he likes that color.

Election '08

A historic day for all Americans. We are proud to be a part of it. It is a powerful feeling to know that we took part in this event. It is even more powerful to know that we will someday tell The Capt and The Kid about where we were and how we voted during this amazing time for our country. We are hopeful that this turning point in America when Barack Obama, the first African American president, will bring the change that we all need. A fresh start and a new outlook in many ways. We especially hope for great changes on the health care front. It will be exciting to watch history take place! Yes we can!

First Tooth

The Kid finally had his first tooth come through! We've been waiting for at least a month for that thing to come in. With hemophilia you never know if the gums will bleed when the tooth breaks through, so I kept imagining peeking into his crib and finding him covered in blood. Whew! Not a spot of blood whatsoever. Just 19 more to go!! It must still be a little sore because he won't let me stick my finger in and so far only Grandma has actually seen "the tooth." I will now be on a stealth mission to capture "the tooth" on film.

Baldness

The has been much talk about the Kid's hair, or lack of. It used to stick up in a natural mohawk, then whithin the month of Sept, it was gone. We've started calling him "Charlie" as in "Charlie Brown." And you just can't help it. I'm holding myself back from drawing Charlie Brown's face on the back of his head. The temptation is so great!

Halloween

This Halloween was the start of the Capt's holidays. Including birthdays. He's getting it. Except he lumps it into the "pretend" catagory. Meaning he doesn't quite get that it happens once a year. He is asking to dress up and go trick or treating again "when it gets dark." The Kid, he's just trying to adjust to the time change and a cold. A note on his personality. I was just reading somewhere about "serious" babies. This is not a direct reflection on their personalities, it is simply their way of absorbing information. Well, he should end up as smart if not smarter than his brother then, cause he must be taking it all in! Here are pictures of our festive evening! The Capt went as "Go diego go" and The Kid went as a monkey or as Baby Fester, which ever you prefer.

Seven-oh-oh

So about a month ago The Capt started getting up waaay too early. And he doesn't just get up sweetly. If he would get up and softly crawl into bed and snuggle, that would be nice. BUT he doesn't. He bounds out of bed and chatters on a mile a minute. He truly becomse recharged from sleeping. Too bad you can't take the batteries out or turn him off once in awhile. So this was going on for over a week and getting up before 7am is just not okay with me. I got him his own clock. A digital one with a light. Since he was going to bed around 6:30/7pm, we moved his bedtime a bit later, to 7:30pm. We told him he could not get up until Seven-Oh_Oh. Believe it or not. It worked! And he got cuaght up on sleep. Until last week. Today he was up at 6:23AM. Uh, Heck NO! And since we keep his door locked for safety reasons, he pounds on the door to let the whole house know "I woke up!"
I dragged my sleepy butt in there and stuffed him back into bed and stated "do not get up until seven-oh-oh." He needed his flashlight. And a book. Fine. You know what? He didn't make a peep until seven-oh-oh. Oh and if anyone knows how to get a stubborn kid to poop in either the toilet or pull ups, please let me know. I think I need to invent disposible underwear. Literally.

What hemophilia looks like

Today was the first trip to Childrens Hospital in Seattle since The Kid's initial factor treatment. This morning at the changing table we discovered the biggest bruise to date. We kept an eye out but the hematoma under the bruise seemed to be getting bigger. At 3pm and a chat with our super great hemo nurse, Maia Kelley, we trekked over to the ER at Childrens'. I was nervous only because our first experience with pokes was not a good one. This time was the exact opposite. The ER was expecting us and we went in within 10 minutes. The nurse, Laurel, was familiar with hemophilia and babies! After a poke on each leg without luck, I asked about a poke to the head vein. She agreed those we the best and easiest to do. She was surprised by my ready acceptance to it as was the doctor. I guess lots of people are squeamish about IV's in a baby's head. Trust me when I say, trying to find a vein in a fat, healthy baby's hand or leg is way more excruciating than a nice visible blue vein, even if it is on the head. The Kid has very little hair anyway, so he didn't even need a shave! He was a trooper and had his binky and his lovey during his ordeal and I sang all his favorite songs. At one point during the leg pokes he even signed "all done!" That was just waaay too precious. It is still a moment for me when I think about it. The Capt. was a great big brother and we try to explain everything in his terms.
Baby is getting a poke like when he gets his check ups. When he's done Big Brother can come in and make him giggle. Baby Brother has hemophilia and that means he bruises easily and sometimes has to go to the hospital to make them better. And going into our treatment room The Capt exclaimed to anyone listening, "I'm going in to help my Baby William and make him giggle." We were in and out in 2 hours and now have another hemo notch in our belts! Oh and he won't keep the hep-lock thingy in his head. We did that in case he needs another treatment the next day. Usually the IV is in and out in a few minutes.) So don't freak out. Actually, too bad it didn't happen on Halloween, it could have been a really creepy baby monkey costume!

Refresher

Just a quick backround for anyone just peeking in on the blog. The Captain is our first child. The fact that we had a second child was quite daring, since the first who will be 3 in Dec. is, let say, spirited, active alert, and quite the handful. He started preschool in Sept so that the family could keep their sanity. This summer was a challenge trying to keep him busy and he is just loving school 3 days a week. The Kid is our newest member who just turned 9 months old this week. He was diagnosed with severe hemophilia at 4 months. So far we are still in the honeymoon phase but between now and about 3 years we will be preparing for home infusions 3-4 times a week. I am a stay at home mom and I never have a dull moment. "Someone" is always taking something apart, getting in to something or other shenanigans. The little one has got the commando crawl down and looks like an abuse victim half the time, via hemophilia and lots of bruising. My current worry is that parents unfamiliar with my super active smarty pants will think the baby's bruises are outcomes of big brother's rough housing. So far, not the case. He's more likely to give his baby rough love than anything else! If you enjoy my blog, please send comments!

head bonks and hospitals

So on Friday The Kid was playing with his little girlfriend. The two are very into the activity table scene. Well, the Kid just fell over. (That's what he does. He can stand there but he can't sit down.) So he landed with his head on a plastic container. Later that day he got a pretty good bump and bruise. I called our nurse and she said to keep an eye out. Well finally on Sunday I just wasn't convinced that it was fine and to everyone's humor (except the Kid's) I drew a pen mark around the bruise. On Monday I took him in and he checked out just fine. Hey, better safe than sorry! I guess it's part of the learning curve. Besides that The Kid is busy busy busy! Along with a fierce separation anxiety! The cuteset part of his day is when big brother gets into the car from school and says, "I missed you!" Awww....

Games

The Capt is learning games at school. It's great! So far they have earned musical chairs, the hokey pokey and simon says. Tonight before bed we all played Simon Says. The Capt was Simon first, then we all took turns. It's funny what his Simon wanted us to do. Things like jump, fly, lay down. Now I know how to get him under my spell! Just tell him we are playing Simon Says! It might just work. Or at least work for a day before he realizes my trick! The Capt is also really getting into the holidays. He is excited about Halloween and is asking about his birthday. He talks about what kinds of presents he wants and who he wants at his birthday. I thought it was cute that he mentioned a couple of school friends.

another mom's blog

This is not for the faint of heart as you can tell by the title.

A Dying Mom's Blog

I only read the last 2 entries, but it sure makes me grateful how fortunate we are! Live, Laugh, Love! Life is too short to do otherwise.

Toddlers and Screwdrivers don't mix...

Now don't be too shocked. Nobody got hurt. Let's just say we are lucky the door didn't fall on somebody. If the cap't could have reached the top hinge. Somebody really could have been flattened! Oh yes, today the Capt needed a screwdriver. Now before I explain, you must know that the Capt doesn't just go around willy-nilly as it sometimes seems. He is supervised to the best of a mother's ability. Probably more so. In fact at costco the other day a man in line said I was being too hard on him when I told the Capt to stop snapping the stanchions in the return line. Little did that man know that the next day, (being today) the Capt would decide he needed a phillip's head screwdriver. While I'm tending to the baby and trying to get ready this morning, the capt helped himself to the correct size screwdriver in the toolbox. From the garage. A real one. Did I mention the right size even? The end result? The Capt trying to understand why the door to the bedroom won't close. Um, hello? you just took the bottom hinge off Houdini. Luckily he's also OCD, so he was sure to put the hinge and screws in his own personal toolbox. What's a mother to do? Punish? Lock him away? No. Instead hold the hinge in place while he screws it back onto the door. Then hand him a box of pens to unscrew and screw again. (just kidding) he's already done that. I think I need a screwdriver...and not the kind with a handle!

Baby Loves Biter Biscuits!

The Kid is branching out on food stuff. Actually, I'm finally allowing chunky food to grace his palette. He's been complaining about the pureed food so it must be time. These pictures just crack me up.

Mungus Whale

Today the Capt was singing. The song: "mungus whale." The Mungus whale has a big tale and splashes you. If you haven't figured it out yet, the "mungus whale" is humongous whale in child-speak. This just cracked me up and is being filed away with "noculars." The pre-cursors "hu" and "bi" for these words must come across as being completely separate words in the capt.'s mind. It's not like he can't say the word, he is somehow listening to them and determining that they aren't necessary, I guess. Hm, I think mungus whale could be a whole new species...

Quarters or no quarters

So now that the Capt has gotten beyond 2 and a half, we have been trying to explain he is going to be 3. We first told him he wasn't 2 and half anymore, he was 2 and 3 quarters. He was very upset and put out his hands and said "but I don't have any quarters!" "I'm 2 and a half!" Now I've been prompting him to tell people he's going to be 3. Unfortunately he is one of the younger kids at school and now he tells people, "I'm gonna be FIVE!" With the appropriate hand gesture. Sometimes he laughs so I'm thinking he might be doing it as a joke. Hmmm....

Babies

So this week the Capt has been discussing babies with me. Of course it's not the usual discussion. CousinJenn is pregnant and he commented that she had a baby in her tummy. I said yes. "Like when baby Will was in your tummy?" yes. (this next part is what got me.) "when the baby gets big he'll come out like baby Will?" yes. "how does he get out? Through a hole?" Well. Yes. Now this discussion always ends with "when the baby comes out through the hole." I think that is enough information for the time being. Probably too much, but we'll just let it be and hope for best. Mortification points on a scale of 1-10....only worthy of a 2.

Little Skeptic

This of course, is The Kid. After getting the Capt to school we zipped along to Kindermusik. Hooray! One on one time with the baby! Right now I'm the only one having fun. Kindermusik is a 50 minute session of intentional touch, singing, music, dancing, instruments, snuggling,etc. All good fun stuff. The Kid seems to think there must be a catch. Or at least that's what his face seems to say. His expression is purely skeptical and until I and Miss Allison have proven otherwise, we will only be allowed one or two smiles. I will keep you posted as to when he has deemed the class worthy!

Making Progress

It's just the 3rd day of preschool and we are all making progress. Today was the Cap't first day of taking his lunch. He was less than thrilled to be going to school today but was excited about getting to be in charge of his lunch and lunch sack. In fact, he was so excited that he opened everything up on the way and we had quite a spill. Slightly melted gogurt and water does not mix well! The Capt also started to complain about his school having monsters. Since the only monsters we really know are the ones from Sesame Street I explained that they must be pretty nice. No they are not. Once at school he was still not convienced so I helped wash his hands and showed him that both Mama and Dada would beable to watch him from the cameras in the room. This stopped the tears and I ran out as fast as possible. Now, this has been emotional for me. Not for the reasons you are all thinking. Yes, I will miss my child as he is growing up, etc. I am really just conerned that poop will happen. The school has stated that the children must be "independently potty trained." The teachers can only verbally help in the matter. This freaks me out. I still sigh in relief at home when the day ends clean and dry. Dada and I still high five each other when the Capt poops in the toilet and we have saved another pair of underwear. My guard is just coming down over the whole pee situation. Especially saince learning from his teacher that he "independently" went pee on his own today at school! Pooping. That is a whole different animal. Whether right or wrong, I have put the fear of God in the child not to poop at school, UNLESS, he can do it in the toilet. Otherwise he must wait until he gets home. Then I don't care what happens. (Okay I do but I have to go with the lesser of the evils.) Do I want to be mortified to get a call from school asking me to get my child for pooping his pants? No way. I would rather waste a pair of poopy underwear at home. So there! The other nervousness comes the day the Capt does poop at school. The teachers cannot wipe his butt. I'm just not ready for that hurdle. My current mantra: just one day at a time....

school update

After 4 days at the Spanish Academy in Bellevue, we decided it did not meet our needs. I quickly scrambled around, talked to friends and checked out a popular montessori program in Issaquah. Lakeside Montessori is now The Capt's new school. Stayed turned for more info but today was his first day and he LOVED it. The best thing is that they have a webcam and I can peek in on him exhale when realizing he is not destroying the place and that he was NOT the kid having a tantrum during circle time. I think he is really going to thrive here and next week they get their class picture taken! In true Capt fashion when asking him about his school his favorite part was the playground with the train and then Oscar the (supposed) "blue" hamster that has a spinning wheel. Hmmmm, blue hamster.....

Yum!

The Kid likes to eat. I am really not surprised since his brother was an avid eater as well. He is beginning to move beyond baby food and seems to exclaim, "Yum!" when something is agreeable. While The Capt has always been the spirited one, The Kid, is by no means a bowl of plain oatmeal. At Costco the other day he was all grins for his mom but as soon as the checker turned to talk to him, he glared as if the guy had said something totally rude. This could have been the case, I wasn't quite close enough to hear the contnet. So today we branched out on the baby food wheel and tried some real "people" food. Mangos were on the breakfast menu. A nice slice mashed up was received with a hearty "yum!" We tried a french fry at lunch but that went over as did toast. Stuffing his mouth full as if he was squirreling away some nuts or something. Um, I think we'll pass on that. Tonight was half an avocado prepared as a chunky mash. Also got a "yum" with raised eyebrows. I also thought, what the heck, and put some of that along with some baby pear on the tray and let him go at it. A rice cake was served on the side. That went well until the end. I suddenly looked over at thought, huh, where did the rice cake go? Then realized The Kid had little hamster cheeks with a little rice puff hanging out! Whoa! Waaay to much! Cheerios are also high on the yum list and The Kid will pound on his tray until they are delivered!

First day of school!!

We finally found a school we deemed "acceptable" and seemed to meet most if not all of our needs. It is the Spanish Academy in Bellevue. It is new this year and after meeting with the Profesora, The Capt. was accepted to the "real" preschool class. Ie, 3-5 year olds. This means that he goes 3 days a week for 3 hours. Monday was his first day and he was very excited. He asked if I was going to "drop him" and then "pick him up." This was quite fine with him and he hardly looked back! It helped that we got to check out the classroom a few times. While I was fine dropping him off, I was totally nervous the three hours he was gone. Every time my phone would ring, I just kept thinking, "oh my god! it's the school! The Capt is out of control and they want me to come get him!" But everything was fine and I cried when I picked him up. The maestra even commented on what good manners he had! We made it through the first day! What a big guy! . The Kid had a first as well. No, not crawling yet. Although he gets on his hands and knees and then cries because he's not going anywhere! The other day at the park the Kid went on his first swing ride! This also meant he had his first "war wound." A good monster bruise on his side where he was leaning against the swing seat. It was ugly enough for me to draw a pen mark around just in case it might spread. But after a little ice all was well. He also is sitting up in the bath tub in his own little "pool." He LOVES the water. One of the few things that makes him laugh. Oh! And he has moved on to eating things like puffs and cheerios. Much safer than the toast he likes to stuff into his mouth. Baby heimlich sucks! Things are moving along quite nicely in our clan these days. Stay posted! It could change at any moment!

The Helmet

While on vacation The Capt was finally convinced that a helmet was a good idea while riding his bike or scooter. Maybe too good. It somehow translated over to being a good idea while playing at the beach....

Imagination

The Capt has really ramped up his imagination since we've been home. The other morning he comes into the kitchen on a mission. Opens the door to the garage and brings out the broom. I say, "uh what are you doing?" He says, "Mom, I need a broom and 2 boxes." It's 9 in the morning and I can't possibly see why the child would need this. I'm not sure I really want to know why he needs a broom and 2 boxes but I ask anyway. "I'm making a spaceship." He sounded pretty confident so for some reason I decide to help out. This is what he came up with.

The Clubs

So the weekend before we left for CA, Dada took the Capt golfing. He didn't have his size clubs so it didn't go too well. But I guess the Capt didn't care because ever since hen he's been talking about golfing with his Dad. He's says he's gone fishing with his Dad too but that hasn't happened yet. Anyway, tonight we took him to get his very own set of golf clubs! It was very exciting and I was an emotional mom. Only because he was looking so damn cute! It comes with a driver, iron and putter and a miniature golf bag with the stand and everything. The guy even gave us some free balls. I wish I had my camera! We stopped at the park so he could practice. He was having such fun! He had his little blue golf shirt on with tan pants and then the golf bag slung on his back...it was a pretty cute sight. Once I get some pics...I promise to post!

The Rockstar

Okay so for those that have known the Capt since he was a baby, they know that he's a little different. Not necessarily in a bad way. He has just been on a different schedule than most babies. Has reached developmental milestones early etc. His personality could be described as "Spirited" or "Active-Alert" if I'm in a positive mood, and "crazy, hyper, and unruly" on a not-so-good day. I have had people tell me his smart, gifted, genius and a possible presidential candidate someday. I just think he dances to the beat of his own drum. And if you've ever seen him dance, you know what I mean! He's definately quirky. He's "Just Jack." Well within the last six months he has talked about "being a rockstar." He saw a show on PBS called Raggs. I think it's lame but it's colorful, musical, and the characters ask the kids thoughtful questions so I guess that's why he likes it. The dogs play guitars. The Capt's Papa plays a guitar and his Uncle Larry plays and has guitars. He loves music so why shouldn't it all come together. He got a guitar for christmas from Papa and he has loved the strings right off of it! Well recently his being a rockstar has evolved. Oh and the child will break into song a guitar playing whenever the moment moves him! Anyway, the other day we were riding in the car and he had his notebook and crayin in hand. He tells me he is writing a song. I just hung on to the steering wheel so not to crash. You'd think by this point I would be getting used to his revelations/shennaigans, but no, I don't. They come so freaking randomly. He just throws this stuff at you when you least expect it! Well to top that off, two days ago he wanted to do some art. Great! We get out his scissors (yes I let him use scissors with the clear knowledge that only the hair cutting place can cut hair.) I try to use the ame tone as I use when talking about poison so I hope this works. So he's quietly cutting and coloring and gluing away for awhile. Quiet is never a good thing in this case so I look over and he has used washable markers up and down his arms. I ask what he is doing and why he did not color on paper. He tells me, "All rockstars have to have colors on their arms." Duh! Hello mom don't you know this? I'm like uh well your 2 and not a rockstar yet so you need to take a bath. And um where did he get this hairbrained idea? He watches Sprout and Noggin and I'm pretty sure there are no rockstars with tatoos on those channels. And if there are, I am going to sue them in about 16 years. Oh and moving on, he is starting to ask me how to spell things...that's a whole other topic that I am ignoring until absolutely necessary.

TheTrip

I know I haven't been blogging toomuch this week, but we are out visiting Nana and Papa in CA. Dada is off on business trips so we headed out to the Sunny State. The first challenge was making it through the airport and on the plane for 2 hours. I know that's not a long time, but it was my first time with The Capt and The Kid alone. The day before I actually had to lay down. I was so nervous! It went well until we had to leave Dada at security. Luckily the people behind me were understanding to the sudden meltdown. We made it through and The Kid was allowed to stay in his sling. We only waited about 20 minutes and The Capt really waited nicely before boarding. He recently started watching Blues Clues, so in hisbackpack he found a notebook and a crayon. That kept him busy! The flight was very uneventful. The Capt was some freak AngelChild. He buckled hisseatbelt and never got out of his seat! He spent most of his time watching a Thomas video on Levi's DVD player (thankyou thankyou!) until the battery died... by then we were decending. Sofar the trip has been great and filled with fun times. Until tonight. The Capt and The Kid have been sharing a room. This means they've been waking each other up at 6:30am. They usually don't get up until close to 8. This is bad for many reasons. The first is being unsupervised. The Capt likes to climb into the Kid's crib and play peek a boo. On the Kid's face. It seems that the Kid thinks its funny most of the time. I only imagine someone getting suffocated. Today the bad thing was The Capt finding a bottle of Mylcon in the suitcase and thinking the Kid needed some. The bottle was empty but there was a lot on the floor. Luckily the Kid survived. I hope he has nine lives! The last bad thing was like a storm brewing for few days from loss of sleep on the Capt's part. Tonight his head finally flew off and spun around the room. It happened after he was put to bed at, oh, 5:30! An hour later he said his tummy didn't veel well and he had to "throwup" He's never donw this before and this is now his cue to poop. Hey, at least there is one! So off he goes to the toilet. Well after about 10 minutes, he calls and Nana goes in. All I hear is, "Oh Lord!" That is never good. And then "Let me get your mom" When Your mom says this, it's really not good. My first instinct was to run and then I flashed to a happy place (which is no where near kids or poop) took a deep breath and went to check it out. Well. The Capt thought he would try to wipe his own butt! Um, being 2 and not being able to reach his own butt, it looked like a poopie massacre. I had to think positve to hold it together so I thought, "at least he was trying to be helpful?" I had an arsenal shy of a hazmat suit for clean up and just as the Capt was washing his hands I flushed. Really bad idea. The Capt had already flushed who knows what before he called us in, so a volcano of water came bubbling up and over the rim. I could only yell for My Mom and quell a crying toddler who thought he broke his Papa's toilet. Well let's just say after clean up, kids in bed and a couple of glasses of wine later. All is well. It is now all about ME and I'm off to find some chocolate!

Clean and Dirty

The Kid is a funny little baby. Very particular with not so many words. He loves the bath and water which is super good. Although most parents with hemophiliac kids have said they never did anything different, I'm still thinking padding the tub is a good idea. And one of my favorite websites, OneStepAhead, has the best kid safety stuff. Of course liking the bath and liking having his picture taken in the bath is not the same thing. He is especially leery of the orange light that comes on before the flash. He has now been eating solid food for a few weeks. Still not convinced I'm NOT trying to poison him. If he does not want that food, that mouth is not going to open. He does like playing with the spoon and the bowl. So I figure, maybe he's an Independent. Let's see what happens! I gave him the spoon, scrapped the oatmeal onto the tray and let him have at it. He liked this waaay more than actually eating it! Once The Kid was allowed this pleasure and could see for himself that the oatmeal was not poisoned, he was more than happy to eat. Still leery of the orange light though.

A Fashion Statement?

So The Capt has started getting interested in dressing himself lately. Not all the time and usually after he's peed his pants. And for whatever reason, his choice is to "go commando" with sweat pants. I don't know why and the answer he always gives me is something to do with his penis, so I just shake my head and chalk it up to a guy thing. Today, however, he was happy with putting on underwear AND shorts! He actually matched, until, I came back into his room to find him putting on these long bright green socks on with purple monkeys on the tops. I must have said something like "wow! what's going on in here?" and he simply replied that he was going to wear his "funky socks, Mom." "The ones with the monkeys from Grampa D." "Why did Grampa D give these?" What could I say besides, "because he thought you would like funky socks!" This satisfied and he proceeded to put on his super fast running shoes and go out and climb into the sandbox with them. But, since he is so OCD, that didn't last long. Too much sand.

This Week Part 3 Milestones.

Yesterday and today has been very exciting in the world of The Kid. He started off by vocalizing about everything! Another talker! His seem to sound more like "Blah,blah,blah,blah,dadadada,blah" He likes to yell this from his crib upon awakening. Being 6 months old now, I decided to try him out in the shopping cart at Safeway. I got my shopping cart cover and matching pillow out and we all piled into the car for a grocery store excursion. Oh and it's not called "Safeway" (I am told by The Capt) it's called "GroceryStore." Whatever Bossy. So The Capt picks out a shopping CAR and I get the Kid nice and comfy in his cart. He liked it! By the end of the trip he was grabbing for me in exhaustion. Made it home in time for some rest! Yippee! But wait! The day hadn't ended for that little baby. Both little pirates are fighting sniffly noses so we decided to stay inside to play cars. I put The Kid down in The Capt's room and he sat unassisted! Woohoo! Way to go! I thnk he was suprised as well. He kinda looked around as if wondering where his prop had gone. Haha! Tricked you Baby! after that he was back to his tummy. I guess he thinks that now he knows how he doesn't really need to do it. He's not one for showing off!

This Week Part 2 The Big Bonk

So we got home Tues night just around bed time. I was in getting the Kid situated while Dada and The Capt wer in our room getting jammies on and settling in. This usually means jumping on the bed and other rascally behavior. Well all of a sudden I hear a big "Bonk!" Head hitting wood. My heart dropped and I rushed in to see The Capt in tears and a huge hematoma swelling before my eyes. We did the usual first aid and luckily there was no blood. I recently bought a Nemo ice pack thinking we'd be using it on The Kid, but I guess the Capt would be breaking it in instead. That and Arnica gel, which I swear by. Even if it really doesn't work (I think it does) it certainly gives me peace of mind. I called the nurse and we discussed a possible concussion. It was bed time so once everyone was calm, The Capt went to bed. Two hours later I was supposed to wake him up and get him walking and talking. This did not go well. I really couldn't get him to open his eyes let alone walk and talk. I carried him downstairs to Dada. He slumped into his lap. We just looked at each other and kept trying to get him more alert. Finally it was enough and we carted him off to bed. We weren't convinced he was okay. Was he just so tired from our busy week or did he really have a concussion? We could leave him sleeping for another four hours. We weren't comfortable with that and after browsing the internet, we decided to wake him up before we went to bed. This time we got him walking and talking. I called the nurse once more and we all agreed that he seemed okay. We let him snuggle into our bed and watch Caillou. Anything for our kids, right? Back to bed he went. I checked on him one last time when the baby cried and then an hour or two later I woke up and Dada was not in bed. The next morning I found out he had gone in and slept on the floor of the Capt. room. What sweet Dada he is. Luck for us it was garbage day so Dada on the floor got to wake up to..."the garbage can! the garbage can!" Whew! He's okay!
His head looked a little like a Star Trek alien, but he's normal as ever.

This Week Part 1 Camp I-VY

So we were at camp I-VY this week. Sunday to Tues. We learned so much, met a great number of families and jumped right into the world of hemophilia! Each day after breakfast we took the kids to day care. Of course The Capt had a blast. Although there were several potty accidents. He must have been having too much fun. The Kid did well also. A lady named Charlie took charge of him and she happened to be a Severe A Hemophiliac as well. The real fun was for us. Each day we sat in a different parent discussion. We talked about everything from our own expereinces to asking teenageers questions to starting an I.V. on each other. By Tues night we were pooped out! We are defiantely looking forward to going again next year and making it an annual event!