Dancing in the Street

'Cause summer's here and the time is right for dancing in the street...

Not really though. I live on a main street "in town." So that wouldn't be very safe... or sane.
We have, however, been ticking lots of fun off the Summer To-Do List.

We visited the local library for the Summer Reading Program Kick-Off. There is a punch card for the kids to use each week when they attend the program and check out ten(!!!) books. Those who get all the punches will be entered in drawings for prizes, including an I-Pad Mini. We will not be able to check off every week due to some other plans this summer but plan on joining the weekly program often.

 

The theme for the summer program is "Paws to Read" so for the Kick-Off they made "dog tags." Unfortunately these summer programs fall at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m., and with the Summer School Schedule, it is only feasible to go at 2 p.m., which falls dead-center of nap time. So, having selected to skip naps for this day... and Benjamin being far more interested in the turned-off computers than books, this started out as a frustrated adventure. We persevered though (although there may have been some ineffective threats to "just leave" thrown in there), and once he had acclimated to the chaos of all that was happening we picked some (10!) books, crafted, and had a good time.

 

 

Cameron is volunteering with the library... for his third summer, I think? So, I was even able to park Benjamin in the Snowcones & Popcorn room for a while and check out some books for myself. After the library visit, the boys got much-needed (at least for Benjamin: see Pointdexter-parted hairstyle above) Summer haircuts. I have always been about cutting the boys' hair short-short in the summer and not dealing with "styles" until it was time for school again. Lots of times this even meant me pulling out the clippers. Benjamin may have inherited my unfortunately large head though, and I just couldn't bring myself to do that to his cuteness.

 

 

In addition to a Library Day, the boys and I have also made a trip to Busch Gardens. I really took a gamble heading on the 90-minute trek when there was 70% chance of thunderstorms. I just told myself that if I go and it's miserable, I will get over it... but if I don't go, I will spend days wishing I had... so we did!

It literally started raining just as we entered the park. It was near 3 p.m. and most visitors had already left for the day due to the pending weather. We were waved on to the preferred parking (for free versus the $15 normal cost) and parked right by the entry gate. After waiting a while in the car, I made the proclamation that were just going to take the umbrella and go for it! As fates would have it, the rain stopped before we even made it from the car to the gate.

Now the "Good" of going to the amusement park on a stormy day is that there were absolutely no lines to any rides. The boys rode ride after ride, with Benjamin often just staying on for three or more turns. The place was so uncrowded at dinner that we could look around and see so many "familiar" faces because we had seen them already in the park. The "Bad" of the day was although it did not rain, following the storm, in 95-plus degree weather, it was muggy shirt-clinging yuck weather (which was still highly worth it in trade).

 

We even got in a Beach Day. (I keep emphasizing the "even did" this & thats because I still teaching summer school every morning, but not letting that dominate my whole day, as in the past.) Kelby joined us and it was her first time being in Virginia Beach.

 



I was determined to get in a beach trip this week, even though I knew the holiday weekend would make it busier than it's busy summer-time normal. I even deluded myself into thinking that the impending Tropical Storm/Hurricane Arthur may stir some folks away from the beach... apparently not. It was definitely crowded. I keep going back and forth on whether I still prefer the crowded touristy spots. I like the anonymity of it... but am a little more irritated by the crowds as I grow closer to my crotchety old-woman stage.

 
At first, Benjamin was determined to spend our entire visit clinging to the umbrella pole avoiding the sand and the water. I think it may have been with sea shells that I lured him out? I spent the greater part of the afternoon hunched over, waiting for the waves to recede, and checking out any sea shells (or more often fragments of them). This entertained Benjamin for quite while too. So long in fact that the next day, I felt the way the Spring athletes complain after doing squats and squat-walks the first week of practice. I could even feel it in my upper back from having my arms perched ready to grab any gems I saw. Seriously, you would think I was culling rubies or diamonds. There was this old lady near me, who only after watching me, started to collect shells too (in a Ziplock bag shoved between the breasts of her bathing suit). Then, she got family involved. I started using a sand sifter... so did they. Then, she sent the young girl over to directly where I was to get shells. I was like "Bring it on Grandma!" Sea Shell Wars 2014. I can get ridiculously a bit competitive.

I also spent a morning yard saling last weekend. It was not a particularly fruitful quest. (I will avoid the details of a certain toddler clothes battle to not make my competitiveness border pathological.) Other than a few odds & ends, the big haul was 16 cookbooks... although I said I would stop buying cookbooks since you get sooo many recipes (any recipe) on The Internets for free... and since I don't cook.

So, Summer is rolling. We are getting out, staying busy, making the most of our 100 days.
(I would have never known Summer had 100 days if it weren't for the currently abused trending hashtag.)

Summer Storms and Naps

First day of Summer School. My class is small and the morning passed quickly. Thankfully, I made an organized notebook with day-by-day lesson plans, activities, and keys last year, so prep for the next day's class will be pretty smooth for most of Summer School this year. I will have to switch around and make some new plans for "Second Quarter" since the class changed format from last year, but there is time ahead to do that.

Out the door by 1:00 p.m. (Yay me! ). Lunch at Maryz. There's a comfort to small town dining where the manager comments that you are there "earlier than usual." Jason had a productive day- maintenance on both vehicles and Extreme Kitchen Make-Over.

Me? Not so much. Benjamin goes to Pre-School two days a week over Summer, so I was determined to take a nap this afternoon in the quiet house.

But, Jason was going to call if he couldn't get the vehicles done in time to pick up Benjamin from school.
So, I checked to make sure the ringer on my cell was turned on.

And checked again.

And checked again.

And then worried it might die, so I went to get the plug to keep it charging.

Then, I thought Jason might not realize the time and let me know to go pick up Benjamin, so I set the phone alarm.

Then checked to make sure the volume was on.

And again.

Then... there was a fly.

So, I turned on the ceiling fan.

But, I could still hear the fly.

And, let's not forget the parade of things I should be doing marching across my mind the entire time I laid down.

Yeah, in general, I am not a very successful napper... or rapper (just throwing that in there since it rhymed, and junk).

Big thunderstorms tonight. I am becoming someone who likes the peacefulness of rain and stillness of storms. The evening, after I gave up on the whole napping non-phenomenon, was spent being entertained by a 4-year old with an orange snake mustache.  We told Benjamin last night that "tomorrow you go to daycare." His emphatic response was, "Daycare is Jail!" We were quite taken aback by this and I asked him who had said that, thinking it was a comment from one of the pre-school workers. Then, he replied The Policeman told him and went into one of ramblings about policemen locking up people in jail. He is rather enthralled with police right now. So, it was another serendipitous moment when he just didn't realize how funny his response was.

Meanwhile this week, Cameron is five hours away at Radford University for Boy's State. I'm not sure what his expectations were going into it. The lectures and politics are a definite change from the synergy that is a Key Club event. He described it to a friend as "rigorous but fun." Mainly, I'm just proud that he is viewed as a leader among his peers, someone deemed a good choice to be among those representing our school with this opportunity. I worry to often that he's just seen as "McHenry's kid" and not as a young man that chooses to give of himself  to his school and community. I am particularly worried about this come scholarship time next year.

Benjamin is FOUR!

Nothing makes me realize how quickly time is fleeting more than seeing how quickly Benjamin is growing and learning. I have to really stretch my mind to remember a time before he was walking and talking. These years have just flown by in a blur.

 



He is full of personality. All boy, equal parts rambunctious and loving. His favorite color is blue and this is a very popular topic right now. He likes to find out everyone's favorite color and always remembers when choosing things like plates and bowls or pointing out when someone is wearing a shirt in their favorite color. He remembers so much of the conversations that he has. He asks questions, takes in tidbits of information all the time, and then surprises us by mentioning something we talked about casually at unexpected times much later. (Will need to be careful around this one ;)

 

 

There is a Mexican Restaurant that is the traditional local place to go for birthdays. The iconic SoCo (Southampton County) Facebook pic for birthday celebrations is at Don Panchos in a sombrero. For Benjamin's actual birthday date, we sent cupcakes to his pre-school class and took him to Panchos for dinner. He was quite enchanted by the singing and birthday treat in his honor.

 

 

Jason was set on having a "real" Birthday Party for Benjamin. I was not. This dipped into one of my major social phobias of having an event that no one attends. Our social circle is small. We have no family close to us and no friends with children Benjamin's age. Jason was not deterred though. He actually polled another pre-school Mom in The Wal-Mart about which kids from the class show up to the birthday parties.  Eventually, I gave in to the idea... but thankfully had a late-coming and sudden inspiration to have the party at the local bowling alley and not in-home.

 

We timed it for 3 p.m., thinking that would sprinkle a little post-nap goodness over the event. It also worked out great because it was a "dead time" at the bowling alley and we had the place to ourselves during the hour'ish that the kids bowled, and danced, and ran around. I learned that the rule of one party guest per year of the child was a good one. Before I would have thought just four party guests was a failure but in this case it was at the brink a barely containable snowballing bundle of energy. (Did I mention they had the entire alley to themselves to run through?)

 

It was a good day. A good memory. Then, as perfect timing would have it, we came home to a big box from Ohio family with birthday presents too.

 

Sitting on top of the kitchen table (of course) "reading" his Birthday card in the Lightening McQueen (Bam Chow!)
 chair sent from Ohio family with Ninja Turtle pajamas and other goodies.

 

 

We also had our first dentist visit recently. He wanted to show me his "shiny teeth" as soon as I got home. I have to admit that I was thankful that our schedule led to Jason taking him to this appointment and not me, but I should not be surprised that he was a model patient. He is a curious child and this was just one more new experience that intrigued him.

 

 

Four has been a time of loving to be outside. Going for walks with Cameron, especially to see the peacocks down the road from our house. Going to the park  with Dad and seeing his friend, "Sheekah." The Big Four birthday present for Benjamin was a bicycle but he's not feeling too confident in those skills yet. Hopefully lots of summer days to practice will cure that quickly.

 

 

Four is a time when the world is divided into Super Heroes and Bad Guys and both are very real. Everyone is your friend, regardless of sex, color, or if your only name for them is "Hey Girl." It is a time to give a name to every encountered animal, in the pet store and stuffed, our favorite being "Dahma," the stuffed dog received on Valentine's Day. A time to give freely of hugs- good, strong, tight ones- but to be very reserved in kisses. Lately it has been a season of singing- remixing tunes we already know or just describing activities or latest thoughts in melodic verse.

 

Thankfully, Four is still an age of long naps- some so long that we have to wake him up. Also thankfully, Jason has such a routine set with Benjamin that he will usually go to bed without much fuss... now staying in his own bed for the night? That's a different story.

 

 



I Kicked the Bucket

I should be a List Maker. Heck, I should be The List Master!

Alas, I am neither. I have to much going on (in my head, and in my life) to just try and remember it all... but I try... and usually I do. That is not because I am able to calm my scatterbraininess enough to do so, but because I function only worrying about the next task at hand (for the most part). I don't do well with long-range planning because there is too much in the immediate to take care of. So I allow myself only to worry about the now, now and postpone worrying about then, until then.

I have the very distinct feeling though that life would feel a little less stressed though if I did allow myself to look ahead of the "Now Showing" to the "Coming Soon" features of my life.

I believe it was Dr. Phil (don't judge) that I heard once advise to imagine your perfect day and to start making small changes in your life to make that day happen. I think about this often. Actually each night as I lay my head to rest, I visualize what the next day will be like... and that's usually boring enough to put me to sleep.

That "Perfect Day" for me begins with getting up after just one assault on the Snooze alarm (as opposed to the normal five, or so)... Then, there's the image of me eating breakfast at the kitchen table looking over my calendar and making a Priority To-Do List for the day. I tend to waiver back and forth as to whether this would make my day more or less stressful. Needless to say, this has yet to happen- the morning To Do List or the single assault on the Snooze alarm.

I do, however, indulge in the occasional "Bucket List"- not in the grand scheme, as in quirky life goals- but in a shorter and much more manageable time frame. I haphazardly robbed one from The Martha for summer before I knew how condensed those free days were going to become.

So, when it came time for Autumn, I was kind to myself and only pledged two goals (small bucket)- Drink Apple Cider and take Benjamin to a pumpkin patch. I bought apple cider for the Keurig and have had it many times since. I don't know that I had tried it before and am very yucked out at the thought of drinking apple juice, so liking cider was an interesting twist. Pumpkin patch, I was not as successful with. I let myself cop out to Benjamin having gone already with the Pre-School class when things got busy in October. (Thus, "I kicked the Bucket... List")

We did manage a fun Halloween despite the lack of craftiness and pageantry. I didn't even both pulling out the decoration tubs this year. Early in the month, at the dinner table one night, I asked Benjamin what he wanted to be for Halloween and after thoughtful consideration, he replied, "I want to be a red dinosaur. I'm going to scare people."

I was really surprised that he had such a defined and thought-about idea about what he wanted to be. And, a few Google clicks later, I found the perfect red dinosaur. The following weeks (after having ordered the costume) had many conversations like this-

Benjamin: I want to be a blue dinosaur for Halloween.
Mom: No way dude, red dinosaurs are much cooler.

Benjamin: I want to be a witch for Halloween.
Mom: Nooo, girls are witches, you want to be a red dinosaur!

Benjamin: I want to be a scary monster for Halloween.
Mom: Dinosaurs are way scarier than monsters! Especially the red ones.

Thankfully, when the ridiculously oversized box arrived with the costume (which I thankfully ordered in a size too big because it was still too tight) arrived, it didn't take much more convincing that he still wanted to be a red dinosaur (ROAR!) for Halloween.

I didn't bother with the Downtown Trick-or-Treating this year. It felt a little too much like the "More Porridge Sir" scene of Oliver Twist to stand in such long lines for a Tootsie Roll or Peppermint. Instead, I just took Benjamin to Sedley for the community party the Key Clubbers run games for each year. He played some games and then went Trick-or-Treating at the houses near the fire station hosting the party. This after a Pre-School day with a Halloween Party and Costume Parade at the local nursing home made for a pretty full day for The Red Dinosaur.

Coolest Trick-or-Treating House EVER! - Three pieces of candy, pencil, book mark, BOOK! and movie!



40 months

Dear Benjamin,

We have had a rather relaxed summer. In the past month, we have taken a trip to the zoo, the playground, your first movie, Busch Gardens and Water Country. You have still gone to pre-school two days a week at Gingerbread House. You love it there and I think your first "Ginger Momma," Miss Patty, is still your favorite. You are just getting to the age that you will tell me about your day, unprompted, when I pick you up. Last week you told me that you "made" a beach and the ocean was blue.

 

You have lots of friends at Gingerbread House and recently you went a birthday party for Addie. It was at the gymnastics studio in Windsor. Daddy took you to the party and was quite proud that, unlike the other young party goers, you would leave your cluster of friends often to come to tell him what you were doing.

It is still rare that you will wake up in the bed that you were put to sleep in at night. Usually around 2 a.m., although it often could be earlier or later, you will wander out of your room and look for Dad or me. For now, we have compromised by making you a small nest of blankets on the floor by our bed to house your nightly wandering.

You have grown just enough to reach Expert level at Counter Surfing. We have to "Benjamin-Proof" the house now by keeping the bananas and fruit gummies on top of the fridge and making sure the pantry door (with its child-proof door handle) is closed tightly at night. You have enjoyed the abundance of blueberries at your easy reach over the past couple of days, but bananas and "macaroni and cheeeese" would still have to be your favorites (other than anything on our plates.)

Dora doesn't quite hold your undivided attention as she once did. I would venture to guess that "Bubble Guppies" and "Team Umi Zoomi" are your favorite shows right now, both of which drive me bonkers. Dad says I do not like "Team Umi Zoomi" because it is about Math. He may be partly right. You, on the hand, are quite the Math Whiz. You can just about count to 20 perfectly. You can count backwards from 10 easily, and to 5 in Spanish (Thanks Dora!). You can even tell me how many objects are in a grouping.

We were also very surprised that when you were playing with your Magna Doodle the other night, you drew a face with eyes, a mouth, and hair. When I asked you what that was, you said "That's Benjamin McHenry." Your first self-portrait! This really shouldn't be such a surprise to us since you  have already mastered the "Selfie" on my i-phone. You have no problem even flipping the camera to take pictures of yourself versus others. You also love playing with the flashlight on the phone, using it to play doctor and check our eyes and teeth. Most funny is your new game of shadow monsters, played by shining the light on the wall behind our heads as your "Monster" hand shadows attack our silhouette.

You surprise us everyday and we find ourselves asking over and over, "How does he know that?" One thing that you can't quite grasp yet is the idea of "going home" versus "leaving." I guess it's because you see all your friends "go home" from the Gingerbread House. However, whenever we leave the house to go somewhere you ask "Are you going home?" Cameron has been volunteering with the Summer Reading Program at the library. So, on most Tuesdays, he's gone all day. Because of this, you think "the library" is very far away and it must take a long time to get there." So, occasionally as we are leaving the house to run an errand you will warn us, "Don't go to the library! It's too far away." (Actually, it's barely a mile from the house.)

Unfortunately (or not?), you do however, have quite a grasp of "bad" words. I guess this must be from school too. Any time we say a "bad word," even passively in conversation to one another, you will quickly retort "Don't say that!"

The other funny thing you will do is ask "Alright?" whenever not immediately responded to. Then, if needed, you will further prompt with "Say alright." And when finally, we give in and say alright, you will respond "Okay?" And await that second confirmation from us.

Your imagination is always at work. You have set up chairs in the library filled with "animal" friends to watch a puppet show. You have also come to show me many times the "volcano" exploding from the top of your head. You also like to "cook" us imaginary foods, special ordered to what you think we want, such as cupcakes with ketchup...

Dwindling Summer

Next week is supposed to be my last full week of Summer Break before returning to kick off the school year with two weeks of in-services and planning before the kiddos arrive. I had already decided to try (if rooms were available) to go in next Thursday & Friday (the week before our scheduled return to get a head start). Earlier this week... I was asked if I would come in to work with a committee to help plan Student Activities. Of course, I said yes because I love our students (and their activities). Shortly thereafter... I received a letter from the boss asking me to be a mentor to our new English department teacher. This will be my first time "officially" acting in a mentorship capacity, although I have always (well, most always) tried to take new teachers under my wing to encourage & collaborate. Then... having stopped in to use the office fax machine the other morning while picking up Cameron from Cross Country, I was given an "invitation" to the School Board Meeting on Monday night to celebrate the Key Club's achievements at International Convention this summer. Well, my eagerness to do that should not need explaining. And thus... school is starting back a whole week earlier than planned.
While I am excited to get this new school year kicked off, I have tried making the most of my few days of Summer Break. On Monday, the boys and I went to Water Country.

The weather was nice, if not a bit too cool, especially for Benjamin who spent a great deal of time transitioning between attractions bundled in towels. I often refer to the tot as "fearless" and the water park proved to be no obstacle to our resident Super Buddy. If unattended for just a moment, he was racing off to the next big slide or pool.

The first few times he went down a slide, he was none too happy, yet he kept wandering back. Once he figured to actually close his eyes before he emerged, twirling knee over elbow, in the rushing waters he was fine. It didn't take long for him to be bored by the kiddie slides and race off to those more suitable for school-aged children.

When approaching the bundle of slides at Rock & Roll Island, he informed me that he was going to ride the red one. When I explained that no he wasn't, he replied "Why? Am I crazy?" Then, he tried to get Cameron to sneak him off to the big (BIG) slide anyway. Thankfully when Cameron told him that he was not allowed to wear his life jacket going down it, he replied, "Oh, I can't do that."

In addition to all the splash parks and cruising on a raft in the lazy river, we also went on Hubba Hubba Highway and in the wave pool. Benjamin kinda shocked me with how brave he was. As long as he was holding on to a finger (and in his life jacket), he was bobbing right along. In the deeper waters of the wave pool I commented what a good swimmer he was and he replied, "I know. Look at my tail. I'm a mermaid."

After hemming and hawing, going back & forth, wrenched with indecision, I threw the boys in the car Wednesday (or gave them 20 minutes to get completely ready, packed, and out the door... same difference) and headed to Busch Gardens. We have Season Passes to both Water Country and Busch Gardens and I am pretty irked at myself for not using them more this summer... or at all, other than 1 pre-summer trip to BG.

We rode trains, flew planes, swung swings, played in Dinosaur Land and Elmo's World. We rode the merry-go-round and Benjamin was big enough to lay down on the parasail this year. He certainly wasn't all smiles and giggles this trip though. We wanted to get him measured and an arm band to know if there were any new rides he could go on. Well, you might think he would want to have surgery again rather than have his height measured by the fuss he was making. And, roller coasters... which were his favorite part just two months ago, scare him now.

We did make it late into the night though, aided by Wolf, which Cameron won playing a soccer game, and turtles. I took Benjamin into one of the overpriced touristy stores to pass away time while we waiting for the final show to start. There was a tub of small plastic animals and you could fill a little plastic briefcase with them for a souvenir. This distracted us for a great while. Surprisingly, Benjamin wanted no animal other than turtles, 12 pairs of them. This was very odd indeed having seen no particular affection towards the hard-shelled friend before.

Benjamin enjoyed the rock & dance mini-concert that ended the night, followed by fireworks, which he watched perched from Cameron's shoulders. When I awoke him, sleepy, after arriving home and asked what his favorite part was he said, "I have two- the music and the fireworks."

I had a couple of serendipitous events on both days out of town. At both Water Country and Busch Gardens, the "Preferred Parking" was open to the general crowd and we got (for free) the kind of front row parking you usually have to pay $20 for. I also stopped at a different thrift store during each road trip and found some good books- for my classroom library and for myself.

Not so fortunate was the drive home Monday. We pulled up to the ferry just as it arrived at the opposite dock. Waited 30 minutes for it to board there. Waiting another 30 minutes for it to depart from our dock, so the ride home took near three hours! Thus upon leaving the park yesterday, I decided to take the "city" way back home, which can be confusing and thus I usually avoid it at late night. However, the trip home was less than half the previous unplanned journey. THEN!!! Today Jason heard on the news that there was an accident on the ferry last night, with the barge pulling away while people were boarding, causing a car to actually go into the river! So, I guess it would have to be serendipitous too that we didn't venture that way last night.

Recovery & Celebration

Wake up early & have more life. I saw this pic when I was stalking casually browsing someone's Facebook page over the weekend. As discussed before, I am Not a Morning Person. However, this morning had me out of the house before 5 a.m. Thus leaving my house when it was still dark and getting to my destination after the sun has dawned is likely to be as close as I come to willingly Waking Up "Early to Watch a Sunrise." The skies were very cloudy, so it never actually got "sunny," but the color of the world at dawn was peaceful. However, I still don't hope to see it at any time again in the near future.

 

Unfortunately the early departure time wasn't to embark on a road trip for summer adventure. I had to have Benjamin at CHKD by 6:15 a.m to register for his surgery. A little over 4 hours later, we left the hospital with two more ear tubes and two less adenoids than we arrived with. How sad is this pic?

 

We didn't have "ear issues" with the older boys so this has been all new Mommy ground for me. Benjamin had ear tubes put in two years ago. He has grown enough that the tubes have fallen out of the canal (but not the ear). We are still dealing with excessive fluid though so we had to get new tubes put in. He is a loud mouth breather. I think slightly obstructed breathing is one reason he is such a terrible sleeper. So, having his adenoids removed when it is conveniently coupled with the already scheduled surgery, will hopefully assist those issues. Although the ear issues were probably inherited from Jason, Benjamin's allergy issues are surely 100% my genetics. How bad are my allergies? I cleaned the blinds today wearing sunglasses to keep the dust out of my eyes. From what I understand, removing adenoids will also make Benjamin less snotty from allergy issues, which means less fluid being backed up into his canals, and thus less ear issues.

 

The nurses brought me back into Recovery before Benjamin woke up because he was fighting it so bad and just overall miserable. So I rocked him and waited for him to recover from the anesthesia. It was all very sad. Once home though, he rebounded quickly... to the point that I could barely stay conscious from exhaustion and found him with unzipped pajamas trying to hide the rather large label maker in one of the legs. He said it was his "phone." Stuffing "phones" into his pajamas has always been his translation of watching us take our cell phones out of our pockets. (I still don't know where he found that label maker though.)

 

 

 

Cameron had a pretty big day too. While I was at the hospital with Benjamin, Cameron was at the Orthodontist with Jason.  There are some kids that would benefit from braces but it's not life-changing if they do not get their "teeth fixed." Cameron was not one of those children. It is with pure motherly love that I say the child looked like an aardvark before braces. He was the most extreme of thumb suckers despite every method we tried to curb the habit. His orthodontist treatment began with a palate expander that I had to crank each night and it's been a very long road since then. He should definitely be one of those before & after picture comparisons hung in the orthodontist office.

 

Follow-up appointments for both boys over the next several weeks make me very glad I was able to schedule all this during summer break... although it's not quite equal to a tropical drink in the hand and toes in the sand.

Zombie Movie & Cemetery Playground

 

I noted several years ago that the Regal Cinemas do a $1 kids movie during the week in the Summer. So, when Jason and I went to see "The Heat" (Love it! Gut-busting funny! Still have total girl-crush on Sandra Bullock... and the two of them working together? Stellar!), I picked up the summer schedule... and I built today's events around it.

 

Jason and Cameron set out before dawn to go fishing at Bennett's Creek in Suffolk (about an hour away, where the theater is). They only got in a few hours fishing before I picked up Cameron. Still, they caught two croakers. I apparently think that is far more impressive than they do. The low tide was early and it just wasn't a good window of time for bank fishing, I guess.

 

I picked up Cameron to go to the movie with Benjamin and me. The hand-out schedule really emphasized "Doors open at 9:00, limited seated, first-in-line basis." This convinced me that we needed to be there an hour before the movie start time of 10:00 a.m. We did not. Not only were we the first movie-goers there; we were just about the only ones until 30 minutes before the start time. At that point, all the field trip groups started rolling in and filling up the stadium seating.

 

 

I got my dates mixed up (typical) and rather than seeing the cartoon about a tropical blue parrot named "Rio," we were left to choose between "Paranorman" and "Coraline"- both rather... dark choices for Benjamin's first movie. He did pretty good though. He was entertained until about the last 15 minutes of the movie when the unplanned purchase of popcorn wasn't enough to pacify him. Thankfully, I think he was just young enough to not know to be scared... or to get the muscle-lad older brother having a boyfriend joke.

 

Following the movie, we scouted out a park between the movie theatre and home. Being the nerdy English teacher I am, Cameron and I bounced around theories on what the prefix "para" mean.. paranormal, paraplegic, parasite, parachute... How related? Eventually, after making a few U-turns and shouting a few explicatives at Siri's directions (not really... only because Benjamin was sleeping). Silly me didn't think to turn down the road to the cemetery to get to the playground. (I was really starting to sense an unpleasant theme to the day at this point.)

 

 

I packed a simple picnic lunch of PB&J sandwiches (as conveniently displayed by Benjamin's sticky beard), some sliced watermelon that we picked up from the Farmer's Market yesterday, bags of chips, and a jug of water. My frequent penchant of grabbing food while out was evident though by Cameron telling me he had a gift card to Panera and asking if we were going to Tropical Smoothie... despite a cooler full of food in the trunk.

 

The Watermelon Seed Spitting contest was one of the ideas on The Martha's Bucket List I planned on overlooking. You just cannot convince me this is something the Queen of Northern Etiquette would condone. However, as I was sitting at the picnic bench with Cameron and the idea was churning in the back of my mind, I proposed the game. He spit. I spit farther. He spit farthest. Ok, he won, enough with that. I should have just followed my instinct and allowed having summer fresh watermelon a few times this season suffice for that check on the list! 

 

 

During lunch, Benjamin told me about the movie...

 

There was a witch and she went ooohhhh...

 

Then I got scared, like whoaaaaaa!

 

 

Honestly, he wasn't scared. He just knows how to ham it up... obviously. I wouldn't have taken him to the movie if I thought it really was going to be scary, or wouldn't have kept him there if I thought he was getting scared. The scare-factor , for the most part, was equal to the ghostly encounters  on an episode of Scooby-Doo. And, as I have often said, this is my Fearless Child. After lunch, we hit the playground, and he bypassed the toddler area completely, racing for the tallest slide he sees.

 

And no, I don't know where he gets his "hamming it up" from at all!

Super Buddy

Knowing that he could disappear from our lives at any unannounced moment, just as suddenly as he came into our lives, has urged me to take a few moments to document the presence of an occasional visitor in our home.

Let me introduce you to...

 

Super Buddy!

We don't know his origin other than he followed Benjamin home from Pre-School one day. In the early days, he would appear without warning and help Benjamin speed from one room to another. Then soon after, he adopted sunglasses and rain boots as his Super Hero uniform. The Benjamin we knew and loved so well could not transform into Super Buddy without these new-found accessories.

Another Benjamin-inspired addition to the Super Buddy uniform, although not as visible, were the rockets attached to his back. They help him to BLAST OFF!!!! (and make "fire come out of my butt") when running at super speeds just isn't enough for the heroic needs at hand. Thankful to the regeneration of Superman toys due to the Summer movie release, I knew that I must supply our resident secret identity with a Superman cape when I saw it displayed in The Wal-Mart toy aisle.

In addition to the antics of running and jumping and boisterously announcing the arrival of SUPER BUDDY!!!, we are also regaled by the stories of his great adventures and super-human strength. Just today he stopped a train from running off the tracks and into the river!

Prior to this public release, however, Benjamin has gone to great lengths to hide the identity of his alter ego. At Relay, Jason tried to get him to tell several of "the girls" about Super Buddy- requests to which he quietly shook his head "no" and demurely turned away. Shortly afterwards, he would come to me and whisper, "I'm Super Buddy, shhhh."

This is our fearless child. He loves roller coasters and doing somersaults (or, as he at first called them, "salt & pepper") on our bed. He will climb on and jump from any obstacle placed before him. So, although he is pretty stupendous in his own right, we are still enjoying the frequent visits from SUPER BUDDY!!!

Worried

About 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon, I started to spot. It was very little and very light brown in color. After a few hours, I turned to that world-renown medical expert, Google, and surprisingly it didn’t make me more paranoid. Everything I read online and in my pregnancy book led me to believe it was not cause for alarm. It was the right amount and the right color to be “normal” in the first trimester.



Nonetheless, I went to the bedroom every 20 minutes or so to check. Nothing much changed until about 2 a.m. I awoke and went to the bathroom. The spotting was heavier; it was a bright red; and there was a little tissue. I was sure at that time that I had miscarried. Exactly one week after I found out I was pregnant, I no longer was.



I had a hard time falling back asleep but I guess I eventually did. When Jason woke up in the morning, I told him that I was bleeding through the night. He told me the implications of that didn’t register with him until later, when he was on his way to work.



I fell asleep again and when I woke up it was around 9. So, I called the OB office and they told me I could come in to see a doctor. I felt very sick this morning- both my pregnancy nausea and my normal stomach issues. So, it took a while to leave the house and required a bathroom stop during the 40-minute drive to the office. Jason met me there and waited during my visit. I had a hard time giving a urine example, but it was enough for them to do a pregnancy test. It was still positive, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think that was an important indication so early after the onset of symptoms. The nurse told me I was right.



It was my first time meeting the doctor. Other than the fact that he resembled my brother-in-law far too much to be doing the job, he was pretty good at all that “stuff.” He said I was looking at 3 scenarios: an etopic pregnancy, a normal pregnancy with spotting as a symptom, or an abnormal pregnancy. He ruled out the etopic pregnancy with the exam. He said everything looked normal and that 50% of women have spotting during their first trimester. (I’m pretty sure that’s a generous statistic from all I have read.)

I thought I understood what he was saying, but upon driving home, I realized I was a bit confused. In his office consultation, I asked if this could just be normal, and his response included the phrase “threatened miscarriage.” That’s with the normal not the abnormal pregnancy? I should have brought Jason back for consultation. His questions would have probably irritated me but I would have left the visit with a greater understanding undoubtedly.

The doc sent me to have blood work done. I’m severely dehydrated. She tried taking it from my hand to no avail and was finally able to do so from a vein on the outside of my forearm. They are testing my HCG levels and then will again on Wednesday to compare if the levels are going up or down. I will also have an ultrasound on Wednesday to see if the baby’s there. Then, I have a follow-up appointment with the doctor on Thursday morning to discuss everything.

Since I got home from the doctor’s appointment, I almost wasn’t spotting at all. Then, around 6, there is bright blood again. I can’t tell if I am cramping or not. I don’t know whether to call any general discomfort a cramp. Then, I will feel certain there is a cramp, and it is just gas.

I worked myself up to looking at the miscarriage chapter in the pregnancy book, but I couldn’t read too much before I had to put it down. It said that several days of spotting was a sign of miscarriage. I don’t understand how that correlates with the whole idea that it is normal for some women to spot during pregnancy. I guess it has to do with amount and endurance. It also said that a lack of symptoms such as breast tenderness was a sign. Although I am still feeling the general nausea all day long, my breasts are no longer tender.

I feel certain I have or am in the process of losing this baby.

It Takes Two Baby

For about a week, I was waking up with very sore breasts. I didn't think much of it at first and contributed it to PMS symptoms. It didn't really occur to me that it wasn't the right time for that. A couple of those days though, it did occur to me that it was different than the normal PMS breast tenderness. It reminded me very much of the times many (many, many, many) years ago when I breastfed the boys. There was a fullness to them, as if I might start leaking at any minute.

Then, it was kind hard to overlook the fact that I was going to pee a lot, like every 20-40 minutes, a lot.

So, on Friday night (8/14), late in the night after everyone was in bed, I googled pregnancy symptoms. In retrospect, I have can no longer refuse that I was in denial because even females that haven't been through this lil journey before know that sore breasts and frequent urination were symptoms of pregnancy. Web MD confirmed these suspicions. Then, of course, I deleted that day's history because I was being "ridiculous" and didn't want Jason to see what I had been looking at.

Saturday nothing significant happened and I didn't think much about it. On Sunday, as I was getting dressed, I walked past the dresser mirror naked and noticed immediately that my breasts looked different. I told that gal in the mirror, that certainly couldn't be me, "you're pregnant."

Nonetheless, I got dressed and engaged in Sunday's goal- to clean our bedroom. I tried to find a movie to watch as I did. Of course, every screen listed some movie related to pregnancy or babies. So, I settled on "He Said, She Said" and started to clean.

I didn't see much of the movie though because a mental flip switched and I decided to go to Farm Fresh and get a pregnancy test. Like a 16 year old girl with her boyfriend waiting in the car, I lurked through the pharmacy aisles looking for the boxes to no avail. Then, I saw they were in a locked cabinet at the pharmacy counter. Of. course. they. were. So, I had to ask the pharmacist for one... and yes, of course, I blabbered on to give the impression it wasn't for me. Something to the effect of, "She said to make sure I got the EPT."

I paid for the test at the pharmacy and snuck it, peeking over my shoulder and under stalls, into the bathroom. Why did I decide to do this in the public bathroom of a grocery store? Well, let me at least attempt to justify by saying that it is a very large and clean and moderately new bathroom... but mainly, when it said negative, I wanted to throw away all the evidence before I came home.

So... I tried... and... of course... for the first time in many days... I. could. not. pee.

I grabbed a large bottle of Dasani and chugged it as I unecessarily stressed over what kind of pasta to buy. Then, I headed back to the bathroom. I was a bit peeved that you were forced to buy 2 pregnancy tests. Was I supposed to stash the second one in my sock drawer to have handy the next time I thought I was pregnant?

So, the stick was wet. I placed the cap back on and rested it on my leg. It was a digitial test so there was a flipping little hourglass to show that it was working. The instructions said that it would take 3 to 5 minutes for the result. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and the ridiculous thing read "Pregnant."

Well, that can't be right, I thought as I suddenly understood the logic of including two tests and failingly tried to do the second one. I needed some "recovery time." So, I grabbed the few things I needed from the store and went across the street to Belk, a department store. I walked around in the baby clothes for a few minutes feeling completely numb. I considered laying against a rack, just so overwhelmed by it all. However, I realized how pathetic that would look and considering my already present "nonbaby girth," they very well may think I was a woman in labor.

So, I went to the Belk bathroom and took the second pregnancy test. Same result. Wow.

Seriously?

I am 37 years old.
My youngest son turned 13 earlier this week.
My older son will turn 17 next month.
Two weeks ago, my husband had a vasectomy.

and...
I'm pregnant.
Seriously.