Baby Steps

The Christmas Toy catalogs are pouring in from retailers far and wide and Wesley's excitement is reaching epic proportions.  Just now he came across the Target book, grabbed a red marker, and set about circling every toy meant for boys.  Towards the end of the book (after the coupon insert) he abandonned circling each thing individually in favor of the more-effecient circling of the entire page.  This is the first year he has really been into it, I guess 4 years is the magical "fun" age.  Either that, or having live TV (and being bombarded by commercials) is having the advertiser's desired effect.

 

I just hope he will be happy with what he does get.  Unfortunately he has a mind like a steel trap and I can see him mentally checking things off his list as he opens his gifts on Christmas morning and I hope his delight with what he does receive outweighs the disappointment he may feel when he does not get "My Talkin' Tonka Truck" or that giant stomping and roaring dinosaur. 

 

I am willing to bet money or housechores that the toy executives responsible for those migraine-inducing gems don't have children of their own.  :D

It's that time of year again, when the Christmas presents I buy for my kids online start trickling in via the UPS and FedEx men...  and yet they STILL haven't caught on.  For instance, I just received my 4th package today (no worries, I didn't buy a ton of stuff, the retailer just decided to ship in lots of little boxes instead of one big one), and get this - Wesley totally believes that it is another super secret Christmas present for Grandma.

 

Hee hee hee hee!

 

I'll have to write about the kids presents sometime.  I am aiming to spend less than $100 a kid and still give them multiple things to open. things they will be happy to get and actually use.  I think I just might accomplish it, guys.  :D

OK guys, since we've been in Washington we've endured hard times together as a family, just the four of us, against hardships that have brought us closer together.

 

First, there was The Great Snow In, where the streets here never were plowed and we sat in our house for nearly 3 weeks, assuming that everyone else was in the same boat.  That right there should have been a clue that we were living in "unicorporated county" instead of "city limits".  Anyways, we made it through just fine, had enough food, got lots of pretty snowy pictures, power never went out, etc.  Cabin fever did start to set in towards the end, but we made it.

 

Next, there was The Awful Heat Wave, where there was not a fan to be found and we sufferred through triple-digit temperatures inside the house and a cold shower could not be had.  Plus side?  Our water heater got a well deserved break that week and no one broke into our house while all the windows were wide open.  Probably all the criminals were too hot to bother.  At any rate, we all slept down in the lowest level of the house and when the seasonal markdowns hit, I bought up enough fans to keep us comfortable next year.

 

Now for this past weekend.  Easily THE SINCLE WORST TIME SINCE WE'VE MOVED HERE.  The worst time of all time (I hope).  Wesley got sick THursday late afternoon.  We had a loaner car because ours was at the beauty salon, getting a mani/pedi and a shiney new Mass Air Flow Sensor.  We stop at Safeway to fill up SHawn's water cooler jugs and head down to pick him up.  Poor barfing Wes barfs off and on the whole drive down.  Shawn lost track of time and didn't come out of work for 2 hours.  By this time we have missed dinner and Coco's homework time, and the car smells BAD.  At least Wes was a trooper and kept the barf in the bucket.  Shawn finally comes out and we get home.  Shawn pulls Wes out of the loaner car and his pants are wet... and it wasn't urine.  The poor kid threw up a few more times that night, but by then it had mostly tapered off to water-poo.  So that was our Thursday.  It was Not. Fun.  Then Friday was kind of a blur.  I know I got our car back (and by some miracle Wes did not get a drop of bodily fluid in the loaner).  I can't remember much about Friday except that Colleen woke up in the middle of the night throwing up.  Her aim is not so good and she threw up everywhere.  All over her bedding, all over the fresh bedding, all over the last set of clean bedding, all over her floor.  I just shuddered at the memory.  She finally stopped throwing up I'd say around sunrise?  I'm not sure, looking at the clock wasn't a big priority for me at that point.  Needless to say, she didn't go to ballet on Saturday.  At about noon on Saturday it hit me.  I am a bigger wimp than either kid and my aim is better than Colleen's, but not as good as Wesley's.  Wesley was such a tough little man about it all, so stoic and uncomplaining.  I am very impressed with how well he handled it.  It took me longer to get through the "violently ill" part and it is taking me longer to bounce back.  Every muscle is sore and I am exhausted.

 

We all got through it somehow, we pulled together as a family and toughed it out.  Shawn isn't feeling great, but so far (knock on wood) he hasn't gotten the stomach flu that the rest of us had.

 

Colleen went to school this morning, she was fine when I dropped her off.  A few minutes after I got home the school called saying that Colleen told them she threw up last night and this morning and that she didn't know why I brought her to school.  WHAT?!?!?!  Her temperature was a slightly below normal 97.3 and I assurred the school that she hadn't thrown up since Saturday morning.  Be that as it may, they still wanted me to come get her.  I have no idea why she said that, and she is acting fine, except she is refusing to eat.  I guess one more day home won't hurt her.  I am going to take Wes to preschool though, I think he is fine now. 

 

Wes had an appointment with his club foot doctor this morning, I'll write a post about that soon.  Long story short, his foot is doing great and he doesn't have to wear his sleeping boots any more.  The doc also said we are now on yearly check ups instead of every 6 months.  Good job, Wes!

 

 

I want to write a blog about hoodies, turns out I have something to say on the subject.  (Who knew?)

 

I can't right now because Wes is a very sick little boy and I need to try to get him stable enough so that we can drive Shawn to work and hopefull Wes will not throw up or poo in the rental car.  Come to think of it, I am going to go line the back of the car with a big blanket.  That should help mitigate the carnage.

 

The rental car is a whole 'nother story.  Our faithful old "Choo Choo Thomas" has some mechanical difficulty (after 6 years and 130K miles) and is in the shop.   I'm  happy the dealer gave us the loaner while ours in the shop.

 

Wesley's fish appears to have pulled through his rough spot.  I am pretty sure the fin rot was caused by the pink eye bacteria.  I can't remember if I wrote about this already or not.  Wes and I had pink eye last week and on Halloween Wes was playing in his fish tank.  I think he rubbed his eye and then stuck his hand in the water, infecting the fish.  At any rate, quick treatment appears to have saved the life of Pony The Fish, and the fins that rotted off should grow back in time.  I hope.

 

Love, Jen

My blog these days seems to be one post after the other about cute things the kids said or cute pictures I took of the kids.  I will endeavor to write something with more substance soon.  But for now... cute Halloween pictures!