Monday, September 24, 2007

What a relaxing root canal

I was looking forward to my root canal this morning because I knew that:

1. I might catch a nap during it.

2. The endodontic surgeon has an extra-comfy leather-ish chair.

3. The dental hygenist gives me a pillow for my neck, glasses to shade my eyes, and a fuzzy blanket to keep me warm.

Sounds like a great thing, right? Sure. Only now the novacain is wearing off.

The sad part is that the most relaxing part of my day was my early morning root canal.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Funny Sleep

Aee is fighting off the onslaught of germs she encountered when she went back into the public school system. Last week, it was one thing; this week it is a "scritchy throat" and a "bletchy tummy".

She heals like her pappa does, so this afternoon she fell asleep on the couch. We were snuggled up side-by-side and before I knew it, her breath was deep and slow. Her temp started climbing, her brow beaded with sweat and every time I tried to cool her off, she just grabbed the covers up around herself again.

A few times, I tried to move her, but she wanted to stay on the couch where Jee was playing his Wii games loudly, where Vee and Kee were doing their homework. Kee sat on her a few times because he didn't notice that the lump of blankets had some hair sticking out from it.

Then later, I had to go pick up Eee from work. (His car is in the shop. Again. It hates us.) I was gone for 19 min, the exact length of time it took the Hamburger Helper to cook. When I walked in the door, I saw my little Aee had slipped off the couch, but caught herself on her knees and was still asleep.

So, my daughter was sweaty, sick, without a mother, fell off the couch and no one noticed that she was now sleeping while upright. I had Eee grab her and get her set up in my arms. (I have a slipped disk in my back so I couldn't very well pick her up myself.) I snuggled in with her and started feeling that nagging little momma guilt that my sweet little one was so ill-cared for that no one noticed the sweaty sleeping child who had fallen off the couch. And then I saw the brighter side, "Any child who can sleep on her knees at 5, is bound to be a great prayer-sayer."

I love that image of a 5 yo asleep while kneeling.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Underestimation

Conversation while tucking Jee in bed:

Me reading from an Earth Science book: "...is a liquid called magma..." I pause, look in his little eyes and try to elicit some good vocab / pronunciation work from him. "Say m-a-g-m-a."

Jee: "Lava" (big giggles)

Me: ??

Jee: "Well, it's magma when it's inside the earth, but... (little twitch) it's lava when it comes out!"

How do I so consistently underestimate my kids? What is up with that dynamic? I thought I had my sights set so high, building a vision of successful futures for each of them, yet time after time, they do stuff like that where they swoop in under my expectation-of-the-moment and blast it to bits. He was way beyond vocab work on that one.

Like at the library earlier on today, we're picking out books. I picked out a stack of early readers, Level 2 for Jee while he's over "goofing off" at the spinning racks of books-for-middle-schoolers. He has picked out a stack of five (he knows the limit) books ranging from 48 pgs to nearly 200 pgs. I try to encourage him towards the 10 words per page L2 books, but no, he's back to looking at the paperback racks.

I get distracted and when I reconnect with him a good 30 min later, he's several pages into a very heavy book. Maybe he'll end up like Vee, devouring so many books (and hearing the big words used in context so rarely) that he ends up using the big words in his daily speech because those words are so familiar and so well-loved for him, yet "mispronunciating" them.

Magma --> lava. I didn't know that.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Brutal Days

Man, today was brutal. I guess when you start your morning out by a car accident at 5:55 am, you know there's a teeny chance it might be a bad day.

Car accident = for the last year I have wondered why my DH would park his car a block away where there weren't any street spots left on our block. Since I get to park my car straight in the driveway (leaving a parking space worth of room behind my car), I spent the last year asking him, "Why not park behind me? I don't mind moving your car for you when needed. I like it when you park behind me. It's like you're protecting your family."

He hasn't parked behind EVER, except for last night. He came home from SF in the am after having pulled a full day at work and another full day setting up a server for a school in SF. He was in that zombie state beyond tired. And he finally parked behind me.

So, this morning, I get up at 5, do all the regular morning work, jump in the car with my kids and the hot, full breakfast that they made for their friends, and --crunch--.

And after that, the day only got worse.

I won't bore any one with the ickies. It's a horrible list. I don't want it to eat up another bit of mental space.

Suffice it to say that this morning a friend met me at the building and did a good bit of exercise with me. Exercise gives me a buffer and a good bit of resistance to trauma. I can handle so much more when I have had good exercise.

There were a few points today when I thought I was going to crack, just completely lose it. I drained all the tears, but never did crumble fully. Now I'm back to that Zen state of simply not caring anymore and that's a great place to be.

So, to that one friend who got up so early to walk with me, Thank You for coming this morning. I had no idea how much I would need it!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

"Actively Engaged" --or-- Too Much?

My sons' schedules:

5 am up for breakfast, showers, school prep

5:45-6:15 bike to seminary

6:15-7:00 Seminary

7:00-7:20 bike to school

7:29 Lab for AP Chemistry (fun!)

School

3-4-ish Homework at a cafe downtown

4:15-6:00 Cross Country

6:00-6:15 Bike home

6:50-8:45 YM

Too much? Or just a great, full life?

Components of the Ideal Office

* Cat sleeping on desk beside my screen

* At least four computers all going at once, each has it's own purpose

* Quiet