ratatat

April 29

April 29, 2008

Eight years ago today I was at a fabulous wedding in Napa. It was beautiful, intimate, lovely. That wedding was the start of Rob's wedding craziness...so I suppose that's a flaw. But it is a sweet. Happy Anniversary P&A.

Two years ago, I was at a delightful wedding in Alabama. Happy Anniversary A&C.

And both couples are still married. Always a plus from the wedding guest perspective.

I am a tad bit frantic, scurrying around to get ready for a visit from wonderful people and then to prepare to fly away to see wonderful people. It is a concentration of happiness.

So I think I will just start patching the third kid when s/he pops out, or maybe in utero

April 24, 2008

Miranda has been fussing with her glasses. She takes them off when no one is looking, in gym class, outside, for playing with dolls, for important work. Henry refused his eye exam at preschool. And our optometrist moved into a nifty new building. The fates were calling on me to take the kids in for an eye exam.

NB: Do not take 2 kids for an eye exam double appointment.

Miranda's amblyopia update is that she is not making progress. She is reading the 20/60 line. The doctor wonders if we should pursue atropine drops--this would dilate her good eye for 24 hours at a time and force her to use her bad eye. But there is no cure if the dilation makes her crazy, headachy or grumpy. Or if she has to do a test or other fine motor skill activity. I am reluctant. And Miranda is hysterical about the idea. He gave us fake tears to practice with, but she howled so badly even he retracted a firm try-out schedule.

A contact lens is another idea. She would wear a corrective lens in her bad eye and see if the closer fit led to improved vision. She has never seen a contact lens, so she thinks this might be good. We'll probably wait until summer to pursue that one.

The third plan of attack is competition. Henry was diagnosed today with mild amblyopia. Conveniently, coincidentally or by heredity, he can't see as well out of his left eye either. His right eye (and Miranda's) is 20/20. His left eye is 20/40, compared with Miranda at 20/400 uncorrected at her initial appointment. This is mild and he is disinclined to give the kid glasses at this point. He is to patch without glasses (which if you use the band-aid style patches, is not a big deal. But we love the over-the-glasses felt patches, so my challenge tomorrow is to find cheap glasses from which I can remove the lenses.) Tune in in 4 months to see if this improves.

If you can't laugh at yourself

April 21, 2008

So today was busy with little things. Miranda forgot to put on her glasses, so I brought them to her. I took Henry with me to the OB/GYN clinic to have a blood draw. He was so good, he got 3 Hot Wheel stickers. The FedEx guy finally delivered that last missing washer -- the airplane teeter-totter can fly now. Well, it has a propeller and a steering wheel, but we need not keep the FAA abreast of wire harness safety. My dad, Henry and I went to the bank; I still forgot to deposit a check.

I decided to dye my hair. Henry wanted to to know why I wanted my hair to die. Much hilarity ensued. I got down to my bathrobe, the phone rang. While I am on the phone, the doorbell rings. Now it is 1 in the afternoon. It is a little late to argue the bathrobe is still on from the morning. I do have a 4 year old following me everywhere I go--I wasn't partying until 3 am. But I can't get dressed in time--the person at the door would never hear my yell. And my peek toward the front window suggests it is not another delivery person. I run downstairs in my bathrobe--it is the building inspector, coming to check out the new electrical box. Smile like you mean it.

I rush upstairs to get dressed. And am casually emptying the dishwasher when he comes back upstairs. As he said, we'll be seeing him often as construction progresses. Let's hope I can keep my clothes on.

Bullets of Sarah

April 18, 2008

Even nicer today

April 16, 2008

It was glorious outside today. It was about 70 at the high. Few bugs. Nice sun. A heavy wind, but I wasn't riding a bike straight into it after only getting 2 hours of sleep in the previous 24 hours. The electrician was working inside and outside of the house; Henry watched him avidly. It was so nice that we put on sunscreen. But I didn't take any photos. Just read a book in the yard while Henry the pirate chased away the buccaneers.

bikes

This photo is from 2 weekends ago. It felt like it was beautiful that day, the first warmth I think we had felt since October. Miranda was practicing riding her bike without pedals, to master the balance. Rob was trying out the new jogging stroller. But the drainage pond was still mostly frozen over. The grass was parched and brown and semi-frozen (the frozen tundra?). Today was much nicer.

Happy Tax Deduction

April 15, 2008

Tax Day is here! OK, perhaps tax day doesn't merit an exclamation point. We've been working on another tax deduction for some time. And it looks like this year it will pay off. We're expecting the arrival in late September.

Sending out an SOS

April 14, 2008

After my birthday (Shopko gives you a coupon for your birthday worth 10% off a future purchase), I bought a DS so Miranda could play this game while patching. And Rob can play other games. And today, Henry cajoled my dad into giving it to him. And it has since disappeared. O Wise Magic Eight Ball, please reveal the DS's masterfully hidden location, because Henry can't remember.

EDITED TO ADD: The DS was found. On the windowsill, behind the couch. The couch had been moved, looked under, cushions jostled. But the sill was unexamined until later.

Ha

April 13, 2008

Henry has been at the feet pictures again. But rather than try to find some message in his feet (other than his polish getting horrible chipped), I am opting for Henry faces.

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I'll huff and I'll puff...

two

Henry carried his backpack to school last Thursday. It was very heavy. So heavy, he couldn't stand up straight.

plane

The airplane teeter-totter was a giant endeavor. We started it last weekend, when the weather was warm and fair. And then the seat support was broken. So we had to wait for the replacement piece to ship. And it did, quickly. BUT, the weather had stopped cooperating. Rob and I (almost) finished it today. It was so cold. But the kids were delighted.

mi

And I can't leave Miranda out. You can better see the missing propeller for the plane. After sending for a replacement piece that was about 3 feet long, it seems a shame that we didn't notice we were missing a special washer. A washer that makes the steering wheel and propeller awesome. So another call and hopefully not another whole week until the toy is whole.

The Great Pajama Caper

April 10, 2008

It is raining. Raining so hard it feels like a monsoon. A deluge. Like ducks will be making their nest on my lawn. Like beavers may decide that my yard needs a dam. Like fish might start swimming around. Rob has been trying to bike to work. The rain has not been helpful.

On Tuesday, Rob biked home in a terrible rain. He was soaked to the skin. His shoes were so wet the next day that it looked like we had run them through the washing machine. The children were delighted that Papa was home. He asked Miranda for a favor and headed to the basement.

Miranda went upstairs, came down with some clothes and brought them to him in the basement. He thanked her profusely for getting him the clothes he asked her for. He had a small towel as well. And he undressed.

It runs out for reasons that amused Miranda, she brought Rob her black pants and white shirt instead of his black pajama pants and white t-shirt. He was screwed. He yelled and yelled, but honestly, I was in the kitchen and I barely heard him. And the towel was a bit small for traipsing all over the house. Finally, I sent Miranda back to him. She acted quite surprised that the clothes didn't fit.

Miranda and I went upstairs; I showed her the drawer of Papa's pajama bottoms and white t-shirts. She brought him a new set. He got dressed and had to admit Miranda pulled a fast one on him. Hee-hee.

Emotional

April 9, 2008

Miranda is much deeper than I. Yoga has made me feel deeply. It has made me stretch deeply, but alas it is more physical than mental. I may have teared up (or fell asleep) but I'll deny both :) Yoga makes Miranda cry. We had mommy and me yoga today with scouts. And Miranda was excited. She was flexible. She was trying. I was encouraging and mostly trying to show her how to do it the lazy way because she was making the yoga poses more difficult than they really are. And she made it through about 15 minutes and the tears were bright in her eyes. The catch in her voice, "I can't do this." After several minutes of pushing herself too hard and making herself feel bad (no one else was noticing her / staring at her / correcting her so she should feel self-conscious), she started crying. We left the room.

The lobby was cool and quiet. She cried a bit, but she didn't say anything that suggested it has untapped some deep pain. She dried her eyes. I encouraged her to go back in. The teacher had corrected me because I had tried to show her how to stand so she would stop falling over and making herself upset. (I am feeling this weird mantle like I am some hyper-competitive yogi forcing my child to do it right. And that is so not true--I have done yoga on and off for 4.5 years. I am gleefully bad at yoga.) So after the crying, I tried to only encourage lazy yoga via happy encouragement. Nothing concrete. Of course, we had moved on to the sitting poses and the lying down poses.

When Miranda was about 4, she took a kids yoga class at the studio where I has been doing yoga for a while. The adult class during her class was odd--3-4 different teachers over the 6 weeks. One kicked my a** so completely I was still sore the next week. One teacher was offended because I was determined to leave the class when the kids' class ended. And from the next room, Miranda sobbed during every class. She'd be enthused and make it about 15 minutes before she was nearly hysterical. I don't think we went to the 6th class. It was too draining. I tried staying with her one week. I tried staying away. And yoga evoked something for her that just brought on the waterworks.

It is not to say that Miranda doesn't cry frequently in our lives. She does. She feels, she expresses, she experiences. But I can't think of another physical activity that affects her like this. The yoga instructors are convinced that tears are deep expressions. That the tears are cathartic or cleansing. And I will grant the possibility. I just don't think we'll sign up for anymore mommy and me yoga. Mommy and me therapy sounds more effective and less likely to sprain my hamstrings.

Oh that

April 8, 2008

Happy Birthday L!

So all of my free waking moments have been spent getting Henry's preschool yearbook ready to print. And that is winding down. We will have it to the printer...soon. But for the purpose of Googlers and all other searchers, I want to share the secret. The problem was that we produced a B&W 45 page book loaded with photos. And the photos are gorgeous. High quality. Well edited. And they printed like crap. Grainy, fuzzy, not as washed out as a photocopy, but not crisp or tonal. And I was annoyed. I borrowed copies of old yearbooks. Some were pixilated, but one looks terrific. i emailed various people. I asked for help. i googled. And I got bupkis Nada. Zippo.

And the secret, as revealed by the copy manager at the printer, is to print my file as grayscale on the color copier. The photos are still black and white and still not photo-quality, but they look like photos. They have shading and subtleness. If I can only save someone else from the endless headache Because weeks and weeks into the layout, I was still quite nervous that we were producing a book of crap. And I do wonder why the copy place couldn't have told me the answer over the phone when I called. Or in my first 3 test prints. But all is well that ends well, right? Right?

And we're off

April 2, 2008

Henry was high-spirited today...full of hi-jinks...happy. He decided to learn how to make ice tea from the Lipton's mix. All by himself. And he got a hold of my camera.

tea

Please note, the spoon to mix the tea mix is standing up on its own power. There must be 3 inches of tea mix in the 4 inch cup. The mess on the counter is not that bad, all things considered. And that we have ice tea mix left is amazing. Henry called us when he was concerned because the tea wasn't stirring the way he expected.

And when henry has the camera, you know.

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4 5
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If you look closely, yes, there are remnants of nail polish. You may have some clever trick or obedient child who lets you cut his toenails with nary a whimper. Toe polish is my standard offer to Miranda. He is smart enough to negotiate for the same.

And the walls are tumbling down, and then building up in new and wondrous arrangements:

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What a month

April 1, 2008

It seems cruel that March, which felt like it was never going to end was so unblogged. And now we are in April. And there is still snow in my yard. A wall knocked out of my bedroom. Miranda might be done vomiting. I screwed up a credit card bill and I can only blame myself. And there was an election on April Fools Day. Early election results suggest I was fooled into thinking my vote would affect the outcomes. I am bummed enough because I am doubting my use of affect in that last sentence.

I need to take some pictures of the rain sodden mess that has become my yard. But how can Is end the children out there. In truth, henry did climb around the backyard today. He examined the tree my dad cut down, but my mean dad left the branches too big for a 4 year old to wield with any ninja/pirate/Star Wars zest.

Whatever will the rest of the month bring?