Musings on a Lovely Little Weekend

So much is still going on, I don't know why I ever thought they might slow down. Crazy, I guess. This past weekend was really quite nice. On Saturday, Ken took Kieran to the Carrie Murray Nature Center. This is where Kieran will be having his birthday party this year and, instead of presents, he's asking people to donate to the Center instead. We've got a gofundme page set up for him, so he can give them a check at his party. We're up to $235 already.

Kieran does not know it yet, but Ken and I have gotten him tickets for the Wild Kratts Live event in Pennsylvania in February. Going to be VERY hard to keep this one quiet until his birthday - but I am doing my best.

Anyway - the event on Saturday was for people to come and take photos of the birds they have (owls, raptors, a turkey and turkey vulture). At the bottom of this post are some of the pictures that Ken took, Kieran's will be posted soon as well.

After that, Mia had her first haircut. Of course, we took no photos of that. She LOVED it and told me this morning that she liked her haircut from Ms. Annie. After her haircut we had lunch, she napped and then we all went down to the inner harbor to watch Santa's arrival. Mia freaked out and I had to take her home before Santa got there, but just barely.

Sunday I took Mia swimming (Kieran was not feeling well) and then I ran out while the kids stayed home with Ken. Shopping by myself is usually a pleasure but it was packed at the stores on Saturday. People (like me) were probably freaking out about how close to Hanukkah it is. I managed to grab a few small gifts for the kids and sneak them into the house for Wednesday night's festivities.

But the real fun came after I got home. Ken was sitting on the floor and the kids kept piling on top of him and giggling. Mia would jump on him, then jump off and declare "Kieran's turn!" and Kieran would immediately jump on Ken and then step back so Mia could have another turn. They did this off and on for an hour. Afterwards, we're on the sofa snuggling and Kieran invites Mia to come over and snuggle with him. She does and the two of them lay quietly together for all of 2 minutes while watching a movie. It was so sweet. I know our time is limited with this type of connectedness, but I relish it while it lasts.

And Another Two Weeks Have Gone By

In which I haven't blogged. I thought things were slowing down and they are, somewhat. I still have a lot of little things to do, but nothing like before.

Kids are good, though Amelia has a cold and continues to wake up at night a lot. I spoke with one of my co-workers who has a daughter Mia's age. He said his daughter also is waking up a lot - because she's starting to make connections about being alone, having dreams, shadows bothering her. His daughter, however, shares a room with her older sister and so wakes up her parents less. Though Kieran sleeps like I do (that is to say, like a rock most of the time) I would not want him to have to share a room with his sister.

So, for now, we suffer. I know in the future I'll look back on these times with fondness (or wonder - as in "I wonder how I remained awake after sitting with her for 3 hours in the dead of night?") because right now - they need us. It's nice to be needed.

Kieran and I have tomorrow off and we're going to visit the place we want to hold his birthday party. If all goes well, we'll get his fundraising site posted tomorrow as well. Looking forward to just some me-and-Kieran time.

OK gotta get back to it. Love to all, will try and blog again soon.

The End of ToDoo

Amelia began saying Kieran's name this past weekend. Before now, she's called him "ToDoo". It's been sweet, but Kieran was unhappy that she couldn't say his name. Then, on Saturday we're at the park and Kieran had run ahead. I called out his name to have him stop and Mia parroted me.

"Kieran!" she called
"Kieran, she said your name!" I said.

He stopped in his tracks, a huge smile lit up his face.

"Did you hear her?" I asked.
"No." he replied.
"Mia, say 'Kieran'"

And she did. She still occasionally calls him "ToDoo" but it's mostly "Kieran" now. He's pretty excited and so are we. It means she's going to be able to verbalize even more. Sadly, "NO" is still very common from her. But, she'll learn because half the time she says that to me, I reply with "I wasn't asking."

On a personal note, my grandmother fought her move tooth and nail. When I got to her place on Wednesday she was very upset and demanding to see the President of the retirement community. Screamed that 'You can't make me move!,' and 'I'll move out of here before I leave my apartment.'. It was fun (and by fun I mean it was completely un-fun). Then the President came in and somehow had her say it was OK to 'try it'. I sat with her while she groused about the whole thing and mom, Bob and my brother supervised the movers and hung pictures.

After an hour or so, she said she wanted to go see it - the new place. We got up there and most of her furniture was in, and pictures were being hung. She was so relived to see it all there, she nearly began crying. She says she really likes the smaller place now. So far, so good. She's been asking about her old apartment saying "There's nothing really left up there, is there?" To which we all just say "You're right, nearly nothing left." which is complete bollocks. While I am amazed at how much we fit into the new place, there is still an impressive amount of furniture left - including 90% of her dining room and most of her den.

One last story and then back to it for me - at dinner last night Kieran looked at me and said "Hey lady - how about a tall glass of water, please?". He's becoming quite the little Lothario.

Love to all blog again soon.

Backpacking and Monkeys

It's been a long time since I've written. The craziness has taken over and right now I am beside myself with anxiety and panic. Less to do with the kids than commitments I've made on my time. It will ease up after this coming weekend and, for that, I'm very thankful.

Ken took Kieran on his very first backpacking trip. We had scheduled the weekend a while back, and then the shutdown threw a curveball because Ken's first choice of forest was closed. Plan B got cut because they did not allow campfires, so... the good news is that the shutdown ended just before their trip and the boys had a great time. Here are a few photos Ken took of their trip. Kieran still had a great time even though it poured down rain, they had to ford a stream and mud on their final day. He's looking forward to his next trip.




Amelia and I had some fun together while the boys were out. She got very focused on "monkeys" because we chatted with my mom on Friday on the way home. She told Mia "Bye Monkey!" and Amelia just fastened onto that thought. She's been very monkey-centric ever since. She found a sock monkey stuffed animal her Grandma gave her and has been carrying it around, and she has to have it before going to bed at night. She continues to talk about 'bye monkey' and likes to make monkey noises. I have added a bunch of monkey-related items to her holiday wishlist.

She's also saying her own name and having a good time with her swim lessons. She's still very "Monkey see, Monkey do" around Kieran (which I have said with great frequency, usually to get Kieran to not climb on something because his sister will be right behind him). He's still doting on her but I see the frustration starting to come through as well. Ah, sibling junk.

Because of his love of animals, Kieran had asked if we could have his party somewhere with animals. I found a nature center that allows birthday parties (and has an indoor space, a rare thing in a nature center). This particular one they bring out 5 animals for 45 minutes of your 3 hour time. Talking with Ken about it, I suggested that we talk with Kieran about forgoing birthday presents in favor of asking his friends to make a donation to the center, which is trying to raise money for an exercise cage for injured animals. He barely hesitated before saying (enthusiastically) YES. Really proud of him for making that decision.

So, the final chapter here is about me, you can skip it if you like, I won't be offended. Remember how I said I was crazy? Yeah, so work is insane right now with a lot of projects and balls in the air. On top of that and just trying to be sure we have dinner each night and whatnot, I've been volunteering with a Halloween party, i don't have a ton to do - promotions, mostly - but remembering to do it is hard and I want to be sure it's a successful event. On top of those two things, my grandmother - who is 95 - has to move (she needs more help and has to move to a more assisted living area, she's in independent living at her retirement community now). When they told her about the move (which happens tomorrow) she said "Oh, I'll talk with my family." Mom and I don't think she really understands that she has no choice and will be moved tomorrow. We're in for a rough time - all of us -as she's going to be super-pissed and we're going to have to deal with moving her into a smaller place.

OK there's more but my mind is mush and I want to go get Kieran from school. Love to all, blog again... eventually.

Some photos

Quick Kieran Stories

A variety of stories, all of which happened yesterday or today.

Yesterday was Sneak a Peek at Your Seat night at Kieran's school. It's a great event, the kids get to see their friends, meet their teacher, see their new classroom, locker, etc. Kieran's new teacher seems great and I'm excited for the new year. He, however, made us go in and out of her classroom no less than 4 times while he waited for his best friend, Tobin to arrive. Luckily, his teacher doesn't have them sitting next to each other.

On our walk back from that, Kieran and I were talking about eating too much and gaining weight. He suggested that I'd have another baby in my belly from that. I told him no, that his dad and I are done having kids. He looked at me, disappointed. When I asked him about it, he said he'd like to us to have five kids (I did not ask if that was five more or just five total). Why five? He shrugged and said "Then, I'd always have someone to play with."

As if seeing his new classroom was not enough excitement, Ken got to take Kieran to the Ravens preseason last night against North Carolina. They had a good time, but the funniest part was Kieran looking over the program for the game. He came to a page that had the Ravens cheerleaders on one side and a woman in a bikini on the other. He stopped, did a double-take and then smiled and pointed for his dad to see. When asked why he liked it, he could not articulate an answer. Yeah, our boy is growing up.

Finally, this morning on the way to his last day of karate camp for the summer, Kieran and I were playing our alphabet game. I started this when he was learning his letters as a way for his to play in the car. You spot a a letter and then move on to the next. This morning, Kieran wanted to make it more challenging so instead of just spotting the letter you had to spot a thing (or an emotion) that began with the letter (ex. A = arrows, b = bushes, bus, c= cars, etc). We got to X and Kieran suggested that we allow ourselves to spot something that contains the letter instead of something that starts with it. I agreed and told him I saw he was "excited" about camp today. I said I didn't think we'd see any x-ray machines or xylophones on our way to camp. Then he said it would be strange to see a xylophone on the side of the road. Or one that was a car. I asked if it would make noise/music any time you went over a bump. This made him laugh. "Oh mom," he said, "you crack me up."

It's what I do, kiddo.

Vacation, at Last and Other Stories

We finally took a (very small) vacation this summer. Went to Hersheypark. I don't think I have been since I was 10 or younger. Ken had never been (and was not thrilled about the idea of going to a park that was dedicated to sweets). The kids had a BLAST. Though we got delayed in getting there because of traffic, we spent an amazing 7 hours at the park. Amelia loved the carousel (which she rode at least 4 times) but hated the water park. Kieran and I waited in line for one of the big waterslides for about 45 minutes and loved every minute of it while we poured/shot water on those below us (or got shot/dumped on from those above us). Kieran rode the Comet coaster and a bunch of smaller rides with his sister (and some without her or us, which I think he loved). He is still wearing his "Reese's" bracelet, that identified how tall he is and which rides he could ride. I think if it ever falls off (or requires to be cut off) he is going to be devastated.

Ken and I had fun and learned a few things from this trip. I think we'd go again next year (time and money allowing) and do it differently.

In the meantime, we've done something crazy and gotten a foster dog. Chewy (formerly Armand) needed a short-term foster to be rescued from the local shelter. He's nothing but skin and bones and has been very sweet. He has Lyme's disease (which is treatable and not communicable to us or Devin). Devin is enjoying having another dog to play with. The cats have not forgiven Ken. I'm not sure they ever will. He's a good dog, but I am definitely looking forward to him moving on to either a long-term foster or his forever home (we've been "shopping" him around the neighborhood) as two dogs is just too much for me. Thankfully, Ken agreed to take on all the dog walks while Chewy is around.

And now various stories....
 Yesterday the dogs had been playing (loudly) and Ken told them "Enough!". They quieted down and laid down. Ken went to use the bathroom and while he was gone the dogs started playing again. I let them play as they were fine but it escalated a bit (aka got noisy) and just as I stood up to tell them to "Knock it off," Ken came back in the room. They both settled very quickly and looked at Ken as if to say "I don't know what she's talking about. We've just been sitting here quietly this whole time." Ken and I could not stop laughing at how the dogs really thought they had pulled one over on him.

Then this morning, I was changing Amelia for daycare. I had her diaper off and was trying to get her new one on when she got up and ran into her closet giggling. I don't care if she goes bare butt for awhile but I saw her straining as if to poop. Quickly I grabbed her and ran to Kieran's room (where the bathroom is) and put her on the toilet. Immediately she says "All done potty." I told her no and to sit there for a few minutes longer. Then I smell poop. I look in the toilet - no poop. Then, I look down. *sigh* She missed the toilet by about 2 steps and I stepped into it. Had to clean her, the floor and carpet as well as my shoes. Got all that done, got her and Kieran downstairs where I started packing Kieran up to go. Then, right as Ken left to walk the dogs one last time, she looks at me and says "Poo," which typically means she's just gone. Sure enough, she pooped again in her fresh pull-up. I will be very happy when potty training is done.

Yesterday evening I took Kieran to the park to play with some of his friends (there was a concert in the park and most kids/parents from his school hang there). He brought a pin for his friend, Gracie. He gave it to her and then quickly ran away. I think our boy may have a small crush. Anyway, after playing for about an hour, it was time for Gracie to head home. First she told her dad she'd sleep in the park, then she insisted that Kieran was going to come and sleep over. Kieran was good with the idea but her dad (and I) were not. He was pretty angry by the time we got home but eventually apologized to me. His sass level has increased quite a bit and I let him know that he's got to work on the back-talk he gives me (and other adults). It is OK for him to tell me he's too angry to talk, but it's not OK for him to backtalk me. He promises to work on it. I guess it's better than his hitting/kicking/biting.

That's all, blog again sometime....