Phenomenon

We are experiencing an interesting phenomenon at our house. Words randomly spell themselves on horizontal surfaces. Here look:

An sculptor in the making?

That's a rock balanced on ball wedged in a tree.  Tiger is a budding artist.

On Discovering Yummy and Becoming Truly Coloradan

A couple of weeks ago we (the whole family) went up to Evergreen, Colorado to return a meat grinder we had borrowed.  Since we were that far from home, and that close to Idaho Springs we decided to head on up to Beau Jo's for lunch.  I was going to order kid food for the kids, but Tiger was sure that he wanted pizza, so we just ordered the Motherlode to share.   Beau Jo's is good pizza and good whole wheat crust.  They actually have a bottle of honey on every table to top your crust.  It was good lunch.  Just ask the boys.

I gave Blanket a crust to munch on, and he had a bite or two before he demanded honey for his crust.  Yes, he wouldn't touch the crust until I had duly dabbed each piece with a touch of "yummy."   Then Tiger got in on the action and asked for "yummy" on his whole pizza. 

My kids are now truly Coloradan, they love Beau Jo's and they have to eat it with honey.

There is another benefit to this discovery: they want "peanut butter and yummy" for lunch everyday.  I used to make PB 3 times a week or so.  I usually left out the jam because it made a mess, and didn't increase sandwich consumption.  Now, PBH is eaten without complaint day after day.  In Tiger's words, "With yummy please."  At least now my honey won't get crystallized before I use it all up.

Tiger Discovers His Namesake.

When I told B.A.R. about Tiger using his Tonka truck as an amusement ride, he told me I should have seen this coming.

Now I know my Z-Y-X's

When I was on my mission there was an Elder who could sing the alphabet backwards and forwards. I was almost jealous, but vowed to teach myself how to do it when I wasn't trying to master a foreign language and alphabet (BTW I went to Russia).

I worked on it off and on until Tiger was born. I really wanted him to be able to have this great, unique skill. I started singing the alphabet backwards to him just as early as I started singing forwards. He has heard the song forwards many more times than backwards, but I continue to sing backwards for him.

With his learning to read skills coming along I noticed him doing this monologue for me: "A. What comes after a? B. What comes after b? C. What comes after c? D." He could do this all afternoon. He also sings the alphabet forwards in stressful situations like getting his hair washed in the tub or other times he needs to keep himself calm.

I wondered if his Z-Y-X skills were as good as his A-B-C skills so I asked him to sing "The Z-Y-X song" yesterday. He sang and sang all afternoon. I even got him to reproduce it here for you.

He does say all the letters, he just breathes in as he says "H-G." Feel free to teach your own children this wonderful song.

Subcapul hematoma

You and I usually call it a "goose egg."  It's the best kind of hematoma to have.  This picture does not do it true justice.  I took this photo about 22 hours after Blanket fell off a chair and bonked his head on the step. It looks about 90% better than it did 30 minutes after it happened.

In the 5 seconds between when it happened and when I picked him up it had ballooned to something the size of a 3 quarters stacked on top of one another.  I basically ran and put him in the car while I am screaming at Tiger to just get in the car so we can go.  It was 4 o'clock and that means "rush hour" traffic around here.  It took me 10 minutes of speeding to get to the urgent care.  Blanket stopped crying about halfway there and I got scared that he had passed out.  I was a little too emotional to have been driving.  We got there just fine and I was so relieved to see him happily awake in his car seat when I went to get him out.  He totally acted as though nothing was wrong despite the now golf-ball sized bump on his forehead.

He played happily in the waiting room while I freak out filling out the paperwork and forget the date.  I'm sure he had a headache, but didn't want anything to do with the ice pack they gave him.  That's so his personality.  Really, Mom, I'm fine.  

Then yesterday,  I was carrying him at the park when I sprained my ankle.  He got lucky and I dropped him over the concrete curb and into the wood chips.  His face is covered in lots of tiny scratches.  Again,  just fine 5 minutes later.  

Some days I wish my Tiger was as calm and collected as his brother.  Maybe I should be happy he isn't: it helps me appreciate Blanket's emotional range all the more.

Kids say the darndest things

This conversation just happened in regards to my sprained ankle:

Tiger: "Mom, where is you other sock and other shoe?"

Sox: "Remember when I fell down at the park and I was sad?"

Tiger: "Yeah."

Sox: "Well,  now my foot is owwee.  My foot is broken."(not literally)

Tiger: "Mom, then you need a new one."

Another funny thing Tiger said today.  

"G-O, Mom, go."

He was holding the G and the O from his alphabet puzzle. He had chosen those two and made a word out of  them.   And he carried these around the house all morning telling me "G-O. Go."

This makes me happy.  He has known all his capital letters for more than a year.  I just got him some learning to read videos and his reading skills have really taken off.   I would love to teach him to read without the videos, but he has no patience for me teaching him.  Give him a video he can watch over and over and he will master any subject.   That's what I learned when I tried to teach him colors.  No amount of instruction from me helped him learn more than blue.  One video, twice a day, one week: color mastery.  Not my preferred method, but I will teach him any way he will learn.

The poll has closed

Now I realize that the poll closed over a week ago, but I am just getting around to posting about the outcome.  When I first put up the poll I thought there was an equal chance for each selection.  My son had other ideas.  It seems the poll compelled him somehow.  Less than a week after I put it up he walked.  Yes, walked.  Stood up one fine day and walked.  First, he walked 5 or so steps to a chair.  Then he walked eight or ten steps, fell down and then did it again.  By the end of the day he walked 27 steps for me down the hallway all by himself without any encouragement.  

The next day he tried to run.  

I will try and get video of him walking up soon, but I haven't gotten any yet.  For the record it happened April 2nd,  no foolin'.

I'm so excited

I can't even focus.  That's right.  I can't seem to want to do anything because I am soooo excited.  What has me this crazy?  Telepathy.  Well, maybe not telepathy, but something close to it. 

A few years back I worked a summer job packaging Windows 95.  (I told you it was a few years back.)  The job was nothing to be excited about.  Mostly I spent my days chatting with my fellow employees while doing relatively mindless work.  I met lots of interesting people (most of us worked for the same temp agency) that I would never have met any other way.  The pay was depressing, and the work was mind-numbing.  The people made going to work worth it.   I worked that job for almost 2 months before heading off to college.  I was sad to leave my friends, one particularly.

More than two years later I ran into this person at my new job selling auto parts.  She came in late one night and sold her some much-needed wiper blades.  Exciting, I know.  The best part for me, was that she remembered who I was.  That really made my day.   I haven't forgotten that day, or that person.

For most of the next 3 years my life was in constant motion.  I was on my mission, or working overseas, or going to school and dating DH long-distance.  I was difficult to keep track of.  Life happened and I lost touch with this friend. 

For the last couple of months I have had this nagging to reconnect with this friend.  The  internet is great, but not omniscient. Especially when the person you are seeking has a very common name.   I asked people I knew that may know her or her friends to help me find her.  I just couldn't let it go.  Recently, every couple of weeks I would get this intense drive to find her.  Always, I couldn't find the right way to find her.  It was really frustrating.  

I hadn't thought about finding her for a month or so, and then I got this nagging feeling I needed to try again.  I put it off for a day or two because I was sure that I had exhausted my resources in trying to find this person (short of a private investigator).  Then I sat down at my computer and I had the distinct impression to search using a specific piece of information.    So I did, and that led to more information that I searched.  Eventually, I found her address, and webpage.  I was overjoyed, but crestfallen.  I had no email address, no phone number, no means of immediate contact that I have come to demand in this post-modern world. 

I was sure that I had found the right person, and yet I sat on this information for 3 days, unsure what to do next (while knowing the best way to proceed).  Monday, I finally sat down and wrote a brief letter.  I put it in the mailbox in the late morning.  Every hour I kept thinking, "does she have it yet?"  And then I would remember that I sent snail mail, not email, and that my instant gratification would not be satiated.

Yesterday, I was trying to figure out what day the USPS would deliver my message, and then I concluded that it was reasonable to assume it wouldn't arrive until today.  I put off my need for validation one more day, and went on to an afternoon of mommy tasks.

I wrote the letter timidly.  I wanted to reconnect with my friend from long ago, but my greatest fear was that she had forgotten who I was.  It had been 11 years since we last saw each other, and 14 since we last had a long discussion. 

I got an email last night from this friend.  She got my letter. (I'm picturing her tearing it open, anticipating its contents) She writes to say that she's been trying to find ME! but hadn't been able to.  Since she'd failed to find me, she tried telepathy to get me to find her.  I had tried to find her many times over the last 4 or 5 years, and one day the right search came to me.  I found her.  I'm so excited.  

Now all I want to do is talk to her on the phone.  Email just can't give me the fix that I'm looking for.  It's like tasting a dish or treat from your childhood that you loved, but haven't had in a long time.  Somebody says they will get you some more, but you aren't sure when.  You still have that wonderful taste in your mouth, and you want more of it.  There you sit unable to control this intense desire for something so wonderful, and unable to do anything to satisfy it.

So friend, call me 'cause I miss you.