Halloween Wrap Up

Well, it's 7:30pm and the Trick or Treaters are slimming down. We had a rush of 'tweens' around 6:30 (?) and another rush of babies at 7. Interesting. The boys had a BLAST. Daddy took them with our neighbor Oliver and his sister Elise. Their goody bags are overflowing and they chose a lollypop for their treat tonight. I've already swapped Ted's milk chocolate for dark or non-chocolate all-together. We're going to turn off the porch light at 8 and put them to bed. Mae is sick and went to bed at 6pm, missing it all. Considering she screams in terror at Halloween displays in the stores, this was a good thing for everyone. I hope she gets better soon...she's a goopy, coughy mess.
Happy Halloween!!

Popcorn

This local popcorn is AMAZING. We picked up this bag of beautiful red kernels, named Ryder's Red, at Munson Farms while picking our pumpkins. Not only did a 1/2 cup of these delicious kernels fill up a HUGE bowl, but it's delicious! The kids didn't love it, probably because I didn't slather it with fake butter and salt, but I like it. Next time I'm going to try salting the oil itself (a suggestion from the "How to pop popcorn" page...yes, I figured it out!) and see if that can infuse the popcorn with a saltier taste. Anyway, popcorn will be local from now on. YUM.

birth of a pumpkin

Will the real Ted please stand up?

Who is this kid? Today, Day 3 of break, Ted was overjoyed to spend the morning in his underwear building Bionicles and Lego robots. Then he was hungry, ate 2 PB&J's and 2 apples, and decided to 'work.' He got out his ABC's notebook (that we were given yesterday at conferences) and spent the next hour practicing his letters, in the lines he had not yet filled in. He's nuts!

We are having a local meal tonight; Kabocha Spinach Soup with CSA kabocha, onion, garlic and spinach. It's roasting now...mmm...smells delicious.

Pumpkin Patch, finally!

Paul took the morning off and we went to the pumpkin patch. Sam had seen a patch on the way to preschool (the sneaky squirrel way) that had ghosts and wanted to go there. It was mild compared to the crazy circuses that most of the patches are now, which was nice. And we were the only people there for a loooong time, which was also nice. They had lots of scarecrows, witches and ghosts and a great corn maze. They had a good market too but they only took cash, so we were limited (who carried cash around anymore?!) Besides the 2 humongous pumpkins, we had to try a package of Boulder popcorn. We'll pop it up tomorrow (in a frying pan? How do you pop REAL popcorn? Oh, child of the microwave that I am...) while waiting for Trick or Treaters. Speaking of which, when in the history of Halloween has it been in the 60's at night? If tomorrow is anything like the last few days, it's going to be gorgeous!! I hope Paul can get home fairly early and we can all go out. What a great Fall this is! Happy Halloween! More cute pics on moeltini.

Ted's Conference

Ted's conference was at noon today. The kids had prepared little 'Fall Conference Guide" books that helped them lead the conference. The book is already printed out (We write in our journals.) and the child has drawn a picture of himself doing that subject. So, first thing we did was read through Ted's journal. The differences since the beginning of the school year are so cool. At the start he only drew pictures. This progressed to short sentences that were simple letter to letter, like "Ihavealoosetooth!" By the end, his writing was (for Ted) much clearer and he is separating his words now "I have a 2nd loose tooth!" Way cool. Next up was We learn about numbers and math. This was where I was most curious and also most impressed. They do tons of math games with blocks and cubes, writing the answer down at the end. Once thing that was cool was when Elizabeth put 10 cubes (that were attached) behind her back and took away 3. How many are left? 7...without missing a beat. Count to 10 by 2's but start at 3...3,5,7,9...no problem. My mind does NOT think this way! There were lots of worksheets on math that were obviously accompanied by these dice etc. "Roll 2 dice and write the sum." Connect the dots, by 5's. That kind of thing. Cool. Next was art...more stuff here than I've collected in the 3 years he was at preschool! I'll scan in my favorite of a fairy with blood dripping from his mouth. Nice. (scanned in 10/31!) Computer and Spanish were touched on briefly, then DEAR time and library. Elizabeth noted that he always chose hard books...books that, in my personal opinion, are chosen for their pictures rather than their subject matter, "The Stone Fey" for example...wha???? Then recess and choice time. The last page says My favorite time of day is (and he filled in...) recess. Hee.
It was informative and fun and I'm very happy that he seems to be doing just fine. Clearly miles behind the girls in the class but seemingly right on with the other kindergarten boys. And he's happy. I love Kindergarten!

a day off means busy

Why is that? Today Ted had a playdate with Alex. Guess what they did for OVER AN HOUR?! They colored. This floors me. I can count on one hand the number of times Ted has ASKED to color, and they would all be in the last month. Too cool.

Tonight we had Brooke and Bailey's family over for dinner. They are so nice and all the kids played beautifully (if loudly, thanks to the boys). Horizons has such nice families. Next on my list is Peter's family. We're hoping to rope them into playing bridge with us! This was nice for Mae too; the girls LOVE her and she has been very annoyed at their attention. Tonight they played so well, so I expect she will be much warmer towards them in the future, which will be nice!

Tomorrow is Ted's conference at noon. Paul has taken the morning off and we're going to (finally!) get to the pumpkin patch!

Mae is feeling under the weather. The thermometer says she's fine but she feels slightly warm and clammy to me. She had a terrible night's sleep last night and dozed on and off on couches all day. Poor thing.

Yummy Local Eats

I can't rave enough about the fabulousness and easy prep of Honey Baked Lentils. Amazingly nourishing and comforting. DELICIOUS. And extra yummy with a side of sauteed tutsoi from the CSA. Our honey is local too, from Fort Collins, so this was a good local meal. Flours and Beans remain the two products that I can get from within a 100-mile radius, but would prefer to source closer to home. This meal is going on my repeat list. Yum.

Today was Family Day at Sunday School. I brought Sam and we enjoyed a mini class with Ted, an adult Torah class with Rabbi Rose, and finished with a visit from two dogs from the Humane Society. The Noah's Ark story is leading the Kindergarten class into the mitzvah of protecting the animals. At the end, we all took a family photo and the kids decorated them with a yarn rainbow and animal stickers. On the back, we put Ted's pledge to help the animals. Literally, he wrote, "LOOK 4 strays!" hee.

This afternoon I took the boys and Ole on a hike near our house. We got all the way up the hill, about a mile up, which is WAY farther than we've ever gotten with them before. Ted brought his bike and did some biking on the trail, which he liked. It was really nice to be out with them for about 2 hours, just walking and talking and looking at everything on the ground. Ted has the next week off from school for Conferences, so we will be enjoying the later mornings this week. Ahhh...

Tournament

Today was Ted's first TKD Tournament, Battle for the Mountaintop 2007; ATA Regional Tournament. He did great. He was a little goofy at the beginning but once he was 'bowed in' he stepped up and did well. Phew!! He did his form, Songham 2, 2nd half and a One-Step. The judges were so nice and positive;it was a really great experience for everyone. Plus he got a trophy! Very cool. More pics on moeltini.

whoa

When I was in elementary school, reading directions was something I tended to skip. Sadly, this flaw has not left my personality. Tonight I cooked an Ethiopian stew with our CSA turnips, onion, carrots, home-cooked chickpeas and (not local) spices. LOTS of spices. 10 tablespoons in fact, a TBSP of different spices all mixed together into the 'berbere' spice mix. Well. In the directions it clearly states 2 TEASPOONS of this mix. I used it all. All 10 TBSP. Oy. Will I ever learn? Maybe now I will.

loser mom

Today was Picture Day at the JCC. I forgot. Sam had toothpaste in his hair from Wednesday night and wore his black Halloween shirt that is 2 sizes too big for him. Nice one, Ellen.

Jeanne

At Sam's class' field trip to the Pumpkin Patch, they created a scarecrow that Sam (and Sarah) just loved. Here is their teacher, Jeanne. Now, I just have to say that when it comes to teachers, we have been so overwhelmingly lucky. Ted had Jeanne for Caterpillars and Butterflies. Now Sam has her. Jeanne is everything anyone could ask for in a teacher. Loving, kind, firm, engaging...I could go on and on. We love you, Jeanne!

flashback!!!

A Unicef box got sent home for Halloween today. Wow. Flashback city. I so remember these little boxes.

Kindergarten Pics

Well, not the best but I'll take them. I forgot about the hair. Hee. Click for a larger view; the group pic is a cute one.

180

To date, neither Paul, I, nor Ted's teacher remember him ever coloring INSIDE the lines, let alone choosing a different color for each and every piece. This is a big change from the "all red" or "all green" pictures we've seen. Too cool, this emerging big kid stuff! This is a mandala, Ted told me. I'm not sure why they are learning about mandalas (they are studying Medieval Times) but I'll try and get it out of him. Right now he is hard at working building an Aqua Raiders Lego set that he bought with his Green Gear money.

a Green Halloween?

Thanks to this great post at Green Lemonade, I've decided to fore-go the standard candy this year. I think honey sticks from Red Wagon Farms and Endangered Species chocolate will be our Halloween treats this year. We'll just turn off our porch light a little earlier and avoid the greedy teenagers!

Pumpkin Patch, and more local eats!

Today was Sam's class' trip to Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Patch and I went along as a driver and helper. Not only was it a BLAST, but they had a little market. I was thrilled to pick up some jars of local jams and jellies and even a growler of Bing Cherry cider (those growlers are handy for storing our homemade soymilk). I can't wait to open the jar of peach jam one frigid February morning and taste a little bit of summer!
There will be pics of Sam's class at the pumpkin patch soon. In the meantime, here's a cute picture of 'the boys' playing at preschool. Love it.

Keeper Share!

Abbondanza has stopped the weekly share and we are into the bi-monthly Keeper Share. We received a delightful variety of onions, potatoes, squash and greens, plus a lovely carving pumpkin! I have the potatoes and squash in the basement and onions and garlic in a cupboard. Bring it on! Tonight I fixed a disappointingly dull stew, called "Sloppy Lenties." It has (not local) red lentils, local greens, tomatoes, onion and garlic, and some spices. It's not very interesting, but oh well! So, 2 meals this week have been intentionally local. I think with the cooler weather and the Keeper Share this will be a fun time to be local. I wish I could get local beans...I don't think we get too many from Abbo, although we may get some.

Local goings-on

It's been busy around here, but still with an effort towards local eating! Tuesday night my moms group met at The Kitchen Upstairs for a *95%* local meal. The Kitchen is well-known for using local merchants for almost all of their ingredients, so I was excited to try to eat an almost completely local meal. For starters, we shared roasted beets from Cure Organic Farm. Dinner was a warming, mellow stew of roasted root veggies, squash and bread, all from local farms and merchants. I even ordered a local beer (no local wines which surprised me since I know there are local wine merchants.) Louise and I split a New Belgium "La Folie" which came in a champagne bottle and tasted very similar to apple cider but not. It's hard to describe. I probably won't order it again, but it was fun to try. For dessert, we had Sticky Toffee Pudding. I applaud them for their commitment to local farmers. I wish it was this easy to know where your food comes from at other restaurants. Yum.

worker guys

Today Sam has no school. He's sure to be entertained all day. Boys are so funny.

little mama

Tonight Mae decided that she needed to tuck her baby doll into the doll's crib. We have a cradle-shaped basket, with a pillow Ted sewed in Pre-K and Mae's "cuddle quilt," that is the doll's bed. First, she flapped the little blanket (like I do), then put the baby down diagonally in the center, then wrapped her up (burrito-style) and then held her against her chest and rocked her. "Baby crying," she said. I sat down on the floor, overtaken at this. We do this so often...Mae will flip out and I won't be able to calm her down. So I get her 'soft blankie,' flap it out onto the floor, lie her in it and wrap her up like a burrito. Then we sit and rock in the rocker until she calms down. To see her do this to her baby, and to do it with tenderness (rather than the exasperation I usually feel) was so touching. "Does Baby feel better?" I asked and she nodded and put her gently into the basket crib. Then she had to flap the blanket quite a bit before she was satisfied. SO SWEET. After a frustrating day with her, this was a great way to end the night.

Cute pics

Sam's preschool has a snapfish account that they use to store pictures from the class. It's really fun to see the kiddos at work. Go HERE to see the pics of Sam. Most pics include his buddy Jason, which is sweet. It seems that Sam is having a fantastic year, which is great! I'm so happy he will have yet another fun-filled year too. I'm so glad we decided to let him be the oldest rather than the youngest. He is so happy and confident with these kids. Jason is only 2 months younger and then the rest of the kids begin having birthdays too. My favorite pic is the one of him and Jason snoozing in the sukkah. Too cute!

Fridays

Fridays are half days for Ted and today we had Sam's Parent Teacher Conferences at the JCC while Mae had PALs. The conference was a joy, as always with Sam. He's happy and 'tuned in' to school; he includes all the kids in his play and is, in general, a joy to have in the classroom. WOW what a difference from his baby personality! We knew all of this, but it's fun to hear anyway. Ted's 1-hour individual Conference is the 30th. It's 1 hour of the student 'presenting' his work to his parents and teacher, in lieu of formal grades. Should be interesting! After good naps for everyone, including me, we got dressed for Shabbat. I LOVE this dress on Mae...it's from a fun Matilda Jane Trunk Show a friend had a few weeks ago. I really think the clothes are beautiful and well-made, plus it's nice to have some 'unique' outfits. I sang with Holli on the opening song tonight and that went well, so I think I'll be fine next month.
We have a busy weekend -TKD for the three of us and then a bday party for the boys. Sunday is Sunday school and another bday party for just Sam while I have an event at the JCC that I'm helping to coordinate. *yawn*

From the mouths of babes

Today Mae got a Halloween card from her Huaihua sister, Sophia. There were stickers inside and Mae had a great time peeling each one off and sticking it on herself. She was doing this on the way home from TKD when she exclaimed, "Oh MAN!" I looked back and a sticker had ripped coming off the paper. I cracked up and so did the boys. "Is that funny, Mama?" she asked. That REALLY cracked us up. So now, she'll do something silly like drop a toy and say "Oh MAN!" and if I don't laugh, say, "Say is funny, Mama!" She is a hoot.
Tomorrow are Sam's conferences at preschool and Tot Shabbat. And today at my TKD class I went through my whole form. It's a cross between yoga and dance, I think. I'm not too good at either but I'm enjoying the challenge. "Sabanim Kamsahamnida."

Toothless Ted

Paul says Ted looks like a hockey player with his two bottom teeth knocked out. I am amazed at how quickly the (1st) adult tooth is coming in...it's a big tooth! I think this is such a sweet picture of Ted...and we don't get many glimpses of sweet these days. He's very into playing Army or Knights these days, both of which require a fierce grimace at all times.

I got my first stripe last night at TKD! I have to admit, I like it! I'm incredibly LAME at it (sort of like dance...ah, the high school flashbacks...) but it's fun. And a good workout to boot, which always helps.

Tooth #2

Ted's 2nd tooth came out today, somewhat dramatically. It was reeeeeally loose, for a long time now. Today after school he showed me how he could completely turn it around, as well as flatten it forward or back. *shiver* Paul commented that it would probably fall out tonight. Well, then he had snack in the car on the way to TKD. After he ate his entire pear, he said in surprise, "Mom! My tooth is gone!" Sure enough, he had 'tasted something yucky' when eating his pear, and had tossed the offending texture away. Thus began a search of the car, yielding nothing. Luckily I did find it later that night when preparing the van for our carpool tomorrow. His top left tooth is a TEENEY bit loose, but I'll give it a month or so. Wow, just like when he was a baby, those teeth just start a-coming! The Tooth Fairy will do a repeat performance tonight, with her $1 coin. The car pool thing is new. Just today, Tawyna picked up Ted, her 3 boys (Ben, 2nd grade, Pete, K and Spencer, Sam's age) waiting in the car. Tomorrow I'll pick up Ben and Pete. It was a weird morning...even though I had to leave at 8:30 to babysit for Wendy, it still gave me an extra hour! I had coffee! And read the paper! It was really nice.

A Chat with Mae

Tonight Sam found Mae's Chinese doll that speaks in Mandarin. Although she said "I no like that" she also said "I say those things...China." So we tried to have a little interview but the battery on my camcorder died. We'll try a longer one tomorrow, but this one is cute.

Eating Out

As a family, we don't eat out. First off, it's too expensive. But the true reason is that our kids (Mae excluded) don't particularily enjoy eating, which makes it even tougher. I can't remember the last time we purposely ate out at a restaurant as a family. 6 months ago? 9? This afternoon Paul wanted to go to Red Robin. They have superb (veggie) burgers and fries, as well as a good kids menu. And it's a nice family place. I have vague memories of going here last year after the Pumpkin Patch and having it be a disaster. Well, it was fine. Mae snarfed her food, Sam mostly drank juice and lay on us, and Ted...Ted did every activity on the little kid menu. ("Oh! I forgot to eat!" he said when we were packing up.) He was completely absorbed in the activities. Here's his name. You can tell he needed to go to the line below to fit them in, so I just put it next to it. If Kindergarten means that going out is as simple as some paper and crayons, bring it on! (Note: he's NEVER been interested in coloring, whether at a restaurant or a home, but he does like to write. Cool.) He always writes the 'd' correctly, so not sure what the 'Teb' is about, but I think it's cool that he can write his last name. We had a discussion about what the 'e' was doing too...after all, you don't say it. Oh, the complexities of English. Or German, in this case.

A new challenge!

Laura at Urban Hennery is proposing to all of us locavores a challenge to keep eating local even in the winter ahead. The challenge is basically to continue to create one meal a week using mostly local ingredients until end of year.

I like this challenge. I can continue to get local eggs and all our winter produce from our CSA (I am so happy with my new vegan cookbook that I plan to bake exclusively vegan this winter if eggs are scarce.) Grains continue to be tough, but the huge Con-Agra Foods is not far, in Nebraska. Still working on that one. Local honey, nut butters, apple butters and jams are easy, as are our now-routine homemade soymilk and bread. Bring it on!

Busy?

I've been a little 'under the weather' lately, and as a result haven't been on lately. Mae still has her chesty-cough, but is getting better and had a spectacularly happy day today (after a 2+ hour nap at 9am when she wouldn't stop screaming at me). I was very excited to get my copy of the newly released Eat, Drink and Be Vegan from one of my favorite cookbook writers, Dreena Burton. After reading through each and every scrumptious-sounding recipe, Sam and I whipped up some Mellow Hummus and the Tamari Roasted Chickpeas. Both were fabulous-and Sam actually liked the hummus which is a first for him. It is VERY mellow...I think the addition of cashews helps smooth out the flavor for little ones. The chickpeas were wetter than I expected, but still delicious.
I cooked my favorite VwaV Chickpea Spinach Curry (with lentils instead) for Randi's family tonight and we stopped by the Indian grocery for samosas and naan. I hope they liked it- we love love love that recipe. I found the hing powder at the grocery too, so I can't wait to cook it yet again to try this special ingredient.
Tuesday night I did get to my 2nd TKD class. It was HARD. We did 3 sets of 25 pushups and crunches, besides a crazy amount of laps. I was tired yesterday and today my arms and abs are killing me!! The class was fun though and I learned a lot. I get really pumped up so it was hard to go to sleep and every harder to wake up this morning. As I mentioned, Mae needed her nap early and I took it with her.
Today Ted asked for my help in writing in his journal. On Tuesday he has written "I have a 2nd loose tooth!" and today he wanted to write "I had a sprinkle cone!" He loves exclamation points. He has some pretty cool drawings above some of his writing...one was all about a ship and the energy it takes to fly through space...very detailed, which is new for him. He talks about how to write letters, what words rhyme and how to spell things all the time...I'm so relieved that he is enjoying this and not feeling overwhelmed. His friend Alex wrote the word "knights" phonetically as 'nits' which is SO PERFECT. I think this is such a neat time and it's so fun to experience their discovery of language. It's so powerful for them to GET IT. We've also been freiker-ing every day and I think it really helps him start the day off right. It's a pain to get out the door at 7:15 (every morning starts off well and ends with lots of crying and screaming about not having time to play) but when he runs into his classroom, tosses his backpack into his cubby and sits down at his table to start 'working,' I know it's worth it. On that note, I should get to bed!
Tomorrow I hope to have some pics!

this spelling thing is overrated

In the past, whenever Ted wanted to play a Bionicles game on the computer, I'd have to help him find the site and help him figure out what to do. Lately though, he's realized that he can simply type in lego and it will go to lego.com. Then he knows what the word Bionicles looks like, so he just clicks on that, and from there, the games await. I knew we'd have to limit computer gaming at some point, but I thought in another 5 years at the earliest! Like father, like son...
Like his haircut? It took a little while to convince him, but after he got his hair cut, 2 other boys with longish hair in his class "happened" to get their hair cut too! So everyone is happy! And handsome.

fun weekend

Seriously, what a beautiful pic of Ted's eyes! I think the grimace is to show off the adult tooth that is quickly making its way through the gum. The tooth next to it is so loose he can turn it completely around. *shiver* I think it'll fall out tonight while he's sleeping or tomorrow at school.

We've had a fun and busy weekend. Friday night was Tot Shabbat and Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah was a crazy, loud celebration with the Torah all unrolled. It was fun, but I did develop a crashing headache. Saturday everyone slept in and had a mellow day in preparation for Chavurah at our house that night. I had to kick people out at 8:30pm so we could get to bed! It was, as usual, a fun and lively evening, complete with a Havdallah service where I stuck some whole cloves into our etrog for the spice...mmmm. Sunday was Sunday School for Ted and coffee with Wendy for me. We've decided to walk or run next time...might as well use our time being slightly more lively! This afternoon Ted played at Alex's house and then we all went to the park and for a late donut. The kids helped Paul put together a gigantic spider stuffed with newspapers for our front stoop Halloween decoration of the year. I thought I was getting sick yesterday but today I feel fine again. Hmmm. I love Sunday nights when I've had a nice weekend. I'm looking forward to the week ahead, but not in desperation, as I am some weeks! Tomorrow is Book Club; we're reading A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini) and it's just as wonderful as The Kite Runner.

It's a bullet day

Whew. I'm wiped. This has been a tough week with Sam being sick and Mae taking it over.

• Mae has a 104 fever and seems to have a pretty bad sore throat. I'll be taking her in for a strep culture tomorrow.
• Sam has no school tomorrow for Simchat Torah. He has been out of school for 2 full weeks, between the holidays and being sick. He feels fine now but still has a wicked cough and a scratchy, squeaky voice (which he thinks is very funny.)
• Ted was a ROCK STAR in TKD today. There was a new kid and that really seems to make him turn into the role model rather than the class clown. Mr. D says he wants to get him sparring soon because he is so coordinated with his form.
  
• On that note, I took my first TKD class today. WOW. My quads are sore and I'm so NOT an aural learner...but I'll get it. I like it!
• Mr. D asked that I remove my nose stud during sparring practice (when I get to that level) because it could get hit. So tonight Wendy and I returned to the piercing place and I had them sodder it so I can put it in or out. That hurt a bit. Turns out I didn't do a very good job of turning it around so it's not completely healed. But, now I can take it out when I need to, which is handy.
• The K/1 classes start Arts & Sciences electives soon. Grades 2-8 have had it from the start of school and did their presentation today. I missed the first 2, but the last 2 were Breakdancing and Unicycle. ?! Ted wants to do both of those so I hope the little guys have cool options like that. I think they start in November, after conferences.

"I China"

Wow. Tonight at bedtime, Mae launched into her standard trying-to-stall tactic of talking. "Mama, I want tell you somethin." "What's that?" I asked, sitting on her bed, knowing this would take a while. She pointed to the shadow box of her gotcha outfit and said (like she does every time she sees it), " I wore that dress...baby!" "Yes," I said. "You wore that outfit when you were a baby in China." She looked at me seriously. "I China," she stated. "Yes," I croaked, overcome at the moment. "You're from China." "Mae-mae...wear that dress...China...baby!" "Yes, Mae-mae," I said. " You wore that outfit when you were a baby in China." Then her whole body and serious little face relaxed and she smiled. "Ni hao!" she said. I've never heard her say that before. "Ni hao!" I said. "That means hello in Chinese!" "Zi jian!" she sang out, cracking up at my astonishment. ""Zi jian!" I squacked. "That means good bye in Chinese." "Xie xie!" she said, leaning back against the pillows and rubbing her eyes. "That means thank you. You're welcome, Mae-mae," I said, covering her up with her blankie. "I love you, Mae-mae." "Wo ai ni, Mama," she said, still grinning, then closed her eyes and puckered up for a kiss. "Wo ai ni, Mae-mae," I said, giving her a kiss and a hug. Holy cow.
I've shown the gotcha pic of Mae and me a zillion times. Here's the other side of the coin. We've come so far.

I just might...

Ear Infection

I called our doc this morning, since Sam has had a pretty high fever since Saturday night. (103-ish). She wanted to see him and he has an ear infection! He told me his ear hurt on Saturday...hmm. Last night he went to bed at 6:30 and this morning got up at 6:30, came into our bed, and lay/slept/whimpered there til 9:30, when I took him to the doc. He won't drink Pedialite but he's drinking Vitamin Water, and the doc said he's doing exactly what needs to be done to feel better. We did put him on antibiotics since he's not been on them in over a year so he'll be right as rain in 24 hours. My poor little sweetheart...he's very pathetic right now.