Happy Halloween!

The kids had a blast tonight. Ted did take off by himself a few times, but he always found his way back home. I am grateful that this neighborhood is so safe, in that respect.
They came home and examined their booty, then chose which to keep and which to give to the Great Pumpkin. According to Mr. D at TKD, the GP takes the candy and leaves money! Ted is psyched! Sam is game, and Mae? Mae didn't leave ONE piece of candy for the GP. Oh no. Not one! What a funny kid. "Not my kittles!" she exclaimed in severe consternation when Ted tried to help her ("skittles"). Oh well. As Paul said, Ted will have fun scamming candy off her for the next few days.
Another Halloween! Mae did so well this year. She refused to stop when Paul and I switched out chaperoning, and she said Trick or Treat and Thank You. She HATED my Hillary Clinton mask (I was trying to find Sarah Palin, to be truly terrifying, but I couldn't find any) so I didn't get to wear it this year. All in all, very fun. Now, if you'll excuse me, there is some serious candy to eat!
As always, more pics on moeltini.

Allergy/Asthma wrap-up

Well, today was exhausting. Ted and I spent the day at National Jewish (THE asthma research hospital in the US). They did some bloodwork, they did the scratch tests, they did the food trials. He's not allergic to anything. Sure, his bloodwork shows higher than normal levels for dairy and shrimp, but he doesn't get a physical reaction, so no big deal (i.e. no epi-pen needed, so it's not a serious allergy. This is a controversy that we'll have to sort out later.) His numbers from the scratch test proved allergic to cats and dogs, but only a 2 (a 10 is considered a severe allergy.) So, sure, replace the carpet and he'll breathe easier, but the pets can stay (which they would have anyway, but it's still a relief to hear.) His Albuteral has been replaced by Flovent, his Pulmicort by a daily chewable antihistamine (Singulair) and Rhinocort nasal spray, and added to the routine, a nasal rinse twice daily. This boils down to a huge decrease in time spent on treatment (2 20-minute nebs vs less than 5 minutes a day doing the nasal rinse and the Flonaise). Rock ON! I'll add to this post more in the next few days but this is what we learned today. This info will go to Dr. Steinbock and we'll go from there. I'm sure he'll be THRILLED at the suggested treatment regimen eliminating the serious drugs. Ted was a trooper. He chose a Sponge Bob lego set that he built while waiting around today. Off to bed. What a day!

Tournament Videos!

Paul's home! Hooray! And so is my computer. And for your enjoyment, Ted's tournament videos. First, the weapons one. This one is pretty darn funny, in a cute way. The second is the sparring one; Ted is on the right. At the Tiny Tiger level, they don't compete, just "show their stuff" and they all get medals. Ted was one of 3 kids (all boys, hmmm...) who also competed in weapons.


Weapons


Sparring

getting organized

All the hours I've spent after putting the kids to bed early these last few days has helped me get organized! I'm signed up for 3 5K races which will (force) help me stick with running when it gets cold and miserable. I'm looking forward to them! World Running Day is Nov.9, the Panicking Poultry is Nov.16, and the Colder Bolder is Dec.2.

I've also discovered Google Calendar. Since doing the 2 week menu planning, I decided I needed a system to automatically repeat for me, rather than me rewrite all the dates etc. Google Calendar lets you set events to repeat weekly, or twice a month, etc. So now I've entered all our meals, all our activities, as well as special occasions like conferences and doctor's appointments, to Google, which will then email and text me reminders. (Yes, I am secretly trying to determine if an iPhone would really be worth the cost. Since up-to-the-minute emails are part of what attracts me to it, I'm hoping reminders will help me in the same way. (And no, I can't get email on my phone, although I could with my old phone. But since I don't pay for this one, you won't hear me complaining. Too much. ahem.)

Our Keeper Share, which starts up next week (5 pickups total and they are always GIGANTIC. We had frozen soups all the way into June this year!) will include a Fruit Share and a Coffee Share! Woot! I was so excited to get this email this morning:

Keeper Fruit is a go! It's a beautiful offering including cider, storage apples, fruit butters and jams. The coffee share comes in one pound bags per each pick up - this provides for one mighty tasty cup of java.

I just yesterday opened our last jar of Rocky Mountain Farm jam (gooseberry I believe) and made a mental note to take a trip out there to stock up again, and now I don't have to! Paul will be thrilled to have a steady supply of coffee; I don't drink it anymore so it's not on my radar to purchase...he has made do with some pretty lame pre-ground stuff that we found lying around lately. I hope the Keeper Share will be as generous with dried beans, dried corn and tea leaves as last year. Yum!

Well, in the spirit of all this preparedness (and since I can't go on a run because Paul's not home yet...ahem...), I'm off to prep dinner, a delicious Crock Pot Veggie Chili for which I actually remembered to pre-soak the beans! Have a productive and happy week, all!

Phew!

We survived! Friday after school we packed up and Cathy picked Sam & Mae up on her way home from work. They were so excited. Then Ted and I took Ole to Rob's house and we went to TKD for a Tournament/Sparring class. Then we drove to Littleton and checked into our hotel. Friends were there, so we ended up watching WallE with them, which was very entertaining. After a few hours of sleep, we woke up and went to the Tournament. Ted was a little shy but did a very good job on his form and then competed in weapons, in numchucks, and did great (doing a cool roll on the floor move that was hysterical. My camera seems to have died at that point so even though I took pics there aren't any to share.) More pics on flickr til I get my computer back.
An exhausting day, but a good one. Sam and Mae had a blast at Eve and Cecelia's house and apparently were very well behaved and not freaked out in the slightest. They were happy to see us and we played up at their house for a few hours before heading home. It's good to be home. What a crazy 24 hours!

Filling in the gaps

I met with Marilyn today to talk about Mae's treatment. She wants to do some EMDR with her to stimulate the trauma center of the brain, where she thinks Mae is storing pre-verbal trauma related to her abandonment. Today we talked about 'filling in the gaps' of her adoption story. I made her a book for her 2nd birthday that glossed over the actual abandonment. The only words are "Her parents couldn't take care of her, so they brought her to an orphanage." Marilyn thinks, and she has the support of a large committee of social workers who meet to discuss cases on a monthly basis, that Mae is ready for more detail. Because I don't have many facts, it was comforting to hear that "guessing" was OK. Not that I should fabricate a romantic story of her first few days of life, but that it's OK to say, "We don't know why your Chinese parents couldn't take care of you. Maybe they were very young. What do you think?" Similarily, she thinks it's OK to talk about how confused Mae was on Gotcha Day. She's seen the video, but it's brief, and we didn't document the first 12 hours or so of her new life with Ayi SuSu and me, mostly because she screamed that entire time. While I shouldn't be dramatic about it, it's OK to say, "You were really confused. You probably missed your nanny. I'm glad you felt better after your nap that first day," and so on. So, I have work to do to fill in those areas that I've been hesitant to address directly. But she's ready. She's asked me if she drank her Chinese mommy's milk (all these breastfeeding babies everywhere!), whether her Chinese mommy has long hair (she's pretty sure she does!) and we talk all the time about how much she probably kicked inside her Chinese mommy's tummy. She's eager for information. So we'll give her what we know and wonder together about what we don't.
Another (holiday appropriate timing too!) idea Marilyn had was providing her with a simple staple of child play therapists: the soft dollhouse. Get an Asian family and a Caucasian family. Let her play-act her journey. That's on the Hanukkah list for sure. Whew! I'm glad Mae is ready for this, but I'm still not sure I am!!

Thursday!

Ted's soccer team had picture day last Saturday. Ted was a total ham at the official picture taking event but the action shots of him are great! I love how his tongue is sticking out all the time - hmmm, wonder where he got that? I'll put these all up on moeltini when Paul gets back, but in the meantime, you can see all 4 shots on flickr. We were going to take a break from soccer and do swimming over the winter, but Ted really wants to do the winter league. We shall see.
Today was a great day. We had the normal rush in the morning, but we got Ben and Peter and got all the big kids to school on time. Sam & Mae had a donut at Safeway while we killed time before preschool (I didn't want to pay the $10 early drop off fee for the extra half hour of free time!). Mae was a little hesitant but I took her to see Jeanne and she cheered right up (she was dropping in, so was in a different Butterfly class for the day). Sam apparently had a terrific day, exclaiming "Oh, snuckers!" throughout the day. Silly boy. He had a good conference and is doing better at including other kids when he and Jason are playing. We went to TKD next and Ted rocked. It was a large and unruly class today and Mr. D was displeased. At the end of class, Ted got a star (hard to do in the big kid class) and Mr. D told me, "Your son acted like a black belt the entire class. Good for him." Ted was pretty proud of himself and asked me why the big kids were goofing off.
We are set for Tournament on Saturday. Sam and Mae are going to have a big adventure with the Shoenfelds while Ted and I spend the night at a nearby hotel so we can get up at a decent hour on Saturday morning. Tiny Tiger staging is at 7:45am (he can compete as a Tiny Tiger til he's 7. In TT, all kids get a trophy. In Big Kids, you have to actually win the trophy. Much tougher! Hooray for being 6!) Afterwards all the kids have a free pass to the rec center pool (in the same building as the tournament) so depending on time we'll do that too. Sam has a bday party at 2, so we will try and be back in time for that. Whew! Busy but fun.
Oh, and how could I forget?! I blanched and froze 6 batches of greens tonight. Today we had our last CSA pickup. Keeper Share begins next week, so we may be seeing the last of those delicious hardy greens. We received 20 pounds of apples!!! Holy moly! Applesauce anyone? Mmmm... I have a plan for the winter: rice and beans with greens two nights a week. We have plenty of greens frozen and the Keeper Share will add to our already decent supply of local beans. I'll just buy a big bag of brown rice at Costco and we'll be set for cheap, delicious and local meals in the winter! Yum.

Well?

Do you like it? I love it. I love the freshness and "fun" flair it gives to the blog. Comments are welcome!

Day 2 of single parenting. Oy, the headache. Sam and Mae didn't have preschool so we rushed around this morning to get Ted to school, then we went swimming at Apex (way fun.) Home, naps, Ted pickup, groceries, TKD, Taco Bell (yes, the fast food dinner thing has to stop. Tomorrow is Farm Pick Up, so we should be able to zip home and eat our bounty!), home and to bed. Everyone was silent and asleep by 8:30. Ahhh. Tomorrow Sam and Mae are dropping in to the JCC, so Ole will finally get some attention. I also plan to deal with last week's veggies from the CSA that I didn't use yet. I have an appointment with Marylin to discuss Mae's treatment, Sam's conference at the J at 3:15, then TKD at 4:30. Should be an earlier night tomorrow, which will help. All three need a bath in a bad way!!

Off to bed!

single parenting

It's that time of the year again. Paul is off to NJ for a few days and then will spend the weekend with his sister Nancy in NYC. This morning was a whirlwind of chaotic energy. Ted had to be ready for carpool at 7:30, Sam and Mae had to be at Heather's by 7:45 so I could drop Paul at his airport bus by 8, so I could drive to Denver in rush hour by 9. It all worked out, although apparently there was a delay getting out of Denver so Paul got in late. He is settled in his hotel now. After singing this morning, I retrieved the kids and went to soccer (both Ted and Sam's practices). We picked up the oh-so-healthy Sonic Burgers Grilled Cheese Kids Meals on the way, and when we got home after practice, they all went straight to bed (after Ted's treatment of course. He is really doing a lot better-it's so encouraging. And he drinks his vitamins without complaint now in the mornings!) It is quiet now but everyone is asleep. I think I'll take a bath and turn in early.
The blog will be getting a much needed makeover in the next few days. I'd love feedback, so when you see something new, let me know if you like it. I'm excited about it.
And I'm lusting for an iPhone, just in case anyone wanted to know. ahem.

a beautiful fall day

Today was busy! Ted had Sunday School while Paul worked on the playground. Afterwards there was a nice Sukkot sing-a-long. My dad and I took Ted to get a haircul (and a donut!) and then went home. I was leisurely putting Mae down for a nap when Paul mentioned that I was off to rehearsal. Oops! I totally spaced it! We hopped into the car and took off. When we got home Wendy et al came over for drinks and snacks in the sukkah. Delicious 5 layer dip. Mmm! Then we went biking in the cul-de-sac. This was fun til Paul kicked the soccer into our neighbor Elise's face. Oops. Then off to bed! Yawn! This pic is from today when Paul was raking leaves. We love leaves.

fun soccer day

Ted's soccer game today was against a very young team, and they won 9-1. (I wasn't keeping score, but Omri's dad was!) Ted got one of the goals and did a great job on defense a lot of the time. It was a beautiful, warm sunny morning. I love Saturday mornings.
Then my dad and I left for Denver for my audition for the Opera Colorado Chorus. It was pretty mellow. I sang fine, not amazing but fine. I guess we'll see what happens!

movin' up!!

Ted tested for his Purple Belt today. This was his last Tiny Tigers testing (sniff!) On Monday, he begins the big kid class "Karate for Kids." I'm not too thrilled about the timing of these classes (his Monday one is from 6:30-7:15! He's usually in bed by 7!) but since he seldom falls asleep before 8:30, we're going to give it a whirl. We'll see. The other classes are at better times, 5ish, which will allow us to go home after school and chill a little bit, rather than killing time in Boulder. More pics on moeltini. He sparred with Charlie and Meghan. This video is with Charlie and then Meghan. Charlie is moving up too, so Ted will be in good company!




(Video is uploading and may not be available til Saturday morning.)

G'pa is here!!!

Let the fun begin!

a dreary weekend

The weekend was cold and rainy, but very homey and fun. On Saturday Paul took Ted to his indoor soccer game in which he scored TWO goals!! And they were the only goals his team got, and they won 2-0. woo hoo! That really helped his confidence I think. He was by far one of the more timid players on the team and Paul said he was all over the other team this time. Go, Ted! (The blurry pic is of him (in the white) going after the ball.) This was after he had a traumatic blood draw that morning. We put "the magic cream" on his left arm and went to the lab. He was dehydrated enough that they couldn't find a vein and were stabbing around in there for a long time. So they moved to the right arm, which worked great, but he was soooo upset about it not having cream on it that I think he worked himself up extra. Is there anything harder to bear as a parent than holding your child still while he sobs, "It hurts! It hurts!" I think not. Anyway, he survived and we went straight to Target for 2 (one for each arm, he said) new little Lego sets.
I spent the day recovering from the holidays by fixing a crock pot dinner (all local chili, so delicious!), doing a ton of laundry, catching up on dishes, baking 2 loaves each of zucchini and banana bread, and planning meals for the week using the greens-heavy (hooray!) CSA share that Paul collected on Thursday. Whew.
On Sunday I finally got to take Ted to Sunday School again (usually I had rehearsal at Sinai) and it was lovely to go out with Wendy and Stacy and chat. Then I had my rehearsal in Denver and came home to watch The Wizard of Oz with the kids while Ted did treatment. I loved this movie as a kid and both boys really liked it a LOT. I think Mae was a bit traumatized. When I was putting her to bed tonight she kept talking about how we didn't have tornadoes here, right? and the house wouldn't blow away, right? and her bed wouldn't move around, right? Poor thing. A good and productive weekend. On with the week! Sukkot starts Tuesday night and we're hosting a party, as we do every year. And my dad arrives on Thursday. Can't wait!

Gut Yontif!

Whew. I made it. We had two back to back Kol Nidre services on Wednesday night, followed by two morning Yom Kippur services. After a brief hour, we had the 3+ hour afternoon services, ending around 7pm. I was BEAT. But happy and inspired. Our rabbis at Har Hashem are awesome, but I always enjoy a good sermon, and while these were LOOOOOONG, they were also fantastic.

Paul survived while I was gone and apparently Ted wore a suit to YK (his choice). He took the kids to a break fast at Jen's and actually got home after I did last night.

Today Ted went to our new holistic pediatrician. He's going to supplement, not replace, our regular (and much beloved) pediatrician, but I wanted a 2nd opinion on the asthma. I was actually pleasantly surprised at his practical approach. He put him back on Pulmicort/Albuteral nebs twice a day and also ramped up his supplements. We discovered that Ted can swallow pills now (he is SO proud) so I don't have to fight with him over the fish oils anymore; he can just pop the gel cap into his mouth and swallow it. Hooray! Everything else we'll just add to his smoothie. He was very accepting of this today so let's hope it continues. Basically, he's getting the same stuff, but lots more of it. He also ordered more bloodwork to test his zinc and iron levels, as well as a celiac test to test for gluten intolerance. Between no dairy and no meat, we're hard pressed enough, but if we need to go off gluten too (I say WE because we eat what Ted eats; no forbidden foods in the house) we're going to have to stop eating out all together. Which might help the pocketbook I suppose.

Off to bed. But TONS of new pics on moeltini. Enjoy!

PS Our house is freshly painted and looks great!

ow ow ow

Today I went in for my nose checkup and got my nose lasered! They described the procedure to me as analogous to "aerating the lawn." Well, it HURT and it hurts now. Waaa. Hopefully this will help the scar heal better. Ow.

learning to love my scanner

I went to a K-8 with the same group of kids. We were so close. There wasn't anyone I wouldn't enjoy chatting with today. We were such good friends. Well, many of us are on Facebook now and WOW! is it fun! The "other Ellen," as we always called each other, is the one who got us all connected and people are scanning in their old pics and posting them. We were so CUTE! This pic, we are guessing, is from 2nd grade. I am next to Lara Assaf, a Russian girl I ADORED and I think she left the school pretty soon after this. She and her family were so nice. I haven't thought of her in DECADES. This is so much fun. We had a reunion in 1997. We missed one next year, but if we can get lots of people on board, we might be able to swing another one. Ah memories. I hope my kids can develop the same level of comfort with their classmates. I'm so glad they're in a K-8! I need to start digging through my photos.

slowing down

This has been an interesting semester thus far. We are "concerned" about each child individually which has stressed the family a bit. To this end, we are trying to slow down and really enjoy each other. Ted has been rather wild at home (granted, he is good as gold at school and TKD) so he's been having, as I mentioned earlier, lots of time outs. I've tried to be gentler in my approach and it's working, in that we don't leave the event angry and hurt, but he is still out of control. We are seeing an homeopathic pediatrician next week, both to investigate alternative asthma treatments, and, I hope, isolate possible trigger foods for his behavior. Maybe the small amount of cream cheese he is enjoying on his daily bagel is enough dairy to push him over the edge. We shall see. Sam is also getting a thumbs up from his teachers, but both Jason's mom and I are concerned about the two boys' exclusiveness, and aggressiveness to the other kids who try to play with them. I'm having a talk with his teacher tomorrow afternoon about a plan to help with this. Perhaps they'll be put into different classrooms. Maybe a teacher can just always keep one eye on the two of them. We'll see. And Mae. Mae (there is a trend here) is apparently doing great in school, talking and playing and being happy. But when we pored over the 100+ photos on the Butterfly website, each picture showed her alone and looking sad. The other girls are always photographed together, dressed up and laughing. We're going to address this at her conference (official conferences are in 2 weeks). Maybe she should be held back like Sam. The emotional development is just as important as the academic and maybe she's just not ready. We'll see. Paul is going to NJ in a few weeks for work and will be able to squeeze in a visit with his sister Nancy. I'm sad for me but thrilled for him. We love Nancy!

So, that's why we've been busy. Plus my teaching and the high holy day gigs. And the holidays themselves. And homework (Ted is at a K reading level now, we found out today (the books start at A and go to Z. Remember his first A book? I'm not sure where he's supposed to be at the end of 1st grade, but he was at H at the end of Kindergarten so this is great improvement!) Tonight he read to me from a Nate the Great book. I'm feeling much less stressed about this area now.)
Starting Monday, I plan to start running again (I've kept up my Tue/Thu/Fri short 3 mile runs, but have neglected the longer ones. I plan to put in a long run next week, then move it to a Sunday once rehearsals at Sinai are over. Plus Paul has me doing 3 reps of 25 pushups, 25 situps and 25 bicep curls each night. He is a slave driver. Did I mention I'm counting points again? Oh yes, the joy of 20 points a day. I dream about cookies. Hee.)

End of long rambling post. I found some fun pics in our archives so I might start posting 'memories' soon. It's funny to look back 10 years and see what is the same and what is different. So much is the same. And so so much is different. Good stuff.

sorry folks

Sorry everyone. You know you've not blogged in a while when emails start coming in asking if you're OK. I am OK. We just finished the 3 Rosh Hashanah services and are gearing up for next week. Paul took the kids to HHS for the kids service (this REALLY confused my chavurah) and I met them at the brunch afterwards. I actually had a terrific time. Amy, the woman I stayed with, is so fun and entertaining (and has a sweet albeit deaf old dog) so the overnight was really fun. The music was well received from the congregation and everyone was pretty on top of things during the service. Shanah tovah!