the grand finale

Oh this kid. Everyone is saying he gets his personality from me. Which in many ways he is just.like.me. The ice show went off without a hitch...well maybe just a few. He needed help from "teacher Megan" to stay with the pack. He can actually skate, just a little too slow to finish the routine by the time the song finished. Saturday night the show didn't start until 7 pm and I had to sell tickets, so I brought Parker with to help me. He would hand the ticket to the people and say "enjoy the show". He was all dressed in his costume with shoes on. We waited for daddy to get Emmitt settled with cousin Derek and then come put skates on. I didn't realize that I wasn't going to be able to leave the ticket booth until intermission so I would actually miss his performance. I found a volunteer to watch the money so I could run down and video tape the routine. While we are in the booth waiting for daddy, Parker says (loudly) I have to go pee-pee! Many times. I kept saying couple more minutes, daddy is coming. Nope he couldn't wait! As I am literally handing change to people with 20 more in line to by tickets, my kid pees in his costume pants all over the chair and floor and I can't leave the frickin' booth! I am sure the patrons buying their tickets while I am frantically calling my husband to dig the darkest pair of jeans out of the dirty clothes for Parker to wear thought I was nutso. But we eventually got him re-dressed and on the ice in time. I managed to catch the show and video tape it, laughing my butt off the whole time.

This picture is just prior to him remembering that he had his sunglasses hanging on his shirt, stopping on the ice, putting them on, and waving to everybody in the audience! They cracked up laughing. The glasses were huge Dollar Store decoration glasses that covered his whole face. Megan comes off the ice with him and tells Bear that Parker said the lights were so bright in my eyes, I had to put my glasses on!

Getting his "hockey" medal after the show.

A little chilly out on the ice when you have half your clothes on. So my kid decides to stick his hands up his shirt to keep them warm.

And of course the Grand Finale where my kid once again pinches his crotch because he has to pee! This time I go running on the ice and take him outside to pee on Bronco Arena because frankly...we have no more clean pants with us!

In a little better mood now that he has bubbles and a medal. He had fallen asleep after his Sunday afternoon performance and I woke him up to skate in that grand finale. He was not happy about that. Once he was out there, he bit into the bubble guitar he got and starting spitting on the ice.

more arena time...

Well this weekend is the big ice show! More arena time to be spent. We have been attending all the practices, rehearsals, doing the routine in our living room...my kid does not move his feet once he is on the ice. The poor teacher has to skate hunched over holding onto his armpits and do the routine with him. Part of me is wishing I had just paid the $50 to have him not participate in the ice show. But we have the costume (rolled cuffed blue jeans and a white t-shirt), I am working the ticket booth for endless hours, so by God he is going to participate.

Apparently last nights Grand Finale practice was also a dress rehearsal. I was the ONLY one who didn't get that memo. So I left my kid in his jacket and brown khakis to stand out a little more. I think just about everybody else has been through this whole skating thing before, but there is little organization for us newbies. Whatever...he will just have to be the last kid on the ice that everybody thinks is so cute because he hardly skates. The frustrating part is that he can skate. We actually accomplished what we set out to do this winter. Teach our kid how to skate. I thought after the surgery he would be able to hear a bit more through the hat and helmet he is wearing, but apparently missing a month of skating didn't help either.

He is supposed to use one knee to stand up, but he is short enough to put both hands on the ice and stand up. At dress rehearsal last night, I had his mittens off, and he wouldn't get up off the ice because he didn't want to touch it with bare hands. Part of the routine is to fall down on purpose and show that you know how to get up. So even though he can get up on his own he won't even do that. Skating through the cones The teacher lets the kids play with a kite ball. They throw it and skate to go get it. He doesn't realize that he actually has a good arm and throws it far but that he has to then go retrieve it to do it again!

We shall see how this weekend goes for him. The first show is Saturday night at 7 pm, the second show is Sunday at 1. Right during naptime...that should be interesting!

hockey weekend

We had our fill of hockey this weekend...daddy played in the Old Timers Tourney AKA Kerry Park Tournament. I go to the games, but end up visiting with the girls, chasing kids, taking bathroom breaks that I have no idea who won, which team we are or if daddy scored a goal.

Parker was the perfect age to hang out at the arena. He is a rink rat for sure! He loved it. Kept shouting "go daddy, go!" through the glass...and sure enough, daddy scored a goal. Him and a little friend (whose daddy was on the other team) kept saying "don't let Havyn's daddy win" and "don't let Parker's daddy win".

Emmitt on the other hand...not so perfect age. Climbing up the steps, the bleaches, going down the ramp and making me crazy. Did not want to be held. Was over due for a nap and fell asleep in my arms when we waited for daddy and Parker to evolve out of the shower/locker room.

He did however fit into the adorable Bronco Ole sweater that was Parker's. He really liked to climb and shout through the bars of the "time out box".

Totally enthralled at daddy on the other side of the glass.
I think I could have let Parker go and he would have come to me if need be. I really think he would run around the rink and find somebody to play with and be just fine. I let him go into the women's bathroom by himself, since Emmitt just likes to crawl on the floor between stalls, and thought it had taken Parker a little too long to come out. I went in and he was pushing on the stall door to get out saying "I'm stuck in here momma", when all he had to do was pull!

Lost all function of his hands with his way too small mittens on, but figured out a way to drink a juice box. He would walk up to the glass and just start slurping away.

oops

so I lost my hard drive. I get a new one for $200 bucks and then the labor to work on it! YEAH!!! Moral of the story: back up important stuff in two places!

I (my computer guy) saved my external hard drive which contains, pictures of my life, DVD files of my kids, all my corporate files, my life! So it could be a lot worse.

Here's to finding out what I don't have when I go to use it and endless hours of reinstalling all that crap!

Maybe I'll make $200 this Friday at the Spot to buy a new hard drive, my mission was to save up for golf, but so far I have bought groceries and paid for daycare with the money...where does it all go???

blog neglect

sorry about the blog neglect.

• my computer has a virus and I can't access any of my files.
• the virus attacked my anti-virus program
• my kids are sick and coughing
• Emmitt's on an antibiotic for a wheezy cough
• Emmitt has had fluid on both ears for one month...are we going down the same road?
• Parker will not sleep or stay in his bed (again)
• last night he slept on his "nest" on the floor and actually made it through the night, but now we have created a whole new problem??
• I have another sinus infection

But...

• I had a really great weekend with my family
• we played games
• the kids played well (until they got over tired)
• they were wonderful in the car-you know we went all the way to Ray this time
• they are starting to eat better
• Parker and I went to a movie, he fell asleep, but was well behaved
• Parker said the organ at church and the movie were loud :)

Once my computer is all better and I get some sleep, I'll post again...

definately better

Bedtime and nap time and all around behavior is definitely better with Parker these last 4 days. It was like a switch and he was fine going to bed with all my convincing efforts. The last time I fought, yelled, cried with him about not sleeping and made up the huge be brave for your puppy story, I ended up sleeping with him all night in his bed. I woke up at 5:50 am and crawled into my own bed to wait for the alarm to wake me up only to be followed by the screaming out of control 3 year old saying I waaaant you to sleeeeep in myyyy bed! And I did, for the next 20 minutes and then we went downstairs together, made coffee together, showered together, and snuggled on the couch all before 7 am! I was exhausted. But then we talked and talked and talked about staying in your own bed, not screaming and waking up the whole house. We did our whole routine and I kept telling him it was almost time to go in his bed. 5 more minutes, 3 more minutes, 1 more minute. Then I told him after I put him in his bed that I would be up in 5 minutes to check on him. And he waited patiently those 5 whole minutes. Then I said 10 minutes. He waited again for 10 minutes. Each time I checked on him, he knew it was okay and that I was coming back to check on him all night. Then the next 1o minutes passed, I went up there and he was sound asleep. I woke up the next morning to the naa, naa, naa of my alarm clock! Yeah, we did it! We gave him lots of praises and high fives and he was all smiles. I took him to Kmart to pick out a t-ball set to play with. I kept telling him it was for being such a big boy and staying in his bed. Then the next night (Friday) it was daddy's turn to get him to do it. I was working at The Spot. Daddy said it went just fine. When I got home at 12:30 am Parker had just woken up (maybe the garage door shutting) so I went up and told him I was home and would check on him every 10 minutes. It worked again! I couldn't believe it, are we home free? Yes, another night of sleep. Saturday night, same thing except tons of coughing from the boys and they were both tossing and turning, but sleeping...I hope I am not jinxing myself, but we seem to be over the hump. Just constant reassurance that we are there for him and "warnings" through out the day when the activity he is doing will be over soon. If I just give him the "10 more minutes and then we go upstairs" bit, he doesn't seem to backlash about not wanting to...

all the way to Loman

It is my MIL's 66th Birthday on March 9th...so we celebrated this weekend. Blake and Casey hosted out at their house in Loman with supper, drinks and a ginormous cake. After nap time we took the kids out, we let them watch a movie in the car the whole 25 miles. No idea what we did prior to portable DVD players. But it gives us (Bear and I) a chance to talk in a fairly quiet environment. Emmitt fell asleep on the way out so as soon as I turned off the highway I set the cruise to 25 mph and we took our time heading to the house. Parker was unfazed by the decrease in speed so we got to talk even more. The area has been logged lately and it always gives Bear a chance to "give me a lesson" in the worldly ways he knows all about that I am completely oblivious to. I actually enjoy the lesson and always seem to come up with some stupid question that makes his eyebrows go up in astonishment. Sadly, it takes a reason to drive all the way out to Loman for supper.

Uncle Bart came up for the weekend...

The drool machine doing what he does best...drooling and climbing.
And of course Grandma's triple layer German Chocolate cake! To top it off, Auntie Casey let Parker make homemade ice cream. When I asked Parker what he should say to Grandma? He started in singing. Happy Birthday to You! In a key much higher (and nasally) than the rest of us. It was funny when we finished because we all tried to stay up in the key, but failed and found a key all on our own. Very interesting!
Parker saying "ahhhh" to just about anybody who asks. He will tell you right away that he had his tonsils out. They are doing very well too. The scabs are going away almost completely. He is talking more and more every day. He is hearing lots of things that we know he didn't hear before, mainly because he is commenting on hearing them. He is startled more easily by loud noises. His appetite is coming back gradually, but mostly he isn't gagging up food when he takes a big bite. The boys developed a nasty cough and diarrhea over the weekend though, oh and the runny snotty nose too! :)

I think he assumes since he is "at the Farm" and in the country he can throw all manners out the window, including using the bathroom. Notice how he didn't go down to the bottom step by proceeding to pee off the top one, right in the middle and on the rest of the steps!

Is this for real or is his playing me?

Parker has been healing nicely, physically. His throat is looking pretty gross, but that is a good thing. His voice is still hyper-nasally, but they are saying that is a side effect of the adenoid surgery. He most likely has some swelling from the surgery itself, but nothing like he had with the enlarged tonsils and adenoids. Every one kept telling me, he is going to be a different kid when this is all over. Well, I feel it is all over, but I know it's not, and he is a different kid, but not necessarily better. I am waiting for him to blossom and hear all these sounds he has been missing. Like the other night with the banging dishes…that made my heart swell with excitement. But we are getting the backlash of hearing so much so soon. He is acting out in ways that he hasn't before and in ways that we by no means condone. He refuses to let daddy help him with anything and kicks to get him away from him or screams at him or hits him. He is waking up multiple times a night and freaking out in his room (which he shares with Emmitt), screaming in the hallway, banging on the door that leads downstairs, hitting us to wake us up at all hours of the night, wanting but not wanting to sleep in our bed, won't calm down when we try to ask him what is wrong or what he is afraid of. Is he hearing sounds at night he hadn't heard before and it is waking him up and scaring him? Is he afraid to fall asleep in case he wakes up in a different room hurting and surrounded by strangers like when he was in the hospital? Is he hearing so much that he is over stimulated and he can't process it all so fast? Is he just playing me because I am mom and he had me home for a week? Is this going to end soon? We are running on little sleep in this house. Which just adds to the crab-fest party. I try not to coddle him too much in case he is playing us and milking it for all he's got, but on the other hand I don't want to send him away with less loving simply because I don't want to form a bad habit. Like sleeping in our bed, once in awhile I don't mind, but the fact is none of us sleep well when we are all crammed into a bed. He is crawling up on my side and sleeping right next to my side in my armpit. If I try to rollover or move to get comfortable he jolts awake and makes sure I am not going anywhere. He hears my alarm clock and will not stay sleeping, he gets up with me. He is wanting to shower with me again-which is something that we cut him off from doing at three-I'm a girl, you're a boy, go shower with daddy. If he starts peeing his pants I may lose it. He has just been backsliding since the surgery. I have layed down with him in his bed until he falls asleep, I have taken privileges away-his favorite puppy as punishment for not staying in his bed and screaming at night (that has always worked in the past), I have done special projects with him one on one; made cookies and banana bread, taken just him to the store, gone to the library, things to make him feel safe and important, I have screamed at him for his behavior, I have cried with him, I have called the doctor to see if this is all normal. Tonight I told him a long story about how his puppy needs him to be brave and that it only likes to sleep in his bed and he needs to take special care of that puppy like a daddy and mommy do. I made the puppy a special bed and everything. Currently he is in his bed quietly playing with the puppies. He came to the door 4 times: the puppies leash, their food, a drink for himself, and something else that I refused to go up and find out about. Part of me wants to just ignore him and show him whose boss, but the other part is so hard is that he is disrupting Emmitt's sleep. Nobody came into Parker's room when he was a baby and stood over the crib and screamed for an hour! Ahh…what to do?

I think it's working

I was putting away dishes tonight and Parker was in the kitchen with me, but at the other counter and says ouch, mom...that hurts my ears. So I am thinking that he is already noticing some sounds that he hadn't really been hearing at full potential. sigh...I can already feel the weight coming off my shoulders.

finding things to do

It has been difficult at times to find enough things for Parker to do while being on the down low. For the most part he is content to play with Emmitt. But we need to find things for him to play when he is sick of Emmitt and needing a distraction. He is definitely not sleeping well at night or at nap times. Add that to not eating and we have ourselves an easily cranky 3 year old.

Play-dough is always a win-win. This was something that we could distract him with after having his ear drops put in.

Saturday morning we headed out to visit Grandma Audrey. We surprised her and she dropped everything she was doing to play with me and the boys. She built a fort and we tried to get Emmitt in it but instead he crawled on top of it. Didn't matter though, he had fun doing it.

Dave had saved some of Paul's old Lincoln Logs and Parker plays with them every time he is out for a visit. We had to upgrade to the big table though...Emmitt tries to eat the little pieces.

Grandma's loft is a great place to play peek-a-boo

But no matter what we do for the day...the days are long. He gets very tired, very fast. I am not sure why he isn't sleeping very well. At times it is like he is scared, which he may very well be. It was a traumatic experience. But he can wake up totally uncontrollable. Kicking daddy to get out of our bed because he wants to sleep there. Screaming in the middle of the night, but not saying what he wants. Other times, I think he is just crabby from being tired and hungry. If we can get him to sit still for a Disney movie that is pretty good. I don't mind right now, because we need him to just rest for awhile at times...and we need a break at times. It was so nice to get out to grandma's and not be staring at the same four walls of our house. Tomorrow we are going to try daycare and see how he responds.
If any of you out there need a great kid friendly hand held portable dvd player get the Fischer Price one. It's pricey but way worth it. You can actually drop it down a flight of stairs and it won't break. It comes in handy when we aren't in the mood to watch Brother Bear for the millionth time on the big TV.

Unfortunately after a day of playing, he usually looks pale and tired...