We can practith that

My baby is growing up. Wednesday, she officially entered "the system," participating in a pre-school screening. Her reward for completing the test? A goodie bag filled with all sorts for preschooler delights, like color crayons...    

And a juice box...

By far, the most exciting gift in the bag was a scissors. If ever there was an indication that she's a big girl, it's definitely being given scissors as a gift. 

As I'd filled out form after endless form in preparation for the screening, I realized I wasn't too concerned about any development issues. Granted, at times Sydney is annoyingly clingy when I wish she'd be more independent, while other times she's stubbornly independent when I wish she'd stick closer to my side. But overall, she seems to be doing just fine developmentally. The only thing I was curious about was her vision. AJ was already wearing glasses at her age, and lately she's been sitting closer to the TV and trying to have books set right in front of her when we read. And what did we learn? That Miss Sydney didn't want to cooperate during the vision test, so they can't conclusively determine if she needs glasses. In other words, we need to schedule a visit to the eye doctor.

The one other area in which she might need work - which caught me completely by surprise - is pronouncing the letter 's'. They detected a slight lisp. Overcome with flashbacks to second grade speech class... silly Sally saw a slithering snake, slithering through the silky grass... I could only point to a glass and ask, "Sydney, what's this?"

"Glasth," was her answer. Sure enough. How have I never noticed that?

Lucky for her (she'll probably go on an independent streak and think otherwise), I happen to remember all sorts of exercises the speech therapist did with me, even after all these years. This is definitely something we can master.

Springtime stance

Despite fresh snowfalls three of the first four days of April, we refuse to give up hope that spring is almost here. (It helps that whatever falls in the morning, generally melts by evening.)

The shift in the weather has prompted a shift in our driveway sports. When we went outside to play after dinner, the hockey sticks stayed in the garage and the hockey net was re-purposed into a back stop for wild pitches.

With AJ batting, me pitching, and Sydney wandering around aimlessly pretending to be an outfielder, it was game on! About the time AJ accumulated five "runs," Sydney tripped and skinned a knee. We switched things up as a distraction for her. Afterall, there's no crying in baseball!

AJ took on the roll of pitcher and coach.

Why do I get the feeling Jeff has been working with AJ on his stance?

Alas, despite the fancy foot positioning, not to mention fancy footwear, Sydney needed more help.

Focus, Sydney. Focus! Coach AJ next tried to motivate his young rookie by making "sure she could see the ball."

Followed by the stance...

Now the other foot...

"AJ!" Sydney just wanted him to pitch the ball.

Once again the moment of truth... the swing...

...and the miss.

Finally Mommy switched from photographer to batting assistant. Wrapping my arms around Sydney, I adjusted her grip, and then helped her take a swing. Our first attempt ended in a strike, but on pitch number two we made contact. The ball took a lucky (for us) bounce, which gave Sydney more than enough time to run between the imaginary bases on the driveway and score.

And then, it started to rain.  Rain, not snow.

The perfect excuse to call it a game and head inside.

A fine moment in parenting

If only Mommy's mistakes could be so easily erased...   

I know that no mom is perfect. My standard post-screw-up line is "Well, there goes my Mother-of-the-Year award again!" But I have to wonder, for how many years do I get knocked out of the competition for a mistake that results in a phone call from the police chief's office?

Monday was supposed to be a fresh start. Everyone was healthy. I was almost caught up on sleep. The two freelance projects that had been hanging over my head were at last done and submitted. I was ready to fully focus on my day job.

And then, a little after 4 p.m. came the call.

"Is this Dana? Hi, this is Murial from the chief's office. We got a call from your neighbor, Mr. Anderson, and AJ's okay... "

What?

What?!?!?!

WHAT???!!!

AJ was supposed to have gone to the after-school program. Except nobody knew that because I'd forgotten to send my weekly e-mail instructing his teacher and the Cool Kids staff on which days he should stay and which days he should come home on the bus.

And so he'd come home on the bus. To a locked up house.

As luck would have it, the teenage boy next door missed the bus. When Peter finally made it home 20-minutes later, he spotted AJ sitting on our porch crying, and invited him over to their house. Not knowing what to do next, Peter called his dad. His dad didn't know how to reach us, but remembered where Jeff works and so called the police department in hopes they knew how to track him down.

It just so happened that Jeff was helping coach baseball yesterday afternoon, and so didn't have his phone with him. The police department, being the investigative sorts that they are, pulled Jeff's emergency contact information and came up with my work phone number.

Does this kind of thing happen to anybody else? To screw up is one thing. To screw up in such a way that my boss finds out (I had to explain why I needed to leave early), my husband's colleagues find out (I guess I'm glad he doesn't work for social services), my neighbors find out, as do all sorts of people involved in my son's education and well-being. To achieve all that through one forgotten e-mail, well, that takes a special kind of talent!

I quickly called the Andersons, thanked Peter profusely and assured him I was on my way to get AJ.

Did I mention Monday was the first day of this year's portion of the I-35 Mega-project? Forty-five minutes later I finally completed the normally 20-minute ride and retrieved AJ.

Thank goodness the temperature wasn't -10 degrees. Thank goodness for good neighbors.

And yes, I've now sent an e-mail with after-school instructions for the next two weeks.

Cover models

I stopped in at the Children's Museum last Friday on a work/volunteer-related mission. As we were heading out the door, the colleague I was with pointed to the brochure and said something to the effect of, "Dana, that's AJ!"

Sure enough, there was AJ's photo. Right above a picture of Sydney.

I recall a visit months ago when one of the employees (who I know through some volunteer committees we've served on together) was taking pictures and asked me to sign a release. I'd been taking pictures, too, and showed her a couple of my favorites on the camera. She'd asked me to e-mail her a few of them, which I'd done.

Late last year the pictures popped up on a fundraising brochure for the Depot Foundation. And now they're here. AJ's so excited he's bringing a copy to show his class. (Yes, to the Grandmas who are reading this, I grabbed an extra copy for each of you.)

Interestingly, the reason for my visit last Friday was to ask the museum president to be involved in the upcoming March for Babies. I wonder if it increased his interest in helping to see how I and my kids have helped support his organization.

The Children's Museum is dedicated to helping children explore and learn by playing and using their imaginations. Call me biased, but I think they chose the perfect imaginations to feature.

Carnival surprise

This story is a week old, but I somehow got sidetracked from posting it.

Last Saturday, I needed/wanted to stop at the mall to get a new pair of shoes. The kids begrudgingly/had no choice but to join me on this errand. And then we made the most wonderful discovery.  Across from the shoe store is Old Navy. And right at that moment they just so happened to be putting on a carnival as a fundraiser for some "support our troops" type of cause.

For a mere $1/child, AJ and Sydney got to play games and get a swell sugar rush. They started with a bean bag toss:

And then shot some hoops:

The most exciting part, however, was the twisty balloon animals and cotton candy. Amazingly we made it through the rest of the mall without a.) popping the ballons, and b.) ruining anything with sticky fingers in any of the other stores we visited.

April Fool's

All day yesterday I kept waiting. Surely someone would jump out and declare it was all a joke. But no. I was just having one of those days.

It started with the several inches of snow that had fallen overnight. On April 1. I know we've gotten snowstorms before in April, and even May, but come on already!

AJ, for some reason I can't recall (something about the kindergarten teachers needing to be somewhere other than in the classroom), didn't have school yesterday. AJ was very aware of the significance of the April 1 "holiday." For two hours I had to keep it from running in to wake up Daddy with his well-planned trick. Finally, I let him go for it.

"Daddy, I missed the bus and you have to drive me to school!"

I wasn't there to see or hear how it all played out, but a minute or so later, a dejected AJ came back saying, "he didn't believe me."

Remembering why this day was important to Jeff, I whispered a new plan to AJ.

Back he ran, "Daddy, I'm going to root for the Yankees this year!"

That must have gotten a better response because AJ quickly returned, laughing at his own cleverness.

With Jeff awake, Sydney and I headed for the pediatrician. Of course by the time we got there, her fever was gone. The doctor said we've survived the worst of it (though we're not out of the woods yet, in terms of any of the rest of us getting it), so the focus is on ending Sydney's diarrhea. The doctor recommended "FloraBoost", an over-the-counter pro-biotic. She conveniently provided me with a slip that listed the name, as well as the two specialty pharmacies in town that carry it and their addresses.

So off Sydney and I went, in search of the closer of the two options - at 1501 London Road. We got to that address easily enough. And found the Marine General store. I drove around the block again, hoping to see a tiny side office or something that would give me a hint of where the pharmacy was. Nothing.

I pulled over to the side of the road and plugged in the pharmacies name in my phone. 1601 London Road is the real address. So off we went again, found it quite easily and pulled into the parking lot. I unhooked Sydney from her carseat and carried her into the building, only to be "greeted" by a rather unfriendly pharmacist who informed me they don't carry that product. I suggested she let the pediatrician know this (not to mention their correct address) and she replied, "We have." Lovely.

So off Sydney and I headed again, in search of the other option - Veritae Wellness on Rice Lake Road. As I drove, I remembered that Rice Lake Road covers a very long stretch, and so at the next stop light, I quickly entered the address into my phone to figure out how far we'd be driving. Of course, my phone's map function decided to stop working right about that time. The light changed green. We continued driving. Another red light. Tried searching again. Still no luck. Green light. By now I was turning onto Rice Lake Road and so started looking for signs. Did I mention it was unbelievable foggy?

I passed the large Marshall School campus and it's ice arena. Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a building labeled "Marshall Professional Building," and just beneath that, "Veritae Wellness". I hit the brakes and turned into the lot. Seven parking spots: each labeled "reserved for Sylvan Learning Center only." On the far edge of the tiny lot I saw another car parked. I pulled in behind it, and through the fog saw the "No Parking - Fire Lane" signs. I pulled back out and turned to see if maybe there was an alternate entrance and parking on the side of the building. No - this just set me on a track comparable to the "no turning back" lanes you find outside an airport: drop offs only - no stopping - no parking. I was now forced to drive all the way around the school and ice arena, and finally made it back to my original spot... and pulled into the Sylvan-reserved parking spots.

Walking into the building, I found the store and - hooray! - found the Floraboost. I asked the employee where exactly I was supposed to park and she answered, "I know, isn't it annoying?"

Why, yes it is!

From there we headed to my office, which was the designated "kid exchange" spot. Jeff and AJ met us there, and I sent Sydney off with them. I then spent the next five hours of my day off at work, trying in vain to get caught up after all the schedule disruptions of the last week.

And then we rounded out the day with that wonderful fiasco also known as the Twins season opener.

Putting it all in perspective... Sydney's on the mend. No new disasters suddenly appeared. And at least my day wasn't as bad as the Twins'.

Planet presentation

 If I believed in astrology, I would say the stars have not been aligned well for me this week. Sydney's been sick, meaning I've been getting only three to five hours of sleep each night (most of which is only about an hour at a time with frequent interruptions), and Jeff and I have been juggling work schedules to be home with her the last three days.

On top of that, Maggie took a bad turn Wednesday afternoon, walking with a more pronounced limp and whimpering often.

Regardless, the planets seem to be aligned for AJ. Thursday afternoon, his class performed the culmination of weeks of work learning about the solar system. Below is the very bad video of AJ's part. You'll need to turn the volume way up to hear it.

If you couldn't make that out, he said:

Earth is where life is. Earth is the third planet from the sun. It has one moon.

The teacher explained to us that each child got to choose a planet. They then researched it (According to AJ they did this through "watching a lot of space movies and reading a lot of space books."), worked with their fourth-grade buddies (each has had a fourth-grade student helping them on various projects throughout the year. AJ's "buddy" is our neighbor, Annika.), decorated their own planet and wrote out their notes on an index card.

Here's what I found particularly impressive... go back to the video and note how intently AJ is reading from his card. Now take a look at what he was reading:

I'm glad it made sense to him.

*****



Incidentally, I'll be taking Sydney to the doctor this morning. She (and I) actually slept fairly well last night. Her fever is again down, but the diarrhea continues. This morning she's been asking for soup, which I take as a good sign because yesterday she had no appetite.

Meanwhile, Maggie has been doing slightly better since yesterday afternoon. I think poor Jeff was preparing himself to take her to the vet today. On several occasions I saw him laying on the floor with her, petting her and trying to console her. To keep the house quiet for Sydney to nap, I headed outside to play hockey in the driveway with AJ. And then, just like that, Maggie stood up and headed for the door, wanting to join us. She then hobbled around the driveway as best she could with a tennis ball in her mouth, wanting to be part of the action.

Jeff could only shake his head at the turn-around. I think he's finally learned what I figured out last February after the last time Maggie had a bad spell: don't make a permanent decision based on a couple bad days. We've been blessed with an extra month with her, and who knows, we just might be blessed to have her with us a little longer still. And for that I thank God (not my lucky stars.)