Sometimes It Don't Rain But It Pours

Captain Adorable developed 25+ red blotches on each leg and a fever. The blotches spread and the fever climbed. We didn't know what was going on (could he have chicken pox? But he'd been vaccinated! But you can get a mild case even after vaccination...) and had to cancel all our playdates for the week, which made him (and me) extremely sad.

Then we heard the official diagnosis for my sweet MIL and she's got a long hard road ahead of her. Captain Obvious have been doing a lot of brainstorming on the ways that we can help her. I've been suggesting resources I think she should pursue for herself and for her family (like counseling services). Captain Obvious has been sharing advice and help with her also. I think we have a lot to offer and I hope she will let us help in the ways that we can help. After all, we've already traveled the cancer journey road. We've also both shed tears over this; I feel especially protective of my husband, who in the space of 3 years has had the two most important women in his life get diagnosed with late-stage cancer. I know he is a strong guy with a buoyant core but, well,

Just to top this off, while I was on the phone with my MIL (my sick little guy was watching tv) and I noticed little bloody splotches on the off-white tiles in the foyer. I wondered where they could be from until I finally realised that they are the bloody footprints of my beloved but much maligned cat, Trout. His eosinophilic granuloma complex is acting up again. So now a few days of steroid pills for him. Good thing he does not mind taking pills (the only cat I know who cooperates with being forced to swallow pills!). I feel bad for him now that I know exactly what steroids do to one! Seriously, I know exactly how the pills make him feel as we have both been prescribed the exact same steroid (dexamethasone).

Captain Obvious left for a business trip (8 days in Hawaii, poor thing) at 5:00 this morning. Oma and Opa arrive tomorrow to keep us company in his absence. I hope Captain Adorable is rested up enough to do all the things we've got planned!

Good Fun In The Summertime

Well, we've been having fun in lots of ways since I last posted. Capt. Adorable and I have a new past-time: canoeing. We've only done it once (on the only day this week that was cool enough!) but ahhh so awesome. Will definitely be doing more of that. Had a couple playdates (out in public and at home) and we will do more of that. Our neighbors who have a pool invited us to drop by and swim again--hoping to do more of that. Captain Obvious measured Captain Adorable this morning and he has grown an inch since June 20! I expect he'll do more of that, too. ;) The afternoon nap has made a reappearance lately and now I know why--that boy has been busy growing!

He has also been making lots of funny statements lately. Here is a sampling: "mama, let's cut you in half, fill you up with milk, and sew you back together so there will be milk in your boobies again." "Mama, there's a big storm coming and it will knock down our house and we will have to go live in Tennessee with Oma and Opa." "I need a kid's paddle so I can help paddle the canoe!" Goodness knows he is full of ideas, isn't he?

This afternoon my darling husband and I insisted that we be allowed to remove the splinter that has been festering in his heel for days. He was very frightened and so I bribed him with a lollipop. Which I was unable to find, so I gave him a piece of chocolate and promised another after the splinter was removed. Well, he cried and cried so hard that eventually Capt. Obvious stopped (after only very gently trying to remove the dern thing!) and Capt. Adorable only agreed to continue if I took over. Fortunately for me I got to look like a hero because of the work Capt. Obvious had already done and I had it out in a flash. Then in another stroke of inspiration I found the lollipops (which I bought to reward him when he had his blood drawn, as you may remember) so our little guy was happy in the end after all.

One bad thing happened this week: I had a headache for 2 days. Actually, 3+ days. The first 2 days were really intense, and none of my homeopathic/alternative methods were working, so I went to the doctor, who diagnosed me as having an atypical migraine (because the symptoms were not typical). I was given and took a migraine medicine, which cut the pain by 80-90%, which means it was indeed probably a migraine. Note that I said the pain was cut, not stopped. The third day was still rather unpleasant, but bearable, though I did have a rather short temper on day 2 (yelled at the doctor) and was not my patient self on day 3 either (after getting whacked repeatedly by Captain Adorable, yelled at him in front of my sweet MIL and her daughter, my sister-in-law). Today was the fourth day and there were still twinges of pain, but 95-98% gone. Yay!

My Heart Aches For Her

I did not want to post this before because this is her news to share, in her way, in her time, but Capt. Obvious told me that "everyone knows" now.

My sweet-MIL has been diagnosed with endometrial cancer. This has just happened. This is the beginning of her cancer journey. I ache for her because I love her and because I've traveled the road she is starting down.

Obviously, I will do everything I can to help her.

Half Birthday

Today Captain Adorable is 3 and a half. To celebrate, we turned his bed over. This was much discussed for several weeks in advance. (He has an IKEA bed which can be turned so that you sleep on the top or the bottom. Not a bunk bed, although you could easily use it as such if you just put the bottom mattress on the floor.) Anyhow, the poor guy doesn't seem to like it at all. :( We will see if he warms up to it or not...if not of course we'll just turn it over again. What does Capt. Adorable actually want? Cupcakes! ;)

Soccer Camp

Captain Adorable loves soccer! He tells me so everyday, both before and after soccer camp. This is one hour a day each weekday for one week (so, five days in a row). He really enjoys kicking the ball and, I think, being part of a group. I am now beginning to look for a soccer group/camp/lessons/whatever they are called for this fall since he enjoys it so much. He's also been taking naps this week. Well earned, I'd say.

Homeschool/Unschool

I am considering homeschooling Captain Adorable. There are many factors affecting this decision and I do not have time to go into the whole discussion tonight. I just wanted to share what my home school/unschooling experience has been like so far. My attempts to formally learn the alphabet and numbers were rejected, yet it is obvious he knows the alphabet and can count to twenty (and is learning some concept of adding/subtracting). He also knows the days of the week and a few months of the year.

However, to the point, I told Capt. Adorable about the oil spill in the gulf tonight while we were motoring up the river back home. He was fascinated and amazed and of course wnted to hear the story again and again. Tomorrow I will show him photos of the oil spill, the live cam of the gushing oil well, and the birds and animals affected. I will try to find photos of the people affected as well. I have a feeling we're going to learn a lot about oil and fossil fuels over the next week or two!

I guess this is wha unschooling is. I allow my child to experience the world around him, present him with information and experiences, then see what he is interested in (what he asks about and talks about) and then search out more information (books, photos, videos, seeing things in real life) and learn more about it together. I am enjoying doing this so far. So far we've learned about sailboats (and boats in general: water displacement and so forth), volcanoes, earthquakes, lightning, bones (what they are, what they do, how they break, and how they heal). Now I guess we're adding oil spills (fossil fuels, etc). SHould be fun!

Lots Going On

My grandmother's death has meant a lot of different things to my family. One of the many things it means is that we (well, mostly my parents) had to work on cleaning up her apartment. As mentioned in a previous post, they were here for about 5 days, spending time with their beloved grandson and oh yeah his mother (haha) and also working hard on getting the apartment sorted, packed, emptied...

Let me give you some advice people. Don't buy so much stuff, and get rid of what you don't need. Especially plastic bags. They can be recycled these days. No one wants used plastic grocery bags. No one. ;)

We did some midnight sailing, some fun at home, some disappointment on a planned activity that led to another really fun experience later, and just generally had lots going on!

We're doing a soccer camp next week. Mama has to accompany (fine with us!) and it is only an hour per day, but I think it is going to take up our entire morning every day this week. And I think Capt. Adorable will be exhausted after, so perhaps there will be more napping than usual this week. Heck, maybe I will get one or two!