Progress

Paul flew out for the weekend to help with the remodel along with Jenn. Paul worked so hard that I hardly saw him but Buddy hardly didn't see him. While he was here they reframed the laundry room, put down some flooring, and put in a new window. We forgot to take a picture of the finished window but it is so much better in that room. The current windows face east so it is rather dark. This morning when I came into the kitchen I saw light streaming into that room and thought Buddy had forgotten to close the door. It was just a fabulous window. Once we replace the old door with a glass one it will be even better. The original design called for french doors but keeping the original door size decreased the amount of work significantly. Now instead of bar seating we will have a banquette. I think it will work out well. We're really excited to see the amount of progress made over the weekend. Paul was a huge help. Last night I ran a load of diapers with the washing machine in its new home. There are no lights or flooring or sheetrock yet but we're on our way.

Sleepy

Nyla woke up her usual time Wednesday morning but went back to sleep. She woke again at 11am. Then she fell asleep just before 5. I tried to wake her up a few times but she just wanted to sleep. When Cora fell asleep at 8 I thought I could sneak into bed with her and let her sleep through the night. That didn't quite work out because my quiet steps woke her up. I thought we were in for a rough night but she fell back asleep several hours later. I can't believe how tired she was.

Yesteray after playing a board game with Bohdin I accientally bonked him in the head with my elbow. He complained of his head hurting for the rest of the day. He took a nap but woke up in time to go to soccer practice. He was an absolute mess there because he was crying about his head hurting. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go or stay. We left just after soccer practice started. He went to sleep on the earlier side last night and is still laying in bed this morning watching tv. I haven't been able to entice him to eat breakast yet.



Nyla woke up more her usual self this morning. She is not the beast that has been around here lately. She has been dancing a bit but she doesn't quite have all of her energy back yet.



Cora is doing much better. She improved right after writing that last blog post. She had some trouble breathing last night but a 3am bath cleared her up well enough to sleep for many more hours. She has her spunk back. She is fighting me hard about getting that mucus out.


Buddy was sent home from work on Wednesday. The doctor said he had bacterial bronchitis which I disagree with. He is still home today and working from bed. I think I may be the last tired person in the house. Sometime in the next few weeks I exect a better night of sleep.

Plumbing

Nyla is finally starting to feel better after days or rather nights of on and off fevers.  Unfortunately sweet Nyla lasted only that one day and she has used up all remaining sweetness for the foreseeable future.  It has not been pleasant.  Cora has been getting worse.  I'm on the fence about taking her into the doctor.  She hasn't had a fever but seems to be drowning in mucus.  She sounds so pathetic.  Yesterday was worse than today.  Yesterday she didn't even have the strength to fight the suction.  This morning she did.  I'm still considering it but she just fell asleep on my lap so I'll wait to decide until she wakes up.  The other kids are still sleeping even though it's 9:37.  We've all been tired lately. 



In addition to sick kids yesterday we had no water.  The plumbers were here for 12 hours trying to get stuff done.  The laundry room hookups have been moved to the new location and a lot of the old plumbing has been reworked and brought up to code.  The plumber had to come back in this morning to finish a few things and meet the inspector.  Phase one of the plumbing is complete.  I did a lot of laundry on Monday because I knew I would be losing my washing machine for a few days but I didn't think they would undo the old fittings.  I may have a trip to the nearby laundromat in my near future. 

Listening

Bohdin was so excited to go to soccer practice on Thursday that he wanted me to be three hours early.  We would then wait in the car until it was time.  That didn't sound like a good idea to me so we came home from the art museum and had lunch.  While Cora was sleeping Nyla came upstairs and laid down next to me.  She is pretty much done with naps so it was unusual when she fell asleep.  When Bohdin came upstairs asking if it was time to leave he woke both of the girls. Nyla had a fever. She really didn't want to get up but we had to go.  I wish I had called to verify that practice was on because we found out after driving there that it was canceled due to the snow.  Nyla has had a fever on and off since then.  The first night was the worst temperature wise.  We did discover though that Nyla becomes a sweet, patient, obedient little girl when she has a high fever.  I don't even need to use a thermometer.  I know that if she demands I take her temperature then she doesn't have a fever.  Cora is now sick also.  She doesn't have the fever but she does have the mucus.  Actually Buddy and I have this as well.

Nyla couldn't go to the special story time at the library yesterday so Bohdin, Cora, and I went.  The biggest reason they wanted to go was to get a piece of cake.  I left Bohdin by himself in storytime while I went to find the video Nyla requested.  Next to the videos were the audio books.  Buddy and I read a longer story to Bohdin last week and he really liked it.  I thought we might give audio books a try.  I know I don't have the time or desire to read really long books to him right now.  I detest reading long books aloud.  Bohdin thought the idea of an audio book was strange.  Why would someone record a mommy reading a book?  I put the cd of James and the Giant Peach on for him last night and he loved it.  When I went down to the basement to tell him it was bedtime he was nearly done with the over two hour story.  When he came upstairs he hugged me an told me that he liked it.  He wants to check them all out now.  This morning he woke up before everybody else and went down to the basement and started the book again.

Fussy

I was asked if Cora was a good teether and I mistakenly said yes.  In fact she is a horrendous teether.  She has been sleeping poorly for at least a week and for the few days prior to the tooth erupting she would wake up quite often crying.  She was also breathing through her mouth at the time and having some congestion issues.  If I'm lucky the congestion was an unfortunate coincidence.  The past two days she wanted to be held constantly.  This is a huge change from our regular routine.  She is usually quite content in either her exersaucer or on the floor.  Not recently.  If I'm not holding her she was crying and even when I was holding her she would get fussy at times.  Last night Buddy rubbed her gums in the shower for a long time.  Last night she finally slept calmly and today she has been her happy self again. For the most part anyway.  I did have to hold her while making lunch today but she was tired and hungry at the time.  I was trying to accomplish a lot quickly after coming home from the art museum.

Nyla and I are stuck in a power struggle over peeing.  For the past several weeks Nyla will hold her pee as long as she can before going.  Sometimes she has accidents which don't bother me but something the waiting causes her pain which does bother me.  If she pees when she needs to it doesn't hurt but she insists on waiting and eventually it does start hurting.  She has given me a million excuses of why she can't pee.  Her pee wants to do art.  Her pee wants to play.  Her pee is having fun.  Her pee wants to stay inside.  Her pee wants to hear a story first.  She will hold it for hours.  It has become very annoying. 

Sensitive Boy

Bohdin was super excited to go to soccer practice last week.  He is really enjoying the new session.  Practice went well until it was time for a water break.  Bohdin came up to me after getting a drink.  He was crying because a boy had pushed him out of the way.  I hugged him and he went back out in a few seconds.  Toward the end of practice they split into teams.  The girl was on the same team as Bohdin so I knew they would do awesome.  Bohdin had a goal and also an assist.  The assist was more of a lucky accident but it was really cool.  The girl was further away from the group and when Bohdin kicked it out of the gaggle of boys she had a clear shot for the goal.  Soccer practice ended after that goal.  Bodhin walked over to one of the coaches and as he was walking a boy came over and pushed Bohdin from behind.  Bohdin was really sad.  It was the second boy who had pushed him that day.  The coach talked to the boy and made him apologize.  Bohdin was sad even as we loaded up into the car.  It's not fair that this should happen to him.  He's so gentle and kind.  The next day I was looking stuff up and came across a book about the highly sensitive boy.  It described Bohdin really well.   

What is the difference between a non-highly sensitive boy and a sensitive boy? A highly sensitive boy has trouble screening out stimuli and can be easily overwhelmed by noise, crowds and time pressure. The HSB (highly sensitive boy) tends to be very sensitive to pain and violent movies. He is also made extremely uncomfortable by bright lights, strong smells and changes in his life.
The highly sensitive boy’s nervous system is "wired" in such a way that he is more acutely aware of, and attuned to, themselves, other people, and their environment than the non-HSB. As a result, a highly sensitive boy is more easily stimulated by his surroundings. This is an inborn trait that researchers have also observed in approximately 20 percent of animal populations.
The highly sensitive boy generally reacts more deeply and exhibits more emotional sensitivity than the non-HSB. However, the degree of emotional and physiological reactions varies in each boy. For example, one HSB may not be bothered by noise or crowds, but is made uncomfortable by strong smells or wearing scratchy fabrics. Another boy may be extremely disturbed by loud noise, but not be bothered by watching violence on television. Although the trait has a high correlation with introversion, approximately 30 percent of HSBs are extraverts.
Most sensitive boys tend to pause to reflect before acting and would not be considered risk takers. Although this could be considered having a healthy caution, in most societies boys are frequently encouraged and praised for taking risks and shamed for cautious behavior. The HSB will notice potential danger sooner than the non-HSB and is very aware of safety issues.
Sensitive boys are generally less aggressive than the “average” boy and are at the opposite end of the spectrum from the very unemotional, aggresive, risk-taking non-HSBs. The HSB is conscientious, sensitive to his environment, and socially aware of others around him.
Although many cultures tend to categorize sensitive boys as being unusual or not normal, the trait is basically neutral. Life can be both satisfying and challenging for the boy with a finely tuned nervous system. For example, his responsible and careful approach to completing his schoolwork can make him an excellent student. However, he may spend an inordinate amount of time agonizing over whether he completed his assignment properly.

The problem is that our society does not care for these types of boys.  They are well regarded in other parts of the world but unfortunately for Bohdin he lives in this country.  Buddy and I will have to help Bohdin work with his personality.

On the way home from soccer practice I tried really hard to keep Nyla awake.  She doesn't really take naps anymore because if she does she is up way too late.  Since Bohdin was sad I tried to lighten the mood by talking about vacation plans.  We'll have to go somewhere for our anniversary this year.  Bohdin wanted to go to Hawaii which would be nice but is out of the question.  The kids finally settled on a hotel on the beach.  I'm hoping they will forget by the time summer rolls around because it is highly unlikely that we will be going to the beach.  Nyla just walked into the bedroom packed and ready to go.  She is wearing a bathrobe, pumpkin bag on her head, backpack and is carrying an additional bag filled with clothes.

Cora is opposed to me writing such a long post.  She's a little fussy this morning.  Last night her first tooth broke through.  Well it may have happened any time yesterday but I discovered it last night.  I hope she's fussy from the tooth and not because she is getting sick.  Bohdin was pretty sick yesterday.  He had a high fever through most of the day.  We lost our thermometer.  I bought one last night and checked his temperature as he came up to dinner.  He was playing fisherman and wanted the tent set up.  His temp was 102.1.  I joked with Buddy that if either of us had that kind of temperature we would be laying in bed moaning about being sick.  I can't imagine what his temperature must have been like earlier when he had no energy and wouldn't eat. 

Dancing

We had a little bit of snow on Tuesday.  Bohdin was really excited to shovel.  He didn't completely clear the driveway but he did make some paths.  His goal was to make on giant pile of snow.  His giant pile of snow was about six inches high.  He had fun and he even played with the girls across the street until they had to go inside.

Last night Nyla told me I needed to make another butterfly blanket.  This one would be for Elmo.  I asked why Elmo's mommy couldn't make it instead.  According to Nyla, Elmo's mommy is trapped in a cage inside a cave by a moster.  Elmo's daddy is coming to our party and apparently has no time.  I am not making a blanket for Elmo.    I don't care how sad Elmo is about his mommy.  How sad could he be anyway if he's planning to come to our house with his daddy for a party?

Nyla discovered that Cora's clothes fit some of her dolls in addition to her teddy bear.  She makes me dress them usually for bed but sometimes in other outfits.  I looked in Cora's drawer this morning for a pair of pants and it was completely empty.  Nyla had rummaged through each of the drawers searching for something.  She is unable to look for something without emptying the entire drawer.  Her room which holds Cora's clothes as well looks like a clothing explosion. 

Here is Nyla dancing with a doll this morning.  Cora watches the antics of her siblings very intently. Much to Nyla's chagrin, Cora prefers to be in the exersuacer right now probably because she can see what her two crazy siblings are doing.  It's amusing to see the difference in her childhood.  She laughs at Bohdin's antics.  The other night Cora was on the bed while I was cleaning.  Bohdin was throwing a small stuffed bunny in the air and yelling "Cora bunny!".  Cora found it very amusing.  She laughed every time until I pulled out the recorder.

Castle Panic

Bohdin set up a large Playmobil scenario that spans the width of the basement. I've been stepping over it for over one week. I was hoping taking a picture of it would entice him to finally take it apart but he claims he is still not done with it. Unfortunately for him, I am quite done with it.

Bohdin watched a lot of tv over Christmas break and it was difficult to wean him back to normal levels. Last Tuesday I threatened to cancel cable and disconnected it while I thought it through. Bohdin was really sad. He cried about it for over an hour while Nyla and I were outside playing soccer. When she came back in though they started playing something new together. It was bomb which sounds a bit worse than it actually was. I still haven't reconnected the cable downstairs yet. He's been watching videos but he can't do that to the extent of tv watching. He's not allowed to play computer until Buddy is home. Keeping computer use in check is the next obstacle. He has watched some tv over the past week. I think we'll get the whole house DVR when it comes out so I can record his shows. Then not having the tv on until Buddy is home won't keep him from watching all of his shows.



Bohdin received a cooperative board game for Christmas. I'm already tired of playing it. Nyla took my place last night for the first time. I was surprised by how much she had picked up by listening to us play. She had really great special effects when she shot the monsters. I had to come back in toward the end. She didn't have the stamina for the whole game. In the last week Bohdin and I have also played Carcassonne and Battle Line. The rules of Battle Line are simple enough but the strategy is way beyond Bohdin right now. He did okay on Carcassonne. He likes me to play on easy level which means I play just under his ability. He understands that I'm letting him win. I hope I'm not screwing this up. The goal is to develop a love of games and the ability to lose gracefully. Right now we're just focusing on the former.



The kids and I stopped at the bookstore yesterday in hopes of finding some cheap Max and Ruby books for Nyla. Bohdin found a few books but I accidentally reshelved them. It took me 30 minutes to find them again. I had put them on the bottom shelf as I was getting up. Cora had become fussy and we needed to go. When I was searching for them Cora made it really difficult. We went to Costco afterward and had to really rush. I sent Bohdin with some money to buy a slice of pizza while I waited in the unusually long lines. He had no trouble doing it. I was proud of him but he thought it wasn't a big deal. He wasn't able to do something like that last year so I do think it was a big deal.

Life

Between homeschooling and an infant I'm much busier than ever. Homeschooling doesn't actually take that long but this past week I've been planning for upcoming times. There are only four lessons left in his spelling curriculum and I wasn't sure if I wanted to move on with the second book or hold off. Since I need to place an order for that I want to do the rest of the curriculum at the same time to save on shipping. There are so many choices and I've spent the week reviewing some of that. Once we finish geography we're going to study Native Americans with a focus on preColumbus times. That was Bohdin's choice. I've also had to request all of the Europe books I'm going to need in the upcoming weeks and the science books. That is mostly decided. The one unknown is what to do about Bohdin's reading. The spelling curriculum teaches phonics. If you can spell a word you can read it. The trouble is he sort of learned to read on his own. The way he reads is guessing the word instead of sounding it out. It's not a good method. Right now he mostly hates reading and I'm not certain of the reason. Maybe he hates the stories I choose, maybe it's harder than he likes since he's still so new at it, or maybe it's something else entirely. I may start him on a separate phonics reading program. The other option would just be to hold off on reading practice for now. There is a lot to think about. I did just get him art curriculum. As much as I enjoy his free form painting I don't think he'll win at the state fair with one of those. Plus he wanted to learn art techniques. We'll see what happens. He really wants to enter something and art is one of his best bets. It's the only category where he would be competing against kids very close to his age. I plan to teach him to sew this winter or spring. He can enter a pillowcase in the 13 and under category.



I've been busy sewing. I planned to make Bohdin a robe for Christmas after I finished Nyla's butterfly blanket. I just finished the blanket this week though. Nyla chose all of the fabrics which is hopefully obvious. The other side is a bit different and a bit more hideous. All of the fabrics chosen really represent Nyla though. It needs one more wash to finish fluffing up.



Bohdin started soccer practice again this week. He had a lot of fun with the older age group. There were seven kids and Bohdin was neither the best nor the worst. As a female I'm proud to say that the lone girl was definitely the best. There was a boy who had never done soccer before who wasn't as advanced yet. I'm so glad Bohdin is learning soccer this way. It is so much better for him than joining a league. Toward the end of practice they played three on three. Bohdin scored a goal. The other team won though because they had the girl. I'm not sure they kept track of scoring.

Cora is turning circles better this week. She still can't claw her way forward. She's had some trouble sleeping this week because it's been dry. As a result she's been fussy at times especially in the car. We're back to crying on car rides across town. Below is a picture of her with a net over her head courtesy of her brother. He thought it was much funnier than anybody else.

Elmo

Today was the last day of the Sesame Street exhibit at the science museum. We haven't been there in a while so decided to go and get out of Buddy's way. He was ripping out old flooring. I checked the website before leaving and saw they were doing a balloon drop today in honor of New Year's Day and Elmo was going to be there. We made it to the balloon drop with seconds to spare. The kids thought it was neat. We had to wait around a while for Elmo but wasting time in that place is easy for the kids. Although the museum seemed super busy we didn't have to wait long for our turn with Elmo. Bohdin was somewhere else in the exhibit. He has zero interest in people dressed up as cartoon characters. (That's how he refers to them) Nyla on the other hand loves it. When it was her turn she immediately went up to Elmo and hugged him. It seemed like a comforting sort of hug. She might have stayed there for quite some time but I told her other people wanted a turn. She kissed him before leaving. She was never a big fan of Elmo before. She was aware of him but she much prefers Dora and Uniqua from the Backyardigans. Now she is preparing for his visit. Last week she wrote Dora and Uniqua a letter inviting them to a party. Every day she asked me if they were coming.




There was also a dance party at the science museum. Bohdin wouldn't dance but Nyla loved it. She even had a chance to do the chicken dance which she had learned at story time a few days ago. She stayed in there for several songs.


Bohdin likes playing mail man at the museum. Today was the first time he put the jacket on. He doesn't care much for dress up clothes so I was a little surprised. He wouldn't go for the hat though.

On the Move

I put Cora on the floor a feet away from me in the basement on Thursday. I was cutting out fabric and Cora was on her belly with some toys in front of her. I looked up several minutes later and she was gone. I could no longer see her. I stood up and scanned around the room and didn't see her. I walked around to the front of the couch and found that she had scooted back several feet. It was the furthest she had ever traveled. Bohdin and I proceeded to clear out a Cora space for her. I told the kids that no more nonCora toys were allowed in that area. Of course the kids promptly set up a huge picnic and pillow house in the clear area. They just can't pass up the opportunity to put their stamp on a clear area. This morning I saw her roll over onto her back and then roll onto her belly again. She covered a good bit of ground with that move. She luckily wasn't aware of what she accomplished. I'm not ready for her to roll around a room.

Yesterday we went to the scratch and dent store in town. We were undecided about the size of the stove. I wanted 30" and Buddy wanted 36". I thought we would just look around but we found a 36" stove. In addition we found a great fridge for us. I don't care for side by side fridges but they are way more kid friendly than the french door fridge with the freezer on the bottom. Nyla can't really reach anything in those types of refrigerators. We found a discontinued model that is a hybrid between the two. The top is a side by side fridge. On the bottom are two small compartments that can function as either freezer space or refrigerator space.

After spending thousands of dollars we went out for lunch. I ate something I should not have because that evening Cora started throwing up. She also pooped three times. I'm not sure what it was that didn't work out for her. She wasn't too grumpy so I took a few pictures of her last night. That was the most significant thing we did last night. We did nothing to celebrate the new year.