Rough Week

I had some dental work done last Monday and received two temporary crowns. By the weekend one of the teeth started to hurt badly. By Saturday evening the pain was tremendous and no pain killer made it even slightly better. Unfortunately I had to wait until Monday to go in. One of the crowns was a little high and it caused a kind of bruising. I was prescribed strong narcotics and the dentist thought the pain should get better within two weeks. He said if wasn't getting better by Wednesday to let him know because he would be out of town for a conference and the whole office would be closed. It did feel a lot better on Tuesday but of course it became really bad on Wednesday. Now I'll probably wait again until Monday to have him take another look at it. In the meantime I have to chew as little as possible because even chewing on the good side can give me hours of pain. I haven't even attempted to chew on the temporary crown side.

When I went in on Monday I had to take a sick Cora in with me. It sounds like she has croup. I thought Bohdin and Nyla might avoid it but today they are both sick as well. At least one of them has had it before so they are not very sick. Cora has been battling a cough and runny nose for many days now. For the first few days she just felt sick at night but now it is both day and night.




Between tooth pain and sick kids we haven't done much of anything. Besides the dentist and the grocery store we haven't gone anywhere all week. We didn't do anything over the weekend either. I did take Nyla to the grocery store last week so she could pick out a new toothpaste. We were out of her favorite and she didn't like any of the other ones we own. The store didn't carry the one she wanted so she eventually decided to try a flavor called sparkly fun. After trying it she said in a very disappointed voice "I guess it isn't sparkly fun after all.".

Cora has been trying to emulate Nyla more and more. It is funny to watch Nyla's living room dance recitals because Cora copies everything she does. Nyla has some interesting dance moves so it is funny to see the one year old interpretation especially when Nyla is on the floor. For the most part, Nyla doesn't mind her little tag along.

Helpful

We went to the science museum last week because we just haven't gone often enough. Our membership expires in March and I don't think we'll be renewing because of a probable move this summer. The kids always have fun there. Since it was a weekday without a field trip we almost had the whole place to ourselves. Cora's favorite part was running away from me. We left a little earlier than I anticipated because Cora was getting tired.





Our first big snow finally came. We had maybe a quarter of an inch. The next day we had a little more but it was still less than an inch. Beggars can't be choosers so the kids enjoyed it. We had a snowball fight and tried to make a snowman family. The snow was kind of dry so we ended up with snow blobs that were about four inches high. Cora was not able to go out much because she refused to wear her boots. She wanted to wear her other shoes but they are not appropriate for wet weather.



Bohdin has been chewing on things a lot lately. Most of the collars on his shirts are hopelessly stretched out from all of the chewing and sucking. This weekend Bohdin was chewing on the sleeping bag when something happened and he hurt himself. His tooth that had already been loose became a lot looser. The picture below was taken about 10 seconds before the tooth came out after a nudge with his tongue. Bohdin wanted to save the tooth instead of giving it to the tooth fairy. I'm not sure the tooth fairy will ever visit Bohdin.



At storytime two weeks ago a photographer was there from the local newspaper taking pictures. He showed me this picture and told me he would put it in the newspaper the following day if space allowed. None of the other parents believed it when I told them because apparently it usually takes weeks for a picture to show up. I forgot about buying a paper the following day to check. The next week at story time one of the librarians gave me a copy of Cora's picture that was in the paper just as the photographer had said it would be. I'm glad she saved me a copy. Nyla is in the background in the right of the picture. Bohdin no longer likes to attend story time so he goes to the children's section of the library and reads while Nyla listens.



Bohdin has been complaining about his schoolwork and trying to put it off every day. I became very weary of fighting with him about it and was really close to putting him in public school. After seeing how serious I was he came around. The past two days have been awesome. He does his work quickly and we are done by lunchtime. In addition Buddy is going to start teaching one of five subjects each night on a rotating basis. I think this is good for everyone. I get a few minutes of my day back, Buddy gets to stay involved in Bohdin's schooling, and Bohdin gets another teacher with another point of view and teaching style.

There is some rule that only one child can be behaving well at any given time. Since Bohdin has been giving me attitude about everything, not being helpful, and deliberately trying to incite Nyla, Nyla has to step up and be the better behaved child. She has been awesome lately. Normally she refuses to help around the house. She either has an excuse or just says no and walks away. This week she has been incredible. She is being really helpful playing with Cora, she is cleaning up her messes, and she has started doing the laundry. She loads the washing machine without me asking, unloads into the dryer, and then puts the clean clothes in a laundry basket. I hate to lose my sweet Bohdin but I'm really enjoying my sweet Nyla in the meantime.

A Day in Our Life Part 2

7:22 After cleaning the basement for a few minutes, Bohdin is ready to work on his sewing project. I had planned that he would learn to sew this semester but he didn't get excited about it until I bought a new machine. If we are still here in the fall I would like him to enter a sewing project into the state fair. Right now he is working on his first pillowcase. Last week he cut it out. While Bohdin works, Nyla is trying to do art and Cora is pulling all of the pins out of the pin cushion.



7:48 Bohdin has already had to rip out a bad portion when the fabric veered so now he pays super close attention. It took a lot of time for him to complete this seam. In the next two to three weeks he should be done. Nyla is mad that Cora won't leave her alone and Cora is painting the furniture.



8:23 Bohdin eating what we refer to as second dinner. Nyla is too full of cupcakes to join him so we head upstairs to take a bath while Bohdin eats.



9:04 Normally Buddy would put Cora to sleep and I would read to Bohdin and Nyla before bed but since he is gone they get to watch tv for a little while.



10:15 Cora had a really hard time getting to sleep. Bohdin was the first to fall asleep and Cora was the last. Now I have quiet time again to read, watch tv, or do something on the computer.

11:50 The blog post is almost done. They can be quite time consuming to get together which is part of the reason there are not as many as there used to be. I also just have less time in general. I'm tired and it's time for bed.

Was this a typical day? Sort of. We didn't do anything we've never done before but every day is different. Tomorrow we have to pick up Buddy from the airport and it is library day. Schooling will be rushed instead of the relaxed pace we took today. The basement probably won't be cleaned tomorrow evening. With Buddy home Bohdin will be more interested in playing games on daddy's phone than cleaning. Dinner will be later because we almost always wait for Buddy to get home. There will be lots of little changes but overall this was a good representation of a typical day.

A day in our life part 1

I was made aware of a project to take one picture each hour for ten hours on the tenth of every month to document what a day is like. It sounded like a neat idea. I ended up taking more than 10 pictures. There is a limit to how many pictures I can post so there will be two parts.

9:07am Bohdin was the first one awake. He crawled into bed and laid quietly for who knows how long. Cora was the next one to wake up and she woke Nyla and I up. In the morning Nyla likes to grab Cora's hand and hold it. This morning Cora grabbed Nyla's hand. That part probably didn't wake her up. It was most likely the time that she crawled over Nyla to get to Bohdin. I was so tired. I ran a fever through the night and didn't sleep well. I woke up just after 3 and could not get back to sleep. It was close to two and half hours later that I finally fell asleep. I woke up 15 minutes later after having another bad dream. My fitful sleep affected Nyla and she woke up tired. After laying in bed for a while wishing I could go back to sleep we all got out of bed. Bohdin took a pillowcase off a pillow and used it for a sack race. Nyla wanted a turn and then Bohdin tried to give Cora a turn but she didn't care for it.



10:03am I was trying to clean up the kitchen after breakfast and get the dishwasher started. Cora was sad that I put her down sometimes. It's a lot faster to clean the kitchen with two hand than one. Cora didn't care.



10:08 After breakfast, Bohdin and Nyla went downstairs to play Playmobil. Bohdin had a bit of playtime before school work but it is never enough in his eyes. He always asks to put off school until later. Some days we do and some days we don't. Today we did two subjects before he could take a break.He chose math and music. Math was slow today because Bohdin did all of the writing. Often I write down his answers because it is much faster. Bohdin is learning to play the recorder. I told him last week that if he learned I would consider piano lessons which is what he really wants. I'm testing his dedication. So far I'm not impressed. He hardly practiced at all on his own last week.



11:11am. Nyla is doing her school work while Bohdin is taking a break. She loves doing Zippy the Zebra and begs for it. In the picture Nyla is painting the letter N. Zippy had to take a break because Cora pooped and I had to deal with that. Cora was being disruptive so I told Bohdin to take her outside. When Nyla saw them outside she wanted to stop doing school and go outside. We finished everything I had planned anyway which was the letter N, handwriting practice, and number review. It doesn't take long.



11:35 The kids play outside while I clean and get lunch ready.



12:16 It's lunchtime. I usually read to at both and breakfast and lunch. We've started an American history through literature study so we had to read that book. There was also a science book planned for today. Then the kids were able to pick out their own choices.



1:00 Cora is asleep. Bohdin is watching "How Things Are Made" on tv and Nyla is in the basement doing Peep. I spend nap time with Cora. It is my quiet time of the day when I can get on the internet, read a book, or watch something from the DVR.



1:39 Once his show is over Bohdin goes down to the basement to play. Nyla does Starfall on the computer for a while and then plays with Bohdin.



2:55 Cora looks at the toys that have been set up while she sleeps. She has already destroyed one area and is looking for another.



3:05 It's time for Bohdin to get back to work. He's working on his spelling in this picture. Last week I implemented a new system and it is going really well. We set the timer for 20 minutes and do what we can. It seems like we spend less time now but we do a lot more review. I think the timer keeps him from dawdling like he used to. Bohdin went from hating spelling to liking it more. He's retaining more and is happier. While Bohdin is doing spelling, Nyla and Cora are spinning in the chair. I had them come off and took a picture of them together in the sun. After spelling Bohdin had writing. Drucilla called while I was setting it up. I told her I would call her back soon. Once Bohdin had dictated the sentence that he needed to write I called her back. Bohdin wanted to do his writing outside. It had warmed up since earlier and the kids had a good time playing outside.






4:32 While I was outside I noticed that the spring bulbs were coming up. I was able to get a little weeding down as well. Those weeds are sprouting also.




5:11 Dinner time. Bohdin reads a few books while Nyla eats. Cora is happy because I'm carrying her.




5:26 Nyla ate quickly and wants to play. Bohdin has a hard time sitting down to eat because he just wants to play.He is pulling Nyla and Cora on a sleeping bag through the kitchen.  Later they will use it as a sort of slip and slide on the tile.  Nyla had begged to make cupcakes earlier but I told them no cupcakes until after dinner. Bohdin finally sits down and eats a little bit while I read him a book.



6:26 Bohdin puts the frosting on and Nyla adds the sprinkles. Cora is on my back and actually went into the carrier without complaint.

Sunny

We've had a mild winter but I didn't think it was quite warm enough for bathing suits and water play yesterday. Bohdin and Nyla disagreed. They thought the sunny 53 degree weather was a perfect time to splash themselves with water. After 30 minutes or so they did get cold and came outside. I found them outside when Cora woke up from her nap. She didn't have long to play before the other kids wanted to come inside.





Nyla missed both birthday parties this weekend. Once was cancelled because the birthday girl was sick and the other we didn't attend because I wasn't sure if Nyla was getting sick. I didn't want to infect the birthday girl or any of the guests. Nyla did develop a very slight cold on Sunday but it wasn't more than a stuffy nose for a few hours. I developed the same thing on Sunday and thought it would be as mild as Nyla's case. Unfortunately I was hit harder. My nose is still runny after and I was sneezing a lot yesterday. Hopefully Buddy misses out on it since he is out of town.

I told Buddy this weekend that I wouldn't be surprised if Nyla learns to read at a younger age than Bohdin. He was surprised. Nyla has been working hard learning her letters this year. She is way way behind where Bohdin was at this age but I think she has the ability to pass him. It took Bohdin a long time to make the leap between knowing his letters and letter sounds to actually reading. It's possible that Nyla will put it together faster. She is motivated to read because she sees Bohdin reading so often. He hates reading out loud so he rarely reads to her. Bohdin started reading when he was nearly six so Nyla has a bit over a year to prove me right or wrong.

I tried to sneak a shower yesterday morning without anybody realizing.  I don't like company in the shower but Cora and Nyla like to ask.  Cora saw me in there but decided to play instead. U was feeling pretty happy about not being bothered. She wandered in and out of the bathroom quitely.  When I got out of the shower, Cora handed me my glasses which she had found on the counter.  While I was in the shower she managed to bend the frame completely out of shape.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fix it but I was able to gently pry it back into shape.  There is still a bit of a problem with the joint but I feel lucky that they didn't break while I was trying to ease it back into shape. 

Alien Invasion

These pictures were taken on Wednesday. While Bohdin and I were doing schoolwork Nyla and Cora were playing together. Cora is at the age where she wants to touch everything Nyla touches and do everything Nyla does. For the most part, Nyla is taking this pretty well. Sometimes she doesn't like doing art with Cora because she tends to ruin the painting. I actually think Cora does really well with art. Cora did the craft at story time in the morning which was pasting and coloring a snowman. I pasted for her but she colored. I really liked it. I'll have to take a picture of it. After Nyla got mad that Cora was ruining her painting they found something else to do. They built blocks, sat on the sit and spin, and then moved on to the spinny office chair. I don't usually get such a nice block of uninterrupted time. I glanced over at the them spinning together in the chair and almost told Nyla to stop spinning for a while but Nyla seemed fine and I figured if she wasn't dizzy then Cora would be okay. About 30 seconds later, Cora started vomiting. Her spinning tolerance appears to be lower than Nyla's. I should have known because this is not the first time this has happened. Bohdin's school time was paused and we had to finish up later.

That smiley face was Wednesday's face. Thursday she was taken over by the bad mood alien. Cora likes to wear shoes and if the closet door is left open she will try to grab her "oosh" as she calls them. The problem is that she wants them on and off at the same time. It is frustrating. Thursday began with a case of the shoe on/offs and only went downhill. Nyla told me several times in the morning that I should put Cora to sleep because she was so grumpy. By the time she woke up from her nap her world had collapsed. She wanted to be held but not held. She wanted a drink but didn't want a drink. She wanted to nurse but didn't want to nurse. She had a bad case of the I want it but don't want its. She cried and cried and cried. It's Friday night and I am still recovering from that nightmare day. Today was okay again. I don't know what happened but I hope it never happens again. The only unusual thing that happened was that she developed a rash Wednesday evening. It was gone by Thursday morning.

Today was a beautiful today. I've been making the kids take advantage of our unusually sunny and warm winter. Bohdin became increasingly sick throughout the day so by the end of the day he was inside resting while Nyla, Cora, and I enjoyed the weather. Bohdin started the day with a runny nose and developed a fever this evening.

New Year

Nyla woke up on New Year's Eve and wanted to go camping. The fact that the high for the day would be in the 40s and a strong wind and cold front would be moving through was irrelevant. We took out the tents and sleeping bags and Buddy set them up in the yard. It did provide hours of amusement. Bohdin had a book and game in his tent. I'm not sure what Nyla did in her tent. Cora was out there for a while as well. In the late afternoon Buddy started another fire and the tents were moved closer to that spot. Once again the kids played in them for quite some time. Nyla was wearing jammies because she really did want to sleep outside that night.

After dinner we set the countdown to the new year. We took some liberties and did it earlier. It was nearly seven when we yelled happy new year. I modified a friend's grape tradition and substituted chocolate because we didn't have grapes. Everybody recieved three pieces and we went in a circle eating the chocolate and saying a wish for each one. Bohdin's last wish was that we could do this every year.










On Sunday Nyla and I went to the fabric store together so I could get some new pins and thread.  She always likes to get out of the house no matter the destination.  She was somewhat bored until we were making our way to the checkout.  There was a lot of Valentine's Day stuff out and then I had to be the one to wait patiently while she was browsing.  Another little girl came along and they hit it off instantly.  By the time we left we were invited to her birthday party this weekend.  I don't know if we'll go because it is her second birthday party invite for this weekend and I don't think we can do both. 

The cold front came through and we had some snow on Monday. It wasn't much but the kids did get excited. At the end of the day it wasn't even enough to call it a dusting of snow. We were able to make chunks of ice though and Bohdin had fun chopping them with an axe on Tuesday.