buy on the fly

A few days ago I followed a link to a link... well you get the idea. Anyway I came across this nifty little device and found myself thinking it would be convenient to have. But then as I contemplated when I would actually use it I wondered if it really would, realistically I don't think I have seen a quick card scanner at any of the places I shop. I wonder if it's an east coast thing or something?

Upkeep

I think I underestimated my child… wouldn’t be the first time I suppose. I purchased an addition workbook but didn’t buy a subtraction one because even though I knew he knew how to do addition I wasn’t sure how solid a grasp he had of the skill.

Yeah, he knocks out a two sided sheet in five minutes. I’ve started making him do two (we only do them every few days… it’s not summer torture after all it’s summer skills upkeep). I’ll have to get my little butt back to the store and buy the same brand of books for subtraction (and time and money for that matter… since I know those are things they learn in first grade). The thought is that if do what we were doing with the ‘at home work’ in Kindergarten; I give him a worksheet, and watch, and walk away “come get me when this is completely finished and I will check your answers” then MAYBE he will also work on his focus and ability to finish a task given.

These really are the best workbooks I have found for his age and skill level. I posted the pictures so if you have kids who need the practice (and you have the time) you know which ones I use.

We already know his reading levels are up to par, and really there isn’t anything I “need to do” to maintain that level. He does it on his own. Still I signed him up for the Barns and Noble reading program (he gets a free book when he reads a certain number of books) and the Library program as well (yeah 30 minutes a day… not a stretch).

We set up a little reading corner for him in the living room so that his library books stay separate from his personal books and so that he knows where to put them when he isn’t reading them. In this picture he is reading the chicken little comic book, he spent about one and a half hours reading (he reads out loud so I know he wasn’t just looking at pictures). This morning he watched the movie, a quarter of the way in he went and got the book so he could read while he watched. He really is an odd child.

*claxon* dive dive dive

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My little studly is learning to dive. He can’t figure out how to kick himself down. The snorkel face mask does wonders for his confidence in the water. The mask is perfectly sized, but the strap is super tight. We might buy the next size up mask just to use the strap on the smaller mask. Still he is loving swimming this year and I’m sticking fairly well to my plan of taking him out at least twice a week.

Dreams and Perspective

Adults and kids see things differently, this is something that is made apparent to me several times a day through things the kid says and does.

The other evening we sat down and watched Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The man wasn’t feeling well so he went to bed halfway through. The kiddo wasn’t feeling well either so he crawled into my lap and half slept through it. We finished the movie and then I put him to bed and went to bed myself. That night I had a crazy dream…

It started out as a really great dream. The Man, myself and the Kiddo were in the woods (I don’t know where) and a door to Narnia opened in front of us. I thought instantly how very cool it was going to be to live there, so beautiful and simple.

As we all started walking through the doorway I had the realization that we couldn’t live there because if we did I would have no way of getting the Kiddo his medications. The doorway was fading and I struggled to get the Man and the Kiddo to understand WHY we had to go back quickly enough that we could still make it.

Yesterday the Kiddo and I were hanging out and I told him about the dream. He said it sounded like a really great dream and he would love to go to Narnia. I told him that we couldn’t get his medicines in Narnia so we would just have to stay here. He rolled his eyes at me and said “mom, they have magic in Narnia, I wouldn’t NEED my medicines because they could just make me not need them anymore.” Somehow I didn’t even think of the magic, silly me…

Monkeying Around

This week has been a fairly full one, it’s week five in class so that’s been busy, there is one team assignment, one individual (I have to create a PowerPoint social media presentation) and then the exam. So far I’m hitting a 95% in the class so I’m hoping I can do well on these remaining items and maintain my strait A’s in school.

We finally took Cupcake in for her summer haircut. Groomed short she always looks so much like the dog my sisters had when we were in college many years ago that it’s scary. She’s a lot happier though without the mess of fluffy fur, it’s cooler and the twigs and leaves don’t get stuck in her hair.

On Monday we went swimming again. Since the Man works at a sporting goods store we were able to find a decent pair of snorkel goggles to try on the Kiddo. The idea was that the reason he wont put his head in the water is that he gets water in his eyes AND nose and that’s why regular goggles don’t work with him. Of course eventually he’ll learn but for now snorkel goggles are a good thing. They worked perfectly, I had the Kiddo face down in the water kicking for all he was worth trying to chase an “underwater fish”. It was great exercise for his legs and we were both having quite a bit of fun playing the game.

We were having fun for almost 20 whole minutes before another parents negligence caused the pool to be closed for the rest of the day (and the entire day following). One of the daughters decided she didn’t need to get out to go potty. This mother is one of those parents that just sits there in a chair while her (five) kids swim for hours without bathroom breaks. I made my peace with the fact that they were probably peeing in the pool as it was (because I don’t think there’s any way to avoid kids doing that… *sigh*) but there is not excuse for other and while I understand that you can’t control what a younger child decides to do I still find myself hoping vehemently that the family is barred from the pool from here on out.

On the plus side I didn’t mind to much that the pool was closed yesterday because my mother in law and niece and nephew came to visit for the afternoon. We had a good time and the Kiddo ended up with a new stuffy friend. He named him Mickey (Mickey the Monkey heh) and really likes him.

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My mother in law has been working on the pattern for these monkeys for awhile, she made my niece pink one and then made the Kiddo his. Somehow the kiddo’s monkey ended up with a bigger head and she couldn’t figure out why but we decided that was okay because it’s a boy monkey. As I watch the kiddo lug the monkey around I can’t help but have the Pinky and the Brain song run through my head…

Summer smarts

The other day the apartment complex hosted a community yard sale and a younger couple set up their stuff in front of our patio. You all have heard about how desperately the Kiddo wants a little sister so when he saw their little girl he immediately made friends, she’s one and a half. He spent the entire morning playing with her, he brought out toys and taught her to roll down a grassy hill. She followed him and he followed her and they got along great.

My favorite part of the morning though was the end. Just before it was time to come in for lunch the two of them sat in the back of her parents truck and he read to her. In this picture he’s on his second book, he’s reading Mr. Brown Can Moo, and I wasn’t thinking fast enough to catch her giggling when he made the sounds.

You have all ‘heard’ me say how much the Kiddo loves to read, and we’re enabling him every chance we get. I try to keep up with the 20 minutes a day that his Kindergarten teacher had him doing, it isn’t all that hard to do.

Recently his great grandma K sent him some birthday money and he asked to spend some of it on a punching bag, buying one ended up cheaper then we thought so we asked him what else he might want. He asked to go to Barns and Noble to get a new book. We walked out of there with his very first comic book! He discovered the Knights of the Lunch Table books and bought himself #2 in the series (The Dragon Players). At some point I should probably search amazon and see if I can find #1 & #3 for him (used), he’d love to own all three. I wonder if they make other age appropriate comic books for his reading level?*

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*these say age 8… but they aren’t dark and violent like most comics and that’s what I mean.

Almost there

Yesterday morning the kiddo crawled into my bed groaning about his tummy hurting (THAT will wake a parent up quicker then pretty much anything else). I quickly asked him if it was inside tummy upset, or if it was muscles hurting when he coughed. He said it was muscles, then he coughed and curled into a ball moaning about it hurting.

Most of you know that the Kiddo has a very high pain tolerance, so when he says something hurts you can be pretty certain that it really really hurts. The good news was he had no temperature so the fever part of the cold was past, I scooped him up and went to find some medicine for the cough and honey for his throat. He spent the rest of the day chilling on the couch trying not to do anything that would make him cough.

Last night he slept solid; I didn't hear any coughing and this morning he slept until around ten. I'm taking that as a good sign, he is on the mend! The dark smudges under his eyes are lighter and he's acting a lot more energetic. He's still got the cough, but it's an occasional thing ... a flurry of coughs that catch his breath and bring tears to his eyes and then are done and he's fine. The cough medicine is helping so he really only goes through that every thirty minutes or so.

And that's the sick kiddo update, hopefully tomorrow we'll be back to business as usual.

Summer Cold

I mentioned in my last post that the kiddo is dealing with a summer cold. He’s had to miss out on swimming for the past several days because I didn’t want it to get worse. Yesterday he woke up with a gurgle cough and a slight temperature (it hovered above 99 degrees all day). For the most part I let him do what he wanted, which was hang out and watch Bob the Builder. Mid day though I dragged him outside to sit on a hill and try to get some sunshine, the Kiddo brought his lion stuffy and his book.

When the Kiddo woke up this morning he had a pretty high temperature, 102.6!! Poor little thing, he’s itching to play but feeling like crap. I asked him if he wanted to go see a doctor and he said “well, not yet… I feel mostly okay, maybe tomorrow.” The meds have brought the temp down and helped the cough so we’ll keep an eye on him and wait it out. It’s going to be another Bob the Builder day…

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summer fun

The past few weeks it’s been cold so I wasn’t taking the kiddo out to go swimming, instead every time he asked I would stick him in the bathtub and tell him to practice getting his head wet. After all if you are going to be the best swimmer in the world you really shouldn’t be afraid of water in your ears.

But finally this past Friday the temperature crawled up enough for me to risk freezing and I took the kiddo.

I’ll be honest the pool water wasn’t as cold as I feared. The breeze when we got out was though *shiver*

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After we dried off from our swim I decided it was time to let the kiddo try his bike out. He hadn’t ridden it since last year and he had been begging to try. He almost fell a couple of times but I caught him so all in all he did fairly well. I think his seat needs to be raised a bit…

We came in from the bike ride and he asked if he could fly his kite. I thought that sounded good so we left the dog inside and went back out to the commons area.

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It was a pretty full day and we had a lot of fun. We haven’t been swimming since then because the Kiddo had some sniffles that turned into a full blown cold. Sunday he started with a dry cough and this morning he woke up with a temperature and a new yuckier rattling cough.

Even with the cold he has been out biking though, a little cough wont keep him inside so he goes on cupcakes walks with me. He bikes along and works the leg muscles while I try to keep the dog from getting run over, it’s great fun all around :)

(the face in the above picture is his “I am so strong I can bike up this hill all by myself” face)

Clean dog

Dog shampoo has never been a good thing for me. Over the years I’ve tried several brands and types, every one makes me sneeze and itch. When we got cupcake I went and purchased an all natural avocado “anti allergy” shampoo and tried to use it, until the smell wore off I sneezed every time she came near me. I had to scrub my hands in lemon juice to get the smell off enough that I could stand to have them near my face. Since then I haven’t washed her, she’s been to the groomer (holy cow expensive) but that’s about it.

Finally I decided that while I cannot afford to have a groomer wash her once a month stinky dog smell isn’t all that grate either so I had to try again. I did some Google searching but couldn’t find anything discussing people allergies to dog shampoo, maybe I’m the only one with this problem?

I ended up trying earthbath, it is supposed to smell like cherries and has about four ingredients in it. It soaped up nicely, and smelled good (a very light scent), even better it rinsed clean easily, and didn’t leave my hands itching or smelling like anything! Her coat is far cleaner then it was before, and I’m keeping this shampoo on my list of doggie must haves.

Summer distractions

The Kiddo has been out of school for all of three days and I’m feeling it already. Sunday I spent trying to get a paper done for class, he was bored and doing his best to distract me..

It worked a little to well, I went to bed Sunday night with only a title page and intro paragraph finished.

Monday I ‘suffered’ through more distraction but managed to finish the paper by 4pm anyway.

Yesterday was warm and the Kiddo really wanted to go swimming. I like the idea and fully intend to take him, walking or standing for long periods of time make his feet hurt still. I’m not sure if that type of pain is normal or not but either way swimming will be a good way to get his legs into shape. Of course the suit he wore last summer hadn’t a prayer of fitting so we went shopping..

He fell in love with the swim shorts, Lightning McQueen(!!), how could I not get them for him? He wears a 5T in pants, but I wasn’t sure if that size would fit right in shorts so I let him try them on (which he thought was fun). I couldn’t decide if a rash guard was needed or not but I let him try one of those on as well. Once we was outfitted he told me to be perfect he needed some new lightning shoes (he had red crocks a couple years ago that my sister bought for him, along with little Lightning McQueen gibits).

This afternoon it’s supposed to be a little cool with rain showers so I’m not sure we’ll go out, but if we do I’ll take pictures.

Last day of school

Kindergarten is over, yesterday was the Kiddo's last day. The kids spent the first half of class helping Mrs. S. clean the room up, and during the second half they had their poem presentations.

I think I may have read to much into the note she sent home months ago saying that the children were supposed to memorize their favorite nursery rhyme. Apparently that did not mean hand the kid the Mother Goose book and let him pick something longer then four lines to memorize. At least half the kids recited Humpty Dumpty, a couple said the alphabet, a few twinkle twinkle little stars were scattered in there as well as Hickory Dickory Docks.

If I would have known the type of poem the other kids were memorizing I would have warned Mrs. S. ahead of time that his was a little bit longer. His giggles at the end make my day, he thinks it's funny as anything that the black bird took the maids nose. After class was over I mentioned to Mrs. S. that he picked it himself and memorized it within a couple hours. She just smiled, shook her head and said "that's the Kiddo for you"...
We have his report card (A's of course) and his teacher assignment for the Fall. We even have our 15 minute "meet the teacher" appointment time. I'm wondering if they plan to have a separate appointment for explaining the medical issues. I certainly hope so, especially since this pre-scheduled time is one the Man wont be able to be at. He wants to meet the Kiddo's teacher so he can get a feel for her (we want to feel like she will put the attention into him that he needs). I'm not going to worry about it until fall though, first we have to get through the summer :)

On the off chance you want to see it too I have the before class at home practice version of his poem recital (which you can hear a little better). I love his little hand motions that he puts with it.

Bad guys and lasers

The door creaked when he tried to sneak out of his room, that's how we knew he was awake. Ten thirty, but when I thought about it I realized that in between his shot, his teethbrushing, and telling him to get his pajamas on I'd forgotten to remind him to use the bathroom. So he was up, and as he rounded the corner to our room to peek in (he always does, even though the light is one and he knows we're awake he feels like he should check)... I asked him if that was why:

Me: Kiddo, we forgot to use the bathroom before bed huh.

Him: Yeah. There were TWO problems, the first one was I had the hiccups. But I fixed that, and now the second one is that I have to pee.

Me: Well, go get it done and get your bootie back to bed.

Him: Okay!....

And he walked into the bathroom, which is conveniently located directly across the hall from our doorway and kitty corner to his.... which means we get to listen to his bathroom monologues...

"laser canons ready?... yes captain, prepared and ready to fire... well then fire the laser canons!... yes captain, laser canons firing" (sound of peeing, lid closing, and flushing) "bad guy ships defeated! ... good job, we're saved"