In Which I Watch A Bookworm Blossom

When Connor's nurse woke him up this morning for school, he started crying, signed "no, tired" and promptly went back to sleep.  This was not a wonderful start to the day.  I told her to let him doze and then woke him up myself about twenty minutes later.  He made a really sad face when I told him it was time to get up, so I brought him into the living room and snuggled with him until he absolutely had to get ready for school.  After that he was okay-- apparently morning snuggles solve many, many problems.

He ended up having a good day at school, and then he had an absolutely fantastic physical therapy session.  He's really getting the hang of the adaptive vehicle he's been driving around, and it was pretty cool to see him starting to figure out how to stop it at just the right place so that he could see what was going on.  He was really interested in the other kids' therapy sessions, and just wanted to stop the car and watch to see what they were doing.  It was cute.  

Eden had a good day as well; she came home in a really great mood after finishing all her homework at the after-school tutoring assistance program she goes to every Wednesday and finding out that she was the only student who had perfect attendance there.  She came right over and gave me a big hug where I was on the couch, and then plopped down beside me to do her reading for the day.  We read out loud together every day; she used to read out loud to me for twenty minutes, but we now each read a chapter, which can take considerably more time.  She just finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and enjoyed it so much that we've started a second book by Roald Dahl: The BFG.  This happens to be one of my favorite children's books of all time, as it is so deliciously dark.  Eden and I are both enjoying it immensely.

She's also picking up books and looking through them on her own now; especially the many adoption-related biographies I have on the shelves.  Currently she's leafing through Cindy Champnella's The Waiting Child, and while I'm not sure how much of it she's actually taking in, she's spent quite a bit of time on it.  

When she first came home she didn't really care for books at all (in Thai or English) because she said the subject matter was boring.  Apparently the books that were available to her in Thailand were not very inspiring-- other than the Harry Potter series, which she read in its entirety.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the first book we've read together where she was disappointed that the chapter was over and really wanted to know what happened next.  I can't tell you how amazing it is for me to watch her begin to fall in love with books.

Good thing I have about 1300 in the house.  I don't think she's going to run out of reading material any time soon.

Of course, it probably helps that we have no television reception and her Internet use is limited to two hours on weekdays and three on weekends-- provided she has her homework, chores, and of course her reading with me done.  Boredom is a good motivator for reading.  Still, I'm thrilled to see her starting to open that door; there are so many wonderful books out there I can't wait to share with her!

~Jess

In Which We Have A Busy Day

So I spent the beginning of the day working on the kids' appointments and schedules for the next couple of months.  Then I headed over to one of the Korean restaurants in Lakewood to meet a friend for lunch.  Turns out the entire restaurant was packed full to the brim though, so we walked over to the Asian grocery store and ate in the food court instead.  It was great to catch up with my friend-- especially while stuffing my face full of tasty bi bim bap and banchan!

Then we had to do a whole bunch of shopping, because it's impossible for me to go to an Asian grocery store and not walk out with half of what's on the aisles.  I ended up with a few of the treats that Eden and I both really enjoy, like coconut durian rolls and lychee gel cups.  My pantry definitely has more of an international flair since she's come home, which is pretty awesome, and it's fun to buy food I'm not exactly sure how to prepare so we can learn together.

Eden called me on my way to pick Connor up from school to ask me if she could stay late for drama club.  I'm excited that she's starting to become interested in activities at school, and I think drama club is a great fit for her.  This is a kid who loves the spotlight!

Once she was done I picked her up from drama club, we stopped really quickly at the house and then we headed out to Eden's swim practice, where I dropped her off and headed to the nearby bookstore to sit with a cup of coffee or tea and read for a bit on seats more comfortable than the bleachers at the pool.  Eden's swim club is too far away from our house for me to go back home, so Connor and I usually find a place to go.  I swear that even with a cushion, metal high school bleachers have to be some of the most uncomfortable things ever invented.

Anyway, I had a nice conversation with a fellow writer at the bookstore, which is always great, and of course cuddle time with Connor and an hour of uninterrupted reading is always fantastic.  But I seriously need to stop drinking caffeinated drinks that late in the day-- now I'm wired.  You would think I would have figured out not to do that by now.  Oh well.

~Jess

In Which We Raise A Pair Of Lilliputians

As requested, here's a photo of the kids with The Best Santa The World Has Ever Known.  Note Eden's awesome flame-covered AFOs and Connor's festive tweed cap and cowboy boots-- all important fashion accessories for any holiday photo shoot.  

Also I believe that Connor is wearing the same train vest he wore for this same Santa not one, but two years ago (and also like two years ago, Santa once again wouldn't let us pay for our photos, because this guy is amazing).  My kid is tiny.  I swear we feed him and everything; we're not sure if this is related to his genetic condition or if it's just because he takes after his daddy.  Who knows?  Maybe he'll shoot up at some point.  Somehow I doubt it, though.

At five feet tall, Eden is also on the teensy side and we think she's done growing, but Thai women tend to be shorter than the average American woman as a general rule, so that isn't really surprising.  Also we're not sure what kind of nutrition she got as a little kid, so that might have had something to do with it as well.  At any rate, I'm kind of resigned to being the tallest person in our family, unless we adopt another boy in a few years (which is entirely possible).

Anyway, today I ran by the store for a few odds and ends after picking up Connor from school, and I noticed they had Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World on sale.  Eden read the first book of the series out loud to me a few weeks ago, and I thought that maybe she'd be more interested in reading books if she could see the movie that's based on them afterwards.  So we watched it together this evening as a special (late) reward for finishing the book, and she enjoyed it tremendously.  I think after we're done with Awkward, we'll try something else that has a movie tie-in and that other teens will probably have read, like Harry Potter or the dreaded Twilight.  While the Harry Potter series is, in my opinion, much better written than anything Stephanie Meyer has come up with, there is one thing to be said for Twilight-- at least the language is simple enough that Eden shouldn't need too much help with it.  

Thus far she hasn't been interested in reading any series past the first novel and it takes her a month or two to get through a book (reading in twenty minute intervals), so I don't know that we'd get to some of the more mature things that happen later in both series, and if we do we'll have plenty of time to discuss them.  While there are a few other more recent YA novels the kids are all reading that have been made into movies, most of them have pretty dark plot lines fairly early on.  While she's definitely become way more mature in the past year, I don't think Eden's quite ready for stuff like The Hunger Games just yet.

~Jess

In Which Many Many Things Happen

Well today was eventful!  I dropped the kids off for school and then spent the morning filling out paperwork in preparation for my intake meeting with our new respite care home health agency.  Even with filling out all the paperwork in advance, our meeting ended up being nearly two hours long.  I'll also probably be talking by phone with our assigned nurse tomorrow, and I'll be doing an orientation with her on Friday.  It's amazing how large an instructional manual I need for my kid; Connor's a complicated little guy.

I'm really excited to be starting up respite again, though; it's going to be great to not only have some occasional alone time in the evenings (while Eden's at swim practice) but also to be able to spend some one-on-one time with the Little Miss as well.  We're going to have our first outing this Saturday, and I think we'll have a pretty good time.  Connor will still be getting his Mommy-and-Boy time with me during Eden's swim practices where I don't have respite care, so I think this will work out well and the kids will both be getting some balanced time.

After my meeting I made a quick stop at Eden's school, ran back home and ate lunch, and then I was off to pick up Connor.  The oxygen equipment technician was waiting outside our door when we got back to do some routine maintenance on Connor's condenser.  Then I helped Eden with her homework while Connor had his quiet time.  Then we were off to the store, and then there was dinner to make and more homework and our nightly reading time and Connor's medications and bedtime for Connor and then Eden and then I kind of collapsed in a little heap in my easy chair and didn't move until it was time to let the night nurse in.  It was a busy day.

Eden's reading time, by the way, is probably the best thing in the universe.  Her English teacher wrote home saying the kids needed to be reading out loud for twenty minutes every school night.  We sort of neglected to tell Eden that it was only school nights the kids were required to be doing this, so we read twenty minutes every night.  Eden used to grumble and groan about this, but now she actually asks to do her reading time.  Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that she can't play on the iPad until her reading is done, but hey-- whatever works, right?  Anyway, not only is her reading seriously improving, but the twenty minutes of reading is basically an excuse for her to have my undivided attention the entire time, and get a little bit of snuggling in with my girl as well.  Right now the reading is very much a collaborative project; she still needs help with every third or fourth word in a sentence.  So we have to sit close together so that we can both see the book, which is great for that bonding and attachment that is so important to any adoption.

It's also a fantastic opportunity to introduce various pop culture references, slang, idioms, etc. that she'll run into over her middle school and high school years.  We've worked our way through four books now, that have slowly upped in vocabulary and maturity level.  We started out with a collection of For Better or Worse, worked our way through Amelia Bedelia Means Business, and then tackled Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life.  Currently we're reading Awkward, which is a book about a high school girl whose embarrassing video goes viral on the Internet.

Though it's true that because the books contain language and phrases that are popular in teen culture it can get a bit awkward sometimes (ever tried explaining the phrase "that's what she said" to a kid with a limited English vocabulary?) talking about the characters in the books is a great way to have conversations about a lot of topics that most teenagers are familiar with but that are new to Eden.  They also provide opportunities to talk about some of the cultural differences between American and Thai teens, and to draw parallels between the experiences the characters have with what we encounter in our daily lives.  We've probably got a few more weeks to go before this book is finished, but if anyone has any recommendations for what we might tackle next, I'm all ears.

Not that I need any excuse to read more books.  Oh well.

~Jess

In Which We Have A Busy Week

So it's been an extremely busy week around here-- so busy I actually haven't been on the computer in a few days.  I was worried at the beginning of the week that Connor was getting sick, but he seems to be holding his own.  He's still having some seizures, but they haven't been as bad as they were before we upped his medication.  He's supposed to have a visit to the neurologist in March, and I'm sure they'll check his levels there and make sure that we're on track.  We're calling these new seizures his "revival seizures" because he looks like he's raising the roof at a prayer revival when he has them.  But thankfully his oxygen levels only dip down into the high sixties and low seventies while he's having one instead of the twenties like his previous seizures. 

We actually haven't seen any of those seizures since these new ones started; it's interesting how his seizures keep evolving-- and for the better.  We've gone from seizures where he stops breathing to seizures with severely restricted breathing to seizures where he breathes relatively well considering he's, you know, having a seizure.

Ellen has discovered the library and checked out her first movies and videos this week.  When we walked in for the first time she gave the interior of the building a wide-eyed look, grabbed my arm and exclaimed "Mommy, beautiful!" This is a kid after my own heart, can you tell?  Anyway, she's been checking out movies about dance and sports, and some easy reader books so we can practice her reading, which is coming along well.  She's definitely on Level One Easy Readers right now, but I think that will change quickly.

She's been settling in well and we're getting into a good routine.  She and Connor are getting along well too.  We're slowly exploring the area and figuring out all the fun places to go (besides the mall of course, which is already a favorite).  This weekend we tried the aquarium and Pike Place Market, but both were a bit too crowded for either of the kids to really have a good time.  We might hold off on some of the more touristy areas until we can go on a weekday in the summertime; hopefully they'd be less crowded than on a weekend during the school year. 

It seems like just about every waking moment for me is now filled up with things to do.  I'm doing a lot more laundry, dishes, etc (though I've got some help with those since our girl is a good washer) and we're going through groceries a lot faster.  I think she's making up for lost time; the kid is tiny so I have absolutely no idea where she is putting that much food!  I swear I've gained about ten pounds since she got home too; I'm used to kind of snacking through the whole day rather than having solid meals, and now I'm at least having breakfast and dinner and still snacking through the day.  Guess I need to kick that habit! 

Anyway, I'm going to try and write a blog a little more consistently; it's difficult for me to get into the swing of writing during the day.  Right now I literally have a kid looking over my shoulder (think she's wanting to get on the computer) so it's a bit harder for me to concentrate.  This is pretty typical of my day while both kids are home; alone time is kind of scarce around here right now.  I'm not sure what the best time to write it going to be!  But never fear; I'll work it out, gentle readers. 

~Jess

In Which Loki Helps With Everything

Loki has been going nuts today for some reason.  He keeps following me around the house helping with everything.  And by "helping," I mean "sticking his nose into the middle of whatever I'm doing."  Apparently he feels neglected or something.  This is absurd since he demands petting at least once an hour.  I oblige because if I don't he'll start doing something like ripping pages out of my books with his teeth. 

Really.  A lot of my favorite books have little wedge shaped sections torn out of the corners.  Loki is a weird mix of really smart and really dumb, but he's definitely got my number.  If he can't get what he wants by being ridiculously cute, he has no compunction about getting my attention in some other fashion. 

Anyway, today he was nicer about it and simply sat right on top of whatever I was working on.  Right now I'm having to type around him, as he is draped over my keyboard.  There he is with the book I was trying to study from earlier, looking so ridiculously adorable I can't help but pet him even if he is being really annoying.  How could I possibly resist that face? 

Also, when the heck did I adopt a tabby colored seal?  I don't remember that happening.

Anyway, so when he wasn't helping me read, he helped me out with many other important things, for my own good of course.  There was absolutely no way I could possibly use the restroom without his help, for example, so he rammed the door until he managed to pop it open and provided a Helpful Audience completely with meowed commentary.  He also went through my shopping bags, helped me file my receipts (on the floor) and made sure that all of my clean laundry had an appropriate coating of cat hair.  Cricket just watched him cavort around me like a maniac every time I tried to go down the hallway with a vaguely disgruntled look on her face, as if he was a disgrace to feline kind everywhere by acting in such an undignified fashion. 

Both cats abandoned me the second our night nurse got here, though, and Cricket's concern with feline dignity goes out the window.  They are completely convinced that instead of hiring a nurse for Connor, I actually got them a Personal Petting Assistant.  They've taken to hanging out by the front door in the evenings waiting for her to arrive.  They aren't allowed in Connor's room, so they sit outside the door all night and every time the nurse leaves the room they start flinging themselves at her ankles.  They seem to be trying to convince her that they are Horribly Neglected and that she must remedy this At Once by petting them or they will Surely Perish. 

The only way I think they would possibly be more intrigued by her is if she was allergic to cats.  If you are allergic to cats and you come to my house, my cats are instantly convinced that they must be your best friends in the whole wide world.  They're just nice like that.

Crazy cats.

~Jess

In Which Connor Is Doing Just Fine And We Have Cause To Celebrate

Today was a day for celebration!

It's officially been one month since Connor's had a seizure, which is the most time he's gone between seizures in a long, long while.  I think it's been about two years since he's had such a big break!  It's been so fantastic to not be on edge all the time, and to see Connor doing so well and actively engaging with his world.  He's become so much more social and willing to sign and interact with other people-- even strangers.  When we go shopping he now waves "hello" and "goodbye" to every person we pass on the way in and out of stores, he comments on the music we hear, he'll dance on command (he rocks from side to side on the beat-- it's adorable) and he's started making choices and asking to look at things on the shelves.  It's fantastic!

So I thought we needed to go spend the day doing things we would both enjoy.  The little guy rejected most of my suggestions-- he wasn't interested in the zoo or the aquarium today-- but he lit up when I mentioned the bookstore.  He's a kid after my own heart for sure!

So we drove up to the big bookstore and he picked out a new book, Goldilocks And The Three Dinosaurs, by Mo Willems.  It had the advantage of appealing to all of us: to Connor because it had dinosaurs in it, me because it was well written and had excellent illustrations, and Jer because it models proper predator-prey relationships. 

Then it was off to the mall, where Connor got to ride the carousel a couple of times and I picked up some chocolate and fizzy bath bombs for my own personal celebration later that evening after Connor was in bed, which would involve a lounging in a giant bubble bath for long enough to get all wrinkly, while reading a favorite novel, drinking tea and eating truffles. 

Finally we stopped by the fabric store, and we walked at a fast clip up and down the tulle aisle about ten times.  Connor loves going to the fabric store because it means he gets to visit the tulle aisle.  All the bolts are arranged by color, and there are glittery and sequiny and iridescent fabrics to admire, and the tulle sticks out into the aisle so it brushes up against his wheelchair whenever we go through.  I knelt down to see it from his perspective, and it actually looks really neat; it's probably the closest he can get to running through a rainbow. 

So we visited the tulle aisle, and then we took a break to go finger the velvet and the suede, and to stroke all of the fake fur.  Then it was back to the tulle aisle for round two of sparkly glory.  Connor never fails to show me a new way to appreciate things.

That's my boy!

~Jess

In Which Jer And I Have A Date And Witness Bird Carnage

This morning my parents and I drove down to one of the local nurseries and found the last of the plants for the flower bed in the front yard.  After we came back, they settled in to watch the little guy and Jer and I took off on a date!

We ran a couple of quick errands, and then stopped for lunch downtown at one of our favorite coffee shops.  After that we made a beeline for the bookstore, of course.  No date of ours would be complete without a trip for books!

When we were finished making our selections, we drove across town and hit the Point Defiance Zoo, where we spent several hours watching all the animals, many of whom were zonked out in humorous positions due to the heat.  Highlights of the trip included watching the puffins gather food and share it with their mates, chatting with the handler of the gyrfalcon as she trained the bird, and the adorable antics of the clouded leopard cubs. 

We also saw a not-actually-a-zoo-animal bonus drama; we were standing at the polar bear cage when a large seagull snatched a sparrow out of the sky, landed in the enclosure and started ripping it apart with its beak and eating it in the most graphic, horrific fashion possible.  We were caught completely off guard; I had no idea that seagulls caught and ate other birds.  Of course this was right in front of a couple of preschool age kids, who immediately started asking their mothers what "that big bird" was doing.  The moms immediately decided it was time to go look at the camels instead.

While we were watching the seagull finish his meal and wash his bloodstained beak and feathers off in the water (really-- he looked splatter painted) Jer and I were hoping the polar bear would rouse itself enough to catch and eat the seagull in a kind of poetic justice.  He was splayed out taking a nap though, and didn't even look up.  We hummed "The Circle of Life" to encourage him, but evidently he didn't know that song because he didn't take the hint.  Oh well.

After the zoo, we decided we needed a snack and some time to relax and read our new books.  So we headed down to another coffee shop in Tacoma.  Then we did a bit of shopping for Ellen's next care package.  Finally we had dinner at a local Thai place and finished up the evening by browsing some more stores and just enjoying each other's company.

Apparently Connor did very well with my parents, which is great, and he's sound asleep right now.  So it was a lovely day all around!

~Jess 

In Which Connor Tries On Polka Dots Again

My sweet little boy slept in until well after 11:00 this morning, and I figured he was mostly on the mend.  He was pretty fussy when he did wake up, but I thought that he was just to the point where he was feeling well enough to get cranky, if that makes any sense.  I left the little guy conked on a pallet next to Jer in the dining room and popped out to not one, but two bookstores because whenever Connor gets sick I run completely out of books and I needed to restock.  Also I wanted the next book in a series and the library's copy has been out for four months, dang it.

Connor spent the whole time I was gone fully clothed, under a blanket and snoozing peacefully away.  When I got home I figured he probably needed a diaper change, so I got everything ready and went to wake him up.  I rolled him over gently.  "Does his face look a little swollen to you?" I asked Jer.  We turned on the overhead light and discovered a bunch of tiny red dots scattered around his hairline and down the temple on the side he'd been sleeping on. 

I took off his blanket and discovered more red dots on his arms.  I lifted up his shirt and groaned.  The kid's torso was covered in hives.  So was pretty much all of the rest of the skin on his body except for the side of his face that had been turned up while he was sleeping.  Whee.

So apparently we can add yet another class of antibiotic (cephalosporins) to the growing list of medications Connor is allergic to.  We plugged the poor, miserable itchy little guy full of Benedryl and rang up the doctor on call, who told us to discontinue the antibiotic and head into the clinic first thing tomorrow morning.  While ear infections are usually the kind of thing we could potentially just wait out with a typical kid, it wouldn't be too great for Connor to go a week or more with a fever so we'll probably be trying something else.  Also it was apparently a pretty nasty infection, so the wait-and-see approach might not have worked so well for him anyway. 

Connor seemed a bit more comfortable after the Benedryl kicked in, but of course it knocked him out even more so he spent most of the rest of the day sleeping, either on his pallet or in my lap, where I'm sad to say he doesn't fit very well anymore.  And once we get home from the doctor tomorrow, he'll probably spend most of the rest of the day with me too.  He's still relatively pint sized, but with the way he's been growing I don't think that will last too much longer.  So I've got to get my snuggles in while I can.

I'm ready.  I've got six new books and I'm restocked on chocolate.  Bring on the snuggly day.

~Jess

In Which Connor Has A Birthday And Now We Are Six

Happy birthday, Connor!

My little guy is six years old!  That doesn't seem even remotely possible.  Where has the time gone? 

Since the little guy wasn't excited about the idea of having a party, we had a super fun day Connor-style.  Connor's idea of fun isn't really the same as most other six year olds that I know so it was a bit of an unconventional birthday celebration, but hey, he had a fantastic time so as far as I'm concerned it was a big success!

We started off the day by singing the Happy birthday song.  Then we got him dressed, took him into the dining room and opened presents.  It's all about the instant gratification around here! 

Then we were off to a movie theater about twenty minutes from our house.  It's a tiny theater that shows a lot of stuff that's been out a while, and they had Beauty and The Beast playing in 3D.  While I think that movie would be pretty scary at Connor's age in 3D if he was seeing it for the first time, he's seen Beauty and The Beast quite a bit during his standing sessions because he loves the music, so we thought we'd try it out. 

We got to the shopping center with the theater in it really early, so we stopped in a local deli and ate a late breakfast.  Connor had some chocolate mousse, which is probably the best birthday breakfast ever.  We walked over to the theater after we were finished and took our seats pretty early.  I was happy to see several other kids and adults with developmental or physical disabilities in line, which told me that this was a good theater for us.  And once we sat down there were only three other families in the entire theater-- all of them with toddler age children.  Connor could be as loud as he liked and it wouldn't have mattered.

But actually he did a fantastic job in the theater!  I don't think he enjoyed it quite as much as he did the dinosaur production we saw back in February, partially because Beauty and The Beast wasn't originally made for 3D production so it didn't have nearly as many jump-out-at-you moments (Connor loved those the best) and partially because it wasn't about dinosaurs.  It was also a bit long for him-- he took little nap about halfway through.  But I think he still had a pretty great time, and I'd probably take him back to this theater again. 

After that we went to a mall and let Connor ride a jeep-- one of those in the middle of the aisle that makes noise, rocks back and forth and that I never let him ride because it's way too expensive.  Then we walked around a nearly deserted arcade, which for a kid who is fascinated with lights was absolutely hypnotic.  Next we drove across the street to the pet store, where he happily watched the mice running around their wheel and cooed over the parakeets. 

Then we walked down to the bookstore, where he picked out a new book.  And finally we ate a very late lunch at a Thai restaurant, where Connor gobbled as much tom kha gai (medium spicy-- he likes it with a kick) as I could shovel into his mouth.  It was a great end to his birthday outing.

He was drooping in his seat but really, really happy by the time we brought him home.  That's how a birthday outing should be!

~Jess

In Which Connor Has More Seizures And I Take A Break

A short blog tonight because I'm over at Hopeful Parents today.

Connor had six seizures today, and one of them was the kind where he jerks around a lot.  His seizures for the most part don't upset him anymore, but that kind understandably still scares the bejeezus out of him.  It's got to be terrifying when your body is doing something that you don't want it to do and you can't make it stop-- especially since he can only take a breath between jerks.  After that one his left side was paralyzed for a while.  Luckily he went to sleep quickly and by the time he woke up he could move it again.  I'll be putting a call into Connor's neurologist on Tuesday when the holiday is over.

I ended up going out and taking a little bit of time for myself this afternoon; Jer watched Connor and I headed off to the bookstore and also to find some sort of rooibos tea, which Jeremy has developed a taste for.  I found some flavored with vanilla beans that he tried out tonight and likes quite a bit. 

I returned home feeling quite a bit less burned out, though I still need some date time with Jeremy soon! 

~Jess

In Which We Go To The Doctor And Discover A Great Bear Book

Connor had some appointments today over at the hospital, so we spent a good bit of the day over there.  We got there about an hour early so that we could get a parking space.  There are a limited number of handicap spaces at the hospital, and as Connor gets heavier it becomes harder and harder to maneuver him out of the van if we can't put the ramp down.  Sometimes if I'm desperate I try parking waaaaaay in the back of the parking lot in the middle of a bunch of empty spaces so that I can put down the ramp, but invariably when I come back someone has parked next to me and I end up having to manhandle the wheelchair into the van by brute force.  So instead we just get there really, really early. 

Fun times.

Anyway, after the little guy's appointments we headed off to the bookstore for his reward book.  Normally I pick out two books and then give Connor a choice, but today I opened up a random book from the shelves entitled I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassan, read it through and immediately decided that Connor needed it because Jeremy was going to think it was perhaps the best children's book ever written.  Not only does it have an extremely deadpan and dark sense of humor, but it also models proper predator-prey relationships, which Jeremy has been known to add to books that he feels are unrealistic in that aspect (you really, really don't want to hear his version of Goldilocks And The Three Bears). 

Seriously, I have no idea how I didn't hear about this book when it came out.  Heck, NPR did a reading of it with Daniel Pinkwater playing the bear.  How did I miss it?   

So then I had to convince Connor that he wanted this book for his reward.  The conversation went something like this:

Me: Connor, do you want this book?
Connor: No.
Me: But it's a really really great book! 
Connor: No.
Me: Do you want me to read it to you now so you can see if you like it?  I think you'll like it.
Connor: No no NO.
Me: But it has a BEAR in it!
Connor: Yes want want want yes want more MORE WANT.

Yeah.  Connor likes bears. 

So anyway, after I convinced my child that he needed something I actually wanted for myself (aren't I a great mom?) we spent a little bit of time finding more books for me, this time adult books, ate lunch in the cafe and then headed home, where Jeremy was waiting.  He read Connor the book and agreed that it was, in fact, fantastic.  Connor enjoyed it too, though I'm pretty sure it was mostly because a) Daddy was reading it and b) it contained a bear. 

Any book with either a bear or a dinosaur in it is a good book as far as Connor is concerned!

~Jess

In Which We Throw Off Connor's Groove

Connor had his neurology appointment today in Seattle, so we spent the first half of the day there.  We were interested to hear what Connor's neurologist had to say about his new diagnosis of anhidrosis; apparently one of his seizure medications can cause the condition as a side effect.  However, the medication has also seemed to help Connor quite a bit; while on it we haven't seen a single seizure where he stops breathing completely.  We're also not sure at all that the medication is what's causing the anhidrosis, as Jer and I haven't ever seen Connor sweat and he's only been on the Zonegran a few months.  So it's difficult to know whether or not we should change the little guy's medication regime or not.

Connor's neurologist is going to consult with the head epileptologist and determine what the best game plan is going to be.  It might be that we don't change anything, it might be that we try a different medication or that we revisit the possibility of the ketogenic diet.  There's not a clear path here as to what the best treatment is going to be, so I'm sure they'll weigh the options very carefully.

After we left the neurologist's office we headed down the street to the giant Barnes and Noble where Connor usually gets his Reward Book.  Connor always gets a book after each appointment where he does well (which is all of them, because he's a fantastically well-behaved kid) as part of our Make Sure Our Kid Who Sees Eight Bajillion Specialists Isn't Afraid of The Hospital campaign.  We pulled up in the side parking lot of the bookstore, I got Connor out of the car, wheeled him around to the front of the building and stopped dead at the giant sign sitting out in front of the store.  "Barnes and Noble Has Closed," it read.  "To Purchase Books, Please Visit http://www.barnesandnoble.com."  Apparently the bookstore didn't renew its lease.

Connor was not a happy camper, and it wasn't just because of the words his mommy was muttering under her breath.  My child is a creature of habit.  One of the reasons he does so well at hospital appointments is that we keep the routine the same every single time, and we go over the routine repeatedly before we leave and during the course of the day so that he knows exactly what to expect. 

The routine goes:
1) Drive Into Town
2) Check In And Sit In Waiting Room
3) Go To Appointment And See Doctor
4) Get Labs Pulled
6) Leave Hospital And Drive To Bookstore
5) Buy Reward Book
6) Eat Lunch
7) Pick Up Salted Caramels For Daddy (there's a fantastic chocolate shop in the complex as well)
8) Drive Home

There was absolutely no room in this routine for "Stand In Front Of Closed Bookstore And Stare At Sign For Five Minutes While Trying To Figure Out Where Nearest Alternative Bookstore Is As Connor Gets Progressively More Upset."  We weren't going to be visiting the bookstore's website; somehow I was pretty sure that showing him an online picture of The Reward Book We Can Buy Online wasn't really going to cut it.

And then Connor proceeded to lose his little mind while I tried to get us back on the rest of the routine as quickly as possible.  We ate lunch, or at least I ate lunch as fast as I could and Connor yelled his head off, we stopped in the chocolate store where I bought chocolate and Connor angrily signed "No Don't Like Bad Want Go Bye Bye," and then we got back in the car and drove half an hour down the road to an almost identical Barnes and Noble, where Connor instantly reverted to his usual angelic self. 

So we'll be rewriting our hospital visit routine to put the bookstore visit after lunch rather than before lunch, and hopefully if I rehearse it with him enough times we'll avoid a repeat performance of the giant meltdown he had today.  That is if they'll quit shutting down my bookstores. 

I like getting a Reward Book too.

~Jess

In Which We Watch A Tear-Jerker And I Survey My Shelves

So today Connor and I watched the 25th anniversary DVD edition of Les Miserables in between loads of laundry.  Well, I watched it, anyway-- Les Mis is not the most exciting movie ever for a five year old, though he did enthusiastically participate in some of the musical numbers.  It's been a while since I've seen it because my 10th anniversary edition is VHS and we don't have a player for it right now, so I was psyched when I got the DVD for Christmas.

Les Miserables is my favorite musical of all time, despite the fact that it makes me weep uncontrollably for several hours.  I've never seen it in person, but the 10th anniversary edition came out on video when I was 13 and I remember having sleepovers with my friends where we'd watch it together, sometimes multiple times a night.  We'd all read the book, and we'd sit around and discuss it and the musical with passion most teenagers at the time reserved for the latest episodes of 90210.  Nothing like a little 19th century literature to get the girls squealing, right?  We were kind of strange kids.

Oh, and also we watched it because we thought the guy who played Marius was totally hot.  So maybe we weren't that strange after all.   

Anyway, so I was watching while folding laundry and bawling, and I realized that John Valjean, the character the book and musical revolve around, is an adoptive parent.  That made me wonder just how many of our movies and books involve characters who are orphans. 

Answer: a lot. 

Out of curiosity I made up a list of the kids movies we have on our shelves that involve a main character who was either an orphan or a foundling, and here's what I came up with: Lilo and Stitch, The Sword And The Stone, Jungle Book, Tangled, Snow White, Enchanted, Cinderella, The Little Princess, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Anne of Green Gables, Harry Potter, Oliver, Hercules, The Rescuers, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Peter Pan, James And The Giant Peach, Tarzan, Anastasia, The Secret Garden, Stuart Little, and of course, Annie.  Whew!

And that's just the movies.  Orphans in books-- especially young adult and childrens' books-- are so prevalent that I actually studied the Orphan Archetype in one of my literature classes.  If I listed all of the books I have on my shelves that contain orphan protagonists we'd be here all night.  And I'm pretty sure it's not just because I have an insane number of books and an eye for fictional characters that are plucky young orphans. 

I wonder which of the books and movies Ellen will identify with!  Of course I hope she'll enjoy Les Miserables (and there's a chance she will, because the DVD version I have stars one of the Jonas Brothers and I've been informed by the teenage daughter of a friend that he is "like, still totally hot, even though they are so not cool now").  I'm kind of curious now as to just how many kids books and movies are out there that feature a Plucky Young Orphan protagonist.  I looked for a list online, but haven't been able to find anything.  If one of you knows of a list, will you point me in the right direction? 

~Jess

In Which Connor Goes To The Doctor

Three!  Three whole nights of sleep!  My body has no idea what to do with that kind of rest anymore.  Connor's asleep again, so what the heck-- I'll go for four nights! 

I could totally get used to this sleeping thing.

So Connor had yet another fantastic day at school, and then after a short quiet time we were off to a pediatrician's appointment.  The little guy needs a referral for a new stander, as he has outgrown his old one.  He weighs 37 pounds now, which is five pounds up from the last time he was weighed!  He is actually on the growth chart right now (in the bottom 5%, but still on it!)-- isn't that crazy?  The next time he goes up a size in clothing I'll have to shop for him in the Boys section, which kind of freaks me out a little.

We also needed new referrals for a few of his doctors, and I went ahead and got him his flu shot while we were there.  Connor was not particularly appreciative of this.  Otherwise the appointment went well, and I like this new pediatrician; our old one deployed so we were switched to a new provider.  I think this is pediatrician number five or six for Connor, but I've kind of lost count so I'm not really sure.

Anyway, after we were finished at the hospital we stopped by the bookstore to pick up Connor's Good Boy At The Doctor's Office celebratory book, and of course I had to browse for me too.  And then we came home because the flu shot was making the little guy a bit sleepy, and also I had to get some dinner going before it was time to go to derby practice.  I made beef stew.  It was delicious.

Hooray for another good day!

~Jess

In Which Connor Is Hot Stuff

So Connor apparently decided we just needed a little break, because he's up to his usual tricks again.  He had two seizures today (thankfully small) and has decided that since he didn't have school today he's going to stay up all night in revenge.  Oh well.  At least he was still in a pretty good mood today and, other than being a little tired after the seizures, played the day away. 

Since I actually got sleep last night and Connor was feeling pretty good, I spent most of the morning catching up on the housework I'd been putting off in the last couple of weeks while Jer and Connor hung out.  Then in the afternoon the three of us strolled down to one of the local playgrounds and spent some time hanging out there.  This particular playground is not the best one for Connor-- there are no swings (his favorite activity) and the slides are a little too high and long for him to really enjoy them-- but it has the advantage of being in full shade.  This is pretty essential for the little guy when we have hot, sunny weather and want to spend any amount of time outdoors because he can't sweat, so he quickly overheats.  Even though we stuck to the deep shade we only spent fifteen minutes playing before he started getting too hot and we walked back home.  We stripped him down and had a play session with some ice cubes wrapped up in a few paper towels to cool him off.  He had mixed feelings about the put-the-ice-pack on Connor game. 

Then this evening Joanna came over to take care of Connor so Jer and I could go out for a date!  We kept it simple-- we stopped and ate at a local restaurant, drove to a bookstore in Tacoma where we spent an hour or two browsing, and then finished the evening up at a local cupcake (and coffee, of course) shop.  That could be the description of any one of hundreds of dates we've been on over the years, but our routine never gets old. 

I hope we're still going out on our bookstore-and-coffee-shop date for many years to come!

In Which We Take It Easy And I Smell Like A (Non-Magic) Pickle

Today we mostly stuck to the house, though we did take a lovely walk around the neighborhood.  I'm feeling a little under the weather, though I think I'll be pretty much over whatever this bug is by tomorrow.  Mostly I just feel a little washed out.  It may be that I'm still catching up on sleep and feeling the effects from not having enough for so long.  Jeremy let me sleep in today, which was fantastic. 

Connor only had one seizure today, which means that hopefully his medication is starting to kick in.  I put a swimsuit on and we played in the tub for a while, which he enjoyed.  I haven't taken him down to the pool much this summer, and I really need to take him at least a few times before he's back in school!  He doesn't start up until September, but that's not too far away.  He'll be doing preschool again with the same teacher, which we're pretty excited about.  His classroom last year was awesome, and I'm sure it will be just as great this year.

Other activities today included a trip to the used bookstore across town to look for more graphic novels, and a little bit of cleaning.  Also I dyed a shirt with tea to make it look aged for my steampunk costume.  I used vinegar to set the dye and now I smell like a giant pickle.  Oh well; hopefully the shirt will look pretty good.  I'm washing it right now, so we'll see what it looks like when it comes out of the laundry.  Then I'll start replacing the plastic buttons on it with some neat pearl buttons I found at a local antique gallery. 

Sewing projects are fun!

~Jess

In Which Connor Wears His Wedding Hat And I Read About A Magical Cucumber

Connor had four seizures today, but they weren't quite as bad as yesterday.  It'll probably take a few days for his new medication to kick in.  Otherwise he had a great day, and though he seemed a little tired he was in a pretty good mood.

We spent the afternoon at a lovely wedding, which of course meant Connor had to wear his Wedding Hat.  He has an adorable tweed hat that makes him an instant girl magnet, and he wears it for special occasions.  Also he wore a button down shirt, pinstripe slacks and his bright red converse sneakers.  There was so much cuteness that my brain almost exploded.

I took pictures but of course I have yet to buy another camera cord, which means that I can't show them to you yet.  I promise I will do this soon, so that you can also marvel at the amazing adorableness that is my son.  Plus I swear the kid has grown another inch.  He's getting kind of ridiculously big.

I also stopped by the (sadly going out of business) bookstore today, where I picked up some graphic novels for our daughter Ellen.  I've been talking with our local English Language Learners coordinator about how to help Ellen with her English before she arrives here, and he suggested sending her adventure books.  I'm not exactly sure where her reading level is, so it's difficult to know what exactly would be appropriate.  I figured that graphic novels might be a good compromise because even though the vocabulary might too advanced for her the pictures provide context clues and they are engaging enough that she might take the time to look up the words instead of getting frustrated with them like she might with a book that is all text.  I'm figuring that I'll try and send one or two in each care package.

So I scoured the Independent Reader section and found the first two issues of Bone and also Magic Pickle, both of which I have heard are very good. We figure a developmental age of around 9-10 would probably be about right, though her English may not be quite up to that level yet.   

I'd love recommendations for future purchases if you all have any!

~Jess

In Which Jer And I Take A Day Trip And Dodge Optical Illusions

Today Jer and I took a day trip to Vashon island!

Actually there's not a whole lot to Vashon island.  There's a large lavender farm, which Jeremy and I immediately labeled the Farm of Death due to the fact that Connor is wildly allergic to lavender.  There's a tiny downtown area in Vashon, where we got some tasty Indian food and popped into a number of cute art galleries and antique stores.  There's a coffee roasterie too, where Jeremy found some green coffee beans.  Guess I'll be hearing the smoke alarm go off tomorrow!  I found some Jamaican rum tea at the same place-- who knew such a thing existed?  It smells like just what it sounds like-- spiced rum.  I'll give it a try tomorrow morning and see how it is, though I'll probably feel strangely guilty about drinking it before four in the afternoon.

Other purchases of the day include smelly soap, some extremely tasty caramels and, of course, a book or two.  What date of ours would be complete without books?

So anyway, one of the highlights of the trip was actually the ferry ride over; I saw a seal in the wild for the first time!  A harbor seal swam alongside the ferry for a few minutes, bobbing up every once in a while to take a good look at the cars and people.  I've seen harbor seals in zoos of course, but it was really neat to see one in its natural habitat.  I always forget how big they are.

Connor stayed with Joanna of course; apparently he wasn't too happy about sharing his toys with Jo's daughter-- who is old enough now to start getting enthusiastic about whatever Connor's playing with-- but otherwise he had a much better day.  He only had two seizures and they were both really tiny.  Oh, and of course he's not asleep right now.  But other than that he was good!

Jer and I left the island in the early afternoon and stopped at one of my favorite cafes in Tacoma for a sandwich and some time with (of course) our current novels.  We finished out the night in the movie theater, where we saw Captain America.  My official review: it was so-so.  It had a few good one liners, but otherwise we weren't terribly impressed.  We actually ended up leaving about five minutes early so we could be home in time (and also so we could stop by the cupcake store, which was on the way and which I had been raving about all day) but I don't think we'll sit through the whole thing again just to find out what happened.

We accidentally saw the movie in 3D, which was interesting.  The last time I went and saw a movie in 3D I had to put on those little paper glasses where one lens was red and the other was blue, so I was a bit taken aback when they handed me what looked like a pair of cheap but otherwise perfectly normal pair of glasses.  Guess the technology has advanced quite a bit from when I was a kid!  They still did that thing where they threw stuff directly at the screen so it looks like it's going to hit you in the face, though.  I spent half the movie ducking, which I'm sure was highly amusing to the people seated behind us.

So all in all it was a good day!  I love spending time with Jeremy wherever we end up going, and it's so fun to explore the Puget sound area and see what neat discoveries we can make together!

~Jess

In Which Our Bookstore Is Closing And I Am Distraught

So I found out today that the large bookstore five minutes from my house will be closed by the end of the week.  We have one tiny independent used bookstore in town, and that's it.  Now if I want to browse through new books, I'll have to drive half an hour to a neighboring town in order to buy them.

Is it sad that I sort of teared up a little when I found out the store would be closing?  Probably, but I don't really care; first my favorite fabric shop went under, and now this.  What the heck is a crafty English major supposed to do these days?  I know, I know-- buy electronic books like everyone else.  Well, I'm not having it.  I like the feel of books, dang it, and noticing the little intricate details that go into making a book a work of art, like the typeface and the end papers.  And I can't imagine being in the middle of a good passage and suddenly realizing I'm almost out of batteries. 

Plus, there's the thrill of going into a bookstore and having no idea what kind of book you are going to leave with.  You get to stalk up and down the aisles, waiting for the right novel to leap out at you from the shelves so you can pounce and make the kil-- take it up to the checkout counter.  I refuse to confirm or deny whether or not I actually growl under my breath like a velociraptor while I'm hot on the trail of a good find.   

I can't really imagine getting the same thrill from Amazon's "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" scrolling bar, even if I am ordering books in their non-electronic form.

This sort of thing always makes me worry that the printed book is going the way of the record and the tape deck and will be obsolete in twenty years.  Yes, you still have record and (to a lesser extent) tape deck enthusiasts running around and you can still find old records and tapes in various antique stores and on eBay, but you don't really see a whole lot of stores selling new ones, now do you? 

So like I said, I'm really sad to see it go-- Jer and I have spent many, many hours and probably ridiculous amounts of money in that store and we have many fond memories of it.  We almost always end our dates side by side in a coffee shop with our books in hand, enjoying each others' quiet company.  While we'll still end up doing the same, I guess we'll be spending a whole lot more time at the coffee shop with library books in hand.  Either that or we'll be putting a few more miles on the car.

Sigh.

~Jess