Letter to Grandma

Since my grandmother doesn't have a computer, I print my blog posts and send them to her once in awhile. It's been too long but I'm sending her what she's missed. I usually send along a letter and thought I'd include it here since it is a nice little update and I've been remiss in my posting.

Dear Grandma,

I was thinking that it’s been an awfully long time since I printed and sent my blog posts for your perusal! I should make it a New Year’s tradition…

I keep a document that indicates what dates I’ve already sent you and I can’t help thinking that I must have forgotten to record my last printout because the last date recorded was April 2011!! I’m pretty sure I’ve sent you more since then but just in case… Regardless, forgive any duplication!

A brief overview of our current status:

Finals at SAIT ended in April so I have been home for nearly a month! Catching up on some organization and certainly enjoying some free time! I like to make cards and research educational opportunities. I plan on getting a degree someday when the kids are older. If I get permanent employment at SAIT, then they will fund it! I enjoy instruction. It’s fast-paced and keeps me busy; no chance of getting bored!! I enjoy grading assessments and, as I get better, I hope to improve my methods!

I still work at the hospital part-time. Usually just Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as Saturdays.

Shawn is finishing up his 3^rd year plumber apprentice hours. He has registered for his 4^th and final term in September. After that, he takes his provincial and national exams. All that will be left to do after that is to complete his 4^th year hours. He is so excited to have this all done!! His income will improve and we’ll start contributing towards retirement again! Shawn really wants to get a better mountain bike (his current hobby) as well as a motorcycle. I hope to get a motorcycle one day, as well.

Taylor is nearing the end of grade 2. He seems to be enjoying school, in general. Averi goes back and forth about liking Kindergarten. Interesting since Kindergarten is really the most fun of all the grades! Taylor has his two big front teeth as you will witness upon our visit. The teeth on either side of his front teeth are coming in quite slowly so he’s had the appearance of a rabbit for some time! Taylor really enjoys building things with intricate pieces/parts that click together (called Knex). He also rides his very own bike since last year. Averi is also riding her very own two-wheeler as of this year. Ella really enjoys riding along behind one of the parents (as you’ll see in one of the blog posts).

Averi is the sweetest child ever! She reminds me of Eva when she was young. Averi’s only flaw is a propensity to whine. She’s slightly less honest than Taylor, but he’s a hard act to follow! Averi loves to sing and dance and doesn’t usually have stage-fright (whereas Taylor cannot tolerate an audience!).

Ella has some behavioral issues. She’s been seen by a pediatrician but that wasn’t helpful in the least except for a referral to the Early Childhood Mental Health Outreach program. Ella has her own case worker but, again, I’m not sure how effective it’s been. We keep considering a private assessment by a family psychologist group to see if Ella wouldn’t qualify for funding for her issues. As it is, I have registered Ella for “preschool” in the Fall at a school for kids with special needs. Her case worker suggests that Ella goes to a school with children that don’t have issues so that she has models of appropriate behavior. I see the logic and have been trying to find a program elsewhere (with little success so far).

Ella still refuses to potty-train. I have tried all sorts of things, though Dad did suggest a star sticker approach that was apparently used on us as kids. The problem is that Ella is not motivated by ANYTHING! She will simply have to decide that it is time. Unfortunately, Ella is far too BUSY to entertain toilet use. I have, of course, attempted to put her on the toilet every half-hour (she simply goes in between half-hours…), have disallowed TV unless the toilet has been used first, used rewards, etc. etc. to no avail. The one bit of progress that she has made is that she has started hiding when she has to go #2. At least she is recognizing the signs of impending defecation! I always catch her too late.

Ella turns 4 in a week and a half. She always seems to lag developmentally by about 6 months to a year behind average children. I have convinced myself that she will make up for this early torture later on in life. I look forward to it!

Look forward to seeing you and Dad and other family in Victoria in a month! Would love to take the kids to see the fireworks on Canada Day.

Love, Dana

Ella and the Makeup Drawer

Remember the nail polish?

This wasn't as bad but Ella sure is determined to do certain things! My mascara has been enticing Ella for some time. Again, she did manage to get some on her eyelashes!

Even though Mommy was taking pictures, Ella knew she'd been naughty and kept a sober face...

The glasses up on her head also hide her recent self-haircut (Ella also cut a bit of her sister's hair!). Seems to be a popular misdemeanor for little girls.

Get Along T-shirt

A terrific way to decrease the frequency of sibling disruption!

Not sure where this came from but will have to try!!

Quick Update

I've been super busy but wanted to share that I signed a contract for next term at SAIT. Wehoo! I'll have my fingers in 3 different programs: Medical Transcription, Health Information Office Assistant (being renamed Medical Office Assistant/Unit Clerk), and Health Information Management (the program I took once upon a time). I even have an old pal that's currently taking that last program, so I'll get to see her on a regular basis starting in March.  :)

We set up the Christmas tree this past weekend and the kids are wondering where the presents are.  lol!

Ella finally got her glasses! I haven't had a chance to take pics... Will have to do ASAP.  Since she's farsighted, the lenses magnify her eyes a bit... She's still cute.  At least when she's hugging you.  ;)  She's very huggy but only on her own schedule.  ;)  We also have to patch her a bit. I feel terrible that our kids' eyes are so terrible.  Even Taylor's grade 2 teacher has voiced concerns so Taylor's up next for an optometrist visit.  :(

Ella Strikes Again

"Poor Daddy" is sort of an understatement.

Like, "Ella's mischievous" is an understatement.

I received a call at work today asking for the best way to get nail polish off of everything.

Including Miss Ella herself, of course.

I never did get to see the clothing she was wearing... *shudder*

Funnily enough, she actually did get her toes.

This incident can be blamed squarely on Mommy for painting her own toenails in front of Miss Sassafras and then leaving the nail polish on her bathroom counter.

That Child!

Ella escaped her bed this evening to paint herself front and back with Taylor and Averi's toothpastes (blue and pink, respectively).
In this context, I should indicate that her pediatrician found that she is developmentally normal. She is too young for other diagnoses but words such as "oppositional" and "impulsive" were used and describe Ella to a tee.

Avi's 1st Haircut?

Well, her first self-initiated haircut experience...

My cute little imp!!

Family Photo

I found a wonderful deal on professional photos! After a torturous 20-minute session (it was supposed to be half an hour but I think we were pretty well "cheesed out"), here is the pic we chose:

This is the web res file we received, but we also have an 8 x 10 and 4 smaller ones. It wasn't my best angle and def not Avi's best smile but we're all looking at the camera and Ella's with the group! Shawn's eye has been swollen and red for months! Not sure what's going on with that. Don't Taylor and Shawn look like twins??  ;)

We had a 2nd session that was more brutal than the first. At least, Ella was much worse. We ended up picking a photo of just Taylor and Averi since Ella refused to sit still for many shots. For some reason, I haven't received the web res file for that session yet but here's the scanned 8 x 10:

They're so cute!! And I was so fabulously excited to get professional pics again! I don't even know what happened to our last ones but Taylor was between 8 and 10 months old!!

Someday I'll Laugh About This... Right?

It always seems to be that one has just sat down to complete a project when all hell breaks loose.

"Mom! The toilet!!"

I figured the toilet was just having difficulty flushing and attempted to finish coiling a ribbon flower.

Then, I heard spattering water close by. (My craft space is in the undeveloped basement.)

I dropped everything and ran upstairs to the main floor toilet. As Averi had tried to inform me, there was a puddle spilling out of the bathroom into the hall. At least the toilet had stopped running.

Ella, of course, had run right through the puddle, so I removed her sleeper and grabbed a towel to start mopping up.

I had almost finished soaking up the water when Ella ran in carrying the dirty diaper she had just removed by herself. When I say dirty, I mean DIRTY.

I abandoned bathroom clean up to whisk Ella upstairs to the bathtub (after a quick bum wipe down).

Eventually, I finished cleaning, including the water that leaked into the basement (all over my mother's stored belongings) and all contaminated human bodies.

I'm tired.

Avi Goes to the Hospital... Again

I got a call at work this last Wednesday saying that I needed to pick up Averi and take her to the doctor. She had excruciating lower abdominal pain and a fever. She had been up several times throughout the night before but her general complaints of sore tummy had me administering some Tylenol and putting her back to bed. At least I'd had the frame of mind to warn her babysitter.

I took her to a walk-in clinic where she was immediately seen and then referred to the Children's hospital. Suspicion? Appendicitis!

The ER doc (resident) was fairly certain it was appendicitis and moved Avi to a different bed within the ER to await blood work and a surgical consult. She had an IV started (the nurses wrap the kids up in a blanket with only the necessary limb extruding!) and the surgical resident echoed the ER doc's opinion. So we waited for the "big boss" to come and examine Avi but it turned out her white count was normal (not indicative of bacterial infection).

The surgeon indicated that the pain was in the right place for appendicitis but Avi's age worked against the diagnosis. An ultrasound was ordered despite the late hour. It turned out inconclusive, of course, as pertains to her appendix though there were remarkably HUGE lymph nodes within her abdomen as well as fluid in her bowels even though diarrhea was not amongst her symptoms. This explained the pain, to my thinking, since Avi didn't seem to localize her pain to only the right lower quadrant of her abdomen. The entire width of her lower abdomen was the culprit. (The ultrasound tech mentioned mesenteric adenitis, but again, no nausea, vomiting or diarrhea were present.)

Averi was admitted overnight for observation. Her condition did not worsen, in fact, her fever disappeared. The abdominal pain remained but had lessened enough that Avi could move around. This ruled out the appendicitis but, unfortunately, we did not leave the Children's with an actual diagnosis... It will probably be attributed to a viral gastroenteritis, despite the lack of typical GI symptoms.

I was given a list of symptoms to watch for and she was sent on her merry way.

She has completely recovered but I will always wonder what happened to my girl!

[Edited to add: Most Responsible Diagnosis - Mesenteric Adenitis]  ;)

Play Dirty

Ella is my first child to discover the immense fun of splashing around in the toilet!! Ewwwww!

Please. Put. The. Lid. Down.

This is usually accompanied by the unraveling of an entire roll of toilet paper. Great fun all around.

Please. Close. The. Bathroom. Door.

Ear!

The Nelsons always tell the tale of Diana poking baby Shawn in the eye while exclaiming, "Eye!" Well, this morning, Avi begged Daddy to pick her up after which she put her mouth to his ear and loudly exclaimed, "Ear!!"

Poor Daddy!

Poor Ella!!

I swear the Fates are against Ella.

Sometime ago, Ella was belted in her little rocking chair which had been placed on the island in the kitchen (I won't name names). During the process of wiggling or being manipulated by a younger sib, I watched in horror as it fell off, unable to reach it in time to prevent it. She didn't fall directly on to the floor, but I was traumatized. (So was Taylor--he blamed himself!)

On other occasions, as previously blogged here, Ella had accidentally been hurt by her sibs.

Today, I specifically told Taylor not to move around too much in the shopping cart because it seemed rickety and I didn't want him knocking it, with Ella in her carseat perched on top, over. Well, sure enough, he knocked it over. I was terrified for Ella but she was only scared and, luckily, not hurt. Taylor was scared, too, but with a shiner to go with it.

Just Call Me Dr. Dana

Avi was getting her glasses repaired for the 2nd day in a row--we've only had her glasses for that long--and it was taking quite some time (she had really done a number on them). She was restless but fairly well-behaved. While I was sitting holding her hands, she yanked away. She cried a little and said "Ow," obviously indicating that she'd hurt herself. I thought it was her wrist because she was guarding it and refused to use that hand. I gently moved it in different directions trying to ascertain the damage and she would flinch and cry upon suppination. I feared a dislocation.

Upon consulting with my dad, a family physician, it was determined the she did indeed have a subluxation at the radial head--otherwise known as toddler's elbow. Through much crying and frustration (the 1st from Avi, the 2nd from myself), I was given instructions on how to reduce it. It wasn't until after I'd given Averi and myself a settling down period that I was finally successful in popping it back into place. She cried for a few seconds but then was using her hand again! I was elated!

Naptime Incident

This afternoon, Avi was reluctant to go down for a nap. We're usually driving around when she naps so falling asleep isn't an issue. Today however, I caught her stripping and trying to redress. I put her back down and didn't hear from her again for 5-10 minutes. What I did hear at that time was a loud crash. I'm guessing she had tried scaling her tall, skinny dresser. She is really the most amazing monkey! Said dresser now lay across the floor in an odd position from where it used to be standing. The glass pictures that had been on top of it were now on the floor, one of the glass panes shattered.

This incident occurred while I had someone over trying to explain salsa canning to me (we were supposed to do it today but it didn't work out). Due to the circumstances, we agreed to discuss it later. So after a grueling cleanup, I packed up the kids to get Avi to sleep in the van.

Well, mostly it was so I could cool off while they were belted up. ;)

Around the Corner

Well, there's a month left 'til baby comes. Am I ready? NOPE!! All my baby clothes were relocated and haven't been returned, we don't have a plan for what to do with the kids when I go into labor, the baby crib's not ready, I need a chair for the nursery, we've yet to replace our video camera, and the thing that freaks me out the most..... we still don't have a baby name!!!

Injury

Averi had her first major mishap a couple of mornings ago. She ran right into the piano bench and bit her tongue. There was some blood but she got over it soon enough. I didn't think too much of it until inspecting it later during the day. While it was only a half inch across, it was quite deep and would gape disgustingly wide with very little manipulation. *shiver* Poor baby!

It's healing quite well.

Avi vs Dude

Our neighbor's gave us some of their borscht for supper tonight. Averi LOVED it. Words cannot express the mess of red cabbage slopped all over her as she shovelled it endlessly into her mouth.

Taylor did not. He persisted in his refusal to eat it until bedtime when he had me reheat it. Only to refuse to eat it again.

*sigh*

Toddlers and Food

I've been meaning for some time now to compose a magnificent post on weaning babies for Mommy 4-1-1. Unfortunately, I have nothing worthwhile to recommend. Except, perhaps, horror stories.

Avi has always been much more difficult than Taylor in regards to behaviour during mealtimes. Her worst, and most long-lasting, habit is to spit the contents of her mouth all over herself, her chair, the floor and the hapless parent attempting to feed her.

Her most spiteful habit, however, is more recent. She will take an item of food we have left in front of her on her high chair tray, hold it over the side, look meaningfully at said hapless parent, and proceed to purposefully release the food item directly onto the floor.

While I can appreciate the dramatics of such a maneuver, it is a really proficient way of adding insult to injury.

Mealtimes are not our favorite.

Contest of Wills

This evening, I delighted in witnessing a screaming contest between my two children. Averi is quite famous for her withering shrieks. And tonight, Taylor was not to be outdone.

Avi was under the impression that it was all a game. She would shriek at the top of her lungs for as long as possible and then Taylor would follow. Taylor's motivation, however, was not fun but exasperation. He can't tolerate Avi's shrieking anymore than we can.

And so, rather than attempting to dissuade the contesters by adding my own shriek to the din, I simply let them wear themselves out.

I just hope no one calls social services...