Labor Day, Power Outages and Soccer Saturdays

A couple weekends ago we were fortunate enough to be included in a last-minute Labor Day get-together.  After our fire station visit, we really didn't the weekend could get any better.  But we had a blast.  Of course, I could not get the kids to take my picture-taking seriously-- so this is the best I could get:

We had a great time eating, chatting with friends, and swimming.  It's been a warm, warm September, so we were especially grateful for the invitation.

This week (and weekend) has seen what assume are record-breaking temperatures.  We have an almost-30-year old air conditioner, and it needs to be replaced.  We try not to use it at all because of the expense, but when it's 90 degrees at night, it's awfully difficult to sleep.  And in a one-story house, we can't really keep the windows open (not that there is much relief from the outside anyway.  But this Friday we decided for maybe the second time this year to leave the A/C on.  It had hit around 107 during the day- soccer had been cancelled* for the evening, rec soccer was canceled* for today, and we knew the kids would have a hard time sleeping.

Of course, our plans were foiled by a power outage.  It wasn't our whole area.  It wasn't even our whole block-- we could see the street lights on at the end of the streets.  So we gathered the kids into the family room, so they could feel safe.  The power came back on just a couple hours later, and we went the kids to their rooms.  Then it kicked off again about an hour later and kicked back on around 3:30am.  Every time it went off or on, it woke us up.  By morning, the temperature had dropped to around 76, so we grabbed the kids and headed to the park for an interval run.

By noon-time, the temperatures were heading toward triple digits.  We were surprised that Casey's soccer game was not canceled, and we were contemplating not letting him play.  In the middle of the day.  In the heat.  But there seemed to be a breeze, and so play he did.  I even remembered my camera today.  Here are some shots:

 I just love how graceful he looks in the first two pictures (he is number four), and I love the look of concentration on his face in that last one.  Someone must have gotten the camera when I wasn't looking, because here is what else I found:

Luckily, Casey is swimming now at an impromptu soccer gathering, and Marcie is headed off soon to a sleepover with someone who has a pool and functioning air conditioning.  Casey's game tomorrow is at 8:30am, so it should be cooler to start with.  Supposedly, temperatures should start falling this week.  I guess we're just getting a "late" summer this year.

By the way, I love my new job.  Even though I have a lot of papers to comment on each week, I love that I can sit through an entire soccer game and never once check my email.  For now, life is good.

*P.S. I spelled cancelled (canceled) two different ways and figured spell-check would catch it.  When it didn't correct either version, I looked it up.  Apparently both spellings are correct!

The Y Pool and the Sun Pool

Today Casey jumped off the wall of the pool at the Y and turned around to swim to the edge. It was major progress. We've promised Casey that once he can do it, we'll buy him a Transformer. A giant, $40 transformer that makes noise and lights up. It's been quite an incentive.

I think I wrote several months ago about the day Casey fell into the deep end of the pool at a classmate's pool party. Within a few minutes, he calmed himself enough to swim to the edge and get himself out of danger. But not before flailing about for a bit. He was fine during swim lessons for the next couple weeks, then suddenly one day after going into the deep end, he decided he didn't like swimming anymore. At all. In fact, he'd work himself into such a frenzy that he literally gave himself a fever. Two weeks in a row. And only on swim days.

So we decided to stop pushing him into swimming. But our dilemma was that Marcie still wanted to attend swim lessons, and she's so young she has to participate in a parent-child class. So then what to do with Casey? Well, he refused to get into the pool. But then eventually we coaxed him back in by promising he could stay with Jason and Marcie. And he has. Real progress occurred in July when he discovered that his cousin Joey (18 months his junior) can swim by himself. Under water. And so can Lucas, who is only 6 months older than Marcie.

For a while, he just wanted to go in the "sun pool," which is apparently the name he gave my parents' pool. In North Carolina. A bit too far to travel for a quick swim. But now there seems to be some real progress. Thankfully, though, he seems to be overcoming his fear. In tiny steps. He's remained with Jason and Marcie this summer. And he may be ready to return to his own class soon. We're hopeful. It's a good thing he's so competitive.

Casey has also been keeping busy this summer by playing soccer on an indoor soccer team, by participating in music class, by taking a P.E. class at school, and by taking a reading/tutoring class (this evening, he was actually attempting to sound. out. words. I was so proud and impressed). But I digress.

I think one of the reasons he dislikes the Y pool is the attitude of the swim teachers. When he happily cheers about and shouts hello, the high-school-aged boys just give their I'm-too-cool-to-actually-make-any-effort head nods in Casey's direction. Talk about a turn-off. Though I suppose I should be grateful we don't have the swim coach Casey's cousin had the pleasure of experiencing this summer. On the way to the pool in San Francisco (I think it was a Y pool), one of the counselors jokingly said to my five year old nephew, "Just watch out for the sharks." Who says that to a five year old? Geez.

A Little of Everything in a Whole Lotta Words

I have taken a lot of pictures lately. And Casey has, too. Some quite artistic. But I won't be sharing any in this post because I'm afraid to download them to this computer. I've actually used up all the space on the C drive. I've never had that happen before. I didn't even know it was possible. But apparently it is, and I've done it. So this week Jason is helping me transfer everything over to a better computer with more capacity, and then I'll be able to add some photos.

The Bus
Casey started riding the bus. He takes it two mornings a week from the elementary school where he has speech therapy to the preschool he attends. He loves it. They walk him from his class out to the waiting bus, strap him into his seat belt, and then deliver him to his preschool teachers. Jason followed him the first day and took pictures, so I can't wait to upload them when I have more computer memory. I'm just happy he's so happy about taking the bus.

Marcie's Sleeping
I have written about Marcie's sleep issues more times than I care to count. Maybe even as often as I was writing about her bowel movements back during Poop Watch 2006. And the good news is that we appear to have trained her.

I wrote before that the crying was whittling down. Well as of around the 24th (maybe even before that, actually), there were no more tears at bedtime. She puts herself right to sleep. When she asks me to lay down with her, I tell her no very gently and remind her that I love her. She rolls over, sucks on her blanket, and puts herself to sleep. Every once in a while, she does still wake up in the middle of the night crying. Sometimes she wants me. Sometimes she wants Jason. Usually we just need to rub her back and let her know we're still there. We tell her to put herself back to sleep, and she does. Last night I heard her cry once, and then it stopped immediately. So she's definitely getting the routine.

I'm sure it helps some that she's so busy at school all day and so tired by the time we get home. I know I'm in a better mood. I can't believe I didn't suck it up and sleep train her sooner! I mean a girl could get used to sleeping more than 3 or 4 continuous hours of sleep a night!

Marcie and her Preschool
I continue to be impressed with Marcie's preschool teachers. She loved going the first couple days, but then the honeymoon ended. The first morning she told me, "No school," I tried to get her to tell me why (yup, that's me, trying to have a rational conversation with a 22-month-old). She didn't like my approach and went to Jason. He reminded her of all the fun things she gets to do at school, and she stopped fussing.

For a few days, she whined and cried as we pulled into the school parking lot. One morning she cried so hard, I'm sure I made it worse by sitting with her on the playground until she calmed down. When I finally left, she was really unhappy. But her teacher told me she stopped crying less than five minutes later and didn't complain the rest of the day.

I know she's still adjusting. It's been less than two weeks, and they say it takes 4-6 weeks for a two-year-old to adjust to being away from home, regardless of the number of days each week they attend. But she is definitely learning new things. And Casey's preschool teachers take him to visit her some days during lunch or play time. He stops by and gives her a hug and a kiss and says hi. And they play together in the afternoons. So that's all good.

She sure does come home dirty, though. One day I made the mistake of just putting a barrette in her hair, no rubber bands. She wore a white shirt, khaki skirt, and white tights. When I arrived to pick her up at the end of the day, she had dirt smudges and a little bit of juice stained around her mouth. She'd spilled juice and I-don't-know-what-else on the once-white shirt; the tights were no longer a white, but a shade of beige from the sandbox I presume; and the backside of her skirt looked like she'd been rolling around on the ground (and she probably had). Plus, her bangs were hanging down, obscuring the top half of her eyes. She looked like one of those children they feature in the ads where they want you to sponsor a child in a developing country by giving food money each month-- except Marcie, of course, doesn't look like she needs to eat. I wish I'd had my camera that day! Suffice it to say she is now in rubber bands always, and we're moving away from white clothes (what was I thinking?!? Casey hated getting even the littlest bit dirty at Marcie's age, so I guess I just thought all kids were like that. . . what a dummy).

Swimming
Casey's entering his sixth week of swimming lessons, and he's been doing-- well, swimmingly. He's mastered any fear of dunking his face. He knows how to make giant scoops with his arms, and he even tries kicking simultaneously. He does it for as long as he can hold his breath, then he stands up, waves to me, and does it again. He's also been working on his elementary back stroke, which cracks me up because I can hear him doing the motions. They've taught the kids that they should make arms like a chicken, then an airplane, then shoot their harms down against their sides like a rocket. So I can hear Casey going "Bock! Bock! Zoooooom! Kerpow!" over and over again as he makes the motions. He can't quite do anything on his own yet, but he's made definite improvements!

Music
Marcie started music class this week. As part of the class, we get a book and a CD of the music. Which the kids both love. If Casey's Sports of all Sorts (soccer, baseball, and basketball) didn't conflict, I'd enroll him, too! Their favorite song is about a duck. But earlier today I heard Casey singing Mary Had a Little Lamb. Except instead of "little lamb" he was singing, "Mary had a little man, little man, little man . . . and everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went; everywhere that Mary went, the man was sure to go." It brings new meaning to the word stalker. Anyway, I have some great pictures a friend took of Marcie in music class, but alas, they will have to wait until I can download on the new computer.

The Car
I did get my car back. The repair place did a great job. But part of the bumper appears to be coming loose, so we'll be taking it back in this week. I'm hopeful it's a one-day fixer so that we don't have to worry about renting again. But really, who knows.

Oddly, my one of my sisters-in-law had her car broken into the week before last and another sister--in-law was hit by a crazy driver who decided to make a left turn right into the front of her beautiful car. She's uninjured but the car may be totalled. We all have the same insurance company, so they must think the S. family is quite a risk to have on the books these days!

The New Job
And last is that I start my new job tomorrow. I don't really know what to expect. I mean, I interned there last summer, so I kind of know what to expect. But I'm quite certain that it'll be different from the summer experience, too. Check in tomorrow, and I'll try to remember to post how things went. (I've been scattered in posting because I finally went to the doctor and it turns out that the pain in my neck is not psychosomatic; I have had a month-long-muscle spasm. I was prescribed a muscle relaxant, but I can't stay awake on the stuff, so I take it when I put the kids to bed, and then I'm out like a light within the hour. . .)

Soccer

Casey played in his first soccer game yesterday. Fortunately no one keeps score. At least not publicly. Casey loved it. He didn't lay down on the field. He didn't push the other kids around (nor did they push him). He even scored a goal. We're not sure how much he understands yet, because he volunteered to be goalie right at the start of the game. We know he had no idea what he was volunteering for, and it took him a while to figure out that he was supposed to stop the ball before it went in the net. In the end, he played the field-- and had a great time doing it. Check him out!

Jumping, Soccer, and other Fun

Sorry it's been a while. Is anyone even still reading this thing? Who would have guessed that studying for the bar would take so much out of me? Honestly, what's really kept me from blogging is lack of Internet access during the daytime. I'm too tired to get online when I get home, and I don't have Internet access during class. Which is probably better for my studying and focus. . .

So the big news this week is that Marcie has learned to jump. She is a riot with it. After the Little Gym class last week, she decided to try on her own. During class, she always bends her knees and lets me lift her, but this past weekend she decided to jump on her own. And, my, she is very proud of herself. And so darn cute doing it. She has also begun to run. Not speed walk (I am always so surprised and impressed at how quickly toddlers move!), but run. This morning, she ran from the car to her grandmother's front door. She paused before the stoop step and stepped up it carefully, then stretched up on her tippy toes to ring the doorbell. All. By. her. self. It's crazy how fast she's growing up.

As pleased as I am with her motor development (and her language skills, which never cease to impress me-- this morning she said thank you unprompted!), I am really displeased with her sleep habits. I vaguely remember Casey going through this phase of waking in the middle of the night and wanting a milk cup/bottle-- or was it chicken? There was also a phase during which he'd wake up at 1am and ask for chicken to eat. And I remember talking to someone (my mom? Jason? friends?) about how it was bad for his teeth and I needed to break him of it. But I was so tired, that it was just so hard not to just give him the drink and let him put himself back to sleep. For the life of me, I cannot remember what we did to resolve the issue. Or if it cleared on its own. I think it might have gone away on its own, and we chalked it up to a growth spurt. Oh, but if only it were so easy with Marcie. After going to bed last night, she got up twice-- once around midnight and the other time around 5am. I guess that's 5 hours of sleep in a row. But the night before-- goodness almighty-- I was up with her four times. Each time she asked me for milk, and each time I said no. Until 4am. When I finally gave in and gave her some water. I probably just totally ruined things doing that, huh? I probably almost had her trained to believe I wouldn't get her middle-of-the-night beverages and blew it when she asked the fourth time. Anyway, it's getting old.

And I can't help but wonder my eternal question-- are Marcie's sleep issues just regular kid issues or adoption issues? Is she just not used to sleeping alone? She's been home with us in her own bed now since November, so around 7 1/2 months. Is it that she is frightened by the dark? (We leave a hall light on now.) Is it that she wants to make sure I'm still around? Or am I just making too much of it all? It's so hard to know-- and as I have explained to all those people around me who roll their eyes at me when I talk about it-- I don't want to be one of those people who blames everything on adoption. But I also don't want to ignore the fact that Marcie may have issues that we need to give more time to than we would if she were with us from birth. And for me, sleeping is just one of those things. I go back and forth on it. Sometimes I think, "Enough is enough already!" But then the next day I think, "Geez, Karen, give it some time, already!"

Anyway, in other news, Casey plays in his first real soccer game this Saturday! Hopefully we'll get some photos or video of that. More importantly, hopefully he won't just lay down on the field and ignore the ball. And the real big news of last week was the arrival of my nephew, Ethan Xavier H. He is the seventh grandchild to my parents, the sixth boy. (Poor Marcie!)He was 7 pounds, 4 ounces and 20 inches. He had a full head of hair (almost as much as Marcie!!!), and eyebrows already. I'd post a picture of me and Jason with him, but I stupidly forgot my camera when we went to visit him in the hospital, and I've been staying away ever since (because I developed a viral throat infection on Sunday-- good times, but at least I can breathe, so I'm grateful for that!).

I DO have more to tell- I think I left everyone hanging with our adoption decision. And we did make one. And we are paper-chasing for BS #3. But I'll have to save that for another post, when I have a bit more time to write.

Oh. And for those of you still reading this blog. Thank you.