• My 2nd rheumatologist appointment and my diagnosis, finally!
• My  never-ending quest for the right depression meds
• My return to list-making
• My dog ate my [everything]!
• My glasses!
• Thing 1 finally got his Nintendo DS!
•  My concern over Thing 2 starting kindergarten
• Review of Stephen King’s Just After Sunset

I’m sure there is more about which to blog.  Those are the ones floating at the top of the pool right now. Things have been so crazy with trying to keep up with my one class this semester, my illness, my family, my job, my dog.  Unfortunately in some of those cases, those all come before writing.  I haven’t written anywhere else either, so Today isn’t the only neglection on my list.

I wanted to let you  know I am still around, which is the main purpose of this post.  Look for the above topics soon, and here’s a Valentine’s Day anecdote to keep you warm and fuzzy.

I got a SpongeBob card for Thing 2.  It was a fold out, with several pages.  One line on each page.  Some thing like:

Here’s a Spongey tale for you, son! and then a few lines about Valentines being heart shaped and not square like Sponge Bob to the tune of the theme song.  He said “Did you buy this for me, mom?” and “Wow, thanks !  I really wanted that card” with his voice full of awe and love.  Sigh.  good times.

The movie itself, Bedtime Stories, was a pretty decent movie.  It wasn’t quite as magical as I imagined when seeing the trailers.  I kept expecting Adam Sandler to go off on someone and begin yelling and cursing.  He did not, though, and that was nice.  PG actually meant PG.

To my pleasant surprise also, Thing 2 sat next to me and (mostly) just watched the movie.  He was only as fidgety as any kid during a two hour long movie would be, and there was one kid in the theatre making much more noise.

Being able to take one’s five year old child to a movie, a two hour movie like Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler,  is (I think?) something that many parents don’t think anything about.  It seems like most parents I know can just decide one day to go see a movie.  I can not do that.  I have always had to plan something at least a week ahead of time (two for optimum benefit), start telling him every day or two about it, prepare him by going over rules, and do this every single day until the day comes, and do it four or five more times each day.  After that, we might make it through half an actual movie before having to leave.  I do it more for his benefit than everyone else’s.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that everyone who goes to a kids’ movie should expect there to be some noise (giggling, questions, etc) in the audience.  I also know that anyone will get irritated and downright mad at a kid who yells, screams, is very loud, and downright disruptive.  Being in that situation is not fair to everyone else, or to Thing 2.  He’s an extremely intelligent kid, and he knows, he can tell when people are upset by him, and it just frustrates him more and he can’t really handle that.  So until now, I have not often taken him into situations like that, where he’ll not be able to handle the overstimulation.

But yesterday, I was just in awe.  He was just like any other kid, if not a very well-mannered one.  This medicine is actually helping him.  I know so many people are skeptical of putting small kids on medicines like adderall, and I was too.  I thought that it would make him a zombie, or even make him worse.  It’s not that way at all with Thing 2.  He’s still himself, with his very unique and pronounced personality…but he can actually make better choices.  He’s been able to stop and think about consequences before he does something.  So many parents take that for granted in a child.

Seeing my son struggling with wanting to make good choices, wanting to “be good,” wanting to keep his friends and not hurt them is really, truly heartbreaking.  Seeing how happy, and how much less tense and anxious he is now…it’s just awesome.

So, anyway, I didn’t mean to get off track.  I was so impressed that after Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler was over, we went for a drive down by the river.   We parked, and walked along the river.  No one ran out into the road.  Thing 1 was able to have a good time without having to keep up with me chasing his brother.  We even saw a little bookstore, and went and checked it out.  It was so …bookstore-ish.  It had the different aisles with old bookcases stuffed with books, and different rooms and it was dark and there was even the older lady at the counter.

And then we went and had Chinese food again.  All in all, not a bad day.

I wish I would just walk in and the Dr. would say “Well, we’ve figured it out, it’s this simple thing, and just take this pill and you’ll be fine. ”  Of course I know that is not going to happen.  My luck, the rheumatologist will tell me that every other doctor was right and it is all made up in my imagination.  My family doctor actually told me once that since prescription naproxen didn’t help, that I don’t have migraines after all.  We’ve worked past that, though, and that’s another story for another day.  (I ended up getting Maxalt, which is awesome actually).

So anyway, once I go to my rheumatologist appointment on January 26, hopefully I will get a diagnosis then, and not need more tests to figure it out.  It is probably rheumatoid arthritis, although I am not a doctor and I’m just guessing.  If it is that, or something that requires frequent or even occasional appointments,  I will have to apply for FMLA leave for those, so my bosses can’t hold the absenses against me, as they keep trying to do.  (per our HR person, who I met with on a mostly unrelated matter)

That’s that.  Just me eagerly anticipating my second rheumatology appointment.  I am tired of being in pain, and I need it to stop.  I can hardly sit still at work for very long.

On a brighter (maybe?) note, today I am going to take Things #1 and 2 to a movie today…by myself.  Thing #1 got a movie gift card for his birthday (over a month ago) and the person bought #2 one too, so he could go, and we just haven’t made it yet.  Stay tuned…same bat channel…some random bat time…!

He has, however, been doing much better at making good choices (a phrase from his daycare).  I have even gone inside of McDonald’s a couple of times to order, and he was actually at about seventy-five percent of ideal.  And hey, for any kid to do that well in a McDonald’s is encouraging, right?

So last night I decided to try out the Chinese restaurant in town.  I explained to Thing #2 (and #1) beforehand that we were going to the chinese restaurant and all that.

We got there, went to our seats, got our food, ate, and went home.  All went well, if you don’t count Thing #1 announcing loudly enough for the booth behind us to hear that he had just farted.  Besides that I was just ecstatic that my children behaved at the Chinese restaurant.

There are different “channels” available on the Wii Menu: the Disc menu where you play whichever game is inserted into the console; the Forecast channel, where you can see the weather forecast; the News channel; and the Nintendo Wii shopping channel.  On the shopping channel, you can buy games and other things to download.

Included in the Wii Sports is bowling, tennis, baseball, boxing and golf.  Thing # 1 especially likes the bowling and tennis.  I played with him long enough on the weekend that my arms are still sore!  I’m not a tennis player so I wouldn’t know how realistic it is, but the bowling seems about right.  I have the same problem with the ball spinning to one side on the game as I do in the bowling alley.

Over all, the Nintendo Wii Sport is a huge hit in our house!

The boys got a lot of clothes from me, since they hardly play with their toys anymore.  Thing #1 got a fake bug-making machine from my parents (which was pretty cool), and some Transformers, Uno Spin, and a lot of Bakugan cards and accessories.  Thing #2 got a Solar System model (it still includes Pluto as a planet, but otherwise rather neat), a Jenga game, some Legos, and also some Bakugan cards.  And of course the bikes!  They loved the bikes of course.  I may have to get Thing # 1 a bigger one though.

The girls got some clothes, a perfume maker, brownie mix in a cute bowl, and Zach got them dwarf hamsters.

I mentioned the Wii, too, right? It’s awesome! More about that later.

So, tomorrow evening, Thing 1 and Thing 2 will spend the night with my ex-mother-in-law and they’ll open presents with her either that night or on Christmas Eve day, then she’ll bring them back that evening for our Christmas Eve dinner, and they’ll get presents from everyone who comes I’m sure.  Then there is one present from me they get to open on Christmas Eve before bedtime (pajama/robe sets).  Then when they wake up on Christmas morning, they’ll see the bikes!

Can you tell I am excited?  Well, I am.  Merry Christmas everyone!

“Of course,” I said, “I’ll be right there.”  I walked back to one of my bosses’ offices and told her the situation and that I had to hurry and go get my son and determine if he needs to be taken to a hospital, or just home for a breathing treatment.  She wanted to discuss how I was going to make up the time!  She’ll have to forgive (or get over) my “Yeah I’ll figure that out tomorrow.”

It takes me 25 to 30 minutes to get from work to his school, and I was doing my usual thing–worrying.  Ten minutes in, I was convinced I’d need to drive immediately to the emergency room and it was pneumonia again.  Then I got to the school, and he wasn’t even wheezing, just a tiny bit of chest tightness.

Back at home and after a breathing treatment from the nebulizer, he was all better.

(By the way, I’m making up the time on Sunday morning–yuck)

Eventually, the inevitable happened and someone stole someone’s crayon, and another war was erupting.  So, in my never-ending quest to find creative ways to stop a fight without sending someone to their room or yelling, I just pulled up a chair and sat down.  Suddenly, they each picked a page, some crayons, and started coloring, as did I.  And, psst, they were even sharing the crayons.  I think they were so delighted and tickled at the idea of me COLORING A COLORING BOOK PAGE!!!

Thing #1 did a very nice job on a puppy holding a candy cane.  Thing #2 colored a couple of skiing penguins very well.  I did not so bad a job on a picture of Santa Claus bearing many wrapped presents.

When I had children, their father and I decided–each for our own reasons–to tell them the truth about Santa Claus.  So they have always known the story of Saint Nicholas.  Call me terrible for “depriving” them if you will, but they know that I work hard to provide them with clothes and toys and food all year long, and same goes for Christmas time.  They know there’s no magical jolly elf that magically can create the toys they want.  I have taught them, however, that most kids do believe in Santa Claus and under no circumstances are they to ever tell any kid that Santa Claus is not real.  I will not be responsible for some kid’s bubble getting popped.  I think it’s great for other people to do the whole Santa thing, really.  It’s just not for me.  We choose to celebrate Christmas in a non-Santa fashion.

That being said, Thing # 2 has decided this year that he does believe in Santa Claus, even though he knows Santa’s not real because we told him.  Hey that’s a five-year-old’s logic.  So we said …Fine.  He knows, and he knows where the presents really come from, and the whole Christmas story, and all that.  So we went to two Christmas parties where Santa was around, and got pictures of him with Santa.  I have to admit, it’s fun.  He also told me he wants something from Santa under the tree.  So, yes, I couldn’t resist and put From Santa on a toy for him.

It kind of makes me wish I had had the whole magical and wonderous Santa Claus experience  as a child.  But then I wake up.