Amelia's been having nosebleeds every other day or so for the last few weeks. We've been running a humidifier in her room, upping her fluids, smearing vaseline in her nose, and still it happens. (That's what the nurse line recommended to do.) We are staying on top of keeping her nails trimmed. The nosebleeds don't just happen at home - they also happen at school. - yikes! This morning, she had one at 5:40 that lasted for 30 minutes even with pinching the bridge of her nose and all that. Not a pleasant way for anyone to start the day.

I'll be calling the pediatrician's office this afternoon to see if it is time to escalate to ENT or what.

We didn't have much snow at our house, but we were iced in. For those that follow my Facebook where I tend to jot down most of my Internet-y thoughts, there was supposed to be a Girl Scout surprise pancake breakfast Saturday morning. The troop that was hosting it was determined to carry on even though the 50 troop leaders that were signed up to attend called the leader and said it was not viable, the roads were pretty awful, keep the money, etc.. Finally, at 9 PM Friday, the hosting troop leader sent out a guilt-trippy email saying she was going to reschedule. Thanks, Mom. :P

It's good to have everyone back to their normal schedule today. Now if the ice would just melt off my driveway.

Amelia has hit the "why" phase but it's a really cool version of it. She asks "what if" questions about the world. For example, she'll ask when we're stopped at a traffic light, "What if we could fly above the rest of the cars to get around the stopped cars ahead of us?"
"That would be really cool, Amelia!"

This morning, while we were eating breakfast, she looked at Gypsy sleeping on the couch and asked, "What if Gypsy could talk?"
"Well, she'd be like Martha on TV."
"Why didn't we get a dog like that?"
"There aren't a lot of dogs like that except on the show."

"What if Daddy didn't have to go to work?"
"We couldn't afford the house."
"What if that happened?"
"We'd be really hot outside all the time."
"Oh."

It's really fascinating, and I'd rather have this iteration than just the cascading whys.

I registered Amelia for kindergarten yesterday. *sniff*  I brought all 58 thousand pieces of required information, and I didn't break down into tears. I expect that will occur at next week's Kindergarten Roundup, where the parents and children will be given a tour of the school, go through the cafeteria line for a special treat, and students will get to hear a story in our media center. (Hrm. Must find alternate childcare for K. Woo.)

As for the goblin eating my brain, it's still here. The neurologist upped the dosage on prednisone to 60 mg per day on Tuesday night. I started taking it Wednesday. I had an allergic reaction Wednesday afternoon, where my tongue went numb, my lips and throat were swollen, and I had a trip to Northside Hospital. Considering Predinisone is one of those meds they give you when you have an allergic reaction (whee!), they gave me even more Benadryl (I took one immediately upon noticing the reaction) and Dilaudid, Reglan, and Prevacid (which helps with allergic reactions).

Tom's sister picked up the kids so they wouldn't lick anyone with swine flu while we waited 30 to 45 minutes between every single thing to be done at the hospital (having a nurse look at me, having the doctor look at me, having my throat x-rayed, having the nurse give me the damned drugs already, having the doctor look at the x-rays, having me discharged). We managed to watch most of the Presidential press conference and Lost at the hospital. The kids were thrilled to eat McDonalds for dinner at the hospital and get time with their aunt and uncle.

I have an appointment with the neurologist on Tuesday. No, I'm not taking any more of the megadose of prednisone. I had a massage yesterday which felt good even though I got a bonus dose of hand-fluttery Reiki above me. I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best. (I paid for NMT.)

While the kids were in preschool today, I did a whole lot of nothing. I read my book (The Friday Night Knitting Club), I drank an overpriced coffee, I did a quick medical appointment (a thryoid ultrasound - took 15 minutes), returned some clothing to Target, and listened to a bunch of NPR podcasts.  There was a whole lot of me time in there. I'm trying to bank this up since summer is coming. :) 

Five years ago, I became a mother. Amelia has taught me patience, laughter, and grace.  She is my observer and my artist. She is full of joy and curiosity. She shares her birthday with her great-grandmother, Regla, and her late great-grandfather, Lawrence, Regla's husband. Her middle name, Lauren, was given in honor of her Abuelo Lawrence who passed three weeks before she was born.

I am so thankful for every moment with her.

Scene: Amelia is furiously drawing in her "Little Miss Chatterbox" notebook. She looks up and catches my eye.  

"Mommy, I'm making one of my contraptions!"

"Oh, okay, sweetie!  What does it do?"

"I'll figure it out when I'm done drawing it."

I like that attitude.
 

Last year, Amelia cried throughout the Christmas concert at her preschool. The sleigh bells, the parents staring, all of the attention - it was too much. 

This year?  She was singing at the top of her lungs, shaking her sleigh bells at her friends, and having a grand old time.  What a difference a year makes. I don't know if it's just being a year older or all of the occupational therapy.  She "graduated" out of OT at the beginning of December, and unless she has problems when she is in Kindergarten (or beyond), she won't be back in.

Pictures or it didn't happen! (Amelia's the one with the pigtails in the top center. Sorry for the dark pictures - the lighting wasn't the best, and I am a novice photographer.)

Saturday, we joined a gaggle of LJ friends for the first annual LJ Meetup coordinated by the lovely mrs__smith  at Stone Mountain. It was an absolute hoot! We spent the afternoon lazing around under the trees while the children climbed trees, kicked around soccer balls, and ran themselves ragged.

Here's a picture of most of the womenfolk and children:  (It's impressive that lemon_says 's four-year old took it!)


Katie was off chasing a soccer ball or waving at a passing train or something. The men evaded being in the picture by taking various versions of this shot!

Every thirty minutes, the Stone Mountain train would come by to the delight of the children. Here's Amelia announcing it to all gathered:


Lemon-says's wheelchair was one of the most popular attractions of the day. We had to stop the children from giving each other rides down the hill. "No!  Do not push your sister/brother/friend down into traffic!"



I can't wait until the next one. :D

Amelia started playing soccer last week on a city parks and recreation team. Several of her preschool classmates are on her team, and she loves running around the field in her cleats. It's fresh air for everyone, and Katie is part of the throng of small children on the sidelines trying to climb the fences and finding various ways to kill themselves.

I did not foresee Amelia coming to me and saying sadly, "Mommy!  No one is sharing the ball!"  Tom and I stifled our laughter.  He looked at me, and I explained to her gently that no, during the games, you have to go after the ball and try to take it from the other boys and girls. It's contrary to everything we've taught her. She's got to find her inner greedy self and steal! 

Meanwhile, Katie is itching to race onto the field, throw some elbows, and score a few goals if she can remember which goal is hers.

I'm sitting at the kitchen table, putting together a list of spices we need to order from Penzey's. (We're out of Bold Taco seasoning, which is pretty darned close to an emergency as far as Tom's concerned.)  

Amelia grabs a piece of paper and her box of crayons to make a grocery list, since she knows we are going to the grocery store later this morning. She starts listing all of the things we will need: "Orange juice, milk, doughnuts...No, Mommy doesn't let me get doughnuts, but Daddy does!  No pepper!  I don't like pepper. Pizza. I hope we can get pizza. (Fat chance, we ordered it last night when I had a migraine and Mommy wasn't up to cooking anything.) I can't wait to get a cookie at the bakery!" While all of this is going on, she's "writing" on her list.

As soon as Katie notices that Amelia and I are sitting at the table, she goes to the craft cabinet, grabs a piece of paper, and comes to join us. She then starts imitating Amelia imitating me.

It's mornings like this that I'm very glad I'm here.

This week, I'd scheduled the kids for two different activities. Amelia is in a morning camp where she gets to be with 4 and 5 year old kids doing lots of running around outside, nature walks, frolicking in the playground, outdoor crafts, etc.. She loves to be outside, so it was a total slamdunk. Katie and I are signed up for a 45 minute Abrakadoodle art class. This was the first art class for Katie and she took to it like a duck in water.

All of the sudden, Amelia started balking about going to camp and started having potty accidents at camp. The counselors let me know that if Amelia had another accident, they'd call me and I'd have to pick her up. We talked to her about it, and she let me know she didn't like camp. Apparently, she thinks that Katie and I are having oodles of fun while she's at camp for 3.5 hours.  This morning, Amelia balked on going potty before camp time, so no camp for Amelia today (which means that Katie doesn't get to go to Abrakadoodle today since no non-enrolled siblings are allowed to attend the sessions). 

Amelia got all excited once camp time passed, saying that we could do all sorts of fun things today together, like going to the grocery store and getting cookies, playing on the computer together, etc..  Uh-uh! Today is going to be the most boring day ever at home.  It'll drive me nuts but I'm not going to reward bad behavior.

This stinks, but I'm not thrilled with her selfish behavior. I've tried talking with her about if something bad happened at camp. As far as I can tell, she just thinks that things are more fun when Katie and I hang out together without her. :(  We asked Amelia if she wanted this camp when we signed her up 2 months ago. Now it's being wasted.