We had a short week of family vacation (or as Simon says, "va-TAY-shun"). The locale was not glamorous (Branson) but just getting away from the house and focusing on being together is the best kind of vacation for us. We stayed in a huge house with seven bedrooms thanks to someone in the church who so generously loaned it out to us for the week! Simon thought the house itself was vacation, he even called the bathroom the "vatation bathroom." Things started out bumpy with Ella waking up with difficulty breathing and a fever the first night. She'd been fighting a cold but it waited till we left town to rear it's ugly head. She spent some time hugging the toilet and couldn't decide what would make her feel better. It was a challenge in a less urban area to find Motrin and a cool mist humidifier at 3 am, but Super Dad made it happen thanks to the super Walmart 2o minutes away. The next day, we tried to make her rest, but she couldn't stand not getting to go to the pool with Simon and Dad. So, we let her do what she felt she could handle. The fever subsided and she just fought the cold the rest of the time. The kids spent lots of time swinging on the porch swing, swimming in the pool, taking baths and being forced to rest. Ella drew lots of pictures for Elijah and Anna who came along and enjoyed time outside with Anna picking wildflowers.
We ventured out with our friends who came down for part of the week, The Clevengers, to Silver Dollar City. That was an adventure, especially since our kids have ride anxiety after visiting a carnival with their grandpa a few weeks ago. Ella cried at the thought of boarding a butterfly ride that just went a few feet off the ground. All it took was seeing Isabelle Clevenger riding it without fear to convince her she could do it. Both kids ended up enjoying the rides quite a bit, except for Simon on the boat ride which was really wet. There were some middle school kids who kept spraying younger kids with the spray guns and he was horrified by their torment. (He continued to mention it to me tonight at bedtime telling me he "didn't like those big tids at the pool." That was kind of sad.On our last evening there, the kids were at the pool and playground for a while and Simon began to get tired. When we got back to the house around 5 pm, he laid down on the couch and fell right to sleep. Turns out he had a fever. He slept for 15 hours that night! When we got home, we took him to urgent care and he's on antibiotics for infected tonsils and ear. So...the vacation was chock full of virus trouble, but it was still a blast. We all relaxed, saw friends, celebrated Elijah's 21st birthday, played outside and I didn't worry about cleaning, laundry or loading the dishwasher.
Night #1: the kids sleeping soundly in their bed
Elijah helping out with Josie
Simon, Hudson, Isabelle, Ella
The daddies pushing strollers with hot sweaty kids at Silver Dollar City
Dad getting instructions on how to buckle himself into the froggie ride :)
Last week, Bryan was on duty for Simon's bedtime. I stopped in, however, to say goodnight. I picked him up for a snuggle, which is increasingly more difficult with the transformation from toddler body to little boy body. I said, "Simon, can I tell you a secret?" He turned his head to lend me his ear. I whispered, "You're the handsomest little boy I ever saw." He turned his head back and said, "That was nice, Mom."
Since when is he so grown up?
This morning, I woke up feeling sick. Sore throat, double ear ache and body aches to kill. After Bryan had left for work, Ella came in to announce that Simon had called me a "bad mom." I made my way to the bathroom thinking, "Ugh. What a way to start the day...feeling horrible and then being tagged a 'bad mom' for sleeping in and expecting my older two to entertain themselves for a while." I felt pretty sorry for myself. I called Simon into the bathroom and asked, "Simon, did you say I was a bad mom?" He grinned a big grin and said, "No Mommy. You're not a bad mom. You're NICE!" Then he went on to explain that he and Ella were playing Justice League and each family member was one of the characters. They assigned me one of the evil characters. I didn't feel so bad after that...though I still feel like I got hit by a MAC truck.
Josie started rolling today! She's growing way too fast, people!
Bryan and I were reminiscing yesterday that merely one year ago, Simon barely spoke. What words he did utter, we hardly understood. Now, he speaks very clearly and talks constantly! At bedtime, after we read books, maybe sing a song or two, pray, chat or whatever the routine entails, the process always ends with needing a glass of water. No big deal, we include that as part of the nightly plan. But after the cup is emptied and I try to make it out the door, he calls out,
"Mom. I want to ask you sumpthin." "What Simo?" "Tomorrow, after we wake up, we play with toys? And eat cereal? And play owside and watcha movie?" "Yes, Simon. We can do all those things."
It's the same thing EVERY night. He has to have the play by play of what the morning will look like, and the mornings are ALWAYS the same. But, it gets Mom or Dad to stay in the doorway for at least an extra minute or two.
Yesterday was the older kids' well check at Dr. Hoekzema's office. I was a bit nervous for them since last year's round of shots didn't go so well (Ella had what was near a full-on anxiety attack.) We spent some time preparing ourselves and talking through expectations of the visit. In general, the kids are very good with doctors and dentists and follow directions well. They seem to enjoy the attention. They were measured, weighed, poked and pushed on. They are fond of the eye and ear instruments and liked getting their blood pressure taken. The best part was the eye exam. In the hallway outside the exam room hung a poster with the letters of varying sizes to measure how far patients are able to see. Ella did well since she's very good with her letters. I was a bit concerned though as she had trouble with some of the letters on the fifth row, which I was still able to read at the 20' distance. Her eyesight measured 20/40 but the doctor said he was unconcerned since she is still of preschool age and he gives some slack for performance anxiety.
When it was Simon's turn, he bounced out in the hall, proud to be treated like a big kid just like sister. He stood behind the line and rattled off the letters. As they got smaller, he got less confident and kept answering "I dunno" whenever the nurse pointed to a smaller letter. So she decided to switch to the poster with shapes rather than letters, thinking it might be easier for him. The shapes were kind of weird though...there were recognizable things like hearts, circles and stars, but there were also plus signs and a strange flag with stripes and one star. The bigger shapes were easy and he would say, "Star, circle, moon, another star, sailboat" etc. But as they got smaller and harder to see, he started to answer, "Dot, another dot..." That got us cracking up.
After the exams were over, it was time for shots. Ella got two and Simon got one. They did amazingly well! Simon didn't make a bit of a fuss...at the end of the shot he said, "Ow ow ow." And that was it. Ella got nervous as the nurse approached her and started to pull away and cry out, "No no no!!" But I hugged her and helped her to look away and she made it through without shedding a single tear. And then we all went out for kiddie cones at Ted Drewes.
The kids are healthy and growing. In fact, we're off to buy Simon some new pants and shoes today. His pants are literally three inches above his ankles. How do I keep these kids from growing up so fast??
Night #1: the kids sleeping soundly in their bed
Elijah helping out with Josie
Simon, Hudson, Isabelle, Ella
The daddies pushing strollers with hot sweaty kids at Silver Dollar City
Dad getting instructions on how to buckle himself into the froggie ride :)
