Blown Away

•May 13, 2013 • Leave a Comment

I regret every day that I don’t write this blog anymore. Maybe this will help nudge me toward daily updates again. 

All I can say is that I am incredibly proud of him for accomplishing this. I experienced my first sense of pure parental joy for him working hard to reach a goal. He wasn’t gunning for this, but he tries hard to be a good listener and helper at school. This was a total surprise. Like all 5-6 year olds, it’s often challenging for him to make his best choices, but he’s clearly done well.Image

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Horror

•December 14, 2012 • 2 Comments

There’s already been a lot written about what happened today and I don’t feel the need to add my two-cents about what needs to be done politically. It’s horrific, tragic, senseless and numbing. I feel unbelievable sadness and sympathy for the parents and families of the children and teachers who died. I cannot comprehend what they are going through at this moment. There is nothing that can comfort them right now. It’s so unbelievably horrible.

My general philosophy is to take absolutely nothing for granted when it comes to family and friends. I feel incredible gratitude for having such a loving wife, children, and family. I cherish my family like nothing else in my life. But it’s times like these illuminate just how incredibly valuable children are to the people they touch.  Hug the ones you know tonight. They will forever be grateful for your love.

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Crazy Days

•December 7, 2012 • 2 Comments

It’s been an insane couple of weeks. Wes got a horrible cold that didn’t go away until he took some antibiotics. He had never been that sick in his life. I took him to his music class because he seemed to be feeling better. The class is a lot of dancing, singing, jumping around. He actually fell asleep in my arms during the class, a near impossibility. Just as he was getting over it I started to get symptoms. Within a day or two I was in pure misery. I think today is the first day in almost 3 weeks that I feel completely normal.

We were all well enough to head to the Big Island for Thanksgiving. It was almost perfect. It’s such a great place to let them spread their wings a little and have some all-day fun. Perfect weather made for a perfect couple of days. On Sunday night after we had returned I was laying in bed with Jake after lights out. We were just about to doze off when he started to cry. He said, “Dad, I just can’t tell you how much fun I had. I’m crying because I had so much fun.” True story.

 

click on pic to see photos

click on pic to see photos

Posted in Jake

Happy Halloween Hot Feet

•November 2, 2012 • 1 Comment

Jake’s 5th and Wes’ 2nd. These stats do not reflect how many Halloweens they have experienced in their lifetimes, it’s how many they experienced this year. I kid, but with school etc., there was ample opportunity for them to pick up some teeth-rotting treats to be stored on top of the fridge for the next 6 months. Wednesday was the culmination. It didn’t start well. Jake has a cough and came home with a fever. We almost cancelled the trick-or-treating, but he seemed better by kick-off. We headed out and I left a big bowl of candy for any potential kiddies. (Not one ended up coming the entire night.)

We’re new to our neighborhood so we weren’t sure if or where the action would be so we headed to the shopping center, then to a church to meet Jake’s pal River. It was a grand time. Jake was Spiderman and Wes was Woody. They got a good stash, then got to play games and ride a horse and a donkey at the church. Home for bed and all was good.

I wish.

Jake still had his cough and wasn’t feeling well. He’s still having sleeping issues, namely that he cannot sleep in his own bed the whole night. On this night he arrived in our bed just as I turned out the light. He was coughing and kept pushing me further and further toward the edge of the bed, so I decided to play a little reverse psychology and go to his bed to sleep. It worked until he woke and realized I wasn’t there. He came looking for me and started getting upset that he couldn’t find me. I was short on temper and I regret scolding him the way I did because he wasn’t feeling well, but I told him that he was too old to sleep in our bed, our bed is too small etc., etc. His retorts were hilarious. First he said what he always says: our bed is more comfortable. Then he said that his feet get too warm in his bed. Then he said that he could keep his feet cool in our bed. Yup. I, too, have no idea what he was talking about. Apparently we have a “cool feet” bed. Nice.

halloweenies

SOTD: Brendan Benson: Cold Hands Warm Heart

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Tsunami Fears

•October 29, 2012 • Leave a Comment

On Saturday night at about 7 the menacing sound of the Emergency Broadcast System sounded over the radio and TV. Ever since the Japan tsunami, Jake has been VERY sensitive to the beep-beep-buzz of an impending announcement. He got noticeably nervous and started asking all kinds of questions. It’s a dilemma because we can’t turn off the news; we need to know what’s happening. I tried to get him to watch TV in the bedroom (PBS), but even that gets interrupted by the updates and warnings. At about 8:30 the sirens started. We could see long lines of cars at the bottom of the hill and by 10:30 (when the first wave was supposed to hit), there were cars parked the length of the hill (I had never seen this before). The whole time Jake was asking all kinds of questions. The main issue he seemed to be having was that a tsunami could damage or destroy his school. He kept asking what we were going to do if it happened. I did what I had to do–reassure him– with the hope that his anxiety wouldn’t be overwhelming. Thankfully it was late and and he was exhausted. All was fine in the end, so the collective sigh of relief was palpable in the AM.

sleeping off the tsunami

SOTD: Los Straitjackets: Tsunami!

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T is For

•October 15, 2012 • Leave a Comment

It’s a given that my daily analyses on this blog of the changes that took place with Jake early on were better than what I’ve done for Wes. It doesn’t mean, however, that I’m not attuned to the rapid changes taking place with Brother #2. Some are noticeable, some are not. This weekend fell into the latter; there was very noticeable change in his tolerance level  and mood.

I think he had about 10 temper tantrums over the course of 2 days. They were the knock down, drag-out variety. This is all relatively new, so it was a tough weekend. Yes, the stress level was high, particularly when it happened in public, but I generally don’t really care too much what people think. The biggest frustration is knowing that he’s feeling the way he is and that there’s not too much you can do to help him. It makes me feel sad. I know it’s a part of growing up, but it doesn’t make things any easier.

I think the primary reason he’s going through this now is that his inability to tell us what he wants is being surpassed by his desires to get what he wants. He gets incredibly frustrated by it. Will this be something that will inspire him to try harder on the talking front? We don’t know yet, but in the meantime he’s struggling.

It wasn’t all bad news. He regularly pees in the toilet now and on Saturday for the first time (at least with me), he did his double doo business in the toilet as well. He seemed pleased but a bit perplexed as to why I was happy about said poo.

Yesterday I also took them to Kailua for what has become a go-to activity if omma’s doing something else (like running errands): Whole Foods for sushi, then the mondo playground at Aikahi Elementary. They had a blast and Wes got all soaking wet from water fountain play. Smiles all around.

SOTD: James: Born of Frustration

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Sorry Me Boys

•October 10, 2012 • 1 Comment

I’m a bad appa. I have the best intentions; I tell myself everyday that I need to keep up with this thing. Then, everyday something comes up, I get lazy, or I just plain forget. Truth be told, the biggest challenge is trying to keep up with two boys who are developing at a RAPID pace. It’s tough to keep up with the daily activities of two dues who provide so much rich material, and that’s not an excuse!

So a couple of weeks ago I started a post and saved it. It’s out-dated now, but I’ll provide an update on the flip side…

Yesterday was Wes’ evaluation by the Easter Seals for possible speech therapy sessions. Ultimately it was inconclusive. They will need to evaluate the results of the test and will let us know soon if he is eligible. As part of the evaluation, they were required to test a range of developmental areas (not just communication). It was a fascinating experience. While one representative interviewed us about everything from how far he can run (I laughed at this one because I think he’ll basically run as far as we let him) to whether he can undress himself (no). The other person was “playing” with him while evaluating his motor skills and other areas such as coordination, etc. It’s rare that you get to talk and think this hard about your child’s development. It was fun, scary, and fascinating. I could see the form the evaluator was using and I saw that he’s a bit above age-level for almost everything…except speaking. He can walk up and down stairs foot over foot, walk a strait line, recognize words, and shows ample affection and happiness. My sense is that they may offer some help with communication, but I’m not sure he really needs it. In the past week or so he’s started to say a few more words here or there. If they offer, we’ll take it. If not, we won’t be upset about it.

Well, they offered. He’s actually a bit behind in both speech and should be at a higher level in another area. Not sure which one as omma talked to the evaluators, but they offered therapy there as well. They said he was only slightly behind in both. So we’ll be meeting with them next week. I’m still not worried. In fact, I welcome the chance to improve his skills in anyway we can.

I’ve said it before, but I’m going to try hard to be more consistent with this blog. Fingers crossed.

 

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