Freaky Friday

My Son the Smurf.

First day of school

What do homeschoolers do on the first day of school?
Cover books? No.
Sharpen pencils? No.
Sit in alphabetized seating assignments? No.
Get up at 6:30AM to get on a bus? No.
Staking out territory in the new cafeteria? No.

This is what we do........















The lorakeets were a lot of fun as you can see. A couple typical K family mishaps. I wasn't watching Ben closely enough when I was getting the nectar. I handed each little cup back to the kids and before I knew it Ben had taken off the top and chugged it! :-D
Then Lucy didn't make the connection that lorakeets are NOT chickens and was trying to pick them up which they don't appreciate. No birds were harmed and no one was thrown out of the lorakeet exhibit.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's

SUPERBABY!

August photos and more....

I know y'all aren't that interested in pictures of my pets but they are included because well, I think the photos are pretty good :-) I've been fooling with settings on my camera and sadly, Murphy and Pumpkin are better behaved in front of the camera then my children, so I experiment with them.
















and the piece de resistance:

My unsocialized homeschooled high schooler

Picture shamlessly nabbed from Carol's blog. Ellie's 16th birthday party. Katie is standing behind the birthday girl. They had all had a fun time and after the boys left around midnight (all JUST friends and quite chaperoned for those raising eyebrows) the girls slept out under the stars. Literally. No tents, just sleeping bags in the grass.

In the next few days I'll put up some more pictures, and of children other than Tristan...I promise.
I'll also do the obligatory homeschool mom blog post..."OUR PLANS FOR THE YEAR" :::dun dun dun::::

Thank you Barb.

You saved me $40 again. "Who is Barb and how did she save you $40?", you ask. Barb is a pediatric nurse practitioner/friend of mine from CT. Back in the day she showed me a quick and easy way to reduce nursemaid's elbow. Three times since she showed me I have been able to take care of the subluxated elbow without a trip to pediatrician or ER. To save myself nasty comments in my box scolding me for giving out advice I'll just say if your kids are prone to this as mine are, ask your doc to show you how to reduce it, my pediatrician in CT assumed I knew how to do it. Not having to go to the doc or ER significantly shortens the duration of your child's pain, takes away the risk of being exposed to something nasty, and saves you a lot of time, trouble and $$. It is so..so easy.
And lastly, nursemaid's elbow is really a misnomer it should be called 'stubborn toddler' or 'roughhousing sibling' elbow, in my opinion.

Definition of nursemaid's elbow for those who haven't a CLUE what I am talking about :D

*****Nursemaid's Elbow
Nursemaid's elbow is a common injury that is seen most often in children between the ages of 1-3 years . Usually the child has had an incident in which the extended arm was pulled. Most commonly it occurs when a child is falling and the individual holding the hand doesn't let go. Another common mechanism is when the child is swinging while being held by the hands. Occasionally, the injury occurs after a fall.

Anatomy

Nursemaids elbow is an interposition of the annular ligament into the radial-humerus joint. The annular ligament normally passes around the proximal radius just below the radial head. With traction on the extended arm, the annular ligament slides over the head of the radius into the joint space and becomes entrapped.

Epidemiology

Nursemaid's elbow is more common in girls than boys and more often on the left side.
Usually between 1-3 years of age and rare after age 4.
Child will not use the arm and holds the arm slightly flexed and pronated.
May elicit tenderness over the elbow joint but there is no swelling, redness, warmth, abrasions, or ecchymosis.*****

Once you have seen it it is really easy to recognize. The way a child holds their arm is very specific and the story of a yank on one arm matches.

Olympics

We are watching the Olympics. I have always been an Olympics junkie and I haven't changed and have drug my children along with me. This Olympics is different though. There is a constant undercurrent of sadness and sometimes anger. Ten years ago when it was announced that Beijing won the 2008 summer Olympics I was angry, disturbed and unhappy. What has panned out was exactly what I feared. Add to the laundry list of offenses the Chinese gov't has perpetrated upon their own and other people undo burden, suffering and cruelty in the name of national pride and these Olympics.
Millions homeless either permanently or temporarily, thousands unemployed for the duration and one little girl told she isn't good enough. One lovely little girl with the voice of an angel put where no one can see her.


Lip syncing at Opening Ceremonies

Let the little children come to me....

A beautiful story from William. Posted here with permission.

Tonight is my adoration night. I leave the house at 10:30pm and I "watch" for my hour between 11pm and midnight. Four out of five of the last Sundays I have brought at least one of my children to adoration with me. Now its unusual for our children, even with our sleep struggles, to be up at 10:30 on any given night. For some reason we have always had a child awake late on Saturday and my solution to the problem was to go ahead and take the opportunity to bring them to adoration.

This week I had grand plans for adoration. In a few short weeks I have a talk I am supposed to be giving at my parish. I have a vague idea of what I plan to talk about. Tonight was going to be my night to plant my face in the ground and listen to God. God had other plans. At 10:20 my daughter overheard me tell my wife that I had to leave for adoration. She runs eagerly up to me and says "Daddy, I want to go to adoration." This was quickly followed by my two older boys. The first thought that popped into my mind was "great, I will not get my answers tonight". I had 10 minutes to get three children ready -- ages 6, 5, and 4. We piled in the van and I grabbed a CD -- the seasonally inappropriate Christmas chant CD my brother-in-law brought back from Germany.

The trip to the chapel was littered with the usual smattering of arguments that tend to go on between my children. My oldest was distraught that this wasn't just going to be his special time with me. He was indignant at having to share adoration with his siblings -- I understood his pain. My plans were long dashed. I was wondering what I was getting myself into. With one child I have a great deal of control. I can read stories and within a few minutes I know I will have a sleeping child. After all, its kind of late. Three is a new dynamic.

We pulled into the chapel parking lot. My daughter wanted to be carried which was a no-go because I had to have free hands to carry pillows and type in the security code at the door. When we got in, as parents often do, I suggested a quick visit to the bathroom. Finally we went to the door to enter the room with Jesus. My children all walked in. My boys laid prostrate before the Eucharist along with myself. My daughter was a little unsure of what to do. I tried to get them to settle in, just as I always do, near me and as FAR away from any other person who might be there. One son tugged on the other which resulted in a tackle. I diffused the situation calmly and sat them close to me. Now the poor soul who has the hour before me always stays til 11pm. Tonight his usual 10 minute ritual before leaving was cut to an amazingly swift 30 seconds. That left me, three children and seventy minutes with Jesus.

After a few moments I realized that I forgot to bring a bible in before entering the chapel. My intent was to read the multiplication of the loaves to my children. I wandered out for 15 seconds to grab the bible. When I returned ALL three of my children had wandered UP TO the monstrance. I felt indignant. My instinct was to pull them back to where I had set them but I felt a calm reassurance that I was supposed to leave them there.
Matt 19:13-14 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
God had never so clearly placed a verse in my head. Jesus was calling them here. They stood in wonder. They asked questions. They said "Hi" to Jesus. They did as little children do, demonstrating faith mountains larger than the piddling amount I eek out. They were here to teach me about how to believe in Jesus. Eventually I ushered them to the back. My four year old daughter insisted that I let her sleep with a rosary. My five year old son snuggled in next to me. I asked him "So, do you like being here with Jesus". "Yeah daddy" he replied. "There is no place I would rather be". My six year old snuggled quietly at my feet. Tonight, I fell asleep with my children.

When midnight rolled around the woman who keeps watch after me came in. She has watched on and off this odd progression of weeks. I leave with thoroughly asleep children hanging over my shoulder and toss out a truncated wave as I walk out the door. She has expressed great joy that they want to be there. Trust me, its not my grand parenting skills that has me dragging little children out at odd hours of the night in a questionable part of town to spend time with God. Its all them. Tonight though, I was in a pickle. I had to get three sleeping children into the car. She held the door for the first two. When I went to grab my daughter I told her the beginning of this story -- how my daughter asked and the boys insisted on coming too. The light glistened just so that I could see she was crying. I said good night and put my daughter in the car. All the while home I kept thinking about what it was that made her cry. I knew what it was. She saw the faith of little children. Ones who show up and walk right up to Jesus and say "Hi".

THREE MONTHS!!!

Can you believe it? Tristan is three months old today! Time flies. Three months on the outside went a whole lot faster than three months on the inside.

He is a great baby. I know all moms say that but he really is. God took pity on me and gave me a super easygoing, happy baby.

Tristan is heading towards the 'Ian' growth curve and is pushing 14 lbs. He is well into 3-6 months clothes and wearing size 2 diapers. Most of his hair has fallen out but is coming back in brown. Smiles, coos and giggles are common now. Get ready for the big news...
For the last three nights, he has slept through the night. Really slept through the night. Not just the 5 hours in a row 'they' say is sleeping through the night. Down around 10, and then I wake him up around 6AM because I am so uncomfortable and then he sleeps until about 9AM. The icing on the cake? He is doing this sleeping in his crib. not on me or next to me. He found his thumb which is part of this great event as he can soothe himself back to sleep if he stirs. This may not last but I will enjoy it while it does!