I've always maintained that the value of this blog is two things. First, it is my personal exercise in sharing - something that I am not very good at. For me, sharing is an exercise in allowing myself to be - feel? - vulnerable.
I don't like feeling vulnerable. I typically and traditionally go out of my way to avoid it. But that doesn't mean I don't think sharing is important.
Second, it's something tangible that I can do. I can see the product. I can feel like I accomplished something on a day when it feels like nothing else got done around here.
But lately, neither or these two stars are aligning for me. I'm tired of sharing and it's associated vulnerabilities. I'm also feeling less interested in adding to my own collection of blog posts.
Maybe the stars will realign tomorrow, and maybe not. I don't know. In the meantime, I'll keep reading other blogs and updating these links on my sidebar for those of you looking for some inspiration.
Also, why in the world did blogger make this annoying auto-correct feature? I hate it. Can anyone tell me how to turn it off?
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Bottle Post
The weather has been so superb around here. Today was one of our first opportunities to go out together in what seems like months. Mattias is feeling much better.
We were inspired by a Sendung mit der Maus, the German program that the boys watch, to make a 'Bottle Post.' (Noah's translation, not mine.) This is going to sound a lot like Letterboxing (I think that's what it's called), but our version is much less sophisticated.
Noah drew a map and we stuck it in a bottle.
Then we went for a bike ride. Noah has the bottle taped onto the back of his bike.
We found a good (cough, cough) hiding spot. In this case, a drainage ditch under a sidewalk.
And we left behind our Bottle Post. Man, it might be spring-like temperatures, but it is DRY in Colorado.
Now, this was KIND OF a successful adventure, and KIND OF NOT. I wanted Noah to draw a map of the location of the Bottle Post, and then give it to someone so that he could find it. He wanted to draw a map to put inside the Bottle Post. I can understand why this makes sense to him: the Bottle Post is suppose to show you where treasure is...I guess. But who is going to be able to find the Bottle Post without a map? We never reached a consensus on this map point.
In the real world: what neither Noah nor I addressed? Um...it looks like trash. So, anyway.
After we finished ourlittering lettering project, we headed home for water.
And splashing in puddles on the deck. Because it's dry out there.
We were inspired by a Sendung mit der Maus, the German program that the boys watch, to make a 'Bottle Post.' (Noah's translation, not mine.) This is going to sound a lot like Letterboxing (I think that's what it's called), but our version is much less sophisticated.
Noah drew a map and we stuck it in a bottle.
[photo removed]
Then we went for a bike ride. Noah has the bottle taped onto the back of his bike.
[photo removed]
We found a good (cough, cough) hiding spot. In this case, a drainage ditch under a sidewalk.
[photo removed]
And we left behind our Bottle Post. Man, it might be spring-like temperatures, but it is DRY in Colorado.
Now, this was KIND OF a successful adventure, and KIND OF NOT. I wanted Noah to draw a map of the location of the Bottle Post, and then give it to someone so that he could find it. He wanted to draw a map to put inside the Bottle Post. I can understand why this makes sense to him: the Bottle Post is suppose to show you where treasure is...I guess. But who is going to be able to find the Bottle Post without a map? We never reached a consensus on this map point.
In the real world: what neither Noah nor I addressed? Um...it looks like trash. So, anyway.
After we finished our
And splashing in puddles on the deck. Because it's dry out there.
[photo removed]
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Doting on Mattias
Life with Mattias has been easier. For him, the last 2 months have been one sickness after the next. We went through something similar with Noah around the same age. So maybe there's just an illness prone stage? Or maybe it's because Mattias and I have been going to weekly-mom-coffee-hours while Noah's at school for the last two months? Sometimes I think our kids are trading illnesses faster than we can drink coffee.
Mattias came down with a fever on Monday afternoon. It ran at 103 straight through Thursday afternoon. Because he's the second child, I gave him some pain killer to bring the fever down and carried him around on as many of Noah's happenings as possible. Part of me thought, Na ja (translated: 'well;' but it sounds better in German's two syllables), he's fine. He'll pull through. Sometimes it's good to just carry on. No special treatment here.
On Friday, the fever finally began drifting away. The boys met Fritz at work for lunch; it's a tradition which they look forward to on Fridays. When I picked them an hour later they were all smiles. Until the car door closed and Mattias launched into the most piercing-growling-screaming of "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" that I have ever heard.
It didn't stop until we got home and he got out of the carseat and collapsed in my arms. He refused to be set down. He just wanted to be held.
He wants to be held a lot these days. I oblige a lot because it's the easiest way to calm him.
As usual, my mind raced through the possible medical causes not treatable by pain killer. Ear infection? Strep? I'm still not knowledgable enough to recognize either one of these, no matter how many photos of strep-y throats or infected ear drums I look at on the internet. (But I'm all over bronchitis! I've got that one! This was NOT bronchitis or bronchiolitis.)
Stupid illness. Do you feel the time-bomb ticking on Fridays? Because I do. It says: if I don't get this kid into the doctor NOW, then whatever this is could continue for 60 more hours. It may not be bad enough to go the emergency room. It may only be bad enough to cause agitation and frustration over the course of the next 60 hours. Or it may just go away. Or if I scramble to get the kid into the limited Friday afternoon/Saturday morning office hours, there may be nothing more that they can do. And then I've wasted the money and effort to get a professional opinion to tell me the weekend will be stressful, but hey, there's pain killer!
I didn't call the pediatrician. That made laying in bed and listening to Mattias cry especially painful on Friday night.
I opted for the third option: a return to all the doting and natural remedies that I so carefully used with Noah. I sent Fritz and Noah to their Saturday morning playdate. In case of an ear infection, I dripped breast milk and Willow Garlic into his ears. As I mentioned, I have almost no experience with ear infections, but I read breast milk can actually cure them. And if not, well, I think it can't hurt, right? Willow Garlic to numb the pain. He seemed congested in his sinuses, so I gave him some German Ivy to help break up and expel any mucus. I gave him a warm bath with eucalyptus, which cures all sorts of things for me. We cuddled. We took a nap together. We walked leisurely with the kinderwagen in the warm afternoon sun, just the two of us, on our own schedule and route. In many ways, the whole day felt like a treat. It was the kind of doting and intensive caregiving that is only possible when I've got a second pair of hands to help with Noah. It felt very fortunate that Fritz was able to spend the day with Noah.
I don't know if these natural remedies and attentions will really make him feel much better. I doubt them; just as I doubt my own ability to diagnose the problem in the first place. But I can say that this type of care-taking makes me feel better than whatever medicinal option the pediatrician comes up with.
Mattias came down with a fever on Monday afternoon. It ran at 103 straight through Thursday afternoon. Because he's the second child, I gave him some pain killer to bring the fever down and carried him around on as many of Noah's happenings as possible. Part of me thought, Na ja (translated: 'well;' but it sounds better in German's two syllables), he's fine. He'll pull through. Sometimes it's good to just carry on. No special treatment here.
On Friday, the fever finally began drifting away. The boys met Fritz at work for lunch; it's a tradition which they look forward to on Fridays. When I picked them an hour later they were all smiles. Until the car door closed and Mattias launched into the most piercing-growling-screaming of "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" that I have ever heard.
It didn't stop until we got home and he got out of the carseat and collapsed in my arms. He refused to be set down. He just wanted to be held.
[photo removed]
He wants to be held a lot these days. I oblige a lot because it's the easiest way to calm him.
As usual, my mind raced through the possible medical causes not treatable by pain killer. Ear infection? Strep? I'm still not knowledgable enough to recognize either one of these, no matter how many photos of strep-y throats or infected ear drums I look at on the internet. (But I'm all over bronchitis! I've got that one! This was NOT bronchitis or bronchiolitis.)
Stupid illness. Do you feel the time-bomb ticking on Fridays? Because I do. It says: if I don't get this kid into the doctor NOW, then whatever this is could continue for 60 more hours. It may not be bad enough to go the emergency room. It may only be bad enough to cause agitation and frustration over the course of the next 60 hours. Or it may just go away. Or if I scramble to get the kid into the limited Friday afternoon/Saturday morning office hours, there may be nothing more that they can do. And then I've wasted the money and effort to get a professional opinion to tell me the weekend will be stressful, but hey, there's pain killer!
I didn't call the pediatrician. That made laying in bed and listening to Mattias cry especially painful on Friday night.
I opted for the third option: a return to all the doting and natural remedies that I so carefully used with Noah. I sent Fritz and Noah to their Saturday morning playdate. In case of an ear infection, I dripped breast milk and Willow Garlic into his ears. As I mentioned, I have almost no experience with ear infections, but I read breast milk can actually cure them. And if not, well, I think it can't hurt, right? Willow Garlic to numb the pain. He seemed congested in his sinuses, so I gave him some German Ivy to help break up and expel any mucus. I gave him a warm bath with eucalyptus, which cures all sorts of things for me. We cuddled. We took a nap together. We walked leisurely with the kinderwagen in the warm afternoon sun, just the two of us, on our own schedule and route. In many ways, the whole day felt like a treat. It was the kind of doting and intensive caregiving that is only possible when I've got a second pair of hands to help with Noah. It felt very fortunate that Fritz was able to spend the day with Noah.
I don't know if these natural remedies and attentions will really make him feel much better. I doubt them; just as I doubt my own ability to diagnose the problem in the first place. But I can say that this type of care-taking makes me feel better than whatever medicinal option the pediatrician comes up with.
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