Caleb school update

August 4, 2005

Things went very well last night. The skills test only lasted about 10 minutes. Caleb identified his letters and numbers and counted some blocks. As expected, I was told he wasn't quite up to standard writing some of his upper and lower case letters ("w" was mentioned, along with a few others).

They did not request that he attend the school-sponsored sessions prior to kindergarten, just suggested that he practice at home. He played with a boy who will be in his class, while I got lists of uniform companies and school supplies. I can't believe he'll be starting in just a few weeks!

Larry starts new job

Larry is quitting his job today. He starts with a new restaurant chain, Texas Roadhouse, on August 3. They have this owner-operator gig that's too good to pass up. He'll be training in Boston for two months (August and September) and then working in one of the Pennsylvania stores for maybe 6 months (there are two stores within 30 minutes of our house). Sometime in late winter/early spring, he'll start working in upstate NY, helping to open one or more stores. Where *we* will actually be assigned is not yet known, though it will definitely be in upstate NY. They already have stores in Buffalo, Binghamton and Syracuse, so it won't be any of those. They're considering 7 sites around the state, including Albany (which would get my vote -- I could get a really cool job there, working in the government or even for a lobbying organization).

Hopefully we'll find out exactly where we're going toward the end of the year. We wouldn't move until next summer.

Welcome February

We went to a birthday party on Sunday and Caleb was so cute -- when the hostess thanked him for coming he said, "It was my pleasure." The birthday girl's mother was completely charmed. I've said that to him a couple of times when he's thanked me for something -- he's quite the little sponge (but I have to be careful because he picks up the bad as well as the good).

Sunday afternoon I took Caleb to see "A Year with Frog and Toad" at a localtheater company (Alana stayed home with Larry). I thought the tickets were too expensive, but I'd heard great things about the show, and what's the point of living in a city if you don't take advantage of this stuff once in a while??? The show was really nice. The sets and staging were wonderful and so were the costumes, and the actors had amazing singing voices. I think Caleb really enjoyed it, though I thought a couple of the songs were boring (you could hear the audience getting restless). But that's a small complaint. The actors were in the lobby at the end of the show to talk to the kids and Caleb very solemnly told the woman who played "Mouse" that his favorite part was when they grew flowers in the garden (it was very cleverly done with lights).

The three of us (Caleb, Alana and I) went to the Academy of Natural Sciences on Saturday afternoon and spent almost two hours in the interactive section upstairs (they call it "Outside In"). Caleb had a great time and Alana crawled all over and tried to climb on things and got very mad when I wouldn't let her splash in the goldfish pond. They got to pet a bunch of animals, including a bunny, a guinea pig, a snake and two turtles. It was a great way to spend a cold afternoon. (We joined earlier this year when Matthew was visiting and we took all three kids and found out that for about $20 more than it would have cost that day we could join for the whole year.)

EXTRA BONUS GOOD NEWS: Alana was scheduled to get her cast removed on February 22, but yesterday we moved it up a week, so her cast comes off February 15. Hurrah!

Alana update

January 17, 2005

I just wanted to send a little progress report on Alana. She's doing great, really getting around well, crawling some and even climbing again (up onto chairs and of course up the stairs). She didn't sleep well the first couple nights, but seems fine now. On top of her little accident, she has four teeth coming in on top, both eye teeth and two molars, so they're making her uncomfortable too. She gets her "permanent" cast tomorrow (Tuesday). We'll send a new photo of that! Attached is a photo of Alana playing with her new xylophone that Grandma Bobbie got for her. Also attached is a photo of Caleb with his "army" of megazords and dinosaurs.

Another emergency room visit

I am an incredibly bad mother. This morning I left Alana on our bed, happily reading her books, and went into the bathroom. A moment later I heard a thump and ran back in. She tried to climb down from the bed, and can you believe it, she actually broke her leg.

I took her (and Caleb) to the emergency room, because she was obviously in pain but I couldn't find a mark on her anywhere. I had visions of internal injuries, until she tried to stand up and wouldn't put her right leg down on the ground. After a very long wait (they brought in a very sick infant while we were there, and the doctor and others were involved with her for quite a while), they finally took us to radiology and took an X-ray. Both Caleb and I could clearly see the break on the side of her tibia near her ankle.

She has to wear a cast for 3 or 4 weeks. Poor little girl. I feel so awful. She is the climbing-est little person ever, and is fearless of course. I never should have left the room, even though she seemed quite absorbed in her books. She was a total trooper at the hospital and Caleb was very good too (Larry had been at work since early in the morning).

In this photo she's wearing a temporary cast. Next week she'll go to the orthopedist for a follow-up and get the "permanent" cast. She's not too happy about her limited mobility (she's too young to use crutches, so she just can't walk until the cast comes off), but I'm sure she'll figure out a way to get around in no time!