On my mind...

I was watching When Harry Met Sally for about the 198^th time last Friday night. Love that movie – Nora Ephron is a masterful storyteller. But I digress… So I jump in near the beginning when Harry and Sally are on their way to NYC and stop for a bite to eat. As they are squaring up the bill, the song playing is The Right Time of the Night by Jennifer Warnes. I have not been able to get that song out of my head since then. Jennifer Warnes has an awesome voice. Yes, An Officer and a Gentleman and Dirty Dancing would not be the same without her. But there’s more to her than that. Incidentally, I saw a little bit of “New Girl” on Fox last night. Jess, played by Zooey Deschanel (who looks a lot like Debra Winger to me), was watching the end of “Dirty Dancing” and singing along. Coincidence? I think not.

You know who else I can’t get out my head? Ryan Gosling. I finally saw Blue Valentine a couple of weeks ago and it haunts me – especially RG’s character. Then last week at the hair salon I read an article about him in Esquire while waiting for the chemicals in my hair to produce the perfect shade of “natural” blonde highlights. I did not know that he was a Mouseketeer along with Britney, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake. (That was a little after my time.) He’s an odd fellow. Eccentric and kind of dark.  

Which leads me to the next preoccupation of mine: coffee. I think it started about a month ago when I read The Girl Who Played With Fire. There’s a lot of coffee drinking and sandwich eating going on in that series. I find my tastes highly susceptible to the power of suggestion. Maybe it’s because of the cooler weather and overcast skies we’ve been enjoying here lately. I don’t know. But I do know that coffee is yummy!

The Savannah Half-Marathon is about 6 weeks away and my bestest childhood friend, Andrea, and I are going to wear tutus while we walk/run it. In my search for adult-sized tutus, I found a neat site called glamrunner. They make super cute glamwear (i.e., tutus) to raise money for Girls on the Run of San Diego. Girls on the Run is an interesting education/development program for girls aged 8-13 years with councils all across the country.

What are you obsessing about these days?

Happy Mirthday Rowan!

Rowan is now officially closer to 4 years old than 3. Oh, the adventures we have had this past month! But, we’ve had a lot of fun, too.

• Likes: big boy Legos, superheroes, Disney shows (Handy Manny, Super Agent Oso, Little Einsteins, Jake and the Pirates)
• Dislikes: Sharing things with Raleigh, bed time
• So big: Shirts and pants, 4T; Shoes, 11T
• Arm status: He is coping really well with his cast. It doesn’t seem to slow him down any. He has maintained a lot of his independence and only requires help with a few things. Bath time has been somewhat challenging but we’ve worked out an okay system.
• Skills: Writing is improving, still having some troubles with N and W. Drawing is getting better, too. He’s adding more details. He’s great at using scissors and coloring within the lines. We’ve been working on some basic addition and subtraction. I think he is getting concept and not just regurgitating information we’ve fed him. He has an amazing memory and will mention events from months ago (e.g., trick-or-treating last year, going off with Jeremy and my dad) with vivid details. I love his mind and the watching the way it works.   

Speaking of his beautiful mind, here are a couple of anecdotes from the past month.

Sweet Dreams

Hey, Mommy. Know what I dreamed about while I was sleeping? Not a witch, not the bad girl on Spiderman, not monsters. It was pancakes and waffles! I dreamed about breakfast! [lots of giggles]

Dr. Rowan

[with gentle authority and a serious tone] G-Ma, sit down. I am going to give you thorough check-up.

Original Jokester

This is a joke Rowan made up all by himself, a clever riff on the classic orange-banana one.

   Knock knock.

   Who’s there?

   George.

   George who?

   George you glad I didn’t say the man in the yellow hat!

Table Talk

This was a completely unscripted and uncoached exchange with the waiter at dinner Saturday.

   Waiter: Can I answer any questions for you about the menu?

   Rowan: [very mature and serious] I have a question. Can I have a grilled cheese with French fries?

Happy, happy birthday to my sweet boy!

Raleigh's 17th Mirthday

Seventeen months! Our little baby is getting to be such a big girl.

• Likes: helping clean up toys, animals, doing big kid things, walks, shoes
• Dislikes: Having things taken away, especially by Rowan
• Skills: She is trying to jump but ends up standing on her toes and lifting her arms. She can sing "Caillou" (It's so sweet!) and likes to sing/hum to other songs. She is also getting to be a pretty fast runner.
• Vocab: buh tee (brush teeth), brocka (broccoli), duh (done), kellkotter (helicopter), eee-beee (airplane), outsigh (outside), cuh-cake (cupcake), puh-cake (pancake), shoes, yuck
• So big! shirts/dresses and pants - 18mos. shoes - size 5; The last tooth in this latest set has come in all the way making the grand total 16. Somehow I got ahead of myself with the tooth counting. We're back on track, though!

Raleigh Stories

Now that Raleigh is communicating in a way that we can better understand, she's starting to have some funny stories like big brother.

We were eating dinner at my parents' house a couple of weeks ago and the topic of conversation got a little disorderly. 

   My mom: Let's talk about something nice. What would that be?

   Raleigh: burp!

Driving to the library we were talking about why it's not a good idea for Rowan to get his cast wet. We were talking about how it would make his skin yucky and would probably start to smell pretty awful.

   Rowan: It would be like stinky cheese! Stinky cheese man!

   Me: You're probably right about that.

   Raleigh: Nas-tay! Ooooh-weeee! 

Happy belated birthday, sweet baby. 

Labor Day 2011: A different kind of break

Yesterday's break from work turned into a different sort. 


Rowan was trying to dismount his bike yesterday morning and took a spill. I thought he had probably scraped his knees or elbow. Then I saw his left arm and the strange bend just above his wrist. My adrenaline took over and I hustled Rowan and my dad into the car so we could get to Children's Healthcare asap. 


He cried when it first happened but was easily soothed. He said his arm did not hurt. He was quiet for the whole ride to the emergency room.


By the time we had checked in at front desk Jeremy had arrived. Rowan was still cool and collected. He talked with the triage nurse and didn't seem too upset by anything until she suggested that he ride in a wheelchair to our room. He started to get a little nervous at that point so Jeremy carried him. The nurse said it was okay; she thought he would think the wheelchair was fun.


We got to Room 24 and within minutes were headed to x-ray. Still no crying from Mr. Brave. He keeps telling us that his arm is okay and that it's not broken. They check his vital signs and everything is great.


The orthopaedist said that there was a hairline fracture in the radius and his ulna was just sort of bent. Kids' bones are rubbery (thank goodness!) so the injury was not as bad as it would have been for an older kid or an adult. The angle of the break was just at the upper limit of normal so the ortho decided to set the bones. He said that they would probably heal just fine on their own but he wanted to be on the safe side.


They had to sedate him for the reduction. Which means they had to insert an IV, hook him up to heart and lung monitors, and have oxygen ready. Rowan was awesome during the prep process. He was fine with the IV and the "robot buttons" (electrodes). The whole time he was talking with us and the medical staff. They were very impressed with his attitude and humor. Several of them remarked how brave he was. 


When they injected the sedative into his IV it burned and he started to cry for the first time since he first fell. After about 5 seconds he was out. The ortho worked fast to set his bones and wrap his arm in a splint. The whole process took maybe 15 minutes.


He woke up shortly after that after some foot tickling and head rubbing. The first thing he said was "Why did that man put that milk in my hand? It was hot." (Propofol, the sedative they used, is white.) We were on our way home about 30 minutes later. 


We will go to see another ortho next week for Rowan's hard cast. He'll have to wear it 2 or 3 weeks.  He may end up with a removable hard cast or the traditional sort. I hope it's the removable kind. I can't begin to imagine how we are going to be able to keep his left hand clean for the next month.


This Labor Day weekend will definitely be one to remember!