Panic at the City Museum

We went to the City Museum yesterday and it was the first time that any of our kids have been scared there. There is plenty to be scared about (especially for the parents!), but Ben has always run around through everything regardless of the long drop below him or the dark tunnel in front of him. However, Maggie followed Ben & Xavier through some tunnels yesterday and then got scared halfway down the last part. I was standing on the stairs taking pictures of them and Maggie just started crying and would not move. Luckily, Ben immediately went back up to her and coaxed her back down. Of course, once Ben was with her, she was perfectly OK. We went into Art City for a while and Maggie got her face painted. I think it's one of the best face paintings I have seen, the girl took ages and a lot of patience to paint the tree that Maggie wanted. It made her look like a faerie and so cute.....

Ben the elementary school teacher

Ben was using shaving cream to do letters at school today & so he came home and started doing them with Maggie. Amazingly, he got Maggie to draw some pretty decent letters. The sad thing is that I think he's doing better with teaching her letters than the ladies that are at day care with her. Maybe he'll be a teacher when he grows up!!!!

A new meaning....

...for curling up with the newspaper in the evening. Cleo looked so comfortable that I just had to take a picture. She's probably just guarding the paper so that she knows the second that Sam sits down!!!

Monkey Joe's

I took the kids to Monkey Joe's today since they were both out of school. It was the busiest I have ever seen it. We got there 2 hours after it opened and we were family #135. There had to be well over 200 by the time we left. The kids weren't too pleased because they had to queue for some things and they aren't used to having to do that. However, we stayed until 6 and they still didn't want to leave after almost 6 hours. Maggie managed to scrape her face going down the slide at one point-there's some confusion as to whether she launched herself off the top as usual or Ben pushed her, could be a combination of the two. Later on, she collided with a boy and knocked his tooth out. According to Ben, he was happy to lose it. Ben said "don't look at me like that, it wasn't my fault". Maggie said "no, it was my fault" and ran off to find her latest victim.....

Overheard in the kitchen

Ben had a sleepover at the neighbour's last night & I am working on my grant application today. That means Maggie has been left to her own devices. I told her to go downstairs & watch TV or go and see if Ben wanted to come back home. She got her shoes from the mud room & then was sidetracked. She was sitting under the chair next to mine talking to herself (she does this a lot these days). I heard her say "Waa, waa, waa. Daddy says, Maggie why are you crying? I don't know Daddy, I just like to cry. Waa, waa, waa...." Well, at least we now know that she cries just because she likes it. We did have our suspicions!!!!
Now she's lying on the floor talking to Clifford

How does this happen?

Is there something linked to the Y chromosome that results in total shredding of clothes at the knee level at a certain age? Our days of passing on clothing appear to be over, certainly when it comes to pants. Every time I turn around, I can see Ben's knee shining through. I must have thrown away 4 or 5 pairs of pants this past week, it's a good job I just bought a whole bunch of new ones last weekend. All the other mothers are complaining of the same thing right now, I can't wait for the warmer weather when we can get them all into wearing shorts, maybe I can just cut those old pants down and make do with them!!!!

Kindergarten orientation

It seems a little surreal that I went to Maggie's kindergarten orientation last night. Seeing as she is our 3rd child, it is a little odd that we have not done this before. However, Ben was at St. Luke's in pre-K 4, so he just moved up a year at the same school and Daniel started half way through the school year and then repeated kindergarten at the same school. Even though Maggie will be at the same school as Ben, neither of the boys went to kindergarten at Hudson, so I thought it would be useful to go to the orientation. It was actually very informative and I realize how many first time parents are concerned about their child starting school-we had a lucky escape before and I am not worried about Maggie at all. Maggie is so excited that she will be going to school with Ben and she asks every night if she's going to Hudson the next day. Of course, she doesn't realize that she won't see him all day, but I think she will be reassured that he is in the same building. Ben is very good when it comes to taking care of her when he needs to & I am sure he'll be ready to help her at school if the situation arises.

Amazing......

I took Ben for his 6 month growth hormone check yesterday. He started GH on June 30th last year and at that time, he weighed 39 lbs and was 42 1/2 inches tall. 7 months later, he is almost 45 1/2 inches tall and he weighs 45.8 lbs. The doctor says this proves that he was GH deficient and that he needs it to grow. No kidding, he grew 1/2 inch in the 9 months prior to starting therapy and it seems like his weight stayed at around 40 lbs for 2 or 3 years!!!! The most dramatic change is to look at the growth chart and see just how much he had leveled off below it before GH therapy and how much his growth rate has changed so that now he is almost at the bottom of the curve. The doctor thinks that he should be on the growth charts by our next appointment. that will be a first for Ben. The daily injections are tough to take, but it's obviously so worth it. We are all very happy.

How to talk to girls....

Listening to Bob & Tom on the radio on my way into work this morning, they were talking about Alec Greven, a boy who wrote How to Talk to Girls when he was 8. It started as a school assignment and he's now on the author circuit promoting his book!!! It reminded me of Ben & Zachary at the basketball game on Friday night. There is a girl in their class who is the classic pretty girl who knows it-I dread to think what she's going o be like in a few years time as she's a piece of work even now. Ben has been gaga over her for quite a while and apparently he is not alone. Ben & Zachary were being very giggly over going to talk to her when she arrived at the game (in her leopard print furry vest, no less). At the end of the game, she walked up to Ben and said "Ben, you need to give me your Starburst, James has already given me his Skittles". Seriously, she's that manipulative at 7? These boys don't stand a chance at such a tender age, or any age for that matter. Maybe I'll buy them a copy of the book!!!!!

It's a boy.....

When I picked Ben up from school today, he wanted to go to the barber's with his friend Xavier. Xavier's mother told him that he'd have to get his hair cut if he went and he said that was what he wanted. I told her that it was fine with me, but I fully expected it was just an excuse to leave with them. Well, I was wrong, he got all his hair cut off after us spending a year trying to get him to do it. It's amazing what kids will do when they are with someone else. We have our son back and he is sooooo cute....

Tie your shoes

"Tie your shoes

Tie your shoes

Wake up now, no one else knows how to tie your shoes"

-Widespread Panic

Remember when tying your shoes was a developmental milestone monitored by pediatricians? Most kids shoes have Velcro these days, so it's not used as much any more. Unfortunately, Ben's feet have finally grown enough that the only option is laces now. I bought him some new shoes last weekend and showed him how to tie the laces on Sunday night ready for school on Monday. He picked it up immediately and has tied them himself all week.....

Well, it made me laugh.....

Maggie says "MaMa" over and over. It sounds just like a doll sometimes. This morning, I called her on it.
Maggie: MaMa
Me: Maggie, you sound just like a doll when you say that!!"
Maggie: MaMa, you are a good MaMa
Me: And you're a good Maggie
Ben: And you are a good doll
Maggie: MaMa!!!!!

Clothing

One of my pet peeves is the lack of clothing options for boys and the insane excess for girls. This makes it so much easier to buy girls clothes as is evidenced by my experience this morning.
I was sorting out clothes for school next week (I get them ready for Sam to distribute each day) and there are no pants at all in Ben's drawer. I am going to have to wash everything from last week before I can pack for him for next week!!! This prompted me to look to see just how many pairs Maggie had and I found that she has 22 pairs of spare pants!!!! This is in excess of what is still in the laundry. She also has a stash of shirts, jackets, etc. Most of Ben's pants are second hand and have rips in the knees. I really must get him some new ones this weekend!!!!

Third time's a charm.....

I finally managed to get Ben's GH shot right last night-third attempt. The first time was a complete failure. The second time, I ditched the needle guard and did much better, but I don't think I depressed the plunger properly and nothing got injected. Last night, everything worked well. Unfortunately, Ben has joined the ranks of children that say the Nutropin formulation stings. Apparently, it's the preservative they use and so it doesn't get any better. Once again, we have to ask ourselves why on earth we had to change medication. We had the same problem with Daniel's ADHD medication when the insurance changed the formulary and we switched from Metadate to Concerta. Even though in theory they should be the same and have the same effects, there are subtle changes that make a huge difference to a child. Of course, the medical insurance companies don't care about any of that. Still, our statement from last year shows that the insurance company paid $18,000 for Ben's GH shots & he only started in June, so we can't complain too much.....

WGHS Basketball game

Last night was Elementary School night at the Webster Groves High School basketball game. The elementary school kids got in free with an adult. There were a lot of kids from Hudson there and they got to see the Principal win the throw competition at half time. This was the first basketball game that I have ever been to-anohter American fist for me that took almost 20 years to achieve!!!! Webster has a pretty good team, they have only lost 3 games this season & won last night, so everyone had a lot of fun. It held the kids attention for the first half and then most of them were more interested in going back and forth to the concession stand until the game ended.

Growth hormone nightmare

After 6 months on Norditropin and doing fine, we finally ran out of supplies and last night was the first go at using the Nutropin pen. Ben had already built up the change into being a disaster and was convinced it was going to hurt more than the Norditropin. Well, in a way he was right. It was horrendous. The new pen is not easy to use, it was completely different to what I was used to and as a consequence, I did everything wrong. Suffice to say, I think I hurt Ben and he didn't get any of the solution injected into himself. He cried for about 10 minutes and needed me to hold him for even longer. I think his life flashed in front of his eyes again. At one point, he even said he was prepared to stay small just so he didn't have to do the shots. I managed to persuade him to try again and hopefully it will get better. He's turned into a hater of the medical insurance system at the tender age of 7 and it won't get any better!!!!!

Visit to the magic house

Webster Groves had a Parents as Teachers night at the Magic House last night. We don't go there very often and hadn't been there since they opened the new extension. Ben was talking about it all day, but I have no idea how he knew about it. I was really surprised when we got there as the new part is huge and makes the place look at least twice the size. The big attraction for Ben was that they now have a court room and he got to sit in the judge's seat and pass sentence on us lesser mortals. They have a room full of settings for various classic children's stories and Ben & Maggie got to make shoes at the Elves & the Shoemaker section. After a while, they gravitated to the old stand-bys. Maggie spent the rest of her time fishing and watching her fish travel down the stream and Ben waited on customers in the store

Refusing to be outdone.....

After we had snow in St. Louis, Loughborough did the same.....

England has had the biggest snowfall in many years and Dad sent me pictures of the snow in their garden. Looks all nice and fluffy. Good snowman-making fodder.....

The gloves are off.....

We got the information about the Science Fair in the Wednesday envelope this week. It's very late this year because the project is due at the end of February. It doesn't give us a lot of time. This year, I decided that Ben could choose what he wanted to do again. Last year, he had a brilliant project that he came up with all on his own. He was beaten out of winning, primarily because he has such a hard time with writing & didn't write much in his journal. I also refused to write everything for him.

I suggested that he did a survey on kids using growth hormone this year, but he wanted to do something with me at work. I decided we could kill two birds with one stone & he could do an experiment that I was doing. So, now he is looking at the killing effect of cigarette smoke extract on lung endothelial cells!!!!! He made up the solution and added it to the cells today. I could have picked something out of a book like other parents do, but this was what Ben wanted. I can guarantee that it's too much science for him to win anything at an Elementary level, but it's his & that's all that matters.....

Is there no end to his imagination?

Because the weather was so much nicer today, Ben decided that he and Maggie needed to go on a scavenger hunt for things in nature that you can find in the Winter. He got a couple of brown bags, put their names on them and off they went into the garden. Later, I had to drive them up to the school so that they could get sweet gum balls. We also found a few pieces of broken boxwood when we went to work. Ben declared the hunt a success.