VanArnhem 411

Miss Smarty Pants

School is back in session and mommy Brooke couldn't be any happier!!  Okay truth be told day one (Monday) was not a huge success.  But I contribute that to the fact that the amazing Mrs. Cadel wasn't there.  Brooke adores that woman and when she was back in today it seemed to completely change Brooke's mood about this going back to school business.

So in true VanArnhem fashion we say "who cares as long as we look good"!  So Brooke was all decked out in her high fashion ensemble (at least as far as preschoolers are concerned).  Accessorized with her trusty AFO's and yes/no cards attached with a badge holder (something new we're trying out so that mom can stop saying "Oh shoot where are those cards") - she was ready to make a statement.  And although you can't see it here - her shirt has a little arrow on it and says "I am one cool kid".  Indeed she is!!

We had a meeting with Brooke's teachers and therapists after school today just to get everyone on the same page as this year starts out.  I felt pretty good about it (and the fact that Brooke was really turning on the charm for everyone there!).  I've got some high hopes for this year so I'll keep everyone posted on our progress!

Jay's Very Busy Day

It's a sad state of affairs when the caterpillar has the most exciting life of anyone in the house, but so be it.

I actually wrote up the post from this morning last night and after I was finished went to check on Jay.  Well, he was indeed doin' the "J" last night!

 

Amazing how he attached himself onto that leaf isn't it?  And by the way, there is no way to tell yet if Jay is a he or a she - we won't be able to tell until he (or she) becomes a full fledged butterfly.  So for now we'll just go with "he". 

He was still in "J" mode this morning and since I had to work today, once again, I was going to miss seeing the transformation into his chrysalis.  I missed it last year for the same reason (how that keeps happening when I only work two days a week I have no idea!).

It just boggles my mind how he went from the "J" to this:

In less than a day!  How does that happen?!  Just unbelievable. 

So Jay will hang out in this state for a little while but I'll let you know when things start happening again.

And since today's post seems to have the theme of progress - here's a little update on something we WISH would show a little progress.  Isabel's adoption.  We're still waiting for the social worker in Guatemala to finish up her report to submit to family court.  We've been waiting since the beginning of July so it's getting just a bit frustrating.  Maybe when Jay is ready to head to Mexico he can make a little side trip to Guatemala and get them moving!!

Our new houseguest

Meet Jay:

Jay is a monarch butterfly caterpillar.  Why is he in my kitchen chowing on a milkweed leaf?  Probably because he's hungry.  But he's also Brooke's first little class project for the year.  It's pretty easy to find these caterpillar's in our area so Brooke's teacher gives one to each student to watch them transform into a butterfly (and they have a few in the classroom too).  They read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and do little butterfly art projects.  I'm not sure how much she's really into it - but I can tell you it facinates mom.  Last year we had Fergie and we were lucky enough to send him on his way to Mexico a few weeks after school started.  Fergie was much smaller when he first arrived at our house so we had lots of time to get to know him as a caterpilliar.  Jay, however, is almost ready to hang down in his "J" shape (thus his name) and start his transformation into a chrysalis.  I'll keep you posted on his progress!

If you're a dork like me and interested in finding out more about Monarch butterflys - this website will give you the basics:

Monarch Butterfly Stuff for Dorks Like Sam

Enjoy!

We heart the Metroparks!

We are so lucky to have this little gem in our area.  The Cleveland Metroparks circle the Cleveland area (that's why it's sometimes called the Emerald Necklace).  It's full of walking paths, picnic areas, etc.  The reserve closest to our house has a lake too.  It's a great alternative to walking around our neighborhood for the 5,000th time.  It's pretty shaded so I think Brooke enjoys it a little more (so much so that she usually falls asleep at some point nearly every time we go there). 

Since today was a very strange day of having absolutely nothing scheduled (except for keeping tabs on the scrapbooking action on QVC) and the weather was beautiful - we took advantage with a nice long walk.  Brooke did have a little cat nap so we just hung out on a bench while she sat on my lap dozing.  Just us and the ducks.  Very peaceful.  Gotta love days like that!

It's Very Early Monday Morning

Okay if you're the kind of person that pays close attention you might be saying to yourself "It most certainly is not Monday morning, it's still Sunday evening".  That's only because you haven't been schooled in the Jeff VanArnhem summer calendar theory.  Being a teacher, nothing beats summer in Jeff's book so he spends a tremendous amount of time thinking about it and developing these theories about it.  The "Weekend Theory" goes something like this:

Friday night = the month of June - summer break is just starting, there is a total feeling of optimism thinking about all the fun you're going to have this weekend/summer.  The weekend/summer seems like it will last forever.

Saturday = the month of July - you're in the full swing of things and although there is that little nagging feeling that the weekend/summer is slipping away you still have an entire day/month to go so you're able to just put those thoughts of the end out of your head and enjoy!

Sunday = the month of August - the end is near, you know it, there's no denying it anymore.  You try to cram all the fun you can into this last day/month but everything is overshadowed by those pesky "back to school" ads in the paper and people asking you "when do you go back?".

And now here we are, the last weekend before school starts.  As soon as the clock struck 2:30 on Friday Jeff got mopey.  Now it's just like any other weekend - this is Monday Morning Before School Starts in Weekend Theory terms.

Now we just have to start the countdown to Christmas break and hope for some early snow days!

Make that Funny Blog Saturday

I just now realized I'm late with this weeks installment of Funny Blog Friday - well better late then never.

This weeks blog was recently shared with me by my friend Cheryl.  Now I'm going to warn you that this will most likely make you gag at some point - but the writing is so worth it.

Steve Don't Eat It - the name says it all.

Tooth or Dare

So I've been wracking my brain all week trying to come up with a clever title for the tooth follow-up post.  Here are a few that didn't make the cut:

The Tooth is Out (which would have been a hands down winner if it had been pulled, but more on that later)

The Tooth Hurts

You Can't Handle the Tooth

Tooth or Consequences

Tooth Be Told

The Tooth Shall Set You Free

I Speak the Tooth

There may have been more but you get the idea.  And if anyone would like to add to the list feel free!

Anyway - had our appointment with Dr. Ray today.  After examining the tooth he thought the clean, seal and wait option would be just fine.  Everyone breath a collective sigh of relief here.  And Brooke was actually pretty cool about the whole procedure (even the "tooth pillow" which looks absolutely nothing like a pillow - nice try Dr. Ray - clamp of horror is more like it).  So now the tooth is back to just being a little ground stump.  It's still pretty loose and his guess is it will probably fall out on its own sometime in the next six months.  And the really nice thing about Dr. Ray was that he asked many questions and took many notes about Rett Syndrome.  Did not expect that from a dentist.  And he liked the Dr. Jean music we had to play the entire time - so he's a keeper!

The Tooth, the Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

So we had a little dental excitement at our house yesterday.  Brooke's had problems with her two front teeth ever since she fell in the garage and pushed them back up into her gums (lots of blood, lots of freaking out on my part).  They came back down but the one has been a little dark since.  Then it chipped a bit last year.  I kept meaning to take her in to have it checked but you know how that goes.  It never really seemed to bother her - so I kept putting it off.  It's not like we don't have enough appointments to go to.

So yesterday I get her out of bed in the morning and there is a significantly bigger chunk missing from the "bad" tooth.  Now I'm no RDA (that goes out to my friend Libby who IS an RDA), but I'm smart enough to know a large bloody hole in the middle of your kids tooth is not good.  So now we have an emergency visit to the dentist.

His opinion is that she should go to the oral surgeon and have the tooth removed because it was loose.  But here's the thing, I call Brooke's neurologist and he's not so keen on the idea of in office "conscious sedation" and, honestly, neither am I.  Surprisingly, the tooth doesn't seem to bother her at all - not when she eats or if you touch it.  So we're going to see a pediatric dentist on Thursday.  At least over the phone he gave the "pulpectomy" (which seems like such a made up word) and sealing option or the local numbing and yank it option, depending on looseness.  Since neither of them require putting my kid under I'm all for either one.  He does have hospital privileges if it comes to that - but I'm crossing my fingers it will not.

Normally, I'm all about sharing pictures to help tell the story but I will spare you a look at Brooke's bloody half tooth and just update you after our Thursday visit.  If there is pulling involved I will share pictures of her new toothless smile after an appropriate amount of healing time has passed!  I know you're just waiting on pins and needles, right?

Hotdogs and Cornhole

We rounded out the weekend with yet another cookout - this time at our house (always easier than traveling).  We invited Jeff's siblings over and grilled, as usual, way too much food.  We followed up with some fierce cornhole competition.  I kicked butt (no pun intended).  Although Jeff probably has the best form.

He's very, very proud of The Official Ohio State University Cornhole Set that he built from scratch.  Please notice the perfectly painted strips to replicate the helmets worn by The Ohio State University football team.  And I must point out that he did mathematically calculate the width of all the strips so that they were the correct proportion to the actual helmets.  I would expect nothing less.  I did help by sewing the bags but the construction and painting was all his doing. 

Brooke was not really interested in napping and after her second escape from bed we just let her stay up.  She spent most of her time swinging and jammin' with Ralph.  Everytime I see her do it I am nothing less than amazed that even with all of her motor difficulties, pushing herself back and raising her little feet to get that swing going comes so easily to her.  It's one of those things I never would have given her the benefit of thinking she could figure it out.  Only because they gave her the chance at school two years ago did we even discover it was something she could do.  She can surprise you like that!

It's the Little Things Really

We had a busy day today - two picnics this evening.  Now for Brooke picnics mean 1) an unfamiliar place, 2) lots of people making noise and 3) a change in her routine.  Nothing good can come from any of these things.  So from the moment I woke up I was stressing.  And maybe she sensed it because she was nothing short of a little beast all morning.  A little cheese with that whine my dear.  So we spent our entire morning pulling her around in the wagon - literally the entire morning.  So that just made me more stressed.  Bummed that in our lives something as simple and fun as a picnic has to be this hard.  I really just wanted to stay home.

But at 5 p.m. we left for party number one.  Guess who was a perfect little angel?  Sat on my lap and snuggled and ate pretzels for 2.5 hours.  I'm not kidding.  We have to go to Sam's Club tomorrow and buy those pretzels in bulk - they will be going everywhere with us from now on.  So at 7:30 we moved on the party number two.  She seemed a little upset to leave party number one actually.  We had to pull out the Dr. Jean music at party number two - but it was all good (even without the miracle pretzels).

It's kind of like she knows when mom has hit her limit and she needs to just show that "see we can do the same stuff everyone else does" side.  She's a very intuitive kid and she's really knows all I need is the little stuff to make me happy - like behaving at a party.  Thanks peanut for making me so proud today!