"Oooh, he's learning binary!"

MacTroll got home from Anaheim last night at around 9:30 p.m. Papa, X-man and I were all in bed and, boy, were we pooped. It had been an exciting Halloween.

This afternoon after MacTroll picked up JR and X-man and walked them home, JR invited X-man into play. So, MacTroll came home and brought in the mail while the boys had a play date. He dropped off some sobering paperwork. For the last three days, I've been spelling words with X-man for a test on Friday. The first time I created a worksheet where each of his spelling words was missing one or two letters, so he had to really listen for the sounds. He got all of the words right. The next day, I busted out the foam letters. I read the words to him and he found the letters and spelled them in front of him. He only had one upside down letter and forgot the "c" in duck. 

Then yesterday, after school, I asked him to verbally spell the words to me. He got them all right except duck, again. But today, in a spelling "check" he misspelled all the words. He inserted the short "o" rather than the "u" in everything. It was really, really strange. The test was on white paper, which is hard for him to write on. And I got frustrated. Why is what he showing me at home not translating to the writing? When he gets home from his play date, I'll have him write the words again, and see how he does. But it worries me. I've been in constant chatter with his teachers about the spelling issues. And they are very supportive and encouraging and tell me that I'm doing some great work with him, but it's not getting consistent results, especially for him in the classroom. I was changing the ways we did them (rather than just tracing words or verbal/writing tests) to keep things interesting and limit complaining. No one likes to feel stupid. And when he gets things wrong, it deeply affects his self-esteem. And in turn, seeing your child take a nose dive, doesn't do anything good for the Mom's esteem either. My little man is totally working his little butt off, and it sucks to see him have to work so hard for things that come so naturally to other children both in terms of the writing issue and the socialization issues. But he totally has a heart of gold. He keeps on trying and he pours everything he's got into it.

Then I showed MacTroll the math fun that X-man brought home from Mathman yesterday. To me, it was a math game that X-man took from Mr. Cohen's house in NW Champaign all the way back to our driveway to explain how to play to me (remind me that he probably won't grow up to be an instruction manual writer), but in the end, he got it. And we played. 

There are five grids of numbers in boxes labeled A through E. You have to pick a number in your head 1-31 and then tell the "quizzer" what lettered boxes it is in. Then the "quizzer" adds up the first number in the first row in the upper left hand corner of each box and -- surprise -- you get the number in the person's mind. 

I showed it to MacTroll and he sat down on my scooter and seemed impressed that X-man was working in binary. "What? I thought binary was just a bunch of 0s and 1s?" 

MacTroll got excited, because he likes it when he knows more about something than I do, so he sat down and explained binary to me. Now we're all in the know. 

And I guess I need to pay more attention when I do things because Christie Clinic had to send back my check to pay for my surgery because the number in the check box didn't match the one I wrote out.

Oops!

** Update **
X-man gets home from his play date. I give him his spelling words. He misses the "l" in plum and the "c" in duck. But the other six words are perfect. I show him the sheet that came home.
Loosey: "Did you do this today?"

X-man: "No, that was from a long, long time ago." (Which probably means it was his pre-test on the spelling words on Monday. Now I feel all kinds of silly for being so frustrated.)
Lesson learned -- I just need to calm the heck down.

"You Told Me Vader Betrayed and Murdered My Father."

Well, the big news for all the Star Wars geeks (that includes me) is that LucasFilm is being sold to Disney, and that they plan on making six more Star Wars movies (one every two to three years), at least.

And I have to say... and I know this will sound like blasphemy to some, that I'm happy about that. Mostly because the Episodes 1-3 were so abysmal to mediocre. And honestly, if we can get some Avengers like action and campiness back into the Star Wars saga, I'm all for it.

The news was very timely, as X-man is suddenly very into Star Wars. We watched Episodes I, IV, V and VI together over the last few weeks. And we watched the movie the Clone Wars (Yuck). But he was very excited to hear the news from me this morning.

Less exciting was my call to Carle to get a referral for X-man's OT evaluation. I wasn't sold that the person on the other end of the line actually understood the wealth of what OT does. It's not just fine motor skills like "Hold your pencil this way." There's sensory processing and integration going on there that can affect learning in so many ways. So, there was a lot of the person on the other end typing and a lot of me just being silent wondering what in the hell she was putting down in the note to X-man's pediatrician.

Of course, this isn't the first time (or the last) that I'll have found the medical profession confusing. For example, my surgery bill from Christie.

I got an estimate a week after my surgery that my part of the bill would likely be around $1,900. Fine. Then I got the bill and it was over $4,000. What? Then I looked at my insurance claim online where I could line up all the items. There was a $3,904 charge for fixing my ligaments that the Christie bill said the insurance company hadn't paid their part of. But there on the computer screen the insurance company had it's 70% of the bill. So, I looked at what the insurance company said they paid and sent the remainder of the "patient responsibility" to Christie. I figured maybe the check and bill overlapped in the mail. But it was still annoying.

Today is the Storybook Parade at Carrie Busey. X-man is wearing a t-shirt about the story Swimmy by Leo Lionni that I mostly made but he told me where to put everything. (He's very bossy about his design concepts.) After school he goes to see the Mathman and then he can come home and veg until he gets dressed up in his Halloween costume and heads out to trick or treat. He's an astronaut this year. :-)

Blissful Agony

I went out and ran my first run since, um, May. It's hard after an injury to realize exactly  how hard it is to start entirely over as a runner after being off your feet for so long. And all the cross training in the world might keep your cardiovascular system going, but it all goes to hell when your body isn't used to running carrying a weight bearing load. Particularly one that is registering at 173 rather than 160 these days. But it's not the 250 I was, so I'm totally keeping perspective.

I followed my podiatrist's directions and ran a block, walked a block. I lasted 27 minutes and went 1.92 miles. I'm trying not to think of the time when my daily routine was an easy 5-7 miles... with no walking. I'm trying to think about how thankful I am that I can run at all. In all honesty, the big accomplishment here that I am most proud of is that I was up -- and out the door by 5:15 a.m. Holy cow am I ready for that whole "fall back" thing this Saturday.

In other running news, in my running absence, my Polar ran out of batteries. I apparently didn't read the fine print when I bought it because I have to SEND it somewhere to get the battery changed out to ensure I don't mess up the "water resistant" elements of my watch. The closest approved service center is Michigan, so off it goes in the mail today. I guess while they're changing the watch battery, I'll just have them change the transmitter one too, so that in three weeks, when I'm using it again, the other half doesn't go out. :-)

My orthotics came in the mail, too. I'm going to wear them to work today and see how they go. The doctor said they might need to be "filed down" to fit better.

After Thanksgiving, I start a twice a week, three week workout routine with Kari Gardner. She works with some of my friends, and I'm really excited about it. I'm hoping to get rid of the doughy middle I've accumulated by February. I work out with her, and then she gives me a plan to follow for a while. Then I can return and update as needed. I'm also hoping to be able to join her post-holiday fitness classes on Saturday mornings this winter.

In cat news: Clawdio came home. All of his labs were normal (hooray). But his temp was low and he was dehydrated for some reason. They think he had a vagal response or a seizure, but in a cat his age, it's kind of hard to know unless it happens again and I can get him to the vet quickly or they're around during an episode.  Since the vet is a 20-minute drive, that's hard to do, when the episode only lasted 3 minutes. But he's only had one of them, soooo we'll hope it doesn't happen again. Right now he's trying to scam a second breakfast off of me. :-) He knows I'm a sucker.

Other than that, want to see something funny?

Halloween Weekend

On Friday night, we went to the Little Gym for a Halloween Party. MacTroll was Jabba the Hutt. I was Princess Leia, and X-man was Obi Wan Kenobi. The Jabba the Hutt costume actually has a little fan in it that inflates it with air so that even a tiny person can get large. But it's very hard to walk in. MacTroll just hung out in the main area, and a bunch of people came up to him and wanted to have their photo taken with him like he was Mickey Mouse. It was pretty funny.

After the Little Gym we moved on to the Savoy Recreation Center. We saw a lot of our friends there, which was awesome. Special K makes an awesome Ernie. :-)

On Saturday, I went to Decatur to visit my friend Captain McKee for lunch. We had a good time catching up and wondered why we do such a crappy job talking during the week. When I returned, I took a shopping trip to Karen's Kloset, where I found an awesome running shirt, two dresses and a pair of jeans. They're having a big sale next Saturday, Nov. 6 where everything is up to 25% off.

Then after dinner, MacTroll and I got on our costumes and headed out to High Dive to see the Brat Pack play and hang out with Freak and friends. There's something comforting in knowing every song a band plays (mostly late 70s through the 80s). The band was dressed up in Star Wars costumes, as it was a theme. So when "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" came up, I got summoned to the stage by the lead singer who had changed from her Jawa costume to an identical Leia costume.

That was fun. Then when I was up there she asked for Jabba. So we did a Leia sandwich on MacTroll wearing his Jabba costume on stage to "Hit Me with Your Best Shot."

It was something I've never done before. I had only consumed a Diet Coke and it was ever so much fun. We left early because on Halloween morning I had a 5.5 mile trail run to do in Allerton Park in Monticello. It was a ball. Yes, I tripped over a tree root during mile one, and holy hell, there were a lot of hills. But I fall well, as anyone will tell you, and came right out of it without taking anyone else down. So, hooray. But the best part, was that as I'm hearing this lady yell at the person behind me to "go get her" (I'm guessing that means to pass me at the finish line.) I hear a "There's Mommy!" I look over and see MacTroll and X-man. I was so happy. They're never at my races. This was a big deal. I was so happy afterwards, I finished, turned around to find them, sunk to my knees, held my son and got all teary eyed. Seriously. It was awesome to have people there supporting me in something I've always felt so alone doing.

Today, we hung out around the house, which can be verified by it's state of messiness right now. Trick or treating went well. X-man has a ton of candy, and we only went to our neighborhood. Everyone kept telling them to take as much as they wanted, except at one house where the woman said, "Only take one." X-man furrowed his eyes and looked at her and said, "Why?" And the woman said, "Because I said so."

How come it works when she says it? :-)

Halloween

Last year X-man refused to go trick or treating. We went to Special K's house and he was so overwhelmed by the coolness of the Wonder Twins' toys that he wouldn't leave the house. Candy was not a motivator, which, I guess I'm grateful for.

This year we had enough houses to go trick or treating in our own little neighborhood, which mostly has kids between 0-5 years of age. So everyone was out pretty early. X-man was good for our street, but after turning the corner and doing two houses down the 2nd street he announced that he had enough candy and was done. "Carry me, please."

So I abandoned SuperShawn and his little cowgirl for the night (who was a PRO at trick or treating), and I flew Superman home, where he helped pass out candy, watched Superman and kept forgetting that he had to keep pants on as long as people were coming to the door. :-) What is it about my kid not liking to wear pants?

Waiting for -- SUPERMAN!

Halloween cuteness through the years...

Boo!

Yesterday was our Halloween extravaganza. I like Halloween. It is my second favorite holiday. And we had a lot to do and see. First off, X-man's class went trick or treating. They all created their own pizza costumes. But X-man refused to wear his. 

Then at 3 p.m. the turtles had their Halloween party. X-man enjoyed his snacks and some eery Halloween stories read by Ms. Holly.

Then X-man was ready to go because we were on our way to a Halloween party at Curious J's house. There we had some of Mr. Rogers' chili and some cool spiders made out of pretzels, Ritz crackers, peanut butter and M&Ms.

I also tried to put X-man in his doggie costume. The world ended. And for 20 minutes he cried and cried, begging, pleading, "Take it off. No brown doggie. White doggie! Please Mommy." 

So I took it off, and MacTroll ran back to the house and picked up a pair of overalls and X-man's Bob the Builder shirt and hammer. (He hates wearing the hat). And we dressed him up that way... which he doesn't see as a costume because he wears it to school.

After the party, we went over to Urbana and saw most of the Lemonades, Harley Quinn and her crew and the Wonder Twins family to go Trick or Treating. X-man refused to go. He wanted to stay behind. So Special K and MacTroll stayed at their house and passed out candy while X-man played with the Wonder Twins' toys. I guess it makes sense -- why go walking all around town asking strangers for candy when you know someone who has a big bowl of it right in a living room full of toys. Common sense and stubborn at 2, how cute is that?

Then at 7:o0 Mealy Worm tuckered out (we were matching bees!), so I wandered back home with Lavender and then back to Special K's house to pick up my boys. Next, we headed over to Lester and Terry's, where X-man jumped out of the car Hammer in one hand and Elmo candy bucket in the other, and ran to their door to trick or treat. He said it, then handed his bucket to Terry and went in their house not caring about the candy. 

At 8:30 we headed home to bed exhausted, but this a.m. when X-man got up I asked, "Did you have a good Halloween?" 

"Yes! Play with friends more today?"

Today the guys are putting up our TV and we're going to a football game. Tomorrow we're seeing Kung Fu Panda and going to see model trains at Illini Rail.

It's a really, really busy weekend. 

It's His Prerogative

So 2 months ago, X-man and I started talking about Halloween. I showed him photos from his first two when he was a rhino and a white tiger. And I asked him what he'd like to be.

He said, "Builder. Bob the Builder."

So, I got a Bob the Builder tool belt and a hard hat and showed them to him. He wore the belt and the hat (which needs to be adjusted) for about a week. Now he just likes to play with the tools.

Last night in bath, he was talking to me about my bee costume. Then he said MacTroll should be a gorilla. I brought up him being a builder and he said, "No! I'm a cow. Moo!"

Sigh.

Then this morning as he sat in his secondary baby seat (which happens to have a cow print cover) he mooed again and talked about Halloween. Before he said, "No Moo Cow! Wanna be a doggie. Woof!"

Crap. 

My fear is that we'll get to the actual Halloween and he won't want to wear his Bob the Builder costume. Sigh. We wait so long for them to express an opinion and speak up for themselves... and, of course, we don't always agree. So it undermines all of my good planning. :-)