TGIF

Yesterday was tiring, besides our weekly lunch, grocery shopping and buying dad’s newspapers, we also dropped off the Prius for the standard 50k tune up.

Today so far has been a marathon. Kenny dropped Henry off at school, then he and Rhys came home for a bit before we left for our dental appointment. I don’t know how we did it but we got on the freeway at 8:38 and arrived a few minutes late for our 9a. I went first and then Kenny. Through it all Rhys sat on the side cabinet squirming, but on the whole just occupying himself with a quarter I gave him and observing the teeth cleaning. Austin, the hygienist, was nice enough to make a little fuss about him and let him sit in the chair and polish his teeth. He got a kick out of it, and sat pretty still through most of it, unfortunately he got too squirmy to let her finish all his teeth. Afterwards we walked across the street for a quick bite at Clementine.

Dropped Kenny off at work and then Rhys and I went home until we had to go pick Henry up. Immediately after picking Henry up we left to get lunch at McDonalds and 2 Donatellos. We then arrived at our 1p appointment at the PreK interview early. It turned out to be a very good meeting. I initially met with Mrs. T and also was fortunate to meet with Ms. S. They were very understanding and had a lot of helpful information.

So as we stand I need to submit the application on 4/10, until we are able to have Rhys evaluated we will assume he will go into Mrs. T’s class. I will work on the paperwork from LAUSD when it comes in. We will also wait for our June appointment at UCLA speech. I will also call the Regional Center again on Monday, they were out of the office today.

We will also have to work vigorously on potty training and discipline. Hope I remembered everything. Also need to get a TB shot, so set up appointments with Dr. B for the shot as well as a physical. I’m really tired of talking and just want to dig in and get it done.

Tomorrow I’m set to go see Wicked. Hilary is picking me up on her way to see Jen. She’s getting her hair done at 10a so I might just tag along. Curious to see what her hair looks like. She said that her roots are showing gray, this is after she went dark again.

Happy Birthday! Love, Fu Manchu

Yesterday was spent at the doctor’s office in the morning getting my first annual in about 3 years! Yikes. The Dr. told me that our bodies go through an adjustment every 5 years or so as we age. So interesting. Saw Kenny off to work and then it was onto Rhys' art class. Dad came along and we had lunch at McDonalds in the food court afterwards.


This morning I spent tidying up loose ends at and around my desk. Woke up and it was one episode after another with the boys. Screaming, fighting and throwing things. It was over the TMNT toy Leonardo we got for Rhys yesterday, I should have just gotten Henry one too, but did not think he would really want one. Anyhow now we've promised to get the whole set for them.




Sunday we went to a birthday party for a girl in Henry’s class. It was held in the Marina. It was fun seeing all the kids, marveling over how much they have grown since September. It was also a nice opportunity to get further acquainted with the parents. I especially like Christine who has three very handsome boys, the middle Kieran is in Henry’s class. By cake time Rhys, although dead tired had his face painted like Fu Manchu, but looked like a mini me version of Jack Black, could be found in front of the cake next to the birthday girl’s entourage. After singing ‘Happy Birthday’ he blew out the candles! They had to relight them for the birthday girl.


Right now Rhys is watching Sesame Street. I was able to get him to say a few full sentences today. And yesterday when I opened up a drink he handed to me straight from the fridge, I asked him ‘is that tasty?’ he responded with ‘it tastes cold’. I was ecstatic! I asked him to repeat himself, but he got shy and self conscious and refused.


We had just finished a lunch of pizza made from whole wheat pita bread, tomato paste and parmesan cheese grated and toasted. Yum. He finished quiet a bit of these along with a carrot. Am very pleased. A big topic for today’s episode of Sesame Street is eating healthy foods.


The wind is howling outside and clouds are ominous. Did not think it was going to rain but it’s looking very ugly all of the sudden. The winds knocked out the antenna for a minute and the TV went to snow. Scared Rhys so much he ran straight out of the room.

Root Beer & TMNT

Wow. Root Beer is the safest soda for your teeth. And non-colas do the most harm to teeth. This is according to the latest study.

Woke up this morning and dilly dallied until ten-ish. Angele came by and we all loaded up in the car to catch a matinee of TMNT. The acronym is hilarious. It reminds me of KFC.

The movie was pretty engrossing and afterward we grabbed some pizza a la TMNT!

The Saga of Young Teeth

After searching high and low I was able to locate both Henry and Rhys’ immunization record books! Yay. I am gathering paperwork ready for the PreK meeting.

Left the house at 11:20 to pick Henry up from school. Spent the next couple of agonizing hours at the dentist restraining Rhys from jumping all over the exam chair, and watching Henry squirming as they administered laughing gas and then squirming even more when the Dr. began working on the two small cavities that became apparent after two teeth were extracted by the oral surgeon last month. Oh the saga of Henry’s young teeth.

After finally getting them both buckled in I thought instead of running to get Henry a shake, and since he could actually eat since he didn’t get any shots (instead they administered some new laser technique), ‘why don’t we have lunch with daddy?’ So we drove down to see Kenny, but on the way I got a call from Blanca at the LAUSD. I didn’t answer the call initially because I didn’t recognize the number but then realized that it must be the LAUSD. When I called back I was still enroute to see Kenny, but Blanca was on the other line, so asked if she could call back in 20 minutes. Not knowing if this window of opportunity will close I said yes, please call back.

We decided to grab lunch at Koo Koo Roo and take it to the museum grounds. Blanca phoned right after we ordered lunch so we conducted the interview as we were leaving the restaurant. It was while on the museum grounds that some koot had to put his two cents in to Kenny about cellphones and how they should be thrown into the water. Children are neglected … blah, blah, blah. I just turned my back on him trying to tune him out, trying my best to answer Blanca’s questions about a child I care very much about.

I need to finish the Long Way Round and work on Jennee’s gift certificates this weekend!

So far I’ve had great luck with most of the movies I’ve chosen through netflix.
1. The Long Way Round
2. Shut Up and Sing
3. Marie Antoinette
4. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I want to watch the Gilmore Girls from the very beginning. Mainly because I remember an interview Alexis did on Conan a while back. He had mentioned how much his wife loved that show, and as a matter of fact I also heard that Ira Glass' wife loves the show as well.

Ho Hum Thursday

Today has been non stop. Did a few loads of laundry in the morning. Got an appointment next Friday to meet Pre-K teacher for Rhys. Phoned dad to come up at 10:30a. Sorted out some of the new Wells Fargo mess. Went to lunch. Sanrio store. Marukai. Newspapers for dad. Gassed up at Costco. Picked Henry up. Sorted out more of the Wells Fargo mess. Mom came up. We had a little snack and a little conversation. Quizzed Henry on his spelling test. Angele arrived. Gave the boys a bath. Made mac’n’cheese for them. Left for the meeting.

Picked up Henry’s registration package for next year. Hung out until it was time to pick Kenny up. Came home to the image of Rhysie standing in front of the window crying.

Kenny made plans for us to go see the Ninja Turtle’s movie with Angele Saturday morning. We’ve also rsvp’d to a party for Henry’s classmate on Sunday. Have to get cracking on Jennee’s gift certificate designs. Perhaps sometime Saturday. Hopefully it won’t take too long, since we’re supposed to be meeting Monday.

Hilary is leaving for Mexico tomorrow. I guess it’s a really short trip since they are scheduled to come back Sunday. It’s for Sabrina’s bachelorette.

Emails to Caroline

Hi Caroline,
I just wanted to say 'thanks' for the pep talk yesterday it really helped clear my head. The Regional Center left a message saying that after 3 years they refer kids to the schools and I'm still waiting for LAUSD to call me back. I did get an appointment with UCLA speech therapy for an evaluation, too bad it's not until June. I've got more hope on the program thru the school.

I'm sticking to giving him his underwear after bath, he's responding well to a few hours of it until bedtime. I'll keep at it and slowly increase the time. I'm still waiting to hear back from the preschool.

Yesterday I had to run to Target (Culver City -which I rarely go to) for a few essentials. And Rhys being Rhys was running around as usual. Funny because in actuality he was being very good, in comparison to what he's capable of, as you know it's very normal for him to be way across the store before we finally meet up again. I was just around the aisle from him, looking at some notebook paper, when I hear him calling for me and female voices asking him where his mommy is type of questions. I quickly step up to where they are and confirm I'm the mommy. He comes to me, and then this stupid b***h loudly lights into me, in the main aisle at Target, about how I need to keep an eye on him and how it's my responsibility to make sure I know where he is at all times, and NOT HIS!

Me, being the quick witted person I am stands there, per usual, my jaw dropped in awe that someone is actually insane enough to think they have the right to talk to me as if they knew anything about me, my life, or Rhys. A part of me was still down about everything that's been going through my head about him for the past week and thought 'yeah, she's right you know, she has a point', and another part of me was like 'who the hell do you think you are, you crazy woman?' All the while I just stood there taking it all, my only response was ' he's really quick and just takes off '. Duh.

As this is going on, I steal a glance at Rhys to see how he's taking this all in. He is silent, and remains fairly well behaved for the rest of the trip.

I walk away, or rather she walks away and I'm just standing there for a few more seconds before I push my cart onwards. Later a lady comes up to me and tells me that everyone who overheard the episode thought the lady was just a mean old mess that must be really unhappy with her life. She said she went up to the crazy woman and told her she had no right to speak to me that way, saying the things she did. That she didn't know anything about me and how she should mind her own business. That lady was so nice trying to cheer me up. She goes on to say that she has two kids of her own and they are always running around. She was very much 'mothers unite!'.

It's funny how karma works. Weeks ago when Rhys and I were just starting the art class there was an incident between two mothers. It happened just as we were about to pick the kids up. One mom had a daughter and the other a son. Now we all know how boys are and this one was no different. The kids were playing with building blocks and as we were waiting, the mother with the daughter observed how the son of the other mother had just knocked over her daughters creation. She turns to the mother and starts in on her as if she secretly esp’d her son to be mean and deliberately knock over the blocks. The mother was pretty steamed but responds as calmly as she could by saying 'I surprised that you are attacking me for something I have no control over. I can't go in there and disrupt the class. If you have a problem you need to address it with the teacher.' I say rather loudly that boys play roughly and I for one wished her son had knocked over Rhys' blocks so he could develop some empathy for when he does it to his brother, and the kids are there to socialize with each other and learn how to behave towards their peers. I could only hope the mom appreciated my comments.

Anyways it left me wondering about a lot of things. One of which is do I have a sign around my neck inviting crazies to come up and accost me? I know for a fact that had I been with another person she would not have dared make such a scene. Another was how arrogant some people are in assuming they know it all. The fact is I was really itching to tell her if she thinks she could do what she's prescribing me to do then she is welcome to take him for the afternoon. See if she's any good at playing Super Nanny.

Driving home, I pass by Mary's house and see her garage open and the car inside. I decide to stop by for a visit. Mary's so great she tells me next time someone deigns to tell me how to live my life to say 'thanks for the input, but mind your own business!'

I've been writing things down a lot lately and it makes me feel tons better, plus it seems if I don't I'll forget.
Thanks for being my sounding board for yesterday.
Love,
-Z


Caroline's Reply

If I were with you I would have roughed her up, for sure! You are right, she does have a point, but who assigned her as your mentor anyway? I could understand if Rhys was injured, or totally lost, then maybe she could have said something in a more supportive/understanding way. I do believe that sometimes the universe talks/yells at you through experiences, etc. I think all this is to sustain your motivation to intervene with him now. It really will all work out, and you will tell his wife the hell he put you through...yadda, yadda, yadda... Be strong!


My Reply

Yes, I agree that the incident yesterday was a wake up call. I have also been able to stay a lot calmer with him, making myself slowly explain things to him, telling him what I'm thinking and what I have planned for us to do next. I think what also made me stay cool was that I've been reading a couple of mommy type blogs lately and one of them had a really horrifying email from someone. So that put crazy in perspective and I was able to identify crazy as crazy.

I just got back from Trader Joes and it was a completely different vibe. Rhys was wandering around but the employees were so cute with him, probably because we're in there so much but one of the employees went on about how he was actually helping out by turning the fruit around.

Patty's Awful Day

Henry came home with a book called ‘Patty’s Awful Day”. That about summed up my day, which started at 2am. Tossing and turning I was completely freaking out about Rhys and his not speaking in complete sentences.

I phoned Caroline in the morning we spoke of options. Made some phone calls, and by the end of the day had some progress. Got an appointment for June 11. Kenny told me not to get too worked up and that things will work out. I hope so.

Regarding Flora

I’m reading Amy Stewart’s Flower Confidential: The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful in the Business of Flowers. I wonder if the Confidential part of the title is a play on Anthony Bourdain’s book? Anyhow, this book has been highly educational. I really enjoy her writing although bits of it are really dry. I’m more than halfway through and it has been a real eye opener. I was never much of a flower buyer, partly because I don’t really like cut flowers because let’s face it they are dead, but mainly because I hate dealing with the carcass. Its encouraging that there’s a place online where you can buy organic arrangements, if only to send as gifts. Ms. Stewart did bring up a good point, as far as being able to use them afterwards for compost.

Pre-K School Tea

Kenny, Rhys and I went to the Pre-K tea at the local school today. It was enlightening. Bumped into Kay and little baby Hannah, who was asleep in her stroller. Zach was presenting a song with his kindergarten class. It was quiet a pep rally. Rhys was pretty well behaved occupying himself with stacking a bunch of blocks they had for props on a display, until the first kindergarten class came out.

Once the class was assembled onstage Rhys deciding he wanted to be part of all the glamour and excitement as well, hoisted himself up on to the stage and sat for about a second. Kenny tried his best to get him off the stage but to no avail. Not content to sit he started jumping up and down and zig zagging his way around the stage, all the while the class carried on singing their ditty about the rainforest. There was uncontrollable laughter from many present. It was embarrassing to say the least. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry, so I did a little of both.

Afterwards while on a tour of the facilities, our tour guide, Audrey, a volunteer parent told Kenny he should have just left him up there. That is so much easier to say than to do. Our first instinct is to grab him and take him directly home.

Despite all of this I am really glad we made it to the tea. We almost missed it because everyone stayed up past their bedtimes last night watching ’Monster House’ and woke up this morning at 7:20am! Luckily Kenny was able to help me hustle Henry into his uniform, feed him breakfast and drive him to school. Whew!

I had a wonderful conversation with the vice principal Ms. Kee. She was most helpful in supplying me with info, forms and numbers to the LAUSD offices for getting Rhys evaluated for speech delay. I am also trying to get an evaluation through UCLA. I’ve made a bunch of calls and am waiting to hear back from both the LAUSD and UCLA. Laura at UCLA mentioned that because they are so short staffed the first available appointments aren’t until May! So I’m glad I’m taking both approaches. I even got a chance to see Caroline briefly to ask her advice. She’s been super supportive!

Am trying to finish ‘Marie Antoinette’. It’s hard to concentrate with a headache and two boys in the next room who are intermittently fighting. This film is so beautiful to look at, it reminds me of little of a time warped ‘Sex and the City’. Eye candy for sure. I loved ‘The Virgin Suicides’ as well, Sofia Coppola definitely has an eye, and a quiet sensibility. I’d say it’s one of the few non-comedies I could see myself watching again. I think I’m going to have to give ‘Lost in Translation’ another try. Did I mention how much I heart Netflix?

Okay. So I forgot how it was all going to end. I’m glad there wasn’t any gore.’

Lollimania

Just got back from another horrid trip to Target. Rhys is still in the car (with the doors open) because when we got home he refused to let me unbuckle him. This time he wanted 2 electric lollipops. We were checking out when he made a break for it with both lollipops. I told him to get back here so we can check out. He ran to the water fountain and by the time I caught up with him I was so steamed! I grabbed him by the waist and walked back to the register, gave the woman the lollipops and put him down.

Once down he decided to hit me and then he ran back to the water fountain. I told him I was leaving and quickly walked out of the store. By the time he caught up with me I decided that I was going to tell him that because he hit me, he will not be getting the lollipops. I put him in the cart and we made a circle back to the return dept. I returned the lollipops without any fuss, until he realized we were leaving the lollipops behind. Then all hell broke loose. I quickly wheeled us out, and once at the car it was several long minutes of trying to strap a struggling and angry child into his seat. I've failed to mention that he had poop in his diaper and I forgot to use my 1.50 coupon for diapers one of the two reasons I decided I had to go to Target today. Coupon for diapers and Motrin.

Just went to go check on him. He is now back in the house duly remorseful enough to tell me "sorry" when I asked if he hit me. He then gave me a kiss and a hug.

Why does it feel like every time I try to do something it feels 10 times more difficult than it should? Like going to Target for diapers and Motrin. I keep thinking about that line Mr. Incredible says at the beginning of the movie.

Left a message for Dr. W to discuss Rhys' head banging, speech and potty training. Made an appointment with Dr. V. Have not been since a little after Rhys was born.

Late this afternoon I got a call from a parent from the school Henry went to for kindergarten last year. She phoned to ask if I could please write a letter about my experience with the current principal. Apparently everyone at the school had reached their limit and they were doing what they have to do to give her the boot. I told her I work on something to get over to her tomorrow.

Right before the boys and I left to go pick Kenny up from work, Ben called to ask whether I had heard from mom and dad. He had no idea that mom had been home from work with pneumonia. Seeing that it was just a little after 7p I wasn’t too concerned thinking that mom and dad were probably out at dinner.

At 9:30p Aunt Elena called asking if I had heard from mom and dad. My grandmother wanted to know how mom’s doctor’s appointment went. Mom needed to go back for a check up before she could return to work and that check up was scheduled for Tuesday. Now I was really concerned. It was 9:30! Where could they be? If her appointment well and she could return to work then she should be at home resting for the next day. If her appointment did not go well and she couldn’t return to work yet she still should be at home.

I told Aunt Elena I would try mom’s mobile number and call her back if I heard anything. I called the home number again, it went to voice mail, I then tried calling mom’s mobile, that went to voice mail. I then called Ben to tell him of the latest developments. He asked if Aunt Elena had noticed if both their cars were in the driveway. I called Aunt Elena to ask. She had not checked! With me still on the line she went to check. Both cars were in the driveway! I asked if she could go check the house and see if they were home. She seemed scared. Asked if I could hold on the line. I said yes. I heard her walk over to the house. She said she noticed lights on in the house. And oh, sure enough dad was home and was unlocking the door.

Apparently the electricity was flickering a lot more lately and the cable actually went out a few days ago. It was bad enough for them to phone electricians for an appointment. So the phone was out of commission because they were rewiring the house.

LACMA