Good Adrenaline vs. Bad Adrenaline

Good Adrenaline

Playing his first baseball game in his entire life, Nicholas walked twice, got two runs, and nearly caught a ball in left field.  Nerves got him there, he's usually an awesome thrower and catcher.  Today we had our first experience with Amman Little League.

Baseball food is not peanuts, crackerjacks, hot dogs, or nachos.  It is wraps with freshly baked bread (baked right then while you wait) with labneh, zataar, tomatoes, and olives.  As well as whatever snacks we bring along.  There are so many teams playing between 8:30-2:30 each Friday, from T-ball to Seniors, and it seems like every other person is an Embassy person.

Warming up, next at bat. Awesome uniform, Kid.

Needs a little work on his stance, but he can determine if
a pitch is a ball or a strike.

Across the street is Amman Waves, one of the
water parks.  It's not open and it looks iffy.

The Reese's played as visitor.  

There are rules to Little League I never knew.  They play through 6 innings or 1 hour and 45 minutes, whichever comes first.  There's also a run maximum per inning, 10 runs scored and you're turn is done.  Our game managed 4 innings until time ran out, and the Reese's won 15-1.  Nicholas was excited about playing on a team that not only does well, but that he participates in fully, and where all the teammates are encouraging and friendly.  High 5s were everywhere, even for strike outs, for a job well-attempted.  And there are snacks at the end.  You know where we will be spending Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for a while.   I never wanted to be a baseball person, I don't care about baseball, but I'll be the first to admit that watching my kid play, the good attitude of the other players, and the way his self-confidence is improving makes it all worth it.

Bad Adrenaline

Today was a rough day at riding.  Above you see Rebecca on Sandy.  Below you see Jonathon on Cheyenne.  Sandy and Cheyenne don't get along.  When Cheyenne gets a little too close to Sandy, Sandy starts to shy, and when Sandy starts to shy Cheyenne turns around, and when Cheyenne turns around Cheyenne kicks.

When Cheyenne kicks out, Jonathon falls forward and tries not to fall off, while frantically trying to get Cheyenne to move to the other side of the ring, which doesn't work because he's not that in control yet, and instead gets frightened and mad.  When Cheyenne kicks, Sandy jerks away and freaks out, and Rebecca jumps off the horse to avoid getting kicked or getting thrown.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Rebecca ended up on the ground twice, and Cheyenne ended up on the lunge and walked around the ring while the others did their exercises.  After the other students were done and Jonathon had the ring alone he was given about 15 minutes of private lesson to make up for Cheyenne not behaving with the other horses.

Rebecca was shaken, Jonathon was shaken, I tried not to watch too much.

The main stables, home to privately
owned horses.

Sandy is a good little horse with
moments of attitude.

The kids are given some horse care chores.

They both were completely wiped out at the end.  Stress, anxiety, frustration, it all took a toll.  The important thing is that they both want to go back next Friday.  Get back on the horse, kids.  It's the only way to know that it's all OK.

The Unicorns

Today, three of us got sunburned out in West Irbid.  We should know better.  Say hello to the first Wild and Free Adventures Triathlon and Duathlon.

She was so relieved there was a "No Swimming" sign.
Then bummed when swimming was OKed for today.

Looking towards the Jordan Valley area.

Red Bull was a major sponsor.

The muck when we first arrived at 9 a.m.

There's a lake in Jordan.  It's far away, anywhere from 2 to 2 1/2 hours away from Amman.  A dammed river, the water level is steadily dropping still.  The Jordan Valley is a major agricultural zone so every drop of water matters.

When the race organizers first checked the course at 6 a.m., the lake was clear.  A brisk wind brought in muck and plenty of it.  While it wasn't solid enough to walk on, it was plenty strong to support growing grass and rocks.

Rebecca was the youngest participant aside from one boy who did the short race.  Actually, let me 'splain.  There were 4 races run (Sprint Triathlon - 800m swim/15km bike/6km run, Sprint Duathlon, Novice Triathlon - 400m swim/10km bike/4km run, Novice Duathlon) , with a bunch of categories including the adult class, the 18 and under, and the 16 and under.  The only category that did not have multiple categories was the team race, where each person completed one portion.  Rebecca was part of a team.

On your mark...

The muck pile had grown so much while we waited (an expected 9:30a.m. start time became an actual 12p.m. start time, I'd expected to be home by 2, we made it back to the school at 5:30) when a large traveling muck island crashed into the already existing muck beach.  The entry point for the swimmers moved from the near rocks to the far rocks.  There were about 25 swimmers.

And they're off.

Photo of swimmers in a lake just don't do the sport justice. Her swimming partner was an ACS math teacher, the swimmer for the ACS team.

To complete 800m meant swimming from the rocks to the far buoy, along the coast to the near buoy, then along the muck island back to the rock... checking in and then doing it all a second time.

She and Mr. Lewis swam neck and neck until the last 1/6 of the race when Mr. Lewis pulled ahead, but the marker was up at the transition stage at the bikes where her teammate was waiting, so Becca ran ahead of Mr. Lewis while he stopped to pull on shoes.

She came in 4th out of 25.  Against the cold, and the current, and the sticks and muck and swimmers twice as big as her.  Because, you know, she rocks.

They were completely covered in muck because the lake was filled with it.  It filled her hair and her swimsuit.  Not as bad as Mr. Lewis though.  And some of the swimmers swam through the muck island instead of around it, which looked to be about as fast a snail moving through molasses.

Down at the ecolodge.  Leftover ruins.

Becca had to take a potty break (why she didn't do so in the lake we don't know, she says she was busy swimming), so we went down to the EcoLodge.  The "lodge" is rustic.  Cabins do have power and even AC, but without bathrooms, and the fields around are filled with all sorts of nasty plants and bugs that simple want to attack you.  On our first trek down (thank you, coffee) we went with another ACS teacher, her kids, and her visiting parents.  We took the running track which at points was barely passable with the nettles and thorns.  Thank goodness we wore jeans, but it still hurt.  We took the road back which was long and steep.  The second time we decided we would be smarter and went the back way because we "saw a path" that led directly from the road to the restroom.  Only it didn't and the nettles and thorns were even worse that way, with a path that quickly fizzled out. We pushed our way through, came out scratched and itchy and hot and sweaty, and swore about how much we hated nature. Again the road brought us back.

We made it back to the finish line in time to see our two ACS team runners cross.  Our young biker finished his leg 4th overall and in front of our adult team.  He would have been far ahead but he blew a bike tire and waited for a replacement bike.  Our runner made up the time, only to be sent on the wrong path and have to make his way back by traversing over some barbed wire and getting hurt in the process.  He came in about 10 minutes after the ACS teacher team.

Our two teams were the only 2 teams racing, everyone else raced as individuals.  Our kids (all freshmen) were treated as adults, as there was no category for student team.


In this race, there's no award for 2nd place.

Does it look like they care?  Nope.  They rocked the race, and are already talking about next year.

Just to the right of middle are the bathrooms.
Between the road and the restrooms is a field of nastiness.
Don't let how pretty it looks fool you.
Nature sucks.

Outside Amman

Fridays are our slow days.  Much of the city is quiet and closed at the very least until noon.  It's the day we head a few minutes out of town for horseback riding lessons for Rebecca and Jonathon.  

I really like that drive, especially after the rains.  The hills are green until sections are plowed.  The olive groves stand out, all nicely washed with their dark olive green leaves.  There aren't many trees in Amman, but right outside there are clumps of little woods, and to the north of Amman there is even Ajloun Forest.  Jordan does have trees but they are sporadic and the government tries hard to protect them.  The people are not so kind.  There are rashes of arson in the forests during the dry season.

There's quite a bit of dust in the air.

With the rains and the grass come the herds of goats and sheep, following the fodder.

But Friday is also the day that much of Amman heads out and picnics.  They picnic everywhere, along the sides of the highway, under the trees, even in tiny patches of dirt in the medians.  Honestly, it's a little bizarre. One of the lovely things about the stables is there's little directly around it.  Lots of open fields, olive groves, and rolling hills.

It's a perfect place for people to hang out.

They park along the road and set up among the trees.  Some picnic like "normal" people, a basket of food and a blanket to sit on and they are good to go.  Some sit right on the ploughed dirt which I try not to hold against them.

Under the olive trees.

Others go all out.  They bring bikes and toys for the kids.  Plastic tables and chairs.  A grill for roasting meat.

 On our way back to the city...

There are several spots with stands of trees.  They all lean a little (or a lot) thanks to the powerful winds that blow through, but there they are... trees!  Today we had a period of fierce winds and the sand/dust to go with them.  I left the car window cracked at the stables.  Yeah, bad idea.

People love to picnic among the trees.

I wish they were as keen to clean up their garbage, but that's a totally different topic.  It's also a lot to ask of people who feel no qualms about opening their car windows and tossing all their refuse right out for someone else to worry about.

Anyway.

We went to riding today.  I took some longer videos and accidentally deleted them so here you get about 10 seconds of the kids.  Ooooh fun. Next week I'll try to do better.  They are definitely improving.

Becca's horse wouldn't move no matter how hard she kicked.  Eventually she used a little whip to encourage him along (that sounds terrible, doesn't it? honestly, it doesn't even touch him) but I guess he didn't like that so much.

Well no, he didn't appreciate it.  While she was taking his gear off, he stepped on her foot.  We'll see how those toes look tomorrow.

TAISM Festival

If you'd like to watch Rebecca's weekend concert while she was in Oman, it can be viewed here:

http://new.livestream.com/TAISMOman/2013FestivalofChoirs

A college a capella group from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio was part of the program as well.

Rebecca came back happy and exhausted with lots of stories.  She made some new friends and there was even a contingent from AISC - Chennai present.

She had a fabulous time.

Home Sick Rebecca

Becca is home today. This is no surprise. Her teacher is out sick, her 2 best friends are out sick and she's been complaining of feeling ill the past few days. Last night her eye glued shut (most likely from a whack to the eye she took yesterday at school), and she threw up.

In India too long?

The kids are finishing up their projects for USA Fun Day. Rebecca is doing the state of Virginia and is collecting notes to give her little talk. She was curious about the people on the state flag, one who had succumbed to the spear of the other. While she was practicing we heard -

On the flag is the goddess Vishnu, who is holding a sword...

It's the goddess Virtue.

Another 9yo in the World

A quick review of the birthday girl's extended day: cupcakes with classmates at school, sleepover with best friend, early wake-up, Skype with grandparents and opened grandparent gifts, bagel and cream cheese breakfast (trust me, a treat), made cake with best friend, other best friend arrived, baseball in the yard, bowling with friends and family, lunch out with friends at Cedars, cake and present time.. downtime.. "Narnia" on the big screen. Sounds great for a 9yo!

Day Two

Rebecca walks in the door from school and states "Something terrible happened at school."

She hands me her tooth spacer. It fell out in class.

*sigh*

It'll be a little while longer

I don't know when I'll have a chance to post again soon. Seems Rebecca has the pox, the chicken pox that is.

Strike Three

Friday, Nicholas was home all day with a fever. He napped several times over the course of the day. Yesterday he was still feverish with red, watery eyes, yet we had hopes of making it to church this morning. But, Rebecca is up to 39.4C at the moment (102.9F for the unconverted, like Ian), so we have another day at home. Though Katherine has already had a day home last month, it wasn't for this same illness, so I'm waiting for her to get sick. This isn't a good week for it, with the Christmas programs at school. Rebecca has already told me she -cannot- miss school tomorrow. Well, that means a long day of doing nothing but laying in on the couch, drinking lemonade and gatorade and nibbling dry toast.

Oh, Nicholas is still sleeping now too, it's 8:30. It's taking him quite a bit longer to get over this; Jonathon was hit harder but for a shorter time.

Becca had a great birthday.

Rebecca turned 8 last Friday. I didn't write about it right away because around here we tend to celebrate birthdays for a few days rather than just the big day. Pouch mail arrived today and she received her birthday card from Jeff. She knew it would silly, but did not find "Tu as une queue! C'est vrai!" to be nearly as humorous. (translation: You have a tail! It's true!) It's a long standing joke between Rebecca and Mr. Jeff.

Thursday we spent the evening making mini lemon cupcakes with chocolate chips, covered in vanilla icing. At school, the middle school teacher stopped me and said Rebecca is a remarkable girl. Earlier when he'd asked her what kind of cake she was bringing, she replied she didn't know yet, she had to ask her friends what they'd like, because she knew not all of them liked chocolate. He said "I don't know many other kids with that sort of answer."
Rebecca has grown up so much, even in just the past 3 months, I don't know where to start. OK, I'll start with her relationship with her sister. One evening Ian came home and whispered in my ear "Did the girls fight today?" I replied "Not at home, I don't know how they were at school, but nothing I've seen." He said "This is weird."
And that's how it's been for the past few weeks. It's like she's consciously realizing that Eight is a big deal. Her birthday was so packed with anticipation, fun (I brought water balloons for in the schoolyard, and afterwards her girlsfriends, sister and I played hot potato, Tarzan the jungle man and red light/green light), attention (the entire school knew of her birthday) and gifts, she became totally overwhelmed with making the slightest decision, weeping on daddy's shoulder about all the responsibilities she's not ready for.
But on the flipside, she no longer begs me to help every step of the way with her homework. She has confidence in her reading and generally more confident in herself. She takes pride in her belongings and her appearance. She's a leader in her classroom and, while she has her difficult moments, she's becoming a peacemaker at home. What? you say. Can this be? Well, she's a stickler for rules and the more they are held up at home, the more pleasant she is in general. She's maturing largely in part to her teacher at school, who allows her to take the lead when it's fitting. I do worry a bit about next year when she becomes "low man on the totem pole" in a classroom, but for this year, she's really proving herself and she shines.
She's smart, she's funny, she's beautiful, and she's ours.
I can honestly say, I'm so proud to have her as my daughter.

Trying to get all the appointments done.

I don't know how working people do this. How do folks leave the house for 10 hours a day? Today I left at 8:45 and returned home at 6:30. I'm tired.

Jonathon had his 4 year check up this morning at 9:15, and he's grown! Now up to 39 inches and 36 pounds, he's still our itty bitty boy but bigger than I thought. He was prepared for his 3 shots, held my hand, said our Ouch Ouch Ouch mantra (hey, they hurt, no sense sugar-coating immunizations) and didn't cry even for the MMR. Bugs Bunny and Daffy bandages made everything better.
At 10:45 we picked up the rest of the family to drop off Ian at FSI then pick up my mom for lunch at McDs. Ick :)
At 12:45 we went to a playground for a few minutes. The air was heavy and thoroughly unpleasant. Fifteen minutes later with sweat pouring off Nicholas from the oppressive air, we walked down the street to visit with Mrs. Bolognesi, a lady I used to babysit for when I was in high school. The kids especially had a really good time and were well-occupied with coloring and small toys. It helped that Mrs. Bolognesi pumped them full of Whole Fruit popcicles and that she had a fuzzy (if unfriendly) cat.
By 3:30 we were on our way to the dentist again. Yesterday we were there to have Katherine's chipped tooth fixed. An hour and $300 later, she looks good as new. Today was Jonathon and Rebecca's turn. Originally I'd planned to have the boys go together but Rebecca has been having tooth trouble we switched. Jonathon did great with nary a flinch even as she used the sharp utensils. He has a tartar problem, which I knew. Unfortunately, nothing that can be fixed with brushing or flossing or anything easy. He's predisposed to tartar build-up so we'll have to make sure he gets dental checkups as often as possible to get it cleaned off.
Rebecca also had her teeth cleaned. But here's where it gets interesting. She had a sore in her mouth over the weekend, it looked like a canker sore originally, but it has increased in size. Today, it looks bad, almost like a burn on her gum above a baby tooth. She's had some bleeding and complains at night about the pain. The hygeinist took a closer look at her tooth and saw a cavity (no surprise, it's her 3rd). To be sure, they took an xray... she has an abcess! My 7yo daughter has to get a tooth pulled and a placer put in because her teeth are so weak they are rotting from the inside out and causing an infection in her gum!
I'm so frustrated by this. She's in pain now, and she's predisposed to tooth problems which doesn't bode well for the rest of her baby teeth. I'm also concerned about her future adult teeth because we can't get her into the dentist 3 times a year like she should with teeth like this... ack. I just don't know.

Rebecca is A-ok

Rebecca had her Echo done today. An innocent murmur is all that came up, the same one she had as a toddler and that will most likely remain with her. What a relief for her and for me.

What crummy weather

But crummy weather doesn't stop First Grade field trips. All the chaperones timidly poked their heads into the classroom, hoping without saying it out loud, that the trip was canceled. But no, we boarded the bus and took the 10 minute ride to Potomac Overlook Regional Park.

I don't get to go on many field trips nowadays. It's against policy to allow younger siblings along, so unless the trip is on a Friday when grandma helpfully takes care of the boys, I wish the girls well and know they're having fun anyway. But Rebecca has been asking me to go on a field trip with her the entire school year and finally it worked out. It worked out so well in fact that my parents agree to take the boys last night, keep them all day and again tonight. I think they're doing OK and that Nicholas will make it through tonight as well. Tomorrow morning they're all coming back in time to go to the farmer's market in the morning.
My mom thinks that Rebecca's obnoxious tendencies stem from not enough personal attention. Perhaps she's right, but overall Rebecca is still as loud and "obnoxious" even when it's one-on-one time with mom. The difference is that she's got my full attention and is trying to look good in front of her friends, whereas at home with her siblings she's just being annoying.
Becca is a complicated person. The same child who has difficulty reading her assignments and following two sentences of homework directions can listen to an entire chapter from a story and pull out one piece of vital information. Or she will blurt out puzzling thoughts that then confound the adults in the family. Most recently we were driving in the car and ourt of nowhere she asked that if Adam and Eve were the first people, did that make them cavemen? And from that stemmed questions about how spoken language came about when cavemen didn't speak the way we do. Was the alphabet created to tell stories? We discussed the early stories that were never even written but told from one generation to the next (it tied in nicely with Katherine's recent section on Ancient Mali) along with drawn stories on cave walls.
The thing with Rebecca is that she does -nothing- unless it suits her. If there is some gain for her, she will participate, help out, share her knowledge. Otherwise, she is stubborn and difficult, without exception. I don't really know how to deal with that and for this reason, we have a hard time getting along. It's the times she amazes me with her insight that keep me going each day with her. I don't think it's the lack of one-on-one that has made her behave the way she does. Besides her reward currency (doing something only for something in return) she is a stickler for rules and regulations. That doesn't always jive with the daily life of a family of 6, ideas or plans and such things as bad weather.
But today things worked out and we went to Potomac Overlook Regional Park. It's raining, it's cold (barely 60, but remember it's also June 3rd), the nature center was damp and had that smell buildings do that house plenty of stuffed pelts and turtle tanks. The kids were very well-behaved including my little pack which included Becca, Alex (one of the twins), Ariana (a lovely, well-spoken girl) and Amirkhon (yes, pronounced American). The naturalists gave a short talk about the differences between nature circles (tree rings, the sun) and nature cycles (water cycle, tree growth cycle) and I was amazed how much these 6 and 7yo knew and understood about energy (what changes a circle into a cycle) and recycling. Rebecca learns very well from listening and doing, rather than reading, so her time at the Science school should really affect her overall learning.
After another segment about predators and food chains where various pelts were brought out for the kids to compare and touch, the class was free to investigate the nature center, among its exhibits were honeybees and baskets of animal feathers/skully/claws. Two turkey feet became a favorite as kids pulled their sleeves down over their hands and let the turkey feet protrude instead.
Because of the rain the trip was cut short. Normally the classes are taken on a hike to see deer and other animals in their natural habitat, but today we all ate lunch then boarded the bus back to school. With the rest of the day scheduled for math and social studies I dropped Rebecca off in her classroom, said a quick hello to a "not feeling well" Katherine, then hoped that the car was where I left it since I couldn't recall locking the doors. I'm home so obviously it was OK. My cell phone did disappear though. I don't think any of the First Graders took it, so hopefully it just slipped out somewhere easy to track down.

Future Goals

Yesterday was Rebecca's last day of reading assistance. She is officially caught up with her peers. In celebration we went to Bertucci's for dinner and let her pick a brand new book from Barnes and Noble. She chose the first in the American Girl Samantha series. We also purchased _You Read to Me, I'll Read to You_ as a Thank You gift for her reading instructor.

I'm impatiently waiting for a book from Amazon, also for Rebecca, about writing/designing/illustrating your own stories. She loves to write stories so we'll guide her into how to do it well, including the spelling. Her spelling is still awful, but it's improving ever so slowly.
On our walk to dinner, the topic of "What do I want to be when I grow up" began and then continued all through our meal.
A few snippets:
-Jonathon: I want to be an art teacher, a math teacher, a duckling teacher and a chick teacher.
-Dad: Katherine, you could be an engineer.
-Katherine: Oh, I don't think so.
-Dad: Why not? What do you think engineers do?
-Katherine: They drive trains.
-Nicholas: I want to be a space man. And then an art teacher. *he looks around the table* Who else is going to be an art teacher? [The answer: all the kids]

Subtitles

Yesterday we watched the "Series of Unfortunate Events" movie. Jonathon stayed out for a good part of it, he didn't like Jim Carrey's character so he'd leave whenever the bad guy came on.



One character is a toddler who doesn't speak words but can be understood by her siblings. For the rest of us, we have subtitles. They don't stay up that long, but Rebecca caught them anyway. She has come such a long way in her reading the past couple months that she's now reading easy chapter books to herself and slogging through _Lassie Come Home_. Her 20 minutes a night for quiet reading isn't difficult because I've been picking easy readers (young Cam Jansen, Amelia Bedelia) and she loves that she can come out at the end of her reading time having completed two whole books. Now to get the boys reading. Nicholas is getting better at sight words but Jonathon doesn't know anything beyond "N-O! no! Y-E-S! yes!".
Our math theme last week went very well with the boys favorite being marshmallow math, related to M&M math. This week we're doing a food theme. Sunday is the Taste of Arlington I'd like to go to, and we have a farmer's market each Saturday, so we have books on where food comes from, recipe books and books on how people round the world eat the same foods (though sometimes those foods look different). I'm hoping to one day this week have the boys help me pick something to cook/bake and then work together from the shopping to the finished product.
We're continuing with Virginia history, Colonial history and Williamsburg/Jamestown as well in preparation for our trip to Williamsburg on the 21st. Rebecca had received the Felicity set of American Girl books a while back from grandma and we completed the last book in the read-one-chapter-aloud-each-night-method last week. Felicity is a Colonial Williamsburg girl and has grand adventures while the patriots rev up towards the Revolutionary War.

School, reading, Rebecca

Today was parent-teacher conferences. Not that too much can be said after the girls have spent all of a single full day in school (the other days have been 2 late starts and 2 early releases, along with 2 snow days and 2 holidays)

Her old teacher did nothing but rave about Rebecca's classwork, but suffice to say I'm not convinced. In math she's fine, she enjoys science and I don't believe she'll have any difficulties with history and social studies. But Becca still has huge troubles with reading and I do nothing but get frustrated with her which brings us both to tears. Yesterday was a bad day as she and I fought for over an hour for her to read and understand a homework assignment. It was not my shining moment (later daddy came to the rescue and the homework was done without further tears. From either of us). She needs outside help and has needed it for a while, but as a parent there's always a hope that she'll just "get it". At today's conference almost immediately Ms. Riverson brought up a reading program at the school. I jumped on it and she was thrilled that I was interested in getting Becca involved. She'd only done a quick assessment but saw right away that Becca struggles. Becca -can- read. It's hard for her and she gets frustrated easily but I honestly believe that it's a matter of her brain clicking or perhaps being provided a new approach to reading. She sees the world very differently than I do, including the written word.
Today we went to the public library and there's an entire wall of audiobooks. I think we've struck a goldmine for her. She loves stories and being read to. If nothing else her vocabulary and comprehension will grow (she has an amazing memory and ability to pull out information from context) even while her reading abilities play catch-up.
On her homework notebook, it's written that children are expected to do their homework and parents are to check it over. I told Ms. Riverson about yesterday's fiasco and she clearly stated that she didn't want homework to become a battlefield. Until Rebecca's reading catches up, I can help her freely with the directions.
Now to separate out my own issues with her reading. If I can act like an adult during homework time, life for both of us will go a lot smoother. I really do hope she gets into the school program. She'll be so much more confident and thrive.

Not All Washed Out

It's been a day of ups and downs.

The downs were out of our control. Typhoon Nanmadol is blowing through (it's 10 p.m. now and the winds are blustering), following two other typhoons that have come through parts of the Philippines in the past seven days and left hundreds dead from flooding and mudslides. It didn't actually hit our neighborhood until early evening, but the kids had off from school because of the Storm Signal 2 that was announced late last night.
Because of the storm, Katherine's class didn't get to go on their field trip to a local school. She was totally bummed.
And because of the storm, I didn't get to see a friend before she leaves the country tomorrow.
And because of the storm, Rebecca didn't get to celebrate her birthday with her classmates. Wednesday night we'd made cupcakes and were all set to bring then in to share this morning.
So there's the big Up, amazingly Rebecca has turned Seven. On Thanksgiving I was remarking to one of our friends that while Rebecca was turning seven she had just begun to fit comfortably into six. She's young for her age and always has been.
Ten days ago she made a count down chart and has been announcing the days remaining. Ian has asked her each day if she knew the difference between right and wrong, recalling that seven is the age of reason. He was kidding with her that she wouldn't be allowed to turn seven if she didn't know, and once she did turn seven she wouldn't be allowed to do wrong anymore. While we were mostly joking, she got the point that it's time to do some growing up.
Then this morning Ian and I looked at each other and said "She... looks older."
She honestly does. I think it had a lot to do with her demeanor, knowing it was her day, knowing that she was growing up a bit more, knowing that she is indeed special.
We managed to eat some of her party cupcakes, the tree went up (what else do you do while housebound in December? though we usually wait until Saint Nicholas Day on the 6th) and the blue and white lights went on. The girls hung bead ropes on the tree in a unique design. Though the tree blinks hideously, the kids love it, and so it stays. Becca and I played Stratego and she almost beat me. A good mom would have let her have the win, I know. We drew pictures together, hers was Santa's sleigh being pulled by flying elephants, Nicholas's was of our Christmas tree. Jonathon's is very blue but I can't quite make out what it is though he said it was a box. We watched Rebecca's choice of "The Secret Garden" and after dinner, of course, present time. Her sister had bought her a shiny red bead bracelet at the ISM Filipiniana Tiangge. Katherine always picks great gifts for Rebecca and it's obvious she loves her, for even in the e-card Katherine wrote:
Dear Rebecca,
A very happy birthday to you!!!
I still love you, even if you are very annoing.
Love,
Katherine
All together now... Awwww. Ok, maybe that's a stretch. But the degree to which the two of them are getting along, holding hands in the mall, chatting together, etc. It's almost enough to make one think they are in cahouts about something. That or they actually do like each other. Could it be?
From mom and dad she received a scrapbook starter kit with a new camera. And from grandma and grandpa she has a new ballet bag for her outfit and shoes, and a new Checkers board game. We said that if the power is out tomorrow, it'll be the first game played in the morning.
You might be wondering why I said "amazingly" earlier in this entry. Rebecca isn't the easiest kid to get along with sometimes. She is a defiant manipulator with more than little white lies. There were days I didn't know if she'd make it to her next birthday. OK, that's exaggerating but you get the drift. Some days she can be really hard to like. Today was not one of those days. Today she was everything I could imagine her to be... a good sister, a wonderful daughter, an artist, a fair player, gracious and all this with a glowing smile and the ability to make us laugh. She made me proud to be her mom.
Now the hard part. How to get it out of her mind that because tomorrow is the 2nd in the States that she gets to have a second birthday and turn Eight right away?

Bad Mom Award... pass it over, please.

So Rebecca has been complaining of mouth pain for a while.

Whenever she brings it up (daily), she's pointed to the sides of her mouth and specifically the gums on either side. Since she's of Tooth Losing Age, I kept reassuring her that it was probably her new teeth working their way up, even as she argued that her teeth were not at all loose.
Today I finally actually looked at the teeth rather than the gums she was pointing at and noticed red spots on either side. I had her brush, thinking it was food lodged, and then took a second look. Nope, not food... two gaping holes, one on each side. My kids has cavities and they're bad ones. No wonder she's had headaches for a couple weeks. No wonder she has troubles eating. No wonder she can't fall asleep easily at night.
Monday I'll get a recommendation from the clinic for a good pediatric dentist, then make appointments for all the kids. The 20th is a day off and I can schedule Katherine that day, the boys can go any afternoon, but Rebecca needs to be seen ASAP so I'll let you know what Makati pediatric DDS we go to.
I will wear my Bad Mom pin with shame.

Newsflash: The Tooth Fairy is $1 poorer.

2/29/04: A memorable Leap Day 2004 when Rebecca became the gaptoothed wonder by losing her first tooth. Center bottom, she can now sip from a straw while keeping her jaw shut.

Rebecca made $2 when Katherine decided to be the tooth fairy as well, and sneak a dollar coin under Rebecca's pillow.