Knock Knock.

Funny how feeling emotional makes me want to spew everything on paper.  Or virtual paper as the case may be.

Ugh.  Some things that aren't shareable are really getting under my skin at the moment and we're working on a resolution.  Hopefully it's water under the bridge soon and not even worth a mention.

In school news, the kids have begun the 2018-2019 school year.  This is Atticus's last year in elementary school which I can hardly believe!  How is it possible I'm the parent of a 10 year old?  I mean - wow, time flies when you're adulting.

We've begun the process of getting Atticus evaluated at school to see if there are other things we can do to help his learning.  He's a smart kid, but has difficulties getting this thoughts and knowledge out of his head.  I say he's more of a slow cooker kind of kid.  Things go in -- and they just need to stew about for a while before he's ready to discuss or give you an answer.  Nothing wrong with that, it's just how his brain works.  So, we're looking at different solutions and options that may help him learn to manage his expectations.

Atticus has also decided that he'd like to play the trumpet!  Oy!  He was playing the baritone in NY, but that wasn't an option here - so I'm currently researching where to rent/buy a trumpet.  Music class for him will be on Monday mornings at 7:30AM.  Oooof.  Although I suppose this will help prepare us for the 6:30AM bus once he's up in the middle school.

Wren was not thrilled with her teach assignment for 3rd grade.  From what I hear, the parents love her and the kids not so much.  She's strict.  Personally, I'm okay with that.  It's good for the kids to have guidelines and rules and structure!

Since Wren has also been complaining of being bored at school for the past year, we've opted to enroll her in a local after school program called Russian School of Math.  She claims to not enjoy math, but she's good at it and this will ensure that for at least 2 hours a week, she's not "bored" and "not learning anything".  The results from the students as they age is impressive.  Is it weird that I wish I'd had Russian Math as a kid?  I mean, I took math classes for easy A's at the University of Texas!  Math is awesome.

The after school programs are also starting back up with a vengeance.  Track, gymnastics, ninja classes, Hebrew School, chess -- and we're just getting started.  :)

Here's to another trip around the sun...

Here's to consistency and knowing that we're not changing schools...

Just A Sprain?

Last week, as I was getting a cavity filled, apparently my daughter and her friends were jumping off a bench at camp.  Here's the story as I've put together...

Around snack time, Wren jumped off a bench.  Then two other friends jumped off the bench.  When Wren went to jump the second time, she landed on her friend's foot causing her to roll her ankle outwards.  She went to see the EMT on staff at received an ice pack.  The EMT says she wasn't crying and was still walking at this point.  By later in the afternoon, Wren returned to the EMT saying her ankle still hurt and she wanted the camp to call me.  She received a second ice pack and was told camp was ending soon and that they wouldn't call me.  A sternly worded letter to camp and the Town of Mamaroneck is to follow.

When I showed up a little before 3, one of the lifeguards was holding Wren and carried her out to the car.  It was obvious that she was in pain and she was actively sniffling/crying.  We dropped our stuff off at home and when I saw her ankle, we drove directly to the urgent care center down the road.  By this point Wren was in hysterics and couldn't stand and even the bumps in the car were causing pain.  The urgent care center wasn't exactly prepared to do X-rays on a screaming 6 year old.  Even putting her heel down on the table was causing pain.  We tried at first to do the x-rays while she was laying down, but that didn't work very well.  Next, they had her sitting in her wheelchair, foot propped up on a tissue box and trying to hold/balance the x-ray plate!  Needless to say, I'm surprised the doctors could see anything!

The doctor couldn't see anything on the x-ray but still suggested that we follow up with a pediatric orthopedist the following day.  So, a temporary cast was fitted and we were sent home with some crutches and instructions to call a pediatric doc.

Well, the pediatric orthopedist that was recommended didn't take our medical insurance!  So, I got some recommendations from friends and called the Greenwich Hospital.  Alas - they are an off shoot of the hospital in New Haven and if we wanted to be seen, we had to drive to New Haven!  It's only about 40 miles or so -- but driving there took just shy of 2 hours!!!  (Oddly, coming home was only an hour.)

The pediatric ortho decided to not do X-rays again just yet.  He said it's possible that there is a hairline fracture somewhere in the growth plates but that for now, it appears to be a bad sprain.  He went on to say that severe sprains in children are unusual but not impossible.  Wren was fitted for a new walking boot and we'll go back for X-rays on the 16th to confirm that there isn't a break.  For now, she seems to be doing well with the walking boot.

Jump Jump!

This weekend, we went to a classmate's birthday party at Rockin Jump.

Wow.  Hot.  Sweaty.  Fun.

No pictures of blurry jumping children, but I did get some on the rockwall.  Atticus made it to the top to ring the bell!

Friends

From the first day of school here, Wren and Lily-May have been two peas in a pod.  They are only a day apart in age too!  They just clicked.  Lily-May is now preparing to move back to the UK and it's been hard on the girls...

To ease the separation -- and to avoid doing this at the end of the summer -- I ordered some "Best Friends" necklaces for the girls.

We went over last weekend to deliver the necklace to Lily-May.

Ballet

The school year is almost over here, which signals the end of ballet... (at least for the summer break).

Wren has really enjoyed doing ballet and tap this year Ballet Des Enfants.  This year was much more serious if you will and her teacher, Sarah, made sure the girls were learning all the proper vocabulary as well as form.  My only complaint is that the classes are only once a week!

This year's recital was themed Sleeping Beauty.  Wren's class dressed up as Fairy Godmothers.  The costumes were just beautiful.

Here she is all dolled up and getting ready for rehearsal.

Miss Sarah is putting the tiaras on the Fairy Godmothers...

     Post rehearsal with her friend Fiona.  Fiona wasn't ready to take off her "Roses" costume!

The official program and tickets.  

And one photo to show that I allowed Wren to wear sparkly eyeshadow and mascara for the performance.  She was over the moon with the sparkly eyes...

We also took some video, but I need to make sure that it's uploading correctly before trying it... I did put a poorly lit 25 second clip up on Facebook if you're interested.

Wren's Ears

Sigh... poor thing.  We are no strangers when it comes to ear issues with little lady.  For years, I've had her hearing tested, convinced that there was indeed hearing loss and possible other issues.

I'm sure I wrote while in London about the burst ear drum and the hole that wouldn't heal?  Yes?  No?

Well, she's been screaming like a banshee again lately when we wash her hair (even with the earplugs) so we decided to take a trip to the ENT.  I started with just a general ENT since he was in the main medical building we visit and he could see us before the end of the year. 

He confirmed that she still has a slight hole in her right ear and a much larger one in her left.  He gave us the referral for yet another hearing test.  That was yesterday.  The hearing test now shows that she does have mild hearing loss in her right ear and moderate loss in the left.  This is quite serious at her age.  So... now we've called and gotten an appointment scheduled with a pediatric ENT in a couple weeks who will give us the next course of action.  Most likely, she'll need some sort of surgery to repair/cover/plug her ear drums.  I don't yet know what that means or entails.  I'm trying not to be an Internet doctor, but I'm sure I'll so some google research before the appointment. 

I just want her to feel better.  To hear all that she can.  And to be able to take a bath without screaming in pain. 

Oh - and if the ears aren't enough, she's also got a plantar's wart on the bottom of her foot from an infection that most likely resulted from when she stepped on glass a month ago.  We've started the patch things on that - but we'll have to go to the dermatologist if it doesn't clear up on it's own.

Good times.  Keep little Birdie in your thoughts...

Wren's Ear Drama

Poor Birdie.  For reasons unknown, she got bad ears.  We finallygot a referral (and subsequent appointment) with an ENT at the local hospital.  This after her ear drum burst in April and has yet to heal.

The entire experience was just a bit odd as an expat.  The hospital wings seemed to be pieced together in a haphazard way.  We entered through the instructed wing door and walked along a corridor for a while.  Then, there was a large open area with what appeared to be an information desk of sorts along with rows of chairs like you'd find at the local DMV.  There were people scattered throughout the seating and no one to be seen at the desk.  I did notice a scrolling billboard that was instructing people with ticket number 8 to head to room 3 (or something along those lines).  I stared blankly at a woman in the seats and she pointed to a black box that spit out tickets.  After I procured my ticket and sat back down, I noticed a smaller sign with an arrow pointing to ENT something or another.  On a whim, I decided to see if that was where we were supposed to be instead...

We found the door into the ENT area and again walked past an empty desk to a section of chairs facing a moving billboard.  Again, looking around blankly, a gentleman walked by and told us to have a seat because there wouldn't be anyone in until 9 am.  Strange... my appointment was supposed to be at 9 am.  A few other people trickled in - of all ages - which I found a bit odd since I was 99% sure we were supposed to be seeing a pediatric ENT!

Alas, we finally were called back by an audiologist for a hearing test.  First thing to note - Wren was asked to sit on my lap in a chair placed in front of a desk with a laptop.  No soundproof booths here.  The audiologist tried to get a pressure reading - but both ears failed.  No surprise.  We couldn't get readings in NYC either.  Then Wren was given headphones and asked to move bears from one bucket to the other when she heard a noise.  Good thing it was Wren and not me doing the test - because I could see the audiologist pushing the button on the keyboard and then looking directly at Wren???  Ugh.  Apparently she passed almost flawlessly - which means once again we have NO idea why she's so freaking loud.  I keep being told she can hear just fine!

Back to the waiting room before seeing the ENT.  I don't remember her name - something Greek.  :)  She had a good look and said she wanted to use a small "hoover" to remove the tubes (that were sitting in the canal) and some of the extra gunk that had accumulated to get a better view.  Wren was a champ. We got to see the tubes and oddly enough, the tube in her right ear was an actual tube (this is the ear that had issues during the second round of tubes in NYC) and her left ear had more of a grommet looking thing.

Essentially, both ears still have perforated ear drums, the right ear is slightly worse than the left.  And, there's not really much that can be done when the child is so young.  There are some patches that can be done to the ear drum where the doctors use a small piece of cartilage from the ear itself and then hope the ear drum reforms around the patch... but they don't recommend the surgery for someone as young as Wren.  The surgery has a fairly high success rate in kids closer to age 8-10.  That seems like a life time away.

In the meantime, we're supposed to get a call for custom ear plugs to be worn in the bath, around sprinklers, when swimming, etc etc.  The doctor told us not to keep her from any of the normal kid activities -- but I admit I'm a bit weary of the swimming!  If the ear infections continue, then we'll have to consider doing the surgery sooner rather than later -- but for now, it's just a wait and see.

Boo.

Outnumbered

So, in Wren's nursery class there are 8 boys and Wren.  This hasn't really bothered her much.  In fact, she really only has eyes for Ollie.  You should hear her say his name.  She takes a deep breath and then says his name slowly while exhaling.  No joke.  According to Ms. Sharon -- Ollie and Wren have had quite the little blossoming romance lately.

But wait...

Just the other day, while out on the playground... Karim wanted to play with Wren.  Her attention was diverted to another classmate!  Oh no!  Ollie went over to Ms. Sharon and said, "Ms. Sharon.... Karim won't share Wren!!"

And so it begins...

Word is however that a new girl will be joining the class after the half term break.  I wonder if this will disrupt the balance?

From the Mouth of Kids...

I'd best write some of these down lest I forget...

Atticus: Mommy, can you do me a kindness?
Wren:  Mommy, are you doing Atticus a favorite?

Wren: I really like walking on the ballerina.  (balance beam)

I'll have to keep updating this list.  There were a few other gems recently that I'm sure I'll recall after I get some sleep!!

Miracle on 80th Street

It's taken me a while to type this up because it still moves me to tears.  It's a bit of an involved story you see.... I wrote about Pennies From Heaven before.  My Grandpa Mike (and quite possibly a few others) have been sending me pennies from heaven quite regularly lately.  Immediately after Hurricane Sandy - I was finding several a day!

Then my best friend, Nicole, came to town on a business trip.  We'd been planning our outings for weeks - including a Broadway show.  Greg was all set to leave work early so that Nic and I could head out to a show.  Then came the random "nor'easter" that brought 40 mile an hour winds and wicked sleet/snow to New York City.  I wanted to be sure that I got the kids early so that everything would be in place for my outing in the crappy weather.  I went to the school, packed up all our things and made sure that Wren was bundled up underneath the plastic rain/snow guard in her stroller.  She was insisting that she hold her wooby for the walk home.  I didn't want to give it to her, but in an effort to avoid a screaming toddler meltdown, I agreed to let her hold it.  About halfway home, I peeked in to make sure she was holding tight.  So far so good.  We made it back to the apartment and the kids went running to check the mail (totally normal).  Except... for Wren to do so required undoing the rain guard and rearranging the bag of school stuff so that the stroller wouldn't tip over!  Of course on this day, there was a notice in our mailbox that we had a package.  Atticus ran over to the doorman to deliver the note and then, in addition to all of our hats, scarves, jackets, school lunch boxes, umbrella, rain guard and stroller, I now had a large box and dry cleaning to try and wrangle onto the elevator.

Now we make it inside and I'm trying to get all of the pieces put back where they belong.  Sometime during this process it becomes known that we can't find the wooby.  Ummmm... are you kidding me?  Where could it be?  Did it get shoved in the bag with the lunch boxes?  No.  Under the stroller?  No.  Already put away in Wren's room?  No.  Anywhere in the house?  No.  Holy panic button.  I grabbed the kids and headed downstairs figuring it must have gotten dropped in the mele at the mailboxes.  No.  No one had seen it.  No one had turned it in.  It wasn't anywhere in the immediate vicinity.  Uh oh.  UH OH.

Atticus asked if the paci fairy had taken the wooby to a new little girl.  Good one, little man... maybe that's what happened.  Wren didn't seem terribly concerned at this point, but I was FREAKING out.  Greg got home and began to silently freak out and curse me for giving it to her while walking.  G'ahhhhh.  Oh, and at this point I had to leave or risk being late for the show.  (More on the totally awesome show in a later post!!)  I decided to walk the same road we'd taken home from school with the hope that maybe, just maybe the wooby would magically appear.  I paced 5 blocks in the sleet and snow to no avail.  I saw three mittens, a scarf and two hats -- but no wooby.  I was holding tightly onto a penny from earlier in the day that was still in my coat pocket.  Rubbing the penny, I kept saying a prayer to Grandpa Mike.  Please Grandpa - I know you're there -- you can skip the pennies, just help me find the wooby.  PLEASE!

Freezing, I finally made it to the subway and jumped on the 6.  I got off to transfer over to Times Square ish with seconds to spare.  Being that I was still freaking out about wooby and I was still half frozen and that I still don't quite know which train is on which side of the track... I ran down the stairs and hopped on the train just before it pulled away.  A few minutes pass and the train isn't stopping when I look quizzically at another passenger and ask exactly WHICH train I'd boarded.  Ummmm... oh crud - I'm going where?  Yeah, I got on the wrong train and was now underneath the East River headed for Queens.  Broadway is NOT located in Queens.  Poo, poo, poo.  We finally get to a stop and I leap off to try and return the opposite direction.  Thankfully the very very nice passenger got off the train we were on to tell me that I was still on the wrong side of the tracks and that I needed to go up the stairs, over and then back down.  OY VEY.

So, now I'm headed in the right direction, but I have no way of telling Nicole that I'm underground and running late.  Freaking A dude.  Finally make it above ground and start weaving my way to the theater.  Thank goodness when I came above ground I knew where I was -- ha -- I was right next to Greg's office and our old apartment from the summer of 2009!  I start calling Nic like a fiend (8 times I think it was) but she wasn't answering!!  Eeeek.  Turns out that we were both at the theater, just in different parts of said theater.  We finally figure it out and get inside where I'm trying to regale the story of the wooby before the lights go out.  I'm not joking when I say that we sat down with less than 60 seconds to spare!

Show ends, we grab dinner and then go our separate ways.   Again, I decide to take the longer route home so that I can walk the route from earlier in the day.  Again, no luck.  Greg assures me that Wren cried a bit, but did relatively well sans wooby.  I even fire off an email before bed to the woman who made the wooby 3 years prior hoping that she might be able to "recreate" it... In the morning, we're talking about how Wren has to be a big girl now and that wooby has gone to a new baby with the paci fairy.... she's a tad more upset in the morning and I'm not sure how well this story is going to hold up.  Wren gets tears in her eyes and asks if we can call the fairy and ask her to return the wooby.  It's not looking good.

Greg leaves before us by about 10 or 15 minutes.  I'd promised Atticus that we could take the bus this morning, but I was hoping that he'd forget because I really wanted to walk the path ONE more time.  But, alas -- before we can leave the apartment, he's begging for the bus.  I agree, but think to myself, maybe we'll just walk to the second bus stop so that we go a bit further by foot?!?

Now... here's the miracle.  And I mean MIRACLE.  The three of us walk outside of our building and begin to cross 80th street when right there in the middle of the street - less than 50 yards from the front of our building - is the wooby.  It had been run over quite a few times and wasn't in the best shape, but it was there.  Seriously.  Right freaking there in the middle of 80th street.  I had walked past that intersection half a dozen times since the night before....but there it was.  I think I literally jumped for joy.  Wren on the other hand saw the state of the wooby and burst into tears.  I managed to convince her that wooby was back and wooby was safe and sound, but all she could see was that wooby was almost black and was "dirty".  We returned to the building and I deposited the black soppy wad of a wooby with the doorman and then we went to school.

When I returned home, I donned my kitchen gloves, turned up the water to as hot as it would go and filled the sink with hot soapy water.  I was now praying that some Dawn degreaser would work magic on the wooby!  I'm happy to report that with some serious sink scrubbing, wooby was ready for a trip to the washing machine.  A couple times through the machine - and wooby was almost back to normal!!  I had to do a minor stitch repair to one of the ribbons, but otherwise - we are back in business.

And... Wren is no longer allowed to hold wooby when we're walking.

Prayers and thanks to Grandpa Mike and all our other angels that had to work overtime to make this miracle happen!!!

Terrible Two and a Half

Wren, bless her heart -- she's always been loud.  Feel free to read any earlier post from pretty much birth on to confirm this.  Well - she has hit the terrible twos with full force over the past couple of days. Meltdowns, temper tantrums, defiance, screaming, hitting... oh it's been delightful.  It's helpful that she's so verbal, she can definitely express more than Atticus could at this age, but she is really getting dramatic lately.

I'm only half joking when I say we're going to see the credits of a B horror movie and notice that it says, "Screamer #3 - Wren Baden".

I wonder how I go about auditioning her for a screamer?  The kid has got the blood curdling - ear piercing screams down to a science.

Little Miss Potty

We're close.  Oh so close.  Wren will now use her little potty several times a day at home and we're having moderate success at school.  Let's hope the most recent delivery of Pull Ups is our last!  Go Wren Go!

Wren Turns 2

Wren's birthday was a rather quiet affair.  I baked these awesome (if I do say so myself) Minnie Mouse cupcakes and took them up to her classroom for a small party.  Wren of course was wearing her new "2" shirt and her Minnie Mouse ears.  We sang Happy Birthday, ate some cupcakes and then headed home a bit early.  Of course, since her birthday fell on a Friday - it was off to Trolley Stop for pancakes!  

On Saturday, we took her to the park to play.  All was going well with that plan until it was time to go.  Wren was NOT ready to go and screamed at the top of her lungs for the 3 miles home.  And I mean SCREAMED!  Otherwise... a pleasant morning.  Ha!

Shoes

Wren is still obsessed with shoes. She's worried about the dolls at school that don't have shoes. She wants to look at all the pictures in the stories we read at night to see if the people are wearing shoes. She changes shoes at least 3 times a day...last night, she even insisted that she sleep in her "brown shoes". Perhaps we have the next Christian Louboutin on our hands? Either that or the next Carrie Bradshaw!!

She's almost ready for her size 7s.  When she hits 7, she's going to be living the dream.  She has a pair of gold glitter shoes (referred to as her Katie shoes), some black patent leather mary janes, some adorable red shoes with hearts from Gymboree, her current Crocs and a new pair of hot pink suede Stride Rites. 

I'll have to update this post later with the video I got a couple days ago of Wren walking around in my black flats.  She told me she wanted to put on some of Mommy's pretty shoes.  If you don't see it up here soon, remind me and I'll update. 

Diapers

I'm over diapers.  Ready to be done.  I wonder if I can get Wren to go along with this plan?  She was ready to potty train ages ago, but the school wasn't ready - bummer for me.  And now, Wren doesn't really have any great interest in going on the potty.  I need to change her mind.

I'm ready for the next phase of life... you know the one that wreaks havoc on your life because your little girl can't just "pee on a tree"...

Lost

Recently I purchased two shirts for the kids at the Disney Store.  Spider Man for Atticus and a Minnie Mouse shirt for Wren.  Seriously, this was only a couple weeks ago.  Atti's wore his shirt a couple days ago and it was freshly laundered last night and is once again resting in his dresser drawer.  Wren's new Minnie shirt has mysteriously disappeared.  As in - I can't find the bloody thing ANYWHERE?!?!  How exactly does one lose a bright red Minnie Mouse shirt?  It's not in her dresser, it's not in Atticus's dresser, it's not in the laundry (I did all that last night...) and it's not in either closet.  It's not in our hamper and it hasn't fallen behind the washer/dryer -- yep, I even looked there!  It's not in the diaper bag.  It's not in with the extra clothes at the daycare.  I'm completely puzzled.  And peeved.  Wren absolutely LOVES Minne and now for the life of me I can't find her new shirt.

Ugh.

I thought I was over the sleep deprivation?

Counting

Wren is enjoying counting.  She isn't a fan of one, two or three -- she likes to start with four and continue up from there.  She does seem to rather enjoy counting however and I've taken to counting just about everything to keep encouraging her... we'll see if it works.

She's still talking up a storm, so I don't doubt that counting correctly is too far off...

Siblings

I haven't done a very good job lately of just documenting the ordinary things... so, my intention for this year is to drone on and on a bit more about the mundane day to day happenings in our lives.  I know most of you will find it rather boring -- but hopefully one day I'll get the oomph to print out all the ramblings and my kids will know more about their childhood than I can actually remember at that given point in time.  :)

So -- while I'm thinking about (mostly because Greg pointed it out to Rob while he was in town)... we're noticing a lot more sibling interaction.  The kids are waaaay more aware of each other.  Where the other one is, what they're doing (or not doing) and how they can engage one another.  Lately this has involved a lot (and I mean a LOT) of screaming and hitting -- but hey, they're engaging right?  Atticus always wants to be the first one to open Wren's door in the morning and tell her good morning.  Granted, normally, it's because of his stomping, flopping, thrashing that she's waking up in the first place -- but that's a whole different story!  Wren's favorite words I swear are Atti, brother, bubba and Atticus.  She will repeat them over and over.  She loves looking at pictures on the computer, phone, bookshelf of Atticus and pointing him out to me and Greg.

On occasion, they will also play quietly together for about 2 minutes or so.  It's a start, right?  Yesterday afternoon, they both had a ball at the small park/green space that's next to our house.  They were chasing each other up and down the hills and around and around.  It's nice to see some interaction between them.  Sometimes there is sharing.  Sometimes not.  But it's finally starting to look like the age gap will be a good thing for them -- hopefully they'll end up friends in the long run!

Love You

Last night when I was putting Wren to bed, I kissed her head and said I love you.  And for the first time, she repeated it back to me.  Love you.  Two of the sweetest little words ever....

Verbose

Wren is my little talker.  She must have 300 words already and she'll repeat just about anything you say to her.  She's begun using 2 and 3 word sentences.  We should have known she'd be an early talker -- little lady has been screaming since the day she entered this world.  Now it's just a combination of screaming and words.  :)

Favorites from the recent road trip: "Yeah Texas" when we crossed the border and hearing her rattle off her good-byes as we drove away.  Buh bye Bubbe, buh bye Pop, buh bye Uncle Shawn, buh bye Molly...