Nolan

I know I have been horrible about blogging lately. I mentally blog all the time. I just rarely find or make the time to sit and type it out. 

Nolan is having a great year in second grade. He's on a break from private PT and OT, which my HSA account appreciates. He's on a break from his night leg braces, which thrills him to no end. And his crowning achievement? He learned to tie his shoes. 

His school occupational therapist was the one who finally got him to master it, although Grandma had also been working on it. The day it 'clicked' for Nolan was a big deal. He was so proud. A few days later, he told me one of his classmates needed their shoe tied, so Nolan helped the boy out. Nolan is usually on the receiving end and he just loved being able to help someone else for once. 

Nolan had his school Christmas program the other night. He had a small speaking part, which he was both excited and nervous about. He didn't need to be worried. He nailed the line and his delivery was perfect. I watched him closely through the whole musical. He put his heart and soul in to his performance. I suspect he has a passion for that. I foresee a lot of school musicals and plays in our future. 

Bill says he can see Nolan on stage, TJ in the orchestra pit, and Sam running lights and sound. We will have to see if the kids' interests change. I hope not!

Jockey Walker

When recounting an experience from one of the first days of school, Sam was cheerfully telling us about a poem his teacher had read during class. He said the name of the poem was 'The Jockey Walker". I immediately pictures of pair of Jockey underwear, strolling down the street and was amused, and puzzled. Bill and my parents looked puzzled too, until my Mom suddenly had an epiphany. 

"Sam, do you mean 'Jabberwocky'"?

Sam's eyes lit up! "Yeah! That was it!"

"Jabberwocky"

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“

”

from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871).

So....not quite as funny as underwear out for a walk, but I'm really pleased that Sam enjoyed some poetry so much!

Nolan's salsa scale

Last night, Bill made up a batch of homemade salsa. His salsa is delicious. However, the boys tend to be suspicious of it. It has chunks (ew!) and flavor (the horror!). But I convinced Nolan to try a little. 

He chewed thoughtfully for a moment. I asked him how he liked it. He said, "Well, on a scale of Legendary to Epic, to Good, to Poop, to Super Poop, I'd have to give it a rating of...."

Yes. He paused for dramatic effect. The kid is going to grow up to host reality TV. 

"Good. I'd call it good."

He seems to think he was giving Bill a great compliment. He would have been in trouble with me if he had labeled it as 'poop' or 'super poop'. 

I told Bill I thought it was legendary. He seemed to think I was exaggerating. I'm not. I could eat it with a spoon, no chips needed. 

What were they thinking??

Last week Saturday, we took the boys to Mackinac Island.  We were on our way home from our U.P. house, so we spent the night in St. Ignace and headed over to the island first thing Saturday morning.  Sam would have been perfectly content to ride the ferry back and forth all day.  He was fascinated with it.  TJ was only mildly interested in things...he was more annoyed that he was without internet all day and couldn't play on his iPod.  Nolan was up for adventure and was pretty impressed with everything we saw.

We rented bikes and rode around the island.  TJ was on a bike by himself, Bill and Sam were on a tandem bike, and (lucky me), I was on a bike with Nolan behind me on a tagalong.  This means that I rode 8.1 miles with 48 pounds of cheerful dead weight behind me.  He doesn't feel obligated to pedal very often.

We made several stops.  One was at Arch Rock.  A  new staircase was just built last summer so you can access Arch Rock from the road that wraps around the island.  But it's quite a commitment.  I believe it was 207 steps up...in the sun, right after we got off of bicycles.  It was a slow climb.  Nolan clung to my hand and needed encouragement to keep going.  At one point, he was completely out of breath and said, "What were they thinking, putting this rock up so high?"

I laughed.  Yeah, what were those guys thinking...4000 years ago when the arch was formed?

When we got to the top, Nolan looked around in awe and proclaimed that the long climb up had been "totally worth it".  We all agreed.

European Parking Problems

Last Friday night was my summer work picnic.  This year, we had a picnic area reserved at the Whitecaps Game, with dinner included, and all expenses paid.  We even had $20 each in spending money.  That means $100 for my whole family.  The boys got a ton of stuff and I didn't spend a dime of my own money.

But Sam did not come with us.  The day before he started complaining of a headache and running a fever.  I had hoped he would be feeling well enough to come with us to the game, but his fever was still 103 at 5 p.m. on Friday.  One of the nicest things about living with my parents is that I didn't have to scramble to find a babysitter, nor did I have to fret about Sam being home without us.

Shortly after we left for the game, Sam really perked up (ibuprofen is amazing stuff).  For fun, he started reading an atlas (I know...his idea of Friday night fun is rather peculiar).  He felt a need to keep texting me some of his observations.

The one that had me laughing hysterically?

"Hey Mom, did you know that there is a country that's only .7 square miles big?  It's called Monaco."

I wrote back that yes, I had heard of Monaco.  He came back with:

"It's so small, that when they throw a party in Monaco, some people have to park in France."

The kid is hilarious and he isn't even trying.

And in case you are wondering, we got Sam a hat, a blinking sword, blinking teeth (don't ask) and popcorn.  He was pretty happy with his loot.

Mom, the Human Dictionary and Thesaurus

Nolan wears me out, mentally. He is constantly asking me to define words or to give me other words that mean the same thing. I love that he has a hunger for knowledge, but sometimes it's very tiring.

Last week we were camping. Over the course of the week, TJ got stung by a wasp on his lip, Nolan got kicked in the nose while playing on the beach resulting in an epic bloody nose, and TJ got some nasty mystery infection on his leg that resulted in a trip to the emergency room for antibiotics. Needless to say, the First Aid kit my mom keeps in her camper got quite a bit of use. 

On Friday night, Nolan was sitting there, studying the box. "Mom, what does aid mean?"  I explained that it was providing the type of help that was needed at that time. "So what does first aid mean?" I went on to say that the first thing you need to do when you get hurt is clean and bandage the wound. And everything you need is in the kit. 

Nolan nodded. "So what's second aid?"

Now I'm stumped. I never thought about it before. He is annoyed I don't have an answer for him. 

12 days

The movers come in 12 days. We are totally and completely packed.

Not. 

We are trying to box up and move as much stuff on our own as we can. The movers charge by the hour and since there is a four hour drive involved (two hours each way), we want them to spend as little time as possible packing the truck. 

So anything that we know we won't be using at the new house isn't coming. The first item to go was the bunk beds. I detest those things (changing the bedding is exhausting and annoying) and the boys will each have their own room at the new house (you know...next year...after it's built). The beds weren't particularly high quality and I said I didn't even want to keep them to split them in to two twin beds. So I put the set on Craigslist for $100 and even threw in the mattresses. Bill said he hoped I could get rid of them before moving day.

Well, apparently there is a big demand for bunk beds. Either that or I underpriced them. I had over a dozen people try to buy them. I had my buyer within 2 hours. TJ burst into tears when I told him. I hadn't realized he was so attached to them, but he was genuinely upset to see them go. 

For the next two weeks, TJ and Sam will be sharing the queen bed. We brought it up from the guest room. For the first time in over 7 years, TJ is no longer sleeping on a top bunk (he even sleeps on the top bunk when we are up north). For years, I noticed that he slept pressed firmly against the side rail. I suspect he is going to fall out of bed a couple of times before he learns. 

If you look closely, you can see Sam's knee on the far side of the bed. I'm not sure where the rest of him is. 

The next item to go was Bill's table saw. He has had it for years and the bearings were starting to go. He said there was no way he could build another house with it. I agreed that it was time for a new one. Bill said the old one was pretty worthless so we decided to put it at the curb tonight. Tomorrow is trash day and someone comes through the neighborhood in the middle of the night to pick up interesting looking trash. We hoped they would take the table saw. Otherwise, we'd be charged extra for throwing something that large away. I helped Bill get it down to the curb. It took us a good 5 minutes to lug that thing down the driveway. We got it in place and Bill said a fond farewell to it (TJ is definitely his kid). We walked back up the driveway just as a landscaping truck pulled up. The guy got out and asked if he could have the table saw. Said his brother could use it. Bill was thrilled to hear it wouldn't be scrapped. I couldn't stop laughing.  I think the table saw sat at the curb for 45 seconds. The guy kept thanking Bill. Everybody wins. 

Did I really just say that?

If it isn't the kids giving me a run for my money, it's my pets. And they have all been full of it since we have arrived at our home in Laurium. 

Yes, both cats and the dog are with us. It's their home too, and it's easier to bring them along than find someone to take care of them. 

At any rate, here are a few things I've said (more than once!) since we arrived here. 

"Drop that cat poop! Stop playing in the litter box!" The litter box is located in the back entryway here. We don't know where else to put it. We don't want the animals in the (super scary, really unsafe) basement, so that's not an option. At our primary home, the litter boxes are in the basement storage room. For some reason, Copper is afraid of the basement and won't go down there. So she never sees the boxes (or their contents). Apparently, she's intrigued. And it's gross. The other night, I unrolled my yoga mat so I could exercise. And Copper promptly dropped a hunk of cat poop on the mat. Disgusting!!

When a child (usually TJ) asks me if I have seen the cats, my response is, "Well, did you look in the oven?"  No, we aren't preparing a dish of feline flambé. There is a drawer underneath the oven. And Willoughby, who craves peace and quiet, discovered he could crawl in there through a hole in the back. Katie promptly joined him. It's not at all unusual to pull the drawer open and see two pairs of eyes staring at you. 

"Stop peeling the wallpaper!!" This house is covered in wallpaper. It's pretty ugly, but we haven't been in a hurry to take it down. The walls are plaster, and we knew they would need some work before we could repaint them, and we had some concerns that lead-based paint was underneath. Well, Katie doesn't share our concerns. She still has her front claws (Willoughby does not), and she has decided the walls are her scratching posts. Bill has grudgingly started removing sections of wallpaper, since the cat has made such a mess. The plaster is as bad as we feared, but he tested the paint chips and it shows no lead. Bill is still painting everything primer white, just to give it some uniformity. 

In just a few weeks, we will be moving in with my parents while we build yet another house (I promise, it's the last time. We belong in Coopersville, but there are no suitable houses on the mark, so building is a better option than living under an overpass). I hope the animals behave themselves there. At least there's no wallpaper!

Good news and bad news

We are up at our Laurium house for the next two weeks. I love being up here, with a few exceptions. One is the basement. I haven't been down there since we walked through with the realtor and I hope to keep it that way. To say it's creepy is putting it mildly. Another thing is taking the dog out at night. It is pitch black in the backyard and there is no outside light on the back step. The sun doesn't set until after 10:00, so if I take the dog out at 10, I can still see. Tonight I was busy watching a movie so I didn't get her outside until after 11:00. 

Copper isn't crazy about how dark it is either. She usually does her business in the small part of the yard that is illuminated from the kitchen window. She did exactly that and started heading back toward the deck steps when she and I heard a noise. 

What happened next was pretty chaotic. As soon as I saw the skunk stepping out of the shadows, I sprinted up the steps and yelled frantically for her to come with me. But I didn't have her leash locked so easily pulled more length out as she headed off to meet the skunk (Copper is always anxious to meet new friends).  I still don't know how I got her to change directions but she did come up on the deck. But her leash had gotten tangled all around the deck posts and in my haste, I couldn't get it untangled. 

Judging by where Copper was looking, I was pretty sure the skunk was still headed in our direction. So I unclipped her leash, dragged her inside, and slammed the door.

Bill was in the living room, watching a movie ('The Sixth Sense'....seriously? I wouldn't be able to sleep if I watched that right before bedtime). I told him I had good news and bad news. The good news is that the dog was not sprayed by a skunk. The bad news is her leash is somewhere in the back yard. He told me to go ahead and leave it out there. He'll look for it in the morning. 

Up until last October, we had a small shed in the backyard. We knew there was a family of skunks living under it. We thought they would go away once the shed was gone. Apparently not. Now I have 12 more nights to avoid this (revenge-seeking?) skunk. Lovely. 

A loving hazard

Copper knows our daily routines pretty well. She loves when I get coffee, because she gets a Milk Bone. She loves lunchtime because she gets to sit outside and sniff the breeze (seriously...one of her favorite things to do). And she really loves 3:30, because that means we are walking down to the bus stop to retrieve her boys.

So at 3:30 today, when I was heading downstairs, Copper was more than a little excited. With every step I went down, she would nip my toes. I was getting annoyed. She wasn't hurting me, but I didn't particularly want to trip and fall. I stopped about 3/4 of the way down and gave her a lecture about being nice. She sheepishly slunk down the rest of the stairs. 

Wouldn't you know it...I forgot something and had to run back upstairs. So Copper's excitement was reset. She ran back up with me and then accompanied me back down. But she took my lecture seriously. With each step I took, she licked my toes. 

So I likely will still trip and fall one of these days, courtesy of the dog. But it's all done in love, right?

Tense?

TJ was working on a homework assignment after dinner. He had a paper full of verbs in the present tense and he had to write down the word in past tense. Blow? Blew. Throw? Threw. Lead? Led. 

He was zipping right along. He was coming up with all of the answers on his own; he just wanted my assistance on the spelling every once in awhile. 

When he got to 'spend', he only hesitated for a second before he blurted out 'spought!' He immediately realized his error but not before we all had a good laugh. Bill said he should get extra credit for inventing a new word. 

Sam's Choice-Reflection Sheet

Today was a beautiful spring day. Copper and I met the boys at the bus stop after school and Nolan walked alongside me and chattered away. We got home and Sam had gotten there ahead of time and was sitting forlornly at the edge of the driveway. I walked over to him and asked him how his day went. His response was a heavy sigh. He told me I'd better check his backpack. 

Sam has had a good year. We haven't had days where I'd 'better check his backpack.'  Curiosity (and concern) got the better of me so I went inside to check said backpack.

What I found was a "Choice-Reflection Sheet" where Sam had carefully written out his transgression. 

What Happened? "I drank some water out of droppers for science." (I raised my eyebrows at this)

When that happened, what did you want? "A drink of water" (I snickered)

What will you do next time? "Ignore the dropper" 

By the time I got to the last answer, I was laughing out loud. TJ wanted to know what was funny so I showed him the  form. He also started laughing. This was just so vintage Sam. 

Sam chose this moment to walk inside. He already had a defensive look on his face and was clearly bracing himself for a lecture. He looked surprised that both TJ and I were laughing. 

Maybe that wasn't the most mature or responsible reaction on my part, but it was what Sam needed. He relaxed, smiled, and dropped the attitude. 

We then discussed how it could be disruptive to the science lesson if kids were all drinking from the droppers. We also discussed how sometimes dangerous liquids are in the droppers and it's best to never risk it by assuming it is clean water. Sam agreed that he had learned his lesson and wouldn't do it again. 

I'm still laughing over the question "what did you want?" and Sam's response of "a drink of water". He's just so matter-of-fact. 

Q.O.D. (Question of the day)

Wednesday's question of the day comes from Nolan (of course). 

"Mom? Do bad guys throw up?"

Cha Cha?

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I made enchiladas, guacamole, refried beans, and a homemade salsa. Bill and I were pretty excited about dinner. Sam and Nolan were not (TJ is away at camp). As a result, they were having a hard time sitting still. 

At one point, Nolan was doing toe-touches and ignoring my requests to sit down. He suddenly stood up and said, "Mom? Is doing the Cha Cha important to you?"

I hate it when he makes me laugh when I'm trying to scold him. 

Things that make you go 'Hmmmm'...

Last week, Nolan asked me to fill his water bottle as he was getting ready for bed. My boys are just like their mom...they like to have water nearby at night in case they get thirsty. So I took Nolan's water bottle in the bathroom, unscrewed the top, and reached for the faucet. But then something inside the bottle caught my eye. I looked closer and saw there was definitely something in the bottom of the bottle. I tipped it and shook out...a Nerf bullet. What the??

I brought it to Nolan and asked him why he was storing a Nerf bullet in his water bottle. He didn't know how it got there but he didn't seem to concerned about it either. 

My kids are weird. 

Custard and cucumbers

TJ has now reached the age where he often does not want a kids' meal. He thinks it is beneath him. So when we stopped at Burger King on our way up here, he asked me what I thought he would like. 

I suggested a Whopper Jr., since they have tomatoes, which he loves, and they aren't ridiculously huge. So TJ ordered it. For the most part, he liked it. He was disappointed that I forgot to specify that he wanted cheese on it, and he was really grossed out by the mayonnaise. He used a piece of lettuce to help scrape it off. 

A couple nights ago, Bill and I took a friend of ours out to dinner. We fed the kids first. Burger King is the only fast food option up here (other than Subway), so that is what the kids requested for dinner. TJ once again wanted a Whopper Jr., but this time he wanted it done right (with cheese, lose the mayo). 

Bill came back with the food and TJ met him at the door. "Did you get mine with cheese?" Bill assured him that he had. "And did you tell them that I didn't want the...uh...custard?" 

Well, his burger was both mayo and custard free so TJ was happy. 

Tonight is our last night in the Keweenaw until school gets out. We hope to spend a good chunk of the summer up here. Anyway, we went to my favorite restaurant for dinner (I cooked most of the week...we just had a couple fun nights planned). We went to Carmelita's, a really yummy Mexican place in Calumet. As he often does when we are at Mexican restaurants, Bill ordered a frozen margarita. When it arrived, Nolan's face lit up. "Mom! Can I eat Dad's cucumber?" 

I looked over at Bill and saw a slice of lime in his margarita. I laughed and told Nolan that it wasn't a cucumber, it was a lime soaking in alcohol, so I definitely couldn't pass it his way. Nolan was extremely disappointed. 

Sam calls Carmelita's 'the restaurant with the guy in it.' Here's a picture of Nolan's 'cucumber' and Sam with 'the guy'.

All about Bob?

When we arrived at our home in Laurium, we were very surprised to see that the half bath on the main floor had been gutted. We knew Bob, a friend and local handyman, intended to gut it for us so that we could do a complete overhaul of that room, but we thought it would be happening later in the spring. This isn't a problem, it was just a surprise. Nolan can't get over it. He keeps telling people that "Bob blew up our bathroom."  Poor Bob. I hope no one misinterprets that!

Earlier today we got some fresh snow. The boys have been enjoying how deep it is out there. Today they built a snowman (snow woman?), complete with arms and a carrot nose. TJ named her Bertha Oswalt Baron and he calls her Bob for short. 

I hope Bob the handyman doesn't think the snowman (snow woman?) was named after him! And where did TJ come up with Oswalt??

A whole complication

We are up at our U.P. house for spring break. The boys have been doing a great job with not spending too much time on their electronic devices. They've been building elaborate marble runs down the stairs, playing endless rounds of Trouble, working on homework, and playing outside on the mountain of snow that is our front yard. 

But yes, they have also been playing on their iPods. TJ was on a YouTube kick right before dinner and he kept coming in the kitchen and showing me clips while

I was cooking. 

At one point, he stumbled on some really funny cat clips. "Hey Mom, watch this! It's a whole complication of cat videos."

I believe the word he was looking for was 'compilation'. Because everyone knows cat videos aren't complicated at all. 

If you're super bored, look up Nora the cat on YouTube. There's one video after another of her playing (banging on) the piano. Why? I'm not sure. But TJ thought it was awesome. 

Touché

Last Tuesday night, March 31, I was being a bit melodramatic when I tucked Nolan in and kissed him goodnight. He asked why I was sad, and I said it was because it was the last time I would ever kiss my six-year-old good night. I asked him if he would still let me kiss him the next night, when he was a big grownup seven-year-old. He said of course!

So I pushed it further. I asked him if he would still let me kiss him good night when he was seventy. 

Nolan paused for a moment and then looked at me quite seriously. "Mom...I'm pretty sure you'll be dead by then."

Ouch. 

Then I did the math. I'll be 101 when he's 70. I guess he's not very optimistic about me living past the century mark. 

That's Disgusting!

We are at Applebee's for dinner tonight. We told Nolan he could pick where we ate out since it is his birthday tomorrow. 

They seated us near the bar, right below a TV that happened to be on the Fox Sports Network. The boys weren't paying much attention to it until they showed a round of boxing. Nolan was horrified. "That's disgusting!" he yelled (always nice to have children yelling that phrase in a restaurant!)

I looked up at the TV and asked him if it bothered him that the guys are were sweaty and punching each other. "Neither! You can see their nipples! Gross!"

Yep. That's my almost seven-year-old. Here he is, 'boxing', fully clothed!

That was weird

Shortly before we left for church this morning, I asked Bill if he had seen Copper's rope toy. She has to be in her kennel while we are gone and I usually toss a toy in there with her. But I couldn't find the rope toy anywhere. 

While I was still talking, Copper walked in the kitchen, set the rope toy at my feet and walked away. Bill and I stood there in amazed silence, which was broken by Sam. 

"Well. That was weird."

Vacation Memories

These are funny things that my kids said while at Disney last month. I just kept procrastinating writing the blog post!

Wise words from Nolan on our drive down: "It's better to stop at a McDonald's than a rest stop when you have to go to the bathroom. It's more likely that your mom will buy you cookies then." In my defense, I only bought cookies once. 

Sam spent an awful lot of time reading a road atlas and kept sharing tidbits of information with us. At one point, he was jabbering on about "Ark Kansas". Bill corrected his pronunciation and Sam was convinced Bill was joking. "Are you kidding me? ArkanSAW? Where'd they come up with that??"

We checked into our hotel in Chattanooga pretty late the night we left. Sam's mind was still working away though.  He came out of the bathroom and announced that they had good toilets at the hotel because they are 'the same toilets we have at our house!' 

Bill went right in the bathroom and looked. He said Sam was right. I have no idea what brand toilets we have!

The next morning, we went down for the free breakfast. The dining room had the usual small tables scattered anout, but they also had a very large island in the center of the room with over a dozen bar stools surrounding it. There was a high school girls' volleyball team in town for a competition. Most of the team and some of their parents were sitting on the bar stools. Sam and Nolan climbed right up there with them and started filling them in on our life story. I tried to get them to come sit with me, but they had a pretty captive audience so I gave up. I finished my food and went to get a coffee refill. One of the adults in the room came over to me and said, "Your children have remarkable vocabularies."

Don't I know it!

One of the rides at Epcot that probably isn't too popular with kids is called "Living with the Land". It's a boat ride that takes you through the some indoor greenhouses and explains how Disney World is finding new and earth-friendly ways to grow their own food while conserving energy. My kids love this ride. We went on it twice. As we were floating past some lettuce that Disney was growing out of soil, Nolam said, "Hey look! A lettuce convention!"

The lady sitting behind us laughed so hard I thought she was going to choke.

Another day, Nolan had to go to the bathroom. I said I would tell Dad so that he could take him in the bathroom. Nolan said, "Why don't you just take me in the customized bathroom?" I had to think about that one for a minute. Then it dawned on me. Customized bathroom = companion bathroom! 

Medical crisis

Last weekend, Nolan came down with a bad cold. It started with a barking cough on Friday. By Saturday night, he was running a fever and vomiting (really sorry about your recliner and carpet, Mom!). By Tuesday, he was doing well enough that I sent him back to school. He's still been coughing but not as much. 

Yesterday was Friday again. Nolan seemed fine all day but completely fell apart overnight. I lost track of how many times he got up. He's normally the type who falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow and he sleeps soundly all night long. So this was truly out of character. He seemed miserable. His ear hurt. Next time he got me up, it was his throat. Next time, he thought he was going to vomit. 

I called his doctor at 8:30. The office has a few Saturday appointments available if you are sick and I managed to snag one. I had to wake up Nolan to get him to his 10:30 appointment. He cried most of the way there. He fell asleep on the examining table while we waited for the doctor. His amusing personality was no where to be seen. 

The boys see the female doctor at the practice but it wasn't her Saturday to work, so we met her partner. He was very kind and patient with Nolan, who was having a tough time following directions and answering questions. The doctor was asking Nolan about his cough and his ears then he reached down to massage Nolan's stomach. 

At this, he finally got a reaction out of Nolan, who gasped loudly and sat up straight. Both the doctor and I were concerned with his reaction. Dr Shearer asked if Nolan's stomach hurt. Nolan's response? "Dude, no! Your hands are freezing!"

The doctor got a good laugh out of that and said he had gotten a glimpse of what my Nolan is normally like. 

Turns out Nolan has a double ear infection, which totally explains his misery. I'm hoping he is feeling better tomorrow. 

And for inquiring minds, my nearly 7-year-old tips the scales at 44.5 pounds and a little over 45 inches tall. He is such a peanut. 

Share your knowledge

This afternoon, Nolan was reluctantly cutting out some hearts for a school project (he hates cutting). To distract himself, he kept chattering away at me while he talked. 

"Mom, do you know any facts that I don't know?"

I thought about it and said yes, I probably knew a few things he didn't. 

He immediately said, "Tell them to me."

Well that stumped me. I figured he wouldn't care about human genetics or why lungs work the way they do, and I certainly wasn't going to discuss the birds and the bees, so I finally said, "The square root of 16 is 4."

Nolan stared at me and asked me to say that again. He then carefully repeated it. Long pause. Then, "I have NO idea what you're talking about, Mom."

Guess he isn't quite ready to have all the facts. 

A permanent toddler?

I love my dog.  Really, I do. I love taking her for walks and having her snuggle with me at night and I love having someone to talk to during the day (the cats aren't awake much and they usually look pretty disdainful when I try to talk to them). 

But sometimes Copper makes me want to tear my hair out. One afternoon last week, I was working and she kept chasing the cats. I finally gathered up a bunch of her toys, tossed them in the office and shut her in there with me. She settled down on the other side of my desk and started chewing away. I figured she was working on one of her bones. 

I finished working and walked around the desk to tell her it was time to get the boys. I was greeted by small black fuzzies all over the floor. I bent to pick one up and realized it was shredded plastic. It was only then that I noticed the dog had chewed completely through the cord of my adding machine. Thankfully it wasn't plugged in at the time. 

I figured that was a fluke and that I must've tossed her toys too close to the cord and she simply grabbed the wrong item. But the next day she chewed the cord of Bill's beloved sound machine. He was livid but managed to repair that mess with electrical tape. He says someday Copper will chew on something that is still plugged in and that will be the end of our 'dog problems'.

He was joking. I think. 

My dog

Copper is truly my dog. I didn't really mean for that to happen, it just did. She likes Bill and the boys, and she never gets tired of trying to convince the cats to play with her, but if I am home, she is right by my side about 98% of the time. I trip over her at least once a day.

The first two nights we had her, Copper slept in her dog bed right next to our bed. I couldn't bear to put her in her kennel at night. I knew she had spent the first year of her life in a shelter and then spent several weeks in a chaotic rescue. I wanted her to feel loved and safe after what she had been through. So I put her bed right next to ours. 

That worked great for two nights. On the third night, she jumped up on the bed and snuggled down next to me. And that's where she has been ever since. She doesn't just sleep next to me, she is pressed firmly against me. She's like a water bottle that never cools off. And since I am often freezing, I really don't mind. I don't mind her snoring either. 

Now I am wondering. Do people still use hot water bottles?

Ahhhh....memories

Fondly recalling the day Nolan and I strapped on our wings and went 'frying'. 

Foot nails

Nolan continues to make me laugh. Last night at the dinner table, we got into a discussion on height. One of the boys (I think it was Sam) commented that Bill must've been a lot shorter when he and I first met. We laughed and that started a discussion on how tall Bill and I were and when we stopped growing. Nolan, wise and sage, calmly said, "People keep growing until they are the right height. Then they stop."

You cannot argue with that logic. 

After supper, Nolan took a leisurely bath. When he was done, he came in my room, hair all sticking up and skin looking a bit wrinkled. He said, "Mom, I need you to cut my foot nails."

It's been 24 hours since he said that and I am still laughing. He was right though. His 'foot nails' definitely needed to be trimmed.