Pinewood Derby

Colin had his Boyscouts Pinewood Derby race yesterday. Although it was not really a life changing moment for us, it was a lot of fun. Colin specifically designed his car to win "Best of Show". He didn't win, but he did get 2nd Place in the race. I was surprised since Steve kept telling me that he was not going to put too much energy into helping Colin make his car fast, just good looking.


I think his car turned our great. In the end, Steve admitted that he did research the proper placement of the weights to make the car go faster.

Did I mention that through this whole process Steve broke his thumb? Yep. A few weeks ago he was helping Colin cut the wood to shape. I can't exactly explain what happened, but the wood shot out from under the chop saw, hit Steve's thumb and broke his knuckle. Do you think he went to the Dr.? Nope. Three weeks later he still can't bend his thumb. I'm glad it hit Steve and not Colin but still, a husband that can't open a jar of spaghetti sauce?

Camden took first place in the "Open Class" division. He was very proud of himself. He smiled every time his name was called. I really think he was more excited than Colin.


As you can tell, some of these kids had an immense amount of help. The rules state that the kids are supposed to do the majority of the work. Steve didn't help Colin or Cam with any of the painting. Although he did draw the melting snowman for Camden. Here you can see Cam's car compare with some others. The blue car on the right was clearly made by a dad and not a kid.

From the picture below, I'm pretty sure that a 6 year old did not paint the camouflage on the second car from the right. I like the cheese car and it looks mainly "kid made".

After the Pinewood Derby, Steve took the boys over to the park. It was a gorgeous day. After today, the temperature is going to drop to the single digits and we will be in a deep freeze for a few days. Camden enjoyed the park, but spent the rest of the day half asleep, half awake on the couch. His temperature is gone but he was just worn out.

We'll take it easy today. I think Cam will be ready to go back to school tomorrow (a whole 2 and a half hours) but I am sure he will be tired when he gets home. It's so unlike him to settle onto the couch for a few hours at a time but his body needs rest and I enjoy the extra time to snuggle with him.

Yesterday at the health food store, I picked up some extra vitamins for both kids. I got a "super greens" chewable. I know that the boys do not eat many (if any) green vegetables. They'll eat green bean and peas but that is the extent of their palate. I am figuring that a little boost can't hurt.

Trust Your Instincts

Yesterday was not a good day at the Silva house. Things are looking up today but yesterday, man o man. Not a good day.

Cam woke up with a 101 fever. No big deal. Popped some Motrin in him and let him rest. I made an appointment (first available) for 4:20pm.

I don't know why I felt compelled to check Cam's temp every 30 minutes. I just did. He was on the couch looking very sick. It kept hovering around 101. Check 30 minutes later. 101. Check 30 minutes later. 101. Check 30 minutes later. 104. We had an appointment scheduled for 4:20pm. First instinct, we can't wait until 4:20pm. He did not look good. He was shaking hard from shivering. He couldn't open his eyes because he said they hurt too badly. He was so hot his face looked sunburned.

Long story short, it took about 2 hours for his fever to come down at Children's urgent care. He had strep. Fluid in his ear (not an ear infection yet). He needed a dose of antibiotics at urgent care and another before the day was over. The Dr. said if we hit him hard with oral antibiotics we could avoid needing an iv. We spent 3 hours at urgent care that trip. His fever had finally come down to a respectable 102 and they felt comfortable sending us home.

Fast forward...we're home. Steve got Colin from school. I had to step out to pick up Cam's prescription. When I came back an hour later, I found Steve in the bathroom with Cam. Cam could not stop vomiting. I know that as a parent, watching your child vomit is never pleasant. But this just seemed different. This wasn't the "Mommy I feel like I'm about to toss my cookies and my face just turned three shades of green". This was "Gut wrenching, my stomach hurts, my head hurts, I can't open my eyes, and can't swallow, my fever is going up again" vomit.

When I called the nurse line to see if this could be a reaction from his meds, I did not get a good feeling. She urged that Cam had a stomach bug on top of strep. She told me to wait 3 hours and call back. Also, no Motrin, Tylenol or antibiotics. Her solution was to cool him with a washcloth, wrap him when he was shivering, give him chilled Gatorade (but not for 3 hours) and if I felt like he needed it,get suppositories to bring his fever down. I could not give him antibiotics until the morning and only after he had eaten.

Um, no thank you. I was looking at my kid. He had snot coming out of his nose, vomit coming out of his mouth and a 103 fever (and climbing). He was shivering so badly he couldn't hold the puke bucket. He was crying because he felt like his throat was closing, he wouldn't open his eyes. Wait 3 hours? No. Thank. You.

So, my instinct told me to take him in again. Let me tell you, when you go to urgent care twice in a day, they are very very nice to you. Long story short, the vomiting was due to his belly being swollen. His belly swelling was due to the lymph glands that are in your belly which had been attacked by the strep. Between his high fever and strep swelling his lymph glands, he was nauseous. They gave him anti-nausea meds. We waited 30 minutes. Then a sip of Gatorade. We waited 15 minutes. Then more Gatorade. Wait. Tylenol. Wait. Popsicle. Wait. Antibiotic. Wait. Motrin to top it all off. Between all of this he had rounds of shivering and teeth chattering. It was interesting to me how he could go from shaking to burning up in a matter of minutes. Three hours later, he was like a new kid. He actually walked out of the office on his own.

I am so thankful that they took the time with us to take small steps. The Dr. could have just admitted us and hooked him up to all kinds of iv's. She really felt that if we could get the nausea under control, we could get his meds in him to get everything else under control. I am so thankful for that doctor. To make things even more interesting, I sort of know her from a friend. After we made the connection, she was extremely attentive to us and was so sweet with Cam.

To sum all of this up, I am so glad that I took him into urgent care. Twice. We have been to urgent care enough to know the ropes. However, these two particular visits were worth whatever price they charge us for the 2 tsp of Motrin. I promise I will not complain when those bills come our way. My boy is doing better. I am so thankful for all of the prayers and concern from my friends and family. I am certain that the prayers allowed Camden to sleep through the night and wake up this morning feeling better. Although he still looks like this,I know he is feeling better because he wanted to know if he earned a toy yesterday since he had to go to the hospital and he did not complain. That has been our bribe the last few times he has needed stitches.

He still woke up with a 101 fever. He is still complaining that his eyes and his head hurt. But he is not throwing up, he has kept down some food and he is not shivering. What a difference a day makes. Moms, trust your instincts. It's better than trying to reason with the phone nurse that you think your child is really sick. It's better than watching your child shake and vomit at the same time. It's better than being up all night worrying. Trust and prayer. It worked for us.

Light Bulb!

I had a lightbulb idea last night. It's such an easy idea. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

After Colin's school conference last night, I was very pleased with his academic progress but a bit concerned about his shyness and lack of social skills. I'm not even sure I would label it as a lack of social skills. Colin just has a pretty profound sense of right and wrong. He does not like to be made fun of, laughed at, teased, etc... While I realize that there is not a kid in the world that likes those things, they rock Colin to his core. Even if a child is not meaning to laugh "at" him so much as "with" him, he still gets upset. He is sensitive and righteous.

Colin has some athletic ability. He can ride a BMX bike. Although he might not take first place, or even third place, he tries and he holds his own. He's a pretty decent swimmer. He can throw a baseball and run a race. He just does not have a competitive spirit. He does not like the feeling of losing (again, no kid does) but he does not have the desire to put the effort in to practice enough to win. He's just not competitive in that sense.

So, at recess when most of the other boys are doing races, competing in tether ball and making up games that include winner and losers, Colin does not participate. Therefor, he does not play with the other boys. Therefor, he does not have friends. You see where I am going with this....

He has other interests. Legos is a very strong interest for him. If recess consisted of playing with legos for 20 minutes, he would eat it up. Insert Light Bulb moment here!

I am going to start a Lego club at Colin's school. I've already emailed his teacher and recruited at least one other parent (thanks Cindi!) to help. It will just be for 1st grade boys for now. I'm not sure how much interest we will have but I think we'll fill the club pretty quickly. We will meet for 1 hour 1 day a week after school. We'll limit the number of kids involved so it is a manageable group. We'll challenge the kids to build certain projects each week. In order to foster cooperation, friendship and creativity, we will group the kids with different partners or cooperative groups each week. There will be no "cliques". It won't be the cool kids versus everyone else.

This will give Colin (and I suspect a lot of other boys) a chance to be with like-minded kids and share their skills. I am so excited to give some kids the opportunity to feel like they are part of a "group". There won't be competitions or a show of bronze. Just fun and creativity with a bunch of silly boys.

And, as an added bonus, maybe my house won't look like this everyday. Yes, I know, it probably will. But a girl can dream.

Ten on Tuesday

Not much going on this week but I'll try my best to be witty and funny.

1. Camden received a good report on his K- readiness conference yesterday. I was not too surprised that he "passed" things like, "can count to 20, identifies most A,B,C's, socializes with peers...". The only part he failed, skipping. Huh, my 5 year old boy can't skip. A little strange but then I though about it. In what instance have I ever asked him (or taught him) to skip? Nope, we went straight from walking to riding a skate board and BMX biking. I guess it's okay that he can not skip.

2. I am almost done filing my paperwork for my substitute teaching license in Colorado. It only took 4 hours last week and some dissection of the directions, but I am almost finished. Right now I am perplexed on how to fit a 5 digit number in a 6 digit spot. I think I will call the CDE on that one but I have a feeling I won't get much insight.

3. I don't splurge very often on myself. This summer I bought a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses. They cost way more than my usual Target purchases. But I have found that I just can not wear sunglasses. They give me an extreme headache if I wear them for more than 10 minutes. Maui Jim's are frame less, bendable and lightweight. I love love love them. Then they broke. I reached in my sunglasses case in my purse and pulled them out in two pieces. Ugh. I have no idea why I did not keep my receipt. I have the case, the warranty info, the cleaning cloth, the instructions...Why in the world did I throw away the receipt? Well, they say that regardless they *might* repair them under warranty. I guess we'll see.

4. Colin seems to have made a turn around this week. He's not fretting too much about school. I am really trying to pinpoint his anxiety issues but they are not consistent. All I can determine is that he gets anxious at transitions. I know that's a pretty normal thing for younger kids. But at age 6 (almost 7) it seems that he should have outgrown this.

5. I am at gymnastics with Cam. At the moment I am surrounded by all these moms that have babies. They are crowding my space. There are 4 tables set up and bleachers. Every single mom with a baby has asked me to move over so that they can put their baby carrier in the table where I am working. I don't mind sharing, but you are not entitled just because you have a baby. All the other tables are exactly the same as the table that I am at. I am at the middle table. I'm not even at the most convenient table for "holding babies". What gives? All you pretty, well dressed, perfectly manicured moms with new babies, get another table.

6. Cam woke up yesterday with a "poppy crackly ear". I took a look in his ears and sure enough, his ear was red. Not on fire, but red. I couldn't fathom putting him on another antibiotic (he's been on two in the last month). So I headed over to Vitamin Cottage and got some garlic ear drops for kids. They contain a lot of other natural ingredients but garlic is the largest component. Man, did it smell like garlic! Cam was so stuffy that he could not even smell it. I'm glad because if he had, he would have refused. Miracle of miracles, he woke up this morning and said his ears felt normal. Yeah yeah yeah for natural remedies!

7. I took a shower and got dressed today all by myself! I know that sounds silly but it's actually something to celebrate.

8. Camism: Mom, every time I draw I try to be more creative and use my imagination. Some day I will be a famous artist like Grandma Silva. :-)

9. Our living room looks like the the Lego store exploded. There are literally Legos covering every square inch of the floor. It drives me crazy (and Steve crazier) but I have to leave them out. Colin plays with them every day after school. He has gotten Camden engaged so Cam will now sit on the floor (while Colin is at school) and build for hours. If I put them away, it will all be over. I keep thinking that I could rearrange to playroom so they could spread them out there. But, in just a few years the kids will not want anything to do with us. (Or so I've been told by parents of older kids.) Do I really want to move them into another room? At least I get to interact with them while I am in the kitchen cooking or cleaning. I go back to that "don't let you kid have a computer in their room" rule. I know that applies specifically to when they are older, but why would I isolate them now?

10. I think I've rambled enough. Have a great day!

Discoveries

I have made a lot of discoveries this weekend. This post will take on a "Ten on Tuesday" feel but will be posted on Sunday. I guess it could be "Six on Sunday." I'll see if I can keep it to just six.

1. Sleep makes all things better. After two days of resting, napping and generally not doing much, I am starting to feel better. I did scrub all four bathrooms today but that was a necessity. I might go up and take a nap in a little while in hopes that I feel human again by tomorrow.

2. I might be able to do Cam's speech therapy on my own. Right now we are paying an independent SLP a good chunk of change each month for 30 minute weekly sessions.She is wonderful, but her techniques are simple and not completely out of my realm. Add to that it takes and hour in the car round trip to get to her office. While Cam would qualify for district services, that would mean I would have to pull him out of his current pre-k and put him in a district school for the rest of the school year. The district already told me that the paperwork would not be completed until April. That means pulling him out of his current pre-k for 2 months. I don't think that would go over very well with Cam. After doing some research, I think I can tutor him on my own with resources that I have found on-line.

3. I am not going to be able to teach even a part-time K position this fall. I have seriously contemplated applying for a part-time teaching position but with the teacher training, teacher in service days and work I would need to do at home, I justify my desire over what is practical. If I took a teaching job, I would need day-care for the kids for two weeks before school starts, day-care for every in service day and would probably bring work home most nights or weekends. It's just not the right time yet.

4. When Colin was going through anxiety issues at the beginning of the year his psychologist asked me about testing him for a gifted program. I told her I did not think he was gifted, just driven. I think maybe I was wrong. Colin seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. He thinks about the "big picture" in most issues. He craves routine, builds legos, models and whatever else he can get his hands on for hours. Case in point, on Thursday he walked in the door from school at 4pm. He went straight to his Lego Mindstorm, took it all apart and started building a new robot based on the instructions I pulled up for him on my computer. He took a 20 minute break for dinner. At 8pm, we finally forced him to go to bed. He only had one section left and finished that the next morning. He put the entire thing together by himself, based on a computer manual and it worked! I'm going to re-explore this gifted thing. He is an emotional wreck but it seems to only be based on guilt (i.e., I have more than others, I should not want more than I already have) and based on his need/desire to stay home and build things or to go out and have fun.

5. I don't like cold weather unless it's accompanied by snow. I don't like water unless it's accompanied by a beach.

6. A clean house is a happy house.

Just Joking

Well, it turns out that the cold sore was not a farewell to my cold. It was just joking with me. I woke up yesterday not feeling great. I woke up today feeling pretty horrible. Steve graciously came home from work early. I have been in bed most of the afternoon.

The doctor finally called me back and had this to say: "The augmentin is a pretty hefty drug. Keep taking it along with the following; 6 advil cold and sinus a day, 2 prilosec (to offset the terrible stomach pains that will be created from the augmentin and the advil) and a nasal wash. Call us on Monday to let us know how you are feeling." Okay, I'll call you if I have not died of a drug overdose.

Camden is now back on nasonex, astepro, mucinex and zyrtec. We're like a regular pharmacy around here.

Colin has been moping the last 30 minutes. He is is bed. He was tucked in about 30 minutes ago. I went in to check on him and he had this sad look on his face. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he was sad. When I asked him why, his response was, "I'm not sure yet but when I figure it out, I'll let you know." Oh.My.Goodness. Talk about a kid needing attention. I'm not sure what to do with that one.

It's 8:20pm and I am going to bed now. Good night.

Feeling Old

How come the more I try to stay young, the older I feel? Yesterday while I was running I inhaled very deeply and I felt the muscles in my back pull completely from one side to the other. Yes, breathing. This morning I feel like someone clubbed me in the back with a baseball bat.

Normally it's my lower back that hurts. This time it is everything except my lower back. I'll try to ice it today since I can't afford the time to get in to the chiropractor today. The kids just saw me try to get out of a chair. As I grimaced and tears welled up in my eyes, Colin said, "Are you okay mom?" My reply, "Yes Colin, I'm okay. It's just a backache. You can't die from a backache." Um, I really hope that true because this one HURTS!

Camism today: "Mom, are any of my Webkinz celebrating a special occasion today? I need to complete my gold coin collection so I can buy a dragster from the Wish Shop."
That's a lot of big words little man.

Update on Snicks - she is one crazy cat. I was sitting at the table on Tuesday filling out some paperwork. The cat did a stealth jump onto the table and attacked my hand; repeatedly. I'd push her off and she would jump back up. It was quite a fun game for her. I get, like, 10.9 seconds to myself a day. I really needed to get this paperwork completed for Camden's speech therapy. Kitty foiled my plans.

After the boys were snug in there beds last night Steve and I heard giggling from upstairs. I went up to see what was going on. Colin was dangling his hands and feet over the edge of his bed and the cat was attacking him. I am so glad that Snicks made it through her surgery. Colin would have been heartbroken for many months to come. He loves that little fireball with all of his heart.

Please continue t pray for Joanne (a friend of a friend). She is being taken off of the meds that induced the coma (so the swelling in her brain could recede). They do not know how long it will take for her to wake up or the extent of the damage. You can follow her progress here:

http://thesimplewife.typepad.com/the_simple_wife/