Cops

I must admit I don't *like* traffic cops too much - what grown up does really? But today, today the kids and I actually cheered for an undercover car that happened to just be in the right place at the right time and the DID pull over a guy who was drive like a complete fool.

My friend called me and asked me to pick up her sweet precious girl from Betty Rowland (which we love and if I could figure out a way to finagle them to let me send my kids there until they were 20 - I SO would do it). Going down the main road, through a school zone (we don't go there, but I don't want to run over their kids!) this fool come zipping in and out around cars going 45. To make it better, he's talking wildly on his phone complete with gesticulations. Then, he zipped passed the cop. And promptly got pulled over.

And the Peasants Rejoiced.

Georgia

We are working on the States - learning a little about each one (the capitol, the flower, the motto, the state animal, the state bird, what the state is known for..) and we were doing Georgia today. T1 is responsible for MOST of the work, seeing as how T2 is just getting to the point of being able to read and write adequately and T1 can do both fairly proficiently. (Well, that and that silly age difference - but if you heard THEM bring it up there is no difference.)  I'm sitting with my laptop trying to find something that will make Georgia look exciting and fun (really all I found was a state that would KILL ME- but that's a different topic), and was asking them their questions at the same time so they could look through the library books to find the answers and write them down. I then got to "What's the state flower?" T2 is, at this point, in his underwear (again - it's 2 pm at this point), dangling upside with his legs flopping about down in the corner of the couch doing a headstand. He states happy as can be "A rose. I don't know what kind of rose though, but a rose of some kind."

Now, I'm sure there are a TON of people who think the memorization of facts is very important. That the capitols, birds, flowers etc have to be memorize by state and be regurgitated for all times - *I* am not one of said people. I figure that unless the world comes to a immediate end and/or zombies attack that's what the internet, smartphone, iphones, and the like are for. It IS important to know the states, about where they are on a map,  geographically what they are next to, be familiar with the capitol so if someone SAYS it you don't look like an idiot. So I Google the answer because T1 has the books and I don't know what the flower is right off the top of my head. The state flower of Georgia is the Cherokee Rose.  T1 had no idea and she remembers almost everything she finds interesting. Just another reason I don't doubt the weird things my kids say even when they are upside down, in their underwear, talking on and on about roses - Those weird little monsters of mine are usually right when it comes to stuff like that.

Misfortune

Much to our dismay Gus didn't make it to the end of last week. He curled up into his favorite chair and died. Unfortunately his favorite chair was also computer chair, but you can't really just wipe that off when they are clinging to it (as my friend N suggested). Now admittedly she's never really had pets or cats and is very liberal about her "Death Policy". I have the - If Something Dies On It, It's Gone" rule.  I also have the "Poke It With A Stick To See If It Moves" policy which I also think N may not have. So while it IS inconvenient to be down a chair, sure is better than a sofa or a bed.


We also got a kitten. We call it the "Replacement Plan". My mom happened to know that the vet had some wee little kittens and she went and got one and "showed up" with one for the kids. C and I knew and talked to her about it, but the kids still think it was a complete surprise and she got to save the day and get hero points that way. *Shrug* Someone should. I got to explain their cat was dead and that at some point we'd probably get another one - I certainly wasn't getting any. C wouldn't just come home with a kitten without having me look at it first because he likes to be all considerate and nice. But sometimes, it's just easier when a kitten magically appears.

Behind..

I am painfully behind in posting. In everything really. We went to the pediatric neurologist and have been hoping the medication adjustment would solve all of T2's problems. They haven't. Not only did they NOT solve the headaches - he's getting a migraine everyday. He's now not sleeping at night and growling  like a hyena at people and aggressive and well. A wilderbeast. SO. It's safe to say option 1 on the meds is a no. But we have to give it until Thursday and then taper him back down THEN switch him to option 2, which also has wilderbeast side effects. OH YAY!

We also took a few days off and went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Texas. The kids had a really, really good time. We stopped by Legoland while we were there too. Small, but pretty cute. There was a little aquarium we went to there, but our aquarium here is massively bigger and better. I took about 4 pictures the entire time we were gone. I was picture lazy.

It was also my birthday on the day we drove back. C got me a super pretty purse. And the kids each made me a card. I DO have those and will put those up. They can each read and write so well now.

Also came back to one cat having mauled the others and poor Gus got a cold and is still sick. :( Nothing sadder than a wheezy, snot encrusted cat. Not to mention he went to the vet today.

Neurologist and MRI

T2 had his MRI. That boy did SOOOOO good. He was anxious - as any little boy would be. But, we stopped at QuikTrip - where some douchebag smashed his head in the door, but that's a different story all together- and got him some after MRI Cheetos bribe. We got to St. Francis and they had to get all of our insurance stuff straightened out and his forms filled out and his bracelets on, you know, the typical processing stuff. Well then we got back to radiology where the tech greeted us with a syringe and sound loudly that they had ordered contrast and that he was going to be Okay with an IV right? T2 is a clever little fellow and caught JUST enough of that to know what it meant and started to SCREAM like a pig being slaughtered. He HATES needles of any kind. He screams when *I* get my allergy shots. It takes 4 nurses to hold him down for his flu shots. So. No. The long and short of it is that contrast via IV probably isn't gonna happen.

But the tech was really great about it. She told him that it was ok, as long as he held really, really still and they got good pictures - they wouldn't have to. And she was good on her word. T2 held perfectly still the entire 20 minutes. He laid on his hands to keep from grabbing the things hold his head in, he didn't wiggle, flinch, squirm, or anything then entire time. And she didn't force the contrast issue.

We then went to the Pediatric Neurologist this morning. The neurologist was super nice. And now we have a headache plan. He's to double his atenolol for 2 weeks. IF that doesn't make a significant difference take him off of that and he gave us a script for something else to try. We go back in 6 weeks. He also has to go in about a month for an EEG to test for a certain kind of migraine. This is gonna be special because he's got to be sleep deprived. Go to bed at midnight and be awake by 5. Oy. Ah well. But it's a plan at least.

Wednesday..

So I'm a lousy Homeschooling Mom today. We are totally not doing anything really book related, but just enough "other" stuff that I can sort of, kinda, justify if as "School". We played Banangrams for spelling for instance. T2 is actually getting to the point where he can play. He knows a LOT of words now. I had the kids help me clean out the frog, gerbil, and fish tanks and we talked about the animal health and how we have to do certain things to keep them healthy. I pronounced this science. We did laundry, dishes, swept, and general toy tiding and well.. You gotta lean how to these things efficiently. Practice makes perfect. We are going to go to Texas in a few days on a wee few days trip and I'm going to have them look at the map and show them the route we'll take and plot out our stops with the places they want to stop. Legoland, the American Girl Store, Great Wolf Lodge, C wants to go to Fry's.. Look at those map skills they'll learn..

We did do a few pages in our math books, mostly because the girl is having issues with the section she's in and I want her to keep pushing through now that she's finally gotten the concept she was having issues with. I also don't want to hear "But I don't WANNNNNNNAAA. We didn't Yeeeessterdaaaaay." Tomorrow.

While we were cleaning the frog cage (which is more difficult that it may seem BTW), I got a call from T1's occupational therapist. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but she said that she wants to do some testing with her next week because her boss - the actual therapist who designs the the therapy program for each child- was reviewing her last results and saw something she wants to test for. Something visual processing? She's going to call me back her in a little bit with scheduling information - which is unfortunately going to probably be the same afternoon we get back, but *shrug* we live wild like that.

The other interesting kink in our plans is T2 is going for an MRI tomorrow and then to a pediatric neurologist Friday. His head has been hurting for several weeks and he's had a round of antibiotics (the regular ped thinking it was a sinus infection) with no relief. He's already on atenolol for migraines - which has helped enormously. BUT. They came back. Sooo he's being sent to a specialist now. Poor little fella. 10 sinus surgeries and a pediatric neurologist. :(  Not to mention  his head hurting all the time.