Archive for December, 2006

December 28, 2006

2007: awaiting the compound fracture

I feel like I should be looking back on the trials and triumphs of the past year, or making bold proclamations about what I will do in the new year, but frankly I’m too logy from eating home made toffee and drinking Starbucks cream liqueur to do either.

Instead, I will make a prediction: I predict that 2007 will find me in the emergency room with a kid who has broken something. Something ATTACHED to him, I mean, not just a coffee cup or my new iPod.

I predict that 2007 will be The Year of the Cast.

Henry is, of course, the most likely candidate for major breakage, because he is hyper and impulsive, of course, but also because he is a climber. He has always been a climber; before he could walk properly, he climbed. He would pull up on the sofa or a table and start working to get his fat little baby leg up on the surface. When he was two he learned to climb INTO his crib (not out, thank god, but IN, which seems to me to be WAAAY harder). He attacks playground equipment, swinging and clawing his way from one place to another. Also, he is fearless and has an unnaturally high pain tolerance.

All of which will clearly lead us to disaster.

Recently, he’s been climbing on our swingset, hanging upside down from the crossbar over the swings. It’s amazing to watch him, to see him strategizing where to put his hands and feet, to see him holding on so tightly and carefully. I constantly find myself saying, LOOK AT HIM! HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT! KIDS WITH N.L.D. HAVE TERRIBLE BALANCE AND POOR COORDINATION! BUT NOT HENRY! HA HA!

So yes, I am proud of his “tricks,” as he calls them. And also terrified because one misplaced hand and he will break his arm, or possibly his neck.

I am equally worried about Charlie, who is not as daring as Henry but is prone to try EVERYTHING that Henry does, and who also really likes to jump on his bed. His favorite swingset related game is to get a running start and fling himself at the actual swing, catching it under his arms, right across his rib cage; he lifts his feet off the ground and yells, “I’M FLYING!”

He will most likely break a rib, although there is also the possibility that he will overshoot the swing and plunge head first into the rock-hard ground underneath.

Perhaps 2007 will be the Year of the Neck Brace.

Recently, the New York Times ran a terrific article* about behavior therapy for kids with A.D.H.D.; in particular, the article focused on programs that teach parenting strategies. The article summarized the approach in this way: “Behavior modification for A.D.H.D. and for related problems, like habitually disruptive or defiant behavior, is based on a straightforward system of rewards and consequences. Parents reward every good or cooperative act they see: small things, like simply paying attention for a few moments, earn an ‘attaboy.’ Completing homework without complaint might earn time on a Gameboy. Parents remove privileges, like television and playtime, or impose a ‘time out,’ in response to defiance and other misbehavior. . . . And they learn to ignore annoying but harmless attempts to win attention, like making weird noises, tapping or acting like a baby.”

This is the program we follow at home, and honestly, the hard part is that last bit, about ignoring the “annoying but harmless” behavior. I have made a conscious choice to use outdoor play as a way to channel the craziness, the yelling and running and jumping, all of which are expected and acceptable behavior for four and six-year-old boys just NOT in a house full of furniture. Instead of yelling or sending everyone to timeout or pouring myself a stiff drink at 3:00 pm, I send the boys outside, where they CAN run and jump and yell, and for the most part this is a good thing. But in 2007, I am telling you now, it will land me in the emergency room.

Mark my words.

*This article was the last in a series; you should get yourself some coffee and read all three. Really.

Posted by Susan 7:41 pmHenry&Charlie22 Comments  

December 26, 2006

Boxing Day does NOT mean you can hit your brother

Hello! Is Christmas over yet? I feel like the groundhog, warily peeking out from my wrapping paper den to see how the rest of the world is going on.

I will most certainly see my shadow, as I am twice as large as I was a few days ago, what with the non-stop eating.

Today we completed Christmas: Part Three. We started the festivities on Christmas Eve morning, with family gifts; the eating started at lunch time and carried on late into the night. Christmas day, Santa left presents, and then we relocated to my in-laws (at 7:45 in the morning) to open MORE presents. And eat. Did I mention the eating?

My parents flew in later in the day, although their luggage took a little side trip to Branson (possibly to see the Osmonds, we’re not sure) and we ate (again) with my in-laws and then Wade and my dad recovered the lost luggage. (When they got to the airport, there were suitcases stacked everywhere, not locked together or secured in any way at all. My dad found their bags and was musing about what to do–walk back up to the ticket counter and talk to someone from the airline? find an airport security guard? look for Santa Claus?–when Wade said, “Get the bags and let’s go.” And so they did.) This morning, we had presents with Nana and Papa, and then we ate some more. Today was a little different, though, because I actually cooked, rather than just availing myself of the fat of the land (or whatever Wade’s mother was serving). I cooked TWICE, in fact. And no one died or contracted a food-borne illness. Score one for me.

And now I’m ready for Christmas to be over. Please.

We had a lovely holiday, but by mid-day yesterday I was starting to lose my grip just a little. Henry and I went to the airport to pick my parents up at 3:00, which was funny because their flight didn’t get in until 4:00 (I read the e-mail from my dad wrong, ha ha, such a riot). When they DID land, my mother called me to say lost our luggage! come get us! and I said, “Okay! At the United baggage claim!” and she said, “No, American,” and I said, “Right! United!”

And she said, “Susan! Have you been drinking?” Oh I wish. But no, I was just really really tired. And perhaps a little high from wrapping paper fumes. Is there such a thing?

I’m still a little sluggish today, which I’m blaming on the Leftover Casserole we had for dinner. I cooked a turkey breast today SPECIFICALLY to make this casserole (layer turkey, peas, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, more gravy; heat at 350 until warm through; eat up!), even though the idea is that you use what was left from the actual turkey meal. Why bother with the turkey dinner when the leftovers are the best part?

See, I really have lost my mind.

Posted by Susan 9:13 pmeveryday life15 Comments  

December 23, 2006

We wish you a merry Christmas . . .

and a happy New Year!

Christmas 2006
November 2006

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Posted by Susan 4:55 pmgood people14 Comments  


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