What I Did Last Summer

By Firstborn:


I built a suit of armor out of duct tape and cardboard. Really!





Here's a video of him in full armor walking around the neighborhood to show off his new suit.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6554268021956205562&hl=en

Who needs a stinkin' pedigree?

We knew when we got her that Nova was more than just a Labrador Retriever/Golden Retriever mix. After all, neither breed has white patches. And just look at those ears. They are clearly neither. They only lay flat when she is sleeping. When she is awake, they are all over the place in various stages of half to full cocked and rarely symmetrical.

When she walks or runs, they are plastered flat back against her neck (for best aerodynamics, I believe).
Many possibilities have crossed our mind through the weeks; greyhound, rat terrier, or just about any terrier, or maybe the result of the cross of some upstanding ear with the very floppy retrievers. We were ill prepared for the Vet's suggestion.

It started almost two weeks ago when I took a walk through the woods of Bill Yeck park with Nova. We passed a nice family on the trail who of course had to stop to pet her and complement her. They asked what mix she was and I proudly told them about her retriever background. Then they suggested that the ears looked really Great Dane. Gasp!

So at her last vet appointment, where she weighed in at 28 lbs at 4 mos, I asked the doc about her ears.

"What do you think they are?" I asked.
"Well, it's hard to tell," he demurred.
"'Cause, someone suggested Great Dane," I pressed.
He blushed a moment and smiled looking at his feet. "I was thinking that, but I didn't want to say anything."
I laughed and said, "I just wanted to know if I should enroll the kids in riding lessons."
At this point, he decided to backpedal a bit. "Of course, she could be just 5% Great Dane," he said. You know, just the 5% that shows up in the ears.

Then he pushed me to get her fixed soon because we don't know how fast she is going to grow and the bigger the dog, the more it costs to do the operation.

Off to buy stock in a dog food company...

The Similarities between Nova and Lastborn

Two weeks ago, I was very worried that we would ever be able to take Nova in a car. She hates the car. She had little exposure and at least half of those exposures were bad experiences. Going to the vet, leaving her mother. But there was more. I discovered when I was taking her to the vet the last time, that her carrier was not too stable. It was also a bit small for her. So as I watched her carrier roll over on it's top through my rear view mirror, I resolved that we would have to get a new, larger carrier for her.

So I went to PetSmart and got this one:

You are right. That is not Nova in there, but Lastborn. I knew as soon as I set the thing up and enticed the dog into it that it would be the perfect place for Lastborn. And sure enough as soon as he saw it, he wanted to get in. Firstborn was only too happy to lock the door for him.

But the puppy like qualities don't stop there! No, indeed. Last night, I came up with this list of similarities and differences in personality (scroll down. for some reason Blogger doesn't like tables):

Personality Trait	Nova	Lastborn
Runs, never walks between rooms.	x	x
Makes turns, by slamming into wall.	x	x
Often slides when reaching a hard surface floor.	x	x
When tired, acts hyperactive, often running between rooms.	x	x
Needs a cage to calm down.	x	x
Never stops.	x	x
Leaves crumbs when eating.	x	Never. But loves that Lastborn does
Likes to cuddle.	x	x
When sharing a bed, often takes over the whole thing.	x	x

hmmm.

Fifth Grade Graduation

Firstborn is finishing fifth grade today and moving on to middle school. As an end of year project, they had to do a retrospective writing a few paragraphs about specific topics and making a scrapbook of the last 5 years of school. They also had to ask a parent or teacher who has known them through school to write a letter to them.

I asked firstborn if he would prefer funny or sappy. Of course, he asked for sappy and told me that his teacher would give extra credit for mentions of pee. When do you ever get a teacher like that. Always obliging, I wrote the following:

Dear Firstborn,

Eleven years. It has flown by like Harry Potter riding Buckbeak.

It’s hard to remember you as a baby, but when I look at pictures in scrapbooks, it all comes rushing back. You were such a happy baby and always liked to sleep a lot. The only struggle we ever had with you as a baby was changing your diaper. That’s right; Dad and I had to learn to change diapers at lightning speed. It was a race to cover you and seal you up before you peed on us. Something about feeling the cool air would always make you pee.

From a very young age, you always liked to use big words. People would comment on how appropriately you used words. However, like most kids, you had a lisp and couldn't pronounce some words correctly. Trying to teach you manners, we attempted to teach you to say excuse me whenever you burped. Being a child of rare intelligence, you decided that burping and passing gas were equivalent. So you used to say excuse me every time you passed gas. Unfortunately, you could not quite say excuse me. So instead, every time you passed gas (and I do mean every time), you would say, “Accuse me.”

There have been times that you have embarrassed me. These times lend themselves to great storytelling opportunities for me. For example, when you were in preschool, your school would hold a Mother’s Day Tea each year. The children dressed up and sat for tea with their mothers using fancy tea sets and little sandwiches and chocolate dipped strawberries that you kids made. And you each made us a broach made from a puzzle piece you had painted over with colors you thought I would like. And you each made a picture of your mother using paints and colors and yarn for the hair and macaroni to make a little necklace for our necks. The pictures of the mothers were posted up on the stage for as decoration. At the end of the tea, the director of the school announced that we could each take our pictures home to remember how our little children saw us. She then looked at me and mouthed the words “I’m so sorry.” I had no idea what she meant until I saw the picture. Now, Ken. I may get angry sometimes, but why did my picture have green angry looking eyes and pointy teeth. I am not an alien! I still have the picture, so don’t try to deny it.

As an older brother, you have been the best. Except for some times when your brother frustrates you, you are kind and generous to him. I know you deny that you like to get him excited so that he will get in trouble, and you don’t do it as much as you used to, but when you were both smaller, that was your favorite thing to do. A few years ago, I told you that I love being with each of you alone, but the only time I ever have to raise my voice is when I have the two of you together. To which you replied. “It’s like together we are a bomb. Lastborn is the explosive and I am the fuse. Apart, we are nothing, but put us together and bang! Very true. While I may get frustrated at your occasional explosions, I do very much enjoy both of you.

You have a unique way of looking at and analyzing your world. You bring insight to our life that we would not have had without you. I have no idea what you will really do with your life, but I am excited to see you grow up and go off on your own. I know that whatever path you choose, it will continue to be interesting and entertaining for your father and me.

Firstborn got to read the letter in front of the class and they all enjoyed it. But they insisted that he bring the picture in for the whole class to see.

A bit of Ohio Flora

Today's lesson: Ohio Trees.

Through AtlasQuest, I had heard about the Tulip Tree. It sounded interesting. So I have been looking for them since I arrived. They are not always easy to find in a stand of trees because the leaves are so similar to those of the maple. While walking through our patch of woods last fall, I found a leaf from a Tulip Tree, but I was unable to identify the tree to which the leaf belonged.

This spring, my woodland garden was inundated with these branches and stray tulips that fell from the tree. Again, I was unable to find the tree to which they belonged. The foliage in this tree is much higher than the surrounding maple foliage. So, when I look up that's all I can see. Finally, after looking for a few days, I was able to find the trunk to this tree.

Here are more pictures of the species. I was surprised to see on the range map on this page that the tree does exist in NY and MA. However, when you click on those states, you can see that it is not in the counties I frequented.

An actual conversation with my husband

Me: Did you know the neighbors mow their lawn twice a week?
DH: Really? No way.
Me: Yes.
DH: Who?
Me: Michelle, and Terry and Mark, and Phil. They all do? You haven't noticed that their lawn always seems to be shorter than ours?
DH: Your kidding. (after a short pause) Lawn Nazis!

So that's what the sirens are for

Last night was filled with excitement. We fell under a tornado watch at about 2PM. By 7:00 we were under T-storm warnings and it was raining pretty hard.

We sent the kids to bed and sat down for an evening of the Daily Show and the Colbert Show. The rain got harder and harder, but there were no noticeable winds. Then there was hail. Not bad, but we heard a few bangs on the window.

At about 10 after 8, the tornado warning was flashed on the screen. I turned to DH and asked if we should get down to the basement and he brushed me off. He it totally convinced that there is no chance at tornadoes her. My personal opinion is that if there have been tornadoes in upstate NY and MA, the chances here, at the edge of tornado country are higher. When I talk to neighbors, I get mixed responses. Some take the threat seriously, others laugh. One neighbor told me that the sirens have never even gone off here in our city. Another neighbor told me how worried she is that she doesn't have a basement. She lives in a trilevel but the bottom level is not very deep. I invited her to join us any time the sirens go off. The intriguing thing about this is that both women grew up in this area.

So, minutes after DH laughed at me, the sirens went off. I was disturbed by the fact that I could barely hear them over the rain and the TV. I had to open the door to make sure I was hearing what I thought I was hearing. Each month, on the first Monday at 12:00PM, they test the sirens, and I always thought they were so loud. Not in the middle of a rain storm though.

Still there was no wind. I turned to DH again and said, we need to get down to the basement. He laughed again and told me I was being silly. That's what the sirens are for though. they set them off when a tornado has been spotted in the area. I insisted that he run upstairs to get the boys and I would try to get the cats and dog down. The dog was a little frightened, the cats would have nothing to do with any of it.

DH went upstairs to get the boys and soon, Lastborn was walking down the cellar stairs looking sleepy and disoriented. DH asked if the neighbors had a cellar and if he should invite them over. I said they did not and agreed that he should. Still no Firstborn down in the cellar. DH ran out to talk to the neighbors. Soon I heard hearty laughter from DH and the neighbors. I began to wonder if the sirens were really meant to warn you. But I stayed with Lastborn. Still no Firstborn.

I ran upstairs and called him again leaving poor Lastborn to hold onto the dog who had woken up fully and was getting frisky at this point.

Firstborn was still upstairs in nothing but his underpants looking very disoriented. I had to really insist that he get down cellar. I don't know why he took his bathrobe off though. He sleeps in in, so he should have had more than his underpants on.

Within a few minutes DH was back and shortly after, the neighbor and her niece joined us. The neighbor was carrying a glass of wine. The niece had just flown in at 3PM from Minnesota. She's not used to tornado warnings either. Apparently, they had been on their back porch all evening, drinking wine and watching the sky turn black.

Thankfully, Firstborn was still not awake enough to be mortified that he was sitting there in nothing but his underpants. But I sensed some discomfort from him, so I found something to cover him up with. I couldn't find the bucket of blankets that I had down there. Luckily, we had one blanket that the movers had left and I had grabbed the throw that we use in the family room. So we were warm enough.

The sirens remained on for about 15 minutes. Just enough time for all of us to nervously joke about the situation. We explained to the boys that there is nothing to fear and if the tornadoes were really close we would hear winds. It was pretty still outside. Just occasional gentle gusts of wind. We have had storms come through here that scare the begeebers out of me. The winds from storms are much higher here than back in the east. They say that a tornado sounds like a freight train, but some of the storms we have had sound like a freight train. DH sleeps right through them, and I stay awake with the TV on waiting for the tornado warnings and watches. It freaks me out.


After the sirens stopped, we put the kids back to bed and brought Nova out in the rain, because of course all this happened when she had been sleeping for a couple of hours. We were at her bladder limit when we entered the cellar. We couldn't wait any longer. As we stood outside with the neighbor, she pointed out the winds. Some were cold and others were hot. Little gusts of differently temperatured air coming from different directions. That's the stuff tornadoes are made of. She was right. It was eerie feeling it.

We are still under watch right now and will be until 3PM. But most of the storm has passed. A second wave came through at about 7:20. Just as the boys were getting ready to get on the bus. And indeed, as the bus came down our street, it got so dark out that it looked like night. I had a hard time even letting them walk the two doors from our house to the bus. There was lightening and thunder. Nothing too close, but still. It was just dark out.

I'm glad we had this warning last night. It helped me see that we are very ill prepared for these middle of the night warnings. 1) We need a weather radio. The cable went out right after the sirens stopped last night. So I had no way to keep track of the storm. I'm also not certain that the sirens would wake me at night. 2) I need to find that box of blankets. 3) I think I'll stash a bottle of wine and some glasses down there. No use being uncomfortable. 4) It's time to finish the basement. Walls would be a good thing between the corner we are hiding in and the french doors at the other side of the basement.

Now, this is not my first tornado story in Ohio. The other was pretty funny too.

When I drove up to Akron for DI State competition with another DI family, we made conversation the entire 3 hours. One of the things I was talking about was how freaked out tornadoes make me. She thought the whole thing was pretty funny. Again, she grew up here. She never takes cover when the sirens go off.

By the time we arrived outside of Akron, the rain had gotten pretty bad and the winds were howling. Just another Ohio storm I thought. I dropped Firstborn, my friend and her two kids off at the hotel entrance with our bags and went to park the car.

The walk back was complicated by the driving winds and rain. It was the kind of night where an umbrella would do no good; it would just crumple in the wind.

I ran back to the hotel entrance. All of the kids staying there for the competition were still up. It was 11PM. We had talked about sending our team (all of the city teams rode a bus up earlier in the day) to bed early because they were on for competition at 8am. But they were all still up in the hallway. There must have been about 100 people in the main hall of the hotel. My travelling companion and the kids were all laughing. I asked about the kids being up and one of her daughters blurted out, "they are up because of the tornado." My travelling companion laughed and responded, "you weren't supposed to tell her." She thought it was a lark after our conversation that we had driven right into the middle of a tornado warning.

I can laugh now...

gettin' medieval on ya

Lastborn decided that he wanted the sandcastle cake on the cover of Family Fun magazine for his birthday party. Our first idea was to have a beach party. Then Lastborn struck on Medieval. Great idea.


We found nerf swords online for only $2.95. I decided I could make up shields from poster board and duct tape. The boys could decorate them. Lastly there was the joust. What's a good medieval games without a joust. I figured out that pool noodles would make a safe lance, but what about horses. Wouldn't do much good to have the boys run at each other with a pool noodle, would it. Eureka!! Hop balls. We have 'em. The boys never use 'em. Perfect.


Lastborn only invited 4 boys and only 3 showed, so it was a very manageable crowd. The boys had a great time decorating their shields. I found some coloring book pages on line to use as symbols; a dragon, a lion, a bear, a couple of griffins. I got out some crayons so they could color in the field. They had a great time drawing and cutting out the pictures.


They loved the nerf swords and enjoyed being "dubbed" by the queen of the festivities (moi). Then we broke them up into pairs to sword fight. It soon turned into a milieu with all 4 boys attacking each other.

Then we moved onto the joust. Staying on one of those balls is as hard as staying on a horse. Even Firstborn and Dr. Phil from across the street joined in on this one.

After games outside, we proceeded in for presents and cake. They all had a great time and they were excited to bring their swords and shields home.

Best quote of the day for Mom? Wow! Look at that cake.

Best thing for Lastborn? Swords.

The real story

I just got a call from the secretary at school:

Secretary: Hi, Mrs Scalzi. This is Mrs. K from the school.
Me: Hello?
Secretary: Don't worry, the boys are fine. I'm calling because Ms. Principal would like you to sign some certificates she had made up for the DI participants.

Inwardly, I'm laughing. You see, the first thing that came to mind when she announced who she was didn't include. "Oh no, what happened the boys." It was more like, "Oh no, what did they do now."

My sister has this theory that whenever you get two or more boys in a room together without supervision, the dumbest idea wins. Well, with my boys, sometimes this happens even with supervision.

And it definitely doesn't have to happen in a room. Take last night for example. . .

At about 5:00, I got a call from the Accordion Player's mother (we'll call her APM).
APM: Did Firstborn tell you about the lake?
Me: No.
APM: I was afraid of that. Well, Accordion Player came home sopping wet from head to toe. Of course, I had to ask him how he got that way, and by asking some detailed questions, I have determined that they came across some body of water out in the woods. Well, one thing led to another and, of course, my son fell in.
Me: Funny. Firstborn didn't mention anything about it.
APM: Accordion Player said they were all going to tell their parents, but I wanted to make sure. I didn't know about any water back there.
Me: Nor did I. I know it's a dry creek bed, so maybe from all the rain, there is a puddle.
APM: Well, this must be bigger than a puddle because Accordion Player said he had a hard time getting out and Dr. Phil (the kid across the street) had to fish him out with a stick. He said something about feeling something swimming in there with him.
Me: Oh my. I will definitely talk to Firstborn about this and I'm thinking we are going to have to take a break from the woods for a while.
APM: That's what I'm thinking. Accordion Player's dad (we'll call him APD) is going to take a walk out there to see what this body of water is tonight. Would you like Firstborn's father to go too?
Me: I'd like that. I'd like to see what they are up to.

Fast forward to later that night. We are sitting at dinner when APM calls again to tell me that APD and Accordion Player are going out now to check out where the kids are playing. It's pouring out. DH is not happy about going out then, but we are all thinking this is a temporary puddle in a natural watershed area. So, we should look while it is wet out.

APD comes by with Accordion Player and Accordion Player's big brother. Now, APD is a big guy. He's rather tall and a bit overweight. He doesn't look like a hiker. He has the posture of a tall man who gets little exercise. I watch them start the trek out in the back yard through the dry creek bed (yes, it's still dry). The boys are scurrying in the lead, their bright Midwestern blond hair illuminating the twilight shadows. Further and further behind, I see DH's and APD's shadowy forms struggling to keep up. I realize that DH has taken this trek before and knows fully well the footing in the area. APD on the other hand, has never been back in the woods. This should be fun.

A half hour later, they are at the front door and DH is asking for my keys. The "water" is all the way by the main road near our development. A good half mile from the house. They can't get there on foot due to age and wet footing. So they are driving around to the main road to check it out. Apparently, on the trek, both DH and APD had each slipped once in the mud. This is why DH had decided to drive around the long way to explore.

The "water" turns out to be a nearby creek which drys up to a mere trickle in the summer, but swells with all the water we are having. It's surrounded by wetland. Not great footing even in summer. It's a fair piece from our house and they never should have wandered that far anyway.

So while DH and the guys are out getting really wet, I'm asking Firstborn what really happened.
Here's the story as told by Firstborn:

We went to check out a new area that Scottie (15 and old enough to know better) showed Accordion Player. It's got this big lake and we were exploring around there.

There was this log floating on the water and Dr. Phil carefully climbed onto it and balanced for a bit. So Accordion Player thought he would do the same, but the sand under his foot slipped (the area is surrounded by fine dirt carried downstream by the swelling waters. The water has receded, so this silt is remaining around the banks of the creek). So, he had to jump from the land to the log and it was too much and the log bobbed a couple of times and then went under with Accordion Player. (Why is it that I can imagine the look on Accordion Player's face as he went into the drink?)

Me: APM says that he had a hard time getting out.

Firstborn: I don't think so. He got out.

Me: But Dr. Phil had to hand him a stick.

Firstborn: Well ya. He did. But that was because Accordion Player was scared. (with a big smile) He said something was swimming around in there with him. (Oh great.)

So, this morning. The three errant boys were trading their versions of what had happened, and another twist to the story came out.

Apparently, when Accordion Player had announced that something was swimming around in the water with him, Firstborn had suggested that maybe it was an alligator. Dr. Phil, who's usually the most level headed in the group (wait, wasn't he the first to go out on the log?), corrected Firstborn telling him that an alligator couldn't survive the temperatures here in Ohio.

Firstborn argued back that his teacher had told them about people bringing alligators back from Florida and letting them loose when they got too big. I have got to have a talk with that teacher. Firstborn believes every single story he tells. Few of them are true.

Accordion player is pretty sure he felt a snake. Dr. Phil is more convinced it was a fish. Overall, none of them seem to understand the danger they might have been in horsing around near water a half mile hard trek from home.

It was quite the adventure and you can probably see now why I worry when the secretary at the school calls.



About the cast of characters:
Firstborn, you know well.
Accordion Player is a neighbor from the cul-de-sac down the street. He is white haired and slim, plays the accordion, and loves Weird Al Yankovic and Heywood Banks. Always quick with a joke or a one liner, he spends his live teetering on the precipice of danger and never quite falling in the drink. Until yesterday. Usually he has just enough judgement to keep himself safe and we have taught Firstborn not to follow him into danger. Just enjoy the show.

Dr. Phil lives directly across from us. He is intellegent and quiet. He is serious and tries to do well at everything he does. Talks well with adults and is usually the one we count on to be the voice or reason. I call him Dr. Phil because he seems like such a scholar.

APD and APM, the much-too-stressed parents of Accordion player. Each of them host a great sense of humor which is necessary when raising a boy like Accordion player. They are not overly protective but know they need to keep an eye on this child.

All that glitters

This year, Firstborn had a project that was so suited to his personality that it was scary. They study an economics unit each year delving into such topics as running a business and balancing your checkbook. This year's unit included a final project of creating a item, marketing it and selling it.

The school gave them a small business loan of $5.oo which was to be paid back with an additional 10% of their profits. Parents could either gift or loan their kids up to $5.00. The kids had to develop a business plan, rent a shop, buy all of their supplies, produce their product and then sell it.

The kids were generally trying to make the cheapest item they could make to maximize their profits. None of them seemed to understand their market (the lower class men of the school), or how to determine what was already available out there. They came up with some pretty interesting items. Firstborn was actually thinking of getting dirt from outside and making terrariums. We decided that this would be hard to take home. He also understood that Market Day was only 2 weeks before Mother's day and he could use that as a marketing tool.

We finally settled on rainbow makers using the prisms from our old chandeliers in Tewksbury. We had two very gaudy, very old-lady-looking chandeliers that we replaced in the old house and since DH and Firstborn are so enamored of anything glittery, we saved all the prisms.

He strung these, along with some seed beads and Swarovsky crystals on a length of

Fireline. He worked out that the cost of the materials was about $.75. So he charged 1.50 for each rainbow maker.

One day in class, as he was researching the cost of his materials ( he was pretty much using my beads and Fireline, but he had to pay me market price for it), one of the boys caught him researching the price of beads and began laughing at him and telling the class that Firstborn was making girlie jewelry. Firstborn remained quiet and told me about it that night. He was a little shaky on going forward with his plan until I explained to him that the boys in class obviously haven't done their homework. They should know from all the commercials on TV that girls are the ones who will drop money. If you want to make money, sell something that girls like. He liked this explanation and used it the next day. The boys still laughed.

They told him that his materials cost too much and he was never going to sell anything. They told him his idea wouldn't work.

Meantime Firstborn continued to make his rainbow makers and also he made some bookmarks using just seed bead strings with a Swarovski on each end. He carefully made a variety of colors to appeal to everyone. We packaged everything up and drove to school with it.

DH helped Firstborn make a display case. It was a cigar box with a glass top. DH painted the inside black and lined it with reflective paper. Then he rigged up a flashing LED key chain that changed colors from red to blue to green. They hung one rainbow maker inside. Flashing lights and sparklies, the perfect recipe for bringing in the crowds.

The day of the sale came and we were all nervously anticipating his results.

Well Firstborn came home elated. He sold every single piece he had made and sold $10 worth of orders that he would have to make up that weekend and deliver on Monday. After all his expenses and loan, he had $20 in profits. He had made more money than any other individual in the market. The rainbow makers were the talk of the school.

And many were purchased by the boys in the school.

His teacher purchased one and asked to keep the display box to show future classes. I think he got an A on this project.

Nova plays with the kitties

Who says that cats and dogs can't get along.

The cats have been very curious about Nova since she came into the house. I don't restrict her from the cats too often because I feel that they need to get a good scratch into her while she is small so that she will respect them.

Very quickly, Nadia developed a lot of confidence around the dog because she is so agile and can jump over the pen we are using to keep the dog contained. Not only does she jump over it, but she also likes to walk along the edge of it for a few steps before jumping down on the other side.

Georgia doesn't have the confidence because she is not as great an athlete, but she is just so curious that she is always the one who sneaks up to sniff the dog when she is sleeping on my lap.

After about two days, the cats were settled. I rarely see any raised fur or hissing anymore. And they never scratched Nova. So I decided that I could give more reign to her. Yesterday, I gave her run of most of the house. We have had her for two weeks and she has never peed on a carpet. So I decided to test my theory that while she is not free of puddles altogether, she will seek out a hard surface to puddle on.

She was so happy to explore the house and see what her friends the kitties were up to. She trotted around the house, picking up shoes and carrying them to other rooms and picking up the cats' toy mice. At one point, she laid down for a rest, and Georgia jumped on her and ran out of the room. A chase ensued and the two of them were cavorting around the house for a good 10 minutes before I decided to get the camera and see if I could capture this fun. The amazing part, was that both Georgia and Nadia looked like they were having nearly as much fun as Nova.

The set up for this video:

They had been playing for about 10 minutes. Nova would collapse and rest every few minutes (usually when the cats jumped onto some surface she couldn't reach). Right before I turned on the camera, Georgia had jumped on Nova and run to another room again. It starts with nova in a full run after her, and then she forgets what she was doing.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4838892239607044463&hl=en

And then I ran out of memory before you see the cats chase her into the office. Notice how Georgia goes into the library and lies down just a few feet from Nova. And the shock is that Nadia then joins them. She is such a skittish cat. I never thought she would be comfortable around a dog.

What's in a name

The struggle to name our little Nova started before she came home. From the drive home, I was discussing with the boys good names for the little black wiggling mass we had just met and paid for.

The name Gadunka came up. I've loved this name since Lastborn first started talking about the Bionicle character. What a great name for a dog. Gadunka. And given how mouthy she is lately, it's the perfect fit.

The cats submitted their choice; Nemesis. They were thinking definition number 3.

We mentioned to DH that the dog had a white star on her chest and I knew immediately what DH would come up with. Star. That's just so done which is exactly what DH would want. We had to come up with something just a bit more original than that, so I suggested Nova. The boys and DH loved it. (The cats are still going for Nemesis.)

But then my sister came up with the perfect name. Stella. From the Latin Stella meaning star. Also the Boston pronunciation of Stellar. And I figured that DH would love the Seinfeld reference.

He considered it, but later came back to Nova and will not budge. So the kids have begun calling her Stella Nova. And Nova is where it stands.

Sleep issues

New puppies are like infants except that instead of changing a diaper, you are constantly mopping the floor.

As a result, I'm seeing DH revert to his new fatherhood personality. Whereas he used to announce that no way were we getting a dog, he now spends hours cuddling with the little critter. Enjoy that while you can. She won't be little for long.

I'm not one for crates. I understand the whole concept that crate simulates a den, but where in the wild would a dog choose to be alone in their den? So our house is her den and we are providing safe places within this den. It makes things harder until she has learned basic commands like lie down stay and come, but I feel it is worth my investment. Anyone have any ideas on how to express this to my neighbor-cum-former-dog-breeder who has been lecturing me on how I should use a crate and how evil I am for adopting this dog before she was 10 weeks? Avoidance is my plan for now, but it would be nice to be able to speak to my neighbor in the future without fear of further lectures. :-)

So anyway, the sleep issue came up her first night. Of course, she was missing her siblings and her mother and we were of course the indulgent parents. So I stayed up most of the night cuddling and helping her comfort herself and then putting her in her enclosure in the kitchen. She would wake every hour and I would take her out to pee and start the whole process again. On Saturday, I was a zombie, but still determined to get her to sleep on her own.

By Saturday night, my resolve was gone. She slept on my stomach on the couch for the night. And slept well, I might add. The two of us got 6 hours of blissful sleep before her first necessary potty break and then she went right back to sleep on my stomach when we returned. Well, I must clarify. She got a blissful night of sleep. I got 6 hours of somewhat restful-you-can't-roll-over-even-if-you-want-to sleep. But it was better than an hour at a time.

So the same happened Sunday and Monday night. In a way, this is attachment parenting for dogs. Now that I proved her bladder is stronger than one hour, it's time to wean her a bit. So I got a cardboard moving box (small, book size) and placed a towel in the bottom. Once she calmed down, I placed her in the box awake. She slept next to the couch with me right there for 4 hours. I calmed her and she went back down for another 2 and then I took her out for a pee. Back in for a calming and into the box for until 6am. I'm feeling a bit more human again.

Wednesday night the same. I find that as long as I cuddle and let her warm up after the pee break, she goes right down.

So today, I have to get a bit of work done for my new freelance editing job. She is rambunctious because she got so much sleep last night and she doesn't like to wake alone in the kitchen. So after our 9:00 walk, I calmed her and placed her in the box for her nap. She is in the office with me, next to my desk. Sleeping soundly. She loves the box. It's like the crate, but I can't expect that she will stay in it, so I have to be with her. Right now, she can't jump out. I should start a pool on how many days until she can jump out.

Gotta get back to work now.

No bolts of lightening

Lastborn made his first communion yesterday.Because none of the extended family could make it, I decided to post the story and pictures here.

We got there very early, so I decided to take Lastborn's picture before the crowds started. This was the best he could do with "Stand up straight next to the font. " This was right before he asked if he could dip his feet in there.

Practicing for the event. He's the only one behaving now. But just wait until the actual event. When they were standing up there at the altar for the blessing, he was dancing around. DH thought he must have to go to the bathroom really badly. No. He just said his feet hurt. At one point he was jumping up and down. I was afraid he would fall off the steps.

The opening procession. Doesn't he look so sweet. His lips are forming "Don't take my picture!"

Anyone who knows Lastborn will recognize my shock and fear when he started down for the offertory carrying this very full glass pitcher of sacramental wine. Exactly which section of hell do you end up in when you drop that and it not only splatters all over the porcelain tiles, but also onto the fluffy meringue-like dress that this little girl is wearing. Notice the concentration.

All dresses remained pristine white through the whole event, and I was able to resume breathing as he successfully handed that jug off to the priest. When he came back to the pew, there was a noticeable bead of sweat on his forehead.

He was very nervous about actually receiving the bread. We practiced a bit before mass, but when he got into line, he immediately put his hands out to receive the bread. I had to correct him and as we approached the priest, prompt him to hold out his hands. Of course, he put the wrong one on top. So I quickly switched them. Then I heard him say Amen in a very strong voice, and he received the bread, took hold of it in his right hand and then didn't know what to do. I could hear the twitters from the people in the first pew as he walked away with the bread in his hand, so I quickly told him to eat it. Then he went sailing past our pew. More laughter as I tried to grab the shoulder of his coat to stop him, but he was out of reach. So we walked around the long way.

All-in-all, no major embarrassments and he did provide a modicum of comic relief to the crowd. A typical Lastborn affair. Despite his lack of preparation for the actual event, Lastborn worked very hard for this event. His CCD class was three hours every Saturday morning for 10 weeks and they required him to finish 2 workbooks at home on top of that. Firstborn never had to do that much. The good thing was that he very much enjoyed his CCD class and his teachers.

Isn't she cute???

Who needs TV?

TV Turn-off Week -- Day 2

We survived day 2 with a bit more success.

Of course it helped that most of the evening, the children were strapped into the car travelling to Springfield where we looked at 9 adorable puppies!!!

Yes, we decided to bring one home. She is a doll. They are golden retriever mix puppies and the mix is somewhat of a mystery. The pups are almost all black with white marks except for one brown with white marks. We picked the smallest one for many reasons. 1) She's a bit smaller. 2) She is really cute and friendly. 3) She gnawed on our hands the least. 4) While curious and just as active as the other puppies, she was a bit less in-your-face and much more calm than the others. 5) She barked less and for better reason.

She seemed happy to see anyone and wagged her tail (but not her whole body) happily when she approached us. She seemed willing to be independent of the other dogs, but happy to wrestle with them as well. She is mostly black with a white star on her chest. She has what looks like the perfect lab head right now. We'll see how her nose takes shape. It's a bit longer than her siblings now.

Her mom is an AKC Golden with very good breeding. The breeder's dad is a vet and she is very serious about breeding responsibly. She is a close friend of our puppy's current owner. She is truly a beautiful dog, if a bit large and energetic right now. She's just a kid who got in trouble before they could get her fixed. This is one of the big disadvantages of having the invisible fence. Male dogs can get in. :-)

So anyway, we bring our puppy home Friday and then the fun begins.

I did not bring the camera and so wish I had. Because it was great hearing Lastborn giggle as a gaggle of puppies knocked him to the floor and licked his face.

Firstborn wanted to bring all 9 home. They both think this dog will stay small. Boy are they in for a surprise. Right now, she is shorter than the cats. Which is a good thing. The cats might just give her a chance. Now we need to work our our training goals, where she will sleep, how to keep her out of the cat food, which type of fencing we will use, and many other challenges.

Back to the TV Free Week. The trip to the puppy house was all we needed to entertain the boys. We did play some board games last night. Lastborn is quite annoying at board games. Never remembers when his turn is, can't remember which pile to take the cards from and which to put them on, etc. But we did have fun and maybe, he will improve with more practice. I think a short walk in a neighborhood park might be just the thing for tonight.

TV Turnoff Week - Day 1

Just shoot me now!

I decided that I wanted out family to participate in TV turnoff week. Last year, when I suggested this, I thought the roof would collapse. This year, I put my foot down. Not only with the kids, but with DH as well.

You see we are a totally electronics addicted family. I see issues with the kids from this. A reluctance to try anything new that does not include a plug, Lastborn's reluctance to move his body at all, and a constant struggle with who gets control of what electronic device and for how long.

I really felt that this would be a good way to teach the family that there is life during a power outage. One would think...

So when the boys came home from school today, I tried to be somewhat nice to them. I knew the question would come up about whether they could play electronic games or what in the world were they supposed to do without electronics? I was somewhat prepared. I forced an increased tolerance of their fighting ad roughhousing in the house. They played sword fight with the Nerf swords I purchased for Lastborn's party (until Firstborn broke one). Then I sent them outside to practice on the hop balls that we will use at the party as horses for the joust. I guess I need to post on our medieval party plans for Lastborn. But that will be another post.

So I help the kids find the hop balls in the garage. All they want to know is where are the pool noodles that we will use as the jousting staffs. We have not purchased them yet.

"Don't worry about the noodles," I say. "Just practice with the balls."

Just then, Lastborn falls off the ball onto his face.

"See?" I say quickly. "You need to figure out how to use the balls before you can worry about the noodles." I'm so cruel.

Being much accustomed to my sarcasm, the boys see the humor in this. So, I return to my office to look into doggy training in our area. (yet another post)

In a few minutes, I hear frantic screaming. It takes me a minute to decide whether this is really danger screaming or just the sound of two boys having fun in the front yard. I'm still not sure but decide to get up and check it out just in case. I look out the front window to see Lastborn lying in the gutter and Firstborn looking like he is trying to roll Lastborn out of the gutter onto the sidewalk. The hop ball Lastborn had been using was in the middle of the street.

Now, I am aware that an 8 year old and an 11 year old should be able to play in the front yard of their suburban home without danger. I know that the street doesn't get too much traffic and there are no nearby bends for a car to come streaking around and hit an unknowing child, but still. It looks like my son has been hit by a car, or maybe he hopped too close to the street and did another face plant on the cement but this time lost consciousness.

I ran outside in my slippers (make that waddled quickly) to find out how bad the damage is. At this point, Lastborn sits up with a big smile on his face, and firstborn reports that Lastborn was playing too close to danger and he was trying to get him to move back into the yard.

No more playing in the front yard, and he got a good dose of shouting for this one.

I reported this scene to DH last night and his only question was, "You didn't yell at him outside did you?" Ah yes, the neighbors still think we are nice people. Anyone taking bets on how long that will last?

Return From Hiatus

OK. It's been a while, and I feel I have to explain before jumping into the latest kid's post. It's worth waiting for...

This is the news. The company I have been working for has reached a fork in the road that requires some staffing adjustments. After the hard push that started in October (just as I was moving from MA to OH), we experienced the quick-change that seems to hallmark the struggling company. This week our main push is one thing, the next week, that function is dropped from the product and we work on a different one. They have done everything right and produced a great product, but the market is reflective of the wonderful economy we have all been experiencing despite the rosy picture FOX TV wants to paint.

I won't get into gory details, but I was expecting a lay-off. After all, I'm a contractor. I'm there solely for the purposes of being laid off. So, while waiting for the call to end my career at this small start up, I was happy to be approached for a freelance editing job. Just the ticket. Not a constant full-time job. Just a few hours here and there. Plenty of time to get out and meet people here in my new state.

I finally go the call on a Thursday morning. But I wasn't laid off. They are keeping me on freelance. So, now I can stress over having two freelance positions and worrying that they will both have the same due dates.

No work over the past two weeks. I've just been re-taking control of my life. It's been nice.

Good Reads

DH picked up this book for me. It sounds good. I have a whole list of people back east who would I'm sure enjoy reading it when I'm done. I'll let y'all know if it's worth the shipping cost.