Cherry Blossoms

I almost skipped it this year, but I'm so glad we went. Even with boys who don't really care about pink flowering trees, it was worth running late on dinner and bed time.

We had to stop at just about every bench so Syphr could take a picture with his beloved baby.  On our walk he kept  saying, "look baby." He sure loves that stuffed piece of plastic. 

We crossed by this really awesome tree that had a perfect sitting branch. Ashton couldn't resist. 

Syphr was saying, "HI DUCK! Quack, Quack!"

There were tons of low hanging long branches perfect for Ashton to swing on....which he did....every time.

Now that the day is just about over, I can say it was a great trip. I would have missed out had I not gone.  Mostly, I'm just glad we found a parking spot, it was not insanely crowded like the last time I went, and no one fell in the tidal basin. Jumping into the Potomac makes me cringe. 

Best winter ever!

Chicken hair

To say Syphr is having a bad hair day is an understatement. All I know is the poor guys hair had to get soaked in the kitchen sink before it would even consider laying down.

Inquiring minds would like to know, though. How would someone have to sleep to get hair like this?

Today's events in a check list

✔  Attend Kindergarten orientation

✔  Be offended when the principles answer to the question "My child has a severe peanut allergy, how would that be handled here?" is to throw her hands in the air and say, "we will handle it well" followed by a chuckle as if she had started her career as a stand up comedian. 

✔Hear the wanna be comedian principle say, "Mrs Studach, can you stay and talk to peanut allergy over here." Once again offended. 

✔Cry and nearly hyperventilate as soon as I sat down with the school nurse over the fear that I might have to homeschool Talan. 

✔Have an hour long conversation with the awesome school nurse about all of my concerns and came up with a great allergy plan that I will run by the doctor so he can check for holes. 

✔Learn that nurses are not just fancy robotic bandaid dispensers.

✔Realize it is a bit sad when Talan doesn't start Kindergarten for 7 months, yet I am on speed dial basis with his future school nurse. 

✔Get pulled over for doing an illegal U-turn...except there were not any signs telling me that u-turn was illegal. I like to think I got out of a ticket due to my very fashionable shirt, but really it was probably because I had stress ball written all over my face. 

✔Celebrate Talan as he chugs his way on to 5. Half way there! To celebrate we had Krispy Kreme donuts, streamers, and party hats. He was not amused when his class sang happy birthday, but he loved when his teacher sang it in spanish. 

✔Come home to collapse on the couch, and hope no small children need anything for the rest of the evening. This was not the case, but they at least let me get a cat nap.

iPhone debate winner

Ashton tried his hardest. He really wanted that iPhone, obviously enough to make a web diagram.

Even when 99.9% of people were against him he pressed forward and argued his way to success. 

That's right folks. I might have landed on some of your worst parent of the year lists, but my almost 10 year old has an iPhone. 

Before you go defriending me, I can say that this phone is so much more safe and secure than his previous. He can only send and receive calls, and texts from numbers that I have okayed, he can not download anything without a password, I can track his every move with the GPS locator, and he has a safe internet browser set up just for kid use. Can't lose with those options. 

So, here he is, the happiest almost 10 year old on the planet:

My leg that was almost chopped off

Okay, so maybe I had a slim but more like none chance of my leg being amputated, but that doesn't mean I didn't have the desire to break the machete out of the 72 hour kit and live one legged for the rest of my life.

My Valentines day consisted of taking a nice hour long nap while my surgeon, Dr. Young You, (that is absolutely his name. I did not make that up) shoved a camera and 2 instruments inside my knee joint with hopes of shaving out some damaged cartilage. I was home by lunch time, and stayed put on the couch 99% of the time for 3 days.

The night before surgery I wanted to make sure Dr You and I were on the same page as far as which knee was to be operated on. 

The couch wasn't so bad. I was the neighborhood watch for a few days being able to see everyone who was going or coming, who was getting a package, and who was having pizza for dinner. When there is not much else to do it is quite entertaining.

Three days post surgery, I was instructed to remove all bandages and do simple exercises such as bending and lifting my leg, which turned out to be not so simple. Here, for your enjoyment, is the unveiling as seen through my eyes.

Swollen, slightly bruised, but not as bad as I thought.

Nine days post surgery I went to see Dr. You to have stitches removed, get a run down of everything he found while creeping around my knee joint, and hopes to get the okay to take an actual shower, and drive. Turns out I had two small meniscus tears which weren't very bad, and Dr. You says they were only causing about 10% of the pain and swelling I was feeling. The other 90% came from behind my knee cap where once smooth cartilage morphed into a jellyfish looking creature.


This is what the cartilage behind the knee cap is supposed to look like:

smooth

And, this is what mine looked like:

Turns out that is a big problem. Dr You did his best work to shave the cartilage down to this:

Unfortunately, this is a common problem in women, and this cartilage actually begins to deteriorate after age 15. It can not be repaired, bummer, but I can resume normal activities in a couple months, and I assume my knee will tell me when to slow down. For now, I am happy to sleep in my own bed, shower regularly, drive Chappie, and surprisingly, wear normal pants.

9 days post surgery. Stitches out, and only a small amount of swelling.  Not too shabby Dr. You.

You don't mess with a sleeping Talan

Bath time butt dial

Last week Grams had an especially bad week of butt dialing everyone in her contact list. This week, Aunt Tanya has discovered Talan might not know the actual meaning of butt dial.




Aunt Tanya: "okay Talan, turn around so I can wash your butt."

Talan: "haha! butt. thats a funny word"

Aunt Tanya: "okay. lets rinse."

Talan: "make sure you butt dial me!"

Aunt Tanya: "i have never butt dialed you...ever"

Talan: "well....could you?"

This is how Talan leaves his pants after most baths. As if he is still inside them and has dove straight into the floor.

Adolescence

Ashton:

"I think when I come home from school I'll start eating goldfish or something healthy instead of snack cakes every day. Also, I think I'll start working out. I'm about to start puberty and that is when my muscles start changing."

Several months ago I picked up a puberty for boys pamphlet at one of Syphr's routine check ups as a joke. Ashton has not only read, memorized and recited the pamphlet cover to cover, but is also beyond thrilled, and not shy at all, to begin this new chapter in his life which he believes will start the day he turns 10. Lovely.

Things I love:

#37:

Walking into parent teacher conference, only to end up having a conversation about Ashton's massive collection of woot shirts, or his vast scientific knowledge with his really awesome teachers, one of which is a Harry Potter fan and welcomes Ashton's constant Harry Potter references. All this because there is no negative news to report. 

How I love my nerdy kid. He does his all of his homework, studies for tests, and googles the periodic table of elements in his free time while watching episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy on Itunes. His current most favorite things are pi, the periodic table of elements, the Pythagorean Theorem, and anyone in history that did something great (Ben Franklin, Einstein, MLK, John Hancock). I'm thrilled girls are not on that list yet, although Ashton is still highly confident and makes it known that he could get a girlfriend any time he wants. 

This kid is seriously refreshing.