Big, big test

I am not looking forward to this week. It has nothing to do with work, kids, major household projects or invasive medical tests. I have to take an exam. Every 6 years those involved in my profession have to take a board re-certification exam to prove our worthiness. I have elected to take mine in the 5th year of the cycle just to get it over with.

The whole thing makes me nervous...I have to answer 300 questions in 5 hours. The question pool is taken from all areas of medicine...cardiology, GI, pediatrics, OB/GYN, pulmonology, orthopaedics, EENT, neurology, etc. The problem is that I don't do general medicine. I do bones...that's it. In our world, we only care about the heart because it pumps blood to the bones; we care about the GI system because bones work better with calcium; neurology is important so the brain tells the bones what to do, etc. We completely ignore OB/GYN because it scares ortho people. And, EENT (ear, eye, nose and throat) we have no interest in either...no bones involved there.

So, my point is I've now gone to a 50 hour review course and spent the last month or so dredging up all this stuff I learned in school. It has been painful and my head is about to explode. I've been stuffing it full of stuff about murmurs, kidney disease, strokes, dreaded parasites, skin disorders, high blood pressure, psychiatry and even STD's. Ugh.

My test is Thursday and after that I have sworn off any medical reading for at least a month. I plan on leaving the test, having a good cry (of relief), hitting Starbucks for a really yummy mocha, going to the gym to blow off steam and going home to my family.

The most important thing to do after my test is giving my husband the biggest hug. He has been fantastic: encouraging, watching the kids so I could study and calming. He rocks.

Weekend Sports Update

I love football and so here is your weekend football scoreboard:

Wisconsin 37
Michigan State 34

A bit too close for comfort, but we continue to have the longest major college football winning streak.


Kansas State 41
Texas 21

Steve is proudly flying his K-State flag out in the front of our house.


Green Bay 23
Minnesota 16

Brett Favre now has passed Dan Marino for the most TD passes...421. We love this guy.

Two Tigers

Today was our Cricket Academy for Chinese Language day. Kate loves to go and talks about it all week. The girls learned a new song today called "Two Tigers" which is sung to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?"

We sang the song in Chinese and then the girls made tiger masks. Kate wore her mask all day and gladly posed outside for pictures. Here are the words in Chinese for the song in Pinyin (sans the tones).

Liang zhi lao hu, liang zhi lao hu
Pao de kuai, pao de kuai
Yi zhi mei you er duo, yi zhi mei you wei ba
Zhen qi guai, zhen qi guai

Two tigers, two tigers
Run so fast, run so fast
One has no ears, one has no tail
Isn't it strange, isn't it strange?

She can hardly wait to go to Cricket next time. (She will be sad when she figures out we have next week off!)

Weekend Sports Update

Wisconsin: 17
Iowa: 13

Kansas State: Idle

Green Bay: 31
San Diego: 24
Brett Favre ties Marino's TD record.

An Afternoon in the Park

Sam is just getting comfortable with walking and he's finding all kinds of new things to explore. He loves pushing the jogging stroller around and he's pretty quick with it.






When Kate isn't flying off picnic tables, she's breaking it down and posing.

Flying Lessons

Kate enjoys jumping off objects and testing gravity...here she is practicing at the park.

Cricket Academy and Chinese

Today Kate & I headed over to our 3rd Chinese class at Cricket Academy. Kate loves going and looks forward to seeing Shen Lao Shi (her teacher) each week. We have been listening to our Chinese music CD all week, so we were ready to sing the Ni Hao song to start class. We then ate Moon Cakes, made play dough Moon Cakes and learned how to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in Chinese.

After class we headed to the grocery store and here is the conversation Kate & I had in the check out line.

K: "Mom, I need to say 'Hi' to Chinese lady!" (Pointing to attractive Asian woman directly in line ahead of us.)

M: (Slightly embarrassed by child..) "Okay, say 'Hi' Kate."

K: "MOM! I need to say 'Hi' to Chinese lady...HELP ME!" (Kate stares intently at attractive woman, commenting loudly. Woman has heard Kate's comments and noticed her staring.)

M: "Kate, you can be brave, you can say 'Hello'".

K: "Mom!! Help me!!! (Brown eyes wide and imploring.)

M: "Excuse me, Ma'am, my daughter would like to say 'Hi' to you. She's hoping you're from China." (I feel so embarrassed at this moment.)

L: "Oh, is she from China? She is so cute!" (Big smile on attractive lady's face. Thankfully, she is from China, now living in the U.S.)

K: "Ni Hao!" (Prompted by Mama...Kate says hi in Chinese.)

L: "Ohhh, Ni Hao! She speaks a little Chinese!"

K: (Beams at meeting the Chinese lady. She's so happy, her visit to the grocery store is complete!)

Trifocals

Shengri kuai le!

Happy Birthday Kate! Zhu ni sheng ri kuai le!

Yesterday was Kate's 3rd birthday and she was in rare form! When asked what she would like for a birthday cake, she replied "chocolate chips and M&M's birthday cake!" So, I made her a chocolate cake with white chocolate frosting and she decorated it herself with the chips and M&M's. She blew out her candle with gusto and just beamed when we sang to her. I felt a bit of mommy guilt for not making her a fancy decorated birthday cake, but she had a ball with decorating. She would eat 2 M&M's and put one on the cake...this went on until all the candy was gone. She never did eat any cake...just chocolate candy.

She was delighted with her gifts and wanted her picture taken with everything when she was done opening her presents. She now sports new "Hello Kitty" sunglasses and a "Hello Kitty" purse. She has her new doll "Sophie" and a new groovy doggy from Daddy.

She woke up at 6:30 a.m. this morning and immediately started talking about her birthday and her toys. She looked pretty stylish heading to the post box in her H.K. glasses.

Tomorrow is our first swimming class as a 3 year old.

Running for A Cause

Sunday was a wonderful day for us. We loaded the kids into the car and headed down to Chicago for a 5K race. Steve's company helped sponsor a race to raise funds for prostate cancer awareness and research, so we signed up to run. Not only was it fun to see many people from his company, but we also ran in support of Steve's older brother Dale. Dale was diagnosed and successfully treated for prostrate cancer and we ran with joy in our hearts.

Steve is a much faster runner than I, but he was hindered by having to push Kate & Sam through Grant Park. (His time was greatly enhanced,however, because Sam decided to WAIL for most of the run.) Steve heard numerous female runners (they must have been Moms) say "Oh, poor baby...look at the poor little guy!" It wasn't that the poor guy had anything wrong with him, "Poor Little Guy" just wanted to get out and play! Steve just kept running faster and faster to off the course. Once out of the stroller, Sam cruised all over like a little politician smiling and charming the crowds. He flashed his dimples, showed off his pearly whites and toddled all over.

Kate was her usual self bouncing all over the place like a pogo stick. She wore her "Greater Chicago Prostate Cancer Run, Walk & Roll" T-shirt with pride. She couldn't get enough of the moonwalk tent and the opportunity to jump off the park benches. Both kids were so exhausted by running around that they were asleep in the car by the time we had left the city and gotten on the interstate to head home.

The day was so enjoyable because it was a change from our daily routine. The most unexpected part of the whole day was finding out that I actually won my age division for female runners. I haven't been able to run much due to injury, so this was like the frosting on the cake!

Fall Football...

Today was a crisp, clear day. It was the kind of day that reminds us that fall is nearly upon us and that the college football season has started. The news was good for our teams today!

Wisconsin 45
The Citadel 31

Kansan State University 61
Missouri State 10


Okay, so neither one of our teams played major power houses today, but we'll take the "W's".

Little Academic

Kate loves to try on glasses (or "glassens" as she calls them). She got a hold of Daddy's glasses tonight, posed with pride and appeared ready to go to her class at Cricket Academy. Tomorrow is her second class and I asked her what we would do...she said "I say zaijian!" "Xiexie!" and play. It's fun to watch little ones learn...they are so quick and enthusiastic.

Daddy's Construction Crew

Daddy has taken a little time off this week to work on the house. This afternoon he worked on our circa 1927 door lock and did a little drywall repair. Kate & Sam wanted so badly to be part of the action that Daddy let them onto the "work site". Kate was in charge of lighting, the ladder and supervising her brother. Sam was in charge of irritating his sister.

Not All Days Lead to Fat Lips...

I couldn't help but add a few "happy" pictures to today's entry. Kate has decided she likes to line up some of her friends and have her picture taken with them. It's so cute. Sam, on the other hand, has decided that Thomas the Train is his new friend.

So You Had a Bad Day?

Yesterday was a little rough at our house. We started the morning with the intent to have a great day that would be full of adventure. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned. Sam got his fat lip by 8:30 a.m. in an accident with the play shopping cart. It got away from him as he powered across the wood floor and red blood cells flew everywhere from his lip as tears rolled over his chubby cheeks. I felt so bad for him.

Thankfully, his tears dried and we later headed to the park to swing and play on the slide. Kate got her fat lip after falling from the swing onto the sand covered playground. She did her best to be tough, but as her nose and lip swelled, she just sobbed. Since she rarely cries over her boo-boos, we knew she was miserable. She spent the rest of the day clinging to Mama & Daddy and laying around.

Time and Tylenol have a way of healing many wounds and by this afternoon, everyone was back to bouncing off of every surface they could find. Kids are pretty resilient and I'm so glad.

How Do You Really Feel Sam?

For the past several months, I've been trying to figure out who Sam looks like and who he takes after. He has blue eyes...his Daddy's are brown and mine are green. He has blond hair...Daddy's is brown, Mama's is enhanced with blond. He's tall and thin for his age...I was a blimp at 13 months.

We have noticed that the shape of his eyes is the same as his Daddy's. I think that's fantastic, because I've always loved his Daddy's eyes. As for my contribution...it appears he got my personality. Poor thing. I mentioned this to my sister-in-law recently...about his personality being similar to mine. She responded by saying, "Oh, you mean that overly dramatic thing?" Yes, that. Sam is amazing, he can go from happy and playing to wailing in an instant. He'll fall back onto his bum, throw his head back, inhale half the oxygen in the room and let out a siren like scream. It's classic. If he did inherit this acting quality from me, it must be purely genetic, surely he's never observed such a scene.

The good news is we never have to wonder how Sam feels. Even if he can only say 3 words, we can determine his mood by the ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide in the room, his body language and the look on his face. Even if he never sits in his playgroups and emotes with his friends, everyone will know exactly how he feels.

Kate's Fall Routine

With everyone going back to school and signs of early fall around us, we are now starting our new fall schedule, too. Kate has several new activities to look forward to and we are wondering what we've gotten ourselves into.

Saturday morning marked the beginning of our new adventures. Kate & I went to our first class at Cricket Academy of Chinese Language. We are enrolled in a class called "Baby Cricket" and are embarking on a journey to learn more about the Chinese language and culture. There are 10 other little girls in our section and we had a great time. We met her teacher, Shen Laoshi, and learned a few new words and songs. We had only sung the "Ni Hao Song" once and Kate was already working on me to "Sing more songs, Mama!!"

Daddy took a few photos of us before we left for Cricket (including a detour to Starbuck's). I discovered one has to have a shot of caffeine on board to participate in a class with 10 energetic, fireballs.

Kate must have enjoyed her first class...when her Daddy went upstairs tonight about a 1/2 hour after putting her to bed, he heard her quietly counting to 10 in Chinese...

Zai jian

Withdrawels from an Empty Account?

My alarm went off this morning at 5:15 a.m. and I hit the snooze button with a sigh of dread. My body was just not ready to head to the gym and get moving. So, I laid there for a while, savoring the softness of my favorite fresh, cotton sheets and began to pray.

I was praying for wisdom in raising our kids. They are charming and lovable, but pose new challenges daily. Kate is the most energetic, inquisitive, peristent nearly-3-year-old child that I have ever met. There are moments when I just don't know how to channel that energy or harness that enthusiasm into something besides kicking her brother between the scapulae (shoulder blades) or running him over with his own toys. So, I prayed and thought. It occurred to me that I was searching for ideas in a vacuum of knowlege. It reminded me of going to the bank and trying to withdraw funds from an account that has no money.

I've never had a near 3-year old...I lack experience. But that doesn't have to stop me, it just means that I have to draw upon resources other than myself. So, I perused a few books today, spoke to a few trusted friends and family, and really spent some time thinking about my daughter. She is such a gift and being the oldest, my learning curve with her is steep. But, as I go to bed this evening, I will go to sleep encouraged. My prayers for wisdom are beginning to be answered. I have some new priniciples to put into practice with Kate, I have the support of other mothers, and I know that I am not alone. A small deposit was made into my parental account that can begin to grow. And, as my knowlege grows, I will grow as a parent.

Playtime with Mama & Daddy

Kate and Sam were so much fun tonight. After Kate took a ride around the block on her tricycle with Daddy, she came in to play with Sam. She practiced jumping off the ottoman (gymnastics starts next week, so she's getting into shape) and Sam cruised the house with his shades on. They are quite a pair.