Other Happenings in 2014

It helps to do this, you know? It helps to look back and be grateful for all the things we were able to do in spite of my disease. It's nice to be reminded that I'm advancing in knowledge, raising my kids in a thoughtful way, and keeping family traditions alive.

Don't ask me how this happened, but I now have a kindergartner. Here he is with my mom, who was helping me out that day, probably for health reasons. . . Oh! Back to positivity. I really enjoy our walks to school together. Leepo was SO ready to be in the classroom and he loves his teacher and classmates. He is now a voracious reader and we're so proud of him. 

We're kind of closing in on purchasing needed furniture items, but we've developed such a strong habit of visiting furniture outlets and resale shops that we just can't quit looking. That's not to mention the many enduring friendships we've made over the years talking to furniture-enthusiasts and sellers. Our week is not complete unless we're sitting in some teak chair, catching up with our friends, and convincing others that lamp/coffee table/side-chair is in need of a good home. 

On the topic of traditions, I've been going to the St. Charles Scarecrow fest since I was 9 years old! I've been able to take my kids and it's so sweet to see them experience the simple wonders I enjoyed as a child. Here's Homegirl (previously known as Beanie) with a large gourd she referred to as "Snakey."

2014 was a good year for having guests stay with us, even for weeks at a time. Some people say they stink like fish after a few days, but we honestly love our guests and miss them when they leave. Admittedly, the best are the ones who cook, clean, and paint our house while they're here. Ahem. ;)

MSI in the background

The kids are more into science these days and that makes my heart leap with joy. We got membership to the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) and I marvel at what a treasure that place is. In the summer, we walk from the MSI to the local beach and we're so grateful we live near the great city of Chicago.

Because I never know what each week will bring (stupid colon), I've gotten better at seizing any and all opportunities to do field-trips with the kids. Doing so has made me more purposeful and the results are fantastic. In the last picture, you see my son learning about squid and how they're used for research in the fascinating realm of biofilms. Since that time, he's said that he wants to be a scientist, maybe even an astronaut. I love this age for the intellectual curiosity it brings and the fun to be had with it.

You guys, when I'm not in the bathroom, I'm a pretty interactive and great mom. :)

Best or Worst Mother in the World?

I fear your conclusions after reading this post, but it must be documented for posterity. And perhaps to facilitate psychotherapy sessions later on. 

Fix-it Felix

It started out so well. I was fixated, pun intended, on making Leepo his own Fix-it Felix costume for his birthday party. It was easy enough to do with some stick-on patches and puffy paint. The only snafu occurred was when I was running out of time and that's when my gold metallic spray paint failed me as I was trying to coat that plastic hammer. I tried to spray and it came out as gold dust, then plugged up the nozzle. It was the night before his birthday party so I sent Tim out to the store just before it closed to get a replacement. His man-brain (which I normally love and appreciate!) made the executive decision to get the spray-paint in a different finish. When he came home with a hammered, antique shade of gold I was approaching a bridezilla tantrum. This is Fix-it Felix and his GOLDEN hammer, sucka! You give me some shabby chic finish instead?! (Guess who woke up at 5:30AM to get some paint, spray like a mad woman, and hold a hairdryer over a plastic hammer while hiding in a hot garage?)

It was all worth it when Leepo woke up and got his surprise. I mean, look up at his face of delight with that hammer and outfit. Totally worth it, right?

Well, more surprises were to come. Which leads me to. . .

I don't know what's wrong with me. But whatever it is, my brother has it, too. We hatched a plan prior to this party that was so funny to us that we had to go through with it.

Here's how it all went down. 

Wreck-it Ralph

First of all, do you know who Fix-it Felix and Wreck-it Ralph are?  They are characters from the Disney movie named after the latter. Ralph is a bad guy in a video game, but he wants to be good. Unfortunately, he ruins everything he touches.

Enter the birthday cake.

Leepo was already testy because we sang Happy Birthday to his sister first. I didn't plan on that, but my brother needed some time to get dressed where he wouldn't be spotted, and this is how we stalled. I quickly learned then and there that this whole shared birthday party business is not cool. Not cool at all.

After Beanie blew out the candles to her large and beautiful cake, we presented Leepo with his own cake. It was noticeably smaller than what his sister had, plus the decoration was a mere smiley face. Disappointment flashed on his face only briefly as he compared the two. He was going to make the most of this, as best he could, until. . .

MY BROTHER ENTERED THE ROOM, PROCLAIMED THAT HE WAS "GONNA WRECK IT," AND SMASHED THE CAKE TO BITS WITH HIS LARGE FISTS.

Cake stuff went flying. Children were screaming. It was epic.

Of course we explained that it was a joke and that there was a real cake coming out, but judging from all the snot-stained shirts on the parents that day, I'm not sure if everyone appreciated our sense of humor.

As for Leepo, he calmed down eventually. He had his birthday pie (he's not a fan of cake, actually), opened presents, and had a pinata. It was all good in the end, really! So what if he's wetting the bed now?*

Note: We have scattered iPhone photos from this event that show crying children and/or clinging to their parents, but they're a hodge-podge of images in poor lighting. I'll come back to paste together what I can, but keep in mind I'm also busy trying to patch up shattered hope and dreams. Priorities.

*I kid, I kid.

Out and About

The kiddos in a field of wild chamomile, on the Mississippi.

We've made a resolution to get out there and do more stuff with and without the kiddos. We have a bunch of fun things planned for the summer months and I'm really looking forward to it.

One thing I realized is that mothers need to be very organized and pro-active about planning activities for kids. While I think it's important to have unstructured playtime, there is also a lot of value in taking advantage of educational programs and activities nearby. There were several options available through our local park district, but of course the good and cheap stuff went quickly. Now I know that early May is the time to start signing up for activities. 

The buddy-system is always good for keeping commitments, so I invited my friend Mimi over and we went through our calendars to make play-dates for our kids. Our goal is to enjoy as many activities as possible, for the lowest cost, and to save on transportation by car-pooling. We'd also like to spend more time in the city, Chicago.

A goal that Tim and I share is to do more road-trips. Now I must confess something, we got a minivan. Egads, what has happened to us?! Here's the deal, though. I see it more as a party wagon. -I'm Latino, we travel in packs and this vehicle is fulfilling my destiny, OK? Anyway, we went on a maiden voyage with our new ride (named Donatello because it's green and looks like a ninja turtle) over Memorial weekend and it was glorious.

We went to a town called Nauvoo (IL) on the Mississippi, though we stayed in Keokuk, Iowa. It was perfect for my boy, Leepo. They put on demonstrations of how things were made in the mid-1800s, with the actors dressed in period clothes. We learned how bricks, wagon wheels, ironwork, ropes, bread, clothing, and candles were made. As for souvenirs, we were given our own brick with an impression of the town name, a ring forged from an iron nail, ginger cookies, and Leepo got to keep the rope he made himself.

Let's lasso everything in sight. 

More important, we survived our 4 hour car ride and managed to have a bit of fun during it. This is what helped:

Stay tuned to see what adventures lie ahead!

Boy's Room: Hanging it Up

In order to keep the momentum up and get fragile stuff off the floor, we've been hanging a bunch of stuff on the walls. Turns out that makes a huge difference, at least for me.

Remember this sad little corner?

Now it's looking like this:

I think it also helps that spring is finally here and we're getting better light in the house. Sunshine makes everything look so much better. It was motivating us to go on a wall-decorating frenzy.

This is all stuff we had at the other house, so it's nice to see them again, and this time in a new light. I know that for Leepo, having familiar items around him helps to cope with the move. He's doing OK these days, but those first couple of weeks were rough. The poor kid couldn't sleep well at night and went on to develop nocturnal hallucinations ("Mom, Dad, there was a glowing man in my room.") and the fatigue caused him to develop a sty! So glad we're passed that. Now this is his favorite room in the house and a place in which we all enjoy playing.

Glass Doors and Outlet Shopping

Our weekend activities are pretty much dominated by renovation tasks. That doesn't mean we don't enjoy ourselves, though.

We finally found a place that will do custom shower doors and it's practically in our backyard. Once we learned all the ins and outs of what it takes to install these suckers, we were decided on letting the professionals handle this one. 

Lucky for us, they're having a sale on their shower products and this beautiful modern chrome handle (CM Elite Sq. Mitre) is included for free. Every little thing helps, too, because to do things right this is going to eat more out of our budget than we had anticipated. To make up for that, we will not be tiling or putting built-ins in the powder room.

We honestly didn't expect to find anything we liked because we walked past a bunch of, um, let's just say not-our-style-stuff along the way (no offense to the City of Chicago skyline, which is undeniably beautiful,  I just don't need it in glass form in my bathroom).

After scoping, and liking, our glass door options for the shower we headed out to some outlets to peruse furniture. We didn't get anything, but we always have a good time seeing what's new and admiring fine design. Our boy Leepo is so used to the shopping experience by now that he's able to entertain himself with leftover stocking supplies, like these cardboard tubes. A couple of the staff members recognize him and know to direct his attention to these "toys" as we look around. Good behavior in stores is always rewarded with a graham cracker. At the end of the day, we're all happy.

Goodbye First Home: Leepo's Room

We went with an earthy, explorer theme here. It fits him perfectly. Those gorgeous windows will be missed. So much good light in this room, perfect for highlighting what he refers to as "working trucks."

Art These Days

I was in AP Art Studio in high school and studied painting under Russell Harris (he's the man, by the way); later in college I was instructed by Enrique Martinez Celaya. I had the pleasure of taking an intro course alongside Jessica Drenk, who now makes fabulous artwork like this one:

Carving 12 by Drenk

How, you might ask, am I using my talents these days? Well, looky here.

Yep, I'd say I'm doing pretty well for myself. Awesome, right?

Made my Kid's Halloween Costume!

Major milestone. I made my son's Halloween costume.

Did it require sewing? No. Was it done out of necessity? Yes.

In September, I asked Leepo what he wanted to be for Halloween. I asked him this because I loved hearing him say "Sammy the Skunk." So cute. So easy to purchase at a costume store. But one day things changed, "I want to be a PILL BUG, Mama." What? "A pill bug, a rolly-polly." Are you sure? Like, really sure? "Oh, yes, Mama. That is what I want to be."

Ugh. Well, you just know you're not going to find a pill bug costume hanging on the rack. (Did I search in vain, anyway? Yes.) And it's true that this blog was forged with the DIY spirit, but when it comes to sewing I'm a total dunce. (I intend to learn, but under less demanding circumstances.) So, not being a seamstress, I went on Facebook and asked around about how to address this situation. My friend Laura clued me into a "mommy trick," it's all about the hoodie.

U Create
(No, this isn't the costume I made. Keep scrollin'.)

Yes, a simple zip-up hoodie can serve as the base for a limitless variety of accouterments, and thus create a custom Halloween costume. So where did I go next? You guessed it. Goodwill. For just a couple of bucks I left with a grey toddler hoodie and I began to feel optimistic.

My next stop was Hobby Lobby for the remainder of the supplies. I learned from another friend, Carin, that if you download the Hobby Lobby app on your phone, you can get a 40% discount on one item, or sometimes your entire purchase. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to grab, but I knew I had to factor in a few things:

• Like the mullet, the pill bug magic is all in the back. That's fine, but it's not conducive to sitting in a car seat. I would have to make this part of the costume easily removable.
• This animal is monochromatic, so I'd have to introduce interest by choosing grey pieces with different hues. 
• My materials had to be light-weight because I'd be gluing it all together. 
• We live in the Midwest, this costume better work with a winter coat, too. 

I spent way too much time in that store pondering (enough time to notice the intriguing male customer population there), but ultimately I came home with the following stuff:

Styrofoam for the shells, pipe cleaners for the antennae and legs. 

To make the pill bug armor, I proceeded to cut the styrofoam balls into quarters with a bread knife (this part got a little messy). Once I had them, I took these pieces and wrapped them in felt, which I simply glued into place. I'm sure the type of person who loves the challenge of an awkward shaped Christmas gift to be wrapped would appreciate this, and even have a system for how to do it. I, on the other hand, just tucked and glued where I could.

Since the back of the costume would be seen from all sides, I affixed foam half-circles to the top of each shell with a tab. What you're seeing in this next picture is the backside of a 'shell,' and I'm gluing a pipe cleaner and holding it in place with another piece of felt.

Finally, things were starting to take shape. I used regular glue to attach the shells (with legs) to the large swatch of fleece I purchased, in addition to creating foam pieces in the front. Prior to doing this, I had cut the fleece into an "I" shape so that there'd be tabs at the corners. The idea was to make a smock that could be tied together over the hoodie, and easily removed for when we were traveling in the car from place to place. It goes without saying that I cut out a hole to go over the head.

DONE!

Once the 'smock' portion of the costume was completed, all I had to do was attach the antennae and googly eyes to the hood. With bated breath, I then performed a dress rehearsal with Leepo. Gladly, I was given the thumbs up sign and we went on to have a spooktacular Halloween with my family.

Leepo on his way to treats with my Aunt Bubu.

This was the first year that my boy got it. He was running door to door yelling sweetly asking "Trick or Treat!?!" and showing great pride in his stash. I have to say, I was also feeling pretty good when people commented on his costume and gave me kudos for being clever about it. If only they knew, it was so easy a doctor could do it!

And it was all worthwhile.

Leepo & Beanie

Teaching the Kid(s) How to Read

On my list of things to start on my maternity leave, I included the task of teaching my son, Leepo, how to read. I think we're off to a really good start, so I'll share what has worked well so far.

This is obvious, but we started with the ABCs. We sang the alphabet until it was memorized, then we went through this stack of flashcards as often as we could many months earlier. I just love the Eric Carle letters because they're so vibrant and display all different kinds of animals. I admit to using fruit snacks as an incentive, though I have mixed feelings about rewarding kids with foods (am I laying the ground work for eating disorders later on?).

Once Leepo mastered letter cognition with the accompanying sound, we moved on to this nifty paint chip idea I found, where else?, on Pinterest.

Here you see my son playing with word stems that contain a window view box (got these from Lowe's) on a color sheet that contains first letters (from Home Depot). We sound out each component first and then put them together. I think he's starting to grasp the concept now.

The only thing to warn you about is that since these are paint chips, and they're good quality paint at that, even permanent marker will smudge off. Also, be warned about unintentional curse words. The nice thing about using a fold-out book for the initial letters is that you can plan ahead and separate out Tr for truck and F for food if you know what I mean.

Some high yield word stems:

-it
-ig
-at
-oy
-ook
-oon
-ite
-ing
-ove
-ack
-ob
-eep
-ain
-est

Feeds and Toileting, No Big Whoop

Since life is not hectic enough, I've decided to add on toilet training Leepo.

He is a very lovable child, but once he sets his mind to something (or I should say against something) it takes a tough-as-steel parental decree to get him to do otherwise. I was avoiding doing that because everyone kept telling me that boys need more time to make the transition out of diapers, and he still has a few months until he's at the average age for toileting among boys. Yesterday, however, after changing his diaper of what can only be described as 'man poop,' I'd had enough. I figured he's going to spazz out a few months from now or he's going to spazz out now, so why don't I just get all this over with while I'm on maternity leave and have some control over the situation?

There is this factor of having a newborn who likes to feed every 1-2 hours, which complicates things just a little. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment, like most doctors, frankly.

Lo, the decree has been made!

Last night I turned to Leepo and said "This diaper change is your last one during the daytime. You can wear diapers at night, but tomorrow you're going to wear big boy underwear." He didn't like that one bit. He knelt by the sofa, placing his face in his hands (he has a touch for the dramatic, what can I say?) and every time Tim and I tried to comfort him he'd say: "Don't! I don't want you to talk like THAT."

I should explain right now that toilet training was not sprung upon him for the first time just then. We did have build-up to this moment. There was a lot of talk about making this transition, even some earnest attempts to train him in the past, but the moment I've just described is the official 'there's no going back' starting point.

And we're not so cruel as to deny him a reward. Or two.

We told him he'd get cookies. His eyes lit up. Shrewd business man that he is, Leepo said "I'm getting cookies and a big working truck from Goodwill!" -Like how he slipped that last part in? We couldn't help but agree to the terms.

So this is day #1. I know people are divided over their love/disdain for the Itzbeen, but I dragged this out to handle both Beanie's needs and Leepo's toileting.

My system:

Diaper = Time since toileting Leepo

Bottle = Time since pumping milk (lets me know when to put it in the fridge)

Zzz = Time spent sleeping, also indicative of when Beanie needs a diaper change

* = Time since breastfeeding 

The rest of my gear includes the following:

• Child toilet seat with handles
• Training underwear
• Construction-themed PJs and book. This is a combination of negative and positive reinforcement (thank you, psychiatry rotation!). Leepo does not want to soil his PJs because they are so cool. He is also starting to look forward to toilet time because that's when I read to him all of his ridiculously long books about building things.
• Chux pads. After years of treating incontinence in the elderly, traumatic brain/spinal cord injured populations, I've come to trust these. I ask Leepo to sit on a Chux when he's playing on the rug or sitting at the sofa to avoid a clean-up disaster.

I've also been reading up on this process all over the place, more recently looking at these tips (located through Pinterest, of course). **Nerd alert!** I admit to using some of my education on 'central' incontinence, as well. -Namely making use of the 'gastrocolic reflex' that assists bowel movement within an hour of eating (helps to time things) and making diet adjustments for more predictable patterns of voiding. 

Thing is, as wacky as this appears, adding toilet-training to the postpartum period has provided a nice opportunity to create "just us" time with my firstborn. Leepo gets my undivided attention when we're in the bathroom, which may end up being his favorite spot in the house afterall. 

These are the Days

Me and the boy, in the late Spring light

This new phase of life is awesome. I'm still working part-time, but in between this boy gets all of me. It was funny and a bit sad my first days back after the oral Board exam when Leepo wasn't used to my undivided attention. I kept having to assure him that I didn't have to study or drop him off with someone else, and even then he would play by himself out of habit. (A skill, I realize, he will have to keep sharp when the baby comes.)

Now most of my week is filled with moments like the one shown above, and I'm so grateful.