Two stories.
First story - Ryker and his Ambidextrousness:
Ryker and I were playing catch in the living room, which went remarkably well. (I should stop right there and devote a whole post to the fact that no damage came to the house, no humans or animals were hurt in the process, and no one ended up crying or screaming. But then the title of the post wouldn't make any sense.)
Anyway, he was throwing with his right hand, which surprised me because we have dubbed him a leftie. I asked him which hand he writes with. He thought about it, then held up his left and said "wif pens and pencils." I looked at him with confusion and he added "wif crayons, dis one" and held up his right. I asked which hand he eats with and he held up his left. Which hand he throws with? Right. Which foot he kicks with? Left. "Unwess da ball come on dis side (pointing right). Den it's dis one (right leg kicks out)." So...we'll see. He's going to be confusing to defend in basketball.
Second story - Jack and The Nightmare:
Jack came out the other night after being in bed for maybe 10 minutes. He wanted hugs. Then he went back to bed for another 3 minutes and came back out. "I had a nightmare." I tried to explain that he wasn't even asleep and therefore couldn't possibly have had a nightmare. He was on the verge of tears so I skipped the semantics. He said he didn't want to tell us why he had a nightmare. We prodded. "We watched a movie at Nicki's (where he goes every day after school) and it made me scared." We prodded. He resisted. We prodded more.
"I think it was about........Justin Bieber."
It was all we could do to not die laughing at him. We did a lot of rubbing our faces to hide the grins, and coughing to mask the giggles.
Finally I just lost it. Cracked up. Chuck followed. Then we tried to explain to Jack why Justin Bieber is about the least scary thing you could possibly dream about. He said he thought that it was something in the movie that was dark and someone was in the movie and he couldn't really see him because he was dark and hooded.
We got him back in bed and I spent parts of the next day hypothesizing with coworkers about what could have been scary in a Justin Bieber movie. Backup dancers? Some plot about him saving some girl from a bad guy?
The day after that I wrote to Nicki and asked her if the kids watched a Justin Bieber movie. She wrote back that this wins some sort of funniest story contest. Jack apparently told Nicki that he had a nightmare before he fell asleep, about Justin Bieber. She had to correct him, because the kids hadn't watched Justin Bieber, they had watched Harry Potter.
HAHAHAHAHA! Awesome.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Ryker and the Pharmacist
Ryker was with me at Walgreens the other night. The friendly pharmacist struck up a conversation with him.
Pharmacist: And what's YOUR name?
Ryker: Wykuh.
P: Michael?
Me: No, Ryker.
P: Oh, that's a nice name. How old are you?
Ryk: Free (unfolding three of his fingers with his other hand)
(while he's answering)
P: Five?
Me: No, three.
P: THREE?!
Me: Yes. He's big.
P: But your birthday is soon.
Ryk: Not for couple munfs.
P: Oh. And do you have any brothers or sisters?
Ryk: Nope. (plain as day)
P: Oh.
Me: (flicking him in the head) You do TOO.
Ryk: Yeah, I have one brudder. His name Sassin. He tell me what to do.
Pharmacist: And what's YOUR name?
Ryker: Wykuh.
P: Michael?
Me: No, Ryker.
P: Oh, that's a nice name. How old are you?
Ryk: Free (unfolding three of his fingers with his other hand)
(while he's answering)
P: Five?
Me: No, three.
P: THREE?!
Me: Yes. He's big.
P: But your birthday is soon.
Ryk: Not for couple munfs.
P: Oh. And do you have any brothers or sisters?
Ryk: Nope. (plain as day)
P: Oh.
Me: (flicking him in the head) You do TOO.
Ryk: Yeah, I have one brudder. His name Sassin. He tell me what to do.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
The Difference Between My Kids
There are many, obviously. One of the differences is sleep habits. Tonight was a good illustration.
I had to work at an event, so I got home right after the kids went to bed. I had texted Chuck and told him to tell the kids that I would come in to say goodnight.
I got changed and went into Ryker's room first. He was awake and SO excited. He got out of bed, ran around his room and whispered all about the pieces of paper he was giving me and the bad day he had (he hit someone) and that he wanted pajamas on (did I forget to mention he was naked?). We cuddled and talked and cuddled some more. We discussed why I call him my baby (because he came out of my tummy so I get to do that forever), and who came out of Grandmommy's tummy (me and Ry Ry, which is why SHE gets to call ME baby forever) and that there is a picture that happened before he was alive yet. Sure. Many, actually, but yes, I know the one he is referring to. We talked about the pictures he planned to put up around his room "to make it beautiful."
I told him I needed to go say goodnight to Jack. I went in there and Jack was sound asleep. I smoothed his hair down and kissed him on the head. Nothing. I kissed him again and said "goodnight sweetie - love you" and he opened his eyes really fast and just stared at me. Zero recognition of who I was. I said "it's okay baby, it's Momma, I'm just saying good night." His wide eyes kept staring. Nothing. It's a little creepy, I have to say, to have your kid staring at you with no recollection of who you are.
I left my confused and 95% sleeping boy in one room and heard my AWAKE baby in the other room, happily talking to himself still. AWAKE has come out once already as I'm writing this. I have my money on one more time.
I had to work at an event, so I got home right after the kids went to bed. I had texted Chuck and told him to tell the kids that I would come in to say goodnight.
I got changed and went into Ryker's room first. He was awake and SO excited. He got out of bed, ran around his room and whispered all about the pieces of paper he was giving me and the bad day he had (he hit someone) and that he wanted pajamas on (did I forget to mention he was naked?). We cuddled and talked and cuddled some more. We discussed why I call him my baby (because he came out of my tummy so I get to do that forever), and who came out of Grandmommy's tummy (me and Ry Ry, which is why SHE gets to call ME baby forever) and that there is a picture that happened before he was alive yet. Sure. Many, actually, but yes, I know the one he is referring to. We talked about the pictures he planned to put up around his room "to make it beautiful."
I told him I needed to go say goodnight to Jack. I went in there and Jack was sound asleep. I smoothed his hair down and kissed him on the head. Nothing. I kissed him again and said "goodnight sweetie - love you" and he opened his eyes really fast and just stared at me. Zero recognition of who I was. I said "it's okay baby, it's Momma, I'm just saying good night." His wide eyes kept staring. Nothing. It's a little creepy, I have to say, to have your kid staring at you with no recollection of who you are.
I left my confused and 95% sleeping boy in one room and heard my AWAKE baby in the other room, happily talking to himself still. AWAKE has come out once already as I'm writing this. I have my money on one more time.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Back Update
Update On My Back - better title?
I had an MRI last week, 124 days after the initial "injury." I met with my spine doc yesterday to go over the results. The short version is that it didn't provide much clarity on what our next steps should be. You may stop reading now if that's all you needed.
The longer version...
Essentially, the L5-S1 is still herniated (5mm, which they consider mild) - but that is interesting because it's 4 months after the initial problem. So it's still herniated but there is also something they are referring to as a "fragment", although my doc is unclear whether it's completely broken off or not. But it's a disc fragment of decent size (10mm by 6mm by 9mm) that is displacing my nerve root. That piece is showing a higher T2 signal, which he tells me means it has some globbiness to it - either fluid like a normal disc would, or inflammation. It's paracentral, which means it's closer in to the spinal cord than where we initially thought the pinch was occurring.
There is a mild bulge at the L4-5 and mild to moderate degeneration and something else that I don't understand. I'm reading my copy of the results while I'm writing this.
The tech's conclusion on me: moderately severe L5-S1 degeneration with a herniation that is pinching the S1 nerve. Mild degeneration in the next disc up (L4-5).
So basically that didn't help. I can either watch and wait (this was my pick), have an epidural steroid (to reduce inflammation if that is, in fact, the problem), or get some surgical consults. He was open to all three. I opted to wait. We can get to the other two later.
I'll continue doing the circuit training they taught me (all spine-safe activities), try to get some cardio added in, and go back to rehab once a month in their maintenance program. And at some point, if I decide I've had enough, we'll explore the injections or surgical consults.
There ya have it.
I had an MRI last week, 124 days after the initial "injury." I met with my spine doc yesterday to go over the results. The short version is that it didn't provide much clarity on what our next steps should be. You may stop reading now if that's all you needed.
The longer version...
Essentially, the L5-S1 is still herniated (5mm, which they consider mild) - but that is interesting because it's 4 months after the initial problem. So it's still herniated but there is also something they are referring to as a "fragment", although my doc is unclear whether it's completely broken off or not. But it's a disc fragment of decent size (10mm by 6mm by 9mm) that is displacing my nerve root. That piece is showing a higher T2 signal, which he tells me means it has some globbiness to it - either fluid like a normal disc would, or inflammation. It's paracentral, which means it's closer in to the spinal cord than where we initially thought the pinch was occurring.
There is a mild bulge at the L4-5 and mild to moderate degeneration and something else that I don't understand. I'm reading my copy of the results while I'm writing this.
The tech's conclusion on me: moderately severe L5-S1 degeneration with a herniation that is pinching the S1 nerve. Mild degeneration in the next disc up (L4-5).
So basically that didn't help. I can either watch and wait (this was my pick), have an epidural steroid (to reduce inflammation if that is, in fact, the problem), or get some surgical consults. He was open to all three. I opted to wait. We can get to the other two later.
I'll continue doing the circuit training they taught me (all spine-safe activities), try to get some cardio added in, and go back to rehab once a month in their maintenance program. And at some point, if I decide I've had enough, we'll explore the injections or surgical consults.
There ya have it.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Concert
By a crazy twist of fate, I ended up with Lady Antebellum tickets, courtesy of Grandpa and Uncle Ry Ry. Jack and I suited up in our best (and only) cowboyish outfits and off we went.
Half of the adventure for Jack was just getting to the concert. He loved the parking garage, and finding the skyway, and walking THROUGH the skyway, and getting into Target Center, and up the escalator, and down the concourse, and to our seats. It was adorable how wide-eyed he was.
When we arrived, the first act had already played and they were setting up for the second act (the pre-headliner). Jack loved watching all the people, but was a little nervous. Then the lights went down and all the ladies started shrieking. That made him REALLY nervous. I had to lean over and explain that people yell and scream at concerts. He jumped every time. He also held my hand the entire time. =)
The second act was Darius Rucker, during which I kept going "I know this voice!!!" and then finally, like 10 songs into it, I realized that it was Hootie. Like, Hootie and the Blowfish. My mind was blown.
We took a break during Darius and went up to the concourse. The noise was bothering him. I bought him a huge box of M&Ms, which almost made him fall over. He professed his undying love for me, and then his gratefulness to Ry Ry and Grandpa for giving us these tickets. So sweet.
There was another break between Darius and Lady A. They played about 10 minutes straight of dance songs, and told the audience that the best two dancers would get to move down to the floor. Jack hopped up and danced his little heart out. It was awesome. The people around us noticed, and loved it, and commanded me to get him up on his chair so the cameras could see him. So we got him up there, and I danced right along with him, taking a short break to film a bit. By then, the other sections had started to notice him too, and were pointing and cheering and trying to get the cameras to see him. He loved it.
Awhile into Lady A I asked Jack if he was okay still, or if he wanted to go. He goes "I'm not sure if I feel fine." Ha! I had visions of him puking all over everything, so I got him up into the concourse. Turns out he was just thirsty.
Anyway, I had a great time. Jack had an even better time. =)
Half of the adventure for Jack was just getting to the concert. He loved the parking garage, and finding the skyway, and walking THROUGH the skyway, and getting into Target Center, and up the escalator, and down the concourse, and to our seats. It was adorable how wide-eyed he was.
When we arrived, the first act had already played and they were setting up for the second act (the pre-headliner). Jack loved watching all the people, but was a little nervous. Then the lights went down and all the ladies started shrieking. That made him REALLY nervous. I had to lean over and explain that people yell and scream at concerts. He jumped every time. He also held my hand the entire time. =)
The second act was Darius Rucker, during which I kept going "I know this voice!!!" and then finally, like 10 songs into it, I realized that it was Hootie. Like, Hootie and the Blowfish. My mind was blown.
We took a break during Darius and went up to the concourse. The noise was bothering him. I bought him a huge box of M&Ms, which almost made him fall over. He professed his undying love for me, and then his gratefulness to Ry Ry and Grandpa for giving us these tickets. So sweet.
There was another break between Darius and Lady A. They played about 10 minutes straight of dance songs, and told the audience that the best two dancers would get to move down to the floor. Jack hopped up and danced his little heart out. It was awesome. The people around us noticed, and loved it, and commanded me to get him up on his chair so the cameras could see him. So we got him up there, and I danced right along with him, taking a short break to film a bit. By then, the other sections had started to notice him too, and were pointing and cheering and trying to get the cameras to see him. He loved it.
Awhile into Lady A I asked Jack if he was okay still, or if he wanted to go. He goes "I'm not sure if I feel fine." Ha! I had visions of him puking all over everything, so I got him up into the concourse. Turns out he was just thirsty.
Anyway, I had a great time. Jack had an even better time. =)
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Family Portraits
Reminder to myself for the next round of family portraits:
1. You will be frustrated. Just know that going in...
2. The lead-up is worse than the actual session.
3. Do not take the 10am time-slot. It seems reasonable, but you will never get there in time.
4. Make sure Jack has pants that fit. And don't rest on your laurels if you JUST bought a bigger size. That doesn't mean they still fit.
5. Make sure Jack owns a non-patterned dress shirt.
6. Make sure the children own dress shoes.
7. Be ready to assure Ryker all morning that he will, in fact, be wearing pants. He will be worried.
8. Don't let Ryker stand in front of the door while Jack opens it.
9. Bring makeup so you can cover up the welt on Ryker's forehead from said door-opening incident.
10. Don't be surprised when Ryker is a male model and Jack wants to hold on to him for dear-life. This makes sense, given both of their personalities.
1. You will be frustrated. Just know that going in...
2. The lead-up is worse than the actual session.
3. Do not take the 10am time-slot. It seems reasonable, but you will never get there in time.
4. Make sure Jack has pants that fit. And don't rest on your laurels if you JUST bought a bigger size. That doesn't mean they still fit.
5. Make sure Jack owns a non-patterned dress shirt.
6. Make sure the children own dress shoes.
7. Be ready to assure Ryker all morning that he will, in fact, be wearing pants. He will be worried.
8. Don't let Ryker stand in front of the door while Jack opens it.
9. Bring makeup so you can cover up the welt on Ryker's forehead from said door-opening incident.
10. Don't be surprised when Ryker is a male model and Jack wants to hold on to him for dear-life. This makes sense, given both of their personalities.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
A List - Things I Hate About the Gym
And all of these have happened to me in the last thirty days.
1. People who talk on their cell phones in the sauna.
2. When there are a grand total of 2 yoga balls in the entire gym, even though we have absorbed the members of another local gym that has closed.
3. Old ladies who push me aside to get to their locker. On purpose.
4. When a new guy on the basketball court looks at me to see if I want to play, and I say I can't, and he says "it's okay - it's like the international women's league here." Ummm. I'm not sure who should be more offended by that. (Luckily one of my buddies in there stared him down.)
5. People who shower and come into the sauna without drying off. The dripping makes them sound like they are peeing.
6. People who steal the yoga mat that is 6 inches from my feet, with my PT binder resting right in front of it.
7. When that happens twice in one workout.
8. People who move closer to me in the whirlpool while my eyes are briefly closed.
9. When they play Adele over the loudspeakers. Love her, but not while I'm working out.
10. People who lay down on the benches in the locker room. Why?
1. People who talk on their cell phones in the sauna.
2. When there are a grand total of 2 yoga balls in the entire gym, even though we have absorbed the members of another local gym that has closed.
3. Old ladies who push me aside to get to their locker. On purpose.
4. When a new guy on the basketball court looks at me to see if I want to play, and I say I can't, and he says "it's okay - it's like the international women's league here." Ummm. I'm not sure who should be more offended by that. (Luckily one of my buddies in there stared him down.)
5. People who shower and come into the sauna without drying off. The dripping makes them sound like they are peeing.
6. People who steal the yoga mat that is 6 inches from my feet, with my PT binder resting right in front of it.
7. When that happens twice in one workout.
8. People who move closer to me in the whirlpool while my eyes are briefly closed.
9. When they play Adele over the loudspeakers. Love her, but not while I'm working out.
10. People who lay down on the benches in the locker room. Why?
Thursday, March 1, 2012
More Updates
Time for some updates! Sheesh. Sorry about that...
Chuck went to Mancation a few weekends ago. I think it's their 6th year? 7th? Impressive, whatever it is. They have a great time though, and then Chuck is really glad to be home and in a house that is NOT full of a dozen guys.
We had conferences for Jack last week. He's kicking his academic work's *ss. Can I say that? He really is though. Example - the expectation for the END of kindergarten is for him to be at level 4 of this one reading program. In February he was on level 8. So he's doing really well. His teacher is great and we are able to bounce lots of ideas off of her and work together with her to help Jack with things he's struggling with. Example - the final statement on his conference form was "We need to work with Jack on truth-telling and making good choices." I wanted to slither off of my chair and under the table, but I thought that wasn't really modeling good choices so I sat upright and quietly mumbled obscenities to myself instead.
We found out that he kissed Izzy again. He hadn't for a few months, but I guess he put his jacket up over his mouth and then leaned in. Bad Jack. We talked about it a LOT on the way home, and all through dinner. He was in his room for awhile, then came out with "I LOVE IZZY" printed neatly across his entire forearm. The upshot? He spelled it correctly, and I guess he's a kid who knows what he wants. Plus he's adorable.
Ryker continues to be our little puppy. He's hilarious. Tonight he was "reading" us a joke book, after I read it first. He'd look at an illustration of an elephant and then go "why da eh-ya-phent sooo big?" and we'd say "why?" and he'd go "I don't know" and turn the page. We did that over and over and over.
I keep forgetting to post some of my favorite words of his - but my current one is "moan" which really means "more." "Can I have some moan?" Hilarious every single time. Also, he now "chaps his yips" before bed, with his chapstick, and asks you if you want him to chap YOUR lips as well. Makes perfect sense, when you think about it.
I'm getting discharged from PT/OT tomorrow. That will be my 24th appointment, and that is all that insurance covers. 24 appointments since November. It's like a second home now. I saw the spine doc on Tuesday and he spent a full hour with me in the room - not leaving once. Mostly he was scratching his head and re-reading his notes and testing and re-testing various things on me. I appear to be a conundrum. I have progressed really well with their machines - achieving the goal weight on both of the two machines I'm in. I am also able to do the home program (circuit) just fine by myself. So they are discharging me because I can't achieve much else IN their gym. They'll discharge me to their maintenance program, which means I'll actually be back there once a month for a long time, but it's better than twice a week! The question then became what to DO with me since I'm still numb on the right side of my right leg, and I still can't do any cardio without increasing my leg symptoms. So we're doing an MRI on Monday and then I'll go back to him to review the films. We'll go from there. For extra sympathy, I'll remind you all that this started back in OCTOBER.
But now we're moving into spring, planning summer camps/trips already, setting up a chore-chart for Jack, and marching forward.
Chuck went to Mancation a few weekends ago. I think it's their 6th year? 7th? Impressive, whatever it is. They have a great time though, and then Chuck is really glad to be home and in a house that is NOT full of a dozen guys.
We had conferences for Jack last week. He's kicking his academic work's *ss. Can I say that? He really is though. Example - the expectation for the END of kindergarten is for him to be at level 4 of this one reading program. In February he was on level 8. So he's doing really well. His teacher is great and we are able to bounce lots of ideas off of her and work together with her to help Jack with things he's struggling with. Example - the final statement on his conference form was "We need to work with Jack on truth-telling and making good choices." I wanted to slither off of my chair and under the table, but I thought that wasn't really modeling good choices so I sat upright and quietly mumbled obscenities to myself instead.
We found out that he kissed Izzy again. He hadn't for a few months, but I guess he put his jacket up over his mouth and then leaned in. Bad Jack. We talked about it a LOT on the way home, and all through dinner. He was in his room for awhile, then came out with "I LOVE IZZY" printed neatly across his entire forearm. The upshot? He spelled it correctly, and I guess he's a kid who knows what he wants. Plus he's adorable.
Ryker continues to be our little puppy. He's hilarious. Tonight he was "reading" us a joke book, after I read it first. He'd look at an illustration of an elephant and then go "why da eh-ya-phent sooo big?" and we'd say "why?" and he'd go "I don't know" and turn the page. We did that over and over and over.
I keep forgetting to post some of my favorite words of his - but my current one is "moan" which really means "more." "Can I have some moan?" Hilarious every single time. Also, he now "chaps his yips" before bed, with his chapstick, and asks you if you want him to chap YOUR lips as well. Makes perfect sense, when you think about it.
I'm getting discharged from PT/OT tomorrow. That will be my 24th appointment, and that is all that insurance covers. 24 appointments since November. It's like a second home now. I saw the spine doc on Tuesday and he spent a full hour with me in the room - not leaving once. Mostly he was scratching his head and re-reading his notes and testing and re-testing various things on me. I appear to be a conundrum. I have progressed really well with their machines - achieving the goal weight on both of the two machines I'm in. I am also able to do the home program (circuit) just fine by myself. So they are discharging me because I can't achieve much else IN their gym. They'll discharge me to their maintenance program, which means I'll actually be back there once a month for a long time, but it's better than twice a week! The question then became what to DO with me since I'm still numb on the right side of my right leg, and I still can't do any cardio without increasing my leg symptoms. So we're doing an MRI on Monday and then I'll go back to him to review the films. We'll go from there. For extra sympathy, I'll remind you all that this started back in OCTOBER.
But now we're moving into spring, planning summer camps/trips already, setting up a chore-chart for Jack, and marching forward.
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