Dear Noah......"can I sleep with you tonight ..my kneecaps feel funny"

That is what you came out and asked me at bedtime. I turned around to you and asked, "What? Your kneecaps feel funny. What do you mean?" You proceeded to tell me that your kneecaps had a funny feeling in them which would go away 100% in MY bed but only 50% in YOUR bed. I asked you to describe the feeling.....and you said it was sort of a pain....and when it was really bad....that is when you always asked to sleep in my bed as sleeping in my bed gave your kneecaps MORE LOVE which made them feel better pretty quickly. You said your kneecaps felt like they were pressing down on your legs really hard or moving and you had to move your legs. I imagine this is restless leg syndrome as I have that myself...and you may be experiencing that or growing pains or finally starting to have Osgood Schlatter's as your dad and half brother both had that when they were growing up (which is basically just more growing pain stuff that will go away). I imagine your extra activity with swimming and running and jumping in the pool brought this all on this time as I have never heard you mention your legs feeling like this, but maybe one other time. Plus combine all this activity with your severely flat feet and fallen arches....well...I imagine it is a blessing you can walk! The cheaper orthotics I purchased for your shoes do an okay job, but are not bringing up your foot as well as they should. Your feet feel better in them but are still not corrected 100%.

I did think the entire story and the way you presented it....so flawlessly and technical ...so matter-of-fact for something that sounded so silly and yet I know your legs did really bother you last night.

So you had a sleepover in my room last night. I think we both slept pretty well as I was so tired and it was raining.

Today we have to finish part 2 of the Scantron testing...(here all this time I had been calling it SCRANTON tests when it is SCAN TRON - SCANTRON tests....haha). The math portion last night was horrendous.....asking you all sorts of questions on things you have not yet even studied. I think they may have assigned you the wrong test. I emailed the teacher asking.

You are more more fascinated again with air conditioners and furnaces along with pop/soda machines. You wanted me to renew your membership to 3D plans so you could do more designing and building of commercial buildings using their plans as they were the only ones who offered all the air conditioner units and more toilets and soda machines and furnaces. I guess your other home design program is more limited.

SO you will be busy on that today and finishing up some school work and those tests.

I love you...hoping your little "kneecaps" feel the love today and are much better!

Mommy
XOXOXO


and now for a little more information on Osgood Schlatter's disease:

Osgood-Sclatter's Disease (OSD) is a painful condition occuring in children,adolescents and young adults. The pain is located at the knee which can be brought on by repetitive motions such as jumping, squatting and high impact activities. Location of pain is often focused a the insertion of the patellar tendon onto the tibial tubercle. OSD Symptoms usually begin during periods of increased growth and tend to subside as bone maturity is reached. Bone abnormalities at the patellar tendon insertion area can be detected with routine x-ray. Often without x-ray, the bony insertion area will be identified with an increase in size and will form a "bump" on the front of the knee. Treating OSD is generally always conservative with emphasis on reducing pain and swelling with cold compress therapy, anti-inflammatories (NSAIDS). Once pain and swelling have been controlled, increased flexibility and strengthening exercises for the hamstrings and quadriceps are installed in a pain free range of motion (ROM). In some cases, soft bracing and activity adjustment may be prescribed.

Noah's first official swim day 2009 - Saturday, May 23

We got the pool outside and Noah had a great time although I am sure the water was a bit chilly. Here are a couple of photos and clips....

Dear Noah.....the swimming pool is inflated and filled......

and hopefully the water will warm up enough you can swim today. This is a large pool that I decided to blow up by myself in my bedroom (first mistake) as I could then barely get it back OUT of the bedroom to take down the hall and outside. We finally got it outside....and we filled it up yesterday...then I realized there is NO DRAIN hole in it.

NOW I have to drain this pool and move it every so many days so I won't kill the grass......so this will not be so much fun when we get to that day.

BUT...otherwise you are all about wanting to go swimming...

You have also been requesting "COMFORT" -- Every day now you ask if I will come and "comfort" you in the morning when you wake up...sometimes during the day you ask for more "comforting." I finally asked you what exactly COMFORT meant to YOU and you said "when you come in the morning and lay down with me in bed....or keep me company in my room, " and I said "oh you mean like just being with you and snuggling up with you." OF COURSE that is comfort.....I figured that is what you meant.

SO I have been giving you lots of comfort lately.....as I stand back and see you growing up so fast.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Mommy
XOXOXO

Dear Noah.....you lost another tooth.....

which is good as you have about 6 the dentist said that were ready to come out or about ready to come out. The tooth fairy left you 3.00 for it.

School is plugging along. You still have a little under 60 hours to get in before the end of the official school year June 11.

I had a few things to write about earlier today.....thought they would make a nice post...but I did not have the time then. Thought I would wait till tonight and now I cannot remember what it was I wanted to post. That is terrible.

AND you still have a few more visits for Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy....they forgot they were to go by the school calendar year of the school you are officially enrolled in now. DUH.

Monday we had a good day but were super busy. We also went to the park to check out the pool and we walked a lap around the track. I also let you play at the park for awhile. I mowed and well we did a lot of things. We sat outside at night at the patio table and you asked if we could do that a lot this summer and I said sure...weather permitting.

You wanted to get a new swimming pool so we did that. I should have filled it today but I had no time. It has been in the 80s and will be for a few days. You are hoping your cousin Audrey will be able to come swimming with you.

Otherwise..my brain tonight cannot think of what I wanted to say. It seemed it was something profound..or profound to me......about you. Guess if I think of it later I can make another post. I guess at nighttime I will have to start making posts ahead of time and scheduling that they get posted each day. I never seem to have much time to do this otherwise anymore though I still get here and make posts.

We are thinking about getting a tent and camping out in the backyard....and also taking the Coleman Inflatable bed out back and watching the meteor showers when they roll around again this summer.

Here is a picture you took of us in the office area last night.



I love you!

Mommy
XOXOXOX

Dear Noah...I found out.......

that even if we plug along on with school studies till we get completely caught up with the school calendar year along with everyone else (and not go by when you actually started school as your year is not up till first week in December).....you would not get credit for any hours we actually put into all that work towards next year's school hours.....you only get credit for hours put in during the school calendar year....which ends June 12. So anything over the required total 920 hours is just extra and will not be allowed to be counted towards next year's 920 hours...even though you can make your own school year calendar and do school whenever you want. So....I guess I can keep a log and mark stuff off later to get the credit.......or just wait and pick school back up again in the fall along with everyone else. Problem with waiting is you will be 3 months behind starting fifth grade work in some subjects then.....(but you are already doing fifth grade language arts stuff all year this year so I guess it makes no big difference).

So.......I am debating now about progressing too far as I want you to have some time off this summer and not get too burned out and then also rushed to get done before the new school year begins. I think we will skate through it instead over the summer adding a lot of fun things to do and field trips......and pick up again to finish in the fall.

You have had a lot of headaches lately.....not sure why. I know you have been super picky about eating and not eating very much as everything seems to smell funny to you and make you gag or taste funny to you and you can't eat it. You are down to ZERO cookies too now as they have been bothering you to even eat those....

YOU DID agree to eating some healthier foods the other day. After a long talk with you again about how unhealthy fast food is for you and the fact that they even put chemicals now in the paper fast food is wrapped in that can cause cancer....you have not wanted it as often which is good. You have not eaten at our local Burger King (your old favorite) for MONTHS. You refuse to go since you had a bad experience there twice in a row where the french fries were old or cold...nasty leftover things they looked and tasted like. So your choices are dwindling. I told you...you needed to try more new foods and healthier choices so you could live a long full healthy life. Avoid disease...etc.

SO you agreed to some grilled chicken......and apple slices and carrot slices. YES you read that right. APPLE slices and CARROT slices. You only ate 3 little slices of carrots and about 4 apple slices but I was thrilled and you DID like them although you said the carrots did not really have much taste.

We have been busy (or I have) reorganizing the garage and house...and we realized when you got a notice from the local library that we had checked out all the kid books with YOUR library card last time....and they are all overdue since when I renewed books I apparently only renewed the ones on MY card forgetting entirely you had a card and had checked out 17 books that are now.....TWO WEEKS overdue. WHY the library waits so long to send out a notice irritates me too.....especially for that many books. It will be around 10.00 to pay that fine unless I fight it.

You have a new obsession/interest.....old soda pop machines. You are even drawing them......as noted above by the drawing you did on your Doodle Pad.

Anyway.......you stayed up late last night so are still sleeping in. You are off school today as I have you on my schedule.

Today is your last day for occupational therapy this school year. You have 2 more speech therapy visits.

We have lots to do. You wanna come help mommy mow today? I could put you on the smaller battery mower!

LOVE YOU!

Mommy
XOXOXO

Dear Noah......getting you to do school lately has been very difficult!

Last night I decided to let you have a sleep over in my room....as today is trash day and since your bedroom faces out front the trash trucks can sometimes wake you up way too early.

I changed all our sheets yesterday....finally removing the winter flannel sheets and putting on nice cool summer cotton sheets instead. I also flipped our mattresses and washed the bedspreads.

So last night when you crawled into bed you said "the sheets smell like my daddy," and "I miss my daddy" and then "I really want my daddy."

I smelled the sheets and did not think they smelled like anyone in particular, but just fresh sheets.

However you could not fall asleep.....tossing and turning.....30 minutes later it was almost 11:30 p.m.....and you told me you could not fall asleep. You were busy thinking about your dad and wondering when he was going to come in for a visit.

I decided to grab the cell phone and just call him and let you talk to him real quick and tell him what you had been thinking about.

The first thing you said to him after he asked you what you were still doing awake was "WHEN are you going to come for a visit?" and then "Maybe you could come during the week of the fair in August"....."I thought maybe Father's Day too but that is too close for you to get the money to come."

I told your dad what you had said about the sheets and how you had been missing him and wanting to see him....etc. I have to say he seemed happy to hear it all but then also seemed to really be more formal with you and rush you off the phone. Maybe because he was at work or something..not sure as he has sometimes done this to you before though I am not sure he is aware of it. The comments he made back to you sounded almost rehearsed for anyone in the general public rather than his own son. I am not knocking him ...it is just what it all sounded like and it seemed so obviously plain and apparent to me last night listening to him talk to you on speaker phone.

Anyway.....I thought it was all very sweet and the fact that you are expressing your feelings so well is huge progress for you.

I love you......hope you sleep in this morning and the trash trucks don't wake you up!

Mommy
XOXOXO

Happy Mother's Day to my mom....2009 (we love you very much)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I think this is one continuous loop......and will just keep rolling mom......but we love you lots...always will. Hope your Mother's Day this year was especially good since Chris got to come up too for a visit.

Dear Noah.......busy busy busy......

For we have been lately. Trying to remember to squeeze school in the mix makes us even busier!

Your uncle Chris was up from Florida for a few days this past week so we enjoyed getting together to see him. You did pretty well but did have some issues on Friday while there ...things were said....we left.....you learned....and we all move on.

For Mother's Day you wanted to take me to the antique mall on Saturday and then to dinner at Fazoli's. You had a coupon so were able to get us both dinner for under 6.00. You also gave me a nice musical Snoopy card you picked out and bought yourself.

We had a nice drive to the antique mall....and a very enjoyable weekend. I had a lazy day reading and sleeping on Sunday.....and then we topped that off by visiting with grandma C. Sunday night taking her KFC for dinner.

Today we will plant some vegetables in our backyard flowerbeds .....and you want to spend most of the day then on your computer while I work inside the house and garage rearranging all the storage boxes and hopefully finishing this room.

I love you Noah.......very much.

Mommy
XOXOX

Dear Noah.....grandma C. has her heart cath today....

I am finished with work and will be waking you up soon so we can go down to the heart hospital to be with her and some other family members.

I will update here later I hope.

Any prayers for our grandma C. would be greatly appreciated.

I love you Noah!

Mommy
XOXOXO

Before even thinking about getting a flu shot....you should reread this......

CLICK on title to go read a past interview about 1976 and a previous swine flu scare and tactics used to pressure people to get flu shots and then what happened to thousands after receiving the flu shot.......

Dear Noah.....it has been a little difficult getting you back into the swing of school......

(Noah when we still lived in Colorado playing doctor)

but we are plugging along.

In the mornings now you come into my office and sit on my lap and hug me. We have a silly routine we go through where I say good morning to you and then ask if you had any dreams and you always say "I can't remember any." This is all very new and progress because in the past when you would get up you would never say a word....or come into my room....but instead stand silently behind me or sit in the hallway. I would sometimes also not say anything to see how long it would take you to realize you should say something to let me know you were up....but you never would. You could sit there forever unless I said something to you first. SO I explained to you that when you get up in the morning....if you were coming to "greet" someone good morning.....that it would be appropriate to at least let that person know you were there. Say good morning..etc. SO now you do. AND you come into my room AND sit in my lap for awhile.

Well the other morning you came in....and you hugged me and on your own without prompting you told me you loved me. AND then I laid my head on your chest and you hugged me and my head and said "aw I love you even more when you lay your head on my chest like that."

You are sweet...and a snuggler. Hopefully I can keep this in mind as I try to ignore your rolling eyes when I say it is time to do school later today!

I love you Noah......very much.

Mommy
XOXOXOX