Registration Week

I noticed it was open registration for co-op preschools today and decided I should see if we can sign Wren up for Pre-3s this fall. I am still hoping I can find some paid employment by then but who really knows and Open Enrollment waits for no parent.

I arrived and received a lottery ticket. The spaces available in various co-ops were posted on a board. There were 15 spaces total in the 5 preschool programs I was considering. By the time my number (514) was called 100 people at least had gone in so I was very happy to get a place at Wedgwood. I think it was the last one.

We also waitlisted Wren for Victory Heights Pre-3s. I think he is 4th or 5th on their waitlist which generally moves a bit over summer

Meanwhile, I have submitted Frost's registration and school choice form for Seattle Public Schools. It required me to list at least 3 schools so I put down Lowell, Thornton Creek, View Ridge and Jane Addams K-8. We expect him to attend Lowell although he is not too excited right now because he wants to go to the same school as his current classmates. It is hard to explain to him that the public and private schools they all go to will be different - determined by residence, lottery, disposable income and other secrets in the complicated algorithm of Seattle Public Schools and parent priority.

Next job on my list is the Tax Return and Packing.

Congenital Heart Futures Act - ACT!

Dear C.H.I.N. supporters,

I am very excited to inform you that The Congenital Heart Futures Act was introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives yesterday! This bill calls for increased funding for research, a national registry, and funding for a national awareness and public education campaign.

C.H.I.N., along with our partners in the National Congenital Heart Coalition, need your help to get this important piece of legislation passed! Please take a moment to find out how you can help and send an email to your representatives today!

For additional information on how you can get involved and to view the text of the bill, please see: http://tchin.org/about/CHFA.htm

You can also view the official announcement of the introduction of the bill on: http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=309944

Please feel free to pass this email along to your friends and family to ask for their support, and to post the information on your Facebook or MySpace pages!

Thank-you,
Mona Barmash
mb@tchin.org

Frost goes online

Frost's email this evening. This is a response to the ongoing loss of coats crisis.
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Hello. This is a message to all of you.

I have lost my coat and I would like you to please please check your house because I have had playdates with your kids recently and it might be there.

One of them is blue and black and is a fleece. Its mainly blue. The other one is black with a little bit of yellow writing on it and the inside is grey and feels sort of velvety. It says NIKE on it. They have my name in them on the tag or some place like that.

PS. My Mom will fine me $20 if I don't find my coats soon. So please help.

FROM FROST

---------------------------

Tonight Frost used instant-messaging for the first time. He was checking his gmail when a friend came online and used gmail chat to text him. The IM was something like "hey man." I heard the beep and explained what it was. Frost was thrilled. "YO" he typed back. Elias made a smiley face. I showed Frost how to make a funny face. He made many faces and some hearts. Elias said he had to go and do homework. Frost said "homework sucks" even though he has never done any to my knowledge.

While we communed over toothbrushing Frost asked "don't teenagers text?" I said they text, often on their phones. He said "I am a texting teenager!"

At 9pm when I told Frost it was time for lights out and he should go and kiss Daddy, he asked if he could "text" him instead. He sent an IM "KISS" with a heart. Earlier he sent a heart and "YOU". He was sweet and coy and pleased about it.

He gave me a real kiss and Joshua a real goodnight too.

Finger Paint

Last year Wren was horrified by finger paint. He didn't like "messy" and was quite alarmed when Heather suggested he put his hands in it.

Yesterday he changed his mind.

He LOVES finger painting and has tried to persuade me to do it again a number of times. He used up all the old paint on his first go and we shall have to pick up some more tomorrow to keep him entertained.

Here is Wren, fingerpainting!


Wren tells me that this is painting is WORMS.

This painting is also... WORMS.
This one is more snakes AND worms.

Frost's Passport has ARRIVED

Leading up to our departure next week we are still waiting on two passports - Josh's from the US Passport Agency and Frost's from the Australian one. Although Frost has a US passport, the Australian government requires him to enter Australia on his national one (which had expired). Josh had lost his US one after our last trip 4 years ago so both had to be replaced.

Josh submitted his on February 24th and his passport is still not listed as being in the US Passport Agency System. I waited on hold for 20 minutes yesterday and was finally told that his passport had been entered on March 3rd but was "backlogged" and so no updates were posted. It has not been completed yet but should be made by late next week. SHOULD. Thankfully, Josh is leaving 10 days after us so there is still time for it to arrive. However, if we had believed the 3 week processing time he was told on receipt, we would be very anxious right now.

Meanwhile, Frost's was submitted on March 8th in San Francisco (via Fedex) and has just been delivered to us on the 16th. That took them 8 days to create and deliver a passport from interstate. I consider that pretty impressive.

I suppose to give the US Passport Agency their due, they are trying to equip a nation of non-passport holders who are only now requiring what they call "passport BOOKS" How big are these things? Almost all Australians get a passport when they become adults. There is nowhere else to go without a passport unlike US Americans who, until recently, could roam Canada and Mexico on their drivers' license. Actually, this is only what I have been told... I still cannot believe it.

Huge Snow

Wren went to bed early this evening after missing most of his midday nap. He has not had a fever today but remains very up and down emotionally. I think he is still feeling unwell but on the mend. Here he is yesterday while he had a high fever and was watching Wiggles.


This morning we had a brief but heavy snowfall of the largest snowflakes I have ever seen. Even though it was fairly warm (by winter standards) the snow stuck for a while until it turned to rain. I don't think these pictures do it justice but the snowflakes were around an inch in diameter and I think they must have been aggregates of many crystals. It was beautiful to look up int the sky because you could follow a single flake as it fell from far away. While the sky usually looks 'flat' the huge grey flakes made the sky remarkably three dimensional. It was very unusual.




Here is Wren at Breafast (before the emotional meltdowns). He has just figured out how to fake smile.

Feeling hopeful

Wren is still not feverish and I am hopeful that he will be OK tonight too. He is still acting a bit peculiar - he woke in the middle of nap for the second day in a row - but is cheerful and energetic otherwise. Now if I can get him to eat something more substantial than the frosting from Cupcake Royale. Joshua is attempting to lure him with instant mac and cheese.

No fever but catalog crazy

Frost and Wren are reading the 2009 Playmobil catalogs. The free catalogs are a great source of joy to both of them. Frost reads each page in detail while Wren calls his "my Indian book" and says "how read it?" Because it is floppy he has difficulty turning pages.

"I need go pee!" he shouts. I say "RUN!" "No no. I like read Indian book. I goan pee on couch." I disagree swiftly and scoop him up to the potty a long corridor away. "Nooooo," complains Wren "I don't like jump!"

However, we have success.

This morning Wren had no fever but I think it is likely that it returns at some point. Still, it is encouraging to have this respite.

"Wren have this one!" he calls out on seeing the playmobil buffalo in the catalog.

"I will tell you THREE things I like" adds Frost "maybe four". "I really like the Egyptian Playmobil because they are the newest kind and they are coming out in August. They have a tomb treasure, a sphynx and mummy, a pharoah with horse, a ship and THE PYRAMID!"

I explain to Frost that he better be saving money because we can't spend too much on toys. In fact, I suggest we go to the library today to get him something new to read. Frost suggests we add a trip to Top Pot Donuts on the library visit. I explaint that we spent [aka I and kids spent] about $200 last month on eating out and coffee shops on our trips and we have to put a stop to it.

Frost suggests we "get rich so we don't have to pay so many taxes". Honestly, the things he comes up with sometimes. I asked him where he go this bit of theory from and he explained "Obama said it on TV". I hadn't had any coffee yet so I couldn't figure out how to tell him that by many standards we middle classers are rich but still things don't work out to provide unlimited donut and Playmobil shopping.

Why you DO that?

When I touch his forehead to check for fever Wren asks "why you DO that?" I explain that I am checking if he is sick. "Wren not sick. Not go doctor?" I reassure him that we don't have to go to the doctor, yet, but he is sick because he still has a fever.

This evening he said "Wren a bit hot". I checked and he was a bit hot. The first reading was 103 but the other ear was 102.4 so I am not sure how hot he was really. It had been 7 hours since he received Tylenol so I gave him a dose and his fever was down to near normal at bedtime.

We still have no symptoms to blame and hope it goes away tomorrow or we will be doing the blood draw on Monday (3 days of unexplained fever) for endocarditis. If he needs one, I think I may take him to Children's clinic for it rather than doing it at the doctors. She had an awful time doing the draw last time.

Still Feverish but Active

Wren slept well last night but when he woke (like clockwork) he had a fever of 102.5. I gave him Tylenol and his fever went away. He has been active and engaged and playing as usual but has less humor and is not as energetic. I expect the fever to return when this dose wears off.

As always with the endocarditis risk I would prefer another symptom like a cold. However, many kids at Frost's school and in our community of friends have had fever diseases recently, some of which have persisted for a few days. I shall not panic yet. As always, Wren is sick on a weekend.

He is now running around with a minuscule lego cannon from which he is shooting tiny pellets. He has an ongoing narrative to his game. Here it is verbatim: "Shoot" he says "I doan see it!!!" then "SHOOT, whoa... see that? Its shoot out!!! So FAR AWAY Shannon. Super big!!! I cahn see that its SO FAR AWAY. Woah. Actually. I see that. Ring ring. I dumped it. Now superMAAAN! Super BIG! Here you come. Dump-di-dum! BLONK. Out you come."

Its like a 7 year old talking through him. Wonder how that happened?