When Ben and I got back from our Hawaii trip last week, I noticed Luke's ears looked different. They were red with white splotchy bumps around the top edges. You can see it just a little in the picture below.
I was a little concerned that this... rash?... showed up so dramatically and in that specific spot. It didn't seem to bother Luke: it wasn't itchy or painful but I watched it and after it didn't go away for several days, decided to ask our pediatrician about it, making double appointments for Cat and Luke after Cat's concussion.
Turns out, Luke had Juvenile Spring Eruption, literally the body's response to the weather warming up, then turning cold again. Not cancer or anything else scary. Just the ear's equivalent to achy joints when it's about to rain (which I experienced when I was pregnant with Cat). And it only happened to Luke. And the day we talked to the pediatrician about it was the day it started to go away. Of course.
Cat had her first regular-season spring game over the weekend. It was a pretty typical game, until about 10 minutes before the end, when this happened.
So to break this down, Cat had the ball, the opponent pushed her down while trying to get to the ball, then continued to pursue the ball when Cat was on the ground and Cat's head happened to get in the way. Cat grabbed her head, rolled over, stayed on the ground for a couple of seconds, then staggered away.
She had a few symptoms over the weekend: some dizziness, feeling off-balance, a headache, soreness in her neck, and loss of appetite. I was concerned, but Ben didn't think it was a big deal. After I brought it up a couple of times he said, "Okay, if you want a concussion, have a concussion!"
Cat took it easy the rest of the weekend, resting more than normal on Saturday and Sunday. She went to school like normal on Monday, but planned not to play any soccer at school or afterward.
My worry was sparked again when I got a call from Cat Monday afternoon saying that she'd had a headache all day and it was getting worse. She walked home from school while I was at piano lessons with the other two, and we talked through her symptoms when I got home. Now, she was also dealing with sensitivity to light and loud noises and she had trouble focusing in class. That's when I called our pediatrician.
Unfortunately, I called at 4:45, the precise moment (unbeknownst to me) that calls start getting forwarded to the answering service. The on-call nurse listened to Cat's symptoms and told us that she needed to go to the ER for a CT. I asked about going to a clinic instead but she was adamant that we had to go to the ER. I even called the clinic near our house to see if they could do a CT and they said no, so we drove to the smallest, and hopefully least-busy, ER around.
I had all the kids with me so we prepared for approximately 37 hours at the hospital with homework, books, toys, snacks, and movies downloaded on a laptop. When we got there the waiting room had local news playing on the TV so that provided supplemental entertainment. Excellent.
Nobody was waiting, so Cat was taken to the exam room pretty quickly. For the purpose of "privacy for the other patients," only two visitors are allowed per patient, and the nursing staff wouldn't make any exceptions just because Cat's visitors were minors. So I had to leave two children with the local news in the waiting room and check on them periodically.
Luckily, the doctor saw Cat quickly. And almost as quickly determined that she did NOT need a CT scan. Good thing we went to the ER.
Cat definitely has a concussion, and treatment is just what you'd expect when any part of the body is injured. If you hurt your leg, you give it rest. If you hurt your brain, it needs rest too. Cat definitely shouldn't go to school. Or play soccer (or do anything else that might jostle her head). Or read. Or look at a screen. Or listen to pop music or audiobooks.
Cat had some trouble sleeping right after the injury happened because of soreness in her neck. It would hurt if she moved the wrong way. In a demonstration of solidarity, Eliza chose to sleep on the floor, where it was less comfortable, since Cat wasn't sleeping comfortably. Here she is, the morning after we went to the ER.
Neither Cat nor I were excited about the "recline in a dark room and do nothing until symptoms subside" treatment plan, but we figured we could approximate it by at least minimizing activity and brain use. So for about 48 hours after going to the hospital Cat's activities included the following: getting lots of sleep, talking on the phone, making a batch of brownies, looking at a family photo album, and going to lunch with Ben. She and I painted nails. She spent extra time with Luke: playing games, reading books, doing sidewalk chalk, and even giving him a bath.
And on Wednesday, she got some surprise visitors. Because the school talent show was shorter than expected, her friends had an extra-long lunch period. So naturally they broke school rules and walked the block to our house so they could check on Cat. It was really sweet and Cat was thrilled. We rewarded them with lunch items, fruit snacks, and Toblerone chocolate, then dropped them off at the school on our way to meet Ben for lunch.
Later Wednesday afternoon we saw the pediatrician for a follow-up and were told that Cat could return to school, homework, etc., when she felt ready. As for soccer, it is absolutely forbidden for at least a few days, and she will have to ease back into activity after that, as long as the symptoms don't return.
So, Cat attended school for the second half of the day today, largely so that she can find out what she needs to get caught up on over Spring Break next week. She'll go to the rest of her classes tomorrow. Then she can take her time completing assignments over the next week while not playing soccer.
Most weeks, Ben and I go on a date Friday night while Cat babysits the other kids. Last Friday we decided to forgo the date, since we'd just had a 4-day-long date in Hawaii and we knew we had a busy week ahead and there wouldn't be a lot of time to just have fun as a family. Jack has been really into basketball lately, so we decided to shoot some hoops, in spite of the cold, wet weather. We played for about 30-45 minutes, which included two first-to-15-points games. The girls won both games, mostly thanks to Cat's mad baller skills, but the boys came pretty close on the second game.
Here's a verbal highlight reel:
* Luke tried to bring his body armor (a big flat foam sled) to the game to guard against Eliza and refused to play for a few minutes after we told him it wasn't allowed. Then he joined us and when his ball-holding and Ben's Luke-holding combined, it was a powerful combination.
*Cold, numb fingers trying to handle a cold, wet ball in fading light.
* Ben to Luke: Check your man!
Luke: I'm checked!
* Eliza's chest-passed to Cat's face
* Jack to Ben, when Luke was taking a break: "I'm your only option!"
* Eliza yelling repeatedly, "Foul ball!" against Luke.
* Cat complimenting herself by yelling "BUCKETS!" after a good shot.
* Eliza repeatedly accusing Ben of dunking. He wasn't.
* Cat morphing into an octopus and wrapping herself around Jack when he wouldn't give up the ball.
* Luke exclaiming "Halftime!" a few minutes into the second game.
* Somehow at the very end of the second game I got hit in the right knee and ended up with an impressive bruise. It didn't hurt that much, but a few days later, it still looks pretty nasty. Also unknown: how Eliza tore the knee of her leggings.
When Ben told me about the chance to go to Hawaii, I thought it would be fun but I was really worried about who would take care of the kids. We know plenty of good people in Utah, and we have some extended family around, but nobody we felt comfortable asking to babysit for 4 days was available. Ben's brother lives nearby but they have their hands full with their own family. We even considered flying a grandparent out to care for the kids. But after a lot of deliberation we came up with the perfect solution. Ben's young coworker, Tony, has become a family friend over the last year and a half and has a great relationship with the kids. He's the oldest of a big family and I knew he and his wife-of-7-months (who also comes from a big family) would be the perfect babysitters. And they were. They stayed in our guest room so they were around the whole time, and from what they told us, the whole weekend went quite smoothly.
Jack really struggles with me leaving the house without him. He goes through a ritual whenever I go somewhere (usually choir): giving multiple hugs, repeating multiple "I love you's," then running outside to wave at me as I drive past the house toward the main road. But when Ben and I left for the airport Friday morning (the kids didn't have school that day), Jack and the others were so happy that Tony was there to hang out with them that they just gave us a hearty wave and a happy "Bye!" as we walked to the garage. They didn't even watch us get in the car.
Then we got random pictures and videos while we were gone, showing the kids happy and having fun.
Dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe, watching FSU men's basketball play in the ACC Championship
Cat and Katja setting up the traditional St. Patrick's Day scavenger hunt Saturday night for the younger kids to enjoy on Sunday morning.
Traditional Sunday evening video chat with Mema and Papa - I love that they did this!
The accompanying text read: "Professor Luke teaching me how to trap lightning with ice thicker than 5 inches."
And then, "While making him lunch, Luke told Google to play Michael Jackson and was dancing with his tie. When food was ready, he paused the music, said a before meal prayer, then started the music back up. He's too much."
Cat was happy to get some time with her friends while Tony and Katja took the younger kids to a trampoline park on Saturday. They had fun watching movies, playing basketball, getting their fill of pizza (at the office AND at PPC), and just hanging out. Reading, homework, piano practice, and chores were all reportedly completed. The kids got to school on time Monday and Tuesday, arrived early to their extracurricular commitments, and they went to bed without too much difficulty. So basically it was all sunshine and rainbows while we were gone. Except that little moment when Cat forgot that our family should sometimes be more of a dictatorship than a democracy and decided that after the younger kids were more unruly than usual during Sacrament Meeting, they would take a vote to decide whether to stay for the second hour of church or not. I guess we know that Eliza's the most righteous of the children now because she's the only one who voted in favor of staying. Cat had a sincere intention to make up for the lost church hour by spending extra time on a Come, Follow Me lesson at home, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans...
I'm so glad that Tony and Katja were willing and able to take care of the kids so that we could go on our trip. The kids had a lot of fun, and we really appreciated getting some time away while knowing they would be taken care of. (If you're curious about our trip, read about it and see pictures HERE.)
When you go to your neighbor's house so the kids can practice performing their piano pieces and you're met with adorable 6-week old Husky puppies and the kids fall in love and the neighbor agrees to let them come back later to play with the puppies.... that's what I call a win-win-win.
That's what Luke says when you're making him laugh really hard. If you're tickling him too much he'll say, "You're tickling me TO DOOM!" And when he's really hungry he'll say, "I"m starving TO DOOM!" I'm not sure where it came from but it's definitely a thing for him now.
Mail's here!
"(The hat) keeps my head muscles from popping out." The scarf is to fight bad guys.
Yesterday Luke made up a game that was a combination of Pokemon, Sleeping Queens, and Cover Your Assets. I still don't know exactly how to play, but Luke gets it, and confidently added a second deck of cards (the yellow math facts cards he's holding) as the gold that each team is trying to protect. I'm sure he'd be happy to play it with you any time.
(when I returned home from a trip) Me: Was it weird when I was gone? Luke: No. It was extremely funny!
Luke: Mom, that chicken smells terrible. (It was tuna salad.) Luke: Is eating with your mouth open against the law? Me: No. Luke: Phew. (sigh of relief) Cause I'm doing it right now. Luke's favorite animals: A bull, a hawk, and a wolf, a gila monster, a dog, and a poisonous snake.
(While walking into Cat's school to pay a fee, and after explaining to Luke what fees are) Luke: You know how I'm a teenager? Mom: You're a teenager? Luke: In my imagination. Goes on to explain how he will get lots of money when people pay him fees...
Luke: My dad is one hundred three housand and one billion in my imagination and I'm just 12.
The infatuation began in earnest in the fall. Jack has enjoyed Pokemon for a few years now, but late last year he demonstrated a renewed excitement, and Eliza was suddenly interested as well. They both asked for cards for Christmas, which they received, and they both wanted more cards, so that's what they bought with their first spending money of the New Year.
While I believe that Eliza has more cards than Jack, and she really enjoys a good Pokemon battle, Jack is the one who's been more obsessed with the idea of Pokemon. He collects cards. He battles. He plays Pokemon Go when he gets the chance. He reads Pokemon books. He watches shows/movies. He has colored pictures and made logbooks and imagined his way through tons of adventures.
Pokemon has been a source of fun and entertainment for all three of the younger kids for the last few months, sometimes at the cost of accomplishing other tasks in a timely manner. Pokemon has also been the subject of at least one legally-binding contractual agreement. (Trading seems like a good idea at the time, but then they often have traders' remorse later.)
Coloring Pokemon coloring pages during Eliza's gymnastics class
Making a logbook at home
How Jack prefers to spend his time at Target
"Contract: I will give Jack two doughnuts and he will swear to drop the thing about the Pokemon card."
The other day I looked at Cat in her black leggings, large JK! Studios sweatshirt, high bun, and bluetooth headphones and thought, "She's the poster child of teenager." (Or should it be "poster teenager?") So I did what any normal mother would do. Once the other kids were in bed, I went to Cat's room and took pictures while she did her homework.
"If anyone ever looks at me the way I'm looking at this burger... He's a keeper. Also, anyone who sees me eating a burger and still thinks I'm cute is a keeper."
Also, she devoured To Kill a Mockingbird so quickly that she had to go back and re-read the chapters her English class was discussing. And her new favorite book is The Help, which I encouraged her to read. I think I've been successful in getting her hooked on "Downton Abbey," and she and I have a new ritual of doing facial masks while watching videos on The Mormon Channel on Sunday nights when the other kids are in bed. She's kind, hardworking, obedient, righteous, funny, and fun.
Eliza bought a little candy-filled red-light emoji flashlight recently and over the last week the younger kids have invented a game that they all love. They call it The Cat Laser Game. You'll see why. (Though you don't need to watch the whole video - I didn't cut it down because the kids think it's hilarious so I wanted them to be able to watch it over and over again, but for anyone else, 3 minutes will be too long.)
Think of a state you've never visited, and probably have never needed to visit, and perhaps have never wanted to visit. Think of a state about which you know very few specific facts. You can't name a famous feature, or a famous person from this state, or a reason why you would ever go there.
Do you have a state in mind?
Is it North Dakota?
Well, North Dakota fits all of the above for me, but perhaps I'm unusual. I must be unusual, in fact, because Jack was interested enough in North Dakota to choose to study it for six weeks. In the process, we did find out some interesting facts about North Dakota. Here are a few:
* It's the geographical center of North America.
* It's home to (half of) The International Peace Garden that straddles the border between North Dakota and Manitoba and acts as "a unique tribute to peace and friendship between the people" of the US and Canada.
* It's home to the Enchanted Highway, a 30-mile stretch of road with large sculptures to see as you drive (Jack really wants to see this)
* Lewis and Clark passed through the area
* Despite the government and local officials' best efforts to lure and/or dupe people into moving to North Dakota (even 9 years after the Homestead Act took effect, just 28 people had taken advantage of it) it took the railroad coming through in the 1870's for people to start moving to the area
* North and South Dakota became states on the same day in 1889. Nobody knows which paper was signed first, so they're both #39/#40.
* It is so sparsely populated that the population density is about 11 people per square mile (it's ranked #4 behind Alaska, Wyoming, and Montana)
* Peggy Lee of "Lady and the Tramp" fame is from ND, as is Lawrence Welk
* Roger Maris is NOT from ND but he went to high school there, so one of the books we checked out from the library claimed him anyway
* ND is home to tons of farming and ranching
Jack's teacher did a great job of using class time to complete the various aspects of this big project as much as possible, and instilling in them a drive to stay on top of the milestones she provided. He would come home from school and exclaim, "I have to finish my introduction!!" and get busy on his introduction. The project included a 5-page research paper (yes, it was a bit of a struggle to find enough material to fill 5 pages) with bibliography and author's bio; a poster with a state flag, map, interesting facts, and timeline; and two activities for the people who want to learn about your state at the 5th grade State Fair. He worked hard on all of the components. He was really proud of himself, and I was really proud of him, and we were all happy when it was over.
For his activities, Jack chose to create a menu he'd serve the POTUS using only foods produced in North Dakota (steak, French fries, and cream corn, with ice cream for dessert) and a trivia quiz. He really wanted candy to give out to the people who passed his quiz (the answers for which were visible on his poster) and insisted that he needed a lot, so at 9:30 the night before the State Fair I bought 5 pounds of Starburst. (Turns out, 3 pounds would have been enough. I'll have to remember that for when Eliza's in 5th grade. Also, some of the kids did very creative and state-specific handouts, activities, and visuals. More to remember when it's Eliza's turn. One of the Hawaii kids gave out plastic leis. A kid reporting on Maine had a fishing-type game for kids to try to catch lobster. The Louisiana poster I saw was black with Mardi Gras colors and decorations all over it.) Jack seemed to really enjoy sharing what he'd learned with the kids who walked through the State Fair and did a great job teaching and quizzing.
And it was fun that while Luke and I checked out Jack's setup, Eliza's class was walking through the gym to see the projects. She learned talked to kids about New Jersey and Hawaii, and earned a Starburst by taking Jack's quiz to which she knew all the answers.
While Ben was in Florida with the boys, I was in Vegas with the girls. Cat had a tournament there, part of the national league her team joined this year. We were excited to get away for a few days and enjoy some warmer weather. Cat's team tied the first game and lost the second. (And lost the third, which was played on Sunday after we left.)
At this level of competition it's so hard to get goals that catching one on film seems impossible. Cat didn't score during her two games, but I made a few videos and got some decent footage of her in action. When I looked back through the clips, I noticed that several of them include a push or fall of some kind, sometimes Cat being the aggressor, and other times she's on the receiving end. Pay special attention to the last two clips on the video.
We'd driven down with one of Cat's teammates and her mother and 10-year-old sister on Thursday afternoon/evening. Eliza and the little sister soon became best friends and had an absolute blast the entire time they were together. When I was buying new shoes for Eliza at the outlet mall on Friday, she refused to make a final decison until her new friend could offer her opinion.
After the Friday morning game, we went back to the hotel so the soccer players could shower, then we drove out toward the Vegas temple. We made a stop for lunch, then I took the older girls in to do baptisms for the dead while the other mother stayed on the temple grounds with the younger girls. It was a lovely experience to be in the temple with Cat again. I really like this tradition we've started!
When we went into the temple we saw a pretty little courtyard behind some windows. When we asked how to get to the courtyard, a worker showed us the door and said that anyone is welcome to go out there as it's considered an extension of the grounds. So when we were finished in the baptistry, we went to get the rest of the group to show them this lovely feature. We stayed for a few minutes to enjoy the fountains and flowers. We also let the younger sisters try an echo chamber in the lobby of the temple, which a worker had told us about.
From there we went to one of the big outlet malls in Vegas, largely so that we could find some new tennis shoes for Eliza. It was time.
That evening there was a team party by the hotel pool where most of the families were staying. We ate pizza and talked and the soccer girls did facial masks. I helped paint the black goopy mask on some of the girls and had extra goop on my hand so I gave myself a partial mask too. Some of the younger siblings swam in the heated pool, including Eliza and her new friend. That night the other pair of sisters came up to our room to watch "Napoleon Dynamite." They loved it.
We were able to take it easy the next morning, with a late check-out and an afternoon game. We slept in a little, the girls watched some TV (including trying to find Dad, et al. in the stands at the FSU basketball game) and I ran on the hotel fitness center treadmill. Then we got ready to go, had a late breakfast out, and made a very quick stop at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign before going to the next game.
The game started out windy and chilly, and ended up windy, rainy, and even a little snowy. We were all cold and ready to get on the road as soon as the game was over. We drove through a lot of rain and snow that afternoon/evening but were thankful to get home safely at about 10:00pm. I enjoyed having some out-of-town time with my girls!
Ben was excited that his company was selected for the Seminole 100: an award for the hundred fastest-growing FSU-alum-run companies. This was cool not just because of the recognition and honor of the award, or because accepting the award meant hanging out at the mammoth FSU football stadium with fellow Seminoles, but because it meant going home to hang out with family for a few days. He decided to bring the boys along and they had an absolute blast. With time at Mema and Papa's condo on the coast, fishing, playing at the beach, watching the FSU basketball team beat NC State, and lots of aunt and uncle and cousin time, it was a weekend they won't soon forget.
(And credit goes to my SIL for the collage of pics, which she shared on her Instagram. Thank you!)
