Hard decisions

 

This weekend I had to work. Not a new thing but it had been a bit of a hard week - Master 0 is getting new teeth and hadn't slept terribly well, Mr. 4 getting up ridiculously early, things to get done keeping us up ridiculously late. All in all I am a bit tired and cranky about having to be gone all weekend. Today is cold and the boys offered to pick me up on the way home from swim lessons which I happily agreed to. It was not my day to stay late but in general you don't want to leave if things are busy as the person covering is on another floor and not quite as available as you would be. Right before I left I heard that a sick person was coming up to the floor. Unfortunately a few minutes later the boys called to say they were here. Technically I could go and in the end I did but I felt guilty. So guilty I called the late person and asked them to check in on the person. And even then (knowing this person was well-covered with very attentive doctors taking care of her) I felt terrible. Technically it's my team and my responsibility. It doesn't help that she's younger than I am and very sick with no immune system to help her right now.

It's so hard to find the right line between family and work especially when there are sick people at work and things to learn all the time and kids who need you at home and are growing up all the time. To do everything perfectly really just requires me to be in two places at one time which is not possible (as much as I want it to be). I want to do my job well and I want to raise my family well. So sometimes I choose one and sometimes the other - always feeling guilty about the other. I hope that this will get better as residency ends, as I get wiser about my life, or as I figure out how to clone myself, but I fear the tension will always be there.

Helping with Master 0

Both the big brothers love to help Master 0. Yesterday Mr. 6 fed him his bottle while we finished up a salad fo dinner with friends. Today Mr. 4 fed him applesauce - together they ate most of a jar - and enjoyed every minute.

 
 

Mr. 6 has recently developed a rather impressive appetite. He has always been a bit of a wild card - some days will consume a huge dinner and some days nearly nothing. We spent the entire kindergarten year trying every trick in the book to get him to eat lunch but he was always too busy with his friends to eat. These days he eats all of his lunch as well as many servings of dinner. Friday night that meant almost one and a half pizzas. They were small pizzas (maybe 10 inch) but that's certainly more than I could eat. What are these boys going to be like as teenagers?

Update on the varsity team

Mr. 4 and Mr. 6 turn 5 and 7 in a week - hard to believe it's come so quickly.

Mr. 4 is a rather proficient reader and loves to learn about immunology and the human body. His favorite books are Mo Willems Elephant and Piggy books, Norby, Enjoy Your Cells, and any books on robots, space, or airplanes. He can tell you all about macrophages and how they eat bacteria, B cells and antibodies, and T cells. He treasures his bag of cells I made for him and loves to build with legos with Mr. 6. He's our gymnastics star and actually does listen to his coach (Mr. 6) and loves to try new tricks. He loves to help - he'll run to get his toolbox at the first mention of fixing something and pull his stool over if any cooking needs to be done. He has a great grin and an impressive stubborn streak.

Mr. 6 has taken programming by storm. His copy of "Hello World" (the best programming book for kids EVER) is dog-eared and travels everywhere with him. He's very proud of his programs and loves to work on them. His goal is to be second in command in his class and he prays every night that he'll achieve his goal. He gets the jokes in "The Phantom Tollbooth" and is chapters ahead of us. His fingers are always covered in marker as he works on whatever project he has in mind - especially math problems, charts, graphs. He likes to work out long equations - I am often asked algebra questions on the way to school - "x+y=z, x-y=2, x=5, what's z?" He has a best friend at school and loves the piano. He is a great big brother and takes good care of Master 0.

They're amazing brothers and so fun to watch grow up. I try to remember how happy I am that my boys are inquisitive and determined but sometimes I do wish that not everything led to an extensive discussion on the whys and hows. There's no easy questions around the dinner table but we wouldn't have it any other way for our bibliophibians!

Hi Da

 

Master 0 is well and truly crawling now - not fast, but moving. This gives us about 24 hours before we really need to secure cupboards, bookcases, legos. I think we're in trouble!

He also will say "hi da" very clearly. Da is of course thrilled but really "hi da" is for everyone, often accompanied by a wave and a smile.

He is getting tooth number 4 right now and does not seem pleased. Last night we were up hourly with the poor cranky baby - hopefully it's finally through!

Exploring

Last weekend we rallied the troops and headed down to Connecticut to visit friends. Mr. 4 loves to travel and his dream is that he'll go to sleep in his bed and wake up states away from where he started. This has only happened once when we drove out to Indianapolis from Boston well over a year ago but he has never forgotten how wonderful it was. So now anytime we mention going on a trip he immediately asks if we'll go while he's sleeping! In fact, when we told him it was time to get ready to go he immediately stripped out of all his clothes and I found him trying to find his pajamas so he would be ready even though we had barely finished dinner.

Friday night and Saturday we spent with friends from college. They have five kids - 8, 6, 4, 2, and 2. Whenever I feel a bit overwhelmed by how busy these 3 keep us I'm reminded of how busy they are with 5 (including twins)! M, the mom and master organizer of this crew, is amazing and I love watching her in action. Since our last visit they have moved to a house that backs up to a huge stretch of woods - enormous by our city standards. The boys had a fantastic time exploring although Mr. 4 did manage to step in the stream and required emergency return to the house for dry clothes. I did discover that you can blow dry a shoe pretty quickly which is useful info! Mr. 6 and friends played a game of ice hockey on the frozen part of the lake with sticks from the woods and a piece of styrofoam abandoned in warmer times. The parents stood on the sidelines and took turns reminding everyone to stay on our side where we were sure it was frozen! I love seeing the boys out in the woods - it just feels right for boys to be out exploring, hitting trees with sticks, trying to ford streams, and finding treasures.

 
 
 
 

Holding onto water

Tonight Master 0 was fascinated by the water coming out of the faucet. He tried so hard to grab it and seemed intrigued that you could not actually take hold of it. It's amazing to watch someone discover things for the first time.

 
 
 

The many faces of the Roosterbear

One of our favorite family traditions is "lazy lion time" - a time when everyone grabs a book and lays on Mommy and Daddy's bed and reads. It's getting a bit crowded on the bed with 5 (especially since one of us is more interested in trying to steal his neighbors book than read his own and is now much more mobile) but it's fun to snuggle together. Tonight we decided a snack was needed with lazy lion time and Mr. 4 offered to help make it!

 
 
 
 

The popcorn maker was a special gift from friends when they moved - the boys had loved having popcorn with them when they were at their house. Happily they have found a replacement so we don't feel guilty keeping this one!

The slideshow

 

The boys have been working on a slideshow during their computer time for the past few days - it has something like 30 slides with pictures they've created such as tie fighters, tie bombers, killer whale, whale shark, goo ball code, etc. They actually worked together quite well - going back and forth - and didn't argue. They then proudly presented it to an audience of 3!

 

First piano recital

Mr. 6 started piano lessons last fall and has loved it! He practices all the time, makes up his own songs, and thinks piano lessons days are the best day of the week. Last week he had his first recital and he did a wonderful job. A special thank you to his wonderful teacher Mrs. J who keeps the enthusiasm high and the attention on the current songs (and not the songs in Mr. 6's head). Mr. 4 says he wants to start playing piano when he's 6 - sounds like we're going to have some great duets.

Ethan says: At school Miss May, my teacher asked me: " Would you like to do the chapel slides? ". I replied " Yes!!! " . Although it took some time to explain how to do it ( and with some confusion ) , it was so fun! To amplify that, I was second in command! We had review of the symbols _ , / ,^ , W.C. (word choice),\, and O. We learned u_e. It was the best day ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We thought we had been towed!

 
 
 

Andy

Master 0 loves lions so for Christmas he got his own fuzzy lion that he loves. We named him Androcles and have been calling him Andy. Master 0 loves him, especially his fuzziness!

 

Cells

About a month ago I went to Mr. 4's preschool class and talked about the immune system. Mr. 4 helped me make cells for the occasion - red blood cells, macrophages, T cells, B cells, a few bacteria, and some rather nice looking viruses. And a few antibodies to go with these. He loved them! As did his class! In fact, I had to make a second set because Mr. 4 was distraught when we were asked if we could leave them in the class to play with. As I've mentioned, the boys love Immunobiology (a great introduction to Immunology but not exactly intended for the 4-6 year old crowd). Mr. 6 thought the cells were cool but did not feel I had gone into enough detail of cell receptor, co-stimulatory molecules, etc. so he cut out his own and the immunology lessons began. Rather fun to hear him teach his immunology class - also a little disappointing how much I've forgotten since graduate school. Mr. 6 is a pretty impressive walking encyclopedia of facts and I'm just not keeping up!

 
 
 
 

Arkansas

Last night Mr. 4 built a car out of zoobs that he named Arkansas and suddenly decided was his new favorite companion. This morning Arkansas helped us make cookies, using the Force to move the butter to the microwave and helping to add the oatmeal. Mr. 4 even asked it Arkansas could have a taste. He's a very helpful car.

So Mr. 4's favorite things for the moment are Shamu, Arkansas, and his book about sea creatures. He even asked for books on sea creatures to read and so our weekly library run included half a shelf of books on sea life. Mr. 6 only got one book - Java Gently. He's writing his own computer language called G minus and he needed some inspiration. The book on G minus is 28 chapters although luckily the chapters are short. It even contains a chapter called "Why G minus"!

If you happen to be looking for a fantastic programming book for kids, we would strongly recommend "Hello World". Mr. 6 has read it cover to cover and says it was his favorite Christmas present. It's looking a bit dog-eared already and Mr. 6 has been hard at work writing programs!

 
 
 

Watch out - he's on the move

Asher is reaching truly mobile phase and we are not at all ready. Our house is full of legos, zoobs, and all the other small things that the brothers are so fond of. At least we put away the marble race for now!

 
 
 
 

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Sick baby

I'm enjoying the snuggling but not congested breathing. Poor guy!