Rachael's home from surgery!

Quickly:

Rachael had her Achilles Tendon Lengthening on both feet yesterday. She got to pick the colors of her two casts, and picked pink and green.

The nurses offered her Slushies after she woke up. She didn't know what those were, but quickly decided she liked them, as she had three of them!

We're all home and doing fine. I decided realize how immobile she would be, though, and at the risk of sounding extremely self-centered, it's a little hard for me to get used to.

For example, since she can't walk or even stand, we have to lift her on and off the toilet and carry her (or push her on the stroller) from room to room. She can't do even the simplest things I'm used to her doing, like getting herself a drink, getting dressed, or making her bed.

It's weird; my Most Capable Kid (because she's the oldest) has suddenly gone to being Almost Totally Incapable.

She will have the casts on for a month, at which point she will wear removable leg braces.

The Jenny Weight-Loss Program

It's quite simple, really:

1) Eat nothing after 7:30 pm

2) Eat nothing "on the fly."
This is the hardest, and most important: No popping things in my mouth while I clear the table; no grabbing a cookie when I walk into the kitchen to get something, etc.

And that's it.
As long as I stick to those two rules for a period of time, I tend to stay fairly thin.

Well ... maybe I should say "less overweight." :)

My New Obsession -- The Big Bang Theory!

No, not the actual scientific theory.

Are you kidding? I can't even name the planets in order.

No, I mean the TV show called The Big Bang Theory!

I first heard about this show from my dear friend Ali over a year ago. She told me it was funny, and that Bare Naked Ladies did the theme song (always a plus) and that "the guy who played David from Roseanne is in it."

Well, yay. I'm there.
But unfortunately, we got about three channels, and CBS was not one of them.

But now something has changed -- is it that High-Def stuff? -- and now we do get CBS, and a couple months ago I started taping BBT. Now I am finally getting around to it, which means I can plop on the couch after the kids go to bed and watch three episodes at a time, skipping commercials ... aah, the joys of modern technology.

And here's the best part:

Robert has watched it with me a couple times, and he likes it too.

We almost never have TV shows we both like: He tends to like things like Nova and Apocolyptic Movies, while I tend to like things that are Not Nova and Apocolyptic Movies.

(We did enjoy watching Friends together at times, although if it weren't for the Joey character, I don't think he would have cared much.)

So this is cool.

Upcoming surgery and casts for our toe-walker

Well, Rachael's surgery is this Friday. I'm starting to get edgy and anxious about it.

I'm not really afraid something will go wrong. But I'm wondering how much pain she'll be in, how uncomfortable the casts will be, and how the braces afterward will work. I'm hoping she can still be in her dance recital in June.

And I hope that, after going through all this, she doesn't somehow start popping back up on her toes again after it's all over.

I'm thinking maybe this is another positive thing about homeschooling. Would second graders make fun of a girl wearing leg braces? Or are kids still nice at that age? I guess there's no telling.

What I did with my picky eaters

[Warning: This is going to strike some people as harsh, cruel, and maybe even somewhat abusive. If any of my unschooling buddies still read here, you are not going to like this.]


I hate the idea of forcing a kid to clean his plate.

I hate it when parents spend the entire meal harassing their kid about what he does or doesn't eat.

I hate it when parents say, "If you don't finish that, you'll eat it for breakfast!"

And I don't like the idea of using food as a reward or punishment.

However ....

I knew something was wrong around here when we all stayed at my in-law's house for the weekend a few months ago:

The girls were going to have a sleepover at their Aunt Carol's, so my MIL made some macaroni and cheese and a couple other simple things for the girls' dinner before they went. The girls wouldn't eat it.

Robert, fearing they would get Cranky and Difficult with no dinner, asked Aunt Carol if she could get the girls some dinner.

So Aunt Carol took the girls went through the McDonald's drive-thru. Rachael, age seven, cried when she saw her hamburger had "stuff" on it, and refused to eat it.

And I thought, This is not right.

So I started implementing an idea I think I read in a book, believe it or not, way back when I was pregnant with Rachel. Something like "How to Cope with a Picky Eater."

Here it is:

At mealtime, try to serve at least one food you know your kid likes. Serve them very small servings (about two or three bites) of everything.

They can eat, or not eat, whatever they like. But they can't have seconds of anything until they've finished everything on their plate.

And that's it.

I'm not militant about it. For breakfast, Rebecca still gets her waffles every day, and Rachael gets her oatmeal. But I usually do it at dinnertime, and it has helped. They are trying more foods and having a slightly more balanced diet.

BTW, I don't remember what the book says, but I personally wouldn't do something like that until about age four, which means Benjamin gets a break. Actually, right now he eats almost anything anyway.

More American Girl stuff for Christmas

Robert correctly says that we would probably have no American Girl products in our home if my mother wasn't Willing and Able to buy them.

Luckily for us, she does and is, and so we do.


Here's Rachael, with Julie and her new outfit. I think it's technically a Felicity outfit.
I don't think it matters, since all the dolls basically look the same except for their clothes anyway.



And here's Rebecca, dressed as Kit, and holding Mia, who is wearing Rachael's gift for Julie,
although it is actually a Mia Outfit.
(Rebecca was confused when the gift was opened,
just as you probably were after reading that last sentence.)



And here's my two girls together -- oh, wait, I was just informed that it is Kit and Ruthie -- with Woofie -- but no, I suppose it is really Grace.

Our third annual trip to Scottish Rite

Many of you know that, a few days before Christmas 2005, Rachael had to be taken to the ER in an ambulance and was in ICU at Scottish Rite for almost three weeks. She a very severe case of a rare blood disorder called Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia.

Some of you might also know that we have a winter tradition of going back to the PICU and bringing lunch platters for the families who are currently suffering there.

We chat a little with the families. It is a little odd to chat with them, because they have a way of interacting that is unusual. Or rather, it would be unusual, except that they have a child on the Brink of Death and have been living in a hospital for weeks. It's sort of an odd combination of being dazed, yet slightly friendly, yet a little awkward and uncomfortable, yet deeply grateful, all at the same time.



Here are Rachael and Rebecca (we left Benjamin at my parents' house) with nurses Angela, Kristy, and Laura, all of who remembered us.

Rachael made several cards to give to girl patients, along with a stuffed bear in a pink tote bag. We gave them to the nurses to distribute as they saw fit.

You can see photos and read details about last winter's visit here.