14 posts tagged “son”
Just got back from taking youngest son to the dermatologist for his monthly check. He’d gotten a blood test before 7 a.m. this morning as he is on high levels of Accutane (”he’s a big guy”) and they have to make sure that his liver is not being compromised.
He is looking really good. Those stubborn, awful, deep patches have healed completely and I was sure he was going to scar badly from them. Luckily, they were worst at the temple near his hairline and they are in fact fading–the acne has been long gone for some time. The doctor says two more months and he can discontinue the Accutane. It’s been a bit of a hassle, especially the before school blood tests, but definitely worth it.
Today was a bit different.
My 15 y.o. took me out for his practice driving. It was only the second time he's ever driven a car and he did well.
We started in parking lot and went to side streets. The downside to side streets is that they can be narrow and the downside to life is that some people cannot parallel park so we had very near brush with an oversize parked SUV hogging a chunk of the road. I gasped involuntarily but otherwise did not get at all alarmed on the outside. :p
It's actually kind of cute 'cos Chris is saying stuff like, "I can't go out onto the main road because I've never driven behind a car." So innocent-sounding. Even though he's a teen there's still a wee bit of the stuff that I got all mushy about when I towered over him, not the reverse as it is now.
His dad works 7 days a week so we had a nice dinner from Sizzling Wok and then went and did our usual Sunday evening thing of mini-golf. "Al," the manager recognized us from last season and said the fees were "on him"! That's $25.75, ladies and gentlemen. My wallet thanks him--and I thought he was a cool dude before.
The rain held off until the 7th hole and by the time we got to the 13th it had stopped but we were soaked. We road top down and got semi-dry on the way home where we did prezzies--just sensible stuff--clothes. Cool greeting cards though that we mocked up ourselves and printed so a nice ending to the weekend.
I hope everyone had some fun. Here we go--another week!
Take care and make it a good one!
xx
Cyn
The District 211 Gifted Expo is tonight! My son made a working replica of a Ballista, a war weapon made by the Greeks. The theme of the expo? It Takes A Village.
I suppose Chris will be defending the village?
Son dropped the ball during the research phase of this--a culmination of two year's learning with the last half of this school year supposedly dedicated to a project worthy of "the village."
I think it's fair to say that son got overwhelmed and due to pride, immaturity, and/or lack of common sense, he failed to tell us.
He left that up to his teacher, a very well-regarded chap who has been running the Critical Thinking program at Fremd High School since it's inception about 20 years ago (he retires this year). Chris's teacher called me about 3 weeks ago with the bad news that to him, Chris had "given up" on the project. I asked what to do and teacher advised conjuring a miracle or dropping the class.
When I talked to son I gave him the options and surprising me, he chose to attempt a miracle. So, for the past three weeks every spare minute has been dedicated to this project with completion just happening 10 minutes before he needed to leave to get to the event 2 hours before it commences, during which all the kids will check out each other's projects and have a meal together.
Spouse, in the construction of the Ballista, must have "run to" Home Depot at least two dozen times. Not exaggerating. This was a huge, hairy deal. It was also very costly though spouse gets to keep lots of shiny new tools.
I had nothing to do with the making of the weapon except for the mom thing. I had a lot more input into teaching Chris some Photoshop tricks for the photos he took of his creation, stage by stage.
He was quite surprised at the length of time one can pour into such endeavors.
Getting the Ballista to function correctly was one thing but the presentation board was a large component as well. Oh yeah. This time I thoroughly vetted the clothes he was to wear. His brother even gave him a shirt that is quite stlyish. :)
On none of it did his dad or I overtly try to manipulate the project. It is after all, his.
Son and spouse just went ripping out of here so I haven't even seen the finished presentation board. I'll see it at the show for which I now must go get ready and get myself suburban mom-looking.
Cheers!
Just got back from taking youngest son to the dentist to have a cavity filled. When It was over I called him a “brave little soldier” for declining Novocaine. He’s 6′ 4″ Not exactly a “little” anything. LOL.
He declined for practical reasons. Novocaine (pain killer) leaves you in a bit of a mess, unable to feel a swath of your mouth for several hours. Son had designs on the unfinished lunch pick up from Pizza Hut (I know) of boneless barbeque-honey chicken wings and chicken Parmesan wings (they aren't really wings--they're boneless white) still out in our car which we’d not had time to finish prior to his appointment. I’d had three pieces of the chicken nugget-sized “wings” (they look nothing like wings). He finished off everything in the car for a total of 17 pieces! He explained he’d had no breakfast or lunch and hey, no problem I told him, Moms like it when their kids eat!
It’s another bitter cold day or would be if there was any wind. Upside is it’s partly sunny. Downside: We are supposed to have record low temperatures tomorrow. This weather is so hard on people who have to be outside including my eldest son who takes public tran–such as it is here in Chicagoland--to work. February, though the shortest month seems to crawl by at a snail’s pace.
It's snowing--light snow, says the forecast but this started late in the day and I'm a bit leery as I have a parents-of-college-bound sophomores meeting tonight. I suppose I could just take our old sedan. I work in my jammies or track suits all day/evening with my hair bunched up on my head sans contact lenses--so no worries about appearance but when I go out I have to be driving the Mustang. However, I actually do get dressed to go out--unless I get an early, unexpected call for a ride like on Saturday when younger son's Scholastic Bowl team "owned" the away high school team so they were finished a lot sooner than planned. Then I grabbed almost knee-high boots and my black leather trench coat, took the hair down, put on some lipstick, hopped in the Mustang and retrieved him--and I was in my jammies. I know I'm not the first work-at-home mom who has done that--and at least my hair isn't ever in curlers when I do so.
But tonight will be different. I have to actually go inside the high school--to the auditorium and be a part of "PLAN Interpretation Night."
We shall discuss according to the notice we received in the mail, the "benefits" (quotes are theirs) that his taking the PLAN test (predicted ACT score indicator) are.
I don't mind this at all. I am looking forward to it, in fact. The part where the school people talk. The part that I'm hesitant about is when the floor opens for questions because I know some of the "who's" that will be asking. These are the same parents who even though asked not to do so grill their child's teacher on Parent Orientation Night. One guy in particular. Awful, just so rude about taking up time that is not his to take. But giving him an open floor tonight? I do want to get home before midnight so I'm sitting in the back. By the door.
So how did son do on the test? Should it continue to blow my mind that he gets scores like this? Spouse keeps telling me that our son "tests well" like it means nothing.
I disagree. I think it means plenty and even if I'm wrong it makes my heart sing a little that the typical scores that "highly selective" colleges ask for on the ACT's are 25-30 relative to this test as this test had a few less questions, and our son got an estimated ACT composite score range of 30-33! This one indicator is just another in a series of indicators over the past 7 years that have said the same thing. You cannot be of average abilities and get these scores. I know it sounds like I'm trying to convince myself...maybe because I did so poorly the first time I went to college. I dunno. My biggest concerns are that my son is able to go to the school that best suits his abilities and career plans and his overall needs. Thinking about him away at college completely blows my mind though. And that is what this is designed to do, I suppose. Make all involved really think about college. Anyone know of an Engineering school that is really generous with scholarships? That's my real worry. How are we going to pay for this sucker?
It was scary driving today. Lots of icy rain clogged/clogging up the streets and vehicles on the wrong side of the road facing towards you as you carefully passed by them. Thankful that I was only driving to Woodfield Mall and back--only fishtailed near the accidents at the beginning of the ride--love how cars around me scatter when that happens. (My youngest was not in the car--the oldest was but it's never good in icy rain as it's a Mustang GT--new tires really help though. I'm much less afraid of dying in a spinout now.) From noon--on I was supposed to be ready at a moment's notice to pick up younger son from the return from the Scholastic Bowl 
tournament in oh, jeez I'm forgetting--very far away near another state. He left at a unholy hour this a.m. Anyway, out of abt. 40 schools they were in it till the last three teams--first and second places went to Barrington High School and The Latin School (magnet school, Chicago).
I think third place is respectable but the disconcerting thing is they had to do some long-ass travel today in a yellow school bus during some really rough weather. So, it was very late when younger son finally called from school looking for chauffeur service. But I was very glad when he called.
Show us what the weekend had in store for you.
I'm going to assume that what was "in store" was the fun stuff as opposed to the mundane cleaning house, doing laundry, etc. which is a part of every weekend.
My brother-in-law was recently hospitalized with pneumonia. He recovered quickly and we thought it'd be good to visit him and his wife, spouse's younger sister. Brian made his fortune in his 30's and now can play in a band for fun--not worrying about making money. Anyway, he and his friends are pretty good at what they do-- a few original songs and then lots of cover stuff of AC/DC, Black Sabbath and so on. This is them on Saturday night in a little sports bar a couple of towns away.
Sunday was our usual mini golf outing.
The weather was fantastic and my younger son won.
He was just two over par. :)
After mini-golf we got milkshakes to go at Steak and Shake and rode top-down in the GT home.
In the evening we watched the season premiere of Dexter. Sometime during Dexter's hiatus my son started watching the first season--which given the content is iffy but I'd rather watch it with him than him watch it alone (he is 15)...and it's a great show. Can you tell that I'm conflicted? My spouse says he likes Dexter because the Dexter character reminds him of himself. Should I be worried?
What experience or moment in your life have you learned the most from?
Submitted by AngieK.Two experiences that are ongoing. The first started when I was 23- years-old and had my first child. As all mothers can attest to, becoming one changes you unalterably. It can't ever again be only about you. I was pretty selfless before I had my son but being a single mom--there's almost nothing left for you after you are done taking care of of your child--especially when you have no family around to lend a hand. And whether it sounds logical or not you are a better person for it.
Second experience I'm going to copy from a post that I wrote about three years ago on my TypePad blog. My younger son figures into that one but it is not about him per se.
August 19, 1998, the day before my youngest son's sixth birthday, I was dying of heart failure.
It was brought on by a previously undiagnosed condition of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy which chose me for some unfathomable reason (bad luck? bad Karma? bad-thing-happening-to-a-good-person? It's truly a waste of time to ponder why. I did for about oh, five minutes maximum) as a good candidate to go to work on, and "it" almost got me.
My ejection fraction was down to 10%--kind of the cut-off point for sustainable life. A doctor to whom I will always owe my life, listened to my heart and though he was one of many who had done so over the preceding months as my condition worsened, he was the only one good enough to diagnose me properly. Within seconds, he looked me straight in the eye, and muttered a few words of reassurance as his expression told me that it wasn't good news. I needed to go to the hospital next door--now--he'd call ahead for me. I knew I was dying--I could not breathe without extreme effort, I hadn't slept in weeks and it was getting much worse by the day.
Even so, my son was starting school the following week and if I was going to be sick or worse, I needed to finish his back-to-school shopping. So before going home to grab an overnight bag and a toothbrush, I stopped at Kohl's department store and bought him two pairs of trousers. Unbeknownst to me, my doctor was telephoning the hospital, quite frantically checking to see if I'd been admitted yet. Well, I had to get my kid pants, especially since it may have been the last time I could. After I shopped for about 90 minutes, I went home, threw a few things in my bag, and headed to the hospital and into the frenzy of being a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit patient. What a long road lay ahead of me, but I couldn't have imagined. All I could think of was, If I die now, who will raise my boy?
Pretty much a good news post.
Birthday boy and I saw The Simpsons Movie (his third time). Funny--much like the teevee show. D'oh! Homer would probably not use "D'oh!" in this context but I am.
Plans were to go mini-golfing but the weather has been on and off thunder showers for days (weeks?) We drove top-down the 7-8 miles on open road to the theatre; by the time we came out it was raining. Again. Quick break at home, meet up with spouse (older brother worked tonight) head to Friday's for dinner. The skies are leaden but no actual rain. After dinner headed to a really fun mini golf place on a huge hill. They were barely open and ready to close upon the first rain. We had a good game--we all scored "47." Weird, no? Spouse played worse than his normal and the birthday boy played better than he usually does. I played normally but I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. This mini golf place has a Jungle Safari theme and it backs up to a swampy area. I even got bitten on the face twice--which I can't recall ever happening. These guys were 10X as bad as anything at Maple Lake. And yes. we forgot the bug spray at home. Yikes.
Home after. Son cannot use his big gift of a fancy graphics card because his computer is too puny.
He supposes he needs a new one. D'oh!
Tell us about a time when you were brave.
Submitted by Hops.
The day before my son Christopher's sixth birthday I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and hospitalized.
The next evening Chris, his dad, and grandma and grandpa came for a visit to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit after having gone to Olive Garden for Chris's birthday dinner.
My son gazed upon me wide-eyed. One couldn't tell where I began and where the beeping and blinking machines ended.
He carefully approached my bedside and said brightly, "I brought you a present, Mommy!"
His grandmother handed him a take-out box which he gently offered me. I opened it up to find a luscious looking slice of chocolate-fudge cake (which of course, I could not eat).
I leaned toward my brave little soldier and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you honey," I said, "I love you."
As heart-rending as that moment was, I did not cry.
As I type this however, the tears flow freely.
My Groups
-
Vox Banners Updated: 11 minutes ago
-
Custom Banners Updated: Yesterday
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
