The Gift of Multilocation

Kitten seems to be blessed with the gift of bilocation: the ability of being in more than one place at a time. How else can one explain that in the time it took me to feed Muffin his breakfast Kitten found the time to write his name (yeah!) in pencil all up and down the stairway walls and on his playroom door, empty all 40 boxes of my summer shoes (yes yes I know that is way too many shoes to own but that will be th esubject of another post), unravel 2 cassette tapes, and upturn my jewelry drawer????

Ok some maybe he is gifted with multilocation because I don't think bilocation would quite cut it in this case?

Yes I am having a tough morning. Espen is away for 8 days and Kitten always acts out in the first few days, but this is more than he has ever done in the past.

In a way I feel kind of bad for Kitten, because I know he really didn't do any of it out of anger or to hurt anyone. I guess he was just "exploring" his world. I am even proud that he was able to spell his name correctly and recognizibly one 3 occasions. I just wish it wasn't on our walls and a wooden door. Luckily it is in pencil, now I just have to find an erasure and pray that I don't damage anything removing his signature.

I did give Kitten a wipe an made him scrub the pencil off and he did manage to remove a lot of it. I also insisted that he tell me why we aren't to write on any walls, or floors, or anything that is not paper and sanctioned by a grown up!

Then we put back all of the shoes in their boxes.

My jewelry box I will have to deal with when both kids are napping though it doesn't seem that anything is missing.

In a way I am happy that Espen is away because I don't think he would have taken it very well. Hopefully by the time he finds out it will only be a cute story with no consequences.

I had told him that if he were good today that we would go for a walk with Muffin and maybe check out the "ice cream" place. Of course he definitely has NOT been good but I am still dying for ice cream. I think that is one of the things I find the hardest about parenting: that YOU always end up punishing yourself for the sake of your kids.

And yes when Kitten will be rolling on the ground saying he wants ice cream, in my heart and head I will be right there beside him wanting to scream: me too!

I still wonder how anyone can produce so much mischief in so little time! Are all little kids able to be in multiple places at once and do we lose this ability as we grow? I do wish I could be in more than one place at once as I am sure all mothers do.

Cake Traditions

For all the people who asked me about making my own birthday cake: we have a tradition at home which started the summer that Felix turned 2 and we were having our kitchen renovated. Espen was great a built us a fully functioning kitchen in the dining room with fridge, range, dishwasher and sink, but there just wasn't room enough for serious pastry making so for Kitten's birthday I took him to pick out a cake at our grocery store (he picked one that had Bob the builder).

For Espen's birthday 3 weeks later we obviously still did not have a kitchen (that only came the following Christmas) so again I took Kitten to pick a cake for Espen and that time we got one with a car. Well that is also about the time that Kitten's long term memory kicked in and now whenever there is a birthday (ANY birthday) Kitten insisted on picking out a cake.

So for all my beautiful and yummy cakes, we never have any homemade ones for our birthdays :-(

Kitten finds my cakes way too grown up and boring. I guess I should try getting into the whole sculpting and fondant thing but just haven't yet. Partly because I am afraid that if he picks one out of my plethora of cook books and mine doesn't end up looking exactly like the book picture, that he will be disappointed. Perhaps a little silly but I guess I feel a wee bit insecure about my artistic talent.

The picture at the top of this post (oh why oh why can't I figure out how to poast another at the bottom of the post?????) was the last cake I did make for a friend's birthday though: a white chocolate, lemon and blueberry (with real blueberries) chiffon with lemon curd filling and a white chocolate-lemon-cream cheese frosting. I made some candied lemon peel for the top.

Very very yummy, but incredibly boring according to my 3 year old ;-)

The best birthday ever!

I had the best birthday ever yesterday!

Of course I got woken up at an ungodly hour by Kitten but he did stay the entire night in his bed so that was ok. He was just too excited and wanted to give me a perfume that he picked out (with Espen's help). It was the Poison Midnight that I have been wanting for a very long time (I usually wear Tendre Poison and am a total Dior girl).

After that the day just kept getting better. First of all it was absolutely gorgeous outside and we actually reach 10°C in the sun for the first time this year!

My favorite restaurant which had been closed for close to a year suddenly reopened under a new incarnation (same chef, different location and furnishings). Now I am a complete Ethiopian food addict and have been craving it ever since it closed. Dh took me there on a wonderful date on my birthday's eve and we set up a take out order for the next day. The chef prepared all my favorites just like he used to. It was absolutely awesome.

And no I did not end up getting a "boy" cake. Felix picked out a cake with a dancing Sleeping Beauty and her Prince (funny how the men in fairy tales never have names ). I will write more on the cake story tomorrow! He said I was a princess and that I was beautiful. I think that was the first time he said it to me. It just melted my heart!

One of my friends that has had a very difficult year and experienced a loss I couldn't even fathom just announced yesterday that she was expecting again. That was simply the best news! You cannot imagine how happy that made me.

The electronic community I belong to also seems to be coming together again after some bumpy times and that is also a wonderful gift for which I am so very grateful.

As far as presents go, Espen and my best friend went a little overboard: they got me the Kitchen Aid Professional 600 stand mixer for which I have been pining for over a year.

But that's not all, it turns out Espen bought it in the US when he was in DC last week-end because of course it is so much cheaper on Amazon.com but Amazon.com doesn't ship anything but books to Canada. So he had it shipped to his hotel the week before he was going there with his Dad for a father and son bonding trip.

The kicker is that the plan was on Sunday to spend the day at the Dulles airport airplane museum (or something like that) because they are both airplane freaks before they boarded their plane back to Montreal. Well Espen shows up there with this huge box (15"X12"X17" and weighing over 31 lbs!!!!). The box did not fit the lockers they had at the entrance of the museum and security refused to "babysit" the box.

The only thing they offered Espen was to lend him a wheel chair so that he could carry the box with his. Now the image of that just had me rolling on the floor laughing. Espen really used all his problem skills though to try to engineer another "more dignified solution".

He took the mixer, attachment, styrofoam packing material out of the box, stuffed them into a locker and then pleaded with security to "babysit" the empty box which they begrudgingly agreed to do after much pleading.

Isn't that a great story? I am just so in love with Espen. I just love him so much, especially since he has given me the bestest presents ever over the past 4 years: Kitten and Muffin. I really feel that our family is really coming together now and that is probably what makes my days so very extraordinary, not just yesterday but every morning I wake up.

My best friend also got me a gorgeous jelwelry set which prompted all the "you are beautiful mommy" comments from Kitten.

Oh and Muffin, with all his 7 months of life, was also extreemely giving yesterday if you know what I mean ;-)

I am just so very blessed! I'm not sure how anything could ever beat this day!

Fear of the number 3

This is my new discipline method with Kitten and it is working like a charm.

If I want him to do anything I tell him he has until the count of 3 in order to do it ... "or else". By the count of 1 he will usually rush to do whatever it was that was asked while saying "no no don't say 3".

I'm not quite sure why it works so well. We have gotten to 3 a few times and the only thing I did was either do it myself while I glared (e.g. turning off the TV) or picking him up and taking him to his room (e.g. when I asked him to get dressed for school). There was never any hitting or anything yet he seems genuily terrified by the number 3.

I have heard of triskaidekaphobia but never a phobia of the number 3.

Am I damaging my child irreparably by encouraging this fear?
Will the fear of the number 3 ever subside and let him live a happy, healthy and productive life?

Interestingly 3 is my personal favorite number....

Well that was a lot about nothing but at least it is letting me start blogging again.

Back to the surgeon

Muffin was born at 35 weeks gestation. We were very lucky because he had no problems at all. As soon as my epidural had worn off I was able to hold him in my arms. Apart from a few hypoglycemic episode the day following his birth due to my gestational diabetes, this was a healthy and normal baby.

When he was about 2 months, his dad started commenting on how little his weewee was. On closer inspection it was actually his scrotum that was overlarge. We didn't think too much of it attributing it to lingering pregnancy hormones but when he turned 3 months we could see that something was definitely not right: his right testicle was 3 times the size of the left one which itself was very much enlarged.

During a trip to the ER for a respiratory infection, the doctors diagnosed 2 hydrocele cysts (one in each hemiscrotum) and an inguinal hernia which they pushed back in. They told us that Muffin would need surgery within a week. When we returned to the hospital a few days later, the surgeon said that he could no longer feel the hernia and that they woudn't operate the hydrocele cysts until Muffin was a year old because most resorb by themselves within the first year. He said we could come back when Muffin turned 6 months for a check up if we wanted.

Hydrocele cysts when fluid pools around the testicle. During the eighth month of pregnancy, the testicles move from the abdomen into the scrotum. When the testicle travels downward, it brings a sac with it. The sac allows fluid to surround the testicle. This sac usually closes before birth, and the fluid is absorbed in the body. Sometimes the sac doesn't close, or it closes but the liquid doesn't get re-absorbed.

For more info you can go to:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hydrocele/DS00617/DSECTION=3
http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site867/mainpageS867P0.html
http://www.embryology.ch/anglais/ugenital/patholgenital04.html#hernie

It turns out that hydrocele cysts are extreemely common in premature boys and even though my little Muffin was born weighing 9 lbs 10 oz he was still 5 weeks early. Over the past 6 weeks the cysts have grown. His right testicular sac is now close to the size of a tennis ball. The right cyst extends all the way back up the inguinal canal but it is the non-communicating because it does not shrink when you press on it.

We just got back from his 4 month old well baby appointment and the pediatrician says that in his 40 years of experience he has never seen such a large cyst. He actually called the surgeon directly and insisted that he see us as soon as possible. So we are going back to the hospital next Tuesday morning.

Honestly I am very torn about this issue. Part of me wants the surgeons to operate asap so my little boy can go back to normal as fast as possible, but part of me would much prefer to avoid surgery with its nasty anesthesia chemicals and inevitable fasting. I guess I will have to wait and see what the surgeon says on Tuesday morning.

The Evolution of Toddler Tornadoes

Why do toddlers and preschooler have so much energy?

I mean if I was designing things I would give super energy to mothers in their 20s and 30s who have to deal with a husband, multiple kids, a job, a house to take care of, etc...

I look at my 3.5 year old running circles around our kitchen island in the morning. As he slows down I encourage him to run some more (I know it's mean but hey that's the only way I get to have my tea). I keep wishing I could just harness some of that energy for me. Somehow balance things out so that he has less and I have more... and then my mind wandered....

... and I thought: maybe there is an evolutionary advantage to having hyperactive toddlers. Maybe the only toddlers that would survive would be those that were active enough to keep up with the moving tribe on their little legs. I know Espen sometimes wishes that Kitten would stop jumping everywhere and I can easily imagine 100,000 years ago Cave Espen trying to leave Cave Kitten behind. Even as Kitten's mother I have to admit that sometimes I have moments where I also wish I could leave him behind (fleeting moments but still).

But of course this Cave Kitten could definitely outrun and outlast all of our Cave family: he definitely is my Energizer Baby :-)

Fortune Cookies for Mothers

As I was putting Kitten to bed while nursing Muffin last night, I was thinking about fortune cookies (don't ask me why). You know the ones with the universal truths which are applicable to pretty much anyone (yes yes the ones which become a whole lot funnier if you add "in bed" at the end of them). Well I was thinking that someone could make some specially designed for mothers since I know that mothers experience some of the same things regardless of where they come from.

Here is an example:

"You will feel inadequate"
"You will wonder why you can't figure out why your child is crying hysterically"
"You will wonder whether you could have done things better today"
"...whether you could have given your kids more attention"
"...whether you could have raised your voice less often"
"...whether you have scarred them for life"
"...whether they will end up being mass murderers and blame it all on you"

As for the last one we all know that we will get blamed (well hopefully not by mass murderers). That's because no matter how hard we try we cannot perfectly meet everyone's needs at all times simply because this is impossible. Such as when you are reading your preschooler a bedtime story and your infant keeps unlatching from your boob and screaming bloody murder. It is simply impossible to meet the needs of both kids at the same time in that situation so you end up sticking your youngest's face in your boob (he misses the nipple and thus latches on with the strongest suck you can ever imagine on another part of your boob causing you to scream out in pain), you then fumble and close the book, losing the page you were reading so your oldest then screams out in indignation because he can no longer "see the story" (like he hasn't memorized each image of the book since this is the 468th time you have read this story in the past week!). So basically you end up with 2 frustrated kids and feeling completely inadequate and guilty... in bed ;-)

Maybe one day you will find a grandmother fortune cookie which will tell you:
"You will find peace with all your parenting flaws because you will see your children going through the exact same things. It's called LIFE." I wish all of us that wisdom, I just have a feeling it does take a lifetime to get there.

Only in Womanland

Only 2 women could have the following conversation:

Woman #1: Happy New Year! How have you been?

Woman #2: Actually I had the worse stomach flu: I lost 7 lbs in the past 2 days.

Woman #1: Wow! That's great. I wish I could have caught it.

One of the most popular New Year's resolutions is to lose weight. Of course it is one of mine too: to try to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight... that would be the weight I weighed before Kitten was born, though I would be happy if I can be back to my pre-Muffin weight before our beach vacation in May.

Yes I did have a small bout of a stomach flu over the holidays and was very grateful since it did help me lose 4 lbs very rapidly. I mean honestly what's a little pain and discomfort when it gives that kind of result. It certainly has advantages over sweating it out at the gym or starving yourself on yet another salad: it has quick results and you don't have to do much apart from lie around and not do much (ok so maybe not the easiest with a 3.5 year old and a 4 month old but still). Maybe I should start a company: Lose weight fast: Send now for a sample to contaminate yourself with a benign gastrointestinal virus. Garanteed results in 24 hours!

However disturbing that may be I know quite a few friends who would probably jump at the opportunity... including the friend above with whom I had a conversation this morning ;-)

Happy New Year!