January 4, 2009

Take Only As Directed

We had a great Christmas vacation. The boys love Christmas, of course, and we got to visit with family we hadn't seen in a while (or at all, in the case of Ben and Christopher's baby cousin, Catherine). The travel even went well. The long drive to North Carolina and the shorter drive to Pennsylvania were uneventful both weather-wise and stir-crazy-kids-in-the-backseat-wise.

Mostly.

With about three hours left in our two-day trip home from North Carolina, Kari gave Christopher his regular medication in the form of a small chewable tablet.

Heaven knows why, maybe it was just a little bit too quiet in the back seat, but a minute or tow later it occurred to Kari to ask, "Christopher, have you taken your pill yet?"

"No," was the sheepish reply.

Now, Christopher is generally good about taking his meds, so Kari's rejoinder was somewhat incredulous: "Well?! Where is your pill?"

"In my nose."

"What??!!"

"Right here," he said, pointing to a place between his eyes.

I immediately pulled the car over into a small church parking lot, got out, circled around to Christopher's side of the car, opened the back door, and, peering up Christopher's nostril, called out to Kari like a surgeon to a nurse, "Tweezers!"

Kari, already on top of the situation, smacked the tweezers into the palm of my hand and the next thirty seconds or so were tense as I tried to extricate the slippery white tablet without shoving it deeper in. Finally, I resorted to what should have been Plan A in the first place and called to Kari, "Kleenex!"

Three blows and out it popped. Kari and I were nearly in unison: "Now pick it up and eat it!"

Ten seconds later we were back on the road, a minimal impact on the trip's overall miles-per-hour average.

December 4, 2008

Ben the Capitalist

(In the car, riding home from school. Ben and Christopher are in the back seat. Ken is driving. Ben is thinking of ways to earn some extra cash.)

Ben: On Saturday, can we go around the neighborhood and sell the paper airplanes I made? I could sell them for a dollar each!

Ken: Well, you need to know your market, right? Do you think people will want to spend a whole dollar on a paper airplane?

Ben: Why not?

Ken: You need to sell things people want. Like in the summer, kids sell lemonade because it's hot and people are thirsty, right?

Christopher (exuberant): And it's yummy!!

Ben: So, maybe...maybe we could sell...hats.

Ken: Sure! It's cold, right? And people want to keep their ears warm, right?

Christopher (silly): And it's yummy!

Ben: Yeah, Mommy could make the hats and I'll be the manager! And you guys can be my...workers!

Ken (dubious): Yeah....

Christopher: And what will I do?

Ben: You can draw the pictures, and Mommy will use the pictures to know how to make the hats.

Ken: So, you've got design, and production, and management. What else do you need?

Ben: And you can tell people to buy the hats!

Christopher: Me too!

Ken: So...now you've got sales. What about HR or Accounting?

Ben: What?

Ken: Well, you need someone to keep track of all the money you will be making and so you can pay your workers...

Ben: Right, I'll give some money to the workers and the rest I'll use to buy toys!

Ken: Right. That's called spending the profits.

November 21, 2008

Chico and Quack

Belated Christopher surgery update: all is well with the pressure in his eyes. For now at least. It will be something that the doctors will continue to monitor as the valve implant will likely need to be replaced at some point, but we couldn't be happier with the results. No more eye drops!

In other news, we've begun teaching Christopher braille. Why braille, you ask, when he (to all outward appearances at least) is coping just fine using his (limited) vision? Well, after discussing it, Kari & I agreed that we have to be prepared for the chance that his vision will deteriorate. Might as well start training Christopher now while his brain is still so spongelike (see how quickly he picked up English!).

Another, and perhaps an even bigger, factor in the decision is that once he is actively reading and interacting in our text-rich world, he is going to need as many different kinds of inputs as he can get. Even though there are all kinds of magnifiers, large-print books, and assistive computer interfaces for those with low vision, we've learned that it is mentally and physically exhausting to have to interact with text at a large size. Imagine what it would be like to have to read a book or a newspaper article when you can only take in two or three words at a time.

On the other hand, maybe that is the kind of thing Christopher can adapt to. This video is literally the third time Christopher has interacted with a computer. Of course, it's easy to maintain a certain level of stamina when you keep shoving grapes into your mouth.


October 22, 2008

Lucky Seven Ben

It's almost hard to believe that Ben's already turned seven-years-old, but as of the 10th, he has. There were only two things he really wanted: a Playmobile camper and a trip to see his friend Audrey. Thankfully, we pulled off both along with a small, but very fun homemade pizza party.

Ben and Christopher have both been crazy for Playmobile toys ever since we bought a big airplane for Ben for his sixth birthday. And, of course, it's no secret that Ben is crazy about Audrey as well. Unfortunately, the only pictures we got of the trip came at the end as we were trying to wrangle the kids together for a group photo. It's clear that Ben and Audrey were struggling with the impending departure.

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October 12, 2008

Christopher Drives a Hard Bargain

Scene: Interior of car, at about hour 4 of a 7-hour ride home from a weekend trip to visit friends. Mother and Father are in the front seat keeping their mouths shut. Ben and Christopher are in the back seat negotiating over toys.

Ben (pleading): If you give me the truck I will give you the bicycle.

Christopher (considering): Hmmmm.

B: No, truck. No, bicycle.

C: ...

B: Yes, truck. Yes, bicycle.

C (triumphant): No, truck. Yes, bicycle!