Strep Throat

Who gets strep throat in the summer? Apparently all of my kids. And all at once. I knew something was wrong last Friday when Davey sobbed and sobbed at bedtime for now apparent reason, but I figured he was just overtired from a long week. Then on Tuesday AJ appeared in our bed around 2am complaining of an ear ache and aching legs. By Thursday, Julia was up for two hours in the middle of the night. After we finally wised up to take them all to the doctor, it turns out that they had a bad case of strep throat. I am dreading winter when all of the sicknesses start coming out of the woodwork.

One of the most difficult things about parenting has been figuring out illnesses. Of course, as babies, they cannot verbalize what is wrong, so it feels like a game of detective trying to figure out if crying is tiredness, teething, illness or a combination of all three. I used to yearn for the day when my kids could talk figuring that they could just tell me what was wrong, but apparently for kids self-diagnosis is also difficult. They just know they feel crummy and can't seem to pinpoint the cause, blaming a tummy ache when they have strep throat. Or after they see that the sick kid gets bubble-gum flavored medicine, they will start to make false reports about their own illness in an effort to getsome of the good stuff. "Uh, my, uh, tummy hurts!" You can practically see the wheels turning in their heads as they angle for some medicine. It reminds me of my brother who used to love the taste of cherry cough syrup. Joe made the mistake one time of not getting the flavoring added at the pharmacy, and he attempted three times to administer medication without it and was wrestling mouths open, I had to make an emergency mom run back to the pharmacy to get the flavoring added. Joe was surprised that they would add the syrup after the medication had already been picked up and used. I asked him if he really thought he was the first parent who had forgotten it. Trust me--the pharmacist saw me returning with two partially empty bottles and said "dad forgot the syrup, huh?"

Spiderman and Beethoven

One of my favorite summer traditions in our town is the concert in the park. The town has a local symphony that plays a series of concerts on Friday evenings each summer from the steps of city hall overlooking a big city park. People bring blankets and picnics and they block off the adjacent streets so that kids can run around while their parents listen to the music. It is the perfect low-key way to start the weekend.

We went last weekend with Joe's parents and had a lovely time. We had sandwiches and wine and the boys ran around the fountain in the park before spotting Spiderman ice cream bars on the ice cream truck that had strategically parked next to the concert. We spent the next 15 minutes wiping red and blue ice cream off the boys as it melted faster than they could eat it. As the boys made a mess of their Spiderman ice cream, Arlene noted that Beethoven and Spiderman make a good pairing for the boys. It was a lovely summer evening.

Summer of the Bikes

When I think back on this summer, it will live in my mind as the summer the boys first started to ride bikes. We have had trikes, big wheels and even no pedal scooters before, and the boys have had some interest in them but not much. I even sold their big wheel at a garage sale earlier this summer and neither has noticed or asked about its whereabouts since it disappeared. Last year AJ's nanny got him an awesome green two-wheel bike with training wheels. He was interested last summer but not quite able to get the hang of pedaling on his own. This summer it all clicked for him, and he is so proud to pedal through the neighborhood on his big boy bike. We will often go out for a ride in the evening after dinner when the weather starts to cool down and have made it as far at two miles once, although there was a lot of whining and complaining on the way home that night.

Not to be outdone, Davey has also picked up on a bike this summer. When AJ started to like his bike and ask to go for rides, we didn't want Davey to be left out and invested in a trike with a push handle. Part of the problem with the trike is that it takes a lot of parental bending and stooping to help the kid get used to pedaling. The trike with the push bar is great because it has let Davey slowly get the hang of pedaling while not falling behind on rides around the block with his big brother.

And Julia herself decided to join the brothers by riding behind the wheel of a little toy car with a push handle that we can seat belt her into. She wears a hand-me-down spiderman bike helmet that never fit Davey's head and rides along with a big smile. When all three of the kids ride together, it makes a big racket and takes up most of the sidewalk. We joke that we are a biker gang taking over the town.

iPhone uPhone

We all scream for iPhones! The boys are officially obsessed with our iPhones. They love to play games on them, and I amazed at how quickly they figure out how to work the phone and do the games. Favorite games include several designed for preschoolers that involve counting, colors and letters, like Monkey Lunchbox and Park Math.

AJ is also a fan of the Spiderman game. This is the only one I regret downloading because it is a very realistic version of Spiderman fighting some bad guys with punches and kicks. As he administers virtual punches, AJ says "take that, bad guy!" Or my recent favorite, "take that, leopard pants!" For several weeks we were puzzled as to why he thought "leopard pants" was an insult, but he said it with such conviction. Then we re-read one of his Spiderman books and realized that Spiderman calls a bad guy wearing leopard print pants by this name. Doesn't miss a beat, that one.

In one scene Spiderman saves a woman who is tied up with a rope. AJ asked me why the woman was tied up with a rope, and I kept my comments to myself about it being a sexist game.

One recent download that is goofy is called Fruit Ninja. Different pieces of fruit fly across the screen, and the general objective is to use your finger to slice the fruit in half. After downloading it, AJ asked me how to play. I held the phone in one hand and used my index finger on the other hand to slice through one piece of fruit at a time. Then I handed the phone to AJ, who put it down on the bed and used both hands to slice through fruit about ten times as fast as I had. Pretty soon he will be better at technology than we are.

Davey's favorite is a Thomas game, of course. It requires him to use his finger to slide different colored shapes into a puzzle that makes his favorite engines. It is a good way for him to learn his colors at least.

Here is a picture taken by my friend, Ali, of the boys playing on the iPhones.

Big Brother

We just finished a trip to Iowa to see my side of the family, including my sister, brother-in-law and nieces, Violet and brand-new Zoe (just 10 weeks!), so lots of posting and catching up to do here in the coming days. In the meantime, here are my recent favorite pictures of AJ and Julia. AJ was very proud to show me when I came home from work tonight that he could now hold his "baby sissy." I think my mom has a picture of my and my big brother that reminds me of this one. I will see if she can dig it up for the blog. I love how the picture captures Julia's adoration of her biggest brother.