vonRoeschlaub Family News

At 5 AM this morning I’m headed to Vegas for a week, so of course at midnight Avery came into the bedroom wheezing like a broken squeeze toy.  My first thought was that he aspirated one of his toys.  He goes to bed with a cavalcade of stuffed animals, each with a possible loose piece.  Diana thought the same thing, but with a sippy-cup valve.

After looking with a flashlight and trying to get him to admit to anything in his mouth, we rushed to St. Francis.  They immediately diagnosed it as the Croup.  After a while on Oxygen he insisted he felt better, and went right to sleep when we got home.

I wish I did too.

This morning, while eating breakfast, Avery exclaimed “It is very bright.” No sooner than he said this that the sunlight dimmed significantly.

“Oh,” I said, “the sun went behind a cloud.”

“No, it’s playing peek-a-boo!” grouched Avery. Then he though for a moment: “Or maybe . . . maybe it is playing ‘hide and seek’.”

We brought the kids over to Noni’s house for dinner with Judy, and I told them about a time Edd’s father tried to get him to take a trip to Israel.  When Edd asked why his father suggested it was part of the Jewish experience.  Edd responded “Being shot at by Arabs?  Yeah, I guess that is the Jewish experience.”

Everybody laughed at the story, but a few days later Claire remembered it while riding in the car with Ava.

“Did you know people with experience shoot Jews with arrows?”

I think I’m going to have to be more careful about the jokes I tell around the kids (or at least take the time to explain them).

Avery: I wan’t to live forever.

Claire: Nobody lives forever!

Avery: Oh, no! I don’t want to be nobody!

Diana had her amnio. Everything seemed to go smoothly, and cocoa-bean moved an awful lot. The best view ever, but still no hints to non-professionals about the gender. I’ll try to get a copy of the sono up later.
The doctor’s were surprised how much I knew about the system, but two and a half years in teleradiology is bound to rub off somewhat.

Diana had to visit the doctor, so I had Avery over for lunch. We went to the Subway near the office and he had the usual Turkey with cheese. The guys there are really nice to kids, and they gave him a “kids meal” toy even though he just had a normal sandwich. It’s a sneaker that rolls. I have no idea why they made such a thing.

After eating Avery needed to go to the bathroom, but it took a little work to convince him. We went in and he refused to use it because there was no urinal so it must be the girl’s room. I explained there was no other bathroom, but we still went in and out a few times before he believed it.

Claire’s teacher called to let us know of something that happened in school today.

The lesson was cause and effect, so the teacher gave many examples: “because I ate my dinner, I can have dessert.” etc.  As the class was wrapping up Claire was called to get on her bus and she rushed out.

Suddenly, she returned and announced “Because I forgot my backpack, I might miss the bus.” and left again.

Last night Claire was playing dress-up with Megan. After Megan left Claire showed her cute little outfit and then retired to the bathroom to take it off. Avery insisted on going in with her, and after ten minutes I declared it time for bed. Claire asked for another minute, so I ran to get the camera. Good call. When Avery came out, this is what I caught.
Hopefully there is no long-term psychological damage. Of course, posting the picture isn’t exactly going to help, is it?

Did a little Christmas shopping over the weeked with Avery in tow. A big mistake since he not only remembers what we picked up, but even remembers everything we said while picking it out. No more shopping trips like this with him, it would seem.

While at Target I did convince Diana to get a Lego set for him. She didn’t feel he was playing much with what he had, but I felt it was more an issue of how the Duplo sets are geared to be assembled only one way. We purchased a bucket of generic house-parts and opened it when we got home.

Avery fell in love. It is by far his favorite toy right now. I still do most of the assembling, but the house is built to his specifications while he puts together the fence. All on his own he worked out how the pieces need to overlap to form a locked joint. I think he’s really beginning to see how Lego work now. It’s a great introduction to mechanics, and his “engineering geek” cred is starting to show.

Claire Left for England to stay at the Tower of London last Friday, and comes back tomorrow. So far she has called home twice, but I only talked to her the first time. She was very excited to have seen the crown jewels, and said that she saw a knight in shining armor. I suspect all she saw was the shining armor, but you never know. My parents are definately keeping her happy.