So I’m left going uhhhhhhh. Sure, this happens ALLLL the time in sitcoms, but this is real life and I’m left wondering how much I should be involved in this. I want him to stand up for himself but I don’t want him turning into a bully or beating some kid up. I want him to work things out for himself but I don’t want it to go so far that it damages E long term in some way emotionally or physically. I also don’t want him to have to miss some of that class, it’s not fair to him to have to skip a class he likes to hang out with his boring parents in the TV control room during that time just because some kids are being jerks.

I’ve told him to tell them to leave him alone and then go somewhere else in the room and if they still don’t stop to talk to a teacher; and that I want to know everything that goes on. I told him I would talk to their parents if I needed to but I would really rather avoid that if possible (don’t want to be like I am whining or uppity), especially at this point because I don’t know these kids or who their parents are. Oh, he also said that one of the kids called him a “loser” with an “L” on his forehead and we couldn’t help it, Steve, Sarah, and I just started rolling laughing. E got mad and said not to laugh and I said we aren’t laughing at you (and you’re not a loser), we’re laughing at the kid. And before I knew what I was doing, I was feeding him comebacks, lol. Nothing bad, just something like, “Well YOU’RE the one with the L on his forehead” and “Hey, 1999 called…” And the most annoying: “so’s your face,” “I know you are, but what am I?” and “I am rubber, you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.” (Ah yes, I am a child of the 80′s.)

But really, I’m at a loss here. We’ve not encountered something like this before, Elijah usually gets along with everyone. He’s been at odds before with two boys I can think of but it wasn’t to the point where he said they were really bullying or hurting him and now he says he is friends with both of them. Aaaaaaahhhhhhh…

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There were a few people missing but most were able to make it and we had a nice evening of pizza, presents, cake and ice cream. Elijah picked out his cake months in advance and was really excited about it. Blue and orange with a big Star Wars picture. Steve pointed out that it was “dark” – aka, the Dark Side – but I can’t help it if the kid loves Darth Vader! For his piece he just had to have Darth Vader’s face and for her piece, my niece just had to have “people,” so she got two storm troopers. The little things make them happy. :)

From us, he got all 5 of the Star Wars movies that he was lacking, on DVD. Sounds expensive but I made out like a bandit, as they say. I was able to get Episode I on amazon.com used for next to nothing and I had credits on swapadvd.com to get Episode III for nothing. Episodes IV, V, and VI are a box set but it was cheaper because it doesn’t have the added stuff that they put in later, and the cases are those thin small ones. Who cares as long as the DVDs play, right?

From me he also got a Spiderman blanket. He picked out the pattern several months ago, I guess he was a little left out that I was making blankets for K and for other babies. But then again, even though he’s never carried a “blankie” in the traditional sense, this kid loves his blankets. He has been known to pile them on at night. Often I pull some off when I check on him. He likes to bring them out to watch TV with, too, sometimes even in the summer. So I thought this would be a good one for that. I’m still not finished, though, I am going to go until I run out of yarn. I started with a pound of each in red and blue. I just ran out of time before his party.

Then from his aunts, uncles, grandparents, and a special set of family friends, he ended up with some birthday money, 3 of the “regular” Transformer toys*, two large Transformer toys that don’t transform but make a lot of noise, temporary tattoos, adorable set of PJs, a Nerf dart gun, another bubble gun (he keeps breaking them and my sister keeps buying them!), etc. It’s hard for me, at the moment, to even remember everything. It doesn’t help that he absolutely TEARS through his presents until they’re all open, and then shows just how excited he is about all of them. I’m going to have to stop taking video of him opening presents because he looks like he’s only mildly entertained by everything and just wants to move on to the next thing. But he is really excited about everything he got (except the PJs, of course), he just doesn’t show it until later when he can play with things. Even now, several days later, he’s still jabbering about everything.

* Regarding the Transformers, he actually ended up with two of the same one. Because of the way he tears through presents, I didn’t realize it at the time and by the time I did, they were all open and the packaging long gone in the trash. I made a comment to Steve that we should have paid attention so that we could have exchanged one for another one he doesn’t have and E said, “No! I like them both!” And it’s true, I’ve noticed that he is playing with them both, doesn’t seem to bother him that they’re the same bad guy!

It turned out to be a great evening and I’d like to do it more, but I don’t want people to have to feel like they have to buy him something every year. His grandparents always get him something, and so do we, my brother often does, but, really, I don’t want to spoil the kid! We will just have to find other excuses of having both families together in the future.

First was the ophthalmologist on Monday. It was a bit disheartening that I had to pay $40 in co-pays, but we do what we have to do. For K, of course, there wasn’t really anything to do but take a look. This time… she was MAD about it, too. But things there still look good and it occurred to me that I haven’t seen her nystagmus in quite a while, probably not since maybe 2 weeks after her last appointment. While I’m a bit ashamed I didn’t notice before, I guess I have a case of “out of sight, out of mind,” but it’s great that we haven’t seen it in so long. The doctor says she’s also still doing a bit of the tilting of her head when looking at something, but I personally haven’t been noticing that as much, either, so hopefully it’s on the way out the door, too.

As for E’s eyes, he shows a very slight improvement. Rather, as for his eye, since the problem is only in the left eye. Having given glasses a two week trial, we now have to start patching his right eye. He has to start with a half an hour daily increasing to a couple of hours. He HATES it, though. So far, we’ve only done it 3 times and he’s willingly taken it, but starts to complain within the first 5 minutes. The doctor said he should watch TV or play a video game while wearing the patch. I’m really not sure why those are the activities to try during that time, but I think, in part, it has to do with his concentration. If I can get him to watch something he’s interested in, he’s less apt to complain about the patch… until a commercial!

On Tuesday, K went to the pediatrician for a check-up. She is now 17 lbs and 4 oz! The doctor said she was hoping she would get to 20 lbs by the time she’s 2 years old. She said something about it being a low goal to meet but, still, it had both of us thinking “whoa!” I am SURE she can gain those less than 3 lbs before April! It would be nice if she could do it by her next check-up in October, but I’m not sure she will, maybe by the end of the year, though. So her height and head circumference are on the “regular” charts (ie for kids who match her actual age, not adjusted) but her weight still is not. On one hand, we are not surprised, on the other, we are because she eats nearly constantly. We have also been giving her a lot of this Banana Apple Yogurt stuff from Beechnut because it has 120 calories per 4 oz jar and is the highest so far. We are in the process of transitioning her to whole milk, too, so I believe that should help. She’s up to half milk, half formula now. But in no way is this girl too little. She is SOLID and, at times, feels heavy to me. She’s strong, too. It’s hilarious to watch her try to lift things that should be too heavy for her, such as a half a bag of diapers. She held that thing up for several seconds, grunting, and her arm turning red, fist white, until she finally let go. She’s determined, too!

Up next should be another renal scan for K this fall, amongst a few other tests. It’s not been scheduled yet, but when the day comes, it is NOT going to be good. She’s going to have to be sedated this time – last time she was only 5 months actual (not quite 3 months adjusted) and once the initial terror of the IV and catheter insertions were over, she fell asleep. This time it will not be so easy. One of the things they do, once they are in place with all their tubes and wires, is to strap them down so they can’t move. After all, the x-ray machine has to do it’s job. K will absolutely HATE that and so, sedation, here we come. Not to mention, the doctor has ordered a blood test to be done the same day. We don’t have to do it the same day, but the hospital is approximately a 50 mile drive one way. (I had to look that up, I’m actually surprised, I thought it was farther.) We do have a hospital here and there’s another one yet between us and the Children’s hospital, but for blood draws the doctor recommends Children’s since they’re used to working on tiny veins. Of course, the place where she was in the NICU for those 3 months is awesome, too, but once you’re out of the NICU and into outpatient lab, it’s another story. Plus, again, we’ll already be at the Children’s hospital. Either way, it’s going to be a very long and tiring day. Sedation is NOT fun, as we discovered in March with the MRI…

“Bedtime in one hour.”

“Bedtime in half an hour.”

“Bedtime in fifteen minutes.”

“Ok, brush your teeth, go to the bathroom, wash your hands, get your jammies on, and go to bed.”

A lot of instructions, I know, but he’s really got that bedtime routine down pat. The problem starts about 15 minutes after he’s been in bed.

“I’m hungry.”

“Hello? Mommy? I’m hungry!!”

“You’ve been sent to bed. Good-night.”

“But I’m hungry! I didn’t have dinner.”

He totally had dinner, whether he wants to admit it or not. Sometimes he gets a snack (contrary to what my size may show you, we don’t usually have dessert here). But he always has plenty of time before bed to tell me he’s hungry. There are times I’ve even asked him if he was hungry, gotten a “no” answer, sent him to bed, then *suddenly* he’s “hungry.” Most of the time I think it’s just a ploy to stay up later but I feel guilty thinking that I don’t want to deny a growing boy some food.

But this behavior has got to stop. Tonight I told him, “ok, you can eat your dinner left-overs but then to bed and this is NOT going to happen anymore. You have plenty of time to decide if you’re hungry or not and you will NOT be getting out of bed like this anymore.” We’ll see how it goes.

The thing that really grinds my gears, though, besides when he’s been offered food just 10 minutes prior, is that he throws an absolute fit about finishing dinner left-overs. I have been in his face about not wasting food but he just doesn’t seem to get it. Of course, I win there, because I say “it’s that or nothing, we’re not wasting it,” but it still frustrates.

This has been a rant, good-night. :)

So, anyway. E is pretty competitive and he tends to get upset when he loses. It’s something we’re working on, really, but in the meantime, sometimes I just want him to win so he’ll be quieter. He now has full reign of the game with Worlds 1 through 8 unlocked and all but two levels beaten on the first 7 Worlds. Of course, every time his lives run out, his inventory is cleared and the mushroom houses reset themselves. So he heads there first.

The red mushroom houses have a little mini matching game. Does it make me a bad mother that I look up the cheats and tell him which boxes to pick so that he wins all the stuff and doesn’t hear the bad guy laughing at him? At least then he does the victory dance and that’s just way beyond cute. :P

This game was totally designed with me in mind, though, I know it. I am just not coordinated enough to play the truly 3D games out there!