Bob the Barber

This past weekend, Mick and I took Jack for his second professional haircut. The first dozen or Jack needed to see someone who could do more than just cut in a circle.

The first cut Jack had at this barber (which is right on the University of Michigan campus and directly next door to my all-time favorite ice cream shop, Stucchi's) was back in January. The barber was fantastic and even pointed out to me a lump on the back of Jack's neck that he strongly encouraged us to get examined by a doctor. (We did: it's just a swollen lymph node.) He played with Jack when we arrived and did a great job with Jack once he was sitting in the barber chair (a little red car). What I love about this place is that the barber is so good with kids yet it's a true barber shop and not one of those gimmicky kid places where they charge you twice as much just to sit your kid in front of some cartoons while they cut hair. I mean, a cut still sets us back $20 (parents of bald kids, rejoice!) but if it's a good cut, it's worth it.

Unfortunately, this time the cut hasn't turned out as nicely as it did back in January. You can't tell from the pictures I took with my phone, but the front is very uneven and the back is really choppy. Jack didn't wriggle around much so I'm not sure what happened with this cut. It's a good thing his hair grows back so quickly.

Here he is from his better side where the front isn't quite as short (sorry about the resolution - taken with my iPhone):
Once the haircut was over, we went to one of my favorite bagel places that I haven't been to in over ten years. It was so weird to be back. I literally had butterflies in my stomach as I passed Michigan Book & Supply as I instantly felt as if I were back in school and had to buy textbooks again. (Not sure if the anxiety I felt had to do with the idea of being in school again or of dropping $500 every semester on textbooks that would later sell for about $20.)

Jack enjoyed a cinnamon raisin bagel while he sat - by himself - in a "big boy chair" and watched out the window for campus buses.
I'm sure one of these days it won't seem quite as weird to be back on campus with my toddler, but for now it just feels strange.

Sanity Buster: Kids' Music

Jack and I drove up to Big Rapids on Monday so we could retrieve our much-missed Shergar, who'd been staying with my parents since early February while we traveled. We stayed with them Monday and Tuesday nights and then headed back here Wednesday evening so we could attend our music class on Thursday morning.

Jack was... how shall I say it?... lively on the three-hour-drive back to Ann Arbor. For a while, he played nicely with toys - but then he started hurling them toward me. So I stopped handing things back as I realized his chosen activity was quite dangerous for us as I was driving over 70 mph. Then he started shouting "out" telling me he wanted out of the car seat. I was really trying to get home by 7:30 or so as I wanted Jack to be able to see Mick and then go straight to bed. Jack decided he didn't want the radio on (he plugged his ears while I was listening to NPR... there goes one of my guilty pleasures) but I asked him if he wanted me to sing. "Yeah" he said. (He's finally figured out the difference between "yes" and "no" which is actually quite helpful. He used to just say "yeah" for every question you asked him, which was funny but not really productive.)

So, I started singing the ABCs, always a sure hit with him. "NOOOOOO!" he shouted. Great. I tried Happy Birthday, another favorite. Again, the screaming and the "noooo!" I ran through my repertoire: "Jack, do you want BINGO? Itsy Bitsy Spider? Twinkle Twinkle? You Are My Sunshine?" All were met with a fierce "NO!"

Growing exasperated, I disgustedly said to him something along the lines of "Fine, if you don't want any of these songs then I guess we ride in silence until we get home... because I'm NOT stopping to get you out of this car."

"Seeeeshhh" he replied.

What?

"Seeeeshhh! Seeeeshhh!"

I thought for a minute and then realized he must be requesting a song from his music class: She sells seashells by the seashore.

So I asked him, "Do you want me to sing the seashell song?"

"YEAH!"

So for the next THIRTY FIVE MILES I sang it over and over and over and over. Every five minutes or so I'd try to slip in a Baa Baa Black Sheep or something but he'd immediately scream again until I resumed the damn seashell song.

Seriously, 35 miles. I really thought I was going to go certifiably insane by the time we pulled into the driveway. Thank goodness Mick was home when we arrived. I walked into the house (leaving Jack in his car seat) and simply said to Mick, "your turn."

Then, yesterday afternoon, we were on our way back from music class and Mick and I were trying to keep Jack awake as he was so tired but we wanted him to wait to fall asleep until we got home. I asked if he wanted us to sing. He said yes, but this time he wanted the star song.

So, I (and Mick, grudgingly) began:

"Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are..."

At which point Mick says "well you're a STAR, duh."

I couldn't stop laughing... and still crack up every time I think of this. Why did it never occur to me before that these lyrics are totally non-sensical?

Thankfully, Jack is learning all about the Beatles and he often asks for Paul so we're spared traditional kids' music much of the time. But when we're not, it can get rough.

An Alternate Universe

Leaving my house to collect the mail, I walked past a kid from the neighborhood who was on his way home from school. Standard issue teenager - baseball cap, headphones, backpack, and baggy jeans. Too be honest, I didnt expect much in the way of conversation. And yet, we engaged in a brief, but oddly revealing, exchange:

- Teenager: "Hi...how are you?"

- Surprised homeowner: "Good. And yourself?"

- Teenager: "Fine, thanks. How are you liking the neighborhood?"

- Surprised homeowner (after falling to the ground in amazement): "It's great, thank you."

Where else in the world do teenagers have such polite conversations?

Home - And Still on the Mend

We arrived home last night after 17 hours of door-to-door travel. Jack was a champ! This was really nice for us as both Mick and I caught Jack's cold (no surprise). Mick's in worse shape than I am with pretty intense chest pain every time he coughs. He has an appointment to see the doctor later this morning. (This is only the second time in ten years I've heard Mick say he "needs" to see a doctor asap and the last time was pretty awful... so I've got my fingers crossed that whatever he has now isn't too bad...) I've just got my usual sinus infection so the ascent and descent in the planes was a bit rough for me given all of the pressure.

Jack was in such fantastic spirits yesterday though that it made our travel a million times better. He slept on Mick for about two hours on our flight from Manchester to Chicago and then played happily on the plane for the remaining 6 1/2 hours. The worst part of our travel was the layover in Chicago. We had to clear customs & immigration, get our luggage, then re-check our luggage and go BACK through security for the flight to Detroit. Poor Jack had been constrained for about 9 hours by this point and just wanted to run. But the security lines were long and moving at a snail's pace (our line only had one screening machine that worked so it took ages to get through). My lone meltdown of the journey home came not long after we finally got through security and were boarding our flight to Detroit. I only handed the ticket agent one ticket and then looked at Mick for the other one. He said he didn't think we had another one. I tried to set everything down so I could look (stroller, diaper bag, Jack's backpack, two coats, one sweatshirt, etc.) and my coins flew everywhere. I said a few choice words (stress relief) and then realized I was holding the other ticket. Nice.

Jack was so great though on the flight from Chicago to Detroit that we had multiple people comment on what a happy kid he was. They were all pretty surprised when I told them how long we'd been traveling. By the time we took the shuttle bus to get our car, I think some of Jack's silliness was due to him being overtired but he never had a tantrum - which is saying a lot for a kid his age. He dropped off in the car on the way home and then continued sleeping right through the night - until 4:45 this morning. Jet lag is tough on little ones!

I have some good videos of our time with Chris, Jan, and Harry -- particularly Jack kicking around a football (soccer ball). I will post the videos as soon as I've unpacked and loaded the videos and pictures to my computer.

We're looking forward to a return visit in June where all three of us are healthy. Being sick at any time is not fun. But when you're thousands of miles from home and feel torn between visiting with everyone you want to see and just spending the day in bed, it's even tougher.

International Travel with a Toddler: Not for the Faint of Heart

Murphy's Law: take your child for his 18-month well visit on Tuesday to have him declared in perfect health. (Stats: weight 26.5 lbs - 65th percentile and height 34.75 inches - 95th percentile.) Child wakes on Wednesday morning - day of international flight - with a runny nose (not the clear stuff... meaning infection) and horrible chesty cough.

And so began our travel "adventure." With inhaler medication in hand, we left for Detroit airport on Wednesday morning around 10:30 am. On the advice of Jack's pediatrician, we gave him children's Benadryl before our flight to Chicago. Many of my friends advised that we give him Benadryl to knock him out but I never seriously entertained the idea. I only give medicine if truly warranted. But when the doctor advised it - we listened.

The flight to Chicago was just fine and Jack weathered the 3-hour layover with no trouble. O'Hare airport had a great "Kids on the Fly" area which had plenty of play things and climbing pieces for Jack to use. He wore himself out and by the time our 5:30 pm flight to Manchester rolled around, Mick and I knew Jack was beyond beat and would SLEEP on the flight. We gave him an additional dose of Benadryl since it had been 8 hours since his first and he was alseep within ten minutes of takeoff. YAHTZEE! we thought! I immediately regretted packing my book in my checked luggage as I suddenly had hours during which to read.

But it was not to be.

Jack woke after about an hour of sleep and, with over seven hours remaining on the flight, was wild. I mean WILD. Apparently, while Benadryl causes extreme drowsiness in most children, it has also been known to cause extreme hyperactivity. Wonderful. So we had seven hours of wrangling a very energetic child, who was sick, and who mostly only wanted mummy. Mick had about an hour of sleep while I had none. But we made it and thought we were out of the woods.

Wrong.

Thursday night, we put Jack to bed around 7:30 pm. Granted, this is only 2:30 pm Michigan time, but Jack was beyond beat as he'd had so little sleep Wednesday and didn't sleep overnight at all. He went down like a gem and again, we were thrilled. Until he woke around 11 pm. And stayed awake - wide awake - until after 2:00 am. Mick and I muttered words of frustration to each other, reminisced on how easy travel was without a child, and threatened not returning to England until Jack is 16. But then Jack eventually fell asleep and we slept and the morning brought renewed tenacity: we wouldn't let Jack's sleep strike dictate our future travel plans! We'd be back this summer!

But then this morning we started talking about whether we should call the pediatrician back. Jack had been on his inhalers for over 48 hours and wasn't improving at all. Though his appetite and general playfulness have been good, his cough seems to be getting worse and he's been wheezing and having shortness of breath. Our pediatrician said, without hesitation, that we needed to take him into the doctor here before tomorrow morning. This was at 5 pm England time. UGH!

So, off we trekked to the local doctor (who was wonderful!) to be told that we had to pay (!!) for Jack's visit because, while he's a British citizen, his country of residence is not part of the UK. Bummer. I was impressed though with our first experience with the NHS. We called at 5:00 and by 5:30 we were in with the doctor! She said that Jack has a bit of a red (sore?) throat and a "crackly" chest - meaning chest infection. Due to his other breathing issues, he has to be on an antibiotic for the next five days. (Thank goodness for generic drugs - with our insurance not covered here, we had to pay out of pocket but the drugs were only about $7!)

The doctor wants to see Jack again on Monday morning at 8 am so we will have him rechecked then. This hasn't been easy thus far but I'm glad we're doing it (the travel, I mean.) I know some people who say they'd never travel with their kids because it would be too hard. I think about what we've done so far - with this our third international trip with Jack in 18 months - and am glad that we're not letting these hiccups get us down. Jack had some time with his great granny today and the expression on her face when she saw him -- "isn't he just lovely? he's precious!" -- was invaluable. Well worth the challenges - though we're hopeful for an easier trip home!

Snow... and Quarantine

Finally, Ann Arbor has had a nice snow. Not DC, 20+ inches nice, but nice enough. It was close to 10 inches and gave Mick the opportunity to shovel and Jack the opportunity to try standing up and walking in it.
Jack was lucky to be outside briefly today as he's been fighting a horrendous stomach bug since Saturday morning. The poor kid has never had the stomach flu before and I think he was frightened every time he vomited. In between heaving, he'd moan "mummy, MUMMY!" as if I could stop it or make him feel better. It was awful for all three of us. Luckily, today he's on the mend. He made a few stops to time out today for banging the fireplace doors, so that showed me that he is on his way back to his normal, mischievous Jack self. In any case, we've quarantined him from other kids and play dates for the next few days as we want him to be as healthy as possible for our flight to England on Wednesday.

We had a wonderful visit in DC last week and were able to see some, though not all, of our friends. (Congrats on your engagement, Ryan! Hope you're feeling better, Sabine!) Poor Mick toiled away at meetings all week-long while Jack and I made visits to the Natural History Museum with the Sorkins, to our former weekly playgroup (it was so neat to see how much the kids had grown in 3 1/2 months!), and to see our friends, Lee and Iain (and their dog, Cole, with whom Jack is obsessed).

Jack and Iain had a great time eating...

and playing...

and showing their fondness for each other.

Jack did okay on the flight though I think 18-month-old kids are meant to give traveling parents a run for their money. Fingers crossed for our trans-Atlantic flight.

Jack's 18 month well visit is tomorrow. I'll post his stats afterward.

The Wonders of Modern Technology

Wow... I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted an update to our blog. I guess the few emails I've received from friends wondering if we were still alive should have been a hint. So here's to posting more timely updates!

The topic for this evening is, as the title suggests, how amazed I am by technology. Skype has been a part of our life since 2007 when I bought my (much loved) MacBook. Initially, it enabled me to peer in on Marcus and to read books to him from hundreds of miles away. Then, when Jack was born, it became the easiest way to communicate with family, especially grandparents, and to show his growth and progress. Now that we've moved, I use it to keep in touch with friends in Arlington. The older Jack has become, the more interested he is in talking to (and showing off for) the people on the other side of the screen.

Tonight though, Skype enabled me to accomplish new feats: home repair. As any renter turned homeowner knows, the absolute best part of renting is that phone call you make when something breaks or doesn't work as it should. If you have a good landlord, he/she comes and makes/pays for the repair and you're good to go. Not so as a homeowner. We've certainly already learned this as we have sunk $350 into a bathroom sink repair, $150 into a garage door repair, a LOT into a new refrigerator, and an as yet undetermined amount into a leaky window. However, being close to family has really paid off as my dad and Andy have done tons of odd jobs around here to save us money.

When Andy was here over the holidays, he would just FIX things as soon as he saw they needed some attention. One day, he told me he needed caulk for the basement bathroom. Off we went to Ace Hardware and Andy showed me all of the correct gadgets to get and then he came back to our place and sealed some leaks in the tub. The next day, he removed the door that leads out to the garage from its hinge and repaired the weatherstripping on the bottom (which we'd been saying we needed to do since we closed on the house in mid-October!). He fixed the ice maker in our brand new refrigerator (something that the fridge company couldn't help with) and got all of the wiring figured out in the family room so we now actually have decent sound when watching TV. It was blissful to have him around. Literally every question I asked him about something that wasn't working in our house was met with "oh, I know how to fix it" and then he'd do it. Amazing.

Tonight, as Jack and I were playing before bedtime, Sarah and the kids rang us on Skype. We talked with the boys for a few minutes (Jack says both Deagan's and Marcus' names now: "Dee-dee" and "Muh-meh") and then Andy came on to the screen. All of a sudden, I exclaimed "Oh, Andy, it's so good you're there! I need your help with something!"

I took my laptop over to the pantry and showed Andy the door. The handle came off this morning and I couldn't figure out how to reach inside the door (it's a bi-fold) to try to get the screw out of the back. The best I could figure out was that I'd need to take everything out of the closet, get inside, and then use a flashlight to see what I was doing. I'm so glad I didn't do that though because with my luck, I'd get stuck in there and then would have to wait for tomorrow night for Mick to get back from his travel to get me out. Not a smart plan when you have a mischieveous toddler running around...

Anyway, first, Andy had me hold the laptop up to the top of the bi-fold door. He instructed me how to get the door out of the track so it would then swing wide open (eliminating the need for me to close myself in the closet, flashlight in hand). I then showed him with the camera on my computer what the problem was. Of course, he knew exactly what I needed to do. However, instead of explaining it to me and having me struggle with figuring out what he meant, he suddenly took over control of my computer (I think he said he was able to "remote in" and then basically his screen showed on my computer) and drew a diagram of what I needed to do.

I was so fascinated by this form of assistance that I had to run and get the camera to record a bit of it:


The door isn't fixed yet as I don't have a fender washer (which is what Andy said I needed). That means I get to take a trip to the hardware store tomorrow which is great because hardware stores are my favorite (well, those and lumber yards!). However, I know that if I have any trouble re-installing the handle, I can just Skype Andy again and will get all the help I need.

I wonder if I've stumbled upon a new business idea for those do-it-yourselfers who need just a little bit of guidance without paying $100 for a service call...

Anyway, thanks Andy!