Finally, an Update!

Forgive me Loyal Blog Readers...it has been 10 days since my last blog entry. Right after Zoe died, Norah got sick with a really high fever. It freaked me out since her symptoms were similar to Zoe's. I know dog-to-human transfer is extremely rare, but toward the end of Zoe's illness the vet told me that they were wearing gloves to treat her since they didn't know what was wrong and needed to protect themselves. That was a little scary. BTW...thank you so much to everyone for your sympathy and concern for Zoe and our family. I am so thankful to have such great friends and family who care so much.

Anyway, I took Norah to the pediatrician on Saturday morning expecting that her fever was due to an ear infection, but her ears were clear. The doctor decided to catheterize her to check for a UTI. That test came back negative too. He said to alternate Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours and if her demeanor hadn't changed in a few hours to call back. I called in the afternoon because she was still either lethargic or screaming and Dr. Meanie (after lecturing me about the block on my phone which I didn't even know about - I really can't stand that guy) sent me to the ER. Norah and I spent 2 1/2 hours there and she had blood tests which all came back clear. The ER doctor said it was a virus. She gradually recovered and then Adlani got it...more confirmation that it was a virus. So I was home with sick kids Saturday - Tuesday. Ugh. Everyone is finally healthy now.

So...let's see what else happened in the last week.

Friday night Aliya and I went to a little after-work celebration for my coworker Jeremy and his lovely bride-to-be, Marla, who were leaving town to get married. I have them to thank for the fact that my kids are now calling each other "diarrhea face with corn". They'll get their payback someday when they have kids and I volunteer to babysit. In other coworker news, "Uncle Greg" and his wife Nancy are the proud parents of baby girl Eva (and big boy Brock). Greg will be returning to IR on December 1st working for me in the Spec Department. Yay!!

I had parent/teacher conferences for both Aliya and Adlani last week. I absolutely love both sets of teachers. Aliya's teacher actually got a little misty when she was talking about Aliya. She said that Aliya is the poster-child for the Two-Way program and they're so excited about her progress. We are too. It's unbelievable how well she is speaking Spanish. Aliya's teacher told me that she had planned to start teaching reading in Spanish after Christmas break but that she would be starting with Aliya and 2 other kids the week after Thanksgiving. The thing I was most concerned about with Aliya was whether the other kids would call her "know-it-all", etc. I'm still emotionally scarred from the kids in elementary school teasing me because I always knew the answer. The teacher said that the other kids know she's smart (one of the kids told me that "Aliya knows EVERYTHING about words") but they love her because she's so kind and gets along with everyone. She said that she had not seen or heard any of the kids teasing her. She also told me that Aliya was going to be the "Star of the Week" which would be announced over the P.A. system the next day (Rumor has it that Maren got detention for screaming when she heard Aliya's name. Do they really get detention in first grade?). I kept the secret all night and was ready with the camera at the bus stop when Aliya got off the bus. She was pissed that I already knew. Oh well. I guess I can crop the pissy-face out of the video.



Adlani's conference wasn't quite as glowing as Aliya's but he's doing well and settling into the routine and learning the rules. I didn't think he'd have a problem going to preschool since he had been in day care all along, but his school is a real school - definitely not like day care. It took him a little while to get used to it, but we're really happy with the new school. We're planning to put him in the Spanish immersion preschool class next year to give him a little head start on kindergarten.

Aliya's soccer team had a pizza party to celebrate the end of the season. It was held at Pepperoncini's, which was great! The coach's wife had taken pictures all season long and gave each of the kids a CD with 130 pictures on it. So cool! The kids each got a trophy with their name on it. Aliya looked at hers and commented that they spelled her name right. We have already signed up for U7 soccer next year and hopefully we'll have the same coach again. He's so great with the kids (that's him in the picture).

Victoria invited me to attend Grandparents' / Special Peoples' day at her school. Some of the classes sang songs or read poems in the cafeteria, and then I spent some time in Vic's classroom while she showed me around, made a paper turkey, played a game and played with Lincoln Logs. I was very proud to be Vic's special person.

On Friday we left for our trip to Myrtle Beach, so more on that later.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Update: When I picked Aliya up at school to head for Myrtle Beach, her teacher said, "Aliya is the sunshine in the classroom...next week will be partly-cloudy." I was so touched!