this 'n' that

I have not posted since early January and thought it was high time I did so. We've gotten over a bout of sickness -- bad colds and norovirus (i.e. 'stomach flu') -- so it is nice to be feeling well again.

Here is an example of Jonathan's pithy way with words: we didn't know he was feeling unwell the night he got the 'bug'; he was just complaining a bit about "itchy belly" and "kiss belly", because he didn't have the vocabulary to say his stomach felt sick. We had one of his favourite suppers, soup & sandwiches, and he ate heartily. Later we got him ready for bed, and when I squirted his meds into his mouth it came right back out along with everything else he'd eaten. There he was, sitting on the bathroom floor in his pj's, covered with everything he'd just puked up; he looked up and said calmly, "Soup over."

Jonathan had an MRI exam back in January. The pediatric neurologist ordered it because he has never had one and she thought it might yield some information about his seizures and other issues. We don't have any results yet.

Tomorrow I'll take him for his first-ever dental checkup. I've been procrastinating taking him to a dentist because it's always so stressful taking him into waiting rooms; but he's 7 now with lots of big permanent teeth and he needs to have them looked at. We've decided to take him to a hygienist's office first rather than a dentist's: it's a quieter, less threatening atmosphere. I hope he enjoys it and opens wide.

Allison is doing very well at school after a few bumpy post-Christmas weeks. She has started, by her own decision, staying for lunch every day and it has been a good move. She eats lunch with some of her classmates, including her special friend Julia, and plays with them throughout lunch recess, so she is not wandering around alone. I hated the thought of her alone at loose ends for 40 minutes in a school yard of 400 kids. But she is connecting with a few girls and spending time with them, which is such a gift for her. In January the members of her class had to write and present a 4-minute speech; her teacher called Allison's "awesome". Her topic was the waters around PEI; she talked about the Northumberland Strait and Gulf of St. Lawrence, the characteristics and history of each. She was one of 4 in her class invited to present their speech at a school-wide assembly; while Allison chose not to present that day, it was still an honour for her to be asked.