May was an eventful and emotional month. Here are some of the highlights:
- Mother’s day
- Getting dressed up for Cathy’s high school reunion
- The kids build a fort out of a cardboard box which inspires this poem from dad
- Joya has surgery to remove a non-cancerous eye tumor — she is doing very well and back to her normal self
- Lilah and Luke school open houses
- Lilah gets braces
- Luke performs in “Three Piggy Opera“
- Luke loses another tooth
- Adventure guides camping trip
Lilah
The biggest events for Lilah this month were getting her braces in a nice light shade of blue, and seeing the aftermath of our dog Joya’s eye removal surgery. She’d really been looking forward to having braces but as the day got closer she told me she was feeling a little scared, which is typical for Lilah. She always tells me she’s scared before she does something big, but in the end she accomplishes what she sets out to do and is happy with the results (unless you forget to bring flowers ;-). I think one of the reasons she was a little scared about the braces as the date got closer was because some of her classmates at school (who have braces) were telling her how much they hurt at first. It kind of reminded me of women when they share their painful pregnancy stories with expectant moms. As I suspected, there were a few days where Lilah said her braces were bothering her, but she got over it pretty quickly and is used to them now.
Seeing the veterinarian’s assistants bring Joya to our car on a doggy stretcher made an impact on Lilah, not to mention Luke. Both of them couldn’t look at her the first night we brought Joya home because the impact of the surgery was fresh — swollen eye socket with bloody stitches, a wobbly patient, accidental rectal discharges (one of the lovely results of the anaesthesia), were among the symptoms Joya experienced after surgery. Lilah’s eyes got watery a few times when she looked at her dog, but little by little, we just reassured her that Joya would be okay and that the more love they gave her the faster she would recover. The good news is that Joya got back to her old self pretty quickly — within a few days — and now (about three weeks later) we’re back to walking and playing with her as if nothing had happened. Below are two pictures that show her progress (first one on the left is a day after her surgery; the other picture is three weeks later).
It’s really interesting being a parent. There are just so many unexpected moments where you’re forced into conversations to help alleviate a hurt, teach a lesson or dispel a myth. We had a “dispelling a myth” moment that came up in the car when Lilah was telling Luke about how she and another friend were mad at another girl. When I asked why, she told me the other girl was talking about the swine flu and how her mom said it came from Mexico because those people were dirty. I was like “wow.” This is the type of conversation that goes on in the third grade? Cathy and I both assured Lilah that this was not the case and Lilah said she knew that and that is why she was mad at this girl (for spreading lies).
I can’t believe Lilah is wrapping up another year of school. After the summer, she’ll be in fourth grade and half way to college. It’s a realization that makes me feel wistful. Obviously, I am proud of how she is growing up, but at the same time I know how quickly these first nine years have passed. I’m sure the next nine years will zoom by even faster. But oh well, I think all I can do is appreciate my time with her now as much as possible so that I can capture more moments of her life and embarrass her when I play them back to her later in life. Here’s one of those moments — Lilah allowing me to record her dove calls. This happened because one day she started mimicking the call of a dove in the backyard. For quite a few minutes the dove and Lilah seemed to be having a conversation as they exchanged calls back and forth.
Luke
Luke lost another tooth this month and this time I documented the process as you can see below:
I’m telling you, when Luke is motivated by the prospect of a potential visit from the tooth fairy, he will put his little body through anything ;-).
Luke wrapped up basketball this month and got closer to his goal of acquiring two trophies for each of the following sports — soccer, basketball, and flag football. Yes, flag football will be next in August. I was surprised that he had this ulterior motive for playing his sports, but as long as he stays active I am happy. I’m also glad to see the improvement through the course of the season. For instance, Luke started the basketball season as a pass first, I’m scared of the ball kind of guy, but about midway through the season he discovered it was fun to score. From then on, any time he got the ball he kept it, dribbling and running around his opponents to get himself in position for a shot. In one game he ran around so many boys that a grandfather in the stands started cracking up and calling him the “running boy.”
Luke’s personality is also flourishing in other areas such as school. For his Kindergarten open house, he was elected, along with 3 other students, to be a “science docent.” The job of the science docent was to explain what was in several of the exhibits in the class — things like chicks in an incubator, moths in cocoons, etc.. Luke did an admirable job. His teacher said that Luke was chosen because he knew his material and said that he would be able to talk about it to parents without getting shy and quiet. Cathy and I were both proud of him as he took his job very seriously.
The serious expressions on Luke face always appear when he is concentrating. Cathy and I saw the serious look in his face again when he performed in his school play, The Three Piggy Opera.
The last activity of the month was the adventure guides camping trip at Lake Cachuma, which Luke and Lilah both enjoyed. The kids participated in potato sack races, paper airplane flying competitions, and got a chance to roast marshmallows and play other games with kids in the nearby playground. Cathy didn’t join us on this trip as Cathy does not like camping. However, she did help big time in that she bought all the food and organized everything into boxes and bundles so that all I had to do was pack things into the car and be on my way. Thanks Cathy!
Well, that is all for now….more next month…Summer, here we come…