April Fools' Day Fun

April 1st is Backwards Day at our house. We take the traditional meal order and change it around. This year, Mimi and Ba decided to take the opportunity to play with our food. So, all the food presented at mealtimes was made from candy or had candy as an ingredient.

Our first meal was desert. It helps to wake up and the day started with a nice helping of dirt (cake) complete with (gummy) worms.


And if you have dirt for breakfast, you have to eat it without benefit of utensils.


After that we ate our dinner. Ba and Mimi love sushi, so we made some for lunch. We invited Ethan and Ryan to come sample our Japanese restaurant. This one fooled them for a second to two, but they soon realized the sushi was krispie treats, gummies, and fruit roll-ups.




Breakfast also required candle light. Ryan really enjoyed that part of lunch, even if he only liked the krispie treat part of the sushi.


The eggs were fluff and lemon jell-o and there was grill cheese sandwiches made from pound cake toast with yellow-colored icing as cheese and laffy-taffy flattened out and rounded into a tomato slice. The mango juice was colored milk. This one didn't fool them at all. We thought they would really like the fluff, but neither of them could stand it. They immediately asked for real eggs instead. Ethan said, "If I eat one more bite of candy I'll barf." Can't have that on a holiday! So we had real eggs for breakfast with real OJ and mango-colored milk chasers.

All this talk of eggs brings me to another egg look alike from the day. During his bath, Ryan asked for a balloon to fill with water. He filled this so full, we couldn't lift it out of the water. Sitting there, in the soapy water, it looks like, well, like an egg.


Such is life on backward day. Nothing is what it seems.

In Other News

After the hurricane, I really wanted a phone. A phone with a cord that attached to the wall of a house that we owned. I wanted a number that said "This is where we live." I wanted an area code that didn't fritz out because the lines were all wonky because the water screwed up everything including the towers that beamed the transmissions into outer space. When we bought this house, I got just that. I got 203-535-0014. It was good. It was comforting. It attached to a wall and had 3 extensions.

It also has a ghost. Her name is Dawn Ricatelli. The phone almost never brought calls from friends, like the one in New Orleans. It brought mostly mechanical voices saying "This is for [pause] Dawn Ricatelli." Sometimes it brought an old woman's voice saying, "Dawnie? Dawnie pick up it's me! Are you there? Call me." I called the voice once, but she wouldn't talk to me. "Stop calling. I don't know you." Or she would whistle. She has a loud piercing whistle. I stopped trying to tell her that Dawn wasn't at this number anymore. I tried to tell her it was just a number to a house with some people she didn't know. It didn't work. Dawn owes a lot of people money. The ghost in the phone number doesn't seem to care. She lets the phone ring and waits for me or the answering machine to handle things for her.

The phone also has a price tag. In this case it costs about $50.00 a month. I am tired of paying money to AT&T. I want $50.00 for movies and books and fun things, so today, I sent Dawn and the number away. Now, I just have a cell phone. It still has a 504 area code. It says, "You are from New Orleans. You are carrying a piece of the past and can use it talk to the future." That's a pretty cool idea. It also says, "You are hip and cutting edge. You are in the 21st century." That's pretty cool, too. Still, it's strange not to have a land line. It's odd to know that no one can call when I'm not home, and wait for the beep, and leave a message for me to find at some future date. Now if they get a message, it's because I haven't charged my cell phone or haven't answered it, or am driving, or ignoring it. Overall though, it means I am free of the ghost of today and can rely on older ghosts which have proven themselves come hell or high water.

Glasses, but not rose-colored

Over the past year I've noticed that Ryan sits very close to the TV, holds the DS close to his face, and when I asked about a picture a few feet away, he said he couldn't read the letters. When he went for his annual checkup last Spring, he didn't want to read the letter chart for the eye exam. The pediatrician suggested we go to a pediatric ophthalmologist. She thought Ryan might feel comfortable having the exam there. That didn't fly at all. Ryan didn't want to go, but said he would check it out. He told the doctor to stay away while he explored the chair and the equipment. She tried to examine him. He kicked her, hard. We left. Even after he calmed down, he had no interest in ever going back. He explained to us that since she was a doctor and since doctors give shots, she was going to give him a shot. We told him that we had never heard of an eye doctor giving a shot during an exam, but he said, "Eye doctor, doctor. Doctor shot. Duh."

When he found out that Esther and I were getting eye exams, he said he would go. We told him he could decide to leave at any time, and asked him to just say he wanted to go instead of kicking the doctor. So, off we went. He brought his DS and played it in the waiting room. He watched me get examined and then hopped up in the chair. I asked the nurse to use the picture chart since he is not as comfortable with letters as he is with pictures, but she refused. He couldn't see anymore than the first line of the chart. The nurse then announced that he would need to get his eyes dilated. I asked if the drops hurt and she said yes. Ryan said, "I'm out of here," but stayed in the chair. Esther and I offered to have him sit on one of our laps or hold our hands, but he didn't to do that. The nurse told us to hold his arms. We refused. She said he has to have this. While she was talking (over him) he was saying that he would do it in few minutes. The nurse was really rude.

Nurse: "You really should just hold him."
Ba: "Ryan do you want to try the drops?"
Ryan: "OK, just wait a minute. Can I have a tissue?"
Ba: "Sure."
Nurse: "He's a child just hold him."
Ba and Mimi in unison: "He's a person."
Nurse: "Right, but he's still a child. He doesn't know-"
Ba and Mimi: "He's a person."
Ryan: "OK, you can do it now. I"m ready now."

He was really brave. The drops stung a lot. The worst part of all this, aside from the clueless nurse, was that the drops didn't get into his left eye and he had to get them again. The second time a different nurse did it. She was patient and attentive to him. She waited until he was ready and stood back and gave him lots of room. She gave all the tissues he wanted and sympathized with him. She brought him Ironman stickers immediately after giving him the drops. He threw them on the floor and called them stupid, but he liked them later.

The ophthalmologist was very nice and patient. He said Ryan's vision is 20/50, but he didn't want to try Ryan's patience by working out a prescription today. He asked if Ryan had been to the pediatric ophthalmologist, and when we told him what happened there, he was understanding and said he could figure out he prescription himself. We have an appointment three weeks hence. He promised Ryan that he wouldn't need drops at that appointment and that he and Ryan would "play with [his] glasses." Ryan psyched about going back because he and Mimi will get to pick out frames together. I have no clue whether or not he'll actually wear the glasses, but we'll get two pairs of glasses and see what happens. Hopefully he'll use them, be able to see more clearly, and enjoy things more.

One Wind Turbine, One Wind Mill, and One Happy Mardi Gras

Last month we trekked over to Rhode Island and saw Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West at the IMAX in Providence. It was Ethan's and Ryan's first time to an IMAX, and they were alternately thrilled and confused. Watching Ethan react to the feel of the buffalo, looking around to try to find what was making that thunderous sound, and then exclaiming "What are those?!" while pointing at the screen was the closest I'll ever come to seeing how non-natives in the Lewis & Clark party reacted to them.

On the way there and on the way back, we were discussing one of Ethan's current favorite topics: alternative energy. On the way home, we took a scenic route down along the coast of Rhode Island (the island on which Newport is located as opposed to the other islands or the mainland). Ethan wanted to know about wind power, and lo and behold it appeared, looming above the horizon: a wind turbine. It was not too far from the road we were on, so, of course, we detoured. We found Portsmouth Abby in Portsmouth, RI. On the grounds there is a wind turbine next a parking lot on a western slope.

It is really massive, but very quiet. Here is a photo of Ethan and the turbine so you can see how big it really is:
Ethan was a little intimidated by it, so he didn't go all the way up to it. I didn't either since I wasn't wearing boots and didn't want cold wet feet for the rest of the drive. Ryan felt the cold wind when the car door opened and announced, "I can see it just fine from here, thanks."

Ethan kept calling the turbine a windmill. We explained to him that they were two different devices, but he just couldn't remember the two terms and used them interchangeably. While we talking about the differences, as if the universe hadn't provided enough adventure for one day, (Is there even such a thing as enough adventure?), we came across a windmill. This one is in Middleton, RI at the Windmill View Cottage.

Ethan was surprised at how small it was when compared to the turbine.


I didn't get to see the actual windmill. I was going to trek across the field even if I would get cold wet feet, but Ryan really didn't want to leave the car even if I carried him. So, I read while Ryan played DS and Ethan and Esther set out to learn about the windmill and get some photos.

I can't end this post without noting that today is Mardi Gras. It may just another Tuesday for most of you, but in our house, it's a holiday. I meant to order a King Cake, but I didn't get to it this year. Next year, though, there's one with cream cheese filling calling my name.

Evidence of Learning (Not what you think)

Three amazing things have happened in the past two days.

Thing one:
Ryan came in the kitchen and asked for tin foil. I gave him the roll we have that is out of the box and therefore doesn't have the serrated cutting edge. He took some and tried to wrap it around his leg. "I'm getting on my armor," he explained.

"That's great. You know," I started to tell him that he'd a need longer piece of foil to get it around his leg, but stopped myself. He crumpled up the piece, put it on the table and began adding more and more and more foil it making a big ball. I thought that he was using a lot of foil. "So, what are you making?" I asked carefully not saying that he had a lot more tin foil than I thought he would use.

"It's a boulder! It's going to fall down and then - wait! Like this see?" He dropped to the floor and pulled the foil ball onto his leg. "It falls on the guy like this and his leg is caught like this." Ryan began to squirm around the floor miming someone with a stuck leg. "But don't panic! He gets out when his friends come and help him." Then he took the ball of tin foil and ran back to his Rescue Hero guys.

Thing two:
Ryan asked me to get the markers so he could draw. (Side note: I can't wait until the craft room is re-arranged and he can get them all by himself. That will make him happy.) I got them and he sat at the table while Ethan, Esther, Jo, and I played Scrabble. I looked up and saw him coloring all over himself with marker. He looked like he had blue snot running down his face. I laughed and told him to go look in the mirror at how cool it was. So did everyone else.

Thing Three:
Ryan and Ethan were in the bathtub tonight getting water everywhere and drinking bathwater and spitting it out toasting anything they could think of toasting. Esther went in and put towels on the floor so the flood waters were somewhat contained. I thought it was great that they were having such a good time.

It occurred to me this evening that none of those things were problems. Tin foil just isn't that expensive and he really can't use "too much". I know where the store is located. Not only that, but I needn't tell anyone the obvious. I can trust my kids to see for themselves when they don't have enough tin foil to wrap around their legs. Non-toxic marker all over Ryan's face and body is just marker and it it doesn't mean people will look at me like there's something wrong with me for letting him draw on himself, and if they do, then that's their issue. Yes, flooding the bathroom will make the floor really wet and someone might trip and get hurt, but if towels get put down, it doesn't matter.

See? I can learn. I have three pieces of evidence.

All this time I thought we had a dog

Ethan and Ryan were playing with their light sabers this morning. Ethan was feeding lines to Ryan to advance the plot. Ryan was following as closely as he could.

Ethan: Now say, "I bear sole responsibility for my actions."

Ryan: I am responsible for the bear.

Ethan: Not quite.

Cream Cheese and Cookies

Ethan and Ryan spent the morning playing a game which involved using empty cream cheese boxes as communicators. They opened up both ends of the boxes and put them on their arms. At one point, Ryan couldn't find his box. I emptied the butter out it's box and offered him that one, but it didn't have the right constellation of pictures, so I searched the house and eventually found the missing cream cheese box in the recycle bin.

Carrie and her kids came over for playtime and cookie-making in the afternoon. Ethan was still wearing the cream cheese box when Carrie got here. She asked him "So, what's that on your arm? A ray-gun?" Ethan just rolled his eyes and very slowly and clearly told her "It's a Cream. Cheese. Box." He cracks me up. Carrie and Esther cracked up too. Quinten (Carrie's oldest) looked puzzled and said, "What's so funny?" We told him, but I don't think he thought it was funny.

The Ethan, Quinten, Chloe, and Ryan immediately headed out into the backyard, despite the 20-degree weather. They jumped on the trampoline and played with foam swords. Carma elected to stay in the warm house and color and help bake cookies. She really liked making the batter, but wasn't too into cutting out cookies shapes. Instead she climbed up to my shoulders and did back flips. The older kids came in to help decorate and eat cookies.

It was a really relaxing fun day. I love having friends come over.