She continued to complain about it hurting off and on. And since, every time, she wanted the ace bandage over the advil, I thought it wasn’t too bad. It seemed that the ace bandage was the 8 year old version of a band aid. And it seemed suspicious that her arm seemed only to hurt at bedtime, or when I asked her to clean her room.

I looked away for a little while, and when I looked up, she and the coach were talking. And Katie was crying. She nodded, and the coach pointed to a place to the side where she should sit out. I thought she was in trouble.

Later, they went to work on the bars. Katie did an awesome job, and was the only girl in the class who could start with extended arms and do both a forward and a backward flip around the bar. A couple more were able to do one of the flips by the end, but Katie did it every time. (atta girl!)

But every time she got to the beginning of the line, she saw me, and she cried. At one point, another coach came over to talk to her and she cried. Since I couldn’t hear anything, I could just see the coaches pointing and looking stern while talking to her, I didn’t know what was going on.

It never occurred to me that her arm hurt. She was voluntarily putting all her weight on it repeatedly, and then doing tricks. Who would do that if you knew it was going to cause serious pain? Apparently, my daughter would. She cried all the way home and said that the Advil didn’t really help. She asked if I would please take her to the doctor.

The next day, moments after I told Stagg I was going to take her in to have it looked at the next day, she called from school. Now writing hurt. So off to the doc we went.

The first doctor told me that his suspicion level for a break was low after talking to her. I agreed, but really wanted to get some answer for why it was still hurting enough to move her to tears. The xray surprised him enough to send us to an orthopedist, and it turns out that she has a small vertical fracture of one of her arm bones.

No cast necessary, just rest. And an ace bandage for effect.

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For Katie’s birthday, which we spent in CT, we gave her a gift certificate for a brand new bicycle. So far, all Katie’s bikes have been hand me downs, including her current bike, which is very definitely a boy bike, handed down from her buddy across the street. She has never been upset about riding a hand me down bike, but the idea of something brand new, that she could pick out herself was pretty tantalizing. Stagg was a big proponent of the brand new bike charge. It has bugged him that she has not had a bike that has only been hers for a long time, and he has talked about getting her one for a while.

In January, Stagg and I tried to figure out what size bike she needed. She was between two sizes, and she wanted the smaller one, but she would have outgrown it within minutes of buying it. The idea of riding a bike the size of her sister’s, though, was intimidating. Further complicating everything was that a) we were testing this in January, when neither of the girls had ridden a bike in months and b) we were riding bikes in the living room because there was still some ice on the ground after our major ice storm. We ended up packing the bikes in the car, taking the girls up to school, and riding. Katie tried Maggie’s bike out and decided it would be ok.

When we went to the store to look at the bikes in person, Maggie immediately found the bike she wanted for her birthday. Katie looked and looked, and ended up deciding on one that Stagg and I both recognized as the bike Maggie already had. We decided to wait for a little while to see if new models came in so we wouldn’t end up having two identical bikes in the garage.

Katie hemmed and hawed for weeks, while Maggie waxed euphoric about the bike she knew she wanted to get for her birthday. I believe during this period, Katie was calculating that if Maggie got a new bike in April, she could have the hand me down that was exactly she wanted. She started asking if she could substitute something else for the bike. I said sure, and we went to the store to look at what else she might want.

In the end, Katie got a brand new camera that made Maggie green with envy because it is fancier than the camera she got for her 7th birthday (cameras have improved in 2 years and come down in price considerably). And, of course, sine Maggie got the new bike she was hoping for, Katie got the purple number she wanted after all.

This is one smart kid.

There have been years I have not looked forward to summer vacation. The thought of having the girls home for so many unstructured days made me feel uneasy and wonder what I was going to do with them to make them not fight, to occupy their time, to make sure that TV didn’t end up being their main source of entertainment for the hot, hot summer days. Not much is different this year, but I am really looking forward to the break.

I’m looking forward to sleeping in a little bit and not having to rush anywhere in the mornings. While there is swim team, I don’t have to be at the pool until 9am. And while there are some days I’m sure I’ll need to be there at 8:30, that is still such a change from being out the door by 7:01. Sure, there needs to be a little work done to make sure that all of our pre-swim team hours don’t get spent in front of the TV where the girls end up surprised that they are hungry when it is time to walk out the door because they “forgot” to get something for breakfast, but I feel pretty confident that we can do that.

I’m looking forward to leisurely afternoons at the pool where the girls play and swim and dive to their hearts content. While I keep a watchful eye on what they are doing, I will admit that my eye is not as watchful as it once was. I can read and chat with friends while they amuse themselves, knowing that they are strong enough swimmers that I can tone the worry down to a steady simmer.

Maggie has her first week long sleep away camp this summer, and I’m actually looking forward to having her enjoy that and me enjoy some one on one time with Katie. I’m sure she’ll keep me busy and entertained.

Maggie also has a lacrosse camp. She’s nervous, but excited. She is looking forward to playing lacrosse in the fall, and this will be a great way for her to learn the sport so when she goes back to Kelsey to learn more, she will have a basis to ask questions.

Other than a week of VBS, Katie is not doing any camps this summer. She considered a few, but decided she wanted her time to be free formed so she could do with it what she wants. I’m hoping this will give her some time to work on some friendships with girls in the neighborhood.

And, of course, the new kitchen is coming this summer. Only 9 years of waiting and planning and hoping and wishing. I can hardly wait!

On Monday morning, a new rash patch was clear on the side of her nose and cheek. There was also a small spot on her eyelid, which seemed troublesome. The quick spreading rash, the Katie’s misery with the itchiness, and our complete surprise that we had any poison ivy in our yard reminded me of my little brother’s first experience with poison ivy when we moved to CT. Like any 10 year old boy, he simply could not resist the cool vine hanging off a tree branch over the pond. Really, is there a better way for a boy to spend a day than pretending to be Tarzan and swing and yell? Of course, the next day, when an itchy rash spread to every inch of his body, it didn’t seem so fun. Well, it probably did, but the plan clearly had a flaw or two. One of the flaws was that the day after the rash came out, we were scheduled to drive 24 hours. Actually, while I’m sure that wasn’t too comfortable for it, he did get extra room since neither our other brother nor I wanted to touch any part of him.

Since one of the things I remembered about my brother’s ordeal was that it got inside his ears, mouth, nose and eyes, Katie went to see the doctor about the bit on her eyelid. Katie told him how much it itched, and which parts of her were the most itchy. She did a great job describing what bothered her, and even admitted to being able to guess where she had found the ivy. He prescribed prednisone to get it under control. As he was filling out the prescription, he mentioned that it had been known to make some kids…”psychedelic.” I think he caught himself a split second before saying “psychotic” in front of the smart 7 year old.

Katie, of course, waited until the door had almost closed after him before asking what psychedelic meant. I told her it meant “funky” and let it go. She’s been asking for over a day if she feels psychedelic yet.

I love the extra little bonuses from the pediatrician.

Maggie and Katie were 2 and 3 when the movie Curious George came out in theaters. We took them to see it, and even though they were still a little young for a full fledged movie, they liked it. Maggie really enjoyed that there was a character named Maggie in the movie, and who doesn’t love a monkey? It also helped that Katie’s favorite color was yellow, and there was lots of yellow in the movie. Stagg and I enjoyed the movie, and I loved the music, too.

One night not long after we saw it, I brought the CD home and slipped it into the girls’ CD player as they were going to bed. We had tried other music to help calm them when they were getting ready for bed, and the results were hit and miss. Dave Matthew’s Band did well for short periods, as did Enya and The Beatles. But what seemed to calm them down one night agitated them a few days later, and we looked for something that would last a little longer.

The Curious George CD, Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George by Jack Johnson and Friends worked the first night. The girls liked the new music, asked if it was from the movie, and fell asleep. A week later, they were reminding me to put their night time music on so they could listen to it as they were falling asleep. A month later, they STILL wanted to hear their songs. It seemed we had found a winner.

Five years later, the girls still listen to the same songs every single night. We’ve tried switching things up a couple times. John Mayer made an appearance for a couple nights, and when Jack Johnson came out with a new CD, that got played for a couple nights. But they came back to Sing a Longs and Lullabies because it is their music. For 5 years.

It is hard not to love these songs. Since I sit in the special chair in their room at night while they are settling down, I hear the songs every night, too. My first favorite was “We are Going to Be Friends” about friendship and generally having fun. By now, they are all my favorites. It makes me happy to know that the messages being sent into my children’s ears as they are falling asleep are so positive and uplifting.

It is hard for me not to think of that when I make cookies for an after school snack and ask them about their day. And I can only hope that this message has cemented itself into their subconscious:

They get excited when they hear Jack Johnson singing on the radio in the car when we are driving around town. It almost always means a few minutes of driving that are just a little bit quieter. Sometimes they sing along, sometimes they just take a little break. Every once in a while, they continue chatting and bickering about whatever was happening before they noticed who was singing on the radio.

The thing I find most amusing, though, is how possessive they are about these songs. Each year, I make the girls a CD of music to hand out at their birthday parties. They feature the songs they like, both old school songs of my own youth (MMMBop and Jessie’s Girl are surprise favorites), and newer songs they have found on their own. There have been times when I have suggested including a Jack Johnson song on these CDs because they are such a fixture in their lives. Both girls are adamant. No way, mom. Those are our night time songs. They do not go on the CD. In their minds, at least, Jack Johnson belongs to them.

Maggie had been harping on Katie about this particular issue for a long time. Katie, who is not a morning person, had a morning habit that was gross and got on Maggie’s last nerve. Maggie was right, Katie was wrong, and I made it clear that I was completely on Maggie’s side on this issue. There were consequences in place for Katie not doing what she was supposed to do. But, dealing with issue calmly and quickly was not something that was happening in our house, and the morning arguments were wearing on all of us. Screeching, name calling, yelling, whining and more yelling were a part of the morning routine that, in addition to being a lousy way to start the day, were just taking too much in a morning routine that needs them out the door at 7:01.

Lately, however, there have been fewer of these arguments, and I thought that Katie was doing what she was supposed to do. It had been wonderful to have fewer arguments in the morning, and I thought we were over the hump.

Until yesterday, when I cleaned their room.

Maggie typically comes downstairs first. She likes having the time to eat a good breakfast, and she knows that if she is down, or at least well on her way to coming down the stairs with enough time, I’ll make pancakes and even talk to her for a few minutes while she’s getting her things together. Katie saunters down a little later, willing to eat the pancakes that have already been made, happy to eat in silence while she finishes waking up.

It seems that Katie has been using her time alone upstairs to up the ante on the issue between herself and Maggie. Rather than simply continuing the behavior Maggie (and I) are so opposed to, she found a way to make it even more offensive, while at the same time hiding the evidence so that Maggie had no idea it was going on. She did it calmly, quietly, and over time.

When I moved Maggie’s bed to clean under it, I found myself staring at half a dozen dirty pull ups stashed under the head of the bed.

She ran to me and buried her head in my side and hugged me tight. She cried and shook her head and asked me not to do it. “I missed you too much last time, Mommy. 3 days is too long.” She asked me to stay home and not walk.

I didn’t press it then; I scooped her up and told her not to worry about it. Over the next couple weeks, Katie came back to me a few times and reminded me that she really wanted me to stay home and now walk. She wasn’t getting overly upset, and I wouldn’t tell her I wasn’t going to do it.

The other night, something came up at the dinner table about cancer and the people she knew who had it. Mumsie’s name came up, as it always doe during these conversations, and I took the opportunity to talk to her about the 3 Day again. She was not happy at first, but then we talked about the money that everyone raise to help find a cure so that no one else would ever get breast cancer. And we talked about how all those people walking so far helps remind other people think about how terrible breast cancer is and makes some of them help find a cure, or do something to help someone who has breast cancer now.

She had questions, I did my best with answers. She finally got to the bottom line: “If you walk the 3 Day, does it mean that you won’t get breast cancer, mommy?” Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be easy if there were a quid pro quo for walking and staying healthy? I told her that even though there is no way to prevent breast cancer, the 3 Day helps find a cure, and that maybe, because of all the walkers, someday no one would have to worry about getting breast cancer. She thought about it for a few more minutes, gave me another hug, sighed and ran off. She seemed resigned, but there were no more tears.

On Monday evening, I officially signed up for my second 3 Day.

Tuesday afternoon, as we were leaving school, I reminded Katie about a school assignment she had coming up, and suggested she start thinking about who she was going to write about. “I already know, mom. I’m writing about you,” she told me. “You’re my hero because you cook me dinner and love me so much. And because you are walking the 3 Day.”

I’ve told them that I think I’ve seen an elf running around the house at night. Katie was so sad when I told her because she thought it meant that the elf didn’t like us, since he didn’t hang around to cause mischief and generally be seen by the rest of the family.

I explained that he has to spend all night outrunning Lucy and the cats, and then after that he has to make it all the way back to the North Pole to tell Santa what he’s seen in our house. After all that, I imagined that our elf is probably so tired out that he just falls asleep and recharges during the day.

The thought about this and decided it sounded ok. But then Maggie wanted to know about the mischief and why our elf wasn’t doing anything fun in our house when other elves do so many naughty and silly things in their friends houses.

Stagg piped up and mentioned that our house is usually a little messy, so he suggested that it probably wasn’t the best environment for mischief. He suggested that if they helped clean up the house a bit, the elf might start doing a little more around the house that would entertain them. They’re still thinking about that.

This year, Halloween was all about the hair spray. Maggie wanted red, Katie got the green. They were bright and vivid and loved every second of it. Maggie’s biggest disappointment was that we forced her to wash her hair on Sunday night. She really wanted to be a red head in school on Monday. Man, I’m mean.

Finally, we had a nice day, and she asked for candy seconds after I suggested we do the pictures and she refused again. I promised her the candy after we took the pictures. That was all it took. I didn’t have long, and I didn’t get many of the more portrait-y pictures I’d like to have, but what I do have is all Katie. And that girl has personality in spades.

Once we got back into the house, she wanted to see the pictures. Then she wanted to see the older pictures. She loved seeing how the shirt is getting shorter on her even though it still doesn’t fit. She wondered how old she would be when the shirt does fit, and if it will ever be too small. She wanted to see Maggie’s pictures to compare how they look different and the same. And more, and more and more. She never got the candy because she forgot all about it.

I can’t find the 4th year pictures at the moment.