So I think on Fridays I'm just going to go topic-free and do a little "week-in-review" post. This can include anything from signficant news events to personal anecdotes. So here goes:
1. The Arizona shooting: This of course dominated the headlines all week, as well it should. Just a terrible tragedy all around. It especially hit me since one of the victims was the same age as my son - which is just unthinkable. It's scary to think that one random lunatic can inflict so much damage. You would think after the VA Tech shootings that there would be a better system in place for dealing with people who exhibit obvious signs of mental illness. My heart goes out to all the victims and their families.
2. The snowstorm that wasn't: Well, yet again - the weather hype did not deliver. My kids are dying for a huge snowstorm so they can miss a week of school and go sledding every day. They were spoiled last year when three huge snowstorms buried us for days, weeks - at one point it felt like eternity! I wouldn't mind one big snowstorm to give us an excuse not to go to work and just play outside all day. These little piddly 1-2 inchers are annoying at best. The kids end up going to school two hours late (and for what reason, I cannot say - the roads looked clear to me at 8 a.m.) and the whole day just gets turned upside down for nothing.
3. Ella tries to quit sucking her thumb: Yes, at age 6 she is STILL sucking her thumb. We finally put our foot (feet?) down this week and made her quit cold turkey. For the first 48 hours I felt like she was going through withdrawal - the pleading, the whining, the awful cravings. Our solution was to put a calendar on the fridge and offer small rewards for every three days that are thumb-free with a big reward at the end of 30 days. To help control the impulse to suck her thumb Ella puts on a fuzzy purple glove as soon as she gets home from school. (either that or a dirty sock) Yesterday she got her first sticker for finally making it through one day of not sucking the thumb. So we're making progress, slowly but surely.
4. My first visit to Johns Hopkins: So I finally had a chance to accompany my parents to one of my dad's doctor's appointments. This was not a big appointment - just a check-in with the pulmonologist. I have to admit I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect - but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the bedside manner of the doctor. He sat back and let my dad say what he needed to say - often through a special device on which my dad can type what he wants to say and computerized voice says it. We had some hysterical laughing over Christmas when he typed some ridiculous phrases into the machine. Anyhow - we came away with some good advice and then had a nice mid-afternoon treat of beer and mussels at Bertha's Mussels in Fells Point - mmmmmm.
5. Ella's first ice skating class: Ella had a blast at her first ice skating class at Fairfax Ice Arena - and it turns out that she has the same teacher that Jack had two years ago when he first started skating. She was one of six kids in the class who were able to stand for most of the class and march across the rink - the other four kids spent most of their time sprawled on the ice with the instructor patiently trying to teach them how to get back up. It was pretty comical - I found myself bursting out laughing with the other parents just watching these kids - reminded me of Bambi when he steps on the frozen pond and his legs splay all over the place.
6. Jack - future sportscaster: I captured Jack on video this morning doing what he does every morning - re-enacting every single NHL game from the night before. He gets the paper every morning, takes the sports page downstairs and physically replays all the highlights from the games by looking at the stats in the paper. What makes this so comical is that he also announces what is happening in a very excited, high-pitched, sportcaster-type voice. I told him that I'm going to put it on YouTube - maybe it'll go viral and we'll become famous!
7. Highlights from boot camp: Boot camp class was a little different this morning - the instructor had us doing some really strange things. The all-time low point came when she made us crawl across the floor on all fours like monkeys, then made us hop back and forth across the room like frogs. The best quote was when she looked at Enthusiastic Guy in the Back Row and said "Steve! What the heck are you doing?" hahaha - by the way, his name isn't Steve, I just made that up to protect his identity.
So there you have it - a week of all kinds of wonderful and crazy things - but of course overshadowed by the tragedy in Arizona. I'm hoping to open the newspaper tomorrow morning and read about something good.
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