Invited? More like, required! Gabriel's teacher practically insisted I make it. It turns out, if I hadn't, Gabriel would have been the only kid without his mother there. The teacher waited until all the moms had arrived to start, and though one or two were late, they ALL arrived. I wonder what happens to kids who don't have mothers, or whose mothers are out of town on the date? They'd have felt very left out.
The Tea was very sweet. Mrs. Rosie, Gabriel's teacher, did a very nice job having the kids pamper us. The kids took their mom's hand and led us into the room. Then we all sat and listened to an audio book that was a conversation between a mother and a child, and the kids gave their moms a hug afterward. Then our child served us fruit, our choice of vanilla or chocolate cupcake, then poured us tea (cold). Gabriel had asked me yesterday what kind of cupcake I'd want, then this morning as he was leaving for school, he said, "I even remember what kind of cupcake you want -- vanilla!" Silly boy. I'm not picky when it comes to cupcakes.
Then we got gifts: a card, a paper flower each kid made (out of coffee filters, if I'm not mistaken), and a wrapped gift that was a photo of our child holding an "I love you Mom!" sign. The photo was framed in decorated popsicle sticks. Mrs. Rosie told me Gabriel was very careful and meticulous about gluing the flower embellishments on the frame. My little scrapbooker-in-training!
It was a nice diversion to the morning, and a nice way to spend some time alone with my firstborn son. Even though Gabriel is really not a sensitive kid, it doesn't mean he can't be disappointed. He didn't talk about the Tea with me during the week at all, and knowing him he wouldn't have acted sad if I hadn't gone. But Mrs. Rosie assured me it was important to him, and he was excited about me coming. It's tricky with him, since he doesn't show how he feels much, but he's still just a kid who needs his mother just like any other kid.
After naps this afternoon, the boys played on the floor with Katrina.
Awww, how sweet, Julian giving Katrina a toy. Uh-huh. Here's a behind-the-scenes view of the real story behind this apparently tender moment:
Camera -- red filter on that face....Sound -- turn volume up to max...OK -- cue Mom...and...action!:"
"YOU*GIVE*THAT*BACK*TO*HER**RIGHT**NOW**YOU*ARE*NOT* *ALLOWED*TO*TAKE*THINGS*OUT*OF*ANYONES*HANDS*EVER* *GOT*IT?!!!!!!!!"
annnnd...cut!
Later, Julian was serenading Katrina with a Music Together song, one I find kind of dorky, but that is actually very sweet and meant to give kids confidence in their parents ("Who says they're gonna come back, your Mommy does that's who..."). I tried to capture this sweet scene on camera-video, but instead got a truer snapshot of life in the Doudna zoo: Gabriel being a distracting pest.
Day 4! Katrina is still breaking out in hives.
This morning, I thought it was slowing down, but this evening, the welts, splotches, raised white bumps and scratches raged on. I talked to the advice nurse again, and she said it's not unusual for a hive episode to last 5-7 days. Also, 75% of episodes like this, we never know what caused it. She didn't think an allergist would test a baby as young as Katrina, but an allergist I called said they would. I've made the appointment (for late June unfortunately), and will consult Katrina's regular doctor in a few weeks for her next weight check. (The advice nurse, while talking about Benadryl dosages for her, was pretty surprised when I told her my full-term 7-month-old hadn't even cracked 14 pounds!)
Summer. Shorts time. And yet another struggle to find new clothes to fit the boys.
I bought a whole bunch of shorts at Target yesterday, hoping to find some that don't need taking-in at the waist. Not one pair I bought was larger than a 2T, and some were as small as 18 months. About half of what I bought fit, sort of. Gabriel and Julian had a grand time demonstrating how well they fit when I asked them to jump up and down, and they found that the shorts fell right off them. Then they thought that was funny and helped along with their hands, but still, you can see in this video that it doesn't take much for shorts to fall off Gabriel. These are a 24-month size!!
Another video capture, from yesterday: Katrina in a fit of raspberries. Just being silly.
5/12/07
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