High Tech Help

I look at the clock and notice it is 5:38 p.m. I look at the empty stove and realize dinner will be late again.

In the distance I hear explosive sounds coming from the family room. My teenage son and his friends are bonding over the latest video game, becoming specially trained military men with the click of a button on their vibrating controllers. A teenage girl who looks a lot like me walks through the kitchen with a tiny gray phone pressed to her ear, lost in conversation with her latest best friend. Tucked in a corner of the dining room my eight year old points and clicks away on the family computer. Surrounded by this new world of high tech possibilities I have not been left behind. As I scurry out to the car to bring in the last load of groceries, my shiny metal foot bounces back with each step, providing an energy return feature that powers my day.

I have been blessed with technology not just in my ability to keep in touch with overseas relatives vie instant email, but by the new advancements in artificial limbs. It is one of the reasons I chose to become an amputee in the first place.

Yes, I chose this life. Five years ago I got mad. After living with a deformed foot that only seemed to deteriorate more with each passing year, I began a research campaign. I interviewed orthopedic doctors and scoured amputee websites. I visited prosthetists and held plastic feet and legs in my hands, inspecting them to see exactly how much potential they might hold. I read books and articles about the new advancements that were being made in this world of plastic and metal limbs. And I liked what I found.

It became very clear to me that the active amputee in this new millennium was living a much better life than I had been stuck with. I had never been able to walk well and hadn’t been able to run since I was a seven year old. A simple trip to do weekly grocery shopping could wear me out. In my research I found metal feet that bounced back with each step. It became apparent that I could finally have two good, participating feet when I walked.

We are in a new age. Cell phones and computer equipped cars are not the only life changing advancements out there. For the first time in history it’s possible for a metal limb to trump flesh and bone. And the advancements are not just for the super athletes and the mountain climbers. They are also for me.

I don’t need to run a marathon today, I just need to be able to shop the whole grocery store and still have energy left when I get home to make dinner, help with homework, and maybe throw in a few loads of laundry.

The only mountain I will climb today will be the pile of clothes that threatens to take over the floor of my daughter’s room. But with my new high tech leg I have no fear. I know I can get that pile down the stairs and tucked away in the laundry room with plenty of time left to meet my second grader at the kitchen table for a practice spelling test.

You can have your fancy new iphone and your realistic video games. My vote for best new high tech gear is the one I snap on every morning, just below my knee. It has given me an active life I thought was out of reach.

Screeching Halt

Well, here is the answer to "What ever happened to taking another round of Christmas pictures?" One lethargic eight year old, burning up with fever. Joined just hours later by his 12 year old brother, also burning up with fever.

This was on Monday.

They are still burning up with fever and it is now Wednesday night. It just might be time to go see the doctor tomorrow.

Tonight as I put Sam in a cool bath to try to coax down his 103.9 fever, he eased into the water with a long "Ahhhhhh". We washed his hair and slowly got him back onto dry land. His fever was a few degrees cooler and the bath water had gotten a few degrees warmer. (at least that's what I told him, and I kind of believe it too...)

So not only is our next attempt at a Christmas picture on hold until this thing passes, this just happens to be the week that my article in the parenting column of the paper was about how sometimes I feel like a negligent mom, not rushing my kids to the doctor with every little sniffle.

Guess we'll be seeing Dr. Karen tomorrow. It's been a whole six days since we've seen her. I'm sure she misses us.

Flash Forward one week: We did go see Dr. Karen. And by the time we schlepped back out of her office we had five diagnosis.

Both boys had the flu that brings high fevers. Both boys had strep throat. And on top of all of that, Baby Boy also had pneumonia. He was such a mess that he was subjected to a huge shot of antibiotics in the butt before we left the office. I had never seen that done before. One huge dose, all at once, to jump start his healing. It is a long, painful process and feels twice as bad when you feel pretty crappy to start with. My boys got extra hugs that day. It is hard to watch debilitating illness when you're the mom.

It was the morning that I realized Christmas cards would not be mailed out on time and Christmas cookies might not get baked. We'd be lucky to get a bare bones holiday pulled off. But after a week home from school everyone got better and by the time Santa came there were smiles all around.

Christmas Picture - take one

Okay, so I thought it would be easier when they were older. I was wrong.

Maybe we'll try again tonight, when Middle Boy at least has a clean shirt on and Baby Boy is wearing something besides pajama pants.

Or maybe we'll just send out one of these for our Christmas picture. After all, it's who we truly are.

"Cool Shoes!"

When they were four and five they shared things with each other.

"Boo, look at the sucker I got at the bank with mom!"

"Bubby, look at this cool sticker I got at the doctor's office."

The older they got, the less they seemed to share the little things in life. Their gender difference, such a non issue in the preschool years, slowly caused a small gap in their interests. Then a bigger gap as he could often be found rolling his eyes and saying, "What's up with her?"

So it brought me great joy to catch this moment on film. In the middle of a crazy night when the house was full of friends, he came in with his brand new pair of track shoes. To get these shoes we took him to a special track store that analyzes your gait and recommends specific styles of running shoes.

He was more than excited and even took them for a quick run around the neighborhood on nighttime streets that were pitch black.

She seemed definately interested, without coaching from me, when he came in the door with his new treasures. And for a split second I could see them as five year olds again. Sharing the important life stuff with each other.

It hardly even mattered that the prized possession cost a lot more money than the free stickers we used to get at the doctor's office and the free suckers we got at the bank.

My First Angel

He woke up earlier than all the other kids. He happened to look out the window and almost screamed about what he saw. Snow. Finallyfinallyfinally snow! It was a dusting but it was coming down hard.

He dug through the snow gear closet on his own and within a half an hour he was fully suited up. He couldn't wait to run in the yard with the dog, making first prints. He couldn't wait to see if the sledding hill was ready to go. But first things first.

The first thing he did was lay his little body on the driveway outside my office window. Moving excited arms and legs up and down he made his mark.

Because his first priority on this first snow morning of the year was showing his love for Mama. He wanted me to have a snow angel to look at while I worked on the computer.

My angel with his gift angel. Does life get any better than this?

When You Love Snow

My kids have been desperate for snow this year. We usually have some accumulation by now and it has just not come. We had a teasing heavy flurry in October but nothing stuck. If there were a Native American Snow Dance we would be doing it every morning.

So finally, finally, when the snow started to fall, then stick some, on Sunday morning, my kids rejoiced. Baby boy was the first out the door, dressed from head to toe in gear. The big kids and friends followed soon after.

At one point I looked out my office window to see the above scene. This is snow they have scraped off the neighbor's driveway and are hauling over to our small sledding hill. They were determined to sled and snowboard before the day was over.
Leave it to persistent boys, they did it. By mid morning they were snow boarding. And had even created a small jump.
Over and over they went down our little hill. It was enough for today but I'm afraid it only gave them a taste of what they really crave. Bring on the two foot snowstorm. We've had our 'first snow of the year' drill and we have succeeded. We have shovels, and hills and wheelbarrows.

We are ready.

So Sweet

Way back when I had preschoolers I worried. I love the little people. I wondered what it would be like to have bigger kids. I was terrified of what it would be like to have teens.

But time went by and all of the sudden we had teens in our house. And they weren't scary. They were people that I had grown to love over more than a decade of living with them. Their independence was liberating, for them and for me.

Now we have a house full of not only teens, but many teen friends. And it's not scary at all. It's actually pretty fun.

A week ago I announced that Friday night would be Game Night, for anyone who was interested. Two showed up, which gave us six kids total. Then another friend just happened to stop by and loved the idea of Monopoly, so he stayed. Then our old neighbor from next door, who has moved to CT, showed up for a visit. So he pulled up a chair too.

And suddenly we had a full fledged game night. And it was great.

Their noise is great. Their sense of humor is great. It was fun to watch so many different personalities navigate the two board games we pulled out. I stopped playing halfway through only because I gave up my spot to the last kid who showed up. But I'm okay with that.

I'm not a competitive person anyway. I am mainly, deep in my soul, a mom. A mom who treasures seeing a table full of kids I love having so much fun together.

It was cold and bitter outside on that December Friday night in New York. But around my dining room table there was warmth. Laughter and teasing and brownies and fun.

And it was so so sweet. And not scary at all.