A blogging vacation is in order. Too busy to breathe right now, so stay tuned for my return around mid March. I always get annoyed with the American way of bragging about how busy we are: oh, I am just so busy, blah, blah, blah! as if the busy person is just so damn important, but hey, life happens and blogging takes a back seat.
Here is a list of my oh-so-important time consuming activities under way:
1. Dance
I dance in classes at our community theater, tap, jazz, and anything that comes along, and we have Showcase (like a recital) next weekend, and Spring Thing (theater fund raiser show) the weekend after. We're learning the We're in the Money number from 42nd Street and cramming it down in about 3 one-hour classes which is freaking me out.
2. Song
Oh God, singing? Why does singing on cue scare me so? I sing all day long but when the room hushes and ears prick up, I shrink. So I am taking voice lessons to hurdle fear and learn how to use my voice. All this in preparation for 42nd Street auditions this April.
3. ICD (Infant child development)
I take the boys once a week because of their language delays (still very delayed), and social and learning immaturities, let's say. It's a zero to three program so we are beginning testing to evaluate their abilities and decide our next course of action for life after two. If they qualify for Head Start this is good and bad. Bad because of course I want them to outsmart the tests; good because they will get free preschooling 4 mornings a week. I still say the Triplet Thing puts them on levels that the tests don't test for. They are creative, spirited, ingenious, smart puppies, they just don't feel a great need to verbalize and they walk their own paths. I am as worried as I want to be, but know that they are healthy, loving, beautiful people and that is enough for me.
4. Taste of Adventure: Ethiopia.
My dance (tap) teacher happens to be the marketing/development director at our local zoo and invited me give a talk about our travels in Ethiopia--also next weekend.
5. Work
Of course our annual report is due and of course I'll be a day late again. Got to finish up 3 tons of fashionably sciencey experiments as well, but that's business as usual. For you stay-at-home snobs, I work only 3 days a week and am My Kids' Mom (haha) full-time 4 days for the rest of the week (dad gets them one full day and nanny Hellena--a lovely Ugandan woman--enjoys them 2 days a week in our home). Sweet.
6. Home
The house is a livid disaster. I suffer from a strange anxiety which prevents me from putting laundry away and the kids keep breaking everything and seems all I can do is catch up on sleep when they sleep, and . . . and . . . oh forget it.
Positive ending: life is fun, beautiful, fulfilling, full of laughs, and my family rocks.
Peace out.
18 comments:
This is such a dated phrase but...
You go girl!!!!
From a stay at home mom (who btw is NOT a snob), I wish you the best as you conquer your list of challenges.
As far as the house "disaster" goes - get a maid. Give yourself a break.
We went down the speech delay road and found that the services really helped. By the time kids are in kindergarten everybody usually evens out and individual gifts more apparent. Every child is extraordinary. It doesn't matter who spoke how many words at how many months and who was potty trained by a certain time.
Have a ball, it all sounds a great deal of fun.
I tap danced my way through 42nd street my senior year of high school. It is a fun one!!! Have a great time!
We'll miss you, but enjoy your break and dance your butt off! I know you will. I can't believe you are attempting potty-training right now too. Yikes.
Oh my gosh, you are so busy! (Hint of sarcasm :) Seriously, you are amazing...taking on dance, singing, public speaking, working a real job (not that we stay at home snobs don't have a real job too), and cleaning house...I agree with Nancy--time for a professional housecleaner...even monthly? I guess that wouldn't solve the laundy problem though, huh? We'll think of something between now and when you return to us mid-March. Tata for now.
see you on the flip side
It is good that you stay busy. Dancing is groovy!
See you soon!
have a fun show. mine is next weekend too. my poor kid had to hang around the dance school for four hours today waiting for me before he had his rehearsal.
Hi. i read that you went for this infant child development. is it something like an IQ test for kids? I was thinking of sending my kid to take IQ testing, this place apparantly does it. http://www.mmpp.com.sg/giftedness-testing.html I'm curious whether such things are really for real or just a way to boost a mum's ego.
Konnie: Heck no! :)
ICD is a gov't subsidized program through our county for babes 0-3. Meaning, it's free services for children who need extra help with language, motor skills, etc. They serve kids with physical and mental disabilities (wheel chair bound, down syndrome, etc) as well as kids like mine who are mildly or severely delayed in whatever way (motor, cognitive, language, etc) but otherwise "normal". Hardly a service to boost my ego since it would be more boastful to *not* qualify for services. IQs are not tested and it wouldn’t make sense to test 2 ½ year olds in that way. Physical and cognitive abilities are tested because obviously they don’t want to pay for kids who don’t need extra help and want to help kids who need it; plus they need to evaluate what kind of services the child would benefit from. And that’s the skinny of ICD in our county. FYI, these services are available throughout the US.
I believe in getting help when help is needed, especially when brains & synapses are developing at their most rapid rate. Although being a triplet makes for very interesting language acquirement, at least in our household, and I don't think anybody knows how to deal with that.
Cindy, I am SO glad you commented, I always read you too and ALWAYS think about your guys (they are the same age as Norah--to the month I think!!). In fact, one of the reasons I knew she was delayed was comparing (in the good way) to what your guys were doing and realized that she was just NOT doing what other kids did.
I would love to give you some insight on the delay stuff. Speech is the ONLY thing she isn't dealyed on (but her receptive speech is very far behind..meaning she can say stuff, but doesn't always understand what she is hearing). BUT, the talking thing has been in the last few months really.
I have great respect and awe for the therapists that have helped us along our journey. Norah has been in services for a year and she is NOT the same kid she was. I know that we will have a very different journey with Grace (and will have more delay's) but I don't feel worried about it like I did. I have LOVED our EI (early intervention which is birth to three) experience and learned SO SO much.
I will drop you an e mail. Also, the early intervention class we have been in for the last year is a class of speech delayed kids!! So we know all the games/therapies!! In fact, once kids are older than three, the school districts pick up the therapies and it can be hard to get qualified, but once you are in the door, you get all services, meaning, if your boys are delayed and get in on "speech", they can go to the developmental preschool where they will get help in EVERYTHING (the OT stuff, PT, cognitive, etc). They might not be deficient in those areas, but all kids can use focus there. It really is like sending your kids to the Harvard of preschools (ours is anyway......) everything is building one of those areas and is led by people who study this stuff. Not that regular preschools aren't good, but for typical kids (who can pick up the stuff they need a bit easier) it is a very different experience than it is for kids that need to focus on special areas...
My biggest advice is to try not to worry. There are legions of people who will help you and give you the steps you need to work with them. Really. That was the biggest surpise to me, at how much help and support we got.
Your boys are awesome and I am impressed with your schedule!!
Hey! Was just checkin in on the triplets! We finally got to travel and bring our girls home in December. It would be fun to get all the kids adopted from Ethiopia in this area together again. I THINK my girls would enjoy it...
Hope all goes well with the testing. But, as you said, there is so much more to those sweet boys than their 'academic' performance. With the proper help now, they will be just fine!
Thanks for your words of wisdom on my blog today. :) The ironic thing is that I tell that to my college students (I'm a professor of Early Childhood & Elementary Education). I tell them when they work with their students at the start of a school year to develop the classroom rules -that those rules should always be posted in positive not negative terms and yet I'm not following my own advice, LOL! Well I was saying you need to sit down AFTER I said "no standing".
As for the fingers in her mouth, well she's not really eating difficult to chew food yet and she wants to suck her thumb but I'll keep that in mind that in the future she might need to use her fingers some in her mouth while eating.
When I read your post (a week ago) I thought to myself what a great schedule - that you get 4 days FT with your boys and Daddy gets one full day with them as well. I used to always think I wanted to be a SAHM, but actually now that I am a mom - I am glad I am still working PT. For one thing it means Daddy gets more time with her than he would if I was a SAHM and secondly well I find I get a bit of cabin fever if I stay home every day for days on end. It's helpful for me to use my brain a little more than is necessary when interacting with an 8 month old a few times a week. :-)
Good luck with your singing and dancing and all! I am WAY too uncoordinated to be a good dancer, but I do love to sing (and play the piano, flute, etc.).
What a coincidence! I suffer from the same laundry phobia! Geesh! I can't imagine how much laundry you do with three little boys.
See ya soon! Hope it all works out for you. The trips are amazing-doesn't matter what any test shows!! Good luck
Ummmmm......... it is nearing April Cindy!! Didn't you say you would be back near mid-March?! I mean I know your busy and all but jeesh can we at least get some pics? LOL
Peace! And hope all is going well with you guys.
I vote that your time is up. What's going on over there????
Just raising triplets would have been enough of an excuse for me...
Post a Comment