Hamslice Sleepover

Last weekend Hamslice had one of his best friends come over for a sleep over. This was the first sleepover event for both of them, and it was a blast.

They started out mellow with some iPad time, showing each other their favorite games and coaching each other on technique. 

After dinner Mom thought it would be fun to roast marshmallows over the fire pit in the back yard, but of course I didn't have any in the house. The boys settled in with a move (Monster House) with Dad while I scoured all of Federal Hill for a bag of properly sized marshmallows. There were none in the entire area, but I did find some peeps that were left over from Easter in the CVS. It turns out they are delicious when roasted over a fire. =)

 In the morning, these two best buds went for a scooter ride down by the harbor. They were both full of stunts and energy, and Elwood the dog was ready to keep up with the action!

 And then they settled in for a little more iPad time while we his friend's grandparents were en route to pick him up. What a terrific weekend, and what a great experience for Hamslice and his friend.

Hamslice Math Marathon and the DV Estate

Last weekend Hambone, Hamslice and I piled into the truck and headed for Michigan to help Dad close out his estate. We had a huge garage sale that included selling 4 boats and most of Dad's stuff that was left over from raising the kids, working on the house in Saugatuck and being married to my Mom.

The fringe benefit of the sale was that uncle C and I could comb through and nab little tidbits of our "old" family to keep for posterity. My favorite DV collectibles are the family photos. There were probably no greater nerds on earth than we were, and the pictures are in and of themselves, hilarious.

Mom made these outfits by hand. BY HAND! Think of the hours of meticulous work she put in on our behalves.

Hamslice did not find the weekend as hilarious and interesting as I did, however, so he spent the majority of the trip counting to one hundred (frontward and backward) and then counting by twos. He happily sing a song over and over in the back seat that went "one plus one is two, two plus two is four, four plus four is eight, eight plus eight is sixteen, sixteen plus sixteen is thirty two, thirty two plus thirty two is sixty four, sixty four plus sixty four is one hundred twenty eight, one hundred twenty eight plus one hundred twenty eight is two hundred fifty six, two hundred fifty six plus two hundred fifty six is five hundred twelve, five hundred twelve plus five hundred twelve is one thousand twenty four...."  Hambone had to help with most of the numbers after 32, but we got there.

Suddenly I the memory scheme of computers and bit speed of modems started making sense to me as I listened to the song. LOL

Hambone has no comment on the trip. Except to say that he gets to plan the next one.

Hamslice Swimming Lessons

We've started sending Hamslice to swimming lessons because, well, it's a good idea to know how to swim. He loooooooooves his swim teacher, and he does more swimming with her than he's ever done with me or Hambone.

We're just glad he's learning. It should make trips to the pool and beach much more fun.

Really Challenging Days.

So I believe I'll keep this note as a draft until everything is resolved, but I need to put these thoughts somewhere, so let's go with a "Draft only" post.

I am so freaked out by the problems Hamslice is having at school. Here's what happened:

After we went off to counseling at the school's recommendation, things seemed to be getting better. There were only positive notes home, no more phone calls, and all seemed well. The counselor said that we were doing great and we were all done. I asked her to make a final phone call to the school and explain our progress and decision, and see if there was more to do. I didn't hear back, so I thought we were fine.

We went in for Hamslice's Show and Tell day (called Museum Day at his school) and the teacher asked when he was going back for another appointment. I smiled and said we were all done and that everyone was doing great.

The next day, (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT WAS THE NEXT DAY!!) I get  a phone call from the principal saying that Jake had been very bad for the past several weeks and that we need to come in for a special parent teacher meeting with the principal. I also got a call from Hamslice's therapist saying that the school had called her to let her know he had been acting up in school for the past several weeks and that he needs to come in for more counseling. The next day I get a call from his teacher. I was like "Let me guess, he's been acting up the past few weeks?" But by this time I was pretty mad. I told his teacher that I refused to believe an aggregate phone call like this, and that if we have to be in counseling, I need to know what is happening on the day it happens and what the behaviors are that need to stop. She said "I'm sorry you feel that way."

That was last Friday. I spent most of the weekend crying in frustration.

Monday we went in for our emergency counseling meeting, and the therapist was well-armed with "things the school need from Hamslice that are different than what he's doing right now."

But I had been talking with Hamslice as well, because he had been having vivid and terrifying nightmares for the past week and a half. He is so stressed out that he has a 'bad feeling' when he goes to the bathroom -- he feels like everyone can see him doing his business in the bathroom and he's super embarrassed all the time. He feels like the teachers don't listen to him and don't believe what he says. And he's so close to the end of his rope that any little thing sets him off.

It is an emergency.

So as luck would have it, Hamslice had a little cough this week and a little bit of laryngitis. I used that as an excuse to keep him home for the whole week. During this time I have seen him relax and stop having nightmares. The tantrums are slowing down and getting a little more rational. We have had many in-depth discussions about what people expect of us when we go out of our house, and what we can do with our anger instead of flipping out.

He feels better but this isn't over. I'm reluctant to send him back to school -- just today the teachers sent a video of his classmates all saying that they miss him. Hamslice asked that I only play half of the video because he was afraid the bad feeling would come back. And so now I'm crying again.

Hamslice Update

For all of you who have written in about my post regarding Hamslice's evaluation request from school, let me thank you for all of your support. It makes me grateful every day to have such good friends online and offline.

Here's an update: After a rigorous behavioral evaluation it turns out there is no syndrome and nothing really "wrong" with Hamslice. This means we've ruled out learning disabilities, Turret's, Aspergers' and whatnot. The next step is an intellectual evaluation to see if the real problem is boredom, as Hambone and I have suspected all along.

The results so far are very encouraging, and we're hoping this all wraps up fairly soon so we can talk with the school about next year and how we can make the experience more interesting for our [healthy,  normal] son.

Mitochondria and MicroTubules

On Saturday afternoon, Hamslice got his wish to go back to the MD Science Center. We bypassed the physics and geology stuff this time, as well as the dinosaur exhibit (his usual favorites) and went straight to the Human Body exhibit.

Here we saw a video about how the lungs work -- we even saw blood cells in the alveola. We also saw how heart valves work. Hamslice watched these videos several times (you can rewind the video by pressing the button on the display).

Then we did a walking tour of a human cell. The display was actually pretty cool because you could walk between the Golgi bodies and see the endoplasmic reticulum and other organelles all working together. We saw a hilarious video about micro tubules 'walking' through cells. That one we watched three or four times.

On the way home, Hamslice started running and said "I'm breaking apart my Mitochondria to make energy!" and that's been a running joke ever since. 

Excessive Indoor Farming

This weekend we had eggs for breakfast, finishing up a carton of eggs. I said to Hambone and Hamslice "Oh good --  now we can plant some seeds for spring." I was, of course, envisioning 12 nice little plants that we could install in our yard in a few weeks when it gets warm.

Hambone went to Lowe's to "get some supplies" for this project, which I should have recognized as a sign of trouble. Four hours later, this is our seed project. If these all sprout, we will have about 150 plants.

Evaluating Hamslice

As you may have noticed over the last few months, Hamslice has been the source of many a fracas at his new school. However, unlike his Montessori school (or possibly because Hamslice is now too old to have a meltdown overlooked) his new school has taken notice.

They broached the topic with us slowly: first a phone call or two, then some additional emails. His parent teacher conference was a mixed review. Then came extra meetings and daily phone calls. Sometimes two phone calls. Then requests to pick him up from school.

Yesterday we had a meeting with Hamslice's two teachers, the student counselor, the student liaison/success counselor (I can't really remember her title, just her name) and the principal. They recommended (and we agree) that it's time to have a professional evaluation of our little guy. Actually two professional evaluations.

So I have set appointments for his testing, including the WISC  using recommended professionals from the school. Hambone and I see this as a positive move, getting to the bottom of what's going on with Hamslice. The outcomes could be very positive in that he could be assessed as gifted, or the outcome could be more mixed, such as high intellect, low physical abilities or maybe a blend of a behavioral issue with physical.

We are optimistic and we believe in our son. We know there's a good guy in there.

But it's time for everyone to get on the same page. We are all ready to just know.

Hamslice Valentine

Yesterday Hamslice and I walked through the Cross Street Market on the way home from the bus stop. All the vendors were decked out in hearts and all the Valentine kerfluffery that comes with this time of the year.

Hamslice liked all the hearts and thought they looked nice. Then he asked me in a very serious voice, "Why are the all red, instead of one half red and one half blue?"

I asked him to explain his question because he asked it like an adult -- and I could tell there was more to the question than aesthetic preference. He said "When the blood comes back from the body, it doesn't have any oxygen, so it's blue. That makes half of the heart blue. The other half is red because the blood is ready to go back into the body."

I said that this was definitely true, and that the hearts he saw in the market were "Marketing Hearts" that are just supposed to make people happy, and that biology hearts (the real hearts in our body) are half red and half blue.

Thinking back, Hamslice just made a heart-shaped thank you card for his grandparents, and I believe he colored it half red and half blue. I didn't think about it at the time.

I don't know exactly where he learned this, but I suspect it was part of our marathon Science Center day during Christmas Break.

But I have to rock back on my heels in amazement, just for a minute. Wow.

Little Bit High... Little Bit Low

There have been lots of ups and downs with Hamslice these days. His behavior issues at school have been both completely resolved and completely out of control, depending on who you talk to and on what day.

For instance, this week he had three FANTASTIC days in a row where he was cooperative and sweet (Yes we celebrate a three day streak. Shoot, we celebrate ONE good day.) and his teachers were happy with his demeanor and performance.

Fast forward to Thursday, and I get a call from the counselor's office that he is out of the classroom because he was punching his teacher and having a world class temper tantrum.

Then Friday was great again.

Today we took Hamslice to a kid's fitness class for something to do. His teachers have observed some issues with coordination and muscle control, so we also wanted to observe him in a more physical setting.

I'm not sure how long it will take to forget the slow-motion horror of realizing that the kid who spit on the most adorable little girl in the class was, indeed, Hamslice. And it wasn't a little pitooie spit, it was a full mouthful of drool that he poured into her lap.

After a frosty car ride home (we decided not to yell at him, instead we waited until he was ready to talk about his little drool trick) he revealed that he had spit on the girl because he felt she was sitting too close, and also he had noticed that the class looked like it was about to get really boring and he knew that making a scene was a sure-fire way to be removed from the class.

*Sigh* I guess it's time to talk about making good choices... again...

Small Talk with Mom and a Letter from AB

Yesterday Hambone threw a tailgate party for his workers, and Hamslice and I were invited share in the cedar-smoked hams and turkeys. Big Dave brought the big smoker grill and prepared the meats right in the parking lot in real tailgate fashion.

So good.

After the meal, the guys all went outside for the grand finale -- Big Dave threw all the extra wood on the grill and blasted flames high into the air. Hamslice wasn't interested in that, because he wanted to play games on my phone.  I said that I would stay with him if he promised to talk to me. And he agreed.

After a minute or so of silence, he said "So what's your favorite color?" and then after we established our favorite colors, he asked "What's your second favorite color?" And then I had to smile because I realized he was making small talk with me. Apparently, this is what five year olds chat about in the absence of actual activity. I felt like a peer. =)

We also received a letter from AB this week -- here's his video response, along with an interesting description of Martin Luther King.

Are the Holidays Over So Soon?

We're back from our extensive Midwest tour -- The trip consisted of 35 hours of driving through the wilds of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa in a seven-day sweep!

We were able to see relatives in Iowa, Illinois and Michigan. All of them, in fact. I don't think we left anyone out this time. And it was super to see everyone again and spend some time in the Midwestern Native Environment. I'll miss all the smiles and "how do you do" attitude as we reinstate ourselves in the polite-but-extra-competitive landscape of Maryland.

Hamslice had a great time seeing his cousins. He was also excited to open his presents before we disembarked. Here's his favorite zombie book:



And here's Hamslice during the three "hanger on" days after our trip, when he and I worked hard to fill the days. On Thursday we spent 3 hours in the science museum learning all about dinosaurs, earthquakes, and of course the digestive track. (eeeewww)

In this particular photo, he's supposed to be learning about how weight displacement works, but really he's just up there because the nice lady offered to hold his hand.

Xmas Program -- BAH HUMBUG!

This morning was Hamslice's Holiday program at school. He was excited about it when I was getting him ready for school in the morning. He saw me putting on my Christmas sweater, and he said "Make sure you wear your Finest Diamonds too!  It was cute to see how much he was anticipating the program.

However, once the program started (and he realized he had to actually perform the program instead of watching it from my lap) things changed a bit. He started out shy, then he sang part of one song. His grand finale was a scowl that would have curdled milk, after which he climbed off the back of the risers and sat backward.

So I suppose a career on Broadway is out.

Happy Hamslice

Hamslice pre-scowl

Santa's Helpers in Fed Hill

So Saturday night seems to have been the Night of 100 Santas. As we were walking with Hamslice to dinner, we saw the scene (above) in one of the bars between here and there.

Hamslice says to me "Are those Santa's Helpers?"

I said "Of course! And they're building the Naughty and Nice list RIGHT NOW"

Hamslice says, "I'm glad I was holding your hand when they saw me. That's nice, right?"

Ah. The magic of Christmas.

Hamslice Existential @ Xmas

Here we are in the midst of the second "Hamslice knows it's Christmas" year. This time around, he's become very bothered on an existential level with the amount of deception and lying taking place to create the Christmas Spirit.

For example, we all went shopping this weekend to buy gifts for each other -- Hamslice went with Dad to shop for Mom, and vice versa. He also knew we were shopping for him.

Hamslice is a pretty honest kid, so his first inclination when the three of us rejoined, was to tell us what he bought for us. When we told him he wasn't supposed to tell us, he teared up because he knew it was lying to not tell.

Furthermore, he wanted us to make sure we bought things for him. And instead of Hambone and me being forthcoming with what we bought, we said "Wait for Santa," which Hamslice knew was another lie.

I feel genuinely bad for him with all of this goofing around. I wonder if there's another way?

Merry Hamslice Christmas

This year we took Hamslice to see Santa in the Cross Street Market, as we do every year. However this time around, Hamslice had some very specific toy requests for the old man. We figure this is how he got over his Santaphobia!

About Moms

Today is the 5-year anniversary of the passing of my Mom. It makes me think a lot about her, our family, and my new family... Hamslice is five years old this year too.

And I think if he remembers anything about me after I'm gone, I'd like it to feel like this--

To Future Hamslice, Love Mom.

Happy Halloween!

Hamslice is very revved up for Halloween this year, especially since we've spent the last two days holed up in the house because of Hurricane Sandy. (The house et al. is fine, BTW)

Yesterday all the businesses were closed but the storm had moved out so we went to the movie "Hotel Transylvania" which is laugh out loud funny. After that we went to the mall, where Hamslice was able to sneak into this unmanned photo booth and we got this pic. You can tell he's in there because I told him to do it. Note the stale smile...

And this morning was his costume parade for school, so he wore his Skylander costume. Neither Hambone nor I know what a Skylander is. We suspect Hamslice doesn't either, but he liked the skeleton look and thinks the mask is pretty awesome. So there you have it. Happy Halloween Hamslice!

Fun pics from Aunt & Uncle

Hamslice got some fun mail from his aunt & uncle -- photos of their great day together this September!

Art Prize Grand Rapids

So a recap of ArtPrize is in order... The boys and I made the trek to Grand Rapids Michigan last weekend to see what all the fuss is about, and we had a really great time.

ArtPrize is a funky mix of "midwest fab" art with some highbrow classically trained art interspersed. I think the contrast and regionalism is what made it special for us. We really felt the event was true the Midwest (and we dearly love the Midwest), and that there is great art (by anyone's standard) taking place all over.

Here are some shots from ArtPrize, so you all can get the flavor...

This exhibit is of a moose with seven or so Wolves attacking it. I consider this "Taxidermy art" and I can't help but say that the taxidermy work was amazing. They all looked pretty alive to me.

Hamslice is standing here next to a tiger made of scrap wood and metal. These were very well done.

Here is an elephant made by the same artist. We really liked this exhbit

And a Rhino made of spare metal objects

This is a dragon .. a little bit of fantasy art here...

Hamslice wasn't scared of the dragon.

Here's Hamslice getting into the Chinese Lantern lighting. See the lanterns behind his head?

Here's Hambone becoming one with the art. We liked this TV frame.

What's not to love about a humungous chopper? See the person in the red jacket standing next to the seat? That's how big it was.

This installation of horses made of driftwood was cool no matter where you're from.

My favorite pieces were the ones where the audience was allowed to write stuff as part of the display. This one says "I told you they all leave, Tristan. Do you believe me now?"  How awesome is that. One of the other slips of paper in this piece said "I love boobies" and had a quick sketch of boobies on it.

Ah. Another huge chopper, this one is being driven by a skeleton

Skeleton chopper from a different angle

This is a huge black bird. Not a Raven, though.

This is a giant statue of President Ford's Head. You will only see this in Michigan, I believe.

Here's a nice robot family made out of spare Harley Davidson motorcycle parts.

This is a calliope made of junkyard stuff. It played a song and everything.

This is a seal sitting on a rock, but the whole thing is made out of one piece of wood. The craftsmanship here was unbelievable. I really thought this should win the $500,000 prize.

Aaaand then here's some tattoo art. Why not.

Pumpkin Carving!

This is the first year Hamslice has been old enough to get interested in actually carving his pumpkin. In earlier years we let him color his pumpkin with markers, but this time he definitely wanted it carved.

We gave him a Sharpie marker and he drew the outline of what he wanted cut out, and then Mom did the honors.

He's so happy with his pumpkin!

MMmmmm Chocolate Lava Cake

This weekend Hamslice discovered the magic of chocolate lava cake. It's chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce inside the cake for a special surprise. Let's just say he was in hog heaven.

Hamslice's 1st Day of Big Boy School

Today was Hamslice's first day at the Park School of Baltimore. He is pretty excited and doesn't seem all that nervous. He likes the idea of carpooling for the first few days of school because it's more fun to go to school with friends, right?The bus can't run because all the streets are closed for the Grand Prix...

Here he is in the carpool car, about to head for school.

What a big smile!

Happy 5th Birthday, Hamslice

This weekend was Hamslice's fifth birthday! We went to Chincoteague Island VA to celebrate, and we had a marvelous time in spite of ourselves. Some notable experiences:

1. Hamslice was the only one to catch fish this weekend. Mom and Dad kept trying, but Hamslice was the winner.
2. Hamslice showed an UNCANNY ability to win at Crazy 8s this weekend. Seriously, he won 99% of the games, even when we didn't let him win. WHAT!
3. We went to Assateague beach to play in the water, but the waves were so HUGE that we couldn't get past our ankles. There was a rip tide warning as well, so Hamslice wore his life jacket. He was the only kid there with one on. How scary for the other parents!
4. We went for crabs on Hamslice's birthday, just as a humungous storm rolled in. In fact, it rained most of the weekend. But during our crab feast, all the power went out in the restaurant. All the other customers left because of it, but the restaurant stayed open so we finished our crabs. Just before we were done, the lights came back on. Hambone felt sorry for the waitresses and left a $30 tip.
5. Our trip home was during a rainstorm that caused major flooding, so what was normally a 3.5 hour drive turned out to be 9 hours.

Happy Birtday Hamslice!

Schooltime Jitters

Hamslice starts his new "big boy school" in less than two weeks, and we're all jittery (well, everyone but Hambone. He's status quo as always)

We all went to buy paper a few nights ago for Hambone's company, and while we were in the store, Hamslice tugged gently at my pants and said, "I think I need some school supplies." So we decided he could pick out whatever he felt he needed to be ready for school. (Our actual school shopping had taken place a few weeks ago)

After careful consideration and much browsing, he settled on these items to prepare for his big transition:

1 Pencil sharpener that looks like a giant dice
1 Batman folder
1 Pack of crayola markers, 12 colors

I was proud of his careful selections, and continue to be irrationally thrown by him leaving Montessori and going to Real School. I thought we had this covered because he's been in school since he was born, but I guess every transition happens to Mom and kid at the same level. Or maybe it's harder for Mom.

Sigh.

More Fun Letters from AB!

This letter from Aunt Bet has knock knock jokes in it, some puzzles, and one very lonely fish =)

Aunt and Uncle Pen Pals!

Uncle C and Aunt K came to visit last weekend, and we had a terrific time together. Hamslice really enjoyed hamming it up with his uncle, and his aunt FINALLY got to see our house 'post-construction'.

Here's a video of Hamslice reading their thank you letter to him about the visit:

Psychic Hamslice

Last night I had a dream about Hamslice, where he did something amazing (I can't remember exactly what it was, unfortunately). In my dream I was shouting about how proud I was of him. It was a very emotional moment.

At this same moment, Hamslice shouted "What? I can't hear you, Mom" from his bedroom. It was 4am. Hambone said I wasn't actually shouting.

What happened there? Coincidence? I am so freaked out.

Hoodwinking Hamslice

This falls under the category "things Mom comes up with because she's bored" and will probably embarrass Hamslice for eternity, but I can't help it.
We use Hulu for TV instead of cable, and for Hamslice's shows, I set the program to Auto play all of the episodes so we don't need to go back to the remote between programs. However, I told Hamslice that he could conjure up additional episodes using his MIIIND.
I can't believe he believes some of this stuff...

Storms on the Hill

The weather has been really humid and crazy lately, which causes these pop up storms in the evenings. Check this one out:

Pen Pals are the Best

Hamslice and AB's pen pal relationship is still going strong -- Thank you AB!!

Bears!

We went to an auction in West Michigan over the weekend, and Hambone bought two stuffed bears. He put one in his office...

Hamslice Pen Pal

Hamslice has recently become pen pals with AB. He loves getting letters, here's his latest:

This is me reading AB's letter to Hamslice

Fun Stuff Inside the Letter for our little man

Oedipus Comes for Dinner

Last night as I prepared dinner and Hambone sat at the end of the bar reading email, Hamslice started talking in some detail about how he wants the two of us to live in this house when he grows up. He kept referring to just him and me.

I asked "what about Daddy--is he going to live with us too?"

Hamslice, mortified that he was outlining his master plan right in front of his competition, clapped his hand over his mouth and bent over in embarrassment. When he recovered a bit, I asked again, "What happens to Daddy when you grow up?"

Hamslice shrugged and said, "He goes away. We don't need him anymore when I'm grown up."

I looked down the bar to Hambone, who whispered, "AVENGE ME"

How ABOUT that house in Ocean City

A few weeks ago we went to Ocean City Maryland for a quick weekend -- Hambone had a conference there, and Hamslice and I tagged along for some fun in the sun.

Long story short, we had a total blast. Hamslice is old enough now to enjoy beach combing, so we spent several hours looking for seashells and running in and out of the waves. He was able to ride his bike down the boardwalk during an early morning stroll, and we had some awesome fresh seafood.

When we returned to (stinky, trashy) Baltimore we all remarked about how much fun we had. A few days later as I was putting Hamslice down for a nap, he said to me, "Mommy, you can work while I take a nap so you can make money to buy me a beach house in Ocean City."

That boy don't miss a beat.

Hambone and Hamslice do a Duet

My two favorite guys are doing a little "improv" on the keyboard and flute

Stumbling Upon Dragons

This weekend was the kinetic sculptures parade but we accidentally missed that. What a super bummer!!!  But we went to the Federal Hill neighborhood association picnic instead, and on the way back we happened upon Matsuri restaurant's 16th anniversary celebration with real Chinese Dragons.

Hamslice was pretty spooked at first. Always the adventurer, though, he found out that if he pet their tails, the tails would wiggle and pet back. He was squealing and giggling while the person under the dragon costume flipped the tail back and forth like a happy wiggly puppy.

We love city life.

Full Circle

I remember when I was just a little girl, hanging around with Mom. She had a little habit that I don't think either of us really thought much about, but it went like this: if we were sitting quietly for a while, she'd reach out and rub my knee just for just a second to let me know she was thinking about me.

I miss that.

Without knowing it, I've been doing the same thing with Hamslice -- there's just not enough things to talk about all the time, so I just give him that little touch so he knows he's on my mind.

Yesterday he did it back to me. And it was like my Mom was there too; three generations all thinking about each other, just for a moment.

Full circle.