ups and downs

i have seriously neglected just about everything but the most basic of life's necessities since about the last week of december. for a while i thought i had some sort of mono since i could hardly get out of bed for three weeks, then i got better for about a week, then whammy i got a double ear infection 2 weeks ago, that even with the wonder-bug killer super-anti-biotic that i have now been on for 4 of the required 5 days, there has been no progress on that front and my ears have been ringing for 14 days straight.

i did get for go up to chicago with matthijas last sunday to swap out couches, again, and do more cleaning. we were pretty busy cleaning and touch-up painting and watching cartoons on cables TV, but managed to go to the field museum to see the egyptian mummies and the dinosaurs (and the gem room which i love, and was just remodeled).

arcadia has been going through some growing pains this month, "breaking up" with her best friend of the past year and a half. things had gotten pretty toxic with this other little girl manipulating everything arcadia did. the last straw was making fun a neighbor boy that arcadia had realized was always nice and the little girl was no longer her real friend. whew. that was tough, but hopefully her self-esteem will improve now that she is no longer being bossed and belittled, and gained a few life skills along the way.

matthijas has become a reading super-star. he started around christmas recognizing a few key words like "toys" and "thomas the tank engine" and had graduated to full scale reading of Dr. Seuss and danny the dinosaur. he is currently learning to do chores to earn points to buy toys, teaching me about troodons, and looking at everything under a magnifying glass.

jasper had his 18 month check up last week and aced all of his skills 100%, except he doesn't talk. i am wobbling between not concerned that is isn't speaking and irked that the doctor wants his hearing tested but won't sign a referral to matthijas' doctor to get a base-line in case autism sprouts it's nasty little head in the next few months. matthijas was a normal kid until 18 months then slammed on the progress brakes and eventually began to backslide. that pediatrician didn't seem to believe me (surprise) so i need to get back to the previous doctor and see what we can do. other than a lack of verbal skills he is learning to do more parlor tricks like waving and flirting and dancing and blowing kisses and bumping fists. all the girls love him and don't seem to mind that he's the quiet type.

johannes is madly trying to keep up where i am falling behind, catching up on his work where he fell behind while doing rock-star legal guy stuff for haiti for nearly a month, cajoling unwilling boy scouts to just show up, wrestling the alligators also known as credit agencies who are screwing with my credit score as we try to refinance a property and scouring craigslist to find a replacement for his jeep. or in other words, the usual.