Random Weekend Roundup

I literally rushed out of the house on Thursday to make it in time to Starbucks for their Read for the Record presentation. I was a little concerned that we'd be late, and there would be no room for us in a small crowded coffee shop. HA! We were the only people to show up for this event.

I felt so bad for the lady hosting it. She looked at the door expectantly each time it opened, but no more kids showed up. It was a bit sad really. Such an opportunity to promote reading and literacy, wasted.

As a parent I was disappointed that there weren't more parents there with their kids. As a marketer I was agitated that it was so poorly promoted! I stumbled across this event on The Goody Blog and followed their links to determine if there was a local event in our town. The host at Starbucks confirmed that there were no other communications locally about it, other than what was on the internet. How they expected to draw people in I'll never know! I guess they'll learn from it and try harder next year.

I learned something, too. Never take a not quite 3 year old to a coffee shop at 4pm - a shop full of juices, chocolate milks and cookies, and expect her to sit quietly for a story. Clearly our lessons on patience and using inside voices need a little more work.

At least I came away with a White Chocolate Mocha, so it was an entirely wasted trip.

***************************

I recently discovered PBS Sprout On Demand - a very nice collection of American and British preschool programs, available any time of the day or night.

This makes me very happy - because on days like yesterday when Miss E decided to fall asleep at 5pm, and wake again at 8pm (grr), and then proceeded to have the mother of all meltdowns because Dragon Tales was over (this is part of her winding down for bed routine), I did not stress nor panic because lo and behold, after she'd been fed and changed for bed, I took up my trusty magic wand (aka cable remote) and hey presto! Dragon Tales appeared and all was good.

There is a show on the line up called 'Jakers' - some of you may be familiar with it. I'd heard of it but hadn't actually seen it until last night. My husband and I enjoyed it more than Miss E did - we were killing ourselves laughing. This show is about a little Irish pig, and his Irish farmyard friends. It is a very cute program, but please don't be mistaken that all Irish people talk like these characters! Such an assumption would be akin to me saying that all Americans talk like Larry the Cable Guy! (Although, my husband does say 'jakers' on a very regular basis.)

**********************

I'm still a little anxious about my son's hearing testing. We are no further on in terms of answers. His CAT scan came back normal - which is good news in that there are no physical abnormalities or developmental anomalies that would cause hearing loss, however that still leaves the question of what exactly is causing this moderate hearing loss that he has?

His blood tests were done on the same day as the CAT scan - on August 29th. We still have no results. The lab technician I spoke to that day (she was there because the lab screwed things up and poor Baby J had to have his blood drawn TWICE!), told me that these results would be back in 7-10 days. Two weeks later we called - they had no results. The nurse told my husband, 'these tests can take 2-3 weeks'.

Yesterday, more than 3 weeks after the blood was drawn, I called again and was told that these tests can take 6-8 weeks. So, not sure who's bullshitting whom here but I am getting a tad ticked off at the runaround we're being given and will pick up the pestering again next week. The nurse I spoke to yesterday mumbled something about 'it say's the blood draw wasn't done' and that she would look into it and call me back - I haven't heard from her. I can tell you this, if they have screwed this up again, and Baby J has to have more blood drawn, I will raise merry hell over it.

Baby J is using 'Mama' and 'Dada' appropriately, and has started saying 'No, no, no', albeit more randomly - so I am taking these as positive signs, and using them to reassure myself that whatever is going on with his hearing, it's minor and I pray it stays that way.

*********************

I had a little fire in my oven this morning - just a little one! I was baking bran muffins, and apparently that's one batch of muffins too many since it's been cleaned last, so my oven objected and combusted a piece of long ago dripped muffin batter. It's on the self clean cycle right now and it's heating and stinking up a storm in my house. Time to take the kiddos and go outside for a little fresh air. Hubs can stick it out with the oven!