Ramirez' Family Virtual Christmas Card

Merry Christmas!
Or is it Bah Humbug?????

With Love,

The Ramirez Family
Cristian, Heidi, Tino (9), Mateo (4), and Sarah (2)

P.S. Make sure you click on BOTH links. And for the record, it was Cristian that contributed to today's blog entry. Thanks Cristian!

Friendly Holiday Greetings to my Blogging Buddies

Dear Heather, Jessica, and Gab,

Last week Tino told me he wished I was one of "those moms" that loves to bake. I used to be one of "those moms" . . . until two other Ramirez children were added to the mix. I don't enjoy the mess, the drama, fishing out egg shells from batter, the salty taste of baked goods when Mateo decides to use salt in a recipe instead of sugar . . . (it looks the same right???) So I guess what I'm trying to say is next time you decide to bake fun Christmas cookies . . . or anything for that matter, my eldest son Tino would like to be adopted and be in your family. Or at least remember to invite him to come to your house while you are doing your baking so he can pretend that he has one of "those moms". Because this is what holiday baking looks like at our house.




















With sugar and spice and everything nice,

Heidi

P.S. Tino asked me if I would please follow the recipe next time I try to make sugar cookies. But I know you won't have distractions in your kitchen when he goes to your house. Thanks in advance for following the recipes. :0)

Mis Queridos Hijos 12/10/2007

Editor's Note: Just realized I never posted this last week. And since there's not a lot to report for last week other than the fact that Cristian was in Brazil . . . I'll just go ahead and let this be the update for 12/17/07. Yes, I know I am such a cheater. And P.S. The pediatric neurologist said if I didn't get a phone call or a medical report in the mail within the next week, that would mean that the results of Sarah's EEG were not within the "normal" range. They don't like to send those reports out and freak out the parents. Needless to say, we haven't heard anything . . . which means something wasn't normal on Sarah's EEG. We won't find out details until we meet with him in January.

Dear Tino, Mateo, and Sarah,

Tino: I bribed you during baseball season to try pitching. If you tried pitching ONCE, I promised you a game of your choice. You pitched at least 4 games. So your Mario Kart game arrived in the mail on Thursday. (Yeah, that silly game cube that you had to have for your birthday a couple years ago is now obsolete. There is no such thing as going to Target,WalMart, or Best Buy to get game cube games. It's order online or BUST.) You have enjoyed riding your bike to school every day for the last couple of weeks. Although on Friday afternoon you didn't come home promptly at 2:55 p.m. At about 3:15 p.m. right as I was loading the kids into the van to go look for you, I got a phone call from school. You had fallen off your bike and were pretty banged up. I knew you felt banged up too since you went the whole entire weekend without playing kickball, football, or baseball. And yes, you were wearing your helmet. Thank you my obedient son! Mateo: You have been very excited for your upcoming birthday. We celebrated a little bit on Friday, a little bit on Saturday and we will continue the festivities on Tuesday when you take cupcakes to school. When we got your cake on Saturday night, I completely forgot to get candles. I was exhausted and didn't want to go to the store. You told me not to worry and that you had a great idea. I always get a little nervous with your "great ideas". You stuck four matches on top of your cake and asked me to light them for you. Although I was reluctant, papi stood by with a fire extinguisher in one hand and a camera in the other. At least this time I would be the one to attempt burning down the house and not you. But it all worked out just fine. The whole birthday party thing has been postponed for another year. Don't worry, we'll throw you a big birthday bash for your 5th party since you still have never had a birthday party other than a family celebration.

Sarah: You helped me care of one of my Kindermusik students on Saturday night. You had so much fun playing with baby Ella. You loved her, hugged her, and found lots of toys she could play with. It had been a LONG time since a baby had been inside of our house. You have been looking for her every since she left. "Where Ella go?" is now one of your phrases you have added to your repertoire. You've been saying that almost as much as you've been saying "Where Papi go?" This morning you had your sleep-induced EEG with sedation. It was not fun. You had to stay up until midnight and I was supposed to wake you up at 5:00 a.m. this morning We settled for 6:30 a.m. instead. I had to hog-tie you as they were gluing the 60+ electrode things to your head. I literally had to lay on top of you and then hold down your arms and hands. You were mad that I was laying on your legs and feet. You are one strong little girl. Finally you fell asleep. And I did too. As we got home, your sedation wore off and you were ready to go for the day. You brought the entire zoo (all your Discovery Channel animals) into bed with me and made sure I had blankets, agua, chocat milky, and a sammich. Unfortunately you did not let me sleep.


Papi is in Brazil this week on business. My business this week will be Tino, Mateo, and Sarah so we will bid farewell to blogging until next week.

Love you!

Mami

Dad and the Depot

So my sister Heather gets a little weepy and teary every time it comes to cooking a turkey. Why? Because my dad always tells her how long to cook the turkey. And lately, he isn't readily available to tell her how long she needs to to put the turkey in the oven. What does this mean? Either RAW turkey or WELL, WELL DONE. It's enough to make you want to cry. In the frozen food aisle of Smith's. Every time you think about turkeys.

My wahhhhhhhhh and weepy teary "dad moments" have to do with Home Depot. Every time my dad comes to visit he works on projects around my house that haven't been completed (or even started for that matter) since his last visit. He loves frequenting Home Depot and Lowes multiple times . . . per hour . . . I mean per day. We have a new Home Depot less than one mile from our house that opened a couple weeks after dad's last visit. I have only been there three times since they opened. And it's very difficult. How do you explain to the helpful Home Depot guy in gardening or in the toilets and bidet department that you're crying because you miss your dad and he's not here with you to help with all the projects? I was going to try and not go there until my dad could visit again and go with us as a family bonding moment, but the convenience factor slightly outweighed the sentimentality factor. So needless to say, I went again to Home Depot this morning. And got teary eyed. And a little sentimental. And had a slight melt down in tools and hardware.

I love you dad! And I miss you too!

P.S. Don't worry, all of your projects are still anxiously awaiting!

What is a . . . .

ZOO??????

Yes, that was question of the day from Mateo who will be 4 years old tomorrow. When Cristian is out of town, I let the kids take turn sleeping with me. Not that they are going to be able to save me from the boogy man, but it just helps me sleep better when there is someone else in the opposite corner of my California King. Anyway, as I was clearing off all of the animals from my bed that Sarah had left for me while I was trying to nap earlier today, I mentioned to Mateo that I would go ahead and clean up the zoo so he could have a place to sleep. He looked at me perplexed and then said, "Mami, what's a zoo? What does that mean?" YIKES. Mother of the Year Award goes to MOI. My kid has been to been to Disney's Animal Kingdom at least a couple dozen times that I can think of. But he . . . has . . . NOT . . . been . . .to . . .the . . .zoo . . . since we moved from Sacramento 3 1/2 years ago. And yeah, the last time he was at a zoo he was barely 5 months old so he probably doesn't remember it anyway.

This is kind of a double whammy for me. #1 It brings me to an awareness that maybe I should focus on the SIMPLE things in life . . . like taking my kid to the zoo. And #2 As a former Kindergarten teacher in an inner-city school, I could not BELIEVE the fact that there were actually families with children IN MY CLASSROOM that had NEVER BEEN TO THE ZOO. We lived a hop, skip, and a jump away from the zoo people. Maybe 7 mile car-ride TOPS from my little inner-city school to the zoo. This has just come back to bite me in the judgmental BUTT for giving all those other parents grief for never having given their children such an enriching experience as going to the zoo. Guess where we are going when Cristian gets back from Brazil???????

Mateo's Birthday

Since Cristian is going to be in Brazil for Mateo's 4th birthday, we decided to celebrate a little early. Mateo got to open his birthday presents on Friday night. And P.S. what drugs was I on when I happened to be picking out the perfect presents for my birthday boy?

• Deluxe Marbles over 160 marbles + shooters
  
• Lego Spider Man/Super Heroes set 75 pieces
• K'Nex for Kids Footed Friends 50 pieces
• Jenga game 48 pieces

He was delighted with his presents. And he has been occupied for HOURS. We haven't hardly had the t.v. on (not that we have a vast selection on the weekends since we only get PBS kids), but anyway, you get the point. Mateo has been very busy playing, building, constructing, etc.

On Saturday afternoon, we went bowling for Mateo's birthday. Cristian and Tino wanted to play at least 2, if not 3 games. I insisted we only play 1 game. (Might I add that the last 4 times we have gone bowling, "we" has been the kids and I so my insistence that we only play one game had much more muster and power than Cristian's opinion and/or desires). After about the 5th frame and at least 1 1/2 hours later, Cristian agreed with me that bowling one game was plenty.

Hell on Earth

Just in case ya' all were wondering if there is such a thing as Hell on Earth, let me tell you there is. And it is a big box store just across the street from where I work on Thursday mornings. It starts with Wal- and the second word rhymes with Fart. Why oh why don't we have any Targets close by????? The closest Target is either 15 minute drive to the South or a 15 minute drive to the Northeast. What's up with that??? It's great for my hubby because I save our family lots and lots and lots of money by not frequenting Target often. It's been 3+ years since I have lived here and I still can't get used to shopping at the big giant fart. It drives me absolutely nuts. I think the cute little smiling greeters that stand at the doorway and give you a dirty cart should also hand out lexapro . . . or valium . . . or other such drugs to make the shopping experience a little more pleasant. How long will it take me to truly appreciate whatever it is that everyone else appreciates about this store????

Beyond Echolalia

Sarah is progressing. Sarah is speaking. On her own. Without parroting back random phrases that she has recorded in her brain. Is there such a thing as moving beyond echolalia?

Yesterday when I went to pick her up from daycare, she came up to me and gave me a big hug and kiss. Then she whispered in my ear: "Mami, I be really really hungy." I wasn't sure if I heard correctly, so I asked her to repeat what she said. And she repeated, "mami, I be really hungy." And then continued "I want agua." O.k. thirsty, hungry...the point is, she was able to convey her message using WORDS and the words she was using were in the correct context with the given situation. This is HUGE.

And this morning when she woke up, she was looking for her lego blocks that she had left in Mateo's room last night. First, she told me "Mami, I be very very cold." And then she said, "where da bocks go? Where is she? Come on mami. Help find da bocks. Where she go?"

What Not to Wear

Conversation with Tino before bed:

Tino: Mom, I am going to wear long pants to school tomorrow. (Long Pause . . . waiting for me to gasp since my kid knows that I know he NEVER wears long pants unless it is absolutely necessary. I make him wear long pants to church on Sundays and he wears them for no longer than 3 hours and 1 minute. Actually 3 hours 21 minutes to allow for travel time to/from church).

Mom: O.K. Sounds good to me.

Tino: Well, mom . . . I only have three choices for school tomorrow. (Long pause again. I fail to comment because I am so not in the mood to see where this conversation is going).

Mom: (Taking the bait . . . only to humor my son) And what are those choices?

Tino: A. Long pants B. Walk around in my underwear all day long at school or C. Wear my dirty shorts that I have already worn a couple days in a row.

Mom: Great. OR, you could go ahead and put away your PILES of folded CLEAN laundry that have been stacked neatly on the corner of your bed since Friday afternoon.

Mis Queridos Hijos 12/2/07

Dear Tino, Mateo, and Sarah,

Mami has been on a blogging hiatus over the last couple of weeks. Here are the highlights of the last week. And yes, I WILL buy a new battery for my camera this week so I can capture your highlights through digital media.

Tino: You have been riding your bike to school for two weeks now. You PROMISED you would wear a helmet and you wouldn't trick me by taking off your helmet once you went around the block. I told you that I was going to check up on you to make sure you are being SAFE. So far, I have enjoyed the freedom of not having to yank Mateo out of bed in the morning to take you to school or yanking Sarah out of her bed during prime nap-time so we can pick you up from school. Just beware, I will be checking up on you soon.

Mateo: You have enjoyed the Christmas decorations around the house. And you really enjoy running up the electricity bill by making sure all the lights are plugged in and "ON" 24/7. With this comes a compromise. Since you are helping to waste so much electricity, you have to make a sacrifice. No baths during the Christmas season. You can only take showers because you use way less water taking a shower. It has been hard since you LOVE taking at least 2-3 baths per day, but as they say, sacrifice brings forth the blessings from heaven.

Sarah: You are FINALLY pooping on the toilet about 5 times per day. And you even pooped in a public toilet this week. I think you are well on your way to potty-training success. Now I just need to figure out a way to keep you within the confines of your room during nap time, night time, etc. BUT also give you the flexibility to leave your room and go to the bathroom if you need to. You were super duper upset yesterday when you wet your bed. It was 10,000% mami's fault. I was enjoying my nap and heard you calling for me. I even heard you knocking on your bedroom door so I would open up for you, but I wasn't quite ready to wake up from my nap. So, you had an accident since I still have the child-proof door knob on the inside of your bedroom door and you couldn't get out of your room. My bad. I'm sorry.

That's all for now. Peace out.

Love ya,
Mami