Me and Irene

Having grown up in Houston, I am not unfamiliar with hurricanes and tropical storms.  I can still vividly remember category 3 Alicia that hit us when I was 13.  It was an amazing and awe inspiring sight.  We watched the massive storm through the large plate glass window in the living room.  We went outside as the eye passed over us and felt the amazing calm inside of it.  Then it was back inside for the rest of the storm.

People on our side of the street lost power for days.  Interestingly enough, our neighbors across the street never did but their phones went out.  Our phones never stopped working.

For close to a week, there would be extension cords running across the street up and down the block so people on our side of the street could keep the refrigerators running.  Our neighbors would come over to use the phone.

It was with memories like these that I went about preparing for Hurricane Irene as she made her way up the east coast.  She too was supposed to be a category 3 and I remembered full well the damage one of those could do.

However, while I was nervous, I wasn't scared. We are far enough inland that we don't have to worry about storm surges.  There are no rivers around to overflow their banks but we do have trees, very large trees and we have skylights.

With there being nothing I could do about the trees or the skylights, my thoughts turned to our basement.  While I have no proof of it, I believe there is an underground river that runs under our home.  As a result, when we get water in the basement, it comes up though the floor.  And when the ground is saturated, it can get pretty bad, pretty quick.

My plan was to stay up throughout the night to monitor the water pumps we have down there.  For most of the night, one pump was able to hold the water at bay.  Then around 5 a.m. it started getting bad.

Water was running in so quickly that even with both pumps going they were unable to bring the water level down.  They held it steady for a while then slowly the water began to creep up.  I prayed the power would not go out.  If we lost power, it was over.  Our water heater and our boiler would both end up in the rising water.

Fortunately, the lights stayed on and the water level rose only as high as the bottom of the water heater when Irene finally left. A half of an inch more and it would have taken water.

As I watched the news coverage late Saturday morning, I could hear the water pumps still pushing out the water.  I saw pictures of homes and cars washed away.  I heard stories of people who were killed.  I saw the water covered streets and I knew I was fortunate.

We never lost power.  None of our trees fell over.  Our home and more importantly, our family was safe.  I was tired. I had been up all night when all I wanted was to get some sleep but what I thought about was how blessed I was to have the health and strength to stay up all night. 

It was a long, rough and sometimes nerve wracking night but we are very fortunate.  So many others are not.

Playing at Being an Only Child

This week my daughter is in Washington D.C. with her Grammy, Grampa, Aunt Melina and cousin Kali.  She left on Sunday and is not due back until tomorrow.  This is quite a trip for her.  It is the longest she has ever been away from her mother and I.

It is also the longest our two kids have ever been apart.  So far Caleb is making the most of it.

He adores his big sister.  There will be no one more excited about her return than him, but I think Caleb is enjoying playing at being an only child this week.  He has the house to himself.  He has full access to all the toys even the Barbies and princesses.  And he has mommy and daddy without having to compete with his boisterous older sister.

All this has added up to a much less volatile child.  In a previous post I wrote about how difficult and destructive my son can be.  I attributed it to his age.  This week has me wondering how much of it is his age and how much of it is trying to compete with his sister for attention.

Don't get me wrong, he is still a two year old boy and time out is a daily occurrence but there is a lot more down time for him.  He is using the time he would normally be pulling his sister's hair to play with his cars. 

And of course his sister is not here to antagonize him.  If he picks up a Barbie, it's not the one his sister absolutely had to have.  She does have a way of pushing his buttons and vice versa.

Normally there is a lot of activity going on around here.  Caelyn is usually bounding around the house and Caleb wants to be a part of it. Or Caelyn needs to be taken to school, or camp, or another class of some sort. It's all quite hectic. This leaves Caleb in constant motion and never in charge of his own schedule.

But for now, without his sister, he has the run of the house leaving him more relaxed than usual. Yesterday he took the first nap he has taken without just passing out on the floor in a long time.

Soon though, his sister will return and I expect the volatility will as well.  But at least now I know that some of it is an attempt to get attention and maybe, just maybe, that will help me bring him back to a calmer state.

The Story I Was Told

As best as I can figure, I was in the car driving my son to the playground when it happened.  The earthquake yesterday that is.  I felt nothing as I drove along listening to my son get more and more excited as he figured out where I was driving to.

Shortly after our arrival at the playground I received a text from my wife telling me her building had been evacuated due to a possible earthquake but no one knew for sure.  There is a minor fault line under NYC and we occasionally will get a small tremor so I thought nothing of it.  My only reply to my wife was to ask if she was coming home early.

A few minutes after this I received a text from my sister-in-law Melina telling me they were all safe but their building had been evacuated.  This one got my attention.  You see, my six year old daughter was with Melina along with my niece and my wife's parents.  It's one thing to get a message from my wife about a building evacuation in Manhattan (a not uncommon occurrence) and another thing entirely to find out my daughter had just been through an earthquake.

I wasn't concerned for her safety.  I already knew they were OK.  I was however, very interested in what had happened and what specifically had gone on around my daughter and niece.  So I pulled up the information about the earthquake on my phone and read over it while my son played on the playground.

Later, when we got back home, I gave Melina a call to learn their story.  Here it is pieced together to the best of my ability from conversations with Melina, my niece Kali and my daughter Caelyn.

Caelyn, Kali, Melina, Grammy and Grampa were in the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian looking at the earthquake display.  Melina pointed out the fault line running under California.  Caelyn asked her if there were any fault lines in New Jersey.  Melina told her there was not.

So there can never be an earthquake here then, asked Caelyn.  No, there can never be an earthquake here, Melina assured her.  They then went down to the basement to eat lunch.

Never say never.

As they were eating lunch, everything began to shake and small debris fell from the ceiling.  Some people started screaming.  Melina, Grammy and Grampa collected the kids and headed for the doors as the building was evacuated.  Caelyn told me she started to cry though Melina said she didn't really.  She just got close.

It was a chaotic situation on the street as everyone was being evacuated and no one had anywhere to go.  Eventually, they all made their was back to the hotel.  Caelyn, thinking earthquakes were a common occurrence in D.C. declared she would never come back.

As I spoke to the girls later that day, they informed me the worst part was that because the museum was evacuated, they didn't get to go to the gift shop.

In a Warped State of Mind

Earlier today I took the kids with me to Guitar Center to pick up a new stand that hopefully, my son won't be able to destroy.  While there my five year old daughter got upset with me for not buying her a new guitar that she fell in love with.  This has me thinking about her love of music and our trip to the Warped Tour almost two weeks ago in Scranton, PA. 

I am probably considered to old to be attending punk and metal music festivals but it was OK because between me and Caelyn, our average age was twenty two and a half.

While I didn't see everyone there, I do believe she was the youngest one attending.  I did see a handful of kids in the nine and ten year old range but no one came close to being as young and as small as Caelyn was.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous that maybe I had pushed my daughter a little too far this time.  She was excited to go. For weeks she had been demanding this band or that band be put on "the list" of bands she wanted to see as I played music for her. So I wasn't worried about her enjoying the music. That wasn't even an issue.

At the Skullcandy Stage for Pour Habit

I was worried because this event would be far larger, louder, hotter, more crowded, and rougher than anything she has been to before. And she is only five. Spending ten hours in the sun surrounded by sea of people can make anyone cranky, much less someone who hasn't even been to first grade.

As it turns out, my fears were totally without basis. Much like Punk Island a month or so ago, Caelyn was perfectly at ease with the noise and chaos. More than that, she thrived in it. The only conflict we had was when I wouldn't bring to the edge of a particularly rough mosh pit. She saw no reason for there to be anyone between us and it. I did and had to explain to her that I kept a couple of people between us and the pit because her getting kicked in the head would hurt.

Chaos for The Devil Wears Prada

There is no kiddie section at the Warped Tour. There are no bounce houses or areas geared toward small children. It's music, merchandise and food. Those are your options. And we hit all of those in abundance.

In no particular order we saw all or part of the sets of the following bands: Pour Habit, Set Your Goals, Woe, is Me, Go Radio, Moving Mountains, The Ready Set, The Expendables, MC Lars with Weerd Science, A Day to Remember, Paramore, Asking Alexandria and The Devil Wears Prada.

We also took home a lot of free and inexpensive Cd's, posters, stickers and some shirts. Caelyn was hitting every merchandise tent she could find and many them were giving her free stuff. She loves it when people give her things.

Caelyn's top three must see bands were Paramore, MC Lars and The Devil Wears Prada. Fortunately, there were no time conflicts so we got see all three of them. However, our experience with MC Lars was the best. Not only did Caelyn get to meet him on a couple of occasions during the day, he spent time talking with her and taking pictures. He even signed her hat writing on it that she was a rock star and drawing a picture. It now has become one of her prized possessions.

With MC Lars

Up Front for his show. She did get acknowledged from the Stage

We arrived that morning as the gates were opening at 11 am. As they day was ending around 9 pm, I still had one amped up kid.  She eventually fell asleep on the drive back to our friend's house where we were staying. Her mother and brother were awake when we arrived and as Caelyn started to recount the days events, she just got more excited.  Eventually, she went to bed but it took a long time.  When she finally did pass out, she slept the sleep of the exhausted and happy.  We both did.

Not a Fun Age

My son Caleb doesn't really get a lot of coverage in this blog.  Most of the post's are about my daughter.  It's not that there is bias, I love both my kids, but my son doesn't do a whole lot yet that makes for interesting reading.

Part of this is because his life revolves around Caelyn's schedule.  He has Gymboree and Music Together but most of his outings are dictated by his sister's activities.  He comes along for her Taekwondo and dance classes.  He goes with us on her play dates.  It is just the existence of a two year old in a five year old's world.

The other reason he doesn't get a lot of coverage is because his activities are pretty much the same every day.  He eats and sleeps.  He watches some t.v.  He screams and throws a lot of tantrums.  He starts fights with his sister by pulling her hair or taking the one toy she has decided to play with.  If he is not doing one of the things mentioned above, he generally is either tearing something apart or just throwing everything he can reach on the floor.

It's fortunate for Caleb that he is so cute or else he would be one of the most hated kids at the do jang and dance studio.  He is every bit the two year old boy with a vengeance.

Which brings me to something that scares me terribly.  I get a lot of parents with older children who watch his antics and say to me, "They are so much fun at that age."  This shocks me because they aren't, not really.  He is not much fun most of the time.  Just ask his mother who almost had a large clump of hair pulled out by the roots yesterday.  It's not much fun at all.  I can't wait for him to grow out of it.

Sure, there are times that are cute and clever and I enjoy them immensely but for every cute thing he does, there are probably 20 tantrums or bouts of destructive behaviour.

So I wonder about these parents.  Did they somehow have perfect two year olds?  Maybe they are the type that look back at that time and just forget the screaming fits and tantrums.  Or are things so bad now that their kids are older that handling a two year old seems easy by comparison.

I guess I'll find out in about a  little over 10 years when he becomes a teenager.

Summer Has Taken Off

After a slow start to our summer, we have seen a flurry of activity over the last few weeks.  We spent the first week and a half after the end of school dealing with one illness or another. Our time was filled with long, slow moving days as one member or another of our family was ill and we had to stay close to home.  Then, starting with Caelyn's date things just took off and I have been treading water ever since.

While the discovery of Caleb's peanut allergy was an unwelcome adventure, most of it has been quite fun.  There are many stories to tell and I plan to do so in more detail over the next week or so but for now, here is the recap.

Since Caelyn's date we have had Caleb's allergic reaction to peanuts and his first trip to an allergist a little over a week later.  Kerry and I are now learning to read labels on everything and to check out every restaurant, fast food joint and food vendor before giving anything to our son to eat.  This has not been fun.

However, most of our time has been spent more enjoyably.

The last few weeks have seen two trips to Madison Square Park with the kids for concerts.  It has seen Caelyn earn her red striped belt in Taekwondo.  There was the fourth of July parade and town picnic.  Caelyn has acquired a new bike while Caleb has staked his claim to her old one.  I think he likes that it is pink and purple.

There have been play dates, playgrounds and of course, there was our mini vacation in the Poconos.  While there Caelyn and I hit the Warped Tour in Scranton and Kerry and Caleb hit the playground and the woods of Big Bass Lake.  The whole family went to visit a train museum in Scranton.  The weekend there brought lake time and a late night at a county fair complete with a fireworks display. We came home needing a vacation from our vacation.

It doesn't look to slow down any time soon.  The next couple of weeks will see us planning Caelyn's birthday party which is always a time consumer.

Next week there will be at least one more concert and starting in August, Caelyn will have a week of gymnastics camp followed by a week of dance camp and then cousin Kali arrives for a few days.  Nana will be here around Labor Day and then school will start again.

I started out this summer wondering what I was going to with the kids and if they would bored.  Now I am just trying to keep up with all that is going on.  It's a pretty cool feeling.

So This is What a Food Allergy Looks Like

To say last night did not go according to plan would be an understatement.  Anytime you end up in the ER with a crying two year old who is fighting off nurses and doctors, you know your evening has gone off the rails.

The night started simple enough.  We would walk about a mile over to Brookdale Park where the U.S. Military Academy Band was performing followed by a fireworks display. We were to meet up with friends, relax and enjoy the show while the kids played then head home with two tired children who would promptly go to bed.

Well, that was the plan.  Before the night ended though, I was in the ER with Caleb as he experienced an allergic reaction and Caelyn was on her first sleepover, with a boy no less.  Definitely not how I expected the evening to go.

When we arrived at Brookdale for the show, I got word from our friend Amy that she and her son Matthew who is Caelyn's age were there and they made their way to where we were setting up our spot on the lawn.  Interesting enough, we were at the same park last year for a concert and fireworks display with Amy when Caelyn got lost in the crowd.  Perhaps we should stay away from fireworks displays at Brookdale in the future.

Caelyn had been eyeing the ice cream truck at the back of the crowd since we arrived so we took the kids to get ice cream.  Kerry got ice cream as well. It was an ice cream bar with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups mixed in.

While we had never given Caleb peanuts before, we were not concerned about him having an allergic reaction to them.  We had them in the house and didn't hesitate to give him foods that warned they had been processed on equipment that handled nuts.  So when Caleb begged a bite of ice cream from is mom, it didn't even cross our minds that there could be a problem.

Caleb ate a few bites of ice cream then started running around again.  About 1/2 hour later his nose was running, his eyes were red and watering, his face was getting puffy and he started scratching himself all over.

Having had eczema problems periodically for most if his life, Caleb's itching didn't raise any alarm bells at first.  He was over tired and out in a field.  We just thought something in the grass was bothering him.

As things started to get worse, Kerry remembered the peanut butter in the ice cream.  Amy remembered the EMTs at the park and volunteered to watch Caelyn while Kerry and I took Caleb to be checked out. 

The EMTs took all of two minutes to decide the best and safest course of action was to take Caleb to the ER.  I took him and headed to the ambulance while Kerry went back to look after Caelyn.

It was my first time in an ambulance.  The EMTs were wonderful.  They kept close tabs on Caleb and didn't leave us until the triage nurse called us in shortly after we arrived.

The triage nurse and the ER doctor provided quick care and determined that while Caleb was definitely having an allergic reaction, there was no immediate danger.  His oxygen and pulse rate were fine and he had no trouble breathing.

For his part, Caleb was pissed.  He did not want people messing with him. So when it came time to administer the shot of Benadryl, it took me, the doctor and the triage nurse to hold him still.

The Benadryl kicked in and Caleb quickly fell asleep with me lying next to him.  Oddly enough, the ER room we were placed in was the same room I was placed in when I had to be hospitalized for high blood pressure years earlier.  We spent the next couple of hours keeping tabs on Caleb before it was fully determined the Benadryl was doing the job and Caleb could be discharged.

While all this was going on at the ER, Kerry and Caelyn were still in Brookdale Park.  Kerry was worrying about Caleb while I would periodically send her updates.  Caelyn was caught up in the excitement of the fireworks.  According to Kerry, it was hard to tell whether our daughter or the fireworks were louder.

When the fireworks were over, Amy asked if Kerry wanted Caelyn to come home with them since Kerry would be heading to the ER soon.  Caelyn heard the question and that sealed the deal.  Her first sleepover was to begin and Caelyn went home with Amy and Matthew.

Caelyn had never spent the night away from both Kerry and I before so we fully expected to get a call in the middle of the night.  That call never came.  Caelyn had a blast.  She and Matthew watched a show then went to sleep on the futon in the play room and didn't wake until morning though according to Matthew, Caelyn snores which is something Kerry and I already knew.

Caleb spent the night in bed with Kerry and I.  Neither of us slept that well.  We had to give Caleb a 3 a.m. dose of Benadryl and our minds had a tough time winding down from the days events.

When morning came, I went to pick Caelyn up.  When we got home and she saw her brother, her relief was evident as she exclaimed, "He looks OK."

Now I am getting used to the idea of having a child with a food allergy.  I will be picking up epi-pens later on today.  They will now go everywhere we go.  I threw out the peanuts I had in the cabinet and will now need to read every label to look for things processed on equipment that handles nuts.  I also have to watch out for things cooked in peanut oil. All things I never thought about less than 24 hours before.

Life is funny that way.  Just when you think you know what's what, the world shifts.  So now we shift with it and thank God that Caleb is home safe and sound.