Quiz Team and Mind Games

Joel had his first official "Quiz Team Meet" this weekend and he did a GREAT job! Quiz Team is an activity sponsored by our church where children (first grade through junior high) memorize biblical facts and then compete against other church teams throughout Ohio. The older kids have many meets throughout the year, but the first and second graders only compete once a year.

Joel started the year kind of slow because Ben and I didn't study with him as much as we should have. But about a month before the competition I recorded all the questions and answers onto a tape and had Joel listen to it at bedtime. Ben and I weren't sure how much Joel had memorized so I was a little nervous about how well he would do. But Joel did an awesome job!

To get points for an answer, the child must be the first to buzz in (sort of like "Jeopardy") and answer the question correctly. Once a child answers five questions correctly in a round, they "quiz out" and are not permitted to answer any more questions until the next round. Joel quizzed out three of the seven rounds!

The meet was two hours away and started early in the morning so just Ben and Joel spent the night in a hotel, hung out at the pool hot tub, quzzed all day and then went to Red Lobster for dinner and to an arcade after that. On the way home Ben asked Joel what his favorite part of the two days was. Joel's response, "Quizzing."

Ben and I are so proud of him! Ben commented that Joel was "in his element" while quizzing; he really seemed to love it. The funniest part was that at the beginning of one round Joel was leaning back in his chair with his head leaned back as if he wasn't even paying attention. The question started and Joel was still just "hanging out" in his chair. Then, just as it was time to hit the buzzer, Joel jerked up and was the first of the eight kids to smack the buzzer and answer. When Ben and I were talking and laughing about it after the meet Joel told us he was just pretending to be tired so the other kids wouldn't think he was going to "buzz in." Joel has obviously mastered the art of "psyching out the competition." smile

The First Broken Bone

Joel has just earned the distinction of being the first person in our family to break a bone. Although with three boys, I'm guessing this won't be our last break. I made sure to introduce all three boys to the orthopedic doctor so that he would recognize us when we make a return visit! haha

Here's the part of the story where I win the "Mother of the Year" award...Joel broke his arm a WEEK ago and I just took him to the doctor today. Yes, I feel awful! (Once again, my dear sister Mindy who works for Children's Services, please don't report me for this!)

Last week I took the boys to a local playground and Joel fell off a large climbing rock landing on his side with his arm taking the brunt of the fall. After Ben and I both looked at his arm and had him move it in all directions, we were both convinced there was no break. Joel didn't complain much about his arm except occassionally he said it was sore, but after giving him ibuprofen the pain would subside. However, yesterday I noticed he was holding his bent arm against his body and protecting it with his other hand. But for Joel to have his left arm slightly bent is not really abnormal (due to the affects of his extreme prematurity at birth). I started asking him to move it all around and he could do everything until I had him lift his arm like a chicken flapping its wing -- he couldn't do that at all (or maybe he just didn't want to look like a fool!). That really concerned me, but not enough to lose any sleep. :-) This morning after Joel took a shower, he couldn't even raise his arm high enough to get his deodorant on (yes, he's 7 and needs deodorant!). Now this is when I was really concerned -- a stinky boy in this warm weather with NO deodorant?! Off to the doctor we went.

The break is a simple "buckle" fracture at the very top of his left arm, close to the shoulder, so they couldn't cast it. The only "fix" is to have Joel wear a sling for the next two weeks. The part that concerned me the most was when the ortho doctor told me it could affect his growth in that arm (meaning it might make his left arm slightly shorter). My dad recommended a solution: Joel could wear a super-heavy watch on his left arm for the next 10 years in hopes the weight of the watch would stretch his arm! haha

In closing, I would like to say two things:

1. Thank you to my brother Mark. Just this morning I was in three different doctors' offices (radiologist, pediatrician and orthopedic) with all three boys. Let me tell you, my faithful blog reader, there is not much for boys to do in a doctor's office. We were entertained for a while with a matchbox car and two laser lights (sorry, Dr. Radiologist, I hope your sight is back to normal now) that the kids happened to have in the car with them, but when those toys became boring, I resorted to tracing kids' hands on the paper exam table covers. Then...as a last resort...I began to tell stories of my brother Mark's adventures at the hospital as a child. All three boys had their eyes glued on me and listened to every single word of each hospital visit Mark had. And believe me, this took up quite a lot of our waiting room time. So, thank you, Mark!

2. Ben, my dear doctor husband who said Joel's arm was fine, please stick to examing pregnant women!

Conversation Exhaustion

This morning I left Evan and Drew alone in the car while I made a quick dash into a store (I could see the car from the store and yes, I locked and alarmed the car). When I came out I found Evan out of his seatbelt. Then the following conversation ensued:

Me: “Evan, what were you doing?”
Evan: “What did you see me do?”
Me: “I saw you out of your seat."
Evan: “Well, that’s all I did.”
Me: “Drew, what was Evan doing?”
Drew: “Ezan spit.”
Evan: “NO I didn’t!”
Me: “Then what did you do?”
Evan: “I forgot.”
Me: “If you forgot then I’ll just punish you for spitting.”
Evan: “I didn’t spit!”
Me: “What DID you do?”
Evan: “Drew will tell you.” (Then Evan covered his ears so he couldn’t hear Drew spill the beans.)
Me: “Evan, you have three seconds to tell me what you did or you’re getting punished for spitting.”

At this point I was all prepared to hear some huge, horrible act that he had committed.

Evan’s crime? “I took the batteries out of the remote control” (to the DVD player).

And THAT conversation is why I am tired at the end of every day!

Sledding and Slush

Ben came home from work early one day last week and announced that we were all going sledding. It was the perfect day for it -- 40 degrees, no wind and the snow had melted into ice -- this meant fast sleds and we didn't even need to wear boots. We had an absolute blast! Drew went down the hill several times by himself and a couple times he insisted on lying on his belly in the sled. He has no fear.

On the final "descent," all five of us rode down on three sleds side-by-side. What a perfect family photo -- EXCEPT that my loving, sweetheart of a husband pushed my sled right into a slush puddle at the bottom of the hill. The boys (all FOUR of them) loved it! Even I managed to laugh.

My biggest regret from the sledding outing is that I didn't take pictures. But, as my friend Elizabeth says, "My heart took a picture." (groan!)

World War III

I am going crazy! The boys have been fighting non-stop and I'm ready to send them all to Grandma's house. (Any volunteers, Grandmas? I'll even send them to someone else's Grandma.) The fighting is only bad when all three boys are home. So poor Joel -- he comes home from school and instantly the fighting starts. At first I thought it was his fault, but then I realized it's not him, it's just the fact that all three are home and when you have three, someone is always being left out.

They fight over toys, food, attention from Mom and Dad...they even fight over seats in the living room! Last night I told them I was DONE with it and there was to be no more fighting in MY house; "if you fight again, I'm putting you outside!" Within the hour Evan and Joel were both on the front porch in their stocking feet and no coats. I'm sure the "Gladys Kravitz" of the neighborhood was wondering what I was up to, but I didn't know what else to do. ("Gladys" has also seen my boys running laps around our cul-de-sac when they get too rowdy inside.) At first the boys fought on the porch too (throwing snow at each other), but within three minutes they promised to be nice to each other and were back inside.

(FYI, sister Mindy who works for Children's Services, the boys were only outside for THREE minutes. I promise!) smile

When Ben came home from work, we took all three boys to a "sports center" where they played on gymnastics equipment and jumped on a trampoline. This helped burn off some energy and I got to "vent" to some other moms. One mom, a friend of mine, said her three boys have been doing the same thing and she attributes much of it to being stuck inside all winter. I'm praying she is right and that soon, when the weather warms up, my boys will once again be friends (or at least not try to kill each other!).

Any brilliant (or even not-so-brilliant) suggestions for nixing the fighting are welcome.

Singin' In the Rain

Yesterday afternoon it was cold, windy and raining -- perfect weather to stomp in puddles, right? If you're a boy, ANY weather is perfect for puddle-stomping. So, all three White boys donned their boots, coats and umbrellas and went outside for some wet fun. Evan's quote, "This is AWESOME! Today is a good day!"

For the actual historical record of the day, I will add that 20 seconds after these pictures were taken, Drew fell in the COLD water and began sobbing and, I now have NO working umbrellas.

My Resting Heart Rate

Now, I know you all are thinking, "What in the WORLD is she blogging about NOW?! And why in the heck do we care?!" But I have to share my exercising success story with you people who love and care about me so much.

I want you to know that I have been faithfully exercising FIVE times a week since just before Thanksgiving and I am so proud of myself for that. HOWEVER, I have not lost any weight, nor are my jeans fitting any looser. I was getting depressed about that until just recently when I took my resting heart rate -- it has dropped SEVEN beats/minute! What does this mean? This means even though I don't look any better on the outside, I am getting beautiful on the inside (and everyone knows "it's what's inside that counts"). I may die of obesity, but I surely won't die of a heart attack anytime soon. Wahoo!