One year, ten months, and a week ago

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January 02, 2007 was the date.

I was driving home from the gym when, on a lark, I decided to stop by Target and purchase the generic, three dollar test.  Thinking back now, I should have known what was coming.  At that time I was having irregular periods because I was still nursing Mark.  Basically, instead of getting it once a month, I was getting it every two weeks, for the last couple of months and then I didn’t see any sign of it in December.  I really didn’t think much of it because I thought my body was adjusting to me weaning Mark.  Boy was I wrong.  My jaw dropped when I saw the results of the test and then my mind started racing as to how this was possible. 

I ran to William, who until then did not know I was taking the test, and frantically asked, “Please tell me this is wrong?”  At first he looked at me like I was out of mind until he realized what the stick in my hand was.  Then he looked at it and I think he was shocked too.  William has never doubted these tests.  To him if it shows a positive then it is a positive.  This was the first time he had his doubts.  He ran out to Walgreens and bought another test – one that said “Yes” or “No.”  Then he watched and waited as I took the test.  Btw, this was the first time he was present and aware of me taking a test (previous babies I took the test and then informed him about it and the results).  I was nervous.  The result was a resounding “Yes.” 

I started crying.  William didn’t say anything for a while.  Then he tried to figure out how it could have happened.  I kept crying.  Through my tears William and I discussed what our options were.  I didn’t want to have another baby for a number of reasons. 

1.  In my mind Mark was going to be the last of it for the next five or so years.
2.  I had spent so much money, time, tears, and effort to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight after gaining over 50+ lbs with Mark.  I did not want to go through that again.
3.  Most importantly, after much fighting with the Arizona Department of Education, I had finally gotten my teacher certification and I was excited about the prospect of joining the working world and becoming a teacher.

Having another baby was not in any of my short term plans.  Having another baby meant putting a halt to my plan and figuring out an alternative.  I didn’t want to do any of that.  I didn’t want to have another baby. 

I cried for days.  William and I went to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy.  It was still early.  Not even four weeks (the ultrasound barely registered a dot).  Doctor said I had options.  I will admit it, I contemplated my options.  In the end I could not do it.  I could never do it.  I would never do it!  And so I resigned myself to my fate.

As the days rolled by I started to realize how blessed I was.  I know people who can’t get pregnant or have a really hard time conceiving.  Thankfully I am not one of those people.  The turning point of the pregnancy came when I had the 20 week ultrasound.  After years of hoping for a girl and envying those who had I was finally getting my own.  I even went as far as telling William before the ultrasound that if we weren’t having a girl he was totally incompetent.  You can imagine his relief after the ultrasound.

I started getting anxious as we hit the 36 week mark.  I was ready to be done with the pregnancy.  I was the size of a whale trying to keep cool in 110+ degrees Fahrenheit weather.  My midwife didn’t help matters by telling me that she was going to be my largest baby I had.  I freaked out!  In my head I thought I was going to have to push out an 8 lb baby.  I know that having an 8 lb isn’t bad at all — that is the average size of a baby — but at that time Mark, at 6 lbs 7 oz, was the biggest baby I had and I couldn’t fathom the idea of an 8 lb baby or greater coming out of me.  Of course my fears were unfounded so I’ll just blame them on the pregnancy hormones.

Then it happened.  On a hot Labor Day morning a year, one month, and six days ago Caitlin was born.  It was love at first sight for me.  I finally had my very own baby doll to play dress up with.  And even though I thought she was the cutest thing I also thought that she looked a lot like the Travelocity Gnome with her flushed red cheeks, pointy head, and squinty eyes.  Thank goodness she has grown out of that look.

Caitlin is now 13 months old and she’s such a joy.  She loves hanging out with her brothers.  It’s fun to watch her try to keep up with them.  Her “Xena” warrior cry strikes fear in me because I know she is up to trouble, but I love hearing it because I know it comes when she is proud of her accomplishment.  Her latest achievement:  climbing up onto the dining table.  Even though I have so much pride in all of my kids, I am the proudest of Caitlin.  I watched her in amazement as she tackled every milestone and reveled in every moment of her glory.  She has squelched every worry that I had of her adjusting to our new life with me being a working mom.  She took every change in stride and adapted beautifully to it — no complaints, no tears, just an excited squeal of delight every time she sees me. 

Her conception may have come as an unwanted surprise to me but every night I put Caitlin down to sleep I am extremely grateful to the blessing that is my baby girl.

I leave you with pictures from Caitlin’s First Birthday.

It’s been so long

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As William kindly reminded me, it’s been a more than a month since I last blogged and I’ve left you all hanging with my last post.  Life, since I have started working, has had its challenges and has been filled with highs, lows, and really, low lows.  I have been extremely busy adjusting to my new role as a working mother and it hasn’t been easy. 

My day usually starts around 5:00 am when the annoying alarm on my phone goes off.  I lie in bed for another half hour or so and then drag my heavy, sleep deprived body out of bed.  Then the morning goes as follows:  take a shower, get breakfast ready for the kids, prepare Aidan’s lunch box, wake up the kids, feed them breakfast, get myself dressed, get the kids dressed, head out the door, drop the babies off at daycare, and finally get to school.  Thankfully, William (who takes Aidan to the Montessori) has recently taken over the responsibility of getting Aidan fed and ready for Montessori.  Apparently, I was taking too long getting Aidan ready and it was making William late for work.  I’m glad that I have one less child to deal with in the morning, but I have to say that William has the easier child.  He has the one that has finally learned to behave (for the most part), can brush his own teeth, and get himself ready in the morning as long as you tell him what he has to wear.  I, on the other hand, am stuck with the babies who require constant attention and fight with me when I try to change their diapers. 

Anyway, as I was saying…. I’m usually in school till about 5:00 pm, some days later.  By the time I pick Mark and Caitlin up from day care and get home I am too tired to even think about what to do for dinner.  It is exhausting to even consider cooking, especially when the babies are starving and tired.  That’s when the take out menu becomes my best friend.  In fact, last week alone we had take out at least twice.  By the way, I don’t think my waist line is able to handle all this feasting I am doing.  By 8:00 pm the kids are fed, showered, and put down for the night.  I am exhausted and all I want to do is go to bed, but there is still a lot of work to be done.  I still have grading to do, lessons to plan, emails to answer, materials to prepare, etc.  I usually end up going to bed closer to midnight.  This is basically the routine for the week.

Come Friday I can’t even think straight.  In fact, last Friday, the family and I went out for dinner after work.  I had a hard time staying awake during the drive home.  My plan, once we got home, was to lay down for a bit in order to gather up my energy to put the kids to bed, but things didn’t go as planned.  Yes, I was able to lie down, but instead of gaining energy to do the task at hand, I found myself in a comatose state, unable to move even to help William put the kids down.  I didn’t get out of this coma until early Saturday morning.  That is how exhausted I was.

All in all though, life hasn’t been so bad.  Sure it has been crazy and hectic, but I think I am slowly learning how to handle it.  I’m not all there yet but I think by the end of this school year, I’ll be able to deal with my crazy life… or so I hope 🙂  For now I am in “survival mode” and I try to get through my challenges one day at a time.

Sinking in quick sand

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Work does not officially start till tomorrow and already I feel overwhelmed, frustrated, lost, etc.   I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me but I wasn’t aware of its magnitude.

So here is the gist of it:

I emailed the VP about two weeks ago asking for some information so that I could get a head start on my preparation.  Never received a reply.  Friday last week got a letter in the mail from the school (it was a mass mailing to all the school’s teachers) stating the schedule for the upcoming week.  Letter also says that we can come in before our contracted start date to get our classroom organize… yay, that sounds good. 

Go in on Monday, with all three kids, to get my classroom key and survey what I needed to do with my room… apparently a lot.  Go introduce myself to the next door teacher.  Turns out she will be my mentor teacher… yay again, as I’ve heard really nice things about her teaching style.  She says that we need to meet so that we could go over what supplies I need, etc, and my kids can tag along to the meeting.  I know better about bringing the kids but I am desperate to get stated and organized.  I agree and ask what time she will be in on Tuesday (as I try to stop the kids from grabbing at her stuff).  She says, around 11 am.  I say okay, I should be here.  I arrange with William to watch the kids Tuesday morning so that I can meet with mentor teacher, hoping to have at least one “kid-free” hour with her.

Go in on Tuesday morning and find out from another teacher that I won’t be meeting with mentor teacher alone; she has scheduled a Math team meeting for 11:30 am.  What?  Had I known this was going to be a more formal meeting I would have tried to reschedule it for a later time.  We also had an impromptu meeting with the principal.  William had meetings scheduled for the afternoon so he drops the kids off at school on his way to work.  The kids behave during the meeting with the principal.  We go to the mentor’s room for the team meeting. 

My big mistake is permitting Aidan to play with the computer in her room.  He starts messing with it and I tell him no more computer.  He freaks out.  I put him in my room hoping he will calm down.  Not happening!  He spends the next hour or so screaming at the top of his lungs and we can hear it in the next room.  By now it’s past 1 pm and past the babies nap time.  Mark and Caitlin are wandering round the room, pulling stuff, going under tables, getting in to boxes, etc.  At one point Caitlin is running around with scissors!  I spend the meeting chasing after the kids and apologizing for them and for myself.  The mentor says its okay but I am not feeling reassured.  Towards the end of the meeting Mark poops.  I don’t want to be rude and I’m still grasp at important information that I am missing because I am running after the kids so I don’t want to leave the meeting.  I cringe every time Mark passes the table thinking about how everybody has to suffer through Mark’s foul odor.  By now Caitlin is complaining because she is tired.  Then she poops.  At two o’clock I tell the mentor I can’t do it anymore.  The kids are tired and the babies have pooped. 

I stay a little bit longer to have her look and critique my classroom policies and procedures handout.  I change the babies diapers.  Then with a backpack filled with 2 heavy teacher edition books, a diaper bag, a plastic bag containing two dirty diapers, a still crying Aidan, and two tired babies, I leave the school with whatever shreds of dignity and pride I can muster up.  I’m thinking about how I have just destroyed any image I may have of being a capable teacher.  If I am looking frustrated when my kids are getting into everything and I can’t even handle my own kids, how am I going to be able to handle 150 teenagers?  What must my mentor and the other math teachers thing of me?

I’m in a daze for the rest of the day.  After the kids go to bed I stare at the computer for hours not knowing what to do next.  I finally get up and head to Walmart and wander the aisles aimlessly.  I go out to the parking lot and can’t remember where my car is.  I’m a mess and my brain is like mush.  There is a lot of things I need to do before Friday of next week but I don’t know what it is I need to do.  Most of that information was discussed at the meeting today but I obviously didn’t hear it.  I sent an email to mentor teacher last night hoping to schedule a meeting with her for when I didn’t have to watch the kids.  Still waiting to hear from her.

I start work tomorrow at 7:45 am.  I’ll be in meetings all the way till 4:00 pm.  This is basically my schedule till school starts on August 4.  I need to get my room set up before Meet-the-Teacher night on August 1.  With the school closing at 5 pm I only have a limited time to get my room organized before next Friday.  I don’t know where to start.  I don’t know what I need in terms of supplies.  I know I need pens and paper, beyond that I am clueless and lost.

I feel helpless.

Edited to add:  Received a reply from mentor.  She is going to meet me tomorrow (Thursday) after I get done with all my other meetings.  All hope is not lost… yet.

A dropped load

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Mark pooped… in the potty!  It happened Friday evening.  He was in a diaper.  I saw him scrunch his face, looking ready to go into a squat.  I asked him if he wanted to poop and quickly lead him to the potty.  He got up as soon as he sat down saying that he did not have to poop.  I reassured him and sat him back on the potty and stood on the sidelines cheering him on.

That is when the magic happened.  It wasn’t the big, “hearty” poop that he usually puts in his diaper, but it was still poop in the potty and an accomplishment for Mark.  I danced and rejoiced.  I told William.  I called my mom and had her congratulate Mark.  I gave Mark a Starburst candy to celebrate and then went to clean up.

Sadly, yet again, I haven’t followed up on his success.  With this major life change coming soon and me trying to prepare for it, I haven’t the time or the desire to be chasing and fighting with Mark to do his business on the potty.  So potty training will have to wait till things have settled down a bit and I have had a chance to catch my breath.

Change in the wind

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I know I have mentioned it earlier but I have never officially stated it.  It is official.  Starting July 24th I will not only be a mother of three, I will also be an 8th grade math teacher for the Higley Unified School District.  I am excited and nervous about this new path in my life.  I hope I can be a teacher that inspires my students to excel.

Excellence can be found even under a rock. ~ Spongebob Square Pants

Potty training diary

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Pre-training: 

One weekend in early June I caught Mark squatting and looking like he was ready to do some business.  I quickly ushered him into the bathroom and made him sit on the toilet.  A little while later, lo and behold, he had pooped in the toilet.  I was so thrilled.  I rejoiced not only for Mark’s latest accomplishment but also cause I saw this as a sign that he was ready to be potty trained. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t follow up on his achievement immediately.  It took me a couple of weeks before I decided to try potty training Mark.  One Friday evening I decide to let Mark run around without a diaper or underwear.  I just wanted to gauge how much work we had in store.  We had one wetting accident but for the most he was able to pee in the toilet.  The problem was the pooping.  It seems that the time lapse from when he had last pooped in the potty successfully to my initial efforts in potty training had instilled some fear in the little guy.  Towards the end of the night I knew that he had to go really bad.  He was holding his butt as if he was trying to stop anything from coming out.  I tried unsuccessfully to sit him on the potty several time.  He would just cry, saying that it was “yucky,” and get off.  I finally gave up and sat down to have dinner when he runs to me with hands outstretched saying, “I pooped.”  Yes, there was poop on his hands!  Apparently while he was playing on his bed he could not hold it in any longer even though he tried to use his hands to stop the flow.  Thankfully all the waste product was contained on his bed which made for easy clean up. 

Thinking that he may be afraid of sitting on the toilet (yes, I use an infant potty seat on the toilet), I decided to restart his training when the potty chair I ordered for him arrived.

Training: 

Wednesday, July 8:  Potty seat arrives.  It’s a Baby Björn and I’m very happy with it.  Unlike the chairs I have seen at the store, it doesn’t have many parts.  Yet it is big enough for a child to sit in comfortably.  Excitedly, I show the chair to Mark.  He seems interested in it too.  He tries it out and manages to pee while he is on it.  Yay!  That’s a good start.

Thursday, July 9:  When Mark wakes up in the morning I tell him it’s time to begin his “big boy” training.  I take off his diaper and instruct him to go use the potty.  He doesn’t seem as excited about it anymore but he obliges.  For most of the day he goes around without a diaper or underwear (See Aside).  One time he starts crying because he wants to wear his underwear.  Even though I know better, I didn’t want to fight and so I oblige.  Sure enough, not even five minutes go by and he has poops in them.  Great!  I immediately drag him into the bathroom.  As I take off his underwear I state that “poop goes in the potty, you poop in the potty.”  As luck would have it, the poop falls out of his underwear and onto the bathroom rug.  Grrr!  At least that’s easy to clean.  I make him sit on the potty as I go about cleaning up the mess.  The reminder of the day I fight my need to appease his desire to put on underwear.  We don’t have anymore accidents that day.  I put him to bed that night knowing that he is going to relieve himself early the next morning.

Friday, July 10:  Sure enough, he does.  He poops in his diaper just after breakfast and just before I have time to remove his diaper.  Fine!  I clean him and reiterate that “poop goes in the potty, you poop in the potty.”  The rest of the day goes normally with him peeing whenever he is requested to and sometimes on his own accord.  No poop though… at least not until I start cutting the steak for dinner.  That is when I see Mark running down the hallway with poop dropping as he runs.  Not wanting to risk Caitlin getting into the poop (I had a similar situation happen when I was training Aidan except I wasn’t fast enough and I found Mark squishing Aidan’s poop between his fingers), I quickly drop everything and using my one clean hand (the other hand was stained with steak juice) I grab Mark, sit him on the potty, grab Caitlin, put her in the crib, and then I wash up and go about the business of cleaning up Mark’s mess.  So Mark pooped, and yet again. it was not in the potty!  Annoying!  After dinner I put Mark in a Pull-Up (assuming that he is done pooping for the day) and head to the store for some retail therapy.  Not even 15 minutes into our journey he poops again… in the Pull-Up.  Perfect… just perfect!

Saturday, July 11:  Nothing eventful.  Mark pees in the potty but no poops.  By evening time I call it quits for the day; put him in a diaper and head over to MIL.  Sure enough he poops while we are there.  I’m not surprised.

Sunday, July 13:  Peeing same as usual… in the potty.  No pooping in the potty though.  I try several times to sit him on the potty, especially when I see him clutching his butt.  No success.  He just pees and says he is done.  At bedtime, I put Mark in a diaper after his shower.  I know that Mark really has to go and will do so soon, especially now that he is in a diaper.  I ask William to watch him (and take Mark to the potty if he catches him pooping) while I finish getting Aidan and Caitlin dressed.  I walk out to the living room to find William leafing through the Victoria Secret catalog and Mark squatting next to him.  “He is pooping,” I calmly tell William.  William grabs Mark and carries him to the potty but he is too late.  Mark has already relieved himself in his diaper.  Another unsuccessful day.

Monday, July 14:  Day goes by as usual… peeing but no pooping.  We did have one peeing accident today.  Mark was engrossed in his Legos and forgot that he had no diaper or underwear on.  Made him sit on the potty while I cleaned up.  Around bedtime William has an idea.  Put Aidan and Caitlin to bed and wait up with a diapered Mark in our bathroom.  As soon as he looks like he is ready to poop, grab him, take off the diaper, and sit him on the potty.  I’m desperate.  I agree.  After putting Aidan and Caitlin down, I put a diaper on Mark.  William, Mark, and I hole up in the master bath.  Mark is desperate to get out and is going crazy in the cramped space.  After more than 15 minutes in the bathroom with no sign of Mark squatting to relieve himself we open the door and let him hang out in our bedroom playing with his cars.  At one point I think he is going to poop so I immediately move him to the potty only to find out my actions were premature.  The diaper is put back on and let Mark resume playing with his cars.  William and I are both exhausted with our watchdog duties.  Finally, he squats to poop.  We move him to the toilet, but I can’t seem to get the closures of the diaper off.  After much effort I manage to get the diaper off.  Mark has not pooped yet but just as we are about to sit him on the potty, the poop drops… not in the potty but right next to the potty.  In all the commotion to get Mark on the potty in time, Mark ends up stepping on the poop and in an effort to clean himself up he ends up smearing it on his legs.  If he is not already traumatized by the idea of pooping in the potty this event will have definitely done it.  Poor guy.  No poop in the potty again.  Poop next to the potty but no poop in the potty!  I rinse Mark off and send him to bed which he is all too eager to do.

Conclusion:

I was hoping to lay the foundation for Mark’s potty training so that the daycare (he starts July 21) will have something to build on.  Also, I was looking forward to having one less baby’s diaper to change.  I know that Mark can do it.  He has the physical capability to be trained, as evidenced by his ability to successfully pee in the potty and to hold in his desire to poop until he is in a diaper.  He just seems to have a fear of pooping in the potty.  I know that he can do it because he has done it once.  I have no idea what happened since then or what has caused him to have this fear.  When ever I sit him down and try to get him to poop he gets up immediately and cries that it is “yucky.”  Afraid that he is going to make himself sick with constipation I am going to hold back on the poop training.  Since he seems to be doing well with the peeing, I’m still going to let him run around without any bottoms so that he can work on perfecting his new skill.  But as soon I see him clutching his butt, I’m going to get him in a diaper (or a Pull-Up) and let him go about his business.  Hopefully with time, and me using Aidan pooping as an example, I can help him get over his mental insecurity of pooping in the potty.

*Sigh*  Looks like Mark will be in diapers much longer than I had initially hoped for.  Oh well. *Shrug shoulders*

Aside: 

I think this is the best way to start potty training. From past experience I have learned that the minute I put my kids in either an underwear or a diaper they take the opportunity to relieve themselves in it.  Not so bad with a diaper but absolutely gross in an underwear.  So at least for the first week or so, while they are learning to understand their bowel functions, I let them go naked from the waist down. 

Seeing red

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I believed William when he told me that I would not be making any money my first year of teaching because of all the expenses we have.  But I didn’t know how bad it was going to be until I sat down tonight and itemized all my expenses – day care, life insurance, vision insurance, short-term disability insurance, etc.  OMG!  My heart sank.  I won’t be making any money at all!  In fact, it looks like I’m going to be owing money to my employer or getting a negative pay check (if there is such a thing).  It’s absolutely horrible!

I know you are wondering why I’m putting myself through this torture only so I can be in a financial hole.  It’s for my boys.  It’s so that William and I can afford to send them to preschool.  Aidan greatly benefited from his preschool experience last year.  It would be a crime not to expose him to that environment again this year.  And I know Mark is ready for that challenge too.  Me staying home would be great for Caitlin and myself, but I know my boys would lose out on this deal.  It would be unfair to them.

*Sigh* What have I signed up for?  Other than the boys going to preschool, I don’t see anything else positive coming out of this experience (at least for this year).  I’m forced to put Caitlin in day care and I’m going to be dead broke!

My ray of light is the knowledge that things will get better by the end of next year.  Aidan will be starting kindergarten then and Mark will hopefully be potty trained (diaper expenses go down).  So basically I have to suffer for one year as I work towards giving my boys a better life and a jump start on their education.  I’ll just have to remember this “piece of sunshine” when I get my first (second, third, fourth… ) negative paycheck(s).

Ain’t life grand!  Ugh!!!  🙁

Mischief in the making

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At 10 months old that is exactly what Caitlin is.  Now that she has perfected the art of walking, her next mission is to master climbing… and she is determined.  A few days ago I heard Caitlin crying in my bedroom.  I ran to her aid only to find out that her outburst was prompted by her inability to climb up the overturned laundry basket.  I laughed.  The next day she finds the laundry basket again and this time she manages to climb on top of it… and fall off!  If I thought my boys were a handful… she’s going to prove me wrong.

Here are some pictures taken on the day she conquered the laundry basket.

Conquering the laundry

Conquering the laundry

climb3.jpg

Conquering the laundry

Other things she can do and/or likes to do at 10 months: 

  *  Do the Zena Warrior Princess call (as witnessed in the first picture) when she gets excited.

  *  Throw, what looks like the makings of, a mini tantrum.

tantrum.jpg

  *  Play with cars.

cars.jpg

  *  Take off her diaper.  She is so pleased with herself when she gets it off.
      One day William got annoyed and duct taped her diaper on.

  *  Say ‘Ma.’  I’m not sure if it stands for ‘Mom’ or ‘Mark.’  I’d like to think she is saying ‘Mom.’

  *  Say ‘Da.’  I’m not sure if it stands for ‘Dad’ or ‘Aidan.’

  *  Clap her hands.

claphands.jpg
Click on picture to view video

  *  Watch videos of herself.

  *  Wave hello/bye.

  *  Stomp her feet when she is excited.

All in all, she is mischief in the making.  And a pure joy to watch grow.

joy.jpg

PS:  Here’s a link if you have dial up connection – Clap Your Hands.

My kids are midgets

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Aidan and Caitlin had their well baby appointments last week and both of them weighed in at the low one percentile of their weight charts.  Aidan, at 4 years, weighs 28.5 lbs (12.9 kg) and Caitlin, at nine months, weighs 15.65 lbs (7.1 kg).  Height wise they are around the 20th and 15th percentile respectively (Aidan measured in at 39.5 inches and Caitlin at 25.5 inches).  Neither William nor I are worried about these low numbers.  Given that he is tall and ultra skinny and I’m short and “healthy” it is no surprise to us that our kids are so tiny.  But it is funny to hear the doctors try to “put us at ease” about our kids growth.  Sometimes I think they are more worried about the growth than we are and they are talking out loud in order to make themselves feel better about it.

Anyway, as I was saying, Aidan had his four year well baby appointment which is a big one for kids.  They get their vision and hearing checked and they get a round of booster shots.  William took Aidan to get his hearing and vision tested while I stayed in the room with Caitlin and Mark.  When they came back from the tests, the report I got from William was very funny.  Aidan was really excited about the procedure.

Nurse:  Aidan look into the microscope and tell me what you see.
Aidan:  I see pictures.
Nurse:  What pictures do you see?
Aidan:  I see pictures.
Nurse:  (Shows Aidan a copy of the images that is under the microscope).  Can you tell me what these pictures are?  Aidan correctly identifies the pictures.
Nurse:  Can you tell me which pictures you see under there (pointing to the microscope).
Aidan:  (Looks through the microscope) I see ‘A’.  I see pictures!
Nurse to William:  He will have to redo the eye test at his five year well baby appointment.

She proceeds to check his hearing and place a headphone on his head.
Nurse:  Aidan raise you hand when you hear the music.
Aidan raises his hand.
Nurse:  No Aidan, raise you hand when you hear the music.
Aidan raises his hand.
Nurse:  The music is not on.
Aidan raises his hand, higher, higher.

Needless to say the tests were inconclusive.

Also, Aidan said the cutest things about Caitlin.  When the doctor was examining his sister he told her, “She’s a princess.”  And when it was Caitlin’s turn to get her shots (after he had gotten his) he tells the nurse, “Don’t hurt her.”  It makes me proud that Aidan is such a wonderful and caring big brother.

PS:  In case you are curious, I just measured Mark.  He weighs 23 lbs (10.4 kg) and is approximately 34 inches tall.

Aidan get’s his weight checked