Andy & Jessica

Today, while working from home, Jude said, “Mommy, you know how I know you are smart? You can do work while we talk to you.”  It wasn’t long after that that I had to confess to Jude that I wasn’t as smart as he thought and he was going to either have to be quiet or go upstairs so I could concentrate on my work.

Levi has been screaming and yelping all day.  I asked Jude, “What is wrong with him?  Why is he yelping?”  Jude said, without missing a beat, “I don’t think he’s human, I think he’s a crying machine.”

 

In the event anyone has to watch our boys for any reason, I’ve drafted some care instructions.

1.  Jude

• He is allergic to dogs.  He needs to be given  Children’s Allergy meds (5mg) twice a day when he will be in contact with a dog.
• He has a history of supratentorial cortical ependymoma in the left posterior parietal region of his brain.  Initial surgery was in November 2010, with no further treatment until recurrence.  At recurrence, he had another surgery in June 2012 followed by 7 weeks of proton radiation.  He has a history of seizures but has not had one since shortly after his 2^nd surgery.  If he cannot finish his sentence or shows repetitive behavior, but otherwise appears normal, watch him carefully.  He may be having a complex seizure (that involves no jerking or any of the standard seizure symptoms).  If it lasts for at least a minute, call 911 and dispense Diazepam rectally.  If you are near or in the cities, request that he be taken by ambulance to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis.  Paramedics likely will not believe you that he is having a seizure, but you will have to be firm.  He goes downhill quickly and will soon be non-communicative, peeing his pants, drooling out one side of his mouth and non-reactive to a finger stick.
• Jude’s oncologist is Dr. Anne Bendel at Children’s – 612-813-5940.  Jude’s pediatrician (also the other boys’ pediatrician) is Dr. Quale at Wayzata Children’s Clinic in Minnetonka  – 952-473-0211.
• He has eczema.  He needs lotion daily on his face and arms/legs or he will break out in itchy bumps and need you to apply hydrocortisone at 3 a.m. to get it under control.
• Jude will never admit to being tired.  If he says he wants to “snuggle,” it’s time for him to quick brush his teeth and go potty before he crashes.
• He likes to help himself.  If you don’t want him to eat something, make sure it is out of his site.
• Loves eating vitamins.
• Tell him to keep his finger out of his nose or he’ll be dripping blood in no time.

2.  Levi

• He hasn’t quite mastered the art of wiping his own butt, but typically won’t ask for help.  If he disappears, you’ll know where to find him.  He often leaves a streak of poop on the toilet seat when he slides himself off.  Keep Lysol wipes handy.
• He tends to forget to put the seat up when doing a stand-up pee and will pee all over the seat.  Look before you sit.
• He’ll drink nothing but juice if you let him.  Water it down 50/50 at least.
• If he says he brushed his teeth, chances are that he is lying.
• He throws temper tantrums.  Just give him whatever he wants and the tantrum will stop.
• Needs lotion daily on face.
• Won’t eat vitamins.

3.  Asher

• When the fight breaks out, chances are Asher started it.  If you want to really punish him, he hates nothing more than a time out.
• Needs lotion daily on face, but hates it.
• Loves eating vitamins.
• He hates tags on his clothes.  If he asks, just cut it off for him.
• Put up anything you don’t want him to break.
• If he asks for “melkies,” good luck because they are attached to me.

“Mommy, when you are done paying for this house, are you going to get so many stay home days that we can’t believe?”

Since Andy and I will be out of the country (in Israel) on Levi’s real birthday, we celebrated early with family.  Levi got an Angry Birds cake.  One could have easily mistaken the celebration as Jude’s party as he had convinced Levi to ask for Skylanders for the Wii for his birthday.  Jude was thrilled to add to their collection.  Jude went right to work convincing Levi he didn’t even know how to play the game.  But, Levi amazed all of us and was beating Jude at the Wii game that Jude plays all the time and Levi had never played before.  At one point, Jude got so desperate in his attempt not to lose that he told Levi to drop the controllers right now.  Thankfully, Levi didn’t listen and went on to beat Jude at a duel.  Now that Levi is 4, his life is going to get really exciting since he is now old enough for karate.  We’ll get him enrolled soon in the same school where Jude goes.

Little Levi is my sweet, sweet neglected middle child.  He really does get the scraps, but is such a loving child and we love him so much.  I always feel guilty because by the time Jude was 2, Jude was reading and I was working with him all the time on various skills.  I barely have a chance to read with Levi, but he loves it when I do.  Andy got a free trial to a reading website today and signed up Levi for it.  Levi took a reading assessment all on his own and scored with a reading age of 5.25 years and he knows 45 of 200 sight words.  So proud of him!

Me to Asher:  “I love you.”

Asher’s repsonse to me:  “Me love you.”

Last night as we were snuggling to sleep, Jude was laying on my “tummy” as he often still likes to do and appeared restless.  He said, “You are really warm and cozy but everywhere I lay, I feel bones and bones.  They are everywhere.”

Given that Asher was conceived during the post-brain cancer diagnosis blur period in November 2010, Jude said last night about dealing with brain cancer, “I have a brother to play with forever and just brain tumors for a little while.”

“I think I liked the Jude that refused to sing more than the Jude that likes to sing. Now he’s singing the “Kars 4 Kids” ad, the most annoying radio ad in the history of EVER.”  (I, on the other hand, love that Jude is now finally starting to sing!  Bonus that his new talent that can be used to annoy his dad.)