Jude’s To Do List for Today

Levi was sick today, but that didn’t stop Jude from wanting to have a fun day.  As soon as he and I got back from karate at about 9:30 a.m., Jude declared that I hadn’t done anything fun with him all day long.  I asked him to write a list so we’d do everything he wanted to do today.  Here was his list (he wrote it mostly in all caps), which we were able to easily complete:

GAMes

tAG

LEVI (meaning check on Levi)

JUMP

FLIP

LEVI (meaning check on Levi)

 

Normal Chaos

In our house, chaos is the norm. For example, last night when I was getting ready to give the boys a bath, I accidentally kneeled on Levi’s foot. While he was screaming about that and I was trying to apologize, Asher bopped a balloon into the still empty bathtub and then dove in head first to get it. Then while I turned my attention to Asher and his little mishap, Jude managed to smash his head against the countertop while trying to undress himself. Man, oh man.

A Slip and Fall and a 911 Call

Today was another crazy day in the Olson house.  I had the day off for Martin Luther King Day so we had planned to use our free tickets to Water Park of America.  We arrived there and realized that every other kid with the day off from school also had our same great idea.  We waited in line for an hour and finally were able to convert our free tickets into free wrist bands.  Asher was sleeping in my arms on the way into the park after our long wait and Levi and Jude were excitedly running by the edge of the pool.  Levi slipped and fell backwards and hit his head.  I couldn’t even help him up since Asher was sleeping cradled in my arms.  None of us thought there was anything wrong with Levi other than a little bonk.  We swam for a couple hours and the boys all had a blast.  Jude and Levi fell asleep on the way home and then Jude woke up just in time to go to his first Monday karate lesson ever.  It was after karate that I noticed the big egg on the back of Levi’s head.  It was protruding out an inch and was severely bruised.  I freaked out a bit.  Jude must have heard me and ran and found a phone and called 911 and handed me the phone.  I didn’t realize he had called 911 and I hung up the phone.  911 called me back and I explained what happened.  I then called the nurse line and the nurse said we can treat Levi at home but we (meaning me, of course) need to check on Levi every 2 hours tonight and every 4 hours tomorrow night.  That should work out since Asher already has me up 15 times a night on average, per my fitbit.  My head hurts just thinking about poor little Levi and then the bad memories of the big bonk Jude once got and wishing we had opted for a CT scan then since we would have discovered his first brain tumor almost 4 months before we did.

Powerlifting

Today we went to a HopeKids powerlifting event.  I’ve always enjoyed weightlifting and did it off and on throughout college and law school, but now carrying around 3 boys is my only weight training and this was the first powerlifting event we’ve ever attended.  The boys enjoyed the show because they were great about inviting all the kids up to the stage for the big lifts and stunts.  Highlights were when both Jude and Levi won t-shirts by being at the right place at the right time during the show; when Jude gave the athletes some of our old license plates to mangle; when Jude got a shower of pop when an athlete ripped apart a full pop can (that reminds me that I never gave him a bath afterwards) and when Jude was front and center while an athlete crushed a frying pan in half and gave it to Jude as a souveniur.  These powerlifting athletes have raised a ton of money for HopeKids, which is really exciting.

Jude’s Quote of the Day

After karate today, Jude and I ran into the dollar store next door and bought 2 items for a dollar each. The clerk said the total was “two fifteen.” Jude said, “How much was it? Two dollars and fifteen cents? I bet the fifteen cents was tax.” The clerk was pretty impressed and wanted to know how old he is.