By the same author as “Llama Destroys the World,” “Don’t Feed the Coos” is about a girl that accidentally encourages a bunch of pigeons to follow her around endlessly. It’s a book of few words, so it’s also good for younger kids than my 4 year old, but my son wants me to read this book over and over. It’s cute, and attention to details in the pictures pays off. I missed some stuff on the first couple of readings.
This is the true story of Omar and his brother Hassan, who grew up in a refugee camp in Kenya after leaving Somalia. They were desperately hoping their mom would find them, but managed to pull it off with a foster mom and a school.
It is important to get stories like this out to kids so they are less likely to form preconceived notions about refugees based on the current political climate. It was well-written and enjoyable.
This is a graphic novel for kids which I listened to adapted to audiobook. It was well read and interesting despite not having the pictures.
When Mouse discovers a gigantic poo outside her home, she wants to know who has offended her. She asks around, but everyone claims that their poo looks different than the poo in question. Until she discovers the offender.
This is an adorable poo story. It even has a bit at the end talking about what good things poo can be used for, and pictures of several types of poo meant to be matched to each animal’s description of their own poo. I used it to help my 4 year old feel better about pooping.
In this delightful remake of the Addams Family, Wednesday Addams is sent off to boarding school. There, she tries to discover the culprit behind some heinous murders.
I loved this. Especially Wednesday’s now famous dance scene. I don’t feel that the Addams parents were as charming as she was, but I think that was the writing and not the casting. I loved each and every one of Wednesdays friends. I look forward to the next season.
News
Saturday
Saturday I spent a good chunk of the day sleeping off my not-strep. I watched some X-files with D13 and Aaron in the evening.
Sunday
Sunday I felt pretty much normal by the end of the day, which was nice. I got some reading done and took IL4 to an appointment. M10 went to baseball. D13 watched a movie. Calm day. Great news, though! My wedding ring fits again!
Monday
Monday was a rushed day. I drove M10 to student council, then took D13 to 3 appointments. While at one appointment, the daycare called and said IL4 was “screaming in excruciating pain, grabbing his leg and sometimes his bottom.” I thought perhaps this was an exaggeration. I imagined he was just wothholding poop and was about to pooplode. I was right. I sent Aaron to get him, since I couldn’t.
After all that, we had a parent-teacher conference for M10’s math class. Apparently he’s doing well, but has started missing assignments, which is exactly what’s happening in other classes. Then M10 had a patrol meeting for Cub scouts. Busy day!
Tuesday
Tuesday was a mess. IL4 had diarrhea 4 times overnight, so we kept him at home, where he had diarrhea 10 times that day. Then, I went to pick up M10 from school, where I was told he’d gotten into a fight. I won’t go into detail, but he deserved the punch he got – he asked for it, in fact. Then, D13 was doubled over in pain, so I was left trying to figure out whether to take her to Urgent Care or talk to her doctor in the morning. I waited
Wednesday
Wednesday went much better. IL4 had a doctor appointment followed by an X-ray. Because he was so brave, I took him to the store to get Cheetos. There, he performed a miracle – he told me needed to go potty, and held it in while I ran the cart to the bathroom! This happened twice, so he got two extra rewards. In the evening we had the first family dinner that we’ve had since we moved the table for the Christmas tree. It had gotten a lot of stuff piled on it.
Thursday
Thursday was fun. I took M10 to play laser tag at the Mall of America. Afterwards, he, my dad and I ate at Rainforest Cafe, and then bought LEGOs at LEGOLand. That evening, we had 3 parent teacher conferences.
Friday
Friday was good. After speech therapy, I took IL4 to the library. He picked out another book for me to read, despite my having not finished “Dead Wake” yet. The book is “Three Rings,” by Daniel Mendelsohn. Apparently he thinks I read quite the variety.
Reading to IL4
M10 reading
D13 reading
Wrote
Week’s Photos
Media Partaken In
Posts
When Bird woke up, he was grumpy. But his friends helped him have a better day. He has a lot of friends.
This is a nice book to encourage kids to live in the moment. If you feel grumpy, go ahead. But as soon as you don’t, roll with that, too. This was my 4yo’s favorite book when he was 3. He’s graduated on past board books now, but I still read it to him sometimes.
The “happily ever after” part of The Frog Prince story comes into question when the prince and princess forget how much they live each other. Luckily, misadventures then occur.
Cute, amusing, fun. My 4yo loves the pictures enjoys the story.
This is a unique picture book about the Big Bad Wolf’s son, who just likes to be good. He’s sent to bad school, and everything goes wrong. I thought the story was engaging and sweet, and the pictures are nice for kids to look at. Very colorful and interesting.
In this colorful and wacky children’s graphic novel, you are in a universe where you are one head of a two-headed chicken. A giant green moose is chasing you through various universes to fry you up. I read it to my 4 year old, who was moderately amused. I thought it was cute and funny, but it’s not something I would have read for myself. Overall, a reasonably good book, though.
News
Ok, now that I have had time to process, I’m ready to say what is going on with my friend in the ICU. On Monday evening, I Ubered him to the ER for psychiatric problems. He voluntarily entered, but they put a hold on him, and kept him in the ER till Wednesday morning.
At that point, he became unruly and they sedated him with something that required him to be intubated. They wake him every morning, and if he’s pissed when he wakes up, then they sedate him again. Of course, he’s pissed at what they’re doing to him, so this may go on for a bit.
I feel that they are doing this out of convenience because they view him as a friendless addict. Couldn’t they transport him somewhere safe while intubated? Or physically restrain him while he’s unconscious and transport him to a psychiatric ward that way?
I am concerned this will last longer than 2 weeks – and he shouldn’t be intubated beyond that. I’m concerned he will get PTSD from this experience (intubation can give PTSD, and he already suffers from PTSD.) I am concerned about damage to his lungs from the intubation.
I have contacted some lawyers, but I’m pretty sure they won’t do anything until Todd has actually been injured or suffered from PTSD.
Saturday
Saturday was a good day. I went to Olive Garden with my friend Liz to discuss our mini-bookclub book Akata Witch. We both enjoyed it. Our next pick is Sixteen Scandals.
Afterwards, we watched an episode of Doctor Who with Aaron and M10. Then Aaron went to a puzzle competition and Liz, M10, and I watched Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Maybe too much for a 10yo, but we all enjoyed it. After Liz left, we watched Clue.
IL4 had a hard day, though. He ran around all day holding his butt saying “ow ow ow.” Later, he voided on the floor. I suspect he’s been withholding stool for at least 3 weeks, as this is the third time this has happened. I sent a message to his doctor about it.
Sunday
On Sunday I ran errands and checked things off my to-do list.
Monday
Monday was a good day. There were a couple of appointments, I ate lunch with Aaron, then visited Todd in the ICU. He’s awake! Had another unfinished project fiasco – this time with D13. She insisted that she wasn’t going to do an assigned project, and got pretty upset when I lay on her the same consequences I gave M10 last Thursday when he refused to do his homework.
Tuesday
Tuesday I spent a couple hours trying to read a book (Defensive Baking) that D13 wanted me to read in order to help her with her book report. Then she did the book report on her own. Lol.
I picked up M10 early because he wasn’t feeling well, but we got to go through his school-year-long reading assignment. He’s supposed to read 4 books a month (including graphic novels), but he has to read at least one of each genre. He had forgotten this assignment by mid October, but luckily I have been mentioning the kids’ books in my blog since December. So we had December and January filled in yesterday, and I sat down with him and gave him some choices for the upcoming genres.
I also visited Todd in the hospital. In another jerk mood by the hospital, the doctors decided to let him stay as long as he was willing (in this case 2 days after waking up) and then slap a 72 hour hold on him the moment he asked if he could leave. Not that it’ll do them any good, they’ll not find a psychiatric ward by Friday, and need a court order for an extended hold. The mental health system sucks so much.
Wednesday
Wednesday I visited Todd in the hospital and rested.
Thursday
So…on Wednesday evening, I started getting a minor sore throat. I wore a mask at work, thinking I probably had a cold. That night, I had a sore throat which tied with mono as the worst sore throat of my life. I figured maybe I had strep, since I’d had contact with someone whose daughter had it.
On Thursday, I went to urgent care. The doctor looked in my mouth and decided I had strep. She was certain. She wrote me a prescription and told me to start it immediately, before the results came back. The results came back negative, but I decided to treat it like strep anyway.
Friday
Friday I decided I definitely did not have strep. I started coming down with a massive head cold. I cancelled two appointments for IL4, and switched his doctor appointment to virtual. Even that much was exhausting. I called in sick to work, and got some relaxing done.
Reading to IL4
M10 reading
D13 reading
Wrote
Media Partaken In
Posts
Hibernator's Library 