Lizard Lady at San Carlos Library

Last Saturday we went to SC library to see the Lizard Lady. It was really fun to see her creatures.

School Days: last & first (and weird virus side effects)

 Josie started her new preschool at Heather School at the end of August. It meant she had to say goodbye to her teachers and friends at Yvette's school (home daycare). It wasn't really "good bye" b/c we knew we would have the opportunity to go back and visit and maybe even spend a day. 

Josie wanted to write cards for all her friends and for Yvette. 

Yvette's card says, "I love you Yvette. It is my last day and I miss you so much. I love you. Bye bye. Josie." I'm pretty impressed with her writing.

 She basically wrote the same for each friend. "I love you, Anai. Bye Bye. See you soon". On the back it says Love Josie. She wrote one to Declan, Mimi & Ella, Pietro, Mazarine & Christopher. That was a lot of writing.

 Hugs to Anai

 Hugs to Delores & Jeaneth

 Josie's first day of school at Heather. It was an usual week because she had a weird illness. I think she had the after effect of some kind of virus and developed Childhood Benign Acute Myositis. (At least that's what I found online. It described her symptoms to a tee, even the intermittent pain.) She had terrible leg pain. It hurt to walk or to touch her calf muscles at all. When I say she was in pain she would scream out in pain. It was so sad to see her like this. She could not walk on her first day of school. As long as she wasn't moving she wasn't in pain. Not easy to be in school and not be able to move very well. She was a trooper. She picked out her outfit for her first day. Pictures at home and at school.

 The pain started on Monday. She went to school on Tues and Wed and couldn't do too much. Wed afternoon I took her in to her doctor and by the time we saw her the pain was dissipating. She was able to run down the hallway before we left. We thought maybe she was fine. Thursday her back started hurting when I dropped her off at Gahaus. It was so awful I picked her up early and took her home. It was her back and legs. They were all so painful to the touch which meant even carrying her was difficult. It didn't stop her from playing monopoly. She asked me to move her piece for her b/c it hurt too much to stretch her arm across the board.

Video of her walking in pain. She was able at times to walk on her tip toes.

On Friday that week I took her to the park on the way to doing some errands down town. I thought I could at least push her in the swing. Then she wanted me to carry her to the top of the slide. She wanted to go again. Video shows her crawling over to the slide. Very rigid movements. It wasn't long before she was walking on her tiptoes holding on to things and then eventually walking awkwardly on her own for short bursts. 

We went down town and she was in the Bob stroller. She wanted to get out and take a picture by the sculpture decorated with Back to School theme.

We enjoyed a nice lunch out at a fav sandwich spot called Gherkins. They give lots of little pickles.

Saturday & Sunday still in pain but walking some by Sunday afternoon as shown in the video although still painful.

Monday was Labor Day and she came crawling out of bed like she'd been doing the last few days. Sad site to see her crawl into the bathroom in the morning to go potty. She was playing in her room and at one point she came walking out. I said, "Josie you're walking!" She said, "Do you want to see me run?" There you go. No more pain after that. After one week it was gone. It was a crazy week wondering what was going on. Since I saw the article about the myositis I was pretty sure it would go away but not so sure how long it would take. It was easy watching her in pain. It also wasn't easy carrying her every where. Sure made a thankful that God gave us a healthy little girl and that this was temporary. Thanks to all who prayed for her.

Finally some better school pictures without the trauma. She loves being in school with her best buddy Kaira.

 We walk part way to school. She's carry panda in her dress. Later to become her rest-time mate. She carries her lunch on her back.

Visit to Santa Rosa

On Saturday Aug 23 we drove to Santa Rosa for my half marathon. We visited the Charles Shultz Museum and really enjoyed it. Such an interesting story about his life and his comic strip. We even got to watch a 30 min Peanuts movie so Josie could understand what it was all about. She hasn't had much exposure to the Peanut's gang since the Christmas and Halloween special always seemed to come on after her bed time. We walked through the museum for awhile then on the "campus" there was also a cafe and ice rink. Charles loved to play ice hockey so he had the rink built for the town and from the cafe you could watch ice skaters. He had breakfast there every morning. We ate lunch there and watched some skating. He always played tennis so built courts for the town. After lunch we went back to the museum to finish up our visit. So much to see and do. We highly recommend a visit to the campus.

 

One of his early strips when Snoopy was still on all fours.

 

 I loved some of the messages in his strips. Interesting to see how they fit what was happening in the world at the time.

 There was an art room where kids could do all kinds of projects. A replica of Charles' home office with an ongoing video of him explaining how he draws his characters and comes up with his ideas.

 Of course a visit to the gift shop was necessary and Josie picked out a miniature stuffed Snoopy to take home.

 

On to a winery where I had to pick up my race packet. 

 We checked into our motel and had a 45 min rest before we met cousin Holly for dinner. So fun to be with her. We've seen her a couple times since Josie was a wee one but both events, wedding and memorial service Josie wasn't with us so she hadn't seen Josie since she was 3 weeks old.

 We went to bed early b/c I had to be at the race at 6:30 for a 7am start. Luckily the motel was 2 miles away so we could leave at 6:15. Our night was disrupted in the early hours by an earth quake of all things. Josie slept right through it but Eric and I both sat up in bed. We were on the 2nd floor of the two story motel so it was swaying a bit but honestly it didn't feel like too big a deal. Didn't think about it being a big quake farther away. Thankfully everything around us and our home on a steep hill was unaffected. 

I ended up having a pretty good run for the small amount of training I did. It was hard especially the last few miles but the outcome was worth the effort. Eric and Josie were waiting at the finish line for me. We ate some pancakes, I got a 10-min massage while Eric waited in line with my number to pick up my finishers sweatshirt.

 It was a nice drive home. Much less congested then our way up to Santa Rosa.

4 years, 7 months

 

Hard to start with this adorable picture.

Josie says interesting and funny things all the time but it's usually quick and I'm in the middle of driving or doing something and it's not convenient to write it down. One funny thing she said recently b/c she seems to have ear wax lately. "There's something mysterious about this ear. It keeps growing more stuff. Who did this? The Sand Man?" She seems to have grown in the last month. I measured her on the wall and she's the same but she looks taller.

Josie and I went to the San Carlos Farmer's Market and they happened to have a Ferris Wheel there. We took a ride. Why not? It was pretty fun. Loved Josie's face even though I didn't capture it very well.

Josie's first visit to Chuckie Cheese. She's been waiting for this for a long time. So has Pietro from school. He's been talking about his party for a long time. Josie was not disappointed. She had fun riding some rides and doing some of the games with Anai.

 

We went over to John and Jody's for a send off to college party for Kirsten. She headed to Baylor in Tx a couple days later. She and Matt and their friend Michael all were challenged to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Kirsten challenged Uncle Bill so he got in on the fun. I'd never heard of it before.

Josie watching with a puzzled look on her face. We had just gotten home from camping that afternoon and she had an ear ache so wasn't quite herself.

Josie really wants a dog and says we should move to the country before her birthday so she can get a dog for her birthday. We keep telling her it won't be happening any time soon so for now she'll enjoy Uncle Bill's dog, Rocket, and her cousin's dog, Maile. 

My ice bucket challenge along with Josie. She had a small bucket of warm water which didn't quite make it on her head b/c of the shock of cold water coming from my bucket.

One of Eric and Josie's 10-min projects. A boat to float the dinosaurs.

Josie bead projects. We have since ironed them and they're really pretty. I love her creative patterns.

 

 We celebrated Eric's birthday with the family at Shirley and Rich's. Yummy BBQ. Cousin Sophia and Lori were there heading home to Spain the next day. Cousin Paige was there with Rod and Kelly expecting their twin boys any day. Matt was the only big cousin there since his sisters are already at college. The girls loved having Matt read to them.

 Backyard visitor

 Kings Mountain Art & Wine Fair. Beautiful sunny day on Skyline.

 Love this sweet puppy face.

 

Rare pic of Josie and mommy

 

Thea passed on Reindeer Monopoly to Josie and she loves it. Now Monopoly Jr is for babies. Eric and I prefer Monopoly Jr.

 

 A few pics I found on Eric's phone that are old but wanted to post anyway.

We must have been traveling somewhere and made her wear headphones while doing her ipad.

Eric sold this but took a cute pic of J on it. 

Not the most glamorous pic of me but captures where Josie often ends up. She's been sleeping on the floor in our room for the past month. Sometimes she'll wake up early and climb in bed with us.