colourblind

Like my use of British English spelling? I've already switched over to saying "takeaway" instead of "to go," "mobile" instead of "cell" and "kilometers" instead of "miles." If this continues, I'll be off having tea with the Queen (or Princess Kate and baby George) by next year!

Last week was a rough week. Non-stop, in the car, a bazillion appointments, just as hot as always, roadblocks (life ones, not literal ones) constantly appearing in front of me . . . battles to fight, things to be aggravated about, and no time to myself.

So far this week the 4 month heat wave has broken, the house is quiet, dinner is in the oven, and there's only one item left on my TO DO list for today. Much better.

If I were going to guess what this post was going to be about, based on the title, I would imagine some stirring prose about how my children are surrounded by kids from other cultures, how they are getting a diverse eduction both in the classroom and in the lunchroom; how beautiful it is that we can give them a foundation that exposes them to such a wide variety of experiences . . . yeah, not quite. It turns out my boys are somewhat colorblind. Color deficient, to be exact.

Calvin has been asking to go to the eye doctor to get his eyes checked because last spring he had a teacher who wrote on the white board in red pen and he said it was hard to read it sometimes. Good mom that I am told him to sit up closer so he 1) wouldn't be distracted and 2) didn't have to strain to make out the words. I knew there was a possibility that any of the kids could inherit Josh's less than perfect vision (no longer true thanks to laser eye surgery) and since Josh was about 13 when that happened, when I made my eye appointment, I also made one for the 2 older boys.

I mentioned to the tech that Calvin had trouble reading red on the white board and he dismissed it saying, "That's not likely." So we were both stunned when he pulled out his color book and instead of seeing a brown 47 inside the green circle, Calvin stared at it for a few seconds and said, "Um . . . hmm . . . 21?" The next one was 7, but he couldn't see anything in that circle. The technician raised his eyebrows at me and I laughed and said, "I guess he couldn't see red very well on the white board!" Then Carter walked over and said, "There's supposed to be numbers inside those circles?" Oh gosh.

 Both boys appear to have similar red/green color deficiencies, but not enough to impact their daily lives (one of the reasons it has gone undetected for so long). As far as we can tell, it's very mild and there isn't anything to do for it. Except to make jokes like, "I hope you like the red peppers on your sandwich" when they are actually green and watch them do a double-take. Yes, I'm mean.

As far as regular vision, Calvin has one pretty good eye and one bad eye so it will be interesting to see how glasses/contacts help him. I couldn't believe when he went to read the eye chart and had to go 2 lines bigger than normal to read back the letters. Poor kid. Carter has a very mild prescription and doesn't need glasses, but he wants them for reading so we're getting him a pair (inexpensive at Zennioptical.com) to try and see if it helps him to focus.

They are certainly a mix of Josh and I -- the colorblindness from me (it's genetically passed down from the mother) and the less than 20/20 vision from Josh. Our next medical adventure: sports physicals.

This is 40

I had my very first eye exam today. It was a little like this:

Seriously?! How is anyone supposed to decide between 1 and 2 when they flip the lenses back and forth so quickly? And I could tell she wanted me to say 2, but I wasn't sure if 1 was actually clearer or or if everything still looked fuzzy from having to cover each eye with one hand during the normal E C D B A part of the test. And this "cover your left eye with your left hand bit" is practically the hardest part of the test anyway as I freeze to figure out which hand is which. (I'm always the one in Pilates class that turns to the left when the instructor says, "Stretch to the right . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4.")

Thankfully in my case it didn't really matter because it turns out I'm a bit far sighted which explains why I'm noticing that I need reading glasses earlier than I might have otherwise. The guy explained it that my eyes naturally focus further away and now that my lens is getting less flexible, I need even more space between my eyeballs and what I'm looking at than before. At least I think that's what he said. Either way, there's nothing technically wrong with my eyes, they're just 40.

And for no reason other than because they are cute . . . kitty pictures!

He's getting big!

Better

My neck/back is getting better. It still feels not quite right, but I'll take that over stabbing pains and the inability to take a deep breath. 

Our friends from Oman are in town. Our families mesh perfectly together because the kids run off and play (Mer, Caleb and Camille built a fort and illuminated it with Christmas lights while the older boys played Madden 20XX all night) and we spend the night laughing and sharing stories. Life in the Middle East is always more fun when they are around. And funnier too, since ridiculous things always happen when we're together. 

Like last night we stopped by Marble Slab (think Coldstone) for ice cream on the way home from the airport. Caleb ordered a 'value' scoop, but the guy said he couldn't get that because they didn't have any value size cups. Josh asked, "Can't you just put a value size scoop in a regular cup?" Nope, apparently they aren't allowed to do that because the manager counts the cups. So instead of $3 scoops of ice cream, everyone was upsold to $5+ scoops of ice cream. And then it took 20 minutes to pay because we had 2 coupons and 9 ice creams and when you buy 5 you get one free but the coupons have to be on separate tickets and at the end we all had ice cream, but no clue as to whether we paid too much, too little or just right. But we laughed about it. A lot. 

pain in the neck

For the past two weeks I've had a pinched nerve in my neck/shoulder and the constant pain is dragging me down. I've tried: heat/ice/immobilization/exercise/Motrin/Coke (the legal kind)/homeopathy/essential oils/Epsom salt baths/Osteopathy/massage/whining and complaining.

One day I think things are improving -- the next I'm back to walking like C3P0.

The only thing I haven't tried is the Valium that Josh was prescribed for his back pain (it works as a muscle relaxant) because it's not exactly responsible for me to be blissed out while I'm ensuring the safety of a 3 year old. (And my phobia of taking new medications might also play a tiny part in that decision.)

Meanwhile I'm driving around on a wing and a prayer, hoping that no one sneaks into my extra-large blind spots as I'm changing lanes since I can't look over my shoulder without turning from my waist. 

Everything else here is pretty normal. The dog and cat continue to become better friends by the day, the cat has narrowly escaped being loved to death by Camille several times (including having to explain that the cat's tail is not a handle for picking him up), and the boys are continuing with Tae Kwon Do, basketball, water polo and Youth Group (and all the required driving that goes along with it). This week the temperatures have moved from 110 and high humidity to high 90s with high humidity. I don't know if I can really tell the difference. It's either freezing in the A/C or hot and drippy outside. 

School has been fine -- no parent/teacher meetings, the kids all seem relatively happy, and everyone has been responsible for their own stuff for the most part (only a few extra runs to school to bring forgotten items). I'd call that a pretty good start. I also decided to try something new this year: Instead of having the kids make their own lunches again this year, I'm buying them all lunch tickets every day. Lunch only costs $2.50/kid and I'm almost positive I spent more than that on groceries for them to make lunches. When granola bars cost 50 cents each, lunchmeat costs $10/lb and string cheese is 60 cents, we're coming really close without factoring in any of the hassle/time/yelling involved in making sure those lunches get to and from school every day with all children happy with the contents. A month in, and so far so good. Less stress, less mess. 

We have friends coming from Oman to visit this weekend. We have a trip to the waterpark planned and I'm hoping the government/my neck/the weather all cooperate. 

this explains a lot

Subtitled: Toddlers and Tiaras

You know how toddlers misbehave to get attention? And if you ignore a particularly annoying behavior they'll get bored and eventually quit doing it? I think the government here needs to go to parenting classes. Every stupid little thing here is a power struggle between the government/police and the people.

The people protest at the Pearl Roundabout -- the island's most famous landmark, so the government bulldozes the symbolic sculpture, rebuilds the road, but then sits on it 24 hours a day with tanks and guards, not allowing anyone to use it. It's like putting the cookies right out of reach, but still in view.

The people throw tires in the street and light them on fire and the police come and close the road and try to chase them down and it becomes a game with no winner. Just teasing back and forth, back and forth. Never ending.

I run into tire burning every so often. It usually comes in waves and then dissipates for a while. It's not a big deal, just an irritation and an interruption. I'm more annoyed with the government who should know better than to antagonize the people. They are doing this in their own neighborhoods -- there's no reason for the cops to set up camp and run around shooting rubber bullets or tear gas at people. The tires would burn out or people move them out of the way and drive around them. If they didn't generate such an immediate and excited response from the police there would be no point to doing it.

The purpose of this video isn't to freak anyone out -- as you can tell from my voice (as I'm on my way to school to try and pick up poor Calvin who is sitting out in the heat) I find the entire event ridiculous. But you want to know what it's like to live here? This is a taste of it.

PS: The dudes with the masks are the tire burners and they are always helpful in directing people away from the action. So when he crosses his arms, it's him telling me to avoid going down that street. Yes, I know how insane this all sounds. I guess the craziest part is that this is normal and not anxiety provoking?

For reference, the school is about 200 yards past the tires and I'm bummed because if I could have gotten by before the police came I could have hopped the curb or driven around the tires in 2 seconds, but the cops just drove through on the sidewalks and shut it down so I have to detour.

sweetness

On Labor Day, the boys had school, but Josh had the day off so we went to our favorite breakfast place, Lilou's.

She gets many, many more treats than the boys did at her age. 

Both chocolates that came with our coffees, her own drink -- fresh squeezed orange juice . . .

mmmmm . . . 

And this decadent delight -- pain perdu 

She went right for the chocolate stick that decorated the top. I admit that I ordered Camille her own breakfast just so I could have some of the whipped cream and berries. 

And a few days later she was invited to a princess birthday party. She wasn't sure she wanted to go, but then asked, "Will there be cake?" That settled it. Lots of sweet things for a sweet (and spicy) girl. 

Best in Show

The internet guy came by tonight and hooked us up with a signal that is not being blocked by the Saudis. And just because I can, I uploaded some videos:

Have I mentioned that Camille reminds us of the little girl from Finding Nemo?
It's all done in love, but she loves our kitty hard. If I turn my back to pick up a piece of paper off the floor she swoops in and scoops him up and wants to carry him around by one paw.
This toy that I ordered keeps her hands off the kitty, but still lets her "play" with him. She's going to wear him out the way she flings that mouse all over the room.
Our pets are doing great together. Only a week in and they are already wanting to play -- we just have to wait for Zeki's size to catch up with his personality. He's certainly not scared of the dog.

For all the hassle and frustration and energy that has gone into helping Micah over his anxiety issues, he is paying it all back 10xs over since Zeki came to town. I'm confident they are going to get along great.

ETA: Got one more -- the internet is on a roll!

hell on wheels

I always feel like a race car driver when I return home from driving around town. Usually it's because I've been weaving in and out, dodging other cars, and possibly hopping a curb or two. It always feels like an accomplishment to return home without having been in a fender bender. 

This is how they do kindergarten pickup. Cars every which way, some just stopped in the middle of the road while they go inside to pick up their kid, others having to go in reverse because there's only one car width available to pass. 

This silver car just parked in the middle of the road like it's a parking lot

Green light standstill. No one can move. There is a guy who controls the traffic lights at rush hour. We'd be better off with a computer. The cars on the left can't drive because that street is backed up. No one can turn left because the cars going straight have completely blocked the lane. The traffic guy had to leave the light green for almost 5 minutes before anyone was able to get anywhere. Then these cars going left will completely block the lane and no one will be able to go straight. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Hopefully she grows up to be a better driver than some of these crazies on the road. 

Ma lesh! (don't worry about it) That's how we drive here. 

Obligatory pet photos: Micah is a good sport. He actually let Camille put a headband on him, but then we laughed and he wouldn't let her do it again. He's also great with the cat. He really wants to play with him so I have to watch him closely so he doesn't step on tiny kitty with his clumsy paws. 

Sweet sleepy kitty

Completely relaxed

picking up speed

My internet is no longer running with snails. It's not back to it's former glory yet, but I have high hopes for next week.

At the end she bends down and sees that the decorative bow on her slipper is untied so of course, I have to tie it before she goes back to dancing. After tying those stupid pieces of elastic 31 gazillion times in one day, I snipped them off with a pair of scissors. Much better. 

"Free dance" at the end of class. Think she loves it?

We're off to ballet again in a few minutes. Every day this week she has asked: "Can you sign me up for the next ballet?" until it finally sunk in that yes, she can go every week (until either she or I get sick of it). 

Introducing . . . Zeki

Still no joy with the internet. It's taken me days to get these photos uploaded and I'm still not entirely sure they're going to show up. But I'm giving it a shot. 

On Friday after church we went to pick out our new family member. Caleb had a favorite and Carter had a favorite, but we decided to handle things Solomon-style and choose an alternate cat (they were all friendly and sweet so there was no danger in that). There were a few tears at saying goodbye to the babies they had grown attached to, but 4 days later there are no regrets. 

We weren't expecting to take him home that day, so we had to pick up a few cat supplies on base --pets aren't allowed inside the building, but it's too hot to leave any living creature in the car so he did a ride along in my shopping bag. 

Shhh! No meowing!

Zeki means "intelligent/crafty/quick-witted" in Arabic

They're as sweet with him as they were with their baby sister

Snuggled up watching Rocky

He's fitting in quite nicely.