M-lady and the kids got up to see Ama and Agu off this morning. M-lady came back to bed after getting some breakfast for the kids, but they stayed up and played. They spent time in the room with us, sword fighting, jumping on (us) the bed, and generally carrying on. We kicked them out a couple times.
I got up around 9:00 to watch a little TV with the kids. I got them a second breakfast around 10:30ish, and then managed to get back to bed for half an hour or so. I eventually got up around the time M-lady and Bud headed out to run some errands together. Buster and I loaded up as well after we'd gotten ready, and headed out to the grocery store. We had a good time, and got home to unload groceries. Buster was really excited about some erasers we'd picked up, and was anxious to try them out.
M-lady and Bud arrived home shortly, and Bud and I had some lunch. Buster snacked a little bit. After lunch, we continued to have a mellow afternoon. M-lady got some work done in the office, I got a few odd jobs done, and the kids played. Around 3:30 I set them up to play Lego Harry Potter on the Xbox, and that carried them for about an hour.
I set up the paper shredder in the late afternoon, and gave the kids a chance to shred some documents under close supervision. Bud thought it was cool for a few minutes, but Buster thought it was a bit too loud. The kids abandoned me to the shredding after a short time.
When the documents were disposed of, I started getting some dinner ready with Buster. We had a nice video chat with Grandma Nese and Granddad B, who called to congratulate Bud on his piano recital. Both kids interacted a bit, and Buster showed off the work he was doing in his workbook.
We had dinner a short time later, and both kids ended up eating pretty well, although it took Bud a bit of a restart. After dinner, I got the kids into the shower and cleaned up. After they were in PJs, it was snack time, and from there straight on to bed. I watched some trailers with Bud before bed, and he was excited to see the trailer for The Secret World of Arrietty, which is based on the book The Borrowers, which Bud is currently reading.
The kids were up at the usual time this morning, and M-lady and the Ama and Agu took care of them. M-lady managed to come back to bed for a while, and I happily slept until about 10:30. Buster jumped in bed with us for a while, and demanded an iPad for a bit. I was able to convince him to head downstairs for a snack around the time I rolled out of bed.
I headed out around 11:00 with Buster to run a few errands. Buster proclaimed that he was 'starving' around 11:30, so we stopped for lunch. Buster ate pretty well, and we headed off to continue our errands. We made it home again around 1:00.
M-lady and her folks headed out to meet Aunt O, Uncle C, and Cousin C at a house that family is looking at, and I watched the kids at home for a bit. We had a good time playing, and Buster busied himself with the iPad again for a bit. When M-lady and her parent arrived home again, Cousin C and family came, too.
Buster and Cousin C got down to playing with each other, and Uncle C stayed behind to watch them while the rest of us loaded up and headed out to Bud's Suzuki Book 1 graduation recital. This was Bud's 6th or 7th performance, but his first graduation, so he got to play a bunch of songs rather than one or two. He did a great job, and delivered a solid performance.
After the recital ended, we headed home, where we dropped off Aunt O and Ama. The rest of us continued on to McDonald's, where we got Shamrock Shakes to celebrate Bud's performance. We all had them right before dinner.
After dinner, Aunt O, Uncle C, and Cousin C took their leave, and we said goodbye. Buster was having fun building a little fort for himself, and it occurred to me to pull out the PlayHut tents. Buster thought they were fantastic, and played with them for the rest of the evening.
We watched a little TV before snack time, and the bedtime routine was pretty straightforward. The kids said their goodbyes to Ama and Agu, who will be heading home tomorrow morning. Buster fell asleep pretty quickly after the lights went out.
The morning routine was straightforward, and Bud headed out with M-lady for school while I waited with Buster for Nanny J. Buster was excited to work in his workbook, and sat down to practice writing letters until Nanny J arrived and I headed out for work.
I arrived home around 5:30. We said goodbye to Nanny J, and I played with the kids for a few minutes before M-lady arrived home. She got Bud going on his homework, while I snoozed on the couch for a few minutes with Buster occasionally jumping on me.
We all had dinner together. Bud ate well, but Buster just sort of nibbled. After dinner, Bud did his piano practice, and Buster and I watched a Ninjago episode. Bud joined us before snack time.
Bedtime was usual, and I played Machinarium with Buster until turning out the light around 8:30.\
The kids were up early enough to have a pretty straightforward morning routine. M-lady took Buster to school this morning, and I dropped off Bud. It was raining, so he headed straight into the classroom rather than waiting outside, as is the norm.
I got home around 6:00, and we said goodbye to Nanny J. Buster was excited to show me something new: he'd written the alphabet on his magnetic doodle pad. It's the first time he's done that freehand, and he did a really good job. I was impressed. The E and F were overlapping, but other than that I think he got all the letters, and they were recognizable. He also doodled some 'Ninjago maps' and a couple of cards for M-lady and me.
I got Bud into the shower, and M-lady arrived home a short time later. When Bud got out of the shower, he tackled his homework, and then we all had some dinner together. Buster ate pretty well, and Bud ate a huge amount. After dinner it was piano, and then just enough time to watch the new Ninjago episode before snack and bed time.
It still felt early this morning getting up around 7:30, but the kids didn't have too much trouble getting out of bed. Bud's rash was again greatly reduced, although still a little visible. Bud had some breakfast and headed off for school with M-lady, and I hung out with Buster until Nanny J arrived.
I met the kids and Nanny J at their TKD class at about 3:00. It was the first time I got to watch Buster in TKD class, and I thought he did pretty well. He noticed I was there partway through and gave me a bit smile.
Bud received his green belt during the class, which was why I was there. In the 'beginner' class, he now is very close to being the highest-ranked child. His movement has become very solid, and he is very disciplined and focused during class.
I took both kids home, where we met Nanny J. She got Buster bathed, although Bud refused, and I did some more work. At about 5:45, M-lady arrived home, and we said goodbye to Nanny J.
I set up Bud's email account on an iPad, and he spent some time typing out an email to his cousin. QWERTY keyboards are definitely hard to learn and hard to explain. While Bud was working on that, Buster played some Machinarium. We got working on dinner a short time later, and then Bud did his homework and piano practice.
I played more Machinarium with Buster while Bud was busy, and Buster actually decided to forgo his snack in order to play more. We had fun working on it more after he brushed his teeth, and we turned out the light around 8:20. He fell asleep a short time later.
Bud woke this morning with his rash reduced, if not gone entirely. Both kids were up within a few minutes of me opening their windows, and got dressed without too much prodding. M-lady helped Buster get dressed after she got off her morning phone call. I got the kids some breakfast, and then took Buster to school while M-lady took Bud, and explained to Bud's teacher about the non-contagious, non-dangerous rash.
M-lady met the kids at the dentist office, where Nanny J took them immediately after school. The kids had good checkups, and afterward they headed straight over to the doctor's office so Dr. H could take a look at Bud's rash. She concurred it wasn't dangerous, and we'll mostly just need to wait it out.
I got home around 5:45, and found Bud working on piano with M-lady. Buster was pretty excited, and I managed to keep him entertained while Bud practiced. After doing a little work on the computer, and playing a little bit of Machinarium, we headed downstairs to get dinner. Bud wrapped up his homework while I prepared dinner for the family, and both kids ate pretty well.
Snack time came up quickly, and after snack I got Bud into the bath to soak for a bit before bed. He was OK to go to sleep without any Caladryl tonight, so he's probably getting better. I gave him one of my old T-shirts to use as a nightshirt, rather than his very-tight-but-not-chemically-treated pajamas, and he was pretty excited about that. Both kids fell asleep in a reasonable time.
Bud woke this morning with very rosy cheeks and ears, but no fever. When he was getting dressed a bit later, we discovered that he had a rash all over his body. He had showed me a few spots on his legs a couple days ago, but that's all there were. Today, the spots were pretty much everywhere.
A bit of research turned up the probability that this was a not-too-uncommon amoxicillin rash, a side effect of the drug rather than an allergic reaction. He got a little itchy later in the day, so had a long bath soak and later some calamine lotion, but otherwise was generally OK.
I ran out in the morning for a quick errand, and then we pretty much laid low and reset clocks until Nanny J arrived around noon. At that point, M-lady, Bud, and I packed up and headed out to see the latest Cirque Du Soleil show, Totem. We had a great time at a great show. Bud really enjoyed it as well.
Buster had a good time while we were gone, and had played with Nanny J while we were gone. We said goodbye to Nanny J, and the kids played together for a bit while M-lady ran out to pick up a few things. When she got back I bathed the kids, and then got started on making dinner. The kids ate well, and after dinner we watched a little bit of TV before snack and bed time.
Buster was asleep around 8:00, so hopefully won't have too much trouble getting up tomorrow morning. Bud was itchy and took a while to fall asleep, but hopefully will have a lessened rash and be able to get up in the morning.
The life of a boy as told by his dad. Lil' Bud was born March 5th, 2005, and his father, staggered by the changes, has converted his written diary to this format.
