Hanging out in San Diego!

Last week (16-24 July) we went off to San Diego for a vacation. It was time for Comic-Con, which I have attended for the past few years, and I asked my parents if they would come out with us so we could have a longer vacation. Two years ago, when we went, we couldn't do anything at night because we had no babysitters, and I didn't want to go with the family again and let Krys deal with two children. For all the traveling my parents do, they hadn't spent any significant time in San Diego, so it was perfect!

Krys rented a house in Mission Beach, less than a block from the beach, which was very cool. Norah loves the beach, and so she was excited, and it was nice to have a relatively large home base. The house was three stories and made pretty good use to the very limited space in that area, and it had a nice patio where we ate our dinners. Krys and Norah spent a lot of time at the beach. My mom hung out there quite a bit as well. Mia doesn't like the beach (especially because she doesn't like the water, which is far too cold for her), so I didn't spend a lot of time there either, even though I did manage to go a few times. My dad hates the beach, so he didn't go at all. The only bad thing about the beach was the copious amounts of seaweed in the water and on the shore. What, they can't clean that up?

We didn't do too much around town, mainly because things are expensive and it's a pain to cart Mia around. We did drive up to La Jolla to see the seals on the beach, which was fun (although the weather was strangely terrible - cold and overcast). We drove out to Coronado Island and down the coast a bit, and we also drove onto Point Loma to check out the national park at its end. We also visited the USS Midway because Norah thought it would be neat (and it was). On Thursday and Saturday, the family (without me, as I went to the convention) went to Sea World, where they had a grand time. Norah got to hang out with the dolphins, which she enjoyed. I can't write very much about that because, well, I wasn't there. But I know she liked it!

All in all, it was a fun break. Norah went out a bit further into the water with me one time, but after that, she got scared really easily, and I'm not sure why, and she couldn't explain. Oh well. Mia did enjoy the one time she went to the beach, but she otherwise wanted to watch television. I took Norah to the convention on Friday for a couple of hours, and she had a fun time checking out all the nerds. It was a nice, relaxing week. And here are pictures!

From the Midway:









Here are the seals coming ashore (unfortunately, the people on the beach wanted close pictures, so they would run toward the seals, scaring them away; apparently there's a big debate in La Jolla about letting people on the beach or keeping the seals away). There's also Krys and Norah on the beach at La Jolla.







Beach photos!





Out on Point Loma.





Norah at the comic book convention.





At Sea World.







So we've been back a week, and it's been tough. Mia is eating irregularly, and we're not sure what to do about her. She'll be good one day and resolutely against eating the next. It's frustrating. But we'll figure it out!

Seven more days and it's back to school! Whoo-hoo!

Norah can't resist the slang!

I was driving Norah home from school yesterday, and she said this to me:

"So Rhiannon [I think that's her name; it could be "Rhianna"] was like, 'I'll miss you when you go to the beach!' [We're going to San Diego next week] and I was like, 'I'll be back!' and she was like, 'You're going for forever!' and I was like, 'It's only for nine days!'"

Yes, with all the "likes" included. She's been doing this a lot more recently. It's partly our fault - we say "like" far too much - and it's partly from her peers and television, but it's a lot cuter when a six-year-old says it than when we say it. I just thought that summary of her conversation was, like, hilarious.

Settling back in

Mia and I returned to Arizona on the 22nd of June, and we've been trying to get back into the swing of things. I've decided I'm not going to be annoyed by the heat because what's the point, but Mia really can't go outside for too long, because she does get overheated even when she's in the car and the air conditioning is going full bore. It's very odd - there's a vent right above her, but the AC simply doesn't do a very good job on her. So while I've been trying to love the heat (or at least accept it), we've been spending a lot of time indoors because I fear taking Mia even to the mall (not that she wants to go; she's perfectly happy hanging out inside and watching TV).

Her eating is pretty stable, even though she's not eating as much as I'd like her to. We're trying to do everything they did with her at the clinic, and that's moderately successful. We're also trying to keep her on a strict mealtime schedule, which means we're trying to keep away from snacks in between meals. I know some theories say people are better when they graze rather than strictly following the three mealtimes, but if we allowed Mia to do that, she wouldn't graze on fruits, vegetables, or other stuff that keeps her healthy, she'd graze on popcorn. The healthiest thing we can get her to eat for a snack is peanuts, but she can't eat those all the time. So we're making sure she sits at the table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we give her a variety of stuff. She doesn't eat it all, but we're trying.

As always, her favorite foods are mac 'n' cheese, peanut butter on toast, and eggs. She'll dip the eggs in ranch dressing or ketchup, both of which she's decided she likes. I've been trying to get her to eat meat, which isn't as successful, but she is trying it, so there's that. I've been hiding some of her less accepted food in with stuff she likes (ground meat in among the eggs, for instance), which helps because once she gets it in her mouth, she's fine with it, at least if she can chew it. She's drinking very well, too, which is nice.

She missed the first part of summer school/camp, which ended last week. This week she's home, and then she'll go to camp for a week (they can only afford summer school for four weeks, which kind of sucks, but such is life). She's only going for a week because we're going to San Diego on the 16th for a vacation/my annual visit to the comic book convention. I'm kind of glad she's been home with me, because I'm able to try to get her to eat better without sending her off to people whose primary job is not to feed her. I'm hoping that by the time school starts (on 10 August), she'll have a nice routine going on, and I can trust the teachers to get food into her. That ought to be fun.

One problem she's having is that she's not getting enough exercise. That's my fault, of course, but for a few days after she got home, she was really worn out (I suspect the heat hit her hard, even if she wasn't out in it) and I haven't gotten into it too much because I'm lazy. We're trying to stretch her a bit, at least, because she seems awfully tight. Summer is always a pain in the butt with regard to getting her going, because the heat is so oppressive (even inside, the AC works but you can still tell it's 110 degrees outside) that it's hard for both of us to care. Genesis has a song called "Heathaze" which perfectly sums up the feeling of summer in Arizona. Lethargy sets in quickly each day.

Norah, meanwhile, celebrated her sixth birthday on 22 June (a Wednesday, the day we got back) and had a party at her Little Gym on the following Saturday. It's a pain for her to have a birthday in the summertime, because a lot of her friends from school couldn't come for whatever reason, vacations being perhaps the biggest reason (although I'm not sure). Still, she had a decent amount of kids there, and they had a good time. Krys got the number of one of her friends and this past weekend the girl spent two long days here, mostly in our pool. It was very fun for Norah to see her friend, because although she gets along with the kids at her summer school, she has also encountered the worst thing a girl can encounter - cliqueish girls. Yes, already. So she's had some issues with them, mostly because they won't play with her. Norah tends to be a bit shy, so she had a hard time finding a girl to play with. She has, but I know she misses the kids at her school, who haven't quite developed cliques yet. Give them time!



So that's what's going on. Not much, I know. Mia has gotten back into therapy, we're dealing with school stuff (about which I will have to post when I know more), and we're trying to make sure she doesn't backslide from how she was doing at the clinic. She has an appointment with her gastroenterologist on 10 August, at which time we'll see how she's doing (although I'm weighing her periodically to make sure she's okay). Until then, we're just working to make sure all is well with her!