T-ball for Asher

It's t-ball season. That means that our Saturday mornings are occupied with t-ball games.

T-ball is for children ages 3-6. That means that only Simi plays t-ball.

Last year, Simi was on the yellow team. He received a yellow shirt with the number 5 printed on the back. This year, Simi is also on the yellow team. He received a yellow shirt with the number 5 printed on the back. There are about 18 teams. You can't plan this kind of coincidence.

Asher is thrilled. That means that he gets to wear the exact same shirt as Simi, even if he doesn't get to go out on the field.

Usually, when Simi's out on the field, I'm playing t-ball with Asher on the sidelines. We practice throwing and catching, mainly. Asher loves it; he wants to be just like his big brother.

Today, Asher got to PLAY in the game. Not many kids showed up today, so the coach let Asher play. Now, if you think 3 year-olds are clueless, you should see a 2 year-old playing t-ball. It's precious.

Asher did great. He hit the ball great on the very first try. Thing is, he's a lefty and the coach set him up to hit righty. So he hit it right into the coach, who was standing where the catcher should be. Oops. Coach turned Asher around and he hit the ball off the tee and right straight into the field. Then we had to explain to Asher how to run the bases.

The highlight, according to Asher, is that he got to wear a helmet when he batted.


Good job, Asher, on your first t-ball game.

Awwwww....

The other day, Simi and I were talking about Asher moving to his pre-school. Asher will move up shortly after his third birthday. School rule is that siblings cannot go into the same room.

Simi and I were discussing which room Asher should go into. Simi said he wanted Asher to go into the room next to his, so that he can see Asher on the playground all the time. Simi said, "Asher's my best friend. I want to play with him on the playground every day."

Awwww...

Asher Update

It's been about three weeks since Asher and Raj's journey to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. I wish I could tell you - either good or bad - how Asher is doing. Truthfully, the jury is still out -- and it will probably be another 2-3 months before we know for certain how he is doing.

It seems to me like we're really at the beginning of this food allergy journey. It feels to me like it's a very long, narrow, windy road and will, probably, take a long time to get a handle on this thing.

So, that said, here is what we do know:

We stopped giving him the steroid (Flovent). Truthfully, I was super concerned about not giving him the steroid because that's what helped him when he was first diagnosed. On the other hand, it feels really good to me as a parent to not give my child steroids. Plus, now we can see allergic reactions when he has them.

It does seem like he struggles a bit more now than he did. I don't like that. It really concerns me.
We also learned that he may be allergic to fish. Fish is one of those "Top 8" allergens - a very common allergy-causing food. It's also something we gave him about three times per week. We gave him fish (Tilapia) shortly after stopping the Flovent and he had a super-bad case of night sweats and he was up and down all night long. Asher no longer eats fish.

Through the allergy tests done at Cincinnati, we learned that we were giving him at least one food in each meal in which he was allergic. Turkey, fish, and the barley in his favourite Rice Chex were popular staples in Asher's diet.

Through the results of the endoscopy, we learned that the most mild of doses of Flovent does a good job in protecting Asher's esophagus. Although there was still damage, it wasn't as bad as it could be. That's good to know.

We learned that allergens lurk in the most hidden of places. For example, did you know there is corn starch in baking powder? This means that we not only have to read ingredients, but we have to read the ingredients of the ingredients. Now if that doesn't make one neurotic...

We also learned that we need to be much more vigilant about reading ingredients. Some brands of rice milk actually have soy in them (why?). So we think we're doing the right thing, only to find out that we're poisoning our child. Deep deep sigh...

So, stay tuned while we try to figure all this stuff out. We'll keep chronicling the journey, in the hopes that it will help others.

Simi Math

The other day, while driving home from work/school, Simi asked Raj and I, how much is 9 + 11. Raj and I had the same response: Simi, those are some big numbers, why do you ask?

Simi's school work folder comes home with him on Fridays. In the folder are the things he has painted that week, his writing, the paper he has cut, etc. This week, in the folder, were two small books that he and his head teacher made together. On each page of the book was an equation: e.g.: 9+9=18, where the teacher wrote the first two numbers and Simi wrote the response.

He's four.

Reader Simi

The other day, Raj came home with two new books - one for Simi and one for Asher. The one for Simi was a grade 1 book based on the movie, "Cars". The one for Asher was based on the movie "Toy Story". Simi grabbed the "Cars" book and began reading it out loud. And he kept reading it. He read the entire book - cover to cover. It's a 1st grade book and Simi, age 4, the one who is in pre-school, read it.

Then he wanted to read it again. And again.

Just the week before, Simi came home with new work from school. On the paper was math: 1+2=3. 2+2=4, etc. Except the kid is four and this is first grade math.

I hope he's not bored by the time he enters kindergarten...

Solid Foods for Leila

Today was Leila's first "solids" meal. Technically, it wasn't quite solid. It was soupy rice cereal mixed with breast milk.

Leila loved it. She grabbed the bowl with one hand, the spoon with her other hand, and lapped it up. She had a look on her face as if to say, "Mummy, you've been holding out on me for TOO long!" I think she was quite ready to start on solids.

T-ball Season

In the summertime, t-ball takes over our Saturday mornings. Personally, I'm not a fan of t-ball. It's hot, even at 9-10 AM when they play, and the kids get bored while standing around waiting for their turn. I get bored, too, waiting and waiting. And t-ball season seems to drag on forever.

But t-ball was really fun this week.

The weather was absolutely perfect. It was in the low to mid-80s and very comfortable. And everyone was in a good mood.

Simi had a wonderful time hitting the ball, running the bases, catching the ball, and throwing it. While Simi was on the field with his team, I was on the side playing catch with Asher. Asher was just loving it. He does a great job throwing the ball. Then I'd lob an easy one into his out-stretched arms and when it fell just right, he beamed his beautiful smile. He was just so incredibly happy. Leila, too, was in a really good mood and played happily in her stroller.

After lunch, the boys went into the backyard to practice their hitting on the t-ball tee. And today, I took Asher to buy his own ball and glove. He was absolutely thrilled. He beamed with pride.

Seeing their happiness makes it all worth it.

Bad Guys Go to Venus

Simi is learning about the solar system in his pre-school class. He's absolutely loving this module more than any other module so far. Every evening he trips over his tongue in an effort to tell us everything he learned that day about the solar system. "Mommy, did you know that the sun is a hot star?", he says. Then he goes on and on and on about the sun and everything he learned about it.

Today was no different. In the car on the way home, Simi jabbered on and on and on about Saturn's moons and Jupiter's moons. Then he talked about Venus. "Mommy", he starts. "We'll put all the bad guys on Venus. Then there won't be any more bad guys; they'll all be on Venus."

"Good idea", I say. "But how will we get them to Venus?"

"Well, that's simple", continues Simi. "We'll just put them in my rocket ship and fly them to Venus. Then, when we get close, we'll open the door of the rocket ship and push them out. Then we'll fly back home."

Problem solved.

Photo of Raj - taken by Asher, age 2

If you look in the sunglasses, you can see Asher taking the picture. Perhaps he has a future in photography?

Click on the photo to enlarge it, else the photo is too small to see the Asher in Raj's sunglasses.