Today would have been JSL’s birthday, but we cancelled it.  You see, he’s growing up too quickly.  We decided we liked 5-year-old JSL too much to give him up.  So we’re hitting the pause button and he’s staying 5 forever.

Rats, I seem to have misplaced the pause button. I know I had it here a second ago.

Well, it looks like JSL’s having his birthday after all.

This past year has been a big one for JSL.  He started it off in pre-K and not knowing many of his letters.  He is ending it a Kindergartener (but soon to be first grader) who not only knows all of his letters, but knows how to read and write stories as well! He’s also become adept at simple addition as well.

JSL has shown that he’s got a huge imagination.  He can entertain himself for a long time playing with toys on the floor or magnets on the refrigerator.  He makes up storylines and characters and acts out what they do.

He’s also turning into quite the little geekling.  He loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all things Disney, Transformers, playing on the computer/iPad, or reading books.  He also loves riding his bike around the block with me.  (I walk currently, but I’d love to get a bike to ride.)

I’m so proud of my not-so-little-anymore kid.  Happy birthday, JSL!

Last Friday, B’s parents took JSL and NHL to dinner.  When they got back, JSL showed us a story he had written.  Yes, in addition to learning how to read, JSL’s been learning how to spell and write.  He put it together, along with some inspiration from Lulu And The Brontosaurus (which B had read to him recently), and wrote his own story.

Here is what he wrote (with creative spelling intact and only his name changed to "JSL"):

JSL and the Brontsarus

One day JSL went to a frorist for a brontsarus but the nit came and JSL go to slef and wen JSL wok up he fawd a brontsarus but the brontsarus riley fawd he and they trd into fres.

And here’s the grammar and spelling-corrected version for those who find Kindergarten creative spelling hard to read.  (I did leave the giant run-on sentence intact, however.)

JSL and the Brontosaurus

One day JSL went to a forest for a brontosaurus but the night came and JSL went to sleep and when JSL woke up he found a brontosaurus but the brontosaurus really found him and they turned into friends.

I’m so proud of JSL for writing his first story.  This is definitely one project of JSL’s that will be kept for years.  I can’t wait to see what other creative works he comes up with.

There’s nothing I love more than playing with my boys.  When you get right down to it, I’m still a kid at heart and playing with my kids allows me to let my inner child run free.  (Letting my inner child run free in other situations, such as the office, just leads to weird stares from people.)

Last night, after both boys were in their PJs, NHL went to play on B’s iPad.  JSL, meanwhile, decided to play with me.  We crawled under my slanket (yes, I still use that after 3 years) to shut out the light and played with some of his stuffed animals.  I took his "super bunny" puppet (a plain, white rabbit puppet that I make "fly" by virtue of the fact that I hold it off the ground) and began to make it speak.

Super Bunny and JSL had a few conversations and then JSL decided to let Super Bunny on a sad fact of life: He is just a puppet.  No matter how much JSL pointed out that I was making him speak and move, though, Super Bunny just didn’t see it.

The funniest moment came when JSL decided to show Super Bunny that he was a puppet.  He reached for the section where you put your hand in – the read of the puppet.  Of course, Super Bunny reacted by moving off – offended that JSL would try to stuff his hand back there.  After all, that’s disgusting!

In the end, JSL and I had a blast and he went to bed happy.  We even confused B when JSL walked up to her to tell her that you should never put your hand up someone’s rear because you don’t know what’s in it.  Sadly, however, Super Bunny has yet to come to terms with being just a puppet.

The past few days have been rough ones at our house.  JSL has come down with a stomach bug that’s got him… well let’s just say both ends are experiencing unexpected exiting procedures.  So our days have been packed with worry over JSL and our nights (with JSL invading our bed) are just packed.

Needless to say, this isn’t going to be a very romantic Valentine’s Day.

Still, I wanted to send this message to the woman I love.

Also, Happy Valentine’s Day to JC Little, aka Little Animation, the creator of Pickle Weasel.

On Friday, I was feeling the End Of The Week Blues.  That moment when you wish that you could whip out a Universal Remote Control and hit fast forward until the weekend arrived.  I was craving a little excitement outside of the office.  I tweeted "Is it the weekend yet?"

I should have known better.

No sooner did I tweet that than I got a call from B saying that JSL was running a 101 fever and she was picking him up from school.  Yes, it looked like we were in for an "exciting" weekend.

JSL has had five febrile seizures (including one where he stopped breathing, turned grey, and required rescue breaths to start breathing again) so any fever is a dangerous and scary prospect.  We gave him medicine and his temperature stayed at around 101.  (It’s quick fluctuations in temperature that cause febrile seizures.)  We could tell he wasn’t feeling good when he turned down macaroni and cheese (his favorite food) for dinner.

That night, he slept in our bed so we could monitor him and quickly help him should his temperature rise.  At around 2 in the morning, he woke up complaining that his stomach hurt and he felt like he was going to puke.  I helped him to the bathroom but it became clear that something else was up.  I asked him if he was hungry and he said "yes".  We got him to eat a rice krispy treat.  Sure, it’s not the healthiest thing, but it was easy to feed him at 2am and gave him a quick shot of sugar.  (We correctly guessed that low blood sugar + hunger was mistaken for "gonna puke.")

JSL said he felt better and fell asleep.  B fell asleep too.  I lay there trying (and failing) to fall asleep, mostly worrying about JSL.  Then, just as I was getting to sleep, B yelled my name in panic.  I shot upright expecting to see either JSL seizing or something seriously wrong with NHL.  As I shot up and asked "what?", I saw JSL sleeping soundly next to B.  B woke up and informed me that she had had a nightmare about being in trouble and unable to yell for me.  She finally tried so hard to yell that she yelled in her sleep.  Needless to say, I couldn’t get back to sleep after that.

Thankfully, JSL got better after that one day and night.  The next day, his temperature returned to normal and no other symptoms manifested.  Any fears I had about JSL having the flu or another serious illness we proven wrong.  (There really was no sign that JSL had the flu to begin with, but I can’t help it… I’m a worrier.)  Most of all, I re-learned two parenting axioms that I tend to forget.  One: When you are parenting, exciting can be bad and boring can be good!  Two: Never ask The Universe for excitement without specifying exactly what kind of excitement you’d like.

NOTE: The "digital thermometer" image is by Alvimann and was obtained from MorgueFile.com.