Revolving Door

This week has been a series of children coming and going.

Taylor had four days with the sixth grade in Beijing for a cultural experience, with the biggest cultural experience being the pollution index.  The second would be the experience of spending the night with peers. She's almost 12 and this was her first overnight trip (other than the grandparents) without Jeff and me. I wasn't really planning on it being such a dramatic first experience. Beijing? Really?

Claire also had her first overnight (other than grandparents), and she was really nervous. So, the day before she left, she looked over at me and said,
"Mom, I really, I mean really, love you.  But, I wish I could love you without missing you." She's only gone for two nights in the New Territories, a part of Hong Kong that is just too far by bus for me to enjoy.

This is the letter she left for Taylor (the girls share a bedroom).  I think the "heart planet" is a nice touch. 

As typical of Ellis, he just seemed to disappear without me getting a picture.

As all the children did, he packed himself (I try not to think too much about that). I did hand over his passport and HK ID that he is required to have to get into China, but that's because those documents stay in our hands whenever possible.  I drove him to the school where he boarded a bus for a five hour drive into China to Qing Yau, where he will stay for five days. His back pack was terribly light for five days. Then, I drove away and realized I didn't take one photo!

Forrest is home all week enjoying the solitude, I believe.

Diseases and other school tales

She's always the witty one!

Claire: "Mom, today at school Subin and Minhee and I started our project creating our own culture."

Mom: "That's great."

Claire: "We named it Chlamydia" (I'm sure she didn't spell it correctly), "but our teacher told us Chlamydia is a disease and we should probably come up with at new name." 

Thankfully, no one thought to ask the teacher the nature of the disease.

Last night, we were at dinner with Ellis and Forrest and Claire (Taylor is still in Beijing trying to breathe), when Jeff decided to ask the boys if they could name the prettiest girls in their grades. I thought Ellis was going to spew water out of his nose, but not from laughing.  Forrest couldn't even eat his pizza.

Forrest: "Dad, I can't answer."

Jeff: "I have a reason for asking. There's a follow-up question."

Forrest and Ellis: "What's the follow-up?"

Forrest:  "I can't answer the question without knowing the follow-up."

Jeff: "I don't want to tell you the follow-up yet.  Just tell me about the girls."



No dice, the boys weren't budging. Jeff finally had to tell them his follow-up question, which was going to be, "What makes the girls pretty?" This led to a short discussion (not the long meaningful discussion we hoped for) about true beauty.

Claire was quietly listening, and then, suddenly she had something to say.

Claire: "Dad, how many girls did you kiss before you kissed mom?"

Bingo, the boys were off the hook. Ellis was glad to get on that bus to Qingyuan, China this morning.

First-aid supplies don't always work

So,  maybe I did double my first-aid supplies in response to two boys playing rugby, but there are some things bandaids can't fix - heads and teeth.  Remember the broken tooth (Ellis) in preparation for rugby season? Case in point. When this picture was taken, Ellis was at his rugby game while his mouthpiece sat in his bathroom! Honestly, how many teeth will he have left after the season. Needless to say, Forrest had a lot to say about the forgotten mouthpiece. 

Forrest, the responsible older brother, returned from his Shanghai rugby tournament seemingly fine. He didn't have gashes in his face or legs, but four days after his return I get a call from the school nurse. He finished PE with a headache that caused his teeth to hurt, so he went looking for help. He loves this nurse. (Of course, she told me that Forrest was her favorite, too!) But, once he got to her office, he started vomitting - three times in all. She asked him if he received a head injury in Shanghai, which he did. Somehow I didn't know that because I didn't board the plane and go to the tournament. Next time!

Of course, I was in Central, not at home, which is only five minutes from the school. I grabbed a taxi and called the friend I always call when I'm at a loss. I asked her to meet me at the school with her car, which she did in a New York minute - she's from the South so we are bound together in that deep southern way.

She got us home to drop off the mass amount of things children are required to carry in a backpack to school, and then she got us to the next taxi stand, so we could be off to the hospital.

So, we waited for the CT scan. By this time, Forrest is fine. He's playing with the scale and we're trying to convert kilos to pounds.

The technician comes to get him for the scan. Do you know they don't let mamas go to the scan room with a 16 year old? I'm thinking, "who's going to hold his hand?" 

But, the hospital is great. As long as  you are a paying client, they are incredibly efficient. The receptionist even took my phone and recharged it while we were waiting on the doctor to read the scan. 

To the doctor we explain how the concussion happened and we promptly got the doctor's thoughts on rugby. After listening intently, we had to tell him we had only two days before Forrest was to board another plane, this time heading to Cambodia to work in service at an Orphanage with his classmates. The neurologist was fine with this. Although I don't think he was really listening because he was too busy trying to convince Forrest to take up tennis.

But, Forrest returned without slurred speech or a limp. Jeff, - also one not to heed advice - promptly took Forrest hiking to Dragon's Back because it was a public holiday and he couldn't enlist anyone else in the family to join him. Forrest can't handle the guilt, so he always says, "yes." He would have been a good Catholic.

Ellis spent the week off from school attending a sailing course, so he can be eligible to sail in the regatta in March.  He came home each day with absolutely no injuries. He did, however, get the lovely Chaco tan the boys are always trying to acheive. Check that one off.