Sunday 28 May 2006

Jeremy Update

Well, we monitored Jeremy and all seems okay. He slept well during the night and the two times we woke him up he began to cry and whine for waking him up - a good sign. There appears to be no bruising and the abrasion is disappearing. All in all, you would never know the kid fell off a climber.

Saturday 27 May 2006

A Trip To The Hospital

Tina, Corbin and Jeremy went to the annual CAS Adoption Picnic today. Adam stayed behind to get some things done around the house. Our friends, Joe and Jen, also attended the picnic with their two boys. Everything was going smoothly until Jeremy decided to defy gravity. Seems that he fell of a climber in the park and landed on his face. He eventually got up, but Tina was deeply worried by Jeremy's crying - he never cried like that before. Joe suggested that Tina take Jeremy to the hospital - which she did.

Corbin stayed with Joe and Jen and Adam met Tina and Jeremy at the hospital. Jeremy had a nice abrasion above his eye and on his cheek, but nothing looked broken. Eventually, a doctor examined Jeremy and concluded that given his alertness - Jeremy was able to jump and walk and was in good spirits - that everything appeared ok and that a CT scan was unwarranted. We were told to monitor Jeremy over the next 24 hours.

Thursday 25 May 2006

Corbin The Celebrity

Guess who had their picture on page A2 of the 25 May 2006 edition of the Windsor Star? It wasn't Adam. It wasn't Tina. It wasn't Jeremy. Corbin had a large color picture in the newspaper. Unfortunately, they spelled our last name wrong (we suspect a 'c' was translated into an 'e'), but we are used to that. We found out via a phone call from our friend Pam.

Corbin and Tina went to the store to buy copies and Corbin was totally confused. He wanted to know how the store clerk got his picture in the newspaper. He also informed the clerk that he had misspelled Corbin's last name. Corbin was under the impression that the copy Tina purchased was the only one with the picture. Tina explained that anybody who bought the paper would see Corbin's picture.

At work, Tina and Adam received emails and congratulations on Corbin's achievements at the Special Olympics. It was great day to be a Szymczak (or Szymezak). Even better, it was a great day to be Corbin's mom, dad and brother. Way to go Corb.

Wednesday 24 May 2006

Corbin The Olympic Superstar

The Special Olympics were held today at the University of Windsor. Corbin was an eager participant. His scheduled events were 50m, ball throw, 100m, standing long jump and 200m. Unfortunately, he was not able to make to the 50m dash, but he did participate in all the other events. And he had an awesome day. He placed first in 100m, standing long jump and 200m and third in ball throw. With his special aerodynamic stance - arms out, fingers together and hand perpendicular to the ground - Corbin dominated the track events. He surprised everyone with his first place in long jump - the kid has skills. Congrats Corbin on a job well done from Dad, Mom and Jeremy.

Monday 22 May 2006

Victoria Day Weekend

It was a holiday weekend in Canada. This long weekend celebrates the beginning of summer. Problem was that the weather was nothing like summer or spring for that matter. It was cold. We traveled to Brantford - the first time the four of us have traveled to Brantford as a single entity - to spend some time with Babcia and Grandpa and to take a quick trip to Otterville on Sunday to celebrate Tina's grandmother's 75th birthday.

We left after Corbin's karate lesson and arrived in Brantford just in time for supper. The boys spent the rest of the evening with Babcia while Tina and Adam vegged out. On Sunday we drove out to Otterville - about a 35 minute ride southwest of Brantford and spent the afternoon with the McFarlane clan. There was lots of talking. There was just enough food. The kids played and played and played - with no major issues. Jeremy met lots of new people and made a new friend in Gillian. We headed back to Brantford in the cold, windy weather. Adam took the back roads and we took a quick tour of the downtown. Good to see that the university campus is growing.

Friday 19 May 2006

Courier Central

In what can only be described as "weird", we were the recipients of packages this week. We maybe get two or three courier visits over the year - usually around Christmas time. But this past week, a courier stopped by our house on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - each day brought something different. Tina joked about the frequency of the courier deliveries after the second delivery. Friday afternoon Adam was home and as he was cruising the net, he heard a knock on the door. So he peaked out the bedroom and to his amazement, there was a UPS trucked parked at the side of the road. Very funny.

Sunday 14 May 2006

Happy Mother's Day

The kids woke up and were excited about giving Tina her Mother's Day cards and presents. Jeremy and Corbin gave Tina the cards they made at day care and school, respectively. Next, was the beautiful red box with a lovely candle holder and a small porcelain case. The final present was a small indoor flower combo for Tina's desk. Tina's only other wish was not preparing any meals. No problem. Happy Mother's Day.

Friday 12 May 2006

Bureaucracy At Work

We recently received a disability Tax Credit Certificate for Corbin. With this paper we can claim additional credits and amounts for Corbin on our income tax returns. Awesome. The certificate is back dated to 2002, which means that we can claim the additional credits and amounts on every income tax return back to 2002. However, to do so, we have to request that our previous returns be amended. Huh? How about automatically processing the request once the certificate is approved. It's extra money in our pockets - who wouldn't want that? So Adam is filling out a bunch of forms which he will send in next week and hopefully in four to six weeks we will receive a positive response from the Canada Revenue Agency. You have to love red tape.

Wednesday 10 May 2006

I Lost My Hat

Jeremy to anyone who would listen:

"I lost my hat. It flew away. I fell in the river. It's gone. The fishies have it".

Repeat over and over and over. Repeat "I lost my hat" over and over and over.

Seems that Jeremy has experienced his first traumatic experience: the loss of an item. Jen, our friend who is babysitting Jeremy, took Jeremy and her son down to the river. It was windy day and at some point Jeremy's hat blew off and landed in the river. Bye bye hat. Time to buy a new hat or two.


Sunday 7 May 2006

Finally Relocated That Bush

Sunday brought pleasant weather. Adam proceeded to do some work outdoors, including relocating a bush to a flower bed that was missing one bush. He headed out to Rona to buy some topsoil to use in the plant transplanting. It took some time to dig the bush out - the roots were thick. Next was redigging the hole, spreading some bone meal and plopping the bush in the hole. Some of the dugg out dirt and the new topsoil was put back around the bush and voila, the bush was planted. Adam moved on to planting some perennials that were replacing plants that had either died or were pulled out. All that is left with the Rivard flower bed is the installation of edging and soaker hose and topping up with lots of mulch. The next task was to fill in some gaps in other two other flower beds with new perennials. Another productive day.

Saturday 6 May 2006

A Day With The Boys

Tina was attending a local conference today, which meant that Adam was the sole parent for Jeremy and Corbin. It was also compost day at Devonshire Mall, an event where you can buy compost and other items such as composters, recycling bins and so on. Adam tries to go each year and buy a bunch of compost for use in the vegetable garden and flowerbeds.

After finishing breakfast, Adam packed the boys in the van and headed out to buy some compost. The crowds were lighter than usual (when you schedule the Home Show and the annual Perennial Flower Sale on the same day, I guess that is to be expected). Adam got his compost and a shiny new stainless steel compost bin for the kitchen. Hooray.

Arriving back home, Adam set up the boys in the house and went outside to unload the compost. Back in the house, Adam spent time playing with Jeremy, who had no interest in watching what Corbin was watching. Around 12:30 it was time to get Corbin ready for karate. This was a struggle since Corbin made his intention of not going clear. But rather than get into a heated debated with a 7-year old, Adam told Corbin the decision was his to make, but that if he did not go to karate class today, he would have to explain to Sensei why he missed a class. That seemed to change Corbin's mind. Next was getting Corbin to wear his gi (the karate uniform). Adam explained not wearing the gi to class would be disrespectful of Sensei. To Adam's disbelief, Corbin put on his gi. Karate here we come.

An hour or so later, it was time to head home. Adam stopped at KFC to pickup a meal. Corbin had his drumsticks and fries, while Jeremy stuck to the french fries (for some unknown reason, Jeremy does not like chicken). A quick clean up and the boys were back to playing. Corbin's respite worker arrived, followed shortly by Tina. Boys day was over.

Tuesday 2 May 2006

Gotcha Day For Corbin

Gotcha Day is a day that we invented to celebrate the day we first met Corbin - that would be four years ago. While Corbin did not become officially our son until July 10, 2003, we considered him part of our family from that first visit. Like a birthday, we had a special family meal that ended with a cake with candles for Corbin, Tina and Adam to blow out - Jeremy helped too. The rest of the evening was spent playing video games and hanging out.

Monday 1 May 2006

Back To Work

Today was Tina's first day back to work. She spent the past 35 weeks on parental leave taking care of Jeremy. My how time flies. Jeremy knew something was up and gave Tina a hard time in the morning - Adam was taking him to the babysitter (aka Aunty Jen, a close friend of ours). Tina's first day went relatively smoothly - deleting hundreds of emails and so on. She was able to remain at her old desk, but her chair had gone missing. Win some, lose some. Welcome back to the working world, Tina.