In this photo: Kuya doing what he does best – teaching Ethan.  Good job Kuya!

The boys are feeling much better today. They are not feverish any more and they are becoming their usual selves, and I’m glad for that even if I hear an occasional, “Mom-mee!” because of bickering.

Nikki’s vesicles have started to dry up although there are still some “wet” ones. At least he’s no longer just lying in bed and miserable. He’s more upbeat now and talkative as ever. He doesn’t scratch as much too but the scabs on his face look so bad (in my opinion). I just hope they heal nicely.

Ethan has lesser vesicles but since yesterday, he’s developed a rash. He hates drinking medicine and I really dread having to tell him, “Okay Ethan, time for your antihistamine”. We usually end up in a shouting match with him yelling “NONONONONONO!” and me begging, “Pleeeeease??” I so hate having to force him to drink medicine but I don’t want him to succumb to anaphylactic shock just because he refused his meds. Sigh. This is supposed to be Ruther’s job. (Hehe… Of course, the nasty stuff goes to the hubby.)

Anyway, I’m just glad that the boys are no longer listless and cranky. But just to be on the safe side, they’ll have to stay home for a couple or more days…

It’s been crazy these past days. I’ve spent so much time attending to the boys, discouraging them from scratching (little success there), keeping them hydrated and encouraging them to eat. It’s been tough because my boys are rarely listless. Also, the vesicles look terrible!! Nikki has a lot on his face and I’m worried they would develop into permanent scars! I hope not. Maybe there’s something I could apply on the drying wound that would keep it from scarring?

Anyway, a blogger friend suggested I try this oat bath for the boys.  It’s supposed to help relieve the itchiness somewhat.  The boys loved it!!  Before we did that, I would bathe them in some water mixed with an infusion of boiled guava leaves. Guava leaves have antiseptic properties. Only thing is, it turns the water brown which the boys didn’t like much. So last night, I tried the oat bath and they enjoyed it a lot! Ethan was wary at first but after I rubbed the oats (wrapped in their cloth diaper) on his skin he didn’t mind anymore.

I hope their chickenpox would go away soon.  It’s horrible seeing the boys this way.  They just don’t have the energy to do most of the things they want to do.  And Ethan is getting so thin!!  It’s freaking me out.  I have some major fattening up to do after they get better.

More updates soon…

The boys have chickenpox.

Ethan’s fever turned out to be a symptom of the illness. Ethan had a blister 2 days ago near his upper lip and he complained that it hurt and wanted me to bandage it but after kissing him, we didn’t think much of it until I noticed that it became like a reddish pimple. Then, I noticed that he developed another blister near his nape and I got suspicious. Yesterday, while combing Nikki’s hair, I noticed a similar “pimple” on his scalp. Then this morning, when Nikki woke up he had tiny blisters on his face, arms and body and I was like, “AHA! Chickenpox!!” And I was right.

Ethan is feverish and cranky and clingy. He wants me to always be by his side. The good thing though is that he has very little blisters at the moment. Nikki is not as feverish but he has blisters over his body and suffers from upset stomach. Poor kids. I of course, am trying to make things easy for them today so I am like their slave for the moment. I don’t mind because I know they need the pampering. I went to the drugstore this afternoon to buy some calamine ointment/cream so I could apply on the itchy blisters/sores. I don’t want them to develop into scars from rough scratching.

Anyway, I’m hoping that their illness won’t last for more than a week. It’s a good thing I already had chickenpox when I was in grade school. But then again, I only had it for 4 days. I hope I don’t start sprouting blisters in the next few days!!

Our lessons have been so casual these past days.  Of course, as usual, I am starting to panic again. I’m in my “am I doing enough” stage again.  Someone slap me before I lose it for the nth time.

Anyway, Nikki and I have been doing some simple experiments.  We got to do some science activities and he enjoyed them.  I also got him this learning DVD with math lessons: addition groupings (1+1=2, 1+2=3, etc.) and subtraction groupings and other math lessons.  It’s great because he’s interested and pays attention.

With Ethan he’s still interested in words right now.  He could read certain words and would ask me the more difficult ones.  He’s learning but at his own pace.  Sometimes, it frustrates his dad a bit especially when Ethan won’t carry a conversation with him.  But that’s Ethan.  He’s restless and easily distracted.  That’s just who he is.

On the happier side, a lot of people (strangers in fact) have noticed the way the boys speak in public.  One sales person asked me, “Ma’am, yung mga anak niyo ba nag-aaral sa international school?”  (Ma’am, are your kids studying in an international school?)  On a different occasion, a cashier at a supermarket asked me, “Ma’am, saan po lumaki yung mga anak niyo?  Sa abroad?” (Ma’am, where did your sons grow up? Abroad?) And I would simply tell them that I homeschool the boys.  And always, always they are so amazed.  And I would feel proud that my boys speak really well.  I hope that the will continue to speak English fluently (and Tagalog and perhaps Nihongo as well) in the future.  I really hope.

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I’m a bit worried about Nikki.  He’s been yearning for friendships with kids his age lately.  I really don’t want him to play with the kids in the neighborhood because 1.) we don’t know them that well, 2.) I don’t know how they are going to treat Nikki, and 3.) if we’re going to live overseas in the future, the friendship won’t be long-term.  So I’m having second thoughts about how to deal with this.  They don’t have cousins because my siblings and Ruther’s siblings don’t have any kids yet.  They don’t have regular playmates because they don’t go to regular school.  So, my only option is to either enrol Nikki in a class where he could interact with other kids (like sports) or, invite some of Ruther’s cousin’s kids for a playgroup of some sort regularly.  So, maybe we could do that for a change.  Anyway, I’ll have to check some of the nearby schools for any after-school programs they may have for kids like Nikki.

Hopefully I’ll be able to find one.

 We found this little frog in the bathroom.  I was actually so surprised to see it because I had no idea where it came from.  We caught it in an empty container and looked at it up close.  I let the boys study it carefully without hurting it of course.  I told Nikki to observe how different this frog is from regular frogs.  This one is a tree frog and has “sticky feet”.  He already learned about tree frogs from watching Diego on NickJr.  Anyway, it was interesting to see how it moved about, how it stretched its body as it moved around the container and how it stuck to the walls.  After a few minutes of studying it up close, we let it go in our small backyard garden.  Hopefully, it won’t be eaten by the birds.

We’ve been taking it easy with the lessons lately. But so far it’s been good. The boys have become more interested in doing things without my telling them to.  I mean, I still give suggestions on what activities we’d do but most of the time, they try to keep themselves preoccupied.

Nikki still likes to have Ethan around when doing things.  But Ethan still wants to be left alone when he’s interested in an activity.  I try to separate them when the tension gets too high but sometimes they can work together, especially when Ethan needs a bit of guidance from his Kuya.  Typical brothers.

Nikki is getting heavy so we’re doing the Wii Fit to monitor his weight.  It’s handy and very helpful.  Every 2 weeks, we check his progress.  Last time we checked he lost 2 pounds which isn’t bad.  I don’t want him to lose weight too fast so this way is great.  Also, the exercises on Wii Fit are loads fun.  Due to a recent skin condition, I was not able to play the Wii Fit but tomorrow, I’ll be back on track once more.  I need to do those aerobic exercises pronto!  Ethan tried the Wii Fit too but he was too restless.  Oh well… At least his weight is normal.

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Nikki and I have also started tackling subtraction with borrowing.  As always with math, I don’t want to pressure Nikki because I don’t want him to hate math the way I did when I went to school.  But while playing his DS game Shop Owner, he needed help with a problem.  Turns out it was the perfect way to introduce subtraction with borrowing.  First, he had to add all the items to be bought by the customer (in the game), e.g $19.  Then, the customer would give him her money, e.g. $30.  So, we’d do the difference and Nikki would “hand” the customer the change and check his answer.  It was great!  Of course, we would do the subtracting on a piece of paper, but still, it was nice that I didn’t have to pressure Nikki to learn that.  So now, whenever it’s cashier time, he’d run to me and ask me for help.  I don’t mind of course.  As long as he understands the concept, I’m sure he’ll be able to do it on his own in the future.

The boys in the bathroom.  We bought the hiragana poster in Japan.  It’s really a poster for the bathroom.  You wet the back and stick it on the tiles.  So, while shampooing the boys or rinsing them off, we try to read some of the words.  Ethan can read hiragana better than me now.   I left the other bathroom posters in Japan.  Too bad.  Maybe we could make some of our own, who knows?

We lost our internet connection for the past 3 days.  Been having some problems with the phones and when the service guy came over, he did something and we lost the connection!  So, we had to call it in again and today, someone came over and fixed the problem and voila! connected to the cyber world again.

Anyway, I thought that the boys would complain about having no internet connection but I was wrong.  They read their books.  And Nikki used the laptop, opened Microsoft Word and typed words in upper and lowercase (his favorite thing to do).  And Ethan was right beside him, learning along.  That was nice to see.  Then, I got one of Nikki’s books and we did a spelling test. I would give him a word (e.g. reverse) then read that word in the story (Miss Honey drove the school bus in reverse).  Then Nikki would type the word and if the spell-check underlines the word, he’d know he made a mistake and would correct it.  After completing a list of words, he would identify them as either a noun, verb or adjective.  I was just glad that he enjoyed the activity. I’m sure other kids would have complained about the lesson.

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I’m currently reading The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore.  I just started reading it and it’s so far a great read.  I agree with some points written but at the same time, I’m not too fond of other ideas.  I especially like the idea of child readiness.  With Ethan, we’re adapting the Moore formula and mixing it with other forms (which is why we are eclectic homeschoolers) and I think it’s good for Ethan’s personality.  I also agree with their concept of volunteerism.  I want Nikki to start being more concerned for other people.  The downside however, is that volunteer groups here in Manila rarely ask for kids’ help.  But I hope that we’ll still be able to do this in our own way eventually.

I’m still in the first few pages of the book but maybe I’ll pick lots of good tips once I’m done reading it.