Headlights in the Fog

Oh, REALLY???

The kids seem to be making some new connections synapse-wise. That is the only reason I can come up with for some of the backhandedly and odd insights and observations Jack and Kitty have been saying lately. Here's one between me and Jack:
J- Mommy?
B- Yes?
J- I'm going to tell you something that might upset you.
B- Okay.
J- When I was little and you would get angry at me I thought you were stupid.
    I'm so, so very sorry.
B- (giggles to herself.)

I've reflected on that conversation and realized he probably meant I was being ridiculous. That makes more sense.
When Kitty gets angry (or if she wants to get a rise out of Jack) she will tell him that he can't come to her birthday party. This really upsets Jack... I've tried to explain to him that she is trying to upset him and that he should just let it go. He is unable to do that. Thom came up with the angle that Jack is bringing the cake to the party so if he doesn't go there will be no cake. If Thom doesn't go there will be no ice cream, if I don't go there will be no presents. Kitty quickly caught on that a party with out people and cake/ice cream/presents would be no fun. So the next time she got angry at Thom she said, "You can't have any Byzantine coins!!!" To say she can identify people's tender points is an understatement.

Yesterday, I was feeling awful because I had a sore throat that had been going on two weeks of bother and pain as well as a headache (It turned out to be allergies.) Kitty was being her usually challenging self (which I feel is a very positive attribute or negative one based on my mood) and I became exasperated. I threw my hands up in to the air and said something like, "Fine FINE! Do whatever you want! I don't care! I give up!" Kitty, who was up on a chair with a permanent Sharpie marker in her hand paused, put the Sharpie down, climbed down off the chair and came over to where I was standing. She said, "Mommy, you are not feeling well... you should be in bed sleeping. I will get you a lovey to take with you." With that, she gave me a big hug. I started crying at her tenderness. I had been so upset with her 30 seconds before and here she was trying to take care of ME.
I think I will have to reference my own blog to read about Jack at 3 1/2. He's such a wonderful, easy to be with guy that I find it hard to believe we ever struggled about anything.

Stop!

Spring has sprung

Last Sunday was one of those amazingly beautiful days... not too hot, not too cold and lots of good old-fashioned sunshine. The kids decided they wanted to get out the wading pool and go for a swim. Thom and I shivered while watching them playing in the freezing cold water. It was a fun week... the kids both had spring break and we spent our days in a laid-back manner. The kids have become very interested in the Muppets lately, so we watched 'The Great Muppet Caper' and 'The Muppets Take Manhattan.' We met Thom for lunch one day, went to Target to buy some outside toys (a t-ball stand and a humungo container of sidewalk chalk), spent some time at the library, had Jack read some books and just generally hung out. It was quite enjoyable.

A Tale of Many Teeth

Today when I picked Jack up from school, he excitedly told me how his tooth came out during snack time. It was a big deal... one of the assistant teachers took him to see the nurse who ceremoniously looked into his mouth and then gave him a small tooth-shaped box to put his tooth in.
We've had a lot of tooth action around here. Friday evening, Kitty fell backwards off of a chair while holding a stack of ceramic bowls. They hit her in the mouth. We didn't know that at the time... I thought her head was hurt, and then when she complained of mouth pain I put an ice pack on her chin. She calmed down after we put 'The Muppet Movie' on. A few minutes later, she said her tooth was moving and hurt. Thom looked in to her mouth, saw a whole lot of blood and a chipped tooth and called the pediatrician. Pretty soon, we were on our way to the emergency room. My friend Renee understood my panic-y phone call and agreed to take care of Jack. He ended up having his first sleep over with his best friends (Renee's sons) and an awesome time. We dropped him off and Renee handed me a bag of food. Boy, I really appreciated that later. We drove downtown to  CHOP because I felt like if anything serious had to be done, I'd prefer have it done at the number 1 Childrens' Hospital in the country. We got there and got her registered in a sort of a fuzzy trance. After that, we sat and waited 5 hours for her to be seen. I remarked to Thom that it wasn't a race I wanted to win... the kids they took before us had broken limbs and plague-like coughs. I was happy to have my child be in 'less serious' condition. Once we did get called back, they put us in a fancy room with a sliding glass door on the front and a TV/dvd player in the corner. After the nurse did her initial exam, she asked Kitty what kinds of movies she liked. It being past midnight, Kitty was not quick on her feet with an answer... so I said, "Princess Movies." A few minutes later another woman came in with three movies for her to choose from along with a stack of princess stickers. Somehow I don't think out local ER would have such service. 3 exams later, the Dental Resident told us that there was nothing to be done for Kitty's teeth. The chipped took was cosmetic and hadn't broken down to the nerve and the other 3 (!!!) effected teeth need only a few weeks of Kitty eating soft food for the ligaments that hold them to firm up again. Two days later, I had another dentist say almost word for word what the emergency room dentist had said. It was a second opinion that I liked hearing. Our only struggle now is to figure out enough soft foods to keep Kitty well-fed.

In other news, we had a crazy storm come through on Sunday that pelted our area with marble-sized hail. I find hail to be an odd weather phenomenom.