Tooth-o-riffic

Last year, before the military would clear us to PCS (relocate) from Germany, we all had to have dental and medical clearance. T has an IEP and is considered an exceptional family member which boiled down just means we had extra paperwork to do and hoops to jump through.

When I took the kids for their dental exam, the pediatric dentist mentioned that we might want to keep an eye on T's front permanent teeth. He didn't like the way one of his baby teeth looked and the x-ray concerned him too.


T has had two major traumas to his face - the first one was when I hit him in the face with the bathroom door in Germany. That's a long, guilt riddled story for me, and one I won't go into here because it's not the point, and face it - my posts are long enough already.

The second happened when T was jumping on the steps that led from the living room to the kids' play rooms at our house in Germany. I was putting away laundry when it happened, but from what T said, he was jumping on and off the steps, slipped, fell, and smashed his face into either a step or the floor (that part was never clear to me).

The second fall did major damage to his nose and it looks perma-bruised. I'm thinking that it was a combination of those two major falls and all the other minor ones that contributed to the dentists concern.

Both of T's top front baby teeth came out with no problems. The top left one has finally poked through and looks fine.

But tonight, when I was checking T's teeth after he brushed them, there is a bruised looking square where that right top front tooth is underneath the gum.

Crap. And bunch of other curse words.

I asked him if he hit his mouth recently, but T is like R in that short of blood and a missing body part, he tends not to notice injuries after they occur. Which means someone could have hit him (or he could have hit himself) with a baseball bat and he'd still say he couldn't remember anything happening. Sigh.

All I can do now is wait and watch. T will have to go to the dentist asap, which may be this week and may not be for a month, depending on space. I have everything that I can cross crossed in hopes he won't have to have major dental work or surgery. T is not so fond of needles, which is ironic considering that he keeps doing things that require stitches.

So we'll take things one moment at a time and do what needs to be done. With any luck, this won't involve creating a lifetime fear/dislike of dentists.

Maybe it's me

Remember the Friends episode when Chandler bet he could refrain from making fun of people for a week - or maybe two? And within a few days, he folded like a cheap plastic chair at a sumo wrestler convention?


I'm having one of those moments, only I prefer to think of it more as being snarky than making fun of people. The target of my ire today?


Nick Jr.


First up? Max and Ruby. Where are their parents?!?! WHERE?!?!? The grandmother is still around, so obviously there were some form of parental units at some point. Secret rabbit spies deep undercover to stop the lucky rabbit's foot trade? Or maybe their parents are as annoyed by the two of them as I am and ran for the hills. Ruby is the equivalent of a ten year old in girl scouts and she's just...in charge. How about some speech therapy for Max, huh Ruby? How about a time out every now and then. That dragon shirt stunt alone should have gotten him a time out or grounded at least. What happened? And exasperated 'Max!' and then....nothing. Oh, and also? Thanks a bunch for convincing my 6 year old that he should have a remote control helicopter that picks up the weight equivalent of a Tonka truck - 'cause FYI. Those don't really exist.

Next - Kai Lan. Two words for you Kai Lan. Butt out. If you are running around always solving everyones problems, how are they ever going to learn to do it on their own? Also? All this problem solving you insist on doing? It's kinda....life. People get angry, and sad, and frustrated, and jealous. Sometimes, sweetcheeks, it's okay to BE those things without the happy ending. But I have to admit, learning about the Japanese culture IS pretty cool.

Yo Gabba Gabba. Love your messages, hate your delivery. And DJ Lance Rock in his bright orange unitard gives me the heebie jeebies. And the Gabba Gabbas? Kinda look like they belong in a gag gift accessory pack for a bachelorette party, ifyouknowwhatImean.

Ahhhhhh! I feel so much better now. Whew.

Watch, wait, ???

Eat, Pray, Love was released last week on DVD. That book really touched me, so I was excited to see the movie.

Eh.

It's a long movie.

About 30 minutes after it started, R announces he's going to get his stuff ready for work tomorrow. A bit later he comes back into the living room and says, "It's still on?"

Yep.

A bit later he comes back. "Really? It's still on?"

Yep.

A few minutes ago, he comes in to say goodnight. He looks at the TV, shakes his head, and kisses me goodnight.

It's not a bad movie, it's just that the book was so, so much better.

And just in case you were wondering, as I am writing this? Yep. Still on.

Sleepy Saturday

This morning, Mom and Richard and Bob and Sandy were leaving to return home.

We had a great Thanksgiving. I think everyone did...I really do hope so.

But after being up late on Wednesday and Thursday, and getting up at regular time the next mornings, I was wiped out today.

I heard the phone ring early this morning and cracked open one eye to see R pulling on his clothes. Mom and Richard were trying to leave to go back to NC, but their battery was dead and when they called AAA, the wait time was going to be over an hour. So R was going to head out and give them a jump. When he told me, I told him I'd go instead. So I jumped out of bed, brushed my hair and teeth, washed my face, pulled on some clothes and headed out.

It was a bit chilly out there this morning. Brrrrr!

We couldn't get their car started with my jumper cables or Richard's jumper cables, so we waited for the AAA guy to show, which he did shortly after that. He couldn't help get their car started either. The ticket got escalated to a tow, but the problem with needing vehicle service on a holiday weekend here is that most of the dealerships have closed their service departments for the long weekend. Luckily Dobbs was open, and I told Richard that R and I had used them before and were pleased with the service. While Mom waited for the tow truck, I took Richard to Dobbs so he could put his name in the queue.

Naturally, since I had said how wonderful they were (and they always have been), they were not very nice to Richard.

Sigh.

We went back to the hotel and waited for the tow guy to show up. I insisted on staying with Mom and Richard until I knew they were either going to be able to leave or need to stay. A few minutes after the tow truck pulls up, Richard trots up to the hotel entrance. There's something I need to see.

Side note: When we were trying to jump the car, I didn't see a battery under the hood. I asked Richard - where's your battery? He points to a black box with a negative connector and says it's right there. I open it up, and it's just a bunch of fuses. Odd. Also? Not a battery. I comment as much and he says, well, that's the battery. I am not going to argue the point, but I'm also not surprised that we didn't get the car to start by jumping it. I've had enough dead batteries in the last four years to know that if you are getting nothing but clicks when you try and start your car? Your battery has gone to meet it's maker.

Back to the present - I go out to see what it was Richard wanted to show me. The battery for his car? Is underneath his back seat.

How about them apples?!

And when the tow truck driver jumped the car battery to battery connection? It started.

I'm not really all that mechanically inclined, but every now and then it's nice to know that the very, very little bit I do claim to know is validated by someone (read: tow truck guy) who does know.

And I've gotta say it (please excuse the language and the fact that you don't know the incredibly long winded and somewhat boring back stories behind this) - just because I don't have a penis does not mean I'm not capable of knowing about things that are traditionally male. Just pointing that out.

Ahem.

So off Mom and Richard go to get a new battery (that conversation is a great idea for another post, actually) and I go home. They never called back to say they weren't able to leave, so I'm assuming everything got fixed. I hope the people at Dobbs were nicer to Richard on the second visit.

I came home and took a short nap and for the rest of the day, we all sort of lounged around and played games and snuggled on the couches. It was nice to have a down day after such a hectic week. I have one more down day before it all cranks up again.

Welcome, holiday season 2010! With any luck, I can nap every now and then until we bid you adieu. (Fingers crossed!)

Black Friday

I did it!

Well, I did it sort of.

Last night I headed out with a friend with the intention of checking out the Toys R Us sale that started at 10 pm. By 9:30, the line wound all the way around the huge Toys R Us building and through the parking lot into the parking lot for the adjacent buildings.

So, obviously, we didn't stay. There was nothing we were dying to have from there, and that was apparently not the ideal time to go and just wander around. I'm pretty sure we would have at least been maimed. Possibly tortured. Definitely squished.

No Toys R Us? Well, then, Walmart it is! Their sale started at midnight, so we grabbed a cart and wandered around to look at all the sale items. I was beginning to think that everyone in the metro area was going to be at Toys R Us and that we were going to have a laid back, sparse experience at Walmart.

Well, that joke was on me.

Within an hour, Walmart was full. They had moved the Black Friday merchandise into the middle of the larger aisles and had wrapped the items in black plastic (how fitting, right?). People actually ripped into the plastic to see what the items were and were camping out by what they wanted most. People were sitting on trampoline boxes to establish their claims, and some bolder people even put some of the smaller items in their baskets. By 11 pm, people were getting possessive and cranky. I felt awfully sorry for the Walmart employees who had to try and manage this mob.

By 11:30, the staff gave up and unwrapped all the midnight sale items. Let the insanity begin. You still couldn't check out until midnight, but we managed to get what few things we did want without getting injured or injuring anyone else. I even saw people I knew there, which is cool because I don't know a lot of people here. (Amusingly, they were all people I knew from the Y..hahahaaa.)

While we were standing in line waiting to pay, my friend and I broke out her iPod and got our (mostly) subdued groove on much to the amusement of the people in line around us. But hey, all the people we were around were in great moods and really nice. If I can grab the silly pics of us from her FB page, I'll post them here.

SHHHHHHHH! It's only 10:35 but this is mine. Allll mine! (totally put it back on the shelf after we took the picture. No, really. I did.)

U can't touch this! And if you try, I will dance all over your a$$.

Workout Wednesday

I have to say - it seems a little ironic to do a workout Wednesday post the day before Thanksgiving.


Well, okay, it seems ironic because of the menu I've planned. The macaroni and cheese recipe I've made? Oh sweet lord, it's sin (and fat and cholesterol and lots-0-calories) on a plate. But it's a recipe I've been wanting to try for three years and will likely only make on very special occasions. Or when I want to spend about $50 to buy and prepare an 11 cheese mac and cheese. But by golly, it will blow your socks off. The recipe also made enough to feed all of us, all of you, and some neighborhood folks -- not that I'm really thinking about sharing. This stuff is G.O.O.D.

But macaroni and cheese aside, the rest of the menu isn't too bad, so as long as I manage my portions, I shouldn't blow the nutrition side. ::Snort:: Well, I'm going to try.

And then next week, it's back to it. By back to it, I mean a stricter effort being made nutrition wise to get past this danged plateau and to the next level. The last few weeks I've just inhaled a bunch of junk, and I can tell in the way I feel, the way my clothes fit, and especially in my skin, which has gotten super sensitive in the past couple years.

Okay then. With that decision made, I'm off to finish up the prep work for tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Painful lessons

This morning, S was deeply asleep when it came time for T to leave the house to catch the bus. Sleep has been a bit elusive for S lately so no way was I going to wake her up. I walked about halfway with T, so that I could see the front door (which I had left open) but I could also see T at the bus stop.

This morning, he wanted to take Scoop with him. Scoop is his Bob the Builder bulldozer/scooper toy. I have no idea if that's actually his name since we have rarely seen Bob the Builder and I'm not interested enough to look it up. I know, I'm all authentic and into research like that.

Kids can't take toys to school (thank goodness!), but T wanted to show it to his friend that lives up the street and is in his kindergarten class. I agreed to let him take it to the bus stop with the understanding that he'd have to run it back to me when the bus came.

T takes off all excited to show off his toy. He finds his friend in the crowd of kids and runs up to him. I can hear T talking, but can't really make out what he's saying. But from his tone, it was pretty obvious that he was excited. Which, actually, is pretty normal for T.

A few seconds later, T turns around and comes over to me, head down, feet dragging. He hands me Scoop and turns around to go back to the bus stop.

"Wait - ' I say. "What's wrong?"

"My friend laughed at me and at Scoop" says T. "So I don't want him anymore."

"Okay, I'll take him back home with me and you can play with him when you get home from school."

"No, Mom. I don't want him anymore. That's a baby toy and I'm not a baby."

"T, if you love Scoop and want to play with him, you should. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks."

T looks up at me, watery-eyed and skeptical. "It does matter Mom. It does."

CRACK!

Umm, that would be the sound of my heart breaking. I knew something like this would eventually happen, but I didn't expect it to be quite this painful. Or quite this soon.

I sent him off to school with a sad heart and a hanging head.

This afternoon when he comes home, he's happy go lucky again. I sweep him up in a big hug and ask about his day.

I had put Scoop on a table right inside the front door. I didn't say a single world about this morning or Scoop, but offered T a snack.

When he finished, he walked right over to Scoop and picked him up.

"Hey, Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Can I take Scoop outside to play - just in the back yard?"

"Of course you can."

And right at the very second that I'm writing this? That's what I'm watching. And my heart? It's not so cracked anymore.