Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Story of the Tooth



The events of the missing tooth happened as followed:

So a couple weeks ago we noticed that Parker's bottom middle teeth were loose. This has been the main topic of conversation for the last two weeks. It has intensified lately with the concern of bleeding when they fall out. I reassured him that they would not fall out before they were ready to and that would make them not bleed much at all. We have ever commissioned my mom to make a Tooth Fairy pillow for when the first tooth falls out, which on Sunday I predicted would be at least two more weeks. Fast forward to Monday night. Parker was being quite ornery at bedtime which resulted in no extra play time and no bedtime story (behavior was bad!) While I trying to put his jammy shirt on, he was biting it. I pulled it out of his mouth and of course he put it back in. I gave the shirt a tug and out popped his tooth. Now this tooth was loose, but not nearly ready to come out so I am sure that it hurt and OF COURSE it bled. Not tons of blood but enough to make Mommy a big time liar! After the bleeding and trauma was over came the excitement of the visit from the Tooth Fairy. Last night we weren't sure that she would come because of the behavior but she did. This morning Parker went over to where we had left his tooth and exclaimed, "A Penny!" (really a dollar coin). He shook the container and looked at me in astonishment, the tooth was gone! It really was the TOoth Fairy! (chuckled) "I really did know that the Tooth Fairy came here last night because when I was sleeping I thought I saw a blue shadow and a blue dress." Reenactment follow: snoring noises and commentary, "What! A blue shadow! What! A blue dress!" "And I just knew it was the Tooth Fairy."

The excitement is overwhelming, he has entered the next step of childhood but it is bittersweet.


Later this morning he asked if he could trade the "penny" for a real dollar.



Saturday, February 20, 2010

Stress

Someone close to me had her breasts removed two days ago. I am trying to help as much as I can and it is selfish of me to be thinking of my self right now, but I feel like I am looking at her differently that I had before and I don't know why. I don't know how to help her cope with the pain, physically or emotionally. I hate cancer. It has taken my grandpa, two of my close friends from adolescences, my peer's parents, even the daughter of a peer. My mom's partner has had prostate cancer and now I have been introduced to breast cancer.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Fond Memories


Some of my recovered pictures from my mom's broken computer. Believe it or not, all of these are before his third birthday. The one with the Lightning McQueen hat was May before he turned 3....with his first stitches, first and only for now. We made a deal after he flipped his big wheel that he was allowed stitches once a year.

The sailor is 9 months and the Cabbage Patch is about 20 months. I forgot how huge he has always been! It is hard for me to believe he was only 1 in the picture with the hippo!


Sunday, February 14, 2010

The Wisdom of Dr. Seuss


You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.*

I remember reading Hop on Pop for the first time when I was about 5 years old. I loved that book. Although I am sure that parts of it were memorized, it was the first book that I read by myself. What an amazing author! So simple for children yet so complex for adults. I had forgotten about Dr. Seuss until very recently. Parker has always loved the shorter books by him. For a long period of time it was Dr. Seuss' ABC's before bedtime everyday. I know that book is the reason he recognized the letter P at such an early age. We also went through the Hop on Pop phase, although it didn't last as long. His favorite book to have read to him by Grandpa Pat is To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street. The imagination behind the stories and the process of creating such rhymes is now, to me, more astonishing than ever. Parker enjoys them for the rhymes and silliness but behind every made up word and story he tells, there is a complete vision of what children can expect to encounter as adults.

Oh, the Places You'll Go and You Don't Know How Lucky You Are, both have simlilar morals. The first beig about the trials you encounter as you move down the path you choose in life. A warning that you will succeed and fail becuae they go hand in hand, but if you keep the right mentality, you will, ultimately, succeed. The second gives a similar warning, but shows more that you can't complain when things are bad because some where in someone else has it worse than you. Children can understand these things are part of life but they are so involved in themselves that they don't believe how bad things can ever enter their lives. It is funny, through periods of low times in my adult life, stories like these two are great reminders that life is just that....highs and lows. I tend to forget that sometimes and get lost in the highs and the lows. My childhood books, the ones my child now enjoys, are also an important part of remembering the cycle of life instead of learning about it.

The Butter Battle Book is one that I read for the first time today. A story about a wall and the opposing views on each side. It's copy write was 1984, so it is fairly obvious the political content that it reflected from that time, but the cliffhanger end of each side having the most advanced weapondry with each side seeing who will end civilization first, is still relevant.

Parker's bedtime obsession currently is The Lorax. There is too much to say about that story. I remember reading it as a child but it didn't hit me hard, I wasn't concerned about the environment the way that children are now. Parker learned about pollution months ago in preschool and needed to know everything about when lakes catch on fire and how it hurts the animals and how to change it. When we first read The Lorax, he asked so many questions about the change in the landscape, why the Brown Barbaloots had to leave, if the Humming fish were going to die, and so on. Now, at the beginning of the book, when the Once'ler says he is doing no harm in chopping down one Truffula tree, Parker calls him a liar. He cares so much about the Earth and this story shows what can happen to it so quickly. The wisdom of Dr. Seuss really is timeless.

I could go on about every story he has written and I have read, the Cat in the Hat cleans up after himself, Sam I am gets the character to try something new, Mulberry Street show that you can see much more than what is right in from of you, every story has such important message behind them. Unfortunately though, they are written from a time where prejudices were widely excepted. Being very critical of the things that I teach Parker make me hesitate occasionally on Seuss' stories. In Hop on Pop there is a single female character with a voice and the only thing that she says is the small words her brother's know and the large words her father knows. The Cat in the Hat have the brother and sister home all day, but the sister is mute. In all of his longer stories, like The Lorax, the main characters are young boys. He often tells his longer stories from the first person, so it can be gathered that he is reflecting on thoughts he had as a young boy. Though I have my issues with some of the underlying gender notions in his books, I can't ignore the more powerful message that children can learn from his silliness. I wiped out the College Hill library branch of all their Dr. Seuss books, so don't try to get any from there until after the 6th of March.

*The quote is from Oh, the Places You'll Go

Friday, February 12, 2010

The Air Master

I really tried to into football this season....I mean it, I really
tried. The preseason was easy and the beginning of the season was
easy, but after Thanksgiving, I kinda forgot it existed. I will blame
my sudden disinterest on the stress of the holidays and that Shayne
Graham never called me. So I was going to redeem my self to the world
of football fans by watching the Super Bowl. Well, I missed most of
the first half because I thought it started later but Parker and I did
not miss the half time show. We rocked out to The Who and danced all
over the place. Parker showed off his talent as an air guitarist,
which is the funniest thing I have seen him do (I wish I had
video). That kid can effin rock out! I think we have added "being
in a band" to the long list of careers in his future. Every minute he
"played" he was mid-solo leaning back and banging he head to the beat.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

March Madness

This is not about basketball but instead how crazy March is going to be! The doctor on Friday recommended that Parker have his tonsils and adenoids removed and small tubes put in his ears. We are going to have the surgery and he will be home for a week. I have decided to have it done in March so he isn't missing nice weather to play outside and it is definitely long before Kindergarten starts. But I have committed myself to the GRE that month as well, so I will probably be stress out slightly until the end of March. Although the surgery isn't an absolute necessity, it will be positive. It has been hard to decide to do it because I like I am damned if I do, damned if I don't, but overall, he will have less pain, sleep better and never have to worry about strep throat again! Plus, he gets to stay home for a week, I get to stay home for a week, and we will both be eating way more Popsicles than we should! It will be like Spring Break with out the beach or parties....well, I am sure we will have some dance parties, but you know what I mean.

He is in fairly good spirits about it and he is absolutely excited about the lack of ear aches. It helps that the doctor we are using performed the same procedure on his "best buddy," Langston. It is like extra security because he know that his friend is okay. After we were talking about it this morning, he told me that he is going to tell Langston about it first thing in the morning. He told me he is most scared of the needles or shots (this after not crying while getting 4 vaccines on Friday).

Friday, February 5, 2010

I need to vent

To start, the format of this always is a alittle screwy when I post
from my phone...it frustrates me because it doesn't look right...but
anyway.

To second my start, this one is serious. I have encountered something
that I have only read about and while I can commiserate with some of
the feelings based on my own experience, I do not understand completely.

I will keep this brief because it is not my story to tell. One of my
crew is the victim of Domestic Violence. Months ago she came in with
a black eye. Although I will not discredit the reason she told
everyone, it didn't make sense. I told her I had an open door. I
remember thinking at that moment that she would never utilize my
offer, her life has taken so many twists and turn in her year with me,
and help is one thing that she does not ask for, (I can relate to the
latter).

Two mornings ago, she called because she was just released from the
hospital. I have never heard such a vunerable voice.

She came into work today, not to work but to talk to me. I gave her
some hotline and shelter info that I found for her. She thanked me so
many times and opened up to me that I realized that even with all the
abuse and domestic violence classes I took in college and all of the
literature I have read and the experience that I have had in an
emotionally and psychologically abusive relationship, that I have
never seen that fear. I have never seen that pain. I have never seen
those bruises or cuts or defensive wounds. I have no idea how to
help. There are limitations to the relationship that I can have with
my employees. Don't get me wrong, I care very deeply for all of
them. Although I have a few new hires, they have been with me for no
less than 6 months. They are my extended family, I know them. But
with her I can't fix it or give her the word of wisedom that I long to
give. I tried to not feel her pain while she was in front of me, but
kept a stoic demeanor. When I hugged her, she held me so tightly it
felt like she was going to pull me over.

I hope that the small amount of information is useful to her. I hope
she has the strength to not let him back into her home. I hope she
finds the strength to know it wasn't her fault. I hope she finds the
strength to know she is valuable.

I think I am in the wrong profession. I wanted nothing more than to
make it better for her.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Doctor Doctor!

Friday nights are always a special night in my house. I leave work a
little early, Parker looks forward to the day of the week when he
isn't that last child at "Childcare Center" (his name of his school),
and we go home. I am able to actually cook a meal, do some dishes and
Parker gets to play for an infinate amout of time, in his mind. This
past Friday was great, Nikki and Quinn came over for a bit, it has
been eons since we have hung out, and of course the kids always love
to play. It was awesome, ate some food and then a little TV. At bed
time it started to turn, as usual, it was a struggle and I lay down
with him. An hour and half later he was awake and sobbing in pain.
Another ear ache. The entire night was quiet for 35 minutes then
tears and pain. Hour after hour, dose after dose of Tylenol (the
correct amount of time between them), the morning light broke through
with no more than a handful of hours that contained sleep. We headed
to the doctor's office as soon as we could.

Strep throat and an ear infection. That was almost a given since I
had strep the week prior. Everytime we have gone to the doctor with
an ear infection, the same thing is told to me. It is just a phase,
he will grow out of it. But this time the doctor came into inform me
that he had lost weight. In his 4 and 1/2 years of life, he has never
done anything but gain weight. Last time I weighed him, he was 51
lbs. Granted he weighed 48.5 lbs at the doctor's. Not much, but my
stomach sank. They did a urine test and there were traces of blood
and protein. Then they needed to check his blood pressure. Since the
day he was born, I have never had that feel of "what is wrong with my
baby?". I don't want to scare anyone reading, so I will stop now to
say, we went back for another urine analysis Monday, and it is normal.

The doctor told me, also a first, that because of his history with ear
infections and having strep twice in one year on top of being a mouth
breather, snorer, and drooler, that it would not be out of line to see
a specialist about his adnoids and tonsils. So Friday is the day of
appointments....yearly check up following a meeting with the specialist.

BLAH! I hate doctor's appointments for myself so this is an even higher amount of distain!