Haircut

Gave Fin her second haircut a few days ago...

An Overshare

This may be too much information for some of you, so I thought I'd better warn you at the outset in case you want to opt out of reading this one.

I hadn't had a real visit from 'Aunt Flo' in almost three and a half years, thanks to some natural child rearing benefits, and let me tell you, I didn't miss her. I had forgotten how much she could mess a woman up.
Never mind the inconvenience of having to be prepared for her visit (something I was never good at, since I never have carried a purse). I had forgotten the pain and achiness. Parts of me felt like I had just given birth. I've been as exhausted as I was in the first trimester of pregnancy, and am feeling dumb-headed and clumsy as well. And to think I'm going to have to deal with this on a monthly basis again...
It almost tempts me to think that another baby might be nice.

Too Much Excitement, Too Many Co-Pays

I have already been to the pediatrician three times this month to have him peek in little ears.
Today, Finley fell off a box while trying to reach something put up out of her reach, and hurt her wrist. I thought nothing of it until she woke up with her wrist still bothering her. And after the broken ankle incident, I decided I'd better be safe than sorry.
I asked the doc if they have a frequent customer program. He just laughed and told me this wasn't so bad, there are some families he sees on a weekly basis, and some the receptionist even knows the sound of the mother's voice. Good grief.
No x-ray this time. She is using it more than he would expect a broken wrist to be used, so we're just supposed to watch it for a day.
I know I'll be back in his office next week, though. This time (hopefully) only for Joe's 12 month check-up.

Joe's Favorite Toy

If you are the parent or guardian of a 1 or 2 year old, and don't have this toy, well...



Joe makes a beeline for these as soon as he sees them, tears them off the base, grabs two of them, and tromps around the house as if some big monster, smashing whatever is in his way with his big front 'paws.'



Finley is in the bracelet stage, and I am surprised every time she manages to get the red one over her hand. I'm just waiting for the moment I need to pull out soap or butter to get it off.



I play peek-a-boo through one of them with Joe to keep him still on the changing table (which is a very difficult thing to do).



And when I am at the peak of desperation because nothing seems to interest the kids and I am exhausted and can't read another book or run around the house or answer anymore questions or... I just pull these gems out and spin them on the hardwood floor for the kids. They just sit transfixed and watch those things spin over and over and over again. Not to mention the satifaction I can get from getting all five of them spinning at once.

Quote Follow Up

After posting that quote the other day, after a hectic day at the zoo, and after I have recently come out of a stretch of idealism into realism, I decided I can't handle reality. It is far too depressing.
I went to the library this morning, and got two books about Mother Teresa. I figured if there was anyone in the world recently who lived joyfully in the bald face of reality, it was her. And like a friend of mine, who just wrote in her on-line journal that she would rather focus on the positive side of things rather than the negative, I realize that is what I need to do as well.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Quote of the Week

'Selfishness is the most constant of human motives. Patriotism, humanity, or the love of God may lead to sporadic outbursts which sweep away the heaped-up wrongs of centuries; but they languish at times, while the love of self works on ceaselessly, unwearyingly, burrowing always at the very roots of life, and heaping up fresh wrongs for other centuries to sweep away.'
-from The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. Chesnutt

Poor Kid...

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it?


My husband had the bright idea of sharing a chocolate chip cookie with Joe when he got home from work. Did he ask me if it was a good idea to give my not-quite-one-year-old a sugary snack? No, he did not.


A few hours later, I was changing Joe. I unfastened his diaper to reveal angry, red, bumpy skin. Sides, stomach, armpits, back, neck: all red. Runny nose. Itchy eyes and ears.


I hauled him over to my neighbor, our surrogate grandmother. She asked me if he had eaten anything different, and told me that her son couldn't eat egg yolks as a small child. And it dawned on me.


Chris is currently experiencing remorse.

Flowers....

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?

This is what it said about me...
"You have a shy personality. You tend to hesitate before trying new things or meeting new people. But once people get to know you, you open up and show the world what you are really all about."

Seemed fairly accurate, but the interesting thing is that one question I changed afterwards from car (no van option) to truck (since that is what I'd rather drive), and then I was a snapdragon. I suppose different aspects of our personalities dominate based on our circumstances? I'm thinking about this way too much.

Randoms

Recent Finley quotes:
"We need more presents, Mommy!" (she has said that a lot, lately)
"I'm going to eat a lollipop every day!" (after a store clerk gave her one)

They ought to change the marriage vow to read 'for better and for worse.' I always thought that meant circumstantially, but it is probably more personal than that. For example, as Chris' grammar has changed for the better, mine has changed for the worse. I have also adapted some of his humor. I don't know if that is better or worse, but I catch myself saying things like, 'You ought to go kick him in the shin' when finding out that Reanna's band teacher has an artificial leg.

Times are changing. It used to be that you would find a loved one's diary to go through after they had passed. What is going to happen now? Are my grand kids going to find an old CD Rom or hard drive (with no way to read it) or run across this blog on the Internet 60 years from now and say 'Wow, look what I found!'? I kind of doubt it.

Sigh.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

I ran out of the house without drinking any coffee this morning. We went to the grocery store, and Fin had to use the potty. I asked a kindly older woman to watch Joe so that he wouldn't crawl around on a nasty floor and stick his hands in the toilet. He cried. Loudly.

I found a pair of Titan's sock on the clearance rack for Finley. She loves them.

Pulled weeds the past two days. I can't get past the metaphors that caring for a garden bring to mind. It takes persistence and thoroughness to keep the 'weeds' out of our personal lives. And although the task seems overwhelming at times, the result is increased beauty and growth of the good.

I also found a rat's tail and foot in one flower bed. After finding a dead rabbit in another earlier in the week, I'm a bit overwhelmed at the carnage. I understand the weed metaphor, but what am I supposed to learn from dead animals?

What about live animals? I knew I heard something in our attic the past couple nights. Last night, the beast reared its head behind our trash can, and when confronted, ran right between Chris' feet. He yelled, 'It's trying to get me!' Laughable. Really, honey, do you think that mouse is out to get you? What is really confusing, though, is how the critter infiltrated the castle. The basement is sealed tight, and since we heard it in the attic first, can only assume that it made its way up through some crack in the chimney... Yuck. I need to dig out the snap traps.

Limbo. God likes to leave us in limbo at times. Okay. He likes to do it a lot. Sometimes you ask him a question you'd like an answer on to get an idea about what life might look like for the next stage of life, and he keeps quiet. Does he think he's funny?

Which brings up one more question: I didn't capitalize the God pronouns. Who came up with that rule, anyway? I'm not so sure he cares.

Evidence of Spring

Yesterday

Yesterday was a big day in the Knight household:
- Joe taught himself how to back down the stairs.
- Finley started asking 'why.'

otitis media

Friday evening, after a week of battling some sort of bug, we noticed our younger snot-nosed kid messing with his ear. That, for those of you in blissful ignorance, is the telltale sign of an ear infection.

So Saturday morning, I loaded both snot-nosed kids into the van and took Joe in to see the doctor. He didn't like being messed with so I had to hold him down while the doc examined his ears. Joe screamed and fought so hard that the poor kid popped some capilaries in his face and came out with tiny red freckles all over his face.

Sure enough, Joe had an ear infection.

Fast forward to last night. 3 am, I awoke hearing a distressed little voice saying, 'Daddy, daddy, daddy...' Chris went to check on her. A few minutes later, I heard, 'Mommy, mommy, mommy...' I went downstairs and gave her a drink of water. Another minute later, 'Whimper, whimper.' I went back downstairs again. 'My ear hurts. Can you kiss it?' 11 am, at the doctors again.

So we have two kids with ears infections, and Joe hates the medicine. I just discovered that the only way to get it in him is to kneel down over top of him so that his head is trapped between my knees and he can't move. Then I shove the dropper as far back in his cheek as I can and squirt in little bits at a time so that he's forced to swallow it and can't spit much of it out. What fun.

Finley, on the other hand, is starting to make up excuses to take medicine. That worries me...