Dentists, Doctors and Nurses, Oh My!

Yesterday my children got involved with a number of health care providers.

When Jake came downstairs he informed me that he did not feel well and that he had a sore throat. I pushed him hard to go to school. I even packed his lunch and put his backpack in the car when we went to the bus stop. He was adamant, however that he did not feel well enough to go to school. So in the end I let him stay home. This put the kibosh on my plans for the day. I wanted to go to the post office, the supermarket and Max and Rebecca had a dental appointment. I really couldn’t do the first two with a sick child in tow and the dentist would be a challenge.

After Nate boarded the school bus we retreated homewards, Max and Rebecca’s appointment wasn’t for over an hour. After puttering about I loaded up the van and drove to the dentist’s office. This was only their second visit to the dentist so they were a little apprehensive. We discussed for a bit what was going to happen today. I told them that their teeth were going to become sparkly clean. Max, for whatever reason, objected to that idea. He announced that his teeth were going to become cool. Rebecca then replied that her teeth were going to be pretty. They went back and forth for awhile.
Once we got to the Dentist’s some of their bravado disappeared. I trailed after them when they were called to the back. They both balked at the entrance to the room, in the end the sat in my lap. Rebecca was fairly cooperative. She passed on the mechanical tooth polisher, but was very willing with the regular toothbrush.


Even kitties need to brush.

Max was a bit trickier. At first he refused to open his mouth and kept his fingers in the way. I was finally able to get him to grudgingly agree with the promise of filling the wading pool when we got back home. Oh, and did not want any toothpaste on the toothbrush. All throughout this Jake was very helpful in corralling whatever sibling was not in my lap.

When we were finished I called Larry at work to consult with him on what I should do with Jake. I was trying to decide if I should take him to the pediatrician. Since Jake gets Strep throat at the drop of the hat, we decided I should take him in. I really did not want to go, but it is rare for him not to want to go to school and to complain about being sick. When we arrived I was happy to see that the waiting rooms were not crowded and our two favorite Doctors were on duty.

After a short wait we got called back to the examining room. The Doctor took a look at Jake’s throat and was amazed at how red and raw it was. She then snuck a peek at Max and Rebecca, but they were fine. Jake then got the joy of a throat culture. Unfortunately she was so vigorous that she caused Jake to gag. After he was sick she admitted to the staff it was her fault and apologized to all. Ten minutes later we got the results. Yes folks, it’s Strep once again. Prescription in hand we left to get it filled and then go home.

Once home we all settled down for lunch. When I was halfway through my sandwich the phone rang. I decided to answer it. It was the school. The caller identified herself and then said everybody is fine. Hmmm, I thought, why are you calling me?

It turned out that Nate had a little incident on the playground. His arm got stuck between a pole and the slide (he had been trying to reach someone while playing freeze tag). By the application of a lot of liquid soap they were able to ease the arm out. Nate was then sent to the clinic (aka the nurse’s office) to get cleaned up and checked out. He was just fine. His arm was a little red and very clean. I was in formed that the principal and the two assistant principals were investigating this and that the equipment would be fixed to prevent this from happening again.

All throughout this conversation I was being treated with kid gloves. As she was winding down she mentioned that nothing can be completely childproof when large numbers of children are involved. I then commented that it is truly amazing what kids can do. They can stick there arms and heads in the oddest places. Having now established myself as a reasonable parent, I could hear her relax at the other end of the line. I thanked her for calling me and expressed my appreciation that they were able to free my child.

When Nate got home I asked him about his little adventure. He told me he got a little scared that he wouldn’t see me again. I told him I would always go to him if he needed me, no matter where he was. I said if the soap hadn’t worked they would have gotten someone to cut away the pole or call the fire department. If the fire department came they would use something called the Jaws of Life to pry away the bar. He thought that sounded pretty cool.

I think that was a pretty full day.

Thank You

I would like to take a moment and thank all of the people and their families who have made the supreme sacrifice for the United States of America. Because of them I get to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Puppies!

Here are the promised puppy pictures


Puppies!

The remaining six are doing very well. Each one is over one pound in weight. In the group shot the big puppy in the middle is member of the foster mother’s litter. It is 10 days older and dwarfs the Crunch-Fiona pups.

Diane told me that when she picks them up they wag their little tails. She has been giving them supplementary bottle feedings so they have learned at one week that being picked up is a good thing.

Cute as they are I’m still not taking one home. One puppy is enough it last me a long time!

State of the Union

justmarried
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.

Is doing very nicely.

Around mid-day on Saturday we told the children that we would be going out to dinner without them and spending the night elsewhere. Grandma and Grandpa would take care of them while we were away. The older two accepted the information with only a token resistance. Jake wanted to come to dinner with us; I replied that we would be eating at a place that serves snails. A brief look of horror crossed his face and then he asked me if I would be eating snails for dinner. My reply was probably not.

Max and Rebecca were a little harder to sell the idea. In the end I pointed out that if they stayed home they would be getting coffee cake (sitting on the counter) for breakfast. If they came with us they would miss out on the cake. I then told them we would be back around lunchtime. This seemed to work.

Later that afternoon we made our escape. I changed into an item of clothing that I never wear around children, my pretty WHITE linen pants with a spray of embroidered flowers. A simple purple top and my new super fantastic shoes completed the outfit. We loaded the car and calmly said goodbye. Our destination was The Hotel Jefferson.

We arrived there in good order and checked in. Our plans were to simply enjoy each others company without the distractions of our energetic offspring. Larry had made a reservation at the hotel’s 5 star restaurant, Lemaire. We have eaten there before, it is expensive, but both the service and food are superb. A couple of books to read completed our plans.

The room was a bit small, but very comfy. The last time we had stayed our room had a tiny balcony. This time we had none such luck. Otherwise it was very nice. When the appointed hour for our dinner reservations arrived we changed into more formal attire.

The meal was incredible. We were there for over two hours. The staff was attentive, but not intrusive and they never rushed us. The food was even better. There weren’t any snails on the menu, but I did have the foie gras as an appetizer.

During dinner we discussed catching a movie, but in the end we decided against it. We were very content to just head back to our room.

Waking up was a nice long affair. No small voices demanded our attention. Our only tasks were to go downstairs for breakfast and to be checked out by noon.

We made it home before lunchtime. Max practically leapt into my arms when I entered the house. He was very pleased to have us both home. Grandma and Grandpa gave a glowing report on how well everybody behaved. Grandma then stated that she always thought she had the world’s best grandchildren, now she knows it is true.

All in all it was a lovely way to celebrate our 13 years of marriage that had followed our 7 years of dating. I was 19 when we first started going out. I have been with Larry now for over half my life. I look forward to what the future beings the two of us.

I love you Larry.

Anniversary Weekend

Well this should be a fun weekend. My in-laws are down for a visit, which is a good thing. I get along very well with them and the kids love having Grandma and Grandpa down here. It is also Larry’s and my wedding anniversary on the 30th. We are going to slip away on Saturday and not come home until lunchtime Sunday! For one night we get to pretend that we don’t have kids.

Here is a picture from our wedding.


The Kiss
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.

Oh and on Monday, I’m going to a dog show.

Pie!

This is my strawberry rhubarb pie with Max and Rebecca.


Pie!

It was very challenging to make. My little assistants wanted to eat up all the strawberries. I had learned my lesson from last time and I had an extra pint just for noshing.

When I was going through my recipe scrapbook I found an old clipping about strawberries. It had a very nifty hint for hulling strawberries, use a straw. Poke the straw into the berry at the bottom and push through to the top. You end up removing the core and the hull in one easy step. There is an added bonus if you are using whole strawberries in you recipe, juices/sauces can run right through the center of the berry.

This pie is very easy to make:
4-6 cups of hulled and quartered strawberries
1 lb rhubarb sliced into ½ inch pieces
1 cup sugar
6 tbls instant tapioca
Two pie crusts (I cheat and use the ready made Pillsbury pie crusts)

Mix together the filling ingredients and let sit for 15 minutes.
Put one pie crust on the bottom of the pie pan.
Add the filling and place the second crust on top.
Crimp the edges and make 3 or 4 small slits on the top to let the steam out.
Place aluminum foil or a baking sheet underneath to catch the drips.
Bake at 400 for 45-50 minutes. Basically when the syrup boils and the bubbles don’t pop.

Let cool and then eat!

Farmers Market

Hooray! It’s that time of the year when I can get fresh veggies at the farmers market. Today I went with Max and Rebecca to pick up our garden share.


gardenshare
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.

What is a garden share?

In my case, I pay my grower, Amy, a predetermined sum by mid-March. She then provides me with a share of her garden for the entire growing season. It is a good system. She gets money in the winter and I get a guaranteed portion of her bounty. There is the risk that she could have a wretched growing season, but she has done a good job so far. I end up getting a very full grocery bag every Thursday from now until the first killing frost (around early November).

Amy’s vegetables are very fresh and flavorful. She grows a wide range of crops and she likes the heirloom varieties, from greens and turnips to tomatoes and potatoes. We get exposed to new (to us) vegetables that I never would have dared tried. We also end up eating better too, since I can’t bear to throw any of it away.

This week we got fresh cut arugula, mesclun salad mix, broccoli raab, French breakfast radishes, strawberries, white Japanese turnips and pink Japanese turnips.

Max and Rebecca both wanted to hold the strawberries in the picture. I noticed that there was a whole lot less when we were done.

I also picked up some rhubarb. I’ll be making a strawberry rhubarb pie this weekend. Yum!

It's all about the Dino Nuggets

According to my referrer logs I keep getting hits from people looking for dino nuggets. As an aside I have become the number 1 site with Google! Woo Hoo!

So as a kindness for all those poor souls looking for information on dino nuggets click here and here.

Oh and for any vegetarians out there go here. Though why you’re googling dino nuggets is beyond me.

Science at Home

I just thought you would like to know that sometimes it can be dangerous to open a thermos. Especially if it has been at school since Friday, wasn’t brought home until Tuesday and contained chocolate milk.

It was not the smell; in fact it was oddly odorless. Mind you I really didn’t give it a big sniff until after I washed it.

No, it was the fact that the contents were under a great deal of pressure.

I had a hard time unscrewing the lid. When it finally loosened I heard a loud FWOOM.

Looking inside the now open thermos I saw a fine mist of chocolate milk eddying about inside. I did not know aged chocolate milk under pressure would form an aerosol upon release of the aforementioned pressure.

I am happy to report that I did not get coated in ancient chocolate milk, nor was my kitchen. The thermos cleaned out easily.

I now know that the thermos has an airtight seal. Hopefully we will not attempt to reproduce these results.

Pupdate: The little girl did not make it, but the remaining six are doing well and are almost a pound apiece.

John the Mighty Hunter

Dachshunds are hunting dogs. I kind of view them as a self directed vermin eradication system. Here is a picture of John (foreground) and Crunch rooting around under a tree stump.


Huntin' dogs

Yesterday Nate breathlessly burst into the house and announced “John is eating a snake!”

I was puttering about the kitchen making dinner. After a brief pause I decided I should go out and investigate what is going on. If it was indeed a snake I needed to know what kind. We do have a copperheads in the area and if had been bitten I should get John to the vet.

I trooped outside with my full entourage of four children.

John was peacefully sitting in the middle of the lawn happily chewing on... something.

Nate reached the dog first and said “Drop it!”

Once I was there John complied.

While restraining John from his prize I stared at the little pile of who knows what that lay there on the grass. I then instructed the children to get me a stick. I envisioned being brought a nice, reasonably sized twig to poke at the thing. Instead I was presented with the four largest branches Jake and Nate could drag over. With a sigh I broke off two small branches and examined the pile.

It was a leg.

So much for the snake theory.

Nate then told me he could see the skin and it was like the ball python we used to have.

So I stared some more and decided it looked like it might have been part of a frog. There were no bumps on the skin and the dog was not foaming at the mouth, thus ruling out a toad. What was left of the skin was mottled leading me to think it was a leopard frog.

Mystery solved I chucked the sad little remains into the woods and went inside. I then called Diane to give her the latest carnage report.

It is sort of a running joke I have with Diane. Every time Crunch or John catches something I give her a call. It amuses the both of us. Just last week I reported that John had caught a mole. I don’t know if he ate it or not. I had to head back inside before my entourage came out to join me. All I saw was John calmly pulling it out of the ground and flipping it about. He didn’t quite know what to do with his new toy. This time John seemed to have a better grasp on what to do with the frog.


Nate

Pupdate: So far the puppies are holding their own. All but one have gained an ounce. The smallest girl is hanging in there. She has a slight cleft palate, but she is eating.

A Dog Show and Some Parties

As I mentioned on Friday I went to a dog show Saturday. I got up early, bathed the dog and left to meet my friend. She was bringing her finished champion for the best of variety competition. We would be taking her van. It is always nicer to have a traveling companion. We got there in good order and scouted out the show site. It turns out that the dachshunds would be indoors. I was slightly disappointed. I really wanted John to get some experience with outdoor rings and tents.

It was nice, if a bit small and I got to see a few friends including Kandee and Andy (Diane’s daughter and husband). John however seemed to be a bit stressed and was not at the top of his game. He was a complete noodle dog and looked awful. He placed third in his class and deserved it. Afterwards he seemed to relax more and enjoyed sitting in various laps ringside. I guess I really should make an effort to show up early so that John can decompress after the ride to the show. I remember with Crunch (his father) I would have to endlessly walk about with him to burn off his excess energy. It was a learning experience.

Well, that is the whole point of showing him now. I need to get a feel for what he needs and I need to expose him to as many situations as possible. When he is a bit older and more mature he will be ready for the show ring.

Because of our less than stellar performance I was done early in the day. My friend also finished quickly, it was a huge specials class and her girl looked nice, but wasn’t flashy enough to be noticed. So we were back on the road before 11:30. Traffic was a bit heavier going south so we ended up going on route 1 for a bit. I ended up getting home at about 1:45pm. I just beat Larry and the kids getting back from Jake’s end of season soccer luncheon.

The party was originally scheduled to be at Cici’s Pizza, but it was jammed so they ended up going to a buffet next door. The place is primarily Chinese, but it had a wide variety of selections. The high point for the kids was the soft serve ice cream station. Larry said it was fairly tasty and very inexpensive. Nate said it rocks.

Later that afternoon we had Meryl over to help us out with the kids. There were a few things we wanted to do without swirling chaos at our feet. Originally I thought we would have her come late afternoon, having forgotten the birthday party that Nate had been invited too. I ended up being the one to take Nate. It turned out that the whole family was invited, but we did not find this out until the night before. We already had invited Meryl and Larry had other things to do. The plan was after Nate and I get back we would have a nice dinner with Meryl.

The party was... interesting. It was supposed to be a birthday party for a six year, but it felt more oriented for adults. Nate had a good time, but the party was much too long. Most birthday parties are over in two hours. It wasn’t until after 2 ½ hours that that the cake was finally served. A couple of families had already left and a fight had broken out among the children. Nate was a good egg and tried to break it up. It was simply a case of overtired children acting out. We ended up bolting our slices of cake and leaving.

Dinner, as a result, was late. We still enjoyed it, but I wished I had not been trapped at the party. Even Nate thought it was too long.

Sunday was less exciting for us and I have already written about the big news.

Bittersweet

Very early Sunday morning Crunch became a proud papa again.

As detailed here and here he had a rendezvous with the fair Fiona. His little adventure has resulted in seven puppies, four girls and three boys. (Pictures will be later this week)

The last couple of litters at Diane’s (Crunch and John’s breeder) have been all male. Which has been a bit of a disappointment when you and all the prospective homes have been wanting a female pup. Finally the string of all male litters was broken.

When I told Nate the news his first question was “Do we get one?” He was disappointed when I told him no, we already have enough dogs and I really could not deal with another puppy.

Sadly, the excitement of the litter was tempered by disaster. Fiona did not make it. She had given her all for her puppies.

Her contractions started about 10:30 pm Saturday. Around an hour or so later her water broke and everything seemed to be proceeding normally. But the puppies were not forthcoming. Diane called the Vet and arranged to meet him at the clinic in half an hour for a c-section. The preferred Vet was on call and had been alerted earlier about the impending litter. He is very experienced, capable and has worked on Diane’s dogs before.

While Fiona was under, her heart had stopped beating. They were able to bring her back twice, but she never resumed breathing. She was gone.

Diane called me at a little past 8:00 am Sunday morning to give me the news. She had emailed me the previous night about the start of the contractions so I was expecting her call. I just didn’t expect the news. She was tired and told me the good news then the bad. I was stunned. She went on to say how the Vet said he couldn’t even remember the last time he had lost a bitch during a c-section. He told her right off it was not her fault. She had done everything right. While we talked I was wishing I could help her out. It is a daunting task to hand rear seven puppies. Diane said I shouldn’t tell the kids the bad news, but I did. I think that they should learn about the good and the bad. At some point they would hear about it anyway and I want to be truthful and on the level with them. How can I ask them to be truthful if I’m not honest with them? They were saddened, but they bounced right back.

Fortunately, Diane had another litter that had been whelped a week and half earlier. The dam, Willow, has taken in the puppies. She is a long haired dachshund with her own litter of three. Diane will still have to supplement the pups, but Willow is cleaning them and being a good foster mother.

The puppies are strong and vigorous. Hopefully they will remain that way.

This is why I couldn’t be a breeder. Oh, I dabble with it by having a stud dog, but right now I couldn’t handle the heartbreak that can come with whelping puppies. There is the risk of losing one or all the puppies and as detailed above, sometimes the dam.

I know it doesn’t happen all the time. Puppies are born every day with out any problems. But it can happen. I wish I could help out, but all I can do is be a friendly voice on the other end of the line.

Grace and Loveliness

Not much happing today. We have a Bat Mitzvah tonight and I’m heading off to Manassas in the morning for a dog show.

The premium list (the announcement for the show) is actually quite amusing. This takes you to the HTML version. Scroll down to the third page. I like the title “Dispenser of Grace & Loveliness Manager of Ring Assistants.”

I think we could all use a bit more grace and loveliness dispensed in our lives.

Fashionable Thursday Three

From Terry we get the following:

MAYHEM! CAR CRASHES! FASHION!

What else can it be but the SEASON FINALE EPISODE OF THE AXIS OF WEEVIL THURSDAY THREE!
Well, probably not very many other things, but be that as it may, if you've never participated before, be sure to participate today in our little quizzical diversion, because the Thursday Three is going into summer hiatus, and the producers of the show are not yet certain if it will return to the fall schedule.
In order to provide you, the reading audience, with the finest question-answering experience possible, we have a fine young writer named Dan (who is skinny) come up with the following set of burning, must-read, must-answer queries about your darkest secrets. As always, anyone may play along by either leaving your answers in the comments below, or a link to your blog with your answers. So, sit back, turn up the volume, and let's see what happens:

Your food court hilarity (which seems to have brought the lurkers out of obscurity) gave me some ideas. They may need work.
1) What is, or was, your favorite style of dress, or a particular item of clothing you remember fondly from childhood?
2) What style of dress do you remember being humiliated by as a kid, but your mother made you wear anyway?
3) What dress style/clothing choice do you remember as being unbelievably cool at the time that now makes you cringe? Would you actually burn pictures of yourself in the outfit if you ran across them now?

1) I was never a fashionista and I never will be. I was (and largely still am) a tomboy. Oh, I do like to dress up and be all girlie, but I’m usually in pants and a shirt. I clearly remember telling my mom at one point that I would no longer wear skirts. I do not remember ever having a favorite item of clothing, except maybe my riding boots. I was horse crazy and I loved taking riding lessons. I took very good care of my boots.

2) I don’t remember my mom ever forcing me to wear anything. I was pretty cooperative. My brother was a different story. There was a time he would only wear brown pants and shirts without buttons. He would pitch an enormous fit when he was forced into a dress shirt.

3) I guess it would be my fuchsia jumpsuit circa 1982. I don’t think I would burn any pictures of me in it, but it was so very 80’s.

I don’t have a lot to say on this subject. I know I have made some poor fashion choices over the years, my post pregnancy leggings come to mind, but I generally gravitate towards the classic and not the extreme. When I dress up now it is either for a date with my husband (sexy) or for a dog show (think boring suits that show off a red dog). Right now I’m infatuated with a new pair of shoes. I think they are very cute and I have gotten numerous compliments about them. Here is Miss Rebecca modeling them:

Fashion girl

Of course I have to include this one of Max in his own creation:

Heffalump Max

He was very proud of it.

Star Wars

Max has become very enamored of Star Wars lately. We just got episodes IV, V and VI on DVD. Episode IV was a big hit. Max was very concerned about Obi Wan after Darth Vader struck him down, but I was able to reassure him that he was not dead, just invisible. The later voiceovers were a comfort for Max.

Now I get to listen to Max tell me how Darth Vaber is not nice and that he hit Kenobi. Then he puts on a black fire helmet, wraps himself in his blankie and waves a bat about. He is the cutest Vader impersonator ever.

Here he is dueling with Nate.

Max Vador vs Nate
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.

And yes, like Jordana, I got the spoons. I bought four boxes of high octane breakfast sugar. I got only two at first, but Max and Rebecca could not be denied. At least she actually uses it... sometimes. Any way, they are way cool. We ended up with four red ones, much to the kids disappointment and to my relief. There will be no arguments over which spoon belongs to which child.

Goooooaaaaal!

Last week was the try-outs for the travel soccer teams. Jake has been playing in the recreational soccer league for quite some time. Last December he tried out and made the team. It was a “fill-in” tryout to replace players that had left the team. So many kids with enough skills and talent showed up that it was decided that another team would be formed. Jake was on the new team. Unfortunately the team was dissolved due to lack of player commitment and Jake was devastated. He was so excited to be on the team and then watched it all melt away.

This try-out session was for all the players. Exisiting travel team members had to try-out along with everybody else. The under 10 (U-10) division was scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday it was very hot and muggy. You could see the kids were dragging a bit. After one particular drill Jake got discouraged and Larry could see it in his performance (I had already bailed out to hustle Nate home for his piano lesson). That night Jake suffered terribly from heat exhaustion. I ended up keeping him home from school the next day.

On Thursday Jake wasn’t interested in going to the tryouts. I banished his siblings and pulled him aside. I told him it was his decision to go or not to go. Either way he would still be going to the field as it was his normal soccer practice day. I then said he should really think about this and that I didn’t want him to regret not going the next day. He puzzled it over a bit and decided since he was going to be there he might as well go to the try-out. I then loaded everybody into the van and drove to the field.

When we got there the weather started out the same as Tuesday, but the wind picked up and suddenly it was almost reasonable. I then settled down and watched Jake and all the other hopefuls. It seemed to be slightly less kids and from chatting with the other moms I found out that a lot of the other kids had suffered from Tuesday’s heat as well.

Thursday’s activities were more to Jake’s liking. He doesn’t have much patience for endless drills. He likes to mix it up in scrimmages. Jake may be on the small side, but he is not intimidated by larger players. At the end the parents were called up and the head coach gave a little speech about the kids and when we would be notified about the team placements. We left for home cautiously optimistic.

On Friday Jake got his official notice. He made the team! Jake was ecstatic! When he got home I had him read the email and click on the registration link. I let him do the electronic registration and acceptance. On Sunday he will get to meet his coach and hopefully his teammates.

Look at that face.


He is so cute when he is happy.

Manners

On the whole my children are fairly well behaved. They say please and than you, they share with other children and we can even go out to dinner as a family. Mind you there are moments when they act like a bunch of crazed monkeys and I prefer not to shop with all four in tow. Three quarters of them even have tolerable table manners. They sometimes have an inability to stay seated at the table, but they do behave in public.

Then there is Rebecca.


Who needs spoons?

Her table manners are nonexistent. She crams food into mouth until it is over flowing. Utensils are viewed as optional. And she has one particularly vile habit. She will wander about with a chunk of food in her mouth for seemingly hours. She sucks all the flavor and color out of it until she spits out a small gray ball of paste. Half the time I can not even guess what it was. At bedtime I often have to tell her to swallow whatever is in her month before I can brush her teeth. There are days that I am convinced that she is a frat boy. She particularly reminds me of the scene when Bluto is moving down the cafeteria line stuffing as much food as possible onto his tray and into his mouth. She hasn’t started a food fight yet, and I will not be surprised when she does. If you don’t believe me, go ask Meryl. Meanwhile, I think Max, her twin brother, has the best table manners of the lot. So it is NOT an age thing.

The funniest part of the whole situation is that she is otherwise a very girly girl. She loves to wear pink dresses with pretty shoes. She is so cute and charming while she shoves yet another fistful of food into her mouth.

Pool time

Yesterday we set up our wading pool. It was a beautiful day, with light clouds and in the low 80s. Max and Rebecca were very pleased over the prospect of splashing about.

They watched me drag it out from under the deck, roll it across the lawn and hose it out. It was extremely dirty. I had cleaned the leaves and sticks out a few months ago, but it was filthy from the dirt and sand that had been placed in it. The underside was just as bad with its assortment of spider webs. Max and Rebecca loved it when I starting hosing out the pool. They would squeal with delight whenever the spray got near them. After a long session with the hose I then got a sponge and bucket full of suds. It actually wasn’t too bad. The grime came off with only a little scrubbing.

I then placed the pool near the edge of the lawn under a tree. The grass is not very enthusiastic there and the shade makes it a bit more pleasant. I placed the hose in the pool and proceeded to fill it up. Max and Rebecca were dancing about in anticipation. Nate even buzzed out, but he was sent back inside to get ready to go. He and Jake were going to their piano teacher to perform for her and a judge. Nate was disappointed, but I promised he could splash about afterwards. Finally it was filled. I dragged a chair nearby and settled down to supervise. They were so happy. After a bit I got Larry out to watch them. I had to drive Jake and Nate to their teacher.

When I got back hours later when I got back Max and Rebecca had just gone inside. They had spent the whole time splashing about.

Today was cooler with a threat of rain, but Max and Rebecca were not deterred. They wanted to go right back out. So we did.

pooltime
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.

All Tucked In

I thought I would share an update on Max and Rebecca and their sleeping arrangements. Originally, as posted here, Rebecca thought the blanket and the quilt she selected were an evil, horrible conspiracy by mommy. Eventually, as written here, I was able to get her blanket on her bed. I even progressed so far as to get her quilt on.

Every night, before I stagger off to sleep, I check all my children. I like to place a hand on them to check their breathing. It’s a habit from when they were infants and I can’t seem to break it. It has even gathered strength since Max was diagnosed with CF. One time I got quite a shock when I went to check Rebecca and she wasn’t in her crib. After some frantic searching I found her under her crib.

Four nights ago as I was doing my nightly bed check when I found this:


sleepingBaba
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.

Previously she and Max would only sleep on top of their bedding, wrapped in their blankies. But there she was, all tucked in bed. When I had put her to bed earlier she was on top. At some point she wiggled in under her sheet.

Max on the other hand...


sleepingMax
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.

Well he seems to be in no hurry to be tucked into bed.

Graduation Thursday Three

It’s that time of the week again for the Axis of Weevil Thursday Three, special travel edition. The always entertaining Jordana is hosting this week’s edition at Curmudgeonry.

Pomp and Circumstance
It's graduation time for college students and high school students will be following soon. Some kids even get preschool graduations. So let's direct our thoughts towards graduation ceremonies.

(1) Who was the most memorable (good or bad) graduation speaker at a ceremony you've attended -- not necessarily your own? The only graduation speakers I remember are Marian Edelman and Andy Rooney. Both were at my college.

Ms. Edelman was the speaker at my college graduation. I’m sure she did a fine job, I just don’t really remember very much of her speech. I had been up very late the night before and I had come to a cat’s whisker of being arrested. My friends and I had had gone to a beach after hours in the dark. We were not causing trouble, we just like going to the beach at night to talk. It felt wrong when got there and we never made it to the beach. As we sat in the car the police pulled up. Stupidly we ducked down to hide, but he had us. After some intense questioning we were released and told not to do this again.

Andy Rooney was the speaker at friend Kathy’s graduation. She went to the same college as me, but was two classes ahead. This was in 1985 and Mr. Rooney was still entertaining. His most memorable remark was this acknowledging the college’s President’s introduction. In essence he said it was always hard to follow a brief and witty introduction and that he thanks the President for sparing him. Ouch!

It is interesting to look back at a list of past commencement speakers. My college has been all over the map.

2) Approximately how many graduation ceremonies have you been in as a graduate and how many others have you gone to? I personally have only been in two graduation ceremonies, high school and college. I have attended at least five. I went to the college graduation ceremonies for my friends Kathy, Roy, and Andy. Then I attended my husband’s PhD ceremony. It was huge and I was waaaaay up in the nose bleed seats with our very young son Jake.


Jake&Dr
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.

The most recent was our son Nate’s graduation from preschool which I’m counting, but I actually missed do to some sort of toddler illness (Max’s not mine).

3) After finishing high school and/or college what did you do for the summer? After high school I don’t really remember. I did an assortment of summer jobs such as waitressing and exercising horses. After college I worked at a florist. I did some deliveries, ran the cash register, watered plants and picked wildflowers such as Queen Anne’s Lace. Then I got my first real job as a lab tech at Yale Med.

Bonus Question:
What was your favorite graduation gift? My favorites were a typewriter for my high school graduation and a string of pearls for my college graduation. One was practical and served me in good stead and the other made me feel pretty and all grown up. I think you can figure out which was which.