A Call to ban Dr. Seuss

I don't really believe in banning books, but today I might re-think that. As I was walking back down the hallway, past the bathroom, I saw Frances step up onto a 12in. ball. It is the kind you would play with outside, nice and bouncy, quite colorful. I started to tell her that she needed to get down, when she was told very forcefully without me having to say a word. That's right-she fell!! Big time!! She smashed her head into the wall, banged the side of her face into the laundry basket outside the bathroom and went down hard on her bottom. I think my mom almost had a coronary just from watching it!

She jumped up to help Frances, just as I was moving to comfort her. I have always noticed that kids tend to cry more, harder, and longer when you rush to them, so I have become quite practiced at calmly approaching a crying child. I also know that the hurt child needs to make the first move, lest you exacerbate an existing neck or head injury. So I calmly helped her up and rubbed her back. She was crying pretty good at this point, so I had a hard time understanding what had happened and where she was hurt. I finally figured out that she had hurt her ear, her neck and her mouth. We put some ice on it and got her mostly settled down.

Thinking that this might be a good time to talk about what had happened, I asked her what she had been doing when she fell. She explained to me that she had been standing on the ball. I asked her if she thought that was a good idea. She said, "The Cat in the Hat did it, so I thought I would try it." "Well, darling, do you think it worked?" "No" she cried. I don't think she'll try it again.

Of course, I didn't take any pictures. Somehow with my mom standing right there, I didn't think I could justify whipping out the camera. Not that blogging was the first (or second) thing on my mind at the time. It was at least the third thought that popped in my head.

Now here's to hoping she doesn't invite any strangers over to play with her and her brother on the next rainy day!!

Random Picture Challenge

APRIL 2008

or13th folder

42nd picture

or 4th

if you don't have that many

Last April, CHick-Fil-A had a "Princess Night." Tons of little girls dressed up in their best princess gear and headed out for free kids' meals and lots of fun. Miss Virginia was there to sign autographs and talk with the girls. I met my friend Stacey there, and snapped this picture of her twins Lydia (on the left) and Emily. I actually blogged about it when it happened, way back when.

Checkout 4 Little Men and Girly Twins for more random pictures.

10 on Tuesday

10 Least Liked Foods

1. chicken with bones (AKA "bone chicken")
2. onions
3. squash
4. zucchini
5. water chestnuts
6. sweet potatoes
7. crab
8. coconut
9. lobster
10. grits

I don't think I am overly picky. I actually had to think pretty hard to come up with 10 items. It is funny to note that most of these things are things my husband Loves to eat!

Ponderings on Laundering

I have noticed these strange tidbits with every load of laundry that I do. Can anyone explain why:

• No matter how large the basket is, there are only ever 2-3 pieces of my clothes? I wear clothes every day, just like the rest of my family.
• Socks never get into the same load with their mates? I have a whole basket full of socks that need to be matched, but have been orphaned.
• There is always some piece of clothing that I don't recognize? Who is doing all this shopping? Certainly not me.
• There is always a toy in the basket? Today is was a plastic bracelet that I have never seen before (see above).
• I end up with tissues everywhere? I know this is my fault because I am always sticking tissues in my pockets, but after that "Chapstick incident" I always rememeber to check the pockets.
• I am blogging about laundry at 6:30 in the morning?

Nightmares

The reason I am writing a blog post at 3 am?? Frances has been having nightmares again.
At 3 this morning she started yelling from her bed, "Can someone come sleep with me?" over and over again. She sounded so pitiful and started crying before I could even wake up enough to respond to her. I told her to come get in bed with me (too much noise in the kids' room wakes up Henry and she only has a twin bed anyway). She climbed in bed with her wet, teary face and I asked her what had happened. She said monsters were throwing rocks at her house. Well, our favorite method for dispelling nightmares around here is to change the story a la parenthacks. I told her that monsters were not allowed to throw rocks at our house. Her Daddy is so big and tough that he packed them all up inside a bag and threw them in the ocean. She asked me what they were doing in the ocean and I told her that since they were so heavy, all the monsters sunk to the bottom of the sea. I even told her she could tie the bag shut and help Daddy throw them if she wanted to. That made her giggle; and giggling is much better than crying. She is sound asleep again...but I am not. She snores, steals my pillow and breathes her morning (middle-of-the-night?) breath in my face. Plus I have a hard time going back to sleep in the middle of the night. Therefore I blog.
The other nightmare she had (Thursday morning) is much harder to "fix." As you know, we are coming up on Easter. And I am very proud to say that while my daughter loves the Easter bunny just as much as the next kid; she was the first one to bring up Jesus dying on the cross. She keeps saying that she is excited for Jesus to die on the cross again. Trying to deal with that...but not trying to attach adult hangups to the statement. She knows that Jesus dies on the cross (she knows details, like nails, blood, etc.), but she also knows that he did it to "TAKE OUR SINS!!" and that he rose again. So she is doing pretty well in the religious aspect of Easter. However, here is my problem...the nightmare she had was that after they crucified (that's the word she used) Jesus, they took him down off the cross and put him in a fire. I am not sure where she got that kind of imagery, but she is very concerned about it. Even dreaming about the actual crucifixion would be traumatic for a 5-year old. But she has added this extra dimension in her head, and I don't know how to "fix" it. She knows the resurrection story and the Good News that it is, but I don't think she can get that far before waking up really scared.
Additionally, this is the week the high-schoolers will do our living stations of the cross at church. I had originally made arrangements for a babysitter for the kids while I was at church, but Frances got really mad at me-even though the sitter is "NADIA!!!" Nadia will still watch Henry, but Frances insists on coming to church with me. She wants to help me sing and she wants to watch the re-enactment. With this latest nightmare, I don't know if that is a good idea. On one hand, I am proud and excited that she "gets" the story as well as she does. On the other hand, I don't want to add fuel to the fire, so to speak.
I know that I have a few followers here-and as far as I know they are good Christian people (and mostly mommies, too)-so what do you guys think? Any suggestions? Leave me a comment...