Better Living Through Chemistry

Surrounding the time that I had the flu, I apparently also had a sinus infection. I had been taking Tylenol Sinus to help with my headache and some of the other symptoms.  Our pediatrician has said that it is safe enough for me to take, so I didn't feel too bad about it. As I mentioned in the previous post, it also had the totally expected side-effect of causing Benjamin to sleep all the time.

Since I got the Z-pack from my doctor I hadn't been taking the sinus medication, so last night was very interesting.  I tossed and turned A LOT! And across the hall I could hear poor Benjamin doing the same thing.  He didn't cry, he just rolled around a bunch and whimpered a few times.  I finally got up to feed him around 3:30 and then went back to sleep. I slept a little better then, but I still had to get up at 5 because I had to be at work at 6:30.

I got up a little after 5 and got my shower before checking the weather. After I got out of the shower, I discovered that not only was Frances out of school for the day, but that Littlest Lamb was closed too!  So I got back into bed and got the best sleep of the night morning.  Of course, when my boss called at 7 to say that she had changed her mind and we were opening late, I had to get up and start all over again!

I took my second dose of medicine this morning and still have a headache. I am feeling slightly better, though, so maybe it's just gonna be baby steps.

Frances' Pre-School Graduation (In her own words.)

We were singing. It was fun. I liked it. Yeah. My mommy enjoyed it too. Yes, she did.
We played. It was so much fun.
We ate cake. It was so much fun. We did.
My brother made a messy face. He looked very funny.

I ate a cookie with my Mommy's coat on my head.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today my classroom is in chaos! There is a pesky little Leprechaun flitting around the school. He dumped out the two and three year olds' toys and left sticky green footprints all over their rooms. He left piles of glitter on my tables and dumped out some of my toys too. The kids found a box in the class room and decided to make a Leprechaun trap. They colored the box green and decorated it with green items from the art cabinet. Then we set the trap. We put it in the cubbies because that is where it is quietest. The kids filled the "house" (we have to call it a house, or he might not come) with all the green toys they could find and then went off to their mats for nap time. They know that the Leprechaun won't even go looking for his new house if they are awake...or even if he thinks they are awake!

The cool thing about this scenario, is that the kids came up with the trap idea by themselves and they worked together to make it and set it. I tossed in the bit about having to go to sleep-they don't naturally go to sleep very well on their own. And they did all fall asleep!! I took out all their green toys and left them some gold coins (that look suspiciously like pennies) and some green pixi sticks. I also left them a note from the Leprechaun thanking them for the house, but telling them that he was headed back to Ireland.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thankful Thursdays

It's that time again! Time for me to sit back and reflect on my week and pick three things that I am especially thankful for. Some weeks this is easy because things stick out as wonderful. Sometimes I have to think harder, but I know how important it is to exhibit an attitude of thankfulness and gratefulness in all that we do. It's like putting on your nice clothes when you don't feel well. If you look nice, chances are that you will feel nice. In the same vein, if you look for things to be thankful for, it will be easier to see the wonderful things in your life.

• I am thankful for my trials. Fr. Tom had a wonderful and timely homily at Mass last weekend. He spoke about suffering and God's purpose. After Mass I had a friend come up to me and give me some bad news about her job. It brought up some raw emotions for me because it is the same sort of thing that I went through about 4 years ago. On this side of the mess I can clearly see how that problem led me to where I am now in life. And since I LOVE where my life has taken me, I feel like I should be thankful for the trials. My friend also says she feels strengthened by knowing that I went through something very similar and came out better for it. I am thankful that God holds me in the palm of his hand and that he has a plan for my life that is infinitely better than anything I could ever attempt to map out.
• I am thankful for my husband. He puts up with me on a regular basis. He loves me no matter what. He is an awesome father! He is just a great friend-to me as well as to his other friends. He would do anything for anyone (unless you call our house looking for the Post Office, and then...well watch out!) He had a birthday last week, and now is a good time to be thankful that he was created, born and placed into my life.
• My class. They were so sweet this morning at our Valentine's Day party. They went through their bags and kept saying "Who is this from?" "Thank you!" and getting up and hugging each other. They are full of love for me and for each other. Sometimes I have to remind myself that they are only four and five (especially on days when we have spaghetti for lunch) but when all is said and done, they are a great group of kids and I am proud to be their teacher!

Random Photo Challenge

One of the blogs I follow (4 Little Men and Girly Twins) has posted a "Random Picture Challenge" again this week. She picks a random month from the past and random number to designate which picture to post. Unfortunately, my photos are not organized by date (my dad's camera does this, but not mine). So I opened a random folder, picked out a random picture and here it is:
This picture is from my preschool class from about two years ago. The date stamp says February of 2005, but that can't be right because Frances would have only been 16 months old at that point and we didn't start at this school until she was almost 2. The oldest kids in this picture are in 1st grade this year, so I am guessing it was two years ago.
We had two presentations that year where the kids would have all been gathered together. One was a dentist and one was the police department. I think this was the police department judging from the pictures around it.
Frequent readers of my blog (meaning you, Stacey) will notice the following kids in this picture:
Back Row, Second from the left: Maryssa
Back Row, Second from the right: Jordan (Bethany's sister)
Back Row, Far Right: Hunter (Heather's brother)
And I just noticed that Oliver is sitting in Maryssa's lap!!
Middle Row, Second from the left: Frances
Middle Row, Middle Kid, grey sweatshirt: Selassie (Latham and Tiberius' brother)

For the names of all the kids (and a good memory workout):
Front Row, L-R: Emma K., Noah, Jonathan
Middle Row, L-R: Tate, Frances, D'Shawn, Selassie, Emma H., Logan
Back Row, L-R: Macey, Oliver, Maryssa, Declan, Keshawn, Keshawna, Jordan, Hunter
There are only two kids' names that I cannot remember. Hopefully they will come to me sometime today.
**Edit: I remembered one! The other kid had a sister named Abrie (I think). It WILL come to me!
**Edit again: I remembered them all!! I am a genius!

My meeting with Pam

On Friday at the day care, we had a large number of children out sick. We were in the process of deciding which staff would go home for the day when Pam called and asked if I could come to her to her other center for a meeting. And she told me to bring Frances. Hmmmm..... My car had broken down the night before, but that was fine because she actually needed Kristen's van to transport some kids anyway. So I packed up Frances into Kristen's van and headed to Littlest Lamb for a meeting...

Augusta County schools were out on Friday, so Pam was taking the school-agers to Eli's Fun Center. Eli's is very similar to Pump-It-Up in that they both have inflatables, but in my opinion Eli's is much better.

They have more inflatables that the kids can play on more easily. (Frances has trouble climbing up the slide at Pump-It-Up) They have a larger variety of inflatables (as opposed to just bouncing and sliding) such as a Velcro wall, a baseball station, a pop gun station, and a basketball goal.

(Frances thought I was just taking pictures-not video. I love how she keeps stopping to pose!)

They also have one corner set up with some dramatic play items like a house, car, boat, plane and dress up clothes. Of course, this is where Frances chose to spend the first thirty minutes playing!

After she warmed up to the idea of the inflatables, she had an awesome time! She went down the slides and even jumped on the Velcro wall!! The guy who was helping her had to roll up the legs on the suit almost half-way in order to get her to fit in it!

After playing for about 2 hours, the kids were served some of the best pre-fab, microwave pizza I have ever had along with Kool-Aid juice boxes. Then the owner gave each of the kids four free tokens to use in the arcade section of the fun zone. One of the girls from Littlest Lamb was "kind" enough to ask Frances if she could have one of Frances' tokens to win a game for her (there were no prizes for the games). My little girl was trusting enough to let her and still has no idea that she was duped! After most of them had spent their tokens, of of the employees turned on the music and started DJing for the kids. He played Hannah Montana and then some other dance songs. The kids had a blast!!

Oh, yeah, and while we were their Pam and I sat down and discussed the day care for a little while. :)

Cool Christmas ornaments

Today at preschool we made these:

We used clear glass ornaments from Target. Simply pull off the silver hanger part and set it aside. Then I helped the kids use a funnel to pour some glitter inside (optional). The kids picked two colors of acrylic paint and I squirted both colors inside. You have to aim down the inside of the ball, which might take a little bit of practice. You can use more than two colors, but too many will make it look "muddy." Then I gave the balls to the kids and told the to turn them slowly and watch the colors run around inside. (Truly, you can just set them aside and turn them every few minutes, but the kids liked watch the colors move and it helps them feel more a part of the activity.) I also wrote the kids name and '08 on the balls in silver or gold Sharpie. Set them aside for a day or two to dry out and then pop the silver hanger part back on. They will be gifts for my kids' parents. AWESOME!

I love a parade!

Last night we were on the Day School's float for the Christmas parade. I am going to skip over the nightmare of a start we had and just focus on the fun. The kids all wore boxes wrapped in holiday paper. I carried Henry in my sling and walked the parade route because we was wiggly and tired. He stayed awake the whole time and even handed out flyers to people! Frances rang her jingle bells underneath her box and yelled "Merry Christmas!" to the people. We saw Daddy at the end of the route and then doubled back to go visit and warm up a bit before watching for Santa. Then we walked down to our church for some cookies and candy. We waited there for Stacey and her kids and hung out for a little while. Norman and Ken came and picked us up and drove us back to my car. We had a very late night, but it was fun. I am sore and exhausted this morning, so I am crossing my fingers for a good anp this afternoon. I didn't get any pictures, but Stacey did, so when she gets her posted, I will likely steal them!

Innocence

During prayer time this morning at school, I opened it up to the class to see if they had anything they wanted to pray about. A few weeks ago when I asked this question, one of my girls told us that her mouth hurt (she had a bad toothache). So we offered that up in prayer. Well today when I asked, the same girl spoke up again to tell us that her mouth didn't hurt anymore. *tears* WOW! I took a minute to think about how often we ask God for things and then forget to offer prayers of thanksgiving when a situation is resolved. This girl is not one that attends church regularly, or even hears about God at home. I am afraid that school is the only place where she hears any kind of Gospel at all. But she's got it! We need to seek God at all times-not just the bad ones. We need to have faith at all times-not just the good ones. Thank you K for opening my eyes today.

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...

...Into the future! I lost another week?!!? How does this happen. Last weekend was crazy busy because of the Diocesan Youth Council retreat in Abingdon. I am excited because we have a really awesome group of young people to work with this year! We drove home Sunday afternoon in time for me to turn around and rive over to church for our religious ed kick off. I think the night went rather well and I am glad to have things underway.

My mom wanted to make sure I posted a few pictures from when Henry and Frances stayed with them last weekend. These are the pumpkins that my brother, Alan, grew. They are huge!!

They spent a lot of time in the garden picking grapes, blueberries and raspberries. My mom commented several times on what a good eater Henry is. And he is, especially in contrast to Frances who has a very small appetite and eats very slowly.

He got a new a hat as well. Yes, that is the potty seat! I couldn't use any of the other pictures because they all have Frances in the background...p**ing. :)

This has been a good week, but busy. I have been spending a lot of time on getting things ready for church this Sunday. I am really excited about the way our program is turning out this year. Things are going well at the pre-school too. I am up to nine kids in my class-three boys and six girls. They usually get along really well and LOVE circle time in the mornings-especially the message time we do.
There was a fire at the ABC store across town which has created more work for Ken, but today he doesn't go into work until 4:15, so we had a nice morning of cleaning house and hanging out. The kids are sleeping now, so hopefully when they get up we will have the chance to do something fun.
Please pray for Frances and Henry who both have the "coffes" (That's what Frances calls it when she has a bad cough.) I have been giving them their allergy medicine as well as some breathing treatments. This happens about once a season, and it can be a miserable two weeks for the two of them (and consequently mom and dad too). They don't sleep well, or eat much or behave well at all.

Thankful Thursdays

I have missed a few Thursdays because of the busy-ness of life, so I am glad to get back into the habit. It is one think to think about your blessings, and another to take the time to write them out. I have limited myself to three per post simply because I want to write more about fewer tings rather than writing less about a lot of things (does that even make sense?)

• Today as I reflect I feel especially thankful for my digital camera. I know it doesn't always work and washing my memory card was not a good idea, but without it I wouldn't be able to save so many of the memories that I have here. Ken's mom has a magnet shaped like a camera that Frances loves to play with. She takes pictures with it and then turns it around to "look" at the picture she just took. She does this with imaginary cameras also. I think it is just amazing that we can be so instantly gratified with knowing that a shot came out (or didn't). I also love the video capabilities I have. I have a digital camcorder that I use for longer amounts of time, but just to catch a quick blurb, the camera is awesome!
• I am also thankful for my pre-schoolers. I hope I am not speaking too soon, but these kids are a delight! Right now I have 6 girls and two boys. The girls like to play princesses together and don't normally fight too much. The boys are both new to my classroom, so for right now all the toys are extra exciting to them. Maybe it is just the noticeable difference between 8 4-year olds and 20 older kids, but my room runs so much more smoothly now!
• Thirdly, I am thankful for new life. I have four friends right now that are pregnant (I am definitely NOT). Two of them are first time moms and two of them have other children, but all four of them are just a filled with the wonder and appreciation of life growing within them. How great is that!! What a miracle and a privilege that is granted to women who are allowed to create and grow a new life!! It kinda makes me want to be pregnant again...KINDA--not quite ready yet.

We don't need no stinkin' plumber!

Well this post was supposed to be about how awesome I am for fixing the day care toilets, but alas, I have only conquered one of them so far. I am taking a break from the second one, to think about what else might be wrong with it. Hopefully I will get back to it later today, because really there is not another good time for me to look at it.
But I did fix one of them! Yeah me!

Hello Mah Baby!

I have been gone for a while, it seems. Things have been really hectic with finishing our summer program and beginning the school year both at the day care and at church. Tonight, though, I couldn't resist posting for posterity's sake.
On Tuesday, one of the after school kids was singing this song on the playground. (Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal.) It was really amusing and got stuck in my head. Well now Frances is singing it, but of course in her own way. She's never seen the original, although now that I have looked it up, I will show it to her. I wish my camera was working, so I could get a recording of it, but here are her lyrics: "Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my orangutan gal." This was sung for the first time during dinner this evening. Spew lemonade out of your nose, kinda funny!!!

A Whole Week!

Well, I actually went a whole week without blogging. I didn't set out to neglect my online journal for quite so long, but it was a busy week and things just got away from me. Here's a quick update on what has been happening around here:

• Last Saturday afternoon, we packed up the car and headed to Culpeper to visit Ken's family. His sister, Christie, and her boyfriend, Brian, had flown in from Florida for a visit and we wanted to see them. Ken's brother, Dan, had also come up with his wife, Nikki, and baby daughter, Abby. It was a crowded house! We had a great time visiting with them and Frances got to hold her baby cousin and just LOVED it. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures yet because while I did remember my camera; I forgot my memory stick.


• Sunday we spent the day in Culpeper with Ken's family. We tried to go swimming, but Mother Nature had other plans for us. Ken, his dad, his sister, and Brian did get to play golf before the major downpour. We headed back that evening and stopped at Dairy Queen for some ice cream on the way back.


• Monday I was back to work. It was all set to be a crazy day because of all the summer kids being there. I was not disappointed!


• Tuesday I worked at the church. I got quite a bit done in between putting out fires at the Day Care. I managed to get 100 youth registered for religious education classes this year. The bad news, is that is only about half to a third of the ones that were registered last year, so there are a lot more coming.


• Wednesday, I had a fun day planned with Katie. She is going off to college soon *sniff* and we will miss her tremendously. We met for lunch at Burger King. Frances made her a picture frame that says "Frances" and "Henry" on it and we promised to send picture for her to put in it while she is away form home. Then we went to the pool. Frances had fun in the baby pool and Henry "borrowed" an inner tube from another child who wasn't using it and had a great time running around. He did manage to flip himself over in the inner tube, The result was that he floated upside down in the water for a second before I picked him up by the thighs and tried to turn him around. Of course I couldn't get a good grip on him because he was wet and surrounded by an inner tube, so it is quite a good thing that Katie was there to help me out. I aged about 12 years in that instant.


• Thursday I was back at the day care. We took the kids to the Rockingham County Fair. And by "kids" I mean everyone over the age of 2!! We took about 35 kids and various parents on the school bus, church van and Kristen's personal van. We got there and walked through the poultry barn. Then we went to a "Safari Comedy Show" which was rather amusing. After the safari show we ran over to the circus, but we didn't get there in time to get seats, so the kids had to stand. That coupled with the fact that they were hot, tired and hungry means that they mostly grumped during the show. After a pit stop to get some lemonade, we went through the petting zoo and then headed to the park for lunch. It rained while we were there, but no thunder, so we just let the kids play in it. After they were exhausted, we headed back to school. My memory stick wouldn't work, so I borrowed these pictures from Kristen's camera. (Thursday night we went back to the fair as a family.)


• Friday, oh Friday. In retrospect it wasn't actually that bad; but man! did we have some chaos. We had two sick teachers and another with sick kids. We sent a bunch of kids home sick-not fun. And the kids were wild that afternoon! I was ready to pull my hair out-so of course, it rained just enough so we couldn't really go outside. Another one of those days where I can say I earned my weekend!


• Saturday was supposed to be my day off where my wonderful friend Julie was going to kidnap my kids and give me a day to myself!! Apparently Henry got wind of the plan and didn't like i. He threw up three or fours times between 5 and 8 Saturday morning. Never very much, but enough so I couldn't pawn him off on Julie with a clear conscience. But Frances went, so it was just Henry and me home all day. He slept quite a but, ate very little and never threw up again. I slept off and on all day and accomplished nothing of great importance. Oh well, I guess that can be considered a good day.**One exciting thing I forgot...I went to the bathroom and left Henry in the living room with my cell phone. It made a strange beep, but when I came out he had closed it. No big deal, right? Nope, you guessed it-a few minutes later the phone rang, "This is 9-1-1 dispatch. We received a hang up from this number. Do you have an emergency?" Um...no...just a handy 14 month old. OOOPS!!**
  
• Sunday (today) we met Julie at church and retrieved Frances. After Mass I met with some more people who want to get involved with out youth program-AWESOME!! I took care of about 10 more registrations and did a LOT of laundry. Right now there are five baskets that are clean and folded and waiting to be put away. Ken made us dinner and then we went for a walk. No pictures of that because I washed my memory card along with the laundry and apparently that isn't good for them! The new memory card we have is too sophisticated for our camera, so we will have to either upgrade the camera or downgrade the memory card....I'm guessing it will be the card. :(


• Tomorrow starts the last official week of summer for us at the day care. While I will miss my summer class, they and I are all more than ready to move on and get the school year underway.

Praying for MckMama

Today after our rest time, my class at the preschool took some time out to pray for MckMama. I told them a brief version of the story in words I hoped they could understand. I had them each feel their own hearts. Then I told them I had a friend whose baby had trouble with his heart. I told them that the doctors weren't sure what to do for him. I asked the kids if they knew anyone who could fix Stellan's heart. I wish you could have seen them all sitting there with their hands over their hearts as they all shouted "GOD!!" Then I gave each kid a letter of Stellan's name and had the color them. I asked them to pray for Stellan as they colored. I wish I could have written down the conversations they had while coloring!

When they finished their coloring, I had them hold their letters together to spell Stellan's name and then took their picture. Of course, I had forgotten my camera at home, so I had to use Amber's cell phone and send the pictures to my facebook account. Then I took all the kids into the office at the day care and let the kids watch me email the picture to MckMama as we said another prayer together. We made her photo gallery!! You have to scroll rather far down the page. MckMama is adding new pictures all the time and she puts them at the top, so we keep getting moved further down.

After they were all done, one of the kids asked if he could take his letter home and keep praying for Stellan. How sweet!!

How to be an idiot

Alternately titled "I fought the drink machine and the drink machine won!"
Since my bunny chasing tutorial was such a hit, I thought I would try again. This one is near and dear to my heart.

• Step 1: Don't eat breakfast. This will ensure that you are not only hungry, but thirsty as well.
• Step 2: Go out in the hot sun with your class. Notice that you are very thirsty.
• Step 3: Attempt to buy a drink from the machine. First start by rooting through your new purse that your mom bought you because she didn't like your other one. You know the one that has way too much junk in it. Discover a quarter and a Susan B. Anthony dollar.
• Step 4: Notice that there is a quarter stuck in the drink machine. Pull out the scissors in your purse (see step 3) to push the quarter in farther. Insert the rest of the money.
• Step 5: Select drink and push button. Listen to the whirring sounds inside the machine. Wait...listen...wait...listen. Notice that the display is blinking "sold out."
• Step 6: Select a different drink. Repeat Step 5.
• Step 7: Decide that you are not actually thirsty. Push coin return. BONUS! You made 25 cents through your clever scissor maneuvering.
• Step 8: Go back to park bench to watch kids play. Comment to Kristen about your money making skills. Think about drinking something. Feel yourself getting thirstier. Decide to try again.
• Step 9: Dig 5 quarters out of your purse. Leave purse at bench and walk to machine. Insert the quarters in drink machine. Notice that machine does not credit you for one of the quarters. FUME! That machine stole my quarter that I stole from it fair and square!! Go back to purse to retrieve additional quarter.
• Step 10: Try the "sold out" drinks again-JUST IN CASE! Select other random buttons. Watch machine flash "sold out." Keep pushing buttons and listening to whirring sounds. OOH OOH It says VEND!! Wait for mystery drink to come out....

It's....







WATER!!!

THAT ISN'T COLD!!!

• Step 10: Concede defeat to victorious drink machine. Turn away and notice "out of order" sign on the ground next to machine.

Swimming Pool!

Every Thursday this summer we have taken the day care kids to the pool at Gypsy Hill. They have a really large shallow end where the kids can jump around and play and still be safe. All of the kids get in the water; most of them will put their faces in the water and a few of them can even swim. Here are some pictures and video I took today. This first one is Frances going under the water effortlessly.

The next one is Hunter and some of the boys running around.

For some reason, I can't upload any still photos right now, so check back.

Thankful Thursdays

I cannot believe that it is already August!! Where did the summer go? This week I am especially thankful for:

• My class. They get annoying and they don't always listen well, but I love my class and I will miss them at the end of the summer. One of the huge benefits of the child-care world versus public (or private) schools is that I get to forge a real bond with these kids and their families. If there are siblings, I get to know them as well. And then for school holidays and snow days I usually get to see "my kids" again. I get to keep in touch and get the latest on their progress once they get to "big school." And there's always next summer!


• I am thankful for my friend Heidy. Her husband got a great job offer in North Carolina, which is where her mother and stepfather wanted to move anyway, so with about 36 hours notice, she is off to Charlotte. She came to work at the daycare almost two years ago, soon after she and her husband and son arrived from Cuba. She learned English so quickly! And for the last year, she was my teaching assistant. She and I had a rhythm. We worked really well together. Some days she would say something and sound exactly like me-sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes it wasn't. :) She had such a love for the babies at the day care (especially mine). Heidy--Henry, Frances and I will miss you!!


• Summer-It is almost over. *sniff* I love being outside in the hot sun. I love to feel my hair get hot and go barefoot in the grass. I like going to the pool (although, I don't relish getting in the water). I like an excuse to wear my bathing suit and soak up some Vitamin D. I have never been diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I feel happier in the summer and being cooped all winter makes me grumpy. Frances (and Henry, a little bit) love the water and playing outside. She learned to go under the water this summer (more later). It has been an awesome summer, and thankfully I think I have most of it recorded here on my trusty ole blog.

Frances' Sleep Over

I was telling this story to my friend Stacey at work today and realized it is the kind of thing that made me start this blog in the first place and I had forgotten to write it down! As you already know, Frances had a friend from school spend the night last Thursday. She is in my class and had told her mom one afternoon that she was going to go home with me. I thought it would be fun so we invited her over a few nights later.
We had dinner together that evening and then decided to go for a walk. We typically walk around the cemetery that is near our house because it is a safe place with no traffic to worry about. One of Ken and Frances' favorite things to do at the cemetery is "bunny chasing." I don't remember exactly how it started, but when Frances was much smaller, Ken would see a bunny and ask her if she wanted to chase it. She would, of course, so then he would pick her up and sneak up on the bunny and then take off running as soon as it hopped away. Because the bunnies dart around so much when escaping, he would do the same. And Frances would squeal with delight the entire way.
Now, as she is older and faster; we look for the bunnies together and she chases them on her own. And last Thursday she took her friend from school. (Poor girl thought we would actually be catching the bunnies and was sorely disappointed to see that we would not!)
After several rounds of bunny chasing, the girls sat down for a rest and some funny faces. Ken could not resist sneaking up behind them and "boo-ing" them. They tried to return the scare, but he ran around the other way and scared them again. They LOVED it!!
We got home and got ready for bed. The girls and I put on our pajamas and then brushed our teeth together. I put toothpaste on their toothbrushes and they started brushing away. Frances' friend finished and spit into the sink. I gave her a cup of water and she rinsed and spit again. Then she took a sip of water and gargled it. I laughed-I thought it was cute. Then she leaned over and spit into the sink again. At this point Frances asks me to check her teeth. (Our dentist told me that a parent should "check/re-brush" a child's teeth until they were about 8 or so.) I did my little brushing and then gave Frances a cup of water as usual. Now I should tell you that Frances still uses fluoride-free toddler toothpaste and has never had to "rinse and spit." She has occasionally used "spitting toothpaste" but not very often or successfully. Well that night when I gave her the cup, instead of just taking a sip of water, she tried, very unsuccessfully, to spit it in the sink. She got her pajamas a little bit wet, but no big deal. BUT WAIT-THERE'S MORE! Since her friend had gargled, Frances decided she must try this new skill also. So she took another sip of water and opened her mouth and made that sound. Oh, wait! I forgot to put in the part where she tilted her head back...oh yeah-because she didn't!! She gargled water straight out of her mouth all over the floor and her nightgown. I tried to tell her to stop, but from a combination of laughing hysterically and having a mouth full of my own FOAMING toothpaste, there wasn't much I could do.
These stories are the reason I started my blog. Hopefully, one day when Frances is much older, her current boyfriend will "google" her and stumble upon this story. He will then decide that she is too kooky to date until she is 30. Then I will feel satisfied.

Thankful Thursdays

Today I am home from work because Henry threw up this morning twice at school. I took him to the doctor who said that it sounds like a stomach virus and to just keep him hydrated. He is acting fine now and hasn't thrown up since this morning.

• I am thankful for modern medicine. I love Henry's doctor. She was a good friend before she was his doctor and she was willing to see him (and the rest of the family) while we were in between insurance policies. I can call her at home to ask a question and she doesn't get annoyed (I've only done it once or twice). I can call the office and describe symptoms over the phone and she can call in a prescription if I need one. It is nice to have a doctor friend so that I can keep on top of what is going around.


• I am thankful for my mailman and his family. This should actually count for a few entries, but I will put it all together. Firstly my mailman is the son of a woman that used to work at the church with me. He is also the son-in-law of a woman I used to teach with. He and his family go to my church and I was in a group with his younger brother in college. I just love this whole family! They are awesome! He holds the mail when we are out of town. He asks about us if we don't pick it up for a few days. I have had more than one piece of mail delivered to my house despite being marked "postage due." I can put my outgoing mail outside with two quarters taped to it and it will get mailed. All of those things are neat, but let me tell you why else I love this family...Last summer I was out st some garage sales. I stopped at one and found a lot of really nice girls' clothes for good prices. As I was loading up my arms, the owner of the house approached me and it turns out to be the mailman's wife! She loaded me up with more clothes and toys and then gave me an awesome deal. Twice since then I have caught her delivering boxes of her daughter's old clothes to my house. It is an absolute Godsend to have these clothes. It means less shopping for me and good clothes get a few more uses out of them. What an awesome family!!


• Thirdly, I am thankful for my daughter's friends. This one comes with a funny story. Earlier in the week a mom came to pick up her three girls, one of whom is in my class. Her daughter looked at her mom and said "uh-uh, I want to go home with Ms. Rabia." She planted her feet and practically refused to leave. I promised her that we would make arrangements to let her come over sometime soon. Well it turns out that today was the day. You might think I am crazy for inviting over a guest when Henry is not feeling well, but let me tell you-it works! The two girls are having a ball playing downstairs and I am able to give Henry the cuddles he wants. Both my kids are happy and I don't feel split in two!! It's also pretty sweet to listen to the girls playing pretend and the conversations they are having. Mine's the one on the left, and please excuse the mess in the background. :)