She could have lost her thumb!

by | Oct 9, 2008 | All About Kennedy, All About Molly

I have been MIA as I’ve tried to clean off my desk to find my sewing machine and then create a pattern and a purse from said-pattern.  I did succeed and now have to make five more purses…but as I have a few days I can share this little story from tonight…

I had gone out to show off the purse to the playgroup-mom that ordered them to make sure she liked the design before I made all six.  While I was there my phone rang – it was Archie from home.  Immediately after a standard greeting and an “are you on your way home yet?” moment he tells me that Angel scared the daylights out of him tonight. 

There is a Dora doll.  Dora showed up in Riley’s easter basket a couple years ago and ha been passed on to Angel.  On this Dora doll is a tag…a long tag.  In the past two years the tag has been worn down and is a little threadbare, but still firmly attached.

Archie had settled in to watch a movie after I left, when suddenly he heard, “Daddy, help!  Daddy help!”  Angel was calling from her bedroom, so in the bedroom he went.  He found her thumb swollen and dark purple. 

She had laced her thumb into the tag and spun the Dora doll until the tag was wrapped up so tight, Archie couldnt’ figure out how to loosen it.  He had to cut off the tag to free her!! 

So after a stressed out mini rant, Archie concluded “She could’ve lost her thumb if she hadn’t called for me!!” 

Ah, the drama of Mommy being gone….

**

On a separate note, Riley came home with a note on her daily report:  “Riley’s nose has been running green!”  Um, couldn’t they just say, “Please don’t bring her in tomorrow”?  Would have been so much easier than me having to get up 7AM to call the school and say she’s not coming in…

Harvest Festival – Weekly Winners

by | Oct 5, 2008 | Weekly Winners

Yesterday we went to the Harvest Festival at the local Orchard.  The boys went through the huge corn maze while the girls and I wandered the booths and played on the pile of pumpkins.  I remembered to take my camera and…voila:

We Saw Apple Trees

Soybean Fields

 

Green Pumpkins

Lots of Pumpkins in a Pile

 

Old Farm Equipment

 

 

Gears

 

Wheels

 

Pumpkins!!!

 

I can climb!

 

Look, Mommy!  No Hands!

 

Best find of all – PURE JOY

It was a great day, filled with joy and laughter (and only one small tantrum)…followed up by a DATE with my hubby.  Can’t ask for more than that!! 

*****

This post has been made as part of Sarcastic Mom’s Weekly Winners.

Helpless or hopeful?

by | Oct 3, 2008 | All About Kennedy, Hypotonia

What do you do when you don’t know what to do anymore?

When you tell yourself daily to call the doctor, to push for a second opinion…but you fear ‘the look’ you know will happen on the other end.  The one that says, “You’re overreacting.”

When your child throws themselves into such an intense, self-injuring, shriekingly horrible fit that she is unable to pull herself out of it?

When the comfort you try to give her leads to pained cries – deep, gut-wrenching sobs filled with tears that tear at your heart – and you’ve never known what caused it?

When the two years of therapy have done nothing to help a problem that only seems to be getting worse, but no doctor seems to think that your fears are justified?

When you think there’s more wrong that they just haven’t gotten a fix on yet…but you have no clue where to start…and the one venue you can think of using could cause you to lose all support you currently receive – or at least have to have it re-evaluated?

When you are faced with watching your child – every day- struggle to be…anything?

Watching her struggle to be just like her sister, but unable to compete in an uneven battle?

When you see her grow tired every two hours, but have to force her to stay awake and still playing so that she will sleep when it’s actually appropriate? 

When you see that the moment she has gotten tired all possible control she had weakens, and her feet turn in, and the clumsy begins, and the tantrums come quicker and stronger?

When you watch her destroy toys and property, without the faintest idea how to stop her?

When not even the trained psychologist is sure how to help with all of her issues?

When your own faith in your motherhood is tested and you doubt your own instincts on whether there is a problem or you’re being a hypochondriac?

You do the only thing you can do.  You sit back.  You watch her play, you give her hugs and kisses when she runs up to you.  You find the amazement and wonder at her intelligence when she surprises you by showing it off.  You see the happy in the smiles she grants you liberally between tantrums.  You note the way she’s like you – dancing at every little bit of music, the way her toes point when she’s at rest, the cheeks, the smile, the crazy buck-teeth, the eyes. 

You remember that you are her Mom.  That in your heart you know the truth.  You remember that your instincts ARE on, and fight for them, and for her.

You take a break, you revel in the love of your little angel…and you fight anew tomorrow to give her every bit of life, love, and help that she deserves.

I hate Halloween

by | Oct 1, 2008 | Holidays

My mother hated Halloween, and I guess she passed it on to me.

Walking around to stranger’s houses and begging for food.  Bratty teenagers creating havoc performing more tricks than treats.  The cost/hassle of costumes, pumpkins. 

I was predestined to dislike it. 

Then during high school my dad’s employee vehicle was egged.  The neighborhood we lived in was filled with the rich, snobby kid set…and it sort of sealed Halloween’s fate for me.

I hated it.

As Brandon has gotten older, my dislike grew.  I leave my house dark, not like our neighborhood gets many hits (it’s sort of off the beaten path) anyway.  I have Archie take Brandon out, the girls don’t go (Riley went her first year, Angel has never gone).  I cringe and blah my way through the day.

So why am I finding myself getting excited now?  Planning on going to the pumpkin patch for the harvest festival/corn maze?  Getting ideas for pumpkins that don’t necessarily involve carving?  Recipes for pumpkin-involved dishes?  Thinking of cheap, easy costumes to MAKE for the girls?  Why do I have visions of them dressed as a princess and an angel? 

Is it possible that…I’m starting to…LIKE Halloween?  Or at least get interested in it? 

Or am I just facing serious mental illness?  Because I’m also already making plans to expand our Christmas decorations, too…which I’ve always done (planned), but never followed through on…

She’s so literal…

by | Sep 29, 2008 | All About Molly

Last Thursday Riley came home from school.  As usual we took off her little backpack and opened it up to see what she had brought home and read her report.  Inside was a little craft they had done at school.  This is what she brought:

 

It’s simple and pretty, and I have no idea what it is.  No explanation existed in her daily report.  So I told Riley it was beautiful, and then asked “What is it, Riley?”

Riley turns to me with big, serious eyes, and a wide smile and says, “It’s PAPER!”

Yes, Riley…It certainly is!