My best friend is Korean. She was born in the United States, but she’s said before that she has been known to mix metaphors. I’ve never seen this in action until today. We were talking about something today that was frustrating to her. As I’m writing this now, I can’t remember the specifics and the point of frustration, mostly because we got sidetracked with the analogy she couldn’t figure out how to make.
It was “it’s like running on a duck’s back” I think at first. We went through some other options, mostly me trying to figure out what analogy she was trying to make when she got to, “it’s no hair off my back.” What?
Finally, I realized she was trying to say, “it’s no skin off my back”. After I stopped laughing I told her I liked her version better and from here on out, that was the phrase I intended on using.
The Big Boy Tiny Girl Altercation Chronicles: My son and daughter get along well. Sometimes they don’t and usually the one that gets in trouble first is very sure they did absolutely nothing wrong. Tonight we were at dinner at a neighbor’s house after a full day in the snowy weather. Everyone was tired and the four children weren’t getting along as well as they had an hour before. Suddenly I looked up to see my son pull back and hit his sister soundly on the back. I grabbed him and my husband grabbed her. I looked at him when I had pulled him away to see his face and lips bleeding from her scratching him in anger. The explanation behind what happened didn’t make sense on either end, but it was clearly time to go home and get to bed.
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Friday, January 6, 2017
Memories of Snow’s Past
It might actually snow here. There is this black snow hole around our area that likes to divert snow accumulation away from us—or at least that’s how it seems to me. Sure, we get weather and some of the weather is bad, but it’s typically not snow. And if it is frozen stuff, it’s not good, proper snow and it almost never accumulates much.
Tonight it is suppose to begin precipitating in an hour or so. My children aren’t that excited because we haven’t gone on about it to them much. I told them there may be snow on the ground when they wake up but so far, they’re just glad it’s Friday.
I used to get excited about the prospect of snow—lots of snow that you could trudge through and sled down hills on as the sound of crunching ice crystals assails your ears in the otherwise silent surroundings. I yearned to get bundled up in my winter’s warmest to go outside and have fun trying to make a snowball with reduced dexterity from my overstuffed gloves. I looked forward to sledding down a hill or road and not having the street surface break through for a good two days of solid sledding.
That’s what I hoped for for a long time after I became an adult. I had memories of large snow drifts that lasted for days and days when I was a child. But now, as an adult living in the same town I grew up in, I think the snow might well have been the same amount back then as it is today, only I was shorter. It might last for close to the same amount of time before it melts today, but when I was a child, time flowed a lot more slowly.
Regardless, we’re looking forward snow and all the fun it brings with it when we wake up tomorrow.
The Big Boy Update: I’m not sure if it’s seen as a negative thing these days to say this, but wow, my son is good at video games. He has an excellent memory just like his father and good fine motor skills to match. He came down and wanted me to see his new leveled-up something-or-other Ninjago character in Lego Dimensions on the Nintendo Wii U. It was pretty cool, I have to admit. His new character could fly.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter’s teachers have said they’re seeing a decrease in her vision or possibly her confidence at school. She’s spending the entire playground time holding the hand of the assistant teacher, Susan. We’re not seeing a reduction in vision here, but there’s a possibility we’re missing something. On Monday she has another EUA in Detroit. Hopefully we’ll get good news on the results of the surgery from last month, but even if we do, we’re not sure what’s happening at school to cause her to need more assistance.
Tonight it is suppose to begin precipitating in an hour or so. My children aren’t that excited because we haven’t gone on about it to them much. I told them there may be snow on the ground when they wake up but so far, they’re just glad it’s Friday.
I used to get excited about the prospect of snow—lots of snow that you could trudge through and sled down hills on as the sound of crunching ice crystals assails your ears in the otherwise silent surroundings. I yearned to get bundled up in my winter’s warmest to go outside and have fun trying to make a snowball with reduced dexterity from my overstuffed gloves. I looked forward to sledding down a hill or road and not having the street surface break through for a good two days of solid sledding.
That’s what I hoped for for a long time after I became an adult. I had memories of large snow drifts that lasted for days and days when I was a child. But now, as an adult living in the same town I grew up in, I think the snow might well have been the same amount back then as it is today, only I was shorter. It might last for close to the same amount of time before it melts today, but when I was a child, time flowed a lot more slowly.
Regardless, we’re looking forward snow and all the fun it brings with it when we wake up tomorrow.
The Big Boy Update: I’m not sure if it’s seen as a negative thing these days to say this, but wow, my son is good at video games. He has an excellent memory just like his father and good fine motor skills to match. He came down and wanted me to see his new leveled-up something-or-other Ninjago character in Lego Dimensions on the Nintendo Wii U. It was pretty cool, I have to admit. His new character could fly.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter’s teachers have said they’re seeing a decrease in her vision or possibly her confidence at school. She’s spending the entire playground time holding the hand of the assistant teacher, Susan. We’re not seeing a reduction in vision here, but there’s a possibility we’re missing something. On Monday she has another EUA in Detroit. Hopefully we’ll get good news on the results of the surgery from last month, but even if we do, we’re not sure what’s happening at school to cause her to need more assistance.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
My Ghostbuster Friend
I have a best friend. She’s great. She listens to me and puts up with all my annoying idiosyncrasies. We run together, we laugh together and we cry together. We even survived the, Tupperware Incident of 2016, about which I’m not allowed to talk, on the grounds of it being colossally silly.
I also have a husband. He's the nicest sort of guy. He puts up with me but I think there may be this bit of him (perhaps it is the male side of him, but I don’t want to stereotype) that just doesn’t care about all the little things that happen in my life that I feel I simply must talk about.
He doesn’t want to hear me perseverate over my day and the conversation I had with so-and-so and why I don’t think we should get that same type of cheese again because it’s not as good as the other type of cheese.
But I do have a best friend who is as crazy as I am, cares about similar silly stuff and is willing to listen to anything that’s important to me. Because when the excrement is hitting the fan folks, “Who you gonna call?” Your Ghostbuster friend.
The Big Boy Update: I didn’t get a good explanation on this one, but my son said to me yesterday, “Mom, call 991”. Me, “Why?” My son, “Because there’s a fire in your brain, because you’ve been thinking so much.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is already getting ready for next Christmas. She asked me if I could put a mermaid set on her wish list for this coming Christmas.
I Forgot I Ran: Haha, it’s been so long since I ran I forgot to even mention it here. I ran four miles the other day.
I also have a husband. He's the nicest sort of guy. He puts up with me but I think there may be this bit of him (perhaps it is the male side of him, but I don’t want to stereotype) that just doesn’t care about all the little things that happen in my life that I feel I simply must talk about.
He doesn’t want to hear me perseverate over my day and the conversation I had with so-and-so and why I don’t think we should get that same type of cheese again because it’s not as good as the other type of cheese.
But I do have a best friend who is as crazy as I am, cares about similar silly stuff and is willing to listen to anything that’s important to me. Because when the excrement is hitting the fan folks, “Who you gonna call?” Your Ghostbuster friend.
The Big Boy Update: I didn’t get a good explanation on this one, but my son said to me yesterday, “Mom, call 991”. Me, “Why?” My son, “Because there’s a fire in your brain, because you’ve been thinking so much.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is already getting ready for next Christmas. She asked me if I could put a mermaid set on her wish list for this coming Christmas.
I Forgot I Ran: Haha, it’s been so long since I ran I forgot to even mention it here. I ran four miles the other day.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
He Has The Best Voice
Update on my daughter’s back today, or rather a resolution to the problem. I’ve taken her to my chiropractor six times now, including the initial evaluation. There are three doctors at the practice and over the course of the last ten days she’s been seen by all three.
Today was her sixth visit, with us going in and knowing there was a good chance they would recommend doing nothing. Each time she was seen by one of the doctors the subluxations in her back were less and less. It’s like a two steps forward, one step back kind of thing where progress is made but not completely kept.
Good news is the subluxations were both gone and she’s been discharged. When we got home there was a new patient welcome letter (standard procedure for medical offices) with some very nice adult words on how they’re glad to have you as a patient and your health care needs are their top concern. My daughter wanted me to read the letter to her because I told her one of the doctors had drawn a smiley face at the bottom for her.
When I got done, I read out the names of the three doctors she’d seen at the bottom of the letter. She said in a quiet, inquisitive voice when I was done, “Dr. McMillon?” I said, “yes, do you remember which one he was?” She replied, “yes, he has the best voice.”
When you can’t see facial expressions or even faces, a person’s voice makes a bigger impact on your impression of them I would guess.
The Big Boy Update: We have a large, foam, fuchsia ten-inch die we got some time ago. I came into the living room yesterday to find my son yelling out to me, “I have forty-seven points” and then kicking the die across the room. He ran over to it, saw what number had come up, added it to forty-seven and then kicked the ball again. He was upwards of a hundred by the time I got back to the living room with the basket full of laundry.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This morning my daughter’s hair was a nightmare. We don’t wash it every night so sometimes the second morning I have to figure out what could have possibly gotten into it the day before when I’m doing the morning brushing. I have a spray bottle and some detangling spray but this morning I had to get a bowl of water out and dump big sections into it to try and loosen whatever it was. My daughter casually said while she ate her breakfast, “maybe its the Ring Pop?”
Today was her sixth visit, with us going in and knowing there was a good chance they would recommend doing nothing. Each time she was seen by one of the doctors the subluxations in her back were less and less. It’s like a two steps forward, one step back kind of thing where progress is made but not completely kept.
Good news is the subluxations were both gone and she’s been discharged. When we got home there was a new patient welcome letter (standard procedure for medical offices) with some very nice adult words on how they’re glad to have you as a patient and your health care needs are their top concern. My daughter wanted me to read the letter to her because I told her one of the doctors had drawn a smiley face at the bottom for her.
When I got done, I read out the names of the three doctors she’d seen at the bottom of the letter. She said in a quiet, inquisitive voice when I was done, “Dr. McMillon?” I said, “yes, do you remember which one he was?” She replied, “yes, he has the best voice.”
When you can’t see facial expressions or even faces, a person’s voice makes a bigger impact on your impression of them I would guess.
The Big Boy Update: We have a large, foam, fuchsia ten-inch die we got some time ago. I came into the living room yesterday to find my son yelling out to me, “I have forty-seven points” and then kicking the die across the room. He ran over to it, saw what number had come up, added it to forty-seven and then kicked the ball again. He was upwards of a hundred by the time I got back to the living room with the basket full of laundry.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This morning my daughter’s hair was a nightmare. We don’t wash it every night so sometimes the second morning I have to figure out what could have possibly gotten into it the day before when I’m doing the morning brushing. I have a spray bottle and some detangling spray but this morning I had to get a bowl of water out and dump big sections into it to try and loosen whatever it was. My daughter casually said while she ate her breakfast, “maybe its the Ring Pop?”
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Weenie Punching
Conflict Resolution as a child can be heavy stuff. My son and daughter have been getting better and better at it as they’ve grown and gotten more experience. Sometimes though, negotiations fail and physical means are employed. That’s when someone ends up crying. It’s also when my husband or me get called in to referee.
We try to let the children, including their neighbor friends, work things out for themselves, giving them guidance where possible. This afternoon there were some children in our back yard. Two of them were our neighbors but two I didn’t know. My son recognized them as visiting children from another day and told me immediately how he didn’t want to go play with them. Eventually he did though and I got to work on some things of mine until a short while later when he came in doing that cry thing where the child is so upset they can barely cry. The “snuffles” I think I heard it called once.
My son was hurt because he’d been punched rather soundly in the ribs by, “the yiddle guy” of the two new friends outside. When I asked what had happened while my son calmed down I was told I needed to “go outside right now and spank that kid ten times”. I told my son I didn’t think that would help but maybe if he told me what happened I could understand better.
He told me how he didn’t like this boy because he did <insert thing my son didn’t like> so my son pulled him by the leg. This child then hit my son, which my son didn’t like so my son said, “then I punched him in the weenie.” I said, “I see, then what happened?” The other child was using the Quiddich hoops in some way my son didn’t like and then he hit my son and cut his hand…so my son pushed him…and then the other child punched him in the ribs hard enough to send my son in crying, ending the interaction.
I was a little surprised at this very physical reaction and anger but sometimes things happen. It wasn’t until a little bit later that I looked outside and watched what was going on with the remaining children. I saw this child jerk the swing and kick my daughter out of it rather violently. I watched my daughter look stunned and move on. I saw a few other things I didn’t expect to see behaviorally, knowing how our neighbor children have good maturity and conflict management skills.
It was a few minutes later that Keira came to the door to tell my son goodbye. She had been the one who’d brought him inside when he got punched and was hurt. She told him she didn’t like playing with that other boy either and would see him tomorrow. I told my son violence wasn’t a good solution but I understood it was a difficult day and we all had them sometimes.
The Big Boy Update: The best punishment my son came up with to exact on the little boy he didn’t like from the back yard this afternoon was, “mom, can you make a potion and give it to that boy and when he takes it he’ll be old so when it’s his birthday he’s so old he’ll die.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My son and daughter were playing together yesterday. My son has been recently both the retro game Sonic the Hedgehog as well as a show featuring the same characters. I don’t know what game they were playing but I heard my daughter tell him, “okay, I’ll call you ‘Sonic’ but not ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’”.
We try to let the children, including their neighbor friends, work things out for themselves, giving them guidance where possible. This afternoon there were some children in our back yard. Two of them were our neighbors but two I didn’t know. My son recognized them as visiting children from another day and told me immediately how he didn’t want to go play with them. Eventually he did though and I got to work on some things of mine until a short while later when he came in doing that cry thing where the child is so upset they can barely cry. The “snuffles” I think I heard it called once.
My son was hurt because he’d been punched rather soundly in the ribs by, “the yiddle guy” of the two new friends outside. When I asked what had happened while my son calmed down I was told I needed to “go outside right now and spank that kid ten times”. I told my son I didn’t think that would help but maybe if he told me what happened I could understand better.
He told me how he didn’t like this boy because he did <insert thing my son didn’t like> so my son pulled him by the leg. This child then hit my son, which my son didn’t like so my son said, “then I punched him in the weenie.” I said, “I see, then what happened?” The other child was using the Quiddich hoops in some way my son didn’t like and then he hit my son and cut his hand…so my son pushed him…and then the other child punched him in the ribs hard enough to send my son in crying, ending the interaction.
I was a little surprised at this very physical reaction and anger but sometimes things happen. It wasn’t until a little bit later that I looked outside and watched what was going on with the remaining children. I saw this child jerk the swing and kick my daughter out of it rather violently. I watched my daughter look stunned and move on. I saw a few other things I didn’t expect to see behaviorally, knowing how our neighbor children have good maturity and conflict management skills.
It was a few minutes later that Keira came to the door to tell my son goodbye. She had been the one who’d brought him inside when he got punched and was hurt. She told him she didn’t like playing with that other boy either and would see him tomorrow. I told my son violence wasn’t a good solution but I understood it was a difficult day and we all had them sometimes.
The Big Boy Update: The best punishment my son came up with to exact on the little boy he didn’t like from the back yard this afternoon was, “mom, can you make a potion and give it to that boy and when he takes it he’ll be old so when it’s his birthday he’s so old he’ll die.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My son and daughter were playing together yesterday. My son has been recently both the retro game Sonic the Hedgehog as well as a show featuring the same characters. I don’t know what game they were playing but I heard my daughter tell him, “okay, I’ll call you ‘Sonic’ but not ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’”.
Monday, January 2, 2017
I Need a Tissue
There is some sort of cold-esque malady going around here. I’m not exactly sure what it is, largely because it’s not the same from person to person. My husband has chills, his head hurts and he feels bad. My daughter has a severely runny nose. I have deep head congestion that clears up only when I make a very loud and ugly noise. My son seems fine.
My daughter is getting good at blowing her nose. She likes tissues and she uses them frequently as she has six rounds of drops every day, dabbed each time by a tissue. Last night she came downstairs at some point during the night when I was fairly deep into sleep. She said, “mommy, I need a tissue. We don’t have any more in our bathroom” I told her she could get one from our bathroom. I heard her blow her nose several times, open the cabinet and throw the used tissue away.
I wondered what was going to happen next, knowing the amount of assistance or comfort she would need would be based on her current mental state and tiredness. Was she going to want to be carried up to bed? Hand-held walked up? Did she think she would need to be in our bed for a while before going up? What I heard from her in her little tiny tinkling girl voice was, “I’m going back to my bed now, mom.”
Okay, I told her and promptly fell back asleep, grateful for the self reliance she had at five-years-old. Then, later in the night she was back, needing another tissue. I suggested she take the whole box up with her, an idea she was pleased about, and we all went back to sleep.
Today has been a big tissue-consumption day for her and her nose is now red. Before bed tonight as she was getting settled she asked me if she could put the trash can from the bathroom beside her bed and the box of tissues on the bed with her. I agreed it was a good idea. Nice planning skills for a five-year-old I thought.
The Big Boy Update: I think my son did this today. He has an order side to him that comes out sometimes. These are counting blocks from Christmas. We’ve been having fun with them, but typically they’re in a bin all mixed up:
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I came over to my husband to give him a kiss this afternoon but said I guess I’d better watch out since he was sick. From around the corner I heard my daughter call out, “don’t think about kissing daddy.” I heeded her advice.
My daughter is getting good at blowing her nose. She likes tissues and she uses them frequently as she has six rounds of drops every day, dabbed each time by a tissue. Last night she came downstairs at some point during the night when I was fairly deep into sleep. She said, “mommy, I need a tissue. We don’t have any more in our bathroom” I told her she could get one from our bathroom. I heard her blow her nose several times, open the cabinet and throw the used tissue away.
I wondered what was going to happen next, knowing the amount of assistance or comfort she would need would be based on her current mental state and tiredness. Was she going to want to be carried up to bed? Hand-held walked up? Did she think she would need to be in our bed for a while before going up? What I heard from her in her little tiny tinkling girl voice was, “I’m going back to my bed now, mom.”
Okay, I told her and promptly fell back asleep, grateful for the self reliance she had at five-years-old. Then, later in the night she was back, needing another tissue. I suggested she take the whole box up with her, an idea she was pleased about, and we all went back to sleep.
Today has been a big tissue-consumption day for her and her nose is now red. Before bed tonight as she was getting settled she asked me if she could put the trash can from the bathroom beside her bed and the box of tissues on the bed with her. I agreed it was a good idea. Nice planning skills for a five-year-old I thought.
The Big Boy Update: I think my son did this today. He has an order side to him that comes out sometimes. These are counting blocks from Christmas. We’ve been having fun with them, but typically they’re in a bin all mixed up:
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: I came over to my husband to give him a kiss this afternoon but said I guess I’d better watch out since he was sick. From around the corner I heard my daughter call out, “don’t think about kissing daddy.” I heeded her advice.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
The Tooth and the Glasses
My son and daughter each get front and center tonight. I’m not going to even write about my fun day sleeping in and shopping with my best friend and how we now have matching camo cargo pants.
The Big Boy Update: My son is getting a tooth. His lower right molar is coming in and has erupted either today or yesterday. He’s been pretty excited to know he’s got an adult tooth coming in, although it’s bothersome to him at times. At dinner he proclaimed that there should be nothing crunchy to eat. Then he decided the food wasn’t warm enough for his tooth, although the fork was too cold. The mashed potatoes weren’t right (as in he didn’t want to eat them), but eventually he did eat everything, all which met the “not crunchy” criteria and was able to have a slice of Nana’s chocolate Oreo peppermint ice cream pie.
The tooth brushing tonight was interesting. He wanted to brush that tooth—to the exclusion of all other teeth. There was lots of flossing going on, but mainly around the new tooth. I remember as a child when my teeth were coming in. It’s uncomfortable, sometimes painful and almost an itchy feeling and you just want it to hurry up and break all the way through.
He told me it was a baby tooth but soon it would be a teenager and then after that it would be a child tooth (as it grew up into his mouth). He’s working on a name for the new tooth now.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter can smear a pair of eyeglasses faster than anyone I know. She touches the glasses a lot and she’s messy and sticky because she’s a child. My husband and I typically clean her glasses for her when we do the rounds of drops each day. We’ve tried to build an interest in her cleaning the glasses, but so far she’s not wanted to do it.
This morning she came into the bedroom while we were still asleep. She said, “mom, I want to clean my glasses”. Did I mention she’s been sleeping in them lately? She wears her glasses to bed and only takes them off to take a bath. They have a strap around the back and are comfortable so she doesn’t mind them and possibly is getting some visual benefit from having the corrective lenses on.
But back to the eyeglass cleaning. We got out the spray and the cloth but she couldn’t make the sprayer work. We tried three different bottles, but they were all too hard for her to press down with her small hands. I told her I’d work on a solution for her.
Tonight I’d found what I was looking for—a little doll sprayer that came with one of her toys. It has a pump spray mechanism and she can do it easily. I put some of the eyeglasses cleaner in it and she was able to spray and clean her glasses all by herself.
The next thing was where to put the supplies so she could clean the glasses any time? We made a spot in the top drawer beside the toothpaste in a small green container. I’m interested to see if she notices her glasses are as dirty as we do on a daily basis.
The Big Boy Update: My son is getting a tooth. His lower right molar is coming in and has erupted either today or yesterday. He’s been pretty excited to know he’s got an adult tooth coming in, although it’s bothersome to him at times. At dinner he proclaimed that there should be nothing crunchy to eat. Then he decided the food wasn’t warm enough for his tooth, although the fork was too cold. The mashed potatoes weren’t right (as in he didn’t want to eat them), but eventually he did eat everything, all which met the “not crunchy” criteria and was able to have a slice of Nana’s chocolate Oreo peppermint ice cream pie.
The tooth brushing tonight was interesting. He wanted to brush that tooth—to the exclusion of all other teeth. There was lots of flossing going on, but mainly around the new tooth. I remember as a child when my teeth were coming in. It’s uncomfortable, sometimes painful and almost an itchy feeling and you just want it to hurry up and break all the way through.
He told me it was a baby tooth but soon it would be a teenager and then after that it would be a child tooth (as it grew up into his mouth). He’s working on a name for the new tooth now.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter can smear a pair of eyeglasses faster than anyone I know. She touches the glasses a lot and she’s messy and sticky because she’s a child. My husband and I typically clean her glasses for her when we do the rounds of drops each day. We’ve tried to build an interest in her cleaning the glasses, but so far she’s not wanted to do it.
This morning she came into the bedroom while we were still asleep. She said, “mom, I want to clean my glasses”. Did I mention she’s been sleeping in them lately? She wears her glasses to bed and only takes them off to take a bath. They have a strap around the back and are comfortable so she doesn’t mind them and possibly is getting some visual benefit from having the corrective lenses on.
But back to the eyeglass cleaning. We got out the spray and the cloth but she couldn’t make the sprayer work. We tried three different bottles, but they were all too hard for her to press down with her small hands. I told her I’d work on a solution for her.
Tonight I’d found what I was looking for—a little doll sprayer that came with one of her toys. It has a pump spray mechanism and she can do it easily. I put some of the eyeglasses cleaner in it and she was able to spray and clean her glasses all by herself.
The next thing was where to put the supplies so she could clean the glasses any time? We made a spot in the top drawer beside the toothpaste in a small green container. I’m interested to see if she notices her glasses are as dirty as we do on a daily basis.
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