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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Close Call

As I have said many times before, Taylor Rose is a very curious, highly animated bundle of high-voltage energy. 
Here she is all dressed up and ready to go shopping.  She picked everything out and refused to let me have any say.  (BTW, these shoes are now her uniform.  She picked them out and even wore them out of the store.)
Yes, she is tightly gripping the neck of a bear dressed as a groom.  Foreshadowing, perhaps?

I have also started school with her.  Christian is studying Texas this week, which means Taylor Rose is sort of learning about it.  I thought it'd be fun for them to paint their own flag.  Wrong.  She bathed in it.  Even her hair had paint.  You might ask yourself "Why doesn't that woman keep an eye on her?".  Well, I had to pee.  And this girl has lightning speed when it comes to mischief.  I also bought them some Bingo markers to play with while I got a few things done.  Another bad idea.  She bit the felt tops off and drank the ink. 
Today we learned about secondary colors and fractions.  So, we made cookies and used food coloring.  It usually takes about 8 minutes to throw together a batch of sugar cookie dough.  I knew it'd be a bit of a challenge trying to keep an eye on Tay, as well as explaining fractions to CK.  In that time, she had managed to eat about 1/4 of the dough (there is a fraction!), almost break both of my measuring cups, pull off my shorts - almost twice, dump out a plant, knock down the vanilla, bump her head, and make me trip four times.  I ended up laughing... it was just ridiculous how eventful the lesson had become.  But!  Christian did learn halves and fourths!  Our cookies did turn out wonderfully!  And the kids did learn secondary colors and how to make them from primary colors! 
 
 
Hopefully that precursor provided a little perspective.  Perspective is necessary to understand the inevitability of this next story...
 
 
Ryan and Christian were at the country club for their weekly golf lesson.  I was home with Taylor Rose and Maven. 
As I was feeding Maven on the couch, Tay disappeared for about 1 minute.  I called her, and she returned with a story "I drink Mamen's me-cine".  WHAAAT?!  DID YOU DRINK IT ALL?  She replied, "noooo" with a cute smile.  I went and checked the window ledge next to my bed where I had indescreetly left Maven's pain medicine, just in case I needed it (she had oral surgery to correct a lip and tongue tie - more on that later).  Sure enough, the brand new unused bottle was completely EMPTY. 
It was double child-proof!
I calmly called 9-1-1.  I told them that I was probably calling the wrong place, but needed to know what to do since my two year old had just downed an entire bottle of Ibuprofen. I figured they'd probably just tell me to keep an eye on her.  Instead, the dispatcher sent over two ambulances, a fire truck, and a police car.  They looked at the bottle and realized that it was Tylenol, which suddenly lit a fire under their britches.  Apparently, that is bad.  The paramedic asked me to carry her out to the ambulance so we could head to the hospital, but I told him I had an infant asleep inside.  He said he'd get the baby if I'd take Tay out, because he didn't want to "scare her more than she already was".  Psh... I know Tay and she wasn't scared ONE BIT.  She was having fun!  She put her arms out to the paramedic and left me in my tracks.  She never hesitated.  They ran all kinds of tests on her during our short ride.  They all kept telling her how stinkin' cute she was.  She loved every minute of it.  As soon as we pulled into the E.R., Poison Control had confirmed that she had NOT taken a lethal dose. 
I wasn't sure I had heard correctly... excuse me?  Lethal???  I didn't even know that was a concern!  Oh.my.gosh!
So, we sat in the E.R. and Taylor Rose destroyed the room. 
As I was talking to the nurse, Tay fell off the bed, pushed the 'nurse call' button three times, and then fell off of the doctor's spinny chair.  I gave her gum and a pen with paper to keep her busy.  She colored on the bed and put the gum on the bottom of her foot (rush out the door = no shoes, no pants).  I tried to grab the gum before she put it in her - oh, missed that one.  She was already chewing on it before I could finish my thought. 
Gross.  Hospital floor gum. 
We finally got word that she had actually taken the absolute maximum amount she could take without it causing damage, according to her body weight.  Woah!  Talk about a God thing! 
Again, as most things are with our adventurous little girl, this was a very eventful night.  Hopefully, the hospital fun ends here, though.  This was too scary and too close of a call.
She threw it all up on her own and never missed a beat.
Here she is waiting.
They gave her apple juice and put on some cartoons.  I also found some pants and put them on her.  Right now, as I am typing, Tay sees her pic and says "I messy!"... she is remembering that she spilled her apple juice all over that bed. 

Sob Story

The kids were playing outside and found a...
...small poodle. 
Small dogs are like candy to my kids.  I am talking "Of Mice and Men" here.
The poor thing.  She didn't know what to do with all the attention.  It was a bit overwhelming.

The kids even got out a little magnet ruler to show her other little dogs, thinking she'd like that.  (BTW, she did NOT like other dogs.  She harrassed Bam.)

I explained to Christian that she had a home and we needed to find her parents, but I don't think he was listening.

We left the dog in our backyard and went out for one of Ryan's Fathers' Day dinners.  On our way out, we hung a few signs up around the neighborhood with our phone number.  During dinner, we got the call... that dog belonged to our neighbors a few houses down.  Ryan told him to just go in our backyard and get her.  Christian was straining to hear every word.  He was completely distraught!

As soon as we got home, he ran the entire three houses down to give that dog a very dramatic farewell. 

I think this story has a very happy ending, but Christian would beg to differ.  Even as I write this post, he is expressing his deep seated pain from the tramatic event.

Daddy Day

For Father's Day, I asked the kids a few questions about their dad and printed their answers out.
(Click on the pictures to enlarge them)













 Christian thinks his hair is also kind of brown and kind of gray.  So, I think he is confusing hightlights with gray hair.  Neither Christian nor Ryan have any gray hair. 

I also made this for Ryan, using all 3 kids' hands:

And what man is complete with a leather beer holster?  He wore this all day long!

We celebrated on Saturday since our Sundays are already devoted to church, teaching preschool at church, naps, and then dinner at my dad's.  We spent the day swimming and went out to eat - a few too many times. 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

"Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.” -William Stafford

We have had lots of cute kid things going on in our house this summer. 
Since I teach Christian at home, we do school all year long.  Our school days are short (maybe an hour and a half per day, five days per week - except special occasions or especially busy days) so there isn't really a need to take the summer months off.  Plus, he retains the lessons better. 
One day, we did a little questionnare that turned out really cute.  I want to do this every year to see how his answers change.
 Another little change I have seen in Christian is his attention to detail.  He has always noticed EVERYTHING.  (He and Tay both do, just like me.)  For example, he is always the first one to compliment me when I do my makeup a little bit different, wear different perfume, or do my hair a new way.  The other day when his friend came over to play Wii, Christian made him a Mii character.  We have never talked about different ethnicities, so it was really cute how CK worded himself "I made this guy like your kind"  His friend said "Make my hair bigger".  I wish it was that simple for the rest of the population.
 In school, we have been studying geography.  CK got really into maps over our vacation.  When we got back, he drew this map.  It is complete with a big lake and a river in the middle.
 Christian also taught himself how to make different things with balloons.  My mom bought him a little balloon pump and showed him how to tie a knot in them.  After that, he figured the shaping out on his own.  He makes hats...
...Lots of hats...
 ...and swords.
 Maven has taken an interest in TV.  I love how she poses like a big person!
 She also really likes Ryan's owl coffee mug.  She was talking to it!  (She is a very big talker)
 Both CK and Tay are super into costumes.  Christian converted a blue gift bag into a chest shield, complete with a hole for his green "shooter" to stick out.
 And he made this costume for Tay out of a grocery bag.
 They broke into Tay's costume box the other night.  Tay had on high heels, too, but lost them right before I took the picture. 
 Even Maven fell victim, but I don't think she minded one bit!
 They had to balance things out...
 Bad guys beware!  These are some scary dudes!!
 Ggggrrrr...  (she really was growling at me)
 Christian insisted that I take a picture of him doing his TMNT moves.

And, OF COURSE, the kids are playing with bugs this summer.  Christian says he trained his catepillar to do tricks.

Vacation - Bahamas

We all went on a very long vacation and took my sister, Kelli, with us.
The places we visited:
Lafayette, Shreveport, Lake Charles, and New Orleans, Louisiana
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Destin, Palm Springs, and Jacksonville, Florida
Nassau and Paradise Island (Atlantis), Bahamas





The water was up to my waist and I could still see my feet clear as day.  Crystal clear water!





Riding on the jitney





An old British fort




Atlantis!!

The hike getting to Atlantis was rough!  Especially while pushing a heavy stroller and with a baby strapped on my chest.


The kids first time in a casino!  We like to start them out young.









A MASSIVE Manta Ray


CK's tools he used for attempting to start a fire - he tried all day long, poor guy.

The stairs to our condo


Our condo's living room

My bedroom (with little Maven on the bed)


Kelli and Tay's room




The kids LOVED this water cooler!  LOVED IT!!

The dining room

Our pool