Conflicted

On our way home tonight from a wonderful day at the local county fair, the children were sharing the most delicious bag of kettle corn ever. Well, the ones who were still awake, that is.

Child B speaks up from the back of the van, "Mom, I have a problem. I have a conflict I've never had before. My tummy is full, but my mouth really likes to eat this!"

I love her honesty (when she's honest!) I also love that she realizes this conflict. And that she knows the word "conflict" at age 6!

Something New on This Blog - Not Me (or Not My Child) Monday

I'm doing something a bit new today. I'm participating in Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. This week, MckMama is trying out Not My Child! Monday! I can do both...

I did not take my 3 kids to Walmart when I was already short on patience and they had already pushed every button I have. And even if I had, I certainly would not have given in to 3yo Child C when she threw a fit that she didn't want to wear these shorts. Upon announcing that it was time to move to the Kid's department, with her asking "Why, mommy? Why are we going to the Kid's department?" I most certainly did not reply with "Because that's where I can leave you all with a price tag for someone else to buy!"

Can you believe I even still go to Walmart with these children in tow after this incident???

6 yo Child B did not walk up to a woman with dark skin and tell her that her skin was so beautiful and dark... like a brownie. She then did not proceed to ask her if she tasted like a brownie and follow up with "Yummm." Nope, not my child. No way.

OK, to be brutally honest and offer a disclaimer, Child B has little impulse control and will frequently say just about anything that pops into her head, with no thought about whether or not it's appropriate or consideration of social implications. That said, she still would not say something this over the top... certainly not once at a local restaurant a month ago and then not again at a local amusement park two days ago.

(End Not Me! Monday! and Not My Child! Monday!)

Believe it or not, these were NOT the first times the kids have been out of the house! They really do NOT live in a barn! I do NOT keep them locked in a closet. Despite real life in a suburban community, with parents active in their lives, daily prayers and scripture memorization, kids really DO have minds of their own. There is only so much a parent can do.

Free will still reigns.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Summer Fun

Exhausted at the the Splash Pad Fields of Flowers Happy Birthday
Funny Faces with Friends
Unicorn

Butterfly

Rainbow Kitty

WHAT?!? Is that a tutu?

Sand Art!

I'd like a banana split and a blizzard-of-the-month, please.

Drive through service at the vent...

Comments from Child B

Two comments to record...

Thursday, July 2
We were in the van on our way to my in-law's. They live about 5 hours away, or 6 when traveling with children aged between 3 and 9. That's better than the 9 hour drive to the same destination when A was a baby (because nursing babies really do eat all the time!)

On this trip yesterday, we stopped for a potty break. Panera seemed like a clean place to stop and they have been using many billboards for advertising. Much cleaner than a gas station and less likely to result in an impulse buy than McDonalds. We still gave in to the impulse and bought bagels for the kids.

As we're pulling out, each one is gnawing on a bagel and the color is messed up on the 2nd screen of the dvd player. We are getting ready to pull out into traffic when this is a big deal. No adult can easily reach the dvd player and no one but the kids can see it. Hubby reaches around his driver's seat to make the adjustment, asking after each push of the adjustment button "There, how's that?" No response. Louder and another push: "There, how's that?" No response. B tends to zone and often times we cannot get her attention to answer a question anyway. So, now, even LOUDER: "How is that???" Nothing, as we pull out into traffic. OK, now we have to pull over to do this the right way. Hubby gets out, opens the side door, gets in and the. color. is. fine. With complete frustration, he asks "It's fine. Why didn't you say anything???"

B: I'm not supposed to talk with my mouth full.

That's right; she was eating that bagel!

Wednesday, July 1
On Wednesday, B was having a non-surgical out-patient procedure at our local hospital. She would be "asleep" for it with general anesthesia. We didn't give her many details of the procedure, but told her she would have to be still for a long time, so the doctor would give her some medicine to help her take a nap so she wouldn't move. After a couple questions about how the medicine would get in her, she seemed to be OK with it. This is good because B worries. When we got in the van, another conversation took place:

B: Mom, what if something happens? What if it doesn't go well? What if it goes wrong?
ME: What do you mean?
B: Mom, what if they kill me?

Sigh. I guess she had been thinking a lot about it and worrying anyway. Hubby and I spent some minutes re-assuring her that the doctors are very good at what they do and God is with her through the whole thing - even when she's asleep. Of course, the same very thought is at the back of every parent's mind when their child is undergoing general anesthesia.

Poison Ivy, Giant Needle, Raccoon

POISON IVY

This was a busy week. As previously posted, B had an allergic reaction to what we thought was hay. After comments about it looking like poison ivy and the doctor even commenting about the similarity - though he did say it could be an allergic reaction and don't let her go near that hay again - we read about how long it can take for a poison ivy reaction and looked at pictures of poison ivy blisters. The conversation went like this:

Me: Have you ever seen anything like that before?

B: Yes.

Me: Really? Where?

B: On my hands.

Me: Really? Do you know what that is?

B: No.

Me: The rash from poison ivy.

B: Oh.

Me: Are you sure you didn't touch any plants at the picnic Sunday evening?

B: Oh OK, OK, I DID.

It's nice to get to the bottom of the story, isn't it? Sometimes it takes a LOT of digging (nearly to China) to get to the bottom of B's stories!

GIANT NEEDLE

When we went to the doctor to have the rash checked out, B was very concerned about having to get a shot. She hasn't had many in her life, but the last one - 2 years ago - was memorable and she had a reaction. So no more shots for her. But she doesn't believe me. I assured her that she wouldn't need nor get a shot this time. I was almost positive she wouldn't (because I didn't know if she should have a steroid shot or not and I wanted to leave a little bit of wiggle room.) As we pulled into the parking lot, she says, "Mom, if your almost positive I won't get a shot, that means there is still a small chance I might!" Poor thing.

We parked the van, she looked out her window, and exclaimed: "GIANT NEEDLE!" Here is what she saw:

It's on the TOP of the building where the doctor has his office!

RACCOON
We had a big storm Friday evening. BIG. Not tornado-big, but close. Standing in my across-the-street-neighbor's doorway, I watched one neighbor's tree lose big branches, then I watched half a tree come down right in front of me. Well, I watched the whole thing blow over and only half of it came back up. That was really weird. Weirder was that there was no sound with it. That sheds a whole new light on the question about a tree in the forest. But that's another story.

When the power flickered several times and then didn't come back on after that last flicker, we decided it was time to get the generator going. Last time it was 8 days before it came back on. So Hubby was in and out of the garage a few times in the dark to get the gas tank, extension cords, etc. After the generator was running, he thought he heard some thuds from the garage, but didn't really think anything of it. Saturday morning, heading out for gymnastics with C, I noticed the curtain inside the little window of the garage was pushed aside. Noting it was strange, but not strange enough to remember to mention it, apparently.

Today, we pulled in to the driveway after church. We park in the driveway because there is too much "other stuff" in the garage. (My parents always parked in the garage, but they were pack rats. Hubby's family never parked in the garage and are also pack rats. That should explain the "other stuff" in the garage.) So, pulling in to the driveway, here is what we found:

That little window is broken. We thought someone broke in. Why? Who knows. But that's what we thought. We have so much stuff in there that it would be hard to tell if anything was missing. But it looked ransacked. Stuff was thrown around - knocked off shelves, boxes flung, Hubby's heavy Craftsman stackable tool case toppled over. Huh? Why wouldn't this stuff have been stolen instead of just thrown around? Maybe they were looking for a door into the house? (It's an older home with an originally detached garage that was attached through an addition about 35 years ago, but no door connecting the two, so it's attached but detached still.)

We called the police. We checked the shed. Nothing messed with; nothing missing. The officer arrived and we started showing him around and talking through it. As we looked further and more closely we found footprints. And poop. I don't have pics of those yet, but I may add them just to add to the adventure. It had to have gotten in Friday evening. Looking at what that critter did, can I just tell you, "Man those critters are strong!" I guess we weren't broken in to, but out of. (I'm glad it got out - even if it did have to break the window - rather than us being broken in to or us finding a dead raccoon in the garage!)

I'm sorry Hubby had to board up the window on Father's Day. But he did get a massage from Massage Envy. And 3yo C woke him up this morning saying, "Daddy, Happy Mother's Day!" (Isn't that cute?) LOL. :)

Answer: Allergic Rash, Much like Poison Ivy

Sigh.

(Oh, before I {sigh} too much, let me thank my commenters to my last post! It DOES look like poison ivy, doesn't it? And the link posted is just enough to make one cringe! We have had so many lessons on identifying poison ivy, too! Let's just say, if there are any things I'm paranoid about, they are poison ivy, lice, and people who do bad things to children!)

B was feeding the Snoopy, our new bunny, Monday night. After I got poked enough by the hay, I asked if anyone else wanted to fill the box with hay. (I'm allergic to hay. It makes me sneeze, my eyes get itchy and runny, and I break out in a rash. Just a MILD rash, though. Not the one in the pictures.) So B took over.

I noticed before she went to bed that she had red splotches all over her hand and a few scratches that penetrated her skin. She had no idea how it happened. Could have been when her hand slipped between the mats at gymnastics earlier in the evening, brushing against the velcro. It didn't seem to bother her at all and it isn't surprising she didn't know where it happened.

Tuesday morning she had what you see in the pictures in my last post. The only places we were on Monday were swimming lessons at a brand-spankin' new water park that opened up in a local community park district (where we normally take swimming lessons, but this year they have a brand new facility!), home for lunch, then to Vacation Bible School, home for dinner, and out to gymnastics (indoors).

So, Wednesday the doctor said it is an allergic reaction very much like poison ivy. Because we cannot think where she may have touched poison ivy, it must be the hay. (There were other reasons we were at the doctor for B, but this was the reason to go TODAY instead of Saturday.) We've been keeping it covered just so we don't freak people out at swimming lessons or anywhere else. I just feel so bad that it's B who has it. She has the toughest breaks and already doesn't "feel" things quite the way we do. Plus, she is so self-conscious and sensitive. Not that I'd wish it on any child, but B certainly has it rough!

Now that I'm thinking back, I'm wondering if there may have been poison ivy at the park where we picnicked Sunday evening. Or if there may have been any in the flower beds at church when they did some of the activities at VBS...

I guess I'll go look up the time from exposure to rash for poison ivy... just for my peace of mind.

Stay tuned for the GIANT NEEDLE at the doctor's office.

3 guesses

Whose finger is this & what happened? (This is not the only one; there are a bunch on the other hand and arm.)

More to come after we've been to the doctor...

Here are more pictures... every one of the red spots and scratches is full of blisters.