Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

Let me start of by saying, my cousin B is OKAY. Awhile ago, he caught himself on fire. Oh, you know 12 year old boys and fire. B was poking the outdoor bon fire with his foot and the fringe on the bottom of his pants ignited. Being on fire, he started to shake his leg up and down, probably fanning the fire. Grandma was on the other side of the yard and yelled out to him. At that point another adult in the yard saw him and yelled, "STOP, DROP, and ROLL!" B did this and put out the fire. This was after he suffered from a baseball sized third degree burn on his leg. The poor kid. His father is a bit embarrassed about the whole incident... he is the fire marshal for the county.

Several days after B was home and recovering, my aunt learned more. This was not the first time that B caught himself on fire! It was his third! THIRD?! The second time he caught himself on fire it was in the same pants and he did it the same way! Knowing that my cousin is okay, I have several questions on the subject. What is it with boys and fire? How come they just can't resist? And, do they ever grow out of it? You would think that after the first time you caught yourself on fire, you would learn to be more careful. I guess not...

My aunt decided that if there was anyone else that she knows who had also caught themselves on fire, it would be T. Dum. And she would be right! As a kid, T. Dum did the usual dumb boy things in relation to fire. You know, things like lighting matches while hiding under his bed. It was, however, as an adult that led him to catching himself on fire. About six years ago, T. Dum was working as a bartender. While working, he light some shots on fire and slammed his had down on the shot glass to extinguish the flame. Unfortunately, he had liquor on his hand and instead of extinguishing the shot, he caught his hand on fire. Oh, T. Dum. Dumb, dumb boys.

Popsicle just celebrated her second birthday! This past Friday she had a small party at the local zoo. As one of her birthday presents, Popsicle received a new baby doll. She also received a baby stroller. Both presents were an immediate success. Popsicle pushed her baby around everywhere in that stroller.

While at the party, I brought face paints for the kids to paint their faces. I should quickly clarify what I mean by "face paints". Face paints, apparently will not be on sale in the stores until next week. That meant trying to salvage face paints from years past. The face paints that I found had melted and rehardened. Knowing that this would probably not work, I grabbed brown and black eyeliner and red lipstick liner. At the party, Popsicle loved the face paints and immediately started painting her own face. She then turned to her baby and starts painting her baby's face. Although instinct told me that I should make her stop coloring her (brand new) baby's face, she just looked so happy and cute. We lugged a baby all around the zoo that had brown and black all over its face. The baby was particularly discolored around the eyes.

Bottom line, my instinct was correct! The face paints did not wash off the baby. On the down side, the baby has a distinct permanent black/brown around the eyes. On the up, thanks to my friend that joined me at the zoo, the baby has a great new nickname, Bar Fight Baby! And, when Mattel calls for merchandising, I will appreciated Popsicle's creativity.

My cousin has started a semi-blog... I don't think that she is posting her entries on any site yet, instead she has been e-mailing stories to the family. When you have two kids, how can you not have great stories?! That being said, several weeks ago, she writes this quick blurb:

"You know it’s bad when your daughter discovers a “made in China” sticker on your leg and you don’t know how long it’s been there."

I laughed, "Yes, that is bad!" Ha, ha, ha. But, don't let my laugh fool you. I get it, I totally get it (hence the laugh).

Fast forward several weeks...

I am working at home and the kids come racing into the room with all sorts of needs. As I turn from my computer to address the children, I glance down at my foot. On the top, there is a little sparkly heart sticker. "Hmmm," I wonder, "How did that get there? How long has it been there? Kind of a cute little sticker..." Now, remember that the kids have just come running into the room with needs.

Several hours later (I would guess at least five hours later), I was in the tub enjoying an "end of the day" soak. I looked down at my feet, the sticker was still there! *sigh*  When enjoying an "end of the day" soak, the last thing I want to do is work. Reaching all the way to my feet at that moment would be work. I mean, my feet are really far away from my hands and would involve doing a crunch in the tub to reach them. When drying off it would be a way more convenient time to remove the sticker, I decide.

The next day, I am walking around the house barefoot. I glance at my feet and what do I spy? Yup, that sticker! It has now been a full 24 hours and the sticker  is still on my foot. It is at this point that I marvel at the amount of time the sticker has remained on my foot and how many times I have intended to remove the sticker and have gotten sidetracked. It is also at this point that I remember my cousin's e-mail from earlier. What is worse, not knowing how long the mystery sticker has been on one's person or knowing and the shame of realizing it has been at least a day?! As I wonder about this last question, I once again get sidetracked and forget the sticker. Eventually, the sticker just fell off... But I don't even know when...

The Moo Girl and I visited my parents. One of The Moo Girl's favorite games is hiding from her Buba (grandpa) when she first arrives at the house. We walked in the front door and The Moo Girl ran to my parents bedroom to see her Grandma. "Where's Buba?" she asked. At that moment, Buba jumped out from his hiding spot and growled at her. Wanting to hide, being caught off guard, all that The Moo Girl could do was spin around in a circle. I believe that she was trying to find a place to run and hide in, but never got that far. The only thing she accomplished was spinning.

Have you ever felt like that? In such a panic you can't manage to do a single thing? Heaven knows that I have!

When visiting my cousin and her baby, Little E earlier this year, I witnessed a similar act of panic. I was talking to my cousin about feeding her one year old. I suggested that she give the baby some dip. All the kids love dip! I remember when The Moo Girl was little she wanted to dip her food in everything. She loved to have salad for the simple fact she could dip the lettuce in dressing. I ended up having to have a house rule, no dipping in your drink. And, chicken nuggets do not taste better when dipped in water, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

My cousin bought into my dipping claim and put some ranch dressing on Little E's high chair. She showed Little E how to dip her daughter's dinner in the ranch and gave her a bite of the delicious'ness. Little E did not think that ranch was so delicious. Not delicious at all. Little E, in fact, gagged a bit on her food and tried to spit out the ranch. Unfortunately, ranch doesn't spit and tends to stick to your tongue. As Little E sputtered and gagged on the ranch, my cousin quickly tried to find a solution. In the past, Little E has thrown up her dinner due to its unpalatable taste. What to do, what to do? My cousin wanted to act quickly before Little E throw up, but all she managed to do was wave her hands in the air.

Where are the worms?

 

There it is!

A picture update of Popsicle's Shiner! Isn't the color coming in nicely around the eye? NOTE: These photos were impossible to take. My camera had a huge delay, the red eye filter was on which might account for the delay but delays don't work well when you subject is a one year old. I would click the button to take the picture and then try to follow Popsicle around or entertain her for the 30 seconds or so it took to actually take the photo.

T. Dum got back yesterday from a two week business trip to Alaska. He saw his daughter and her eye for the first time at my mom's house. When he went there to pick her up, my mom felt so badly about her eye, she started to puddle up a bit! Poor woman! Goodness knows the shiner's T. Dum has had in his day and the grief he put his mother through with his crazy kid injuries.

Popsicle is handling the injury much better. She saw herself in the mirror yesterday and kept poking and pulling at the purple. I was worried that she was going to hurt herself! It doesn't feel good to poke at bruises! So, I tell "gentle, gentle" and she ignoring me but doesn't seem to mind. Eventually she found something better to do and stops poking her eye.

Yesterday was a bit of a day...

*background* T. Dum has been off working in Alaska. He gets home tomorrow after spending two weeks up North. Last weekend while he was gone, I took the girls to Easter Washington to visit their Grandma Ooo's.

(1) I was walking home after getting The Girl Moo on her way to school. As I passed T. Dum's work van, I noticed that the back window was broken. *fab* I called T. Dum, taped up the window so that more glass doesn't fall out, cut my finger while taping the window, took pictures, called in the police report... How much fun can a girl have in a day?! And, seriously, we have no idea how the window broke. It is a mystery... Was it malicious or an accident? Did a rock hit the window the last time the neighbor's mowed the lawn? Someone hit it with a bat or b-b gun? I just don't know... All that I know is that it has been sitting in the driveway for the past two weeks, was fine when I left on Friday, was not okay when I saw it yesterday.

(2) Just as I was sitting down to work, I got a call from my mom. "Come over right away," was all that she said as I heard Popsicle crying in the background. When I got to her house, I saw Popsicle sitting on the counter crying while my mom held a bloody rag to her face. Apparently, Popsicle had climbed up a bar stools and then rode the bar stool down as it tipped over. She hit her face a nearby table and had a cut just under her eye. We called her pediatrician and they recommended taking her to Children's Hospital for stitches due to the location. They don't like working around the eye and it would be best to have a plastic surgeon suture her face. *groan*

My mom and I decided to take Popsicle to the pediatrician first just to see if she needed stitches before making the 30+ minute drive and sitting in a hospital waiting room all day. We made the right decision! While Popsicle was being cleaned up and examined, we noticed a giant bump on her hand. It didn't occur to us to look for any other wounds! So, we looked for any other injuries and found no other marks. The doctor decided to x-ray her hand and super glue the cut closed. Taking the x-ray pictures was cake. Popsicle nicely placed her hand on the table and held still while technician took the x-rays. Let me just say, I thought the x-ray was adorable and I wanted a copy for her baby book... and there was no fracture! After the x-ray, it was time to glue. Two doctors and a nurse walked into the room to perform the procedure. I held Popsicle's arms and torso, my mom held her feet, the nurse held her head, one doctor pinched the wound closed, and the other doctor glued. It took a couple minutes and a couple reapplications of the glue, but we were successful! And Popsicle was an angel the whole time. She held still while being glued and barely cried during the procedure. The pediatrician decided that she would not mind adopting my little Popsicle. I can't blame her! She is pretty darn cute, even with her shiner.

(3) How could there possibly be a three, right? Well, I went home (after getting Popsicle a balloon at the party store and vanilla steamer at Starbucks, I am from Seattle you know!) to find no power. We have construction going on outside our house. The city has been doing road improvements that include adding a bike lane and sidewalk in front of the house. For some reason, the power pole needs to be relocated about three feet to accommodate the improved road. For the record, the city has already shaped and put in the gravel layer for the road and the existing power pole is not in the way. In fact, the existing power pole is several feet away from the widened road. All the same, it is being moved slightly. SO, without any sort of warning, the power was turned off so that the lines could be moved. Did the power company know they were turning off the power yesterday? Absolutely they did. Did they bother to tell anyone? No. Why would they want to do that? I mean, I was planning on working from the house, so I found the lack of power for my computer to be of no bother what-so-ever. *eyeroll*

Today, I am still tired and ready for bed.