Pb

I found this paper airplane laying around the house. William's newest obsession is paper airplanes, so there are roughly 15-20 laying around the house at any time. Which makes me crazy. Crazy because:

1. Papers laying around the house makes me crazy. They are everywhere. Even the littlest bits can be turned into a paper airplane. And everyone is precious (to my son) so it cannot be thrown away.

2. Gemma gets ahold of the frequently (see: everywhere) and shreds them to bits (see: paper everywhere, crazy).

Which explains why I was on my way to the recycle bucket with this one when I noticed the letters on the side- pb.

When I asked William what the letters meant, he looked at me as if I was a complete moron. He sighed and said, "The Pb stands for lead Mama."

Of course. Lead. Exactly what I was thinking.

Ps. I confess the lead airplane still ended up in the recycling.

Gemma's favorite hobby

Gemma has a hobby she has been working on lately.  She loves to throw things in the tub in my bathroom.  After she has an appropriate number or quality of items in the tub, she turns the water on them and watches with pure glee on her face as everything gets wet.  In particular, she loves doing this while I am going to the bathroom for two reasons:

1. She knows it makes me crazy
2. She is just out of arm's reach, which is SO. MUCH. FUN.

Items I have fished out of the tub this week (most wet to varying degrees):

New disposable diapers
William's school papers (including one pink paper that promptly turned the tub pink)
John's pajamas
a pair of my shoes
8 pair of my socks
a roll of toilet paper
Gemma's clothes for the day
a battery operated toy
crayons
cheerios
a paper bag
dolls/doll clothes
dirty laundry
clean laundry

What might be the funniest part to me is that she isn't interested in the getting wet part.  She is all business.  She comes in the bathroom, chucks her item into the tub, swiftly moves to turn the water on and then toddles on her merry way to make trouble elsewhere.  It is like she has a little "to do" list in her head that she is checking items off of and she is on to her next task.

A scary

I was on my way home from work last night and I had a scary experience.


It was dark and had rained most of the day.  The roads were wet and there was still a little drizzle.

I was on the phone with the friend who watches the girls for me during the day when I work trying to sort out the logistics for Thursday.

I was one exit away from being home.  Traffic was light, although there was a constant flow of vehicles. 

I moved over a lane so I would be able to hop off on my exit a little sooner than usual due to the rain and it seemed darker than usual (note: I was also driving slightly slower than usual because of the conditions).

Suddenly, I realized there were two cars blocking the second and third lane of the highway.  I saw them just in time to switch lanes and slam on the brakes.  I slid.  I slid and slid and slid and slid.  The sliding probably only lasted for a second, but it felt like eternity.  As I slid, I realized there were people out of their vehicles in this dark area on the highway in the rain.  I realized this only because two sets of eyes reflected back my headlights.  I thought I saw the eyes widen in surprise or fear as I slid past. The vehicles were dark colored.  I would guess their clothing was dark colored.  There were no emergency workers on the scene at all.  These people were sitting ducks and the situation had potential to get much worse very quickly.

I was able to slow down enough to get around the accident safely.  I looked behind my to see two semis approaching the accident behind me.


I was past the accident, and all I could think about were those wide eyes reflecting the light of my headlights.  I prayed that whoever it was found their way to a safe place quickly.  Although the traffic was light, it was still steady with several large 18 wheeled trucks behind me.

My exit was the next one and I decided to call 911 as I slowed down to a stop.

Dispatcher: 911! (loud voices/noise in background)
Me: I'm calling to report an accident.  I'm traveling (insert specific information about my location) and there is an accident on the highway blocking several lanes.
Dispatcher: Were you involved in the accident???!?
Me: No
Dispatcher: We have the information.
CLICK

911 hung up on me.  I wanted to tell them about the people who were in danger.  That is was especially dark in that spot.  That someone with a flashing light needed to get there ASAP to protect those people out of their cars at night on the highway.  I didn't get to do any of that which bothered me more than it should have.

I came home and kissed my big kids and my husband.  I didn't wake the baby, but I considered it.  I have some ideas about a few people who might be looking out for me from above and I'm thankful for their love and protection.

A William conversation

I'm in the bathroom when William wanders in*.

He chatters away while I try to pretend I have some privacy in my life (ie: if I ignore it, it isn't there).

I cleaned the bathroom today and the scale hasn't made its way back into the bathroom yet.  William scoops it up and puts it back in its rightful place.

He steps on the scale and reports "48 dot 2! Isn't that great Mama?"

I ignore (see:privacy or something like it).

He steps in front of the mirror and entertains himself with the funny faces and silly moves he makes for a few moments before breaking into a set of jumping jacks.

Without a word, he hops back on the scale.  "WOW!  49 dot 0 Mom!  It worked!"

--Wait, what?--

I ask him to explain.

"Exercise made me stronger and BIGGER!  The scale said so!!"

And he hops off to do some more jumping jacks followed by some mountain climbers.

He hops back on the scale.  "48 dot 2!  Great Mama!"

I consider a lesson on decimals and place value and discard the idea quickly.

He hops off the scale and does more jumping jacks, push ups followed by mountain climbers.

He hops back on the scale.  "48.3 Mom!  What does that mean?  What happened?"

It appears that the lesson of the day is exercise is important to keep our bodies strong and healthy.  However, the results are not visible immediately.  It takes times....




*Why yes, many of my parenting conversations occur while I am indisposed in the bathroom.  Captive audience, whatever you want to call it, the parenting doesn't quit just because I'm on the pot.

Tooth #3

William lost tooth #3 last night. It has been loose for some time and it finally came out last night. Probably not my favorite story, but right before bed William was getting himself a giant cup of water. Bunk beds+ sleeping on top bunk+ heavy sleeper= trouble, this is a problem. He was told no several times and finally John stood up to take it from him. William quickly turned his head away and bit down on the cup. However, John had a good grip on it and the tooth just popped out. Nice and easy.

The tooth fairy stopped by last night and left some money with me to out under his pillow. He still isn't sure he wants her in his room when he is sleeping.

Fun Guy

William has a joke.  He read it on a children's menu somewhere*and I think it is utterly hysterical.  I have been working to get it on video without success.  So, here it is and if we're lucky, I'll follow up with some video soon.

Q: Why was the mushroom invited to the party?
A: (and the delivery is everything on this one) Because he is a fun GEE (ryhmes with me)**

We have tried and tried to explain that the word fungi is pronounced like "fun guy" with no avail.  He is convinced we are wrong on this one.  He knows we are wrong because he read it somewhere.


*as an aside, now that William is reading to himself, he is coming up with all kinds of information that I can't account for most of it.  I used to generally know where the information came from and was much better able answer his questions.  Now?  I have no idea why the girl went over to that place.

** And now I'm laughing again just thinking about the joke and William's earnest delivery.

Amelia's 4 year Dr visit

We had Amelia's 4 year appointment yesterday with our doctor.  It was so unexciting that it hardly warrants a post here at all, but it seems wrong to skip it altogether.

Here are her stats:

39 lbs - 77% for kids her age

(up almost 5 lbs from a year ago)

42 inches tall -90% for kids her age

(up almost 2 inches from a year ago)

So, Amelia continues to be at the taller end of the height spectrum and her weight is appropriate given her height.

She is meeting and exceeding all of her developmental milestones.

Her vision and hearing were normal.

Then we sat and watched Gemma toddle around the room and push the stool on wheels with much gusto.

See?  Super exciting, isn't it?