Recycling Police

I've gotten tired of refilling water glasses since the older girls can't reach the water dispenser in the fridge. That and the sound of their wooden stool being dragged over to the refrigerator drives me insane. So I bought this dispenser that looks like a plastic shirt box with a nozzle on the side that goes on the bottom shelf of the fridge. It works like a charm, especially when it's filled with lemonade. We call it self-serve.

Yesterday, I left one of those giant plastic laundry detergent bottles on top of the garbage can we use for recycling. The Doodle had a fit. "You can't throw that out! We can RE-USE it! We use those for holding water to wash hands at preschool!!"

"But I wasn't going to throw it out. I was going to recycle it!" And, in my defense, it was the bottle from environmentally friendly laundry detergent.

"No, Mommy. We HAVE to re-use it!"

"Okay, so let's think of something we can do with it."

Doodle thinks for a long moment. I start to celebrate that I have her stumped---because the husband who hates clutter will have a fit if plastic bottles start littering the house with new and improved uses. But I was wrong. So wrong.

"Mom. Mom! We can clean it out, put it in the fridge and use it for grown-ups' wine!"

It does bear a shocking resemblance to the water dispenser I bought for them. I'm thinking holy crud do we drink THAT much wine in this house? Hmmm....but it's not a bad thought. Nahh.....

"How about we use it to hold water to water the plants? We can fill it up with water from the rain barrel."

"Ok."

Teachable Moment- Or why you can't call your sister a monkey!

This weekend we were downtown at a grocery store. It was one of those outings where everyone has to tell me how cute the girls are or how we have such a wonderful family. Ahh, the joys of being conspicuous. More on this in a later post.

The girls love to call their sister animal names. "Who's a cute little bunny?" "Who's a cute little cat? Can you meow?" Well, there we were in the checkout and the Doodle says, "Who's a cute little monkey? Ooh Ooh, Ahh Ahh Ahh" complete with cute monkey noises. It was one of those moments where the record stops, there is silence and I wished the floor would swallow me up.

"Doodle, can you stop for a moment? Mommy's not mad at you, but we have to talk about this in the car. Hey, do you want some sugar free gum?"

She really didn't know better and I didn't think to talk about it before the newbie came home. In the car, "Ok, so there are people in the world who don't like or are uncomfortable with people with brown skin. This makes Mommy sad, because some of her favorite people in the world are brown. To be mean, these people sometimes call brown people monkeys, or gorillas or apes and it hurts their feelings. I know you did not know about this Doodle, so Mommy isn't mad but we can't call your sister a monkey or an ape."

Moo Bear: "Buddy and Sheila are brown and we like them!"

Dan: "Yes, great!"

Me: "Ok, let's practice. Can we call your sister a bear?"

Girls: "Yes!"

Me: "Can we call your sister a dolphin?"

Girls: "Yes!"

Me: " Can we call your sister an orangutan?"

Girls: "Yes!"

Me: "No, it's a type of primate--ahh, it's kind of like a gorilla."

Dan: "You can't call your sister any animal names if the animal is brown."

Doodle: "We can call her a cat."

Moo: "Some cats are brown. How about calling her a tiger?"

Doodle: "Tigers have brown stripes, so we can't. Giraffes are ok."

Me: (quietly, musing to self)" Hmmm...but tigers have black stripes, oh never mind."

Moo: "How about we call her a white cat. You know, use a color!"

Me: "Well, some of the people who don't like brown people also call themselves white."

Moo: "But lots of people are peach not white."

Me: "You are right. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense. I think the main thing is that we don't call the Newbie a monkey, ape, gorilla or a baboon."

Dan: "Or a Gibbon or a Chimpanzee. Or any other primate."

Girls: "We get it."

Dan: "Can I get a ruling on lemurs? You know the girls like the Penguins of Madagascar, and they might call her a lemur?"

Me: "Shut up, science geek. You are confusing the issue."

Girls:"Mom, it isn't nice to say shut up!"

Me: "Sorry, Dad!"

This whole thing made me sad. I think it is necessary to prepare our kids for the world around them and the world is not all sweetness and light. And I hate to ruin the girls' innocence but it is important. I worry that I am not doing it "right" but at the same time, there is no one right way to talk about ethnicity or skin color. The most important thing is to keep talking about it--even if the conversation is confused by freakish scientific knowledge.

Is there a doctor in the house?

The kid who hated the doctor is now obsessed with playing doctor/veterinarian. Doodle has her own clinic now,with a binder of patient records, medicine, prescriptions, etc. We already had the working kid stethoscope, but it's totally over the top now. We're on the hunt for a clipboard so she can check the patients in. I gave her an empty over the counter allergy medicine bottle, and it's now filled with fake paper pills. She even has a few x-rays (don't judge, the preschool show and tell was letters all year and we had to come up with something for x, y or z for the last one. Since she refused to yodel and/or bring a zebra, this is what she brought--along with an "x" marking the spot for pirate treasure).

Interestingly enough, she doesn't want to be the doctor, just the nurse. Now, this just about crushes my feminist, type-A heart but I'm rolling with it. I'm actually encouraging the nurse thing--so Cousin B, she may be calling you about this!

Some choice notes from her charts--she has a scribe (me, Dan or Mary Poppins) help with the writing):

Patient Parroty: DOB 5/27/06, Home town--Jungles of Seattle. Allergies: Prevacid (Doodle takes this for reflux) and water. Complaining of a stiff wing. Sent home with medicine, follow up visit.

Patients Octopus, Star Fishy and Crabby: Hometown--Ocean. Allergies: Ritz crackers. All have sea pox. Medicine: pox medicine. See in one month.

Patient Water Baby ( a doll that can go in the bathtub): DOB 4/1/08, Hometown--Hawaii. Allergies: water. She has a sore throat. Needs surgery to unclog throat. Keep overnight.

Patient Little Huggy Face (an Ugly doll and FYI Dan helped with this one): Hometown--Jungle Cave. Allergies: Penicillin (like Doodle). Medications: Lidocaine. Chief complaint: Hair too long, hirsuitism. Plan: haircut, shave and wax. Prognosis: Good.

It is hilarious to watch her do this. She is very professional and has picked up a ton just from listening to Dan. We're encouraging it. She keeps telling me she wants to be a worker like me, but I think it is because when she comes to my office my co-workers give her lots of chocolate.

I'll let you know when she asks for a pager and starts complaining about insurance companies.

Not Strep

So the good news is it's not strep. The bad news is it's not strep. I wouldn't wish strep on anyone but at least with a bacterial infection, 24-48 hours after the first dose of the antibiotic the kids are back to normal. I hate the lingering viruses...fever for several days, etc. and just when one kid is getting over it, the next kid gets it.

I waited until the very last moment to tell Doodle we were going to the doctor. I did it while she watched tv and I got her dressed. She got so hysterical that she threw up all over her clothes and the couch. I re-dressed her and took her in, along with a barf bowl and a roll of paper towels. There were walk-in hours and it was busy so we had to wait a while. I rocked her, I reasoned with her, I explained what the doctor would do. I promised no shots. I tried distracting her. Nothing worked. She cried from 9:10 a.m. when I told her we were going to the doctor until we were done with the doctor at 10:40. Doodle asked for Dan the whole time. Sigh. That was really demoralizing. Especially with all of the other moms in the waiting room. I guess the positive thing was that people avoided us in the waiting room since they assumed she had some horrible illness since she was so miserable ... that and she didn't barf at the doctors' office.

She's now on the couch whimpering. Doodle won't eat even a few crackers since she is afraid to throw up again but without food in her stomach, I can't give her the Motrin that will make her feel better. At this point, we might have to resort to Tylenol suppositories. I can only hope she falls asleep soon.

I Jinxed it.

Did I really say we were recovering nicely? That we might have even been bored? Apparently that was a warning to the universe that I needed another smack down. Wow, a weekend where we actually all left the house for fresh air! We saw friends! I had champagne! I completed some much needed home organization! Clearly it was time for some additional pain and suffering!! I can hear the universe now, "Yes, let's teach that type A bitch what it means to be a mom of three. You thought your maternity leave would be fun! You thought you would be going on lovely outings with your girls! Fun, my a**! You won't be bored now!! (insert evil laugh here)"

Today, Doodle refused to go to a play date with her most favored friend, E. We went to preschool and she performed in the Magic Rainbow Garden (A preschool play. She was the magic galloping horse with rainbow hair. Dan did the shirts and the horse kind of looks like a cross between a dinosaur and a horse. I may have to post pictures at a later date, but I digress).

So Doodle was a bit punky and asked to go home from the ice cream parlor we visited as a treat after school. It came as no surprise that she felt warm tonight, or that her throat hurt.

When Dan came home, he looked in her ears--fine. But her throat...he was all "Yikes." He even made me look and sure enough she has a tonsil the size of Jupiter. It was like her one tonsil decided to blow itself up like a balloon. And then Dan says, "Hmmm....swollen glands, unilateral tonsil, fever. Yep, I think you should take her to the ped tomorrow for walk-in hours to rule out strep. A virus would likely result in two large tonsils."

This child HATES the Doctor (not your fault, Dr. L). She freaked out when I got MY shots for Ethiopia. She cried and went to her room when we tried to get her to try a new type of peanut butter last night. "I HATE to try new things MOM!!!" Clearly, tomorrow morning will at the very least require large amounts of caffeine (me) and possibly some sort of cocktail following (also me). Perhaps it will also require some bribery for her. I'm open to suggestions.

And for the double whammy, the last time I was at the ped they forgot to give me the materials for the newbie's stool samples. Three days of samples. I really don't want to know where I store the poop samples for three days. So, I have the privilege of picking up those bad boys tomorrow. Oh, and the newbie didn't poop at all today. I tell you, tomorrow is going to be fun!

Lots of Firsts

The last week or so has been a week of firsts for the newbie. First time meeting Grandma Grace and Auntie Lorri, the Hogans, Auntie R and Uncle M, Uncle Gerry, our friends from Minnesota, and the Wollers. First dinner at Nama's. First time in the sprinkler (not sure about it). First time eating broccoli (does not like it). First vaccinations (4- not too bad). First new tooth in the US (lots of drool, more teeth to come). First time in a pool (not sure about it). I put most of the photos in the slide show, others still need to be downloaded from the camera.

In the 16 days since we last saw the pediatrician, the newbie gained 1 pound 2 ounces and grew 5/8 of an inch. Pretty impressive for just over two weeks.

We're settling in nicely. We're recovered from the eye issue and the ear infection, which later required antibiotics. Life stuff is finally getting done--the winter clothes are out, summer clothes in. We did some gardening. Now it's the end of the weekend and we're a little bored.

Update

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Mother's Day turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I got mulch in my eye and on the way to get me eye wash, Dan and the minivan got into a car accident in the alley. No one was hurt, but my prized vehicle got quite a big, new dent. Yes, I love my minivan and I'm proud of it. Then, Tori complained that her ear hurt- and yep, she had an ear infection.

Things were better mid-week. The girls were back at school and the newbie is happy and hungry. We go for vaccinations and a weight check today, so I'm anxious to see what she weighs. She's already growing out of the 3-6 month clothes and is now in a size 3 diaper, but barely. She's still a smiley happy baby, unless you are not quick enough with the food.

Friday brought parent-teacher conferences and a visit from Dan's mom and sister. We were at my mom's for dinner on Sat. I'll try and upload some pictures soon and catch up on the doings this week. I can't find the cord thingy that connects the computer to the camera in the chaos.
More later, S