Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Catching up

So, let's see... On Sunday we had the birthday party for O and R. A huge pool party that was very little work and great fun. Lots of good adults were there, a couple of whom helped it run very smoothly -- one friend of Matt's was constantly one step ahead of me, getting the grill going, making the sausages, grabbing the presents' wrappings to throw away, handing me cards to keep, labeling gifts... truly amazing. The girls had a great time and got many fun gifts that they loved getting, no one melted down, etc etc. A true success.

On Monday we went geocaching, and at some point the three little ones, me and Rob crossed a stream. After we realized there wasn't a trail there, we turned back -- and I saw a vortex of bees. It was so fascinating I didn't realize what I was seeing... and didn't react until Tiny screamed "bees! bees!" and started crying. He must have nicked the nest as we walked through the first time. I grabbed him and we all hiked out of there fast, not realizing that when Tiny screamed the first time he had been stung, probably twice, on the knee. As we were hurrying out of there, him on my hip, he suddenly started screaming and crying again, wiggling and grabbing his leg. I dropped him down and yanked off his shorts and diaper, and there was a bee stuck to his leg, at the top of his thigh. I pulled the bee out and we got out of the woods, got a new diaper on, and decided we were done with the caches by the trees. Started walking back up the sidewalk with him in the stroller, and out of nowhere (our hair? the back of the stroller? Tiny's shoe?) another bee zoomed in and bit, then stung Tiny's left hand. This was like adding insult to injury and he
lost it, Matt ran up the street, I was getting really nervous, the girls were looking worried... and Rob was just grooving down the road. At this point we decided to head back to the car, by which time our boy had nearly recovered. Some tylenol and beach time later, and he was fine, but now we're all scared of bees.

And then Tuesday, O started school. Today M and R began, and tomorrow they're all gone, even Tiny for an hour, at 9am. I will be painting the basement in solitude. This back to school thing is a bit of a transition for everyone...

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Bullet dodging

After an incredibly trying weekend, things seem back to normal here. A few things I've noticed about myself at this point in time:

- I know that when things get emotionally crazy and one can't eat or sleep, that it's temporary; doesn't mean it goes any faster, but I can at least remind myself that there is another side coming.

- You can't predict how people will react in any certain situation, no matter what you think you know about them.

- I know that raising teenagers is harder than raising toddlers. At least, the stakes seem to be higher. With little ones, you just try to keep them from plummeting off the climbing structure and make sure they wash their hands. With teenagers, there are all sorts of untold evils lurking out there than will affect their adult lives dramatically. Oy.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Losing it

O has her first wiggly tooth, bringing her much joy. She's probably has a couple weeks before it actually falls out, but who knows: she's already psyched to have Robyn "yank it out," to use her words.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Provenance

One night I was putting the little girls to bed, and O had come out a couple times to complain about various things, trying to get me to let her sleep on the floor, etc. I put her back in her room and told her to stay there, and Robyn then did something to make O angry... and out O comes, pounding down the hall, yelling "here comes the madness!" I'd say.