I can't read...

Driving past the local Target the other day, we notice a new building next to it. The building looks near completion with the name of the fast food joint already on the outside.

From the back seat I hear "look they are finishing building that Chick-Fil-A".

So I asked Mr. Know It All how he knew that was a Chick-Fil-A if he just finished telling me he couldn't read?

His response was "Mom I can't read books but I can read places!"

The logic of a 4 year old.

Doctors, Doctors and more Doctors.

Taking Zack to the dentist was just like I thought it would be. He was the perfect angel in the waiting room, then he heard his name called and he walked the other way yelling no, I don't want to go. This time I backed off and let Kris deal with it. The dental hygienist was great trying to deal with him, she tried distracting him with a video game. They needed to get an x-ray, he was not co-operating. The hygienist and her student left the room to go get reinforcements. It took four hygienists to get the x-ray.
We went back into the waiting room while the film developed and when they called his name again he freaked out and tried to escape. He had to be carried back to the exam room. When he was put down he tried to make a run for the door again. The dentist checked his teeth and mouth. No damage was done to the permanent teeth, the dentist was not really concerned with the tooth that was pushed back. The front tooth on the other hand was questionable. He gave us the options of leaving it and see if it would tighten up or having it pulled.
Since I did not want my little man going through any more trauma, I opted to leave it alone and see if it tightens up on it's own.
We do have to go bad again in a month to check the tooth out and see if there is any progress. Is it bad to say I already dread that appointment because this little one is too hard to handle. When I was waiting to get the appointment made, Zack headed for the door and walked out of the office, Daddy quickly followed.

As for my oldest and his mishap, he did wind up going to the ER that night, they think he tore a ligament and gave him a brace, crutches and some pain killers. He has an appointment with an orthopedic specialist on Thursday. I pray he does not need surgery.

Speaking of surgery, one of my brothers had some surgery yesterday to break up a kidney stone that just won't go away. He has to have it done again in two weeks because they could get the whole thing broken up. If you could say a prayer for him that his doctor can find a reason why this keeps happening to him so often.

A painful day.

My stomach is still in knots. This morning Kris took Zack outside, they were going to clean out the cars and get them vacuumed out. Zack started helping but then our neighbors son came out and of course Zack passed on helping anymore and went to play. Kris let them go into the back yard to play. Apparently the boys were on the slide, lets just say Zack versus the slide, the slide won.

I was in the house but I heard crying so I went to see what was wrong. There was Kris and Zack coming around the corner. Zack crying so hard I knew something seriously wrong happened. It was then I noticed Kris holding a rag with blood on it. I started to panic a bit when I realized it was Zacks mouth bleeding. I immediately called the dentist. He called in a prescription and wants to see Zack tomorrow.

It took nearly an hour for the bleeding to completely stop. The inside of his lip was cut, the gum was split open, two of his pearly whites are not in the same place they were. His lip hasn't swollen as much as I thought it would but his poor little mouth hurts. He is having a hard time eating anything that isn't soft because of the pain and honestly he is getting grumpy over it because he isn't really communicating to us that he is hurting.

Zack does not know it yet but we have to go into the dentist office tomorrow for x-rays to see if there was any damage done to his mouth or the adult teeth. I asked Kris if he was going to come with us because I know Zack is going to completely freak out when he realizes where we are. I can no longer carry him or hold him down for the dentist to look into his mouth.

I feel so bad for what he is going to go through tomorrow, he does not handle going to the dentist or the doctor at all and I feel terrible making him suffer even if I know in my heart it is for the best. I am already feeling very anxious over putting him through the hell he is surely going to be experiencing by just being there.

I am also upset over his teeth being the way they are. Zack has (had) nice teeth. From the time he got his first tooth I always told him we need to brush his teeth good so he can make sure he keeps those teeth pearly white.

Then tonight my future daughter in law calls to check on Zack and she tells me that my oldest son hurt his knee today and is in a lot of pain. So much she said that she has never seen him in that much pain. I told him to go to the doctor and have it checked out, it is better to be safe than sorry. I do hope he hasn't seriously done any damage. Even though he is not living at home anymore and even though he is 26 years old I still worry about him and don't want to hear of him being in pain.

Both is my boys hurt in the same day, that is not a good thing.

Oh what a night...

Today I was going to write up a post all about our trip to see family this past weekend but that will have to wait for another day.

Zack became sick last night with a high grade fever, vomiting, and complaining of a sore throat. Needless to say no-one in this house was able to get much sleep. I feel so bad for Kris today, 3 hours of sleep and he has a long day at work today.

Zack wanted to add his point of view...
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Dirty eyes

Please tell me how a child can get pieces of dirt in his eye and not have it bother him?

I took Zack outside tonight. We were chalking up the driveway when the neighbor boy came out to play. They drew for all of 30 seconds before the racing around the yard started. They were playing nicely so when they asked to go into the back yard, DH opened the gate and let them in.

The two of them kept running out and telling us the 'oh so funny' things they were doing and saying. Then it became a little too quiet for my liking. I walk to the gate which is still wide open and peeked in. The two of them are digging and tossing the dirt at each other. Now let me just say I use the term dirt very loosely here, we don't have dirt in my neck of the woods we have the infamous red clay that so many other southeastern residents have. Oh how I despise that red, can never be removed from clothing, clay!

A short while after the kids got a talking to about digging in the clay they are not supposed to be anywhere near, we went inside because it was getting a bit on the dark side. Wow that is when I saw how filthy my child had become! He received the warning, do not touch a thing, do not walk on the carpet with those nasty feet (yes he was outside barefoot). He marched straight to the bath. I am telling you it crossed my mind that he could have planted the entire summer garden in the dirt that just encased his neck! It was then that I saw the gunk in his eyes. Actual pieces of dirt and whatever else that black stuff could have been. I thought I had gotten it all out but I was mistaken. It took at least 20 minutes to get the rest of the gunk out of his eye. I do not know how it wasn't bothering him, I know if it were me, I would have been itching it and scratching it a lot.

I am happy to report we were able to gets the red rings off him and off the tub!

Lesson for today: if you don't want mom to have to get the dirt out of your eye, don't throw it!

I need strength.

Dear Lord Please grant me the strength to deal with this child patiently. I am loosing my patience at an alarming rate and don't know if I will be able to deal with these next 15 years or if I will be forced to run away from home, go to Hawaii and become a bum on the beach (sorry honey, I really do love you but my sanity is important to me).

This once darling little child of mine is becoming the most impatient human being on the face of the earth. He goes from Happy to down right annoyed, angry and upset in zero point zero seconds flat. There are days I am ready to sign him up for military school!

I thought the twos were supposed to be the terrible age? Why are we dealing with worse tantrums now that he is four?

The good, the bad and the heartbreaking!

Tonight has had a little bit of everything in it.

The good:

I went to Target tonight. Kris took Zack with him to run a few errands. Armed with my coupons and vague list of what I wanted to get I roamed the aisles. I came home with $95 worth of stuff and I only paid $30.77. I also came home with a $5 gift card.

The Bad:

I decided to make chicken fajitas for dinner. I baked my chicken earlier and sliced it up. When Kris came home from work I caramelized a whole onion, added the chicken to the pan, put in the spices, added a bit of water. I turned around and decided to put the dishes away while the chicken heated up. I went to put away a juice sized glass and hit the cabinet door (which I failed to open completely). The glass shattered into hundreds of pieces (I am amazed it didn't slice open my hand). Pieces of glass everywhere!
I didn't have a cover on the pan of chicken and with all the hundreds of teeny tiny pieces we could not take a chance of eating it so in the trash it went and out to a sandwich shop we went.

The Heartbreaking:

I told Zack today he was going to stay at Grandmas house tomorrow night. All day he has been super excited. He has been telling me all things he is going to do at Grandmas house.
* I am already feeling sad about him not being with me but I need a break and I think he does too.
Tonight I get him ready for bed, we read a book, say prayers and we have our few minutes of cuddle time (we do this every night). As I am telling him how much I love him, he bust out into tears. A few minutes go by before he could tell me what was wrong. My heart broke! "I am going to miss you, you need to stay with me Mommy!" I feel so bad.

Not sleepy.

Tonight I called to Zack and told him it was time for bed. He responded with "But Mom, I am not sleepy, I am all powered and energied up".

A childs Answers

A friend of mine posted her answers to this on Facebook and I just had to ask Zack and see what he would say. Some of his answers are sweet, some funny and some just down right wrong.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Zack: No
(Can you tell what kind of day we are having)?

2. What makes mom happy?
Zack: Cuddle time.

3. What makes mom sad?
Zack: Not having cuddle time.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Zack: tickle

5. What was your mom like as a child
Zack: Being as a child.
(I am not quite sure what this means and he couldn't seem to give me an explanation).

6. How old is your mom?
Zack: 8 years old.

7. How tall is your mom?
Zack: 3 inches of course.
(I know I am short but does he have to make me feel worse).

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Zack: Work
(Now I know my child doesn't know a thing about me)!

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Zack: Find me

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Zack: singing.
(HA, keep reading)

11. What is your mom really good at?
Zack: Jumping rope.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Zack: Singing, your really not good at singing.
(I guess I will become famous for being a bad singer).

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Zack: Work.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Zack: Toast is your favorite food.

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Zack: Doing proud things.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Zack: Emery (chuggington)

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Zack: Cuddle and go places.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Zack: Both of us have teeth.
(Well that is a good thing).

19. How are you and your mom different?
Zack: Glasses (pointing to mom) no glasses (pointing to himself).

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Zack: by cuddling and kissing and hugging.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Zack: IHOP and Chick-fil-A
(This is news to me).

Easter Sunday 2010.

Happy Easter!

We had had some fun this week including a fun April Fools day dinner, going to the local creamery, which you will be hearing about in a few days. We did some Easter crafts to make the house look a little more like Easter. We went on an Easter Egg hunt, went to see the Easter Bunny, dyed eggs and have been outdoors blowing more bubbles than any human should blow.

On April 1st, I made a silly dinner for Zack. He had chicken nuggets which were actually vanilla Oreo cookies with peanut butter spread over the outside and covered in crushed cereal. He had mashed potatoes with gravy which was ice cream with caramel sauce. He had a cup cake which was turkey meatloaf with colored mashed potatoes spread on top to look like frosting. The kicker was the juice. He picked up his cup but nothing would come out. He looked into the cup and was trying to tell me something was wrong. Finally he poked it and laughed out loud, "Mom this isn't juice it's jell-o!" (I forgot to take a picture of the juice but here is the rest of the meal).
We went on an Easter Egg hunt at a bounce house place. It was put on by a church, they would not let parents of 4-5 year olds help but when my little one got stuck trying to climb into a bounce house I went to help. He lost all his eggs when he dropped his basket. Of course he was very upset over that so I grabbed one and put it in his basket and I got a talking to by one of the church members. Once he came to the realization that my kid lost all his eggs from his basket when he dropped it, he was OK with it. Come on what mom wouldn't make sure her kiddo had at least one egg in his basket. I know if Zack didn't come out of there with something in his basket he never would have done another egg hunt again since he is the type of kid that remembers everything and keeps it locked away. He did go on to find 3 more eggs that were stuck under a bounce house, one if which was a metallic egg which won him a prize. Luck was on his side.
Here he is picking eggs from the front of this obstacle course (he is in a red shirt with white basket)
We visited the Easter Bunny after the egg hunt. This is the first year we were able to take our own pictures, Yes to a $20 savings!!

Here he is dyeing the eggs. He had a great time doing that. Anytime I tried to help, I was politely informed that he could do it himself.

Here he is blowing bubbles with his newly won prize of 3D bubbles. He loves it.
Kris decided to go for a walk and let Zack ride his bike to the park a little while ago. When they opened the door and Zack stepped out I hear him screaming for me to come outside and look. The Easter bunny left a note and some eggs outside with candy in them! The note said there was a dozen eggs hidden around the yard for him to find. He was thrilled to say the least. Can I just say what great neighbors I have, you see we were going to put eggs out in the back yard later on in the day so this was a surprise for all of us. The Easter bunny really does exist.