Dental destruction.

Can someone tell me how a 4 year old can not see a large outdoor dining table when running? That same table that has been there for 2 years. That same table he has eaten at many times.

A few of the neighbors kids came over to play last night so there were a lot of silliness going on. Someone said lets play tag, 'game on'! A few minutes into the game and my ever so graceful child runs face first right into the table :(

Poor kid went down hard. The tears, the screams, the cries all came on after a moment of stunned silence. This time he hit teeth on the opposite side of the last incident. There was a bit of blood but nothing like last time. It does not appear to have moved or loosened any of the teeth. (Thanking the Lord for that).

This morning he woke up and his chin has a black and blue on it. Thankfully we aren't planning on getting pictures done anytime soon.

I sit here wondering if my child is on a path of dental destruction. Did I bring it on always telling him he had to brush brush brush to keep those pearly whites? Somehow it just seems like he is trying hard to loose all those pearly whites.

Surgery.

David went in to surgery this morning to repair the damage to his knee. He tore the ACL and had damage to the cartilage. Lilly has been keeping me posted since I can not be there. They took him back into surgery at about 7:30am. It was supposed to take an hour or so but my phone was ringing at 8:15 am. He was in recovery at that point. Took less time then expected so I am hoping that is a good sign, that maybe there wasn't as much damage as they thought. Lilly will call when she knows more.

I will admit to being a bit nervous for him last night, after all he is still my child no matter how old he gets!

The little volcano

At my Moms house today Zack wanted to go outside with my Mom and my Aunt. They were both trying to tell him that he did not need his shoes on because they were only going on the porch. He was being insistent about getting his shoes on and they were being insistent about him not needing his shoes. I heard him tell them "Guys stop erupting me". I am pretty sure he was meaning 'stop interrupting me' but then again it may have been a Freudian slip and he was telling them he was about to erupt if they didn't leave him alone.

Giggles

Zack had to have his binoculars to go to the library today. According to him he needed to explore the library.

They were around his neck and when I buckled him in to his car seat I wasn't thinking and put the buckle on top of the string that holds the binoculars. While driving I looked back to see him trying to unbuckle so he can get them out. When I saw that I yelled "Don't you dare unbuckle that Mister."

His response sent me into a good giggle. "Mommy don't call me Mister! I am a child!"

Put him to work.

Putting a four year old to work.

Would I be a terrible parent if I made my 4 year old do his own laundry? It is not as if he has tons of laundry to do or that it is hard for me to do. He just loves to push the buttons on the washer and dryer so why shouldn't I put him to work.

I gathered up all the dirty clothes in his hamper and the towels from his bathroom and headed to the laundry room. He followed. I separated things and added the detergent, he did the rest. When the washer was done he went in and put everything into the dryer, got out a dryer sheet and turned the dryer on. He even folded clothes when they came out of the dryer. Okay I will admit he folded 2 pair of pants and matched up the socks while I did everything else, but that is a start right? Oh and he didn't fold them the way I would but that was alright with me, I left them the way he did it.

He has a job to do each time I unload the dishwasher. He has to put away the eating utensils. It takes him forever and a day to do it but he does get it done. I do go through and take out the sharp knives first but the rest is his job. One that he does well.

Whenever I am vacuuming he sometimes wants to help, other times not so much. You see he has always been fearful of the vacuum so we try to encourage him to help with it, even if only for a minute I feel that is a step in the right direction. Now I will say he feels right at home sweeping the floors. He has his own broom and will go into the hall closet multiple times a day to get that broom and sweep up the floor. I won't complain about that.

He hasn't had to 'clean' his room yet because there isn't much in there. We don't really have toys in there other than his babies to sleep with and a train set. Right now there are too many clothes just laying around because I cleaned out his closet and his dresser and haven't done a thing with them. He does need to clean his playroom out but that will be a month long chore I am sure. The toys are everywhere. We need to get them sorted before we make any decisions on what stays and what goes.

What next?

I am sitting here feeling like a terrible parent.

Why?

That's easy to answer.

When my child was an infant I bought him a Bumbo seat. Later on they were recalled. The repair was a sticker to inform you only to set the seat on a floor and keep an eye on your child.

I spent a fortune to buy a better car seat. Later on they were recalled. The repair was just a statement saying not to use the Latch system after your child weighs 50 pounds. Why did I spend so much for a seat that I can not use to the fullest extent?

I put my child to bed in a crib that was bought new for him. Later on after he switched to a bed I see they recalled the cribs. I am waiting on the repair kit.

I bought my child a cute little push buggy car from Step 2. Later on they were recalled. The handle can become unattached while pushing your child in the car. I am waiting on the repair kit.

I bought my child some Thomas the Trains. Later on they are recalled for lead. The train was thrown out.

I bought my child name brand cold medicine and also fever reducers because they are made from a company I trust. Later on they were recalled but the company says they aren't a health risk (sorry I am not buying that). I received my refund check today.

I am getting so irritated that I can not buy things for my child without worrying what damage they will cause to him or to any other child who may use these items. I am feeling like a bad parent even though I know it is nothing that I did wrong nor can I control it.

All these recalls have to stop, what ever happened to quality control? Why aren't these companies testing and retesting their products before they are mass produced? I look around the house and wonder what is going to be recalled next.

The results are in...

David finally received the results of the MRI that was done on his knee. The verdict is not the one I really wanted to hear. He tore his ACL and did some damage to the cartilage. Now he has to have surgery to repair it.

I hope the surgery and the physical therapy are much less harder on him then they were on Kris when he went though the same thing.

As for Zack and his teeth. Well the one tooth that pushed back appears to be in the correct position now so that is not a concern but the other tooth that we fought a long two week battle to save is now a thing of the past. Apparently my child had fun playing with his wiggly tooth using his tongue so when he went to bed a few nights ago it 'just' came out. We geared up for a visit from the tooth fairy, she was so nice to leave 4 quarters for the piggy bank and a gold coin for safe keeping (we could have gotten away with only leaving pennies because that is what Zack is telling everyone she left). The only thing Zack was being insistent on is he wants to keep the tooth so he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy (which he left a Grandmas house so we are real glad that Grandma gave the tooth fairy the letter). The tooth fairy was nice enough to leave a note saying he could hold onto the tooth a little while longer but she is going to want it because it is nice and white and it would look good in her collection. He was satisfied with that.

This is what he looked like a week ago with the wobbly tooth, notice how far down it is compared to the tooth next to it.
Here he is sporting his new look, excuse the wet face he just washed and I didn't realized he never dried.

As seen on TV

Oh no, my child is a walking commercial. I am telling you he is going to be the next guy you see on every infomercial.

Before Christmas time all I heard from the boy was we needed a perfect brownie pan because the TV said it makes the perfect brownies and we can only have perfect brownies with no rips. Mind you we rarely if ever make brownies.

Then I heard day after day how we needed to have the Touch and Brush. You know the one where you push the little lever and the toothpaste comes out on to your tooth brush. The one I find absolutely disgusting. The one he insisted would mean he wouldn't get any toothpaste on the counter anymore.


Then he wanted the Aqua Sand so he could use it over and over again. Right on there kiddo, like I would trust you with water and sand in my house. You have a sand box and a water table outside... see ya.
Oh then there was the Bog Top Cupcake Pan that we just had to buy because we need to make really big cupcakes. Again we rarely bake cakes so how will this help?
The latest and greatest is the Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap Dispenser. Oh my how that child can give you all the key features to this product. He is desperate to have one of these not only so his hands never have to touch the germy soap bottle again but also because it is antibacterial (like he even knows what that means).
I think these companies need to send him a paycheck, after all he is promoting their products sometimes on a daily basis.