Thursday, May 31, 2012

Chocolate Meat & Butt Paste Raisins

Caleb: "Wow, this meat is really tender."
Lucy: "Pretender meat? Can it be chocolate?"

In other news, Lucy squeezed an entire tube of Boudreaux's butt paste and poured a box of raisins into my school bag yesterday. Worst part? I didn't realize it until I had to turn in my assignment. I told my professor to hold on a moment while I wiped off the raisins adhered to my term paper by diaper rash cream.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Sleepless

About an hour after putting Lucy to sleep I hear her screaming, "Mommy!  MOMMY! MOOOMMMYYY!!!"  I rush upstairs, thinking she was maimed, only to open her bedroom door and see the entire contents of her bookshelf in her bed.  She looks at me while trying to lay down atop a mountain of books and calmly says, "I can't sleep."

Friday, May 18, 2012

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Appalachia E.R.

Remember that SNL skit a few years ago about Appalachian Emergency Room?  Yeah, we were those people today.

This morning the whole family woke up sick, so we called Lucy in sick to school and spent the day on the couch watching a marathon of Dora the Explorer on Netflix.  After our second nap, we went outside for a little while to play, where Lucy got filthy.  But none of this is what brought us to the E.R.

Later on in the evening, I decided to do something productive and cook dinner.  Lucy usually helps me cook dinner (it's one of her favorite things to do) so I pulled up a chair and she helped mix the pasta in the pot.  We have a ceramic cook top that is smooth on top, and even though still very hot, it doesn't light up or give any signal of its heat.  When I went to pour out the pasta and mix it in with the sauce, Lucy leaned with her forearm onto the burner.

As soon as I heard her scream and looked to see her coming off of the burner, I went into emergency mode.  We both started crying, and as the burn turned white I knew it was bad.  I got a bag of frozen corn out and used scotch tape to affix it to Lucy's arm.  With tears streaming down both of our faces, I tried to explain to her that her arms hurts a lot, and it's very scary, so we would have to go to see a special doctor.  Thank God we had our Dora marathon this morning, because the episode titled "Doctor Dora" did a load of good in putting terms to what was going on.

I drove us as fast as I could to the University of Virginia Pediatric Emergency room.  I called Caleb, who was at work, and he agreed to meet us there.  I also left tearful messages for my parents, and our church small group.

As I pulled up to the emergency room, at 6:30 p.m., I realized how white trash we looked.  I was unshowered, teeth and hair unbrushed, still in my pajamas.  Lucy was covered in dirt from our playground outing, with a bag of corn tapped to her arm.  And of course, by the time we got to the E.R. Lucy was her normal chirpy self, chatting up the E.R. nurses.

Because of her bounciness, you could almost see the eye roll of the medical professionals, "another kid in the E.R. with over-reactive parents, who's not really sick", until they saw the burn and were in disbelief she was even lucid.  They did a thorough check of the rest of her body to make sure we weren't secret child abusers.

It turns out it's a deep 2nd degree burn, possibly a 3rd degree burn but they wont know until the skin starts peeling off. We have to set up an appointment with a plastic surgeon to look at her arm on Thursday morning to make sure it doesn't scar too much.  For the time being, Lucy is on codeine and has a fancy bandage (complete with Handy Manny stickers).  She was so excited that "they fixed it! They fixed my arm!"

On the way home (post-codeine) I talked to Lucy about why it's important to listen to mommy when we're cooking.  "There's lots of dangerous things in the kitchen, hot things, sharp things ..."  Lucy added, "and Ferris wheels."  Yes, sweet girl, yes.  And Ferris wheels.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the moms in our lives!   
• Kristin & Lucy, circa January 2011.
• Caleb and his mother, Lynne Sancken, circa June 1983. 
• Kristin and her mother, Marilu Thomas, circa 1985.
• 3 generations of mothers - Lucy with Kristin, Marilu and Rose James (Marilu's mother) in November of 2009.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Run

Today we went to a Superhero themed birthday party. At one point a kid cried out, "run for your lives!" Lucy looked at me and said, "excuse me momma, I need to go run for my life."

Thursday, May 10, 2012

A bushel and a peck

Yesterday Lucy made a mother's day card with her babysitter. After writing "I love you" Lucy insisted that they add "a bushel and a peck." I am pleased that Lucy has come to appreciate Caleb and I's mutual affection for musical theater.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Oh Susanna

Lucy thinks the lyrics to "Oh Susanna" are "I throw from Louisiana this banjo onto your knee!"

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Minnesotan in training

Lucy's first ice skating lesson!  She spent 1 of the 30 minutes standing on her own!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Broken Crayons

On the way out of TGIFriday's for dinner Lucy sees some cigarette butts on the ground in the parking lot.  Her first comment, "Oh no! Someone broke all of their crayons!"