Metal Meredith

Henry has never been sure-footed. We can blame it on his big feet, on the habit of walking tip-toed, or on his lack of attention paid to anything underfoot. There have been a lot of close calls with him tumbling down, scraping hands and knees and on occasion, faces. He has smacked his head, chin, arms, legs, and back on any various number of items. He has been bruised and had many a goose eggs. Until now, these have all been normal childhood owies.

Phil called me on Friday afternoon, on his way home from the playground. He said “I need you to be outside when we get home. Henry fell on the sidewalk and is hurt pretty bad. He has either hurt his lip or lost a tooth.”

When they tore down the street into the driveway, I was waiting with a soft, damp wash cloth hoping for the best, a split lip. I opened the door to Vivienne holding up a tooth and a blood covered Henry. My poor baby boy had fallen teeth first onto the sidewalk and scraped himself up badly.

It took about 10 minutes to locate all the scrapes and cuts. It took about 10 more minutes to get him all cleaned up and another 20 for him to become totally calm. His stomach hurt from all that blood that he was swallowing. We called the dentist (closed for the holiday) and the pediatrician (also closed for the holiday). I finally got a hold of a receptionist at KidMed, a urgent care center for children, who happened to be a dental hygienist during the day. She assured us that while sad, this happens all the time and there isn’t much to be done for baby teeth. After paging the dentist, he assured me the same thing.

Henry is better today. He is eating, after 18 hours of refusing to. He shoves little torn pieces of food way back onto his molars and then chews. He only drinks through straws placed through the very side of his mouth, shoved between his back teeth. I am just glad he is eating at all.

The best/worst thing to come out of this is his having to give up the pacifier cold turkey. He isn’t enjoying it and there is a lot of tossing and turning at night, but it had to happen sooner or later. He likes to hold them but he won’t put them in his mouth because he is scared. Could be a good thing, but I am sure it will suck for a few days.

On August 13th, I ordered Vivienne a new lunchbox. Yesterday, it arrived. It seems that LL Bean was having a run on the blue and purple flower lunch boxes that match Vivienne’s backpack. It was specifically the one she requested and I obliged.

When I asked her on Monday what she had for lunch, she said “Chicken sandwich (fried), tater tots, chocolate milk and um… I can’t remember.” Which everyone should know is kid code for “I don’t want to tell you.” On Tuesday, she claimed that she had a chocolate milk, an apple juice and one slice of pizza because there was nothing else she liked. I knew it was time to see buying lunch as a infrequent privilege, seeing as how she wasn’t getting any nutrition making her own choices.

Today, Vivienne went to school with 2 juice boxes ("I get too thirsty for just one drink!"), grape tomatoes, PB&J, pretzels, a clementine and one tootsie roll. It also included a special napkin, which I do each time I pack her lunch. That tradition comes from my father, who used to write notes every so often in my sister and my school days that made us smile with pride all the while having to say how dorky it was to our friends.

Here are just a couple of my creations:

Fun at parties! Impress your friends!

1. Went to a parent/teacher conference today for Vivienne. It was a normal 9 week review. It seems that her teacher thinks she is pretty cool. She also says that Vivienne is respectful and has a positive attitude. I didn’t have the heart to ask her if she was sure she was thinking of the right kid.

I was so nervous last year going to talk to her teacher. But last year, her teacher could have been my mother. This year, her teacher is a good 15 years younger than I am. Technically, I suppose I could be her mother. Ouch.

But all in all, Vivienne is a good kid that is no dummy. She isn’t on a fast track to Mensa, either. But there is still time for that.

2. I did that sad shuffle into the voting booth today, knowing that it was for nothing. After 4 elections where I (finally) got to see what winning felt like, I am sad to say that this won’t be one of them. Its ok though, it is their turn. I really do hate having all that hold dear pooped on by the other side, though.

3. We all had lunch today with Phil in the fan. Very worth the lack of school today! Now tonight, I get to have dinner with a couple of friends that I very much enjoy decompressing with. Hooray!

4. Last night, I heard from Vivienne’s room, Phil say “I don’t think you can handle the ‘Dad-Kwan-Do’!

I just put a pillow on the middle cushion of the sofa, a kid on either side and said “No one crosses this pillow.”

Super.