Monday, January 21, 2008

African Animals

I am not sure why this has become my latest obsession. I think Ernie described it best when he said "Kinda like watchin' paint dry. Except it's so darn hard to look away." But just you wait! I am anxious to catch sight of a lion or zebra. You should have seen us all run for the computer the first time Ernie called out "I see a gazelle! Or.....something like a gazelle anyway!" lol

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Milestones

I know we all watch our children with held breath as they reach a never ending cycle of milestones. I become quite melancholy at times thinking of the events, no matter how minute, that have unfolded in the lives of my "babies". It is also quite entertaining to watch the teenagers as they follow Mallorie in her adventures. I must say that Mallorie has achieved this latest milestone much later then her siblings.

Saturday morning I was sitting at the computer doing "research" when I heard McKinsey yell at me with much emotion in her voice. "Mom! Come quick! Oh my goodness Mallorie! Mom, I don't know what to do. Help! Hurry!" I rush to my bedroom where Mallorie is sitting on the bed wailing and McKinsey is doing the anxiety dance. You know the one where you jump up and down and run back and forth across the room. It seems the girls had been sitting on the bed playing a game of miniature checkers, which has extremely small game pieces. Uhm, about the size of say a little person's nostril. Mallorie had jammed one of the pieces into her nose. My first instinct was to laugh but because she was in such distress I decided I better investigate first. Upon doing so I felt like I could reach in with with tweezers and pull it out. By this time the room was filled with the entire family, including the dog, but minus Ernie(at work). The big kids held her down while I went in with the tweezers. "Whoops, pushed it in farther." So now I needed to weigh my options. I will try pepper first, then go with shoving a shoe string in the other nostril(usually worked with Devin, he was forever sticking foreign objects in his nose). If that doesn't work we will head to the doctor. I certainly hoped it did not come to that. I hadn't taken a decent bath in days. So the whole crew heads to the kitchen. Yes, even the dog. I rub some pepper around her vacant nostril. Five pairs of eyes watch, waiting. Nobody is breathing not even Mallorie, okay well maybe the dog. Then the quiet is broken as Mallorie erupts into a full blown tantrum. Crap, no sneeze. Hopefully she doesn't suck the thing all the way in. It was pointed on one end and could hurt coming out the back side, if you know what I mean. So now the crew, as one unit, heads back to the bedroom where we can hold her down. Just as I turn to look for a shoe string she sneezes a huge slobbery sneeze that pops the innocent looking piece onto the bed. The room erupts with cheers as each person takes turns doing the happy dance with Mallorie in their arms. To see us you would have thought she had cured global warming. She looks at the piece and says "I don't like that game no more, I put it way". So the game is put away and the next thirty minutes if filled with tales of the wonderful, foreign objects that were placed inside the nostrils of the teenagers when they were small. Once again Mallorie provides a moment of bonding for the entire family.