Halloween 2012

Halloween.

In theory, I liked C8's costume a lot. A character from one of the books she's writing. Except that 1) she hasn't written the book yet and 2) she just barely finished creating the physical book (taping paper together) and 3) let's not discuss the actual costume. Good points, though, she drew a picture of Tre (the charater from her book) and taped it to her basket so people could see who she was. That, and the costume took exactly no effort on my part, and cost zero dollars.

In reality, I liked Q6's costume a lot. Zombie-vampire-skelton! Scary stuff, awesome. She wore the teeth all night, even sucking a lolipop with them on. And I did a great job with the makeup, except that I skipped her forhead and forgot to use the temporary tattoos that we bought. And the green in her hair doesn't show up. But aside from that her face looks awesome ugly. Also a low effort costume, but I did have to go out and buy $.99 teeth, hairspray that didn't work, and makeup. And tattoos that we forgot to use, but I love love love and wish I'd worn to work today. But Q6 gave me the very specific list of things she needed so all I needed to do was cough up the money. And the dress is a hand-me-down from her cousin K8.

Happy Halloween!

Apple picking before the storm

Weather forcasting is so good that we've known for almost a week that Hurricane Sandy was coming. Intensity and landfall were indetermined for a while, but by Friday we really were pretty sure it was going to get wet. And by Saturday we knew we'd get really wet.  I say this because it makes you a little stir-crazy waiting for the storm. Like, Come ON, already! So Saturday when C43 got an email from Distillery Lane Ciderworks saying that pick your own Gold Rush apples were ready ... we got in the car and went.

They told us we could pick as many as we wanted; they would keep anything we didn't want, because they needed to get the apples in before the storm. I think we bought all we picked anyway, but good to know.

It was a lovely day, but you can see the ominous clouds in the background.

Isn't this a great photo? 

And some more of just the cute ones:

We tried to get a family shot but I'd forgotten to check the batteries before we went out. But now we have a boatload of apples, some hard cider for me & C43, and the name of a nursery where we can buy some Gold Rush trees. Plus Q6 got to feed some chickens.  The farmer (owner?) was chatting with us as we waited for C43 & C8 to buy our apples (the tasting room and store were MUCH too crowded for me). Q6 & I went down to a field that had held animals last time we were there ... but had a new orchard in it this time. And the owner saw us reading their information stations and asked if we wanted to feed the chickens. They just had 4 chickens for personal use, so no eggs to buy. Plus Q6 got to name one of the chickens. Jill, I think she named it ... if we go back next year we'll see if it is still Jill ...

No pictures

Well, actually, I did take a picture but Q6 begged me not to use it. But, she's right, no pictures.

We had multiple opportunities to avoid the accident.

Wednesday morning we left the house with Q6 wearing a dress because the pants she'd originally chosen she then swapped out for her jumper at some point. We passed the car and Q6 asked me if I'd drive her and C8 to school. I refused. Then halfway up the first hill she asked me if I'd carry her backpack (because she had put in a heavy hardcover book to read at school. Ozma of Oz, I believe) and I refused.

So  we continued on to school, and just past the half-way point to school Q6 was walking along a small brick wall on Longfellow (left leg grass side, right leg sidwalk side) and -- I think -- lost her footing because of the heavy backpack sloshing around on her back and her right foot missed the wall and she went down, landing on her upper-inner-thigh, unprotected by anything, like, say a pair of pants. Well, actually, she was protected by the nice fatty part of her leg. So when we looked the adipose tissue was spilling out of a giant gash. YEEEE-uk.

I scooped her up and ran-walked all the way to school, and ran her directly to the nurses office, leaving C8 to get to class on her own. I was hoping to run into a friend who is a doctor for obvious reasons, actually, but didn't. In retrospect I realize I could have called or texted her and asked her to come to the nurses office, but I didn't think of that.

But the nurse rinsed the wound a bit but told me she didn't think it would need stitches, just a bandaid would be fine. I was not sure, because the edges didn't seem to be closing well. At all. And then I had to put my head between my knees to keep from fainting at the idea of Q6's insides spilling out of her leg and the nurse told me to go home. I composed myself and  I left Q on the nurses couch with an icepack in her crotch. She wasn't crying, she wanted to stay.

I went home, myself, called the doctor's office and decided to take Q to the emergency room to see if it needed stitches, and just as I was picking up my keys to drive to school the nurse called to say Q6 wanted to come home. Since we were in agreement, I picked her up and  off to the emergency room. OK we weren't in agreement, she wanted nothing to do with the medical profession. I said we were going to see the doctor and when Q6 realized we weren't going to her regular doctor's office we had to discuss the emergency room and why we'd see those doctors instead of the pediatrician. And of course she was quite worried about stitches. We discussed what might happen, why we'd want to see an emergency room doctor instead of the pediatrician, and how stitches would help a wound heal better, keep infection out, etc. but still, the idea of stitches was terrifying. And, I couldn't even do a good job reassuring her because I've never had stitches. They ARE terrifying.

Wednesday morning is a good time to go to the emergency room. No line, a very short wait.  We were brought in within about 10-15 minutes in the waiting room and Q6 got worried again, especially after the doctor came in and said, yes, it did need stitches.

What did keep her preoccupied was me reading Ozma of Oz to her AND her playing on the Nexus7. at the same time. If she was only doing one she could still worry about what was going to happen. She still cried when getting the wound rinsed out. And when the  topical anesthesia was applied. And she screamed and tried to push the doctor away when he shot anesthesia into the wound. But then it was in fact finally numb and although she could feel the pressure the actual stitches were fine. Phew.

Six stitches and a LOT of crying later and Q6 is fine.  She stayed home Wed & Thurs, and then Friday she had a doctor's appointment so I left her stay home again since they had a sub anyway, although now I might regret that since we might need to get a doctor's note to explain why she was out for three days. Partially she is embarrassed about what happened, and about people finding out, but as she gets further away from the pain, she is getting more comfortable with it. She saw her classmates this afternoon and they were all saying "Hi, Q6!" and she responded "Stitches." And she's still walking with a little kerthump as she holds her legs apart to keep the stitches from rubbing. But now she's walking and running. We are still doing ice packs on it at bedtime because she likes it. She's taking an oral antibiotic and getting topical antibiotics. And the stitches come out next Wednesday.

More biking

Q6 has decided she really likes biking. When I asked  her what she wanted to do on Friday the answer was "go biking at Magruder Park." C8 did NOT want to do that, so she stayed home. There is one spot on the parking lot that is a bit lower than the rest and so it becomes muddy and puddle-y pretty easily. With the hard rain we'd had that morning, it was a GIANT puddle.

Q6 was tentative at first, but with a little encouragement she soon saw the beauty in going fast through the puddle. She spent the first half hour just singing, bobbing her head, and cruising through the puddle.

I called home and asked C43 if there was any way he could get C8 down to the park. I didn't have high hopes, we've had some bike issues (who rides which bike), but incredibly, the puddle was a draw. By this time Q6's back, helmet, face, everything were covered with mud. C8 biked down and was drawn to the puddle.

After that she got faster, and she had a huge puddle back, took. All was going very very well. C & Q biked for another hour, and then some friends came down to enjoy the puddle ... but 4 kids riding back and forth was too much and C8 T-Boned Q6. C8 sat down for a bit, then without warning got up, took off her helmet, and walked her bike off. I thought she MIGHT be headed to the bathroom, but she was actually headed to home. I caught up with her, made her bike one more loop, and let her go.

And some explanation from Q6 about the whole extravaganza.

We went out biking again on Saturday, but the parking lot was packed, as there was a football game going on. So we biked onto the trail and down to a park about a mile and a half from home. They were tired when they got back, but no falls on Saturday. C8 also requested that I sit outside and watch them bike in the street, which they then did until they couldn't bike any more.

Sidewalk Zamboni

What you missed this afternoon:

1) C8 melting down because Q6 and her friend S6 wouldn't play school indoors with her when they could be outside.
2) Q6 and S6 playing "the stupids" who poop anywhere they can
and
3) The sidewalk zamboni.

By far my favorite thing of the afternoon was the sidewalk zamboni. They are still outside playing sidewalk zamboni.

Pictures:

Making the sidewalk zamboni:

Proud of the sidewalk zamboni:

Advertising the sidewalk zamboni (video):

And finally, riding the sidewalk zamboni (video):

So, if the leaves are getting you down ... Sidewalk Zamboni!!! Proven to provoke laughter!

Q6 went to a clay camp Saturday afternoon, and came home after a great afternoon. Each child made an  "Animal Us."

She put in elements of a cat (ears), elephant (it is grey), bird (beak), a bow (her!) and braided hair in the back.

Sleepover at our house

Sleepover at our house. I didn't exactly plan on this, but C8 invited two friends over, so hey, it was fine. C43 was away, however, at a Nats game (game 5 of the series, sad to say they lost to the Cardinals) and it was just me ... after I'd sugared them up with cupcakes that they decorated (I forgot to take photos) they got down and watched a movie.

I also told them no pancakes in the morning if they didn't go right to sleep after that ... and so they did!

A friend just gave us a hand me down dress ... and we already had an identical one that had just been handed down from C8 to Q6. So the girls decided to dress alike and "blend" together. Awesome. They actually did blend together.

These next photos are little blurry, except for the one of Q6, but they wanted teeth and no teeth headshots. Who am I to say no to such a simple request?