Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, to Urgent Care We Go

I knew when I got off work last night that things were going to be a little crazy at home. We were watching two additional children (friends of the boys) for the whole evening, so dinner would be a little more chaotic and there would be more noise and activity than usual.  Little did I know how crazy it would be.

I arrived home to the parents of the friends pulling out of the drive. I entered the house to see dinner prep hastily set aside and heard the sound of crying upstairs. After greeting Ryan and our two guests, I headed upstairs to see what all the commotion was about. I found Duane and Wesley in the bathroom, blood dripping from Wesley's foot, and Duane leaned over it with a pair of tweezers. Apparently Wesley had stepped on something that was stuck in his foot and just stubborn enough that Duane could not remove it.

After a few minutes of observing this, I said that I really thought one of us to take him to a children's hospital urgent care. Duane agreed and, since Wesley couldn't walk and he'd be too heavy for me to carry, Duane loaded our oldest son in the car - leaving me to cook for and care for the remaining three kids and worry about Wesley. And I did worry. I knew it wasn't a serious injury, but the fact that I couldn't be there with him was awful! Never mind the fact that Duane is better at handling these situations.

Things went surprisingly well on both fronts. The kids that were with me were really well behaved, and Duane said Wesley was a real trooper. Wesley got to ride in a wheelchair, had an X-ray taken of his foot, and was on the receiving end of a BIG shot to numb the area before they removed a small shard of plastic. They were gone for about 2.5 hours and arrived home about ten minutes before the friends had to leave.

Wesley got the royal treatment for the remainder of the night. He ate a piece of chocolate cake while watching cartoons with his foot elevated. I also let him crawl in bed with me and stay up a little late to start a movie we've been wanting to watch. This morning I took care of his chores and packed his lunch for him. Heck, I even cooked him breakfast. 

By coincidence Wesley has a checkup scheduled with his regular doctor today. Once Dr. Matt checks Wesley over and gives him a clean bill of health it will be back to business as usual, so I hope Wesley enjoyed the special treatment.  Although I'm sure he'll milk it at school today. 

Outgrowing "Cute"

Like most parents, I am convinced that my boys are, quite possibly, the most handsome boys on the planet.  Wesley, in particular, has those blue eyes, blond hair and a smile that could just melt your heart. However, Wesley is getting to be past the "cute" stage. Not that he isn't handsome - he totally is - but I don't know that I'd just the word "cute" to describe him.  Kind of like I think Jimmy Kimmel is cute, but Joe Manganiello is handsome.

We were out selling scout popcorn the other day and Duane and I both noticed how differently people reacted to Wesley and Ryan. Wesley was nice and perfectly polite when speaking to folks, but it seemed a little easier for people to say "no thank you" to him. When Ryan approached people, he spoke in his quiet little Ryan voice with the slight speech impediment and people just fawned over him. They commented on his uniform and told him what a good job he was doing selling popcorn. They just seemed more patient with him over all. And that's when we realized that Ryan still has the "cute little cub scout" thing going. People still coo over him. It's like an unfair advantage.

Luckily, Duane works to make sure the kids end up with roughly equal amounts in sales. Can't milk that little brother cuteness too much!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I did not have a sobbing breakdown of such epic proportions one day that my children decided to make my bed for me so I'd have one less thing I had to take care of.

I know I didn't get a visit from the Cookie Fairy for the first time in many many years. Even if I did, there is no way she remembered by favorite kinds of cookies!

I did not manage to turn off my alarm and oversleep by an hour one weekend morning. That would have been mean to poor Lucy's bladder.

I know I didn't giggle when the dog bounced her face off the screen door while trying to chase a squirrel. 

Open House

Last night was Open House at the kids' school. I always got super excited about Open House as a kid, even though my parents knew my teachers, and I try to make sure I'm always available for Open House for my boys. Of course, since Duane and I are both involved with PTA, it means that Open House involves things like staffing the PTA information table part of the time and arriving early and helping tear down at the end. They are good sports about it though. Of course, letting them get a book from the book fair probably helped.

My favorite part of Open House is seeing the work the kids have been doing. Check out the poem Ryan wrote.

He didn't seem real happy with it. "There's not a lot to say about carving a pumpkin," he said, but I think he did a fine job!

And then there was Wesley's work. Each student had what looked like the front page of a newspaper all about themselves. One of the columns was titled "My Hero" and look what Wesley put there.

 

I don't mind telling you that I teared up right there in the hallway. Guess Open House is still one of my favorite school nights of the year.