No, I'm not getting the Worst Mom Award of June 2011 for letting my kids play with a hot toaster oven. I have, however, let them play for hours on end with an unplugged toaster oven, a couple mini muffin pans, a small cake pan, and a couple mixing bowls and wisks.
They've made strawberry muffins, blueberry muffins, chocolate muffins, brownie muffins, french toast, cakes, and hundreds of other different batters.
It's been a week now since Michael twisted his foot, and this morning he still would not put any weight on it so I took him to the urgent care center (I still have not decided on a pediatrician for us). Michael laughed at the doctor and offered him a high-five as soon as he walked in. His happy mood, lack of any visible signs of injury (still no swelling or bruising), and complete lack of any pain reaction to pressure anywhere on his left leg made the doctor pretty doubtful that we were dealing with much of anything.
So I put Michael down on the floor to show how he would sooner sit down than risk putting any weight on his left foot, and he of course stood up with no problem, on two feet. I assured the doctor that he hadn't done that, and especially hadn't taken any steps, in a whole week, and I took Michael's hands and led him forward knowing he would bail out and sit down rather than take a step on his left foot, and the little stinker took five or six steps. However they were clearly limping steps, and Michael wasn't interested in walking beyond that. The doctor said if he had a hairline fracture it would be about a week after the injury that he would begin walking on it again, so we did x-rays and... Nothing. No sign of any past, recent, or current fractures from his toes to his hip. So no clarity on what's actually hurting him, but we do know that Micahel Jr now officialy has "x-ray machines" and "x-ray technicians" on the top of his list of enemies.
As long as he continues making progress we just have to assume a pull/strain/sprain/twist of some sort and let it continue to heal. However I do have the name and number of a pediatric orthopedist in my pocket who will get us in for an appointment and take a second look at the x-rays if Michael doesn't seem to keep getting better at his current rate.
So he's mostly fine and getting better, and during this time of physical confinement, Michael has even picked up a word (if you consider "uh-oh" a word). Plus he started blowing kisses, which is the cutest thing ever, and he thinks it's really funny to do everything except what you ask him to do when the camera is on, for instance, blowing kisses when you want him to say uh-oh.
We ran out of bread this morning, and I forgot to get the car seats out of Michael's car this morning before he went to work, and it was too rainy to walk to the store, so Dema and Catherine made some bread. Yay for Dema!
Catherine had a lot of fun learning how to knead the bread (when we have made it before, I've always done it the lazy way and let my mixer do the kneading for me). Catherine was a quick student.
The results were well worth all that hard work.
The rain finally blew away today and we had a really nice afternoon and evening. Michael Jr is moving his injured foot around a lot more now and I haven't given him any tylenol in a few days, but he still isn't walking on it. It didn't bother him at all today though. He was perfectly pleased to sit down in the mud and play.
There happened to be a sleeping bag hanging over the side of the bridge (it's a longish story that involves a tent, some chairs, a pond, and serious winds), and as soon as Michael saw it he crawled as fast as he could to go hide behind it.
Where's Michael?
Peek-a-boo!
Michael...
Peek-a-boo!
You get the idea. This went on for a while.
And even though he's not walking on his foot, he is starting to put some weight on it, especially when he has the great motivation of being able to stand on the bridge.
I always feel bad when I have a post with a lot of pictures of two of the kids but not the third. So... here's an unrelated picture of Mary looking cute. I think she was giving Michael and me instructions on exactly how to say "Ready, set, go!" so that she could race down the hill.
And now, there are absolutely no thunderstorms in the forecast for tonight, and I am very much looking forward to a night of sleep without any (or three) squirming children in my bed.
Catherine and Mary had another sleepover with Grandma earlier this week, and they were complaining to her that they had no idea where their dress-up clothes are. Truthfully, I have some idea where their dress-up clothes are, but I haven't made the trip over to the storage center to track them down yet. So Grandma took the girls to Goodwill and they came back with two new princess dresses, for $2 each.
That was Thursday. They have not yet taken their dresses off.
They even insist that the dresses make them run faster.
The Missouri Botanical Garden (or, as Michael prefers to call it, Shaw Garden) includes a children's garden that is basically a giant playground. During the music festival on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer, entrance to the garden is free after 5pm and the children's garden, which usually closes at 5, is open until 7. It's all only a short drive away so we tried it out yesterday evening. Although I don't think we will ever go for the music that starts at 7:30 (the crowd was a bit unbelievable), the kids loved the children's garden and definitely want to return.
Before we even got to the children's garden we made our way through the current Tree House exhibit. These are not traditional tree houses, but more like various structures designed in tree-related materials.
This little mound had tree stump stools inside.
The next one was shaped rather more like a house, with tree stump tables and a little door that the kids immediately decided was a doggie-door, even though I'm pretty sure they've never seen such a thing before.
There was also a little maze that was supposed to resemble tree rings. Regardless of the fact that it really was not a maze at all, the kids all loved running through the rings.
We finally made it to the children's garden, where Michael was thrilled to see a little canoe and a waterfall. Waterfalls and fountains rank right up there with birds, dogs, and airplanes as his favorite things to see.
Unfortunately, right after we went through the entrance Michael Jr managed to get his foot twisted under on the first slide and seems to have sprained it. He is still a mama's boy through and through, and would not let anyone else hold him the rest of the evening. So Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Jena and Daddy all took turns following Catherine and Mary around in their frenetic exploration of the stairs, rope climbs, swinging bridges, tree houses, slides, cave, streams, and waterfalls. And Dema had the full-time job of following Kali and keeping her from jumping in every stream and pool.
Michael is doing a little better today. He is definitely gimpy, but doesn't have any bruising or swelling on his foot, so I think if I can keep him from too much wrestling and attempts at running, then he'll be back to normal shortly.
It took a little bit of effort to entertain him without any walks, running, clamboring, climbing, or general mayhem today. We resorted to a lot of block towers and peek-a-boo. Have I mentioned the way Michael plays peek-a-boo?
Yep, he covers his ears instead of his eyes. Every time. I really don't think it's because he's not that smart... maybe he's doing it ironically?
He also makes kissing noises every time I say "good bye" or "I love you". I guess that's just as good as talking.
I know, Fathers' Day came and went with nary a mention on this family blog. I promise, it's not that we don't love and appreciate the dad in our family. It's just that actually following through with making a point about it on a specific Sunday afternoon gets by me now and then. Plus, Michael was just as great of a dad yesterday and today as he was on Sunday, so I think today is a perfectly legitimate day to make a point about it.
The kids are all used to having Daddy around most of the time on most days, so they are feeling the inconvenience of his new work schedule. Luckily, he's really great about spending lots of time with them between when he gets home from work and when they go to bed.
He times them with his iphone stopwatch app as they race up and down the backyard (they think this is the coolest thing ever). He shares his special cheeses with Catherine.
He supervises sand box time.
He pitches the ball endlessly,
and doesn't mind when Catherine pitches the ball everywhere but somewhere he might hit it.
He's still finding time to read with them and, bit by bit, pass along the secrets of becoming a lego master. The kids still rely on him for wrestling, running up the front of his legs to do back flips, and piggy-back and shoulder rides. He involves them in dinner conversation and prays with them before bed.
And, perhaps most importantly, he's sharing with them the new Bon Iver album on vinyl.
He loves them all dearly and they love him back. What can be added to that?
Dema took all the kids to Laumeier Sculpture Park yesterday afternoon. It was pretty warm, but they all had a really good time. Open spaces for running and random shapes to climb and hide behind are all they really ask for in life right now. Well, that, and food. Lots of food.
I've attempted to finish this post at least a dozen times this week. The kids seem to have collaborated on a schedule in which two of the three are in whine-till-you-drop mode at any given time, and my part-time job somehow seems to be taking up as much of my time as my full-time job used to, which is confusing, and I still feel behind on pretty much everything. So, here are a bunch of pictures from the last week or so, in no particular order, and with no particular theme, and under no particular pretense of being good.
Batting Practice
Knock-knock
"Ooooooohhhhhh"
Sandbox Fun
Favorite sandbox activity: throwing sand until several cups are embedded in his hair.
Family singing practice on their stone stage.
Singing Sisters
Neighborhood park. Their extreme focus is because they're watching some girls double-dutch.
Wall climbing.
Yes, I let him climb up the slide when there is no danger of causing a multi-kid pile-up.
She stole my hat.
New home
New swim skirts. They love them, and now I pretty much only have to sunscreen their faces. Yay.
I forgot to include this in the earlier pool post. Grandpa T had been working in the hot garage all day and decided to cool off before heading in for dinner. Catherine was aghast and argued the impracticality of such a move for many minutes. Mary offered him an umbrella.
