So this weekend, I took Frances in to the local walk-in clinic (which is associated with our hospital).
When meeting with the nurse practitioner, I explained that Frances hit her head on the corner of a wall on Wednesday, had blood come out of her ear on Thursday and that we wanted to get it checked out. I also told her that she still has a tube in that ear which may also explain the bleeding.
I was hoping for a "Well, we probably can't do anything here but let's take a look at her ear" followed by an "It's no big deal" or a recommendation to go to the hospital for X-rays.
Instead, she said "So, this happened on Wednesday... and today's... Saturday", followed by condescending look. She then asked "What made you come in now?" with the undertone of "why didn't you come in right away sooner".
I told her that she had seemed fine and wasn't exhibiting any other symptoms of head trauma, no dilated pupils, no grogginess. She had been acting normally and wasn't complaining of any pain other than the obvious bruise on her head. We just wanted to get another opinion.
The nurse told me that you should go to the emergency room right away for every head injury. (Which I guess means that we should be going each time the kids smack their head against something. So, about twice a week. I didn't say that because I was to busy trying to convince her not to call social services. Also, I didn't think of it.)
After being informed that we should take her to the emergency room (and that I am a terrible father) over and over, we went home.
We consulted with various family members, noted the continued normalcy of Frances' behavior and decided to just keep an eye on her. Which is what we probably would have been told to do had we taken her to the hospital.
mwz
Monday, June 21, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Funniest Home Videos Moment
Well, it has happened to me, what Funniest Home Videos has taught me happens to every father.
I am always very careful when the kids are swinging a bat or throwing a ball. My reflexes are usually good enough to save the day.
But not tonight.
Tonight, Frances, Johann and I were sword fighting (with Nerf swords, which are awesome). I was distracted by making sure Johann didn't hit Frances in the head with his sweeping blows.
(Incidentally, we are worried that Frances may have a skull fracture which she got by running into the thermostat in the hallway. She seems fine but later her ear was bleeding a bit. We are going to take her in to the clinic tomorrow to get her checked out. Hopefully, it's just the tubes in her ear falling out and not the hit on her head that caused the bleeding.)
Maybe, it wasn't that I was so distracted but that my top priority wasn't protecting myself but Frances' head.
Johann's sword slipped past my defenses and he got me with a powerful strike.
I haven't been hit there in years. It was a excruciating reminder that I must stay ever vigilent.
Fortunately, no one was filming the incident.
mwz
I am always very careful when the kids are swinging a bat or throwing a ball. My reflexes are usually good enough to save the day.
But not tonight.
Tonight, Frances, Johann and I were sword fighting (with Nerf swords, which are awesome). I was distracted by making sure Johann didn't hit Frances in the head with his sweeping blows.
(Incidentally, we are worried that Frances may have a skull fracture which she got by running into the thermostat in the hallway. She seems fine but later her ear was bleeding a bit. We are going to take her in to the clinic tomorrow to get her checked out. Hopefully, it's just the tubes in her ear falling out and not the hit on her head that caused the bleeding.)
Maybe, it wasn't that I was so distracted but that my top priority wasn't protecting myself but Frances' head.
Johann's sword slipped past my defenses and he got me with a powerful strike.
I haven't been hit there in years. It was a excruciating reminder that I must stay ever vigilent.
Fortunately, no one was filming the incident.
mwz
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Uninteresting Gardening Story
All 5 of us were in the garden planting tomatoes (including Thrice who was along for the ride). I turned a strip of the garden for planting. Arial pulled the weeds and got attacked by a colony of red ants. The ant colony then had vengeance rained upon it (in the form of a shovel).
I'll gloss over the tramatic part here where, when planting Johanns sunflowers that he grew from seeds, I accidentally destroyed them and made him very sad.
The kids helped plant the tomatoes by spraying water (with the gun-like hose attachment) and pushing dirt around the plants to fill in the hole. After filling in a hole with water, Johann dropped the hose to the ground. It landed in such a way that the lever was slightly depressed, creating a sprinkler right next to all of us.
Johann got the worst of it but we all got wet (except Thrice who is perpetually swimming). I kicked the hose over and it turned off. We went back to work.
After finishing, we ate at Taco John's.
mwz
I'll gloss over the tramatic part here where, when planting Johanns sunflowers that he grew from seeds, I accidentally destroyed them and made him very sad.
The kids helped plant the tomatoes by spraying water (with the gun-like hose attachment) and pushing dirt around the plants to fill in the hole. After filling in a hole with water, Johann dropped the hose to the ground. It landed in such a way that the lever was slightly depressed, creating a sprinkler right next to all of us.
Johann got the worst of it but we all got wet (except Thrice who is perpetually swimming). I kicked the hose over and it turned off. We went back to work.
After finishing, we ate at Taco John's.
mwz
Monday, June 07, 2010
Mildly Interesting Thing We're Doing
The kid's and I are signed up for a triathlon this summer. We all need to train for this but for different reasons. I'm out of shape, Francis is afraid of biking quickly and Johann likes to ride his bike fast (okay, he doesn't need to train but he likes to).
We have a park near us that has a bike/running path in a half mile loop. We've started going down with their bikes. I run and the kids bike. Frances and I bike/run together and Johann bikes ahead (until I holler at him to wait for us).
Arial has been going down and waiting at the playground. After a couple laps the kids can stop and play at the playground while I continue.
The first day was tough because Frances was going significantly slower than Johann and she was terrified to go any faster. In fact, she bailed on a turn that she could easily have made if she wasn't scared. To her credit, she was speeding up by the last lap (even though I made her miserable by hollering "Pedal! Pedal!" more often than I should have). She has figured out how to take that turn like a champ.
We also went three laps, which was about a lap farther than we should have started with. Halfway through the third lap, Johann kept saying "I'm tired of pedaling".
Despite the first time problems, both of them ask to go again even after the third time.
We'll see how long their enthusiasm lasts.
mwz
We have a park near us that has a bike/running path in a half mile loop. We've started going down with their bikes. I run and the kids bike. Frances and I bike/run together and Johann bikes ahead (until I holler at him to wait for us).
Arial has been going down and waiting at the playground. After a couple laps the kids can stop and play at the playground while I continue.
The first day was tough because Frances was going significantly slower than Johann and she was terrified to go any faster. In fact, she bailed on a turn that she could easily have made if she wasn't scared. To her credit, she was speeding up by the last lap (even though I made her miserable by hollering "Pedal! Pedal!" more often than I should have). She has figured out how to take that turn like a champ.
We also went three laps, which was about a lap farther than we should have started with. Halfway through the third lap, Johann kept saying "I'm tired of pedaling".
Despite the first time problems, both of them ask to go again even after the third time.
We'll see how long their enthusiasm lasts.
mwz
Begin Again
New baby on the way. So, I need to get back in practice of blogging.
Now let's see, what are the pseudonyms again? Ariel, Francis and Johann. I'll have to pick a pseudonym for the baby. I don't think Thrice is going to cut it. Maybe I should pick a name that Ariel likes that I don't. Then it'll get taken off the table... We'll see how vicious the naming discussion gets.
mwz
Now let's see, what are the pseudonyms again? Ariel, Francis and Johann. I'll have to pick a pseudonym for the baby. I don't think Thrice is going to cut it. Maybe I should pick a name that Ariel likes that I don't. Then it'll get taken off the table... We'll see how vicious the naming discussion gets.
mwz
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Halloween 2
This is being posted way late.
On Halloween, we went out trick-or-treating.
We made some modifications to Johann's robot costume to shorten it up. Unfortunately, when he was trying to get up a step it was obvious that we had not done enough. I wound up cutting slits up the front to allow the cardboard to bend with his legs. This made him happier in his costume.
We completely abandoned the robot helmet in favor of a stocking cap with some lights attached by Velcro. It wasn't as cool as the robot head but it was more functional.
Even still, I don't think Johann really liked being in the costume. His mobility was hindered, the hard sleeves made it so he couldn't touch his hands together and it made it really hard to carry him from house to house.
But we went out. Arial's mom was visiting and she was nice enough to hand out candy while we went out (that way no one had cause to egg our house).
Trick or treating was a lot of fun (when the people with lights on where home). A lot of the houses we went to had stairs to climb to get to the door. That was hard for both Johann and Frances because of their costumes (Frances had a long dress-like thing that she was afraid to trip on). Some of the nicer people sat at the bottom of the stairs giving out candy.
After about 40 minutes, Johann grew tired and asked to go home. Arial took him, while Frances and I stayed out for a bit longer. Frances was a trooper but there was this one house that had spooky music and skulls on the stairs. We started up the stairs and she became to scared and wanted to leave. I thought that was fine. It was actually pretty spooky.
The next house they just had one of those bowls with a motion sensitive hand that "grabs" at you. Frances didn't want to get the candy because she was still spooked. I encouraged her to get some and she did. I thought she was very brave.
After that we went home and the kids had fun eating candy.
While we were out, I saw a happy little kid about Johann's age dressed as a cowboy. That meant a cowboy hat and a neckerchief. There's a lesson in that.
mwz
On Halloween, we went out trick-or-treating.
We made some modifications to Johann's robot costume to shorten it up. Unfortunately, when he was trying to get up a step it was obvious that we had not done enough. I wound up cutting slits up the front to allow the cardboard to bend with his legs. This made him happier in his costume.
We completely abandoned the robot helmet in favor of a stocking cap with some lights attached by Velcro. It wasn't as cool as the robot head but it was more functional.
Even still, I don't think Johann really liked being in the costume. His mobility was hindered, the hard sleeves made it so he couldn't touch his hands together and it made it really hard to carry him from house to house.
But we went out. Arial's mom was visiting and she was nice enough to hand out candy while we went out (that way no one had cause to egg our house).
Trick or treating was a lot of fun (when the people with lights on where home). A lot of the houses we went to had stairs to climb to get to the door. That was hard for both Johann and Frances because of their costumes (Frances had a long dress-like thing that she was afraid to trip on). Some of the nicer people sat at the bottom of the stairs giving out candy.
After about 40 minutes, Johann grew tired and asked to go home. Arial took him, while Frances and I stayed out for a bit longer. Frances was a trooper but there was this one house that had spooky music and skulls on the stairs. We started up the stairs and she became to scared and wanted to leave. I thought that was fine. It was actually pretty spooky.
The next house they just had one of those bowls with a motion sensitive hand that "grabs" at you. Frances didn't want to get the candy because she was still spooked. I encouraged her to get some and she did. I thought she was very brave.
After that we went home and the kids had fun eating candy.
While we were out, I saw a happy little kid about Johann's age dressed as a cowboy. That meant a cowboy hat and a neckerchief. There's a lesson in that.
mwz
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Halloween 1
This is being posted extremely late. Sorry.
The Sunday before Halloween we went to a Halloween carnival at the local rec center. Frances went as a butterfly and Johann was a robot. Arial made a pretty skirt thing for the torso of Frances' costume. With wings and antennae, she looked very cute.
I had a hand in Johann's costume. We spray painted some boxes silver and then I hot-glued on various electronic components. It looked pretty cool although there were some issues. His mobility was hindered because the torso was a little too long. Even more worrisome was that the helmet was relatively heavy and we had a tough time keeping it on his head (it was a box that was way bigger than his head, it fit more like a space helmet than a hat). We wound up using little sticky Velcro tabs to attach it to the torso.
Before the carnival, there is a "parade" where the kids walk to the carnival. We thought that would be fun. What we didn't think of was the wind.
We parked at the start of the parade (about a quarter mile from the rec center) and got the kids into their costumes. People seemed to like Johann's costume even though he could barely walk. The parade started (going in the opposite direction as the rec center). Johann and I quickly fell behind but soon Arial and Frances came back to us and declared it too windy to do a parade.
Arial suggested we take the kids out of their costumes and drive to the rec center. I stupidly said that we should just walk. It didn't seem that far but what I didn't count on was the wind.
Like I mentioned before, Johann couldn't walk very fast and the wind was quite cold. I needed to pick Johann up and carry him but there was really no place to grab him with his costume in the way.
I gave the helmet to Arial and the fan on the back promptly broke off (a sign of things to come). Then, I scooped Johann up and lay him across my arms. That began a long, cold, tiring journey to the rec center.
I had given him my stocking cap since he didn't have his helmet to keep warm. It managed to blow off his head. Arial had to come back and get it. From then on Johann was concerned that the wind would blow off his hat.
We finally got to the rec center. Some of the electronics were coming off but nothing too bad. However one of the shoulder straps was broken and the glue on the Velcro sticky tabs pulled off. I think that caused by a combination of the cold affecting the glue and spray-paint separating from the cardboard.
After finally getting in and giving up on the helmet (which didn't have anything holding it on his head since the Velcro fell off) we went into the carnival.
They had a bunch of stations where the kids would do something like "pin the nose on the felt jack-o-lantern" and then get a small prize. Both kids had fun with that although Johann seemed a bit bewildered when some stranger put a blindfold on him and spun him around.
They both enjoyed the ball throwing events while the "fishing" (put a string over a divider and someone clips candy to it) is always a bit strange.
Eventually, Johann became really tired and tired of having his mobility hampered. So, we took him out of his costume. I took it back to the car and the wind threatened to tear it apart even more. Stupid wind.
Arial and I didn't really have that great of a time because we were kicking ourselves for trying to do the parade. But I think the kids had fun (or at least an experience), so I guess it was worth it.
We needed to make major costume modifications before trick or treating.
mwz
The Sunday before Halloween we went to a Halloween carnival at the local rec center. Frances went as a butterfly and Johann was a robot. Arial made a pretty skirt thing for the torso of Frances' costume. With wings and antennae, she looked very cute.
I had a hand in Johann's costume. We spray painted some boxes silver and then I hot-glued on various electronic components. It looked pretty cool although there were some issues. His mobility was hindered because the torso was a little too long. Even more worrisome was that the helmet was relatively heavy and we had a tough time keeping it on his head (it was a box that was way bigger than his head, it fit more like a space helmet than a hat). We wound up using little sticky Velcro tabs to attach it to the torso.
Before the carnival, there is a "parade" where the kids walk to the carnival. We thought that would be fun. What we didn't think of was the wind.
We parked at the start of the parade (about a quarter mile from the rec center) and got the kids into their costumes. People seemed to like Johann's costume even though he could barely walk. The parade started (going in the opposite direction as the rec center). Johann and I quickly fell behind but soon Arial and Frances came back to us and declared it too windy to do a parade.
Arial suggested we take the kids out of their costumes and drive to the rec center. I stupidly said that we should just walk. It didn't seem that far but what I didn't count on was the wind.
Like I mentioned before, Johann couldn't walk very fast and the wind was quite cold. I needed to pick Johann up and carry him but there was really no place to grab him with his costume in the way.
I gave the helmet to Arial and the fan on the back promptly broke off (a sign of things to come). Then, I scooped Johann up and lay him across my arms. That began a long, cold, tiring journey to the rec center.
I had given him my stocking cap since he didn't have his helmet to keep warm. It managed to blow off his head. Arial had to come back and get it. From then on Johann was concerned that the wind would blow off his hat.
We finally got to the rec center. Some of the electronics were coming off but nothing too bad. However one of the shoulder straps was broken and the glue on the Velcro sticky tabs pulled off. I think that caused by a combination of the cold affecting the glue and spray-paint separating from the cardboard.
After finally getting in and giving up on the helmet (which didn't have anything holding it on his head since the Velcro fell off) we went into the carnival.
They had a bunch of stations where the kids would do something like "pin the nose on the felt jack-o-lantern" and then get a small prize. Both kids had fun with that although Johann seemed a bit bewildered when some stranger put a blindfold on him and spun him around.
They both enjoyed the ball throwing events while the "fishing" (put a string over a divider and someone clips candy to it) is always a bit strange.
Eventually, Johann became really tired and tired of having his mobility hampered. So, we took him out of his costume. I took it back to the car and the wind threatened to tear it apart even more. Stupid wind.
Arial and I didn't really have that great of a time because we were kicking ourselves for trying to do the parade. But I think the kids had fun (or at least an experience), so I guess it was worth it.
We needed to make major costume modifications before trick or treating.
mwz
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