Lifelines

I had barely pulled into the driveway before Rhyse and Colin had armed themselves with nets and set off in search of fishies in the creek. Chas and Adrienne spent all of 20 minutes hanging around down there and then they perched on the swing to talk. I marvel at Chas, my little personality chameleon…he who can stay in that muddy water for days and days yet sensing that Adrienne might not like that so much, he switches tracks and is happy to sit and “gab”. It’s sweet to see.

The smaller boys were successful, catching nine or so tiny swimmers which joined their “missing” family members in our 25 gallon fish tank. Oh, the reunion that must be occuring down there! :)

Two hours, two huge bowlfuls of popcorn, and four organic juice boxes later, I rounded everyone back into the car and set off to Jenny’s to swap back children.

Greer, for her part (in typical three-year-old fashion), refused to leave the fun when I got there. Surprising me yet again! I had told Jenny that it’s a huge compliment to her that Greer will even go with her, as typically she is very reluctant to separate from me and I thought she’d back out when it was time to part ways in the parking lot. But she climbed right into Jenny’s car and started yammering away with Emma so I figured all was well in her little world. The girls had a good time and Greer looked lovely with her fashionably purple eyebrows that either she or Emma had decorated with glittery makeup. :)

Here’s Rhyse and Colin getting down to the business of catching…

We took a drive up to Hillard today to meet up with some co-op friends at Homestead Park, which we hadn’t been to before but my kids just loved.

What’s neat about this park is definitely the water feature…big, stationary squirt guns available for kids to have fun drenching each other, verrrry nice on a hot day like today.

And the setting of the park was lovely, gorgeous and clean, and a super neat little covered-style bridge you drive over as you enter. I thought I was on the set of a movie. :)

What wasn’t nice about the park were a few older boys (not with our group) who were mobile with Super Soakers–and what probably started out as “fun” soon became taunting and teasing. I went to peek on them after they’d been playing a bit and I stumbled into a war-zone. These bigger boys were mostly after Rhyse, who was the only one of our bunch armed with a found-somewhere plastic water bottle which he was filling in an attempt to “fight back”. But this big kid was just in his face and Rhyse wasn’t laughing, he was getting really pissed. Which usually ends up badly. A sweetheart most times, Rhyse has a wicked temper and while he knows we strongly disapprove…sometimes he snaps, especially when teased, and bigger boy or not, I’d be looking for this kid’s newly knocked-out teeth.

So I did intervene but I don’t know that it did any good. Eventually they found a way to play together because I didn’t see Rhyse swinging fists and everyone raved about how much fun they were having!

There was a cute little toddler play area that we would’ve stayed in longer if Creux would’ve stopped eating the pebbles. He did so enjoy splashing around in the water with William but those stones were just calling his name and he couldn’t resist them. (And can be seen off to the side, in the photo below of Greer, stuffing a couple into his mouth–busted!) After I dug out four in 35 seconds, we bagged it and went back to the picnic blanket. At least there he won’t choke on the grass. :)

We only stayed for about two hours there and as usual, it wasn’t long enough for Rhyse and Colin. Or Chas and Adrienne. Or Emma and Greer. Because this is how they paired off and Jenny and I split them up between us and we swapped kids for a bit. I took the four older home with me and Greer went to Jenny’s to have some good un-interrupted girl time with Emma.

The fun is still going on over here so I’ll post more later…

Jenny, Laura and Cathy…so nice to see you guys!!

I’ll tell you where. They have apparently moved outside for the rest of the summer! I never see these children except if one of them is dying of hunger and now I’m wondering where it is that they are toileting. Seeing as how they aren’t allowed in anyone’s home without my knowledge, my guess is that they’ve watered a few trees. :)

The creek out back has been a sanity-saver for me these past few months. While I do have to be especially vigilant after a rain, really…there isn’t too much else to worry about other than the moral dilemma of where do I draw the line on their critter catching? This is what they’ve been doing since Monday and for three days straight, I’ve seen buckets and nets and very dirty boys at day’s end. The creek water is so low due to the lack of rain but it’s proving a gold-mine for these two boys and their critter-catching friends and accessories. They’ve caught so many tiny little baby fish and some huge (UGLY!) crawl-fish, and occasionally I will hear shouts of glee as they snag something else.

And then I see wet, sloppy footprints (no shoes in the house, for the love God!) leading to the basement (their lair) and I know they’ve filled the fishtank with new “friends”.

Argh. After they “lost” (read: did not properly care for) the family hamster (that I did not want in the first place but caved due to repeated, “we promise!” houndings),and whose body has still not been recovered, I sent down a Martin Family Ban On Critters. I refused to buy them anything and I refused to allow them to buy anything. (Oh, but when Adrienne got her bunny, that really smarted…sweet, furry, Mr. WhateverHisNameIs). And this is how they wiggle through. Chas, smart enough to use my words against me, “You didn’t say we couldn’t catch fish. This isn’t a waste of money and this is a good way for us to earn back your trust. Come on, Mom. We can do it.” Said while holding a bucket full of baby fish and with Rhyse standing beside him, hands clasped together as if in prayer, whispering desperately, “Please, please, pleeeeeease, Mommy”.

Sucker. (That would be me.)

So now I’ve got a tank full of fish.

BUT, this is my trade-off for peace and quiet. My boys aren’t watching tv all day, or on the computer, or driving Greer crazy (only one boy does this and you all know darn well who I’m referring to). They’re the true Boys Of Summer, and every day my yard is positively littered with a multitude of bikes and helmets (nine was my count last evening and I only know this because I walked out front and gasped, amazed at the sheer amount of accumulation that had amassed between my going in and coming back out of the house), kids are milling about here and there and everywhere, nets and buckets and shoes and various articles of clothing that OPC (Other People’s Children) have shed.

It’s lovely. I’m only fake-griping because I love everything about it. (Well, except for the dead hamster lurking in the shadows of my laundry room, where I know he went so he could give me one decent scare before he took his last breath. Unfortunately for him, I’d just had a baby and laundry wasn’t topping my list of priorities that week.) I love that they’re enjoying their summer (esp. since last summer was rather botched by the stress of a big move), I’m thrilled that all the kids play here, under my watchful eye, that I’ve gotten to know them all…and the Littles so appreciate it too–these neighborhood Bigs all zooming in and out, some indulging Greer, some sitting with me on the swing, all cooing at Creux.

It’s just how summer should be for kids. Long lazy days of playing outside and nights spent catching fireflies.

Since I’m not one for sitting on creek banks (plop! goes Creux) and because the only thing I see of the boys are those wet footprints, I have no creek photos to share. But I do have some of those fireflies. :) These were taken just before our beach vacation and I’m only now getting around to posting them.

One thing is for sure, when Greer grows up she will be able to run a laundromat if she so chooses. :)

I’ve mentioned before that she enjoys tagging along with me when I perform this task 25 times a day and now she’s adding to her “I Do It” list.

She’ll accompany me to the laundry room (unfortunately located in the basement which fortunately is finished and generally un-spooky though still cob-webby in places…shudder…) and will watch me sort, refusing to help transfer the wets to the dryer so I do that but then her fun begins!

Pouring in the detergent is her favorite, followed by dropping pieces of clothing into the water and watching them settle and turn dark from getting wet. It takes ages but it’s great fun for her and I sneak things in here and there so as to speed up the process.

She’s now begun “folding” and she’s actually doing a great job! I hand her smaller things… baby wash cloths, her clothing, Creux’s clothing, and the boys undies. Some things end up in a ball but for the most part, she gets the first fold right and then start squishing it all together. :) Or she’ll know the first fold is right and she’ll leave it. I fight the impulse to re-fold things and I don’t mess with her piles except for a few t-shirts that she or Creux might wear out in public (and those I fold on the sly when her back is turned and it goes to the bottom of the pile so she doesn’t know Mama has monkeyed). But all the undies and jammies and tiny towels are put away “uniquely” folded.

It brings a smile to my face to open a drawer and see her handiwork.

“Like dis, Mama?”

This is what Charlie asked me tonight when he saw the size of the new toaster I ordered from Amazon that arrived this afternoon. He accidentally toasted a dangling cord (from an under-cabinet light) last week and melted the cord, therefore frying the toaster.

So I snooped around the customer reviews on Amazon and picked this big boy because well, we NEED a big boy! :) And a few customers commented that the angle of this toaster makes it easy for kids to use (I heard “self-sufficient” and did a little happy dance at my computer). But really, you don’t want to hear about my toaster, do you?

What’s fantastically blog-worthy about this is the impressive size of this damn thing! I mean, REALLY, make a toaster, why don’tcha? The obnoxious size was mentioned in the reviews but I already had my debit card out at “easy for kids to use”. And Charlie’s comment, as usual, had me laughing because it really is the size of a small microwave!

The kids simply couldn’t resist the boxes and I think Creux’s wee life flashed before his eyes as he got nosy, lost his balance, and landed himself head first into the bowels of the bigger one. By the time I ran back with my camera, he had righted himself and can be seen here lamenting over his ride. :)

Greer, my little bug, has fashioned herself a very fabulous toaster-box carriage, fit for a toast-lovin’ queen.

I just wanted to say thanks to all you who have commented on my blog posts lately! Usually, I get a few private emails in response to something I’ve written and once, an irked caller regarding my “Dr. Ferber Blows” post. (Love ya, girl, that was actually a great conversation! Haha!) But it’s been so fun for me to hear what you think on what I have to say or on the pictures I attach.

I’m getting absolutely nothing accomplished at home because now I’m blogging, responding, commenting and reading YOUR blogs! :)

I think I’m all caught up for the moment so it’s “back to work” for me.

How many Martins can you squish into a tub?

Three, if you really squish and if nobody minds a set of buns in the face. :)

Creux was FILTHY tonight, typically we don’t bathe him every single night–a quick once over with a cloth usually does a decent job on the nights in between. But my goodness, he was black from crawling on the floor at that pediatrician’s office. I was totally grossed out (ok, the ONE negative from my trip today) when I picked him up and his kness, shins and tops of his feet were grimy. Yuuuuck. I had to wipe him down while we were waiting for the doctor to come in. Which led me to wonder…jeez, this is a place where they KNOW babies are crawling so what’s up with that?

Anyway, the Littles almost always take a bath together but tonight they had the pleasure (er, or misery, whatever) of Rhyse’s company in there with them. As he tends to do, he gave a good crank on the noise/wetness factors and by the time they were finished, the entire bathroom and myself were dripping sudsy drops. After he nearly drowned Creux for the third time (as it turns out, dumping a cup of water on a baby’s head will make that baby spin and sputter and topple over into the deep) he was removed from the fun and set about terrorizing the dog for awhile. (Mmmm, yes, kidsanddogsblog, go ahead and google that and put me in your blog again. Have at it, my friend.)

Not sure what was going on with Creux’s Trump-style comb-over or what he was doing to that poor bathing bunny he stuffed in his mouth but he had a ball.

I’m just glad he survived!

So I’m laying in bed late last night, minding my own business, reading my book in the dark with my booklight when the door slides open and Charlie comes walking towards me with the camera. (Minds out of the gutter, people, minds out of the gutter.)

“Have you seen your son lately?” he whispers to me, holding out the camera and grinning…not unusual because we often snap the boys sweetly sleeping together. This is what I figured I’d see. But Charlie could barely hold himself together, he was bursting at the seams with anticipation of my seeing the photo. Problematic only because Creux was snoozing on the other side of the room and my ass was putting him back to bed if Charlie woke him up.

So I’m already smiling when he turns the camera towards me and then we both just lose it. Chas had somehow crammed himself underneath his bookshelf that’s bolted to the wall beside his bed. He was laying sideways with his looooong legs hanging off the bed and his nose literally touching this shelf.

These are only a few of the 17 pictures that Charlie took. He would take some, we’d roll with laughter, him running off to the bathroom to gasp for air, me doubled over in bed with my hand clapped over my mouth, then we’d calm down and he’s run back to take more pictures. I’d be anxiously awaiting his return with renewed breath for maximum laughing power and we’d peer head-to-head over the camera screen and then we’d be rolling again.

Charlie claims Chas woke up due to the “light” from the camera (it’s certainly possible since the flash went off literally 17 times, my God, what must the neighbors have thought, with the room periodically flashing through the blinds?) but I think it’s because Charlie got in there and just could not control himself. I know darn well what woke Chas and it would have been Charlie up in his face, trying to get one last good shot and just losing it…doing that weird nose laugh thing he does when he tries not to laugh. It sounds like a broken machine gun. :)

Chas had a good giggle with me today when I showed him these photos.

Oh, if he only knew how much fun we had last night…

Good Times.

Look out, people! The Martin’s have figured out the self-timer! :)

Here’s us at the start of our Earthopoly-athon (two friggin hours worth of getting WORKED by Charlie–he crushed poor Chas, who is used to playing with Rhyse…sweet Rhyse who thinks “bankrupt” is actually “bank-ROBBED”).

Charlie enjoyed himself tremendously since he was the only one making any money. Next Family Night, I’m busting out Go Fish.

I blogged awhile back about a rather disasterous encounter I had with a local family doctor, one I found on a holistic board but who was, in fact, not quite as enlightened as I had assumed that she was. The issue at hand was our decision to halt vaccinations on Creux indefinitely and the entire agonizing 20 minutes I spent in there, she crammed the urgency of a Pertussis vaccine down my throat while completely ignoring Creux. She gave him a once over but really, she had an agenda and it didn’t include discussing with me whether or not he was crawling and babbling.

This morning, I had another appointment with a different pediatrician way the hell across down in Grove City. I subscribe to a newsletter written by Dr. Sears (who also wrote The Vaccine Book, which was extremely helpful for me during the period where I was wading through all the current vaccine information, trying to find my way) and noticed a little link on his webpage that said “find a vaccine-friendly doctor near you” and I clicked. There happened to be one pediatrician in my “area”–meaning Columbus. Since these doctors contacted Dr. Sears and asked to be included in his database so that parents like myself would have somewhere “friendly” to go, I figured this was going to be my best shot. And like Charlie said when I told him, if this is the woman for us, we’d drive to Dayton to see her. We feel very strongly about having a comfortable place to go.

So I, guardly optimistic, made the 35 minute journey this morning with kids in tow. I checked in, waited, filled out some paperwork, finally heard Creux’s name called (butchered to rhyming with ‘trucks’) :) and we were off! The nurse was incredibly sweet, asked her questions, played with the others, weighed him (24 pounds, 92nd percentile), measured him (29 inches, 75th percentile) and wrapped that tape around his impressively large noggin (97th percentile!). We talked about all the usual things…his sleeping and eating habits, etc. She was getting ready to leave and I said, “I should probably mention that we will not be vaccinating Creux today.” And she smiled at me and said, “No problem!”

She leaves and I’m thinking…it simply can not be this easy, can it? I mean, vaccinating or not is a hugely controversial issue right now and everyone’s got an opinion and most people seem pretty emotionally charged about it. Hot Button Topic thing going on. This doesn’t bother me, I’ve done my research and I’ve done it well, I’m good with our decision, though honestly can be quite emotionally charged myself when I feel disrespected for my choice (because as parents, we all make the best decisions with the information that we have at hand)…emotionally charged meaning I won’t tolerate being bullied by a doctor or slighted by friends or family because of my decision. And I know my shit. :)

So I was prepared for having to launch into my “why we are choosing not to vaccinate right now” speech. But I never needed it.

From the second she walked in the door, I knew I’d found what I was looking for in a pediatrician for my kids. Bright and bubbly, full of smiles, with lots of eye contact and a terrific put-’em-at-ease demeanor, Dr. Ali Carine won me over instantaneously. Most importantly, she focused on Creux immediately. The questions were all about him, her hands moving over his chubby little body as she peeked around, engaging me all the while. I had noticed a small bump at the base of Creux’s skull and she checked that out first, putting my quiet fears to rest by telling me it was just a swollen lymph node, common, not some exotic baby disease (my thinking). And as she smoothed her hands over his tummy, I commented on a slight but annoying case of eczema that we’d been battling at home. Knowing that the problem was most likely mine, and most likely dairy, I been monkeying with my diet, eliminating the dairy (eczema disappearing) and adding it back in (coffee–eczema flare-up). So we actually spent the majority of the appointment discussing MY treatment (a probiotic supplement found at my local natural foods store) and different things that I could try also to avoid (wheat, eggs, soy) and see if the combination of the supplement and modified diet helps.

Slipped in there, in a five sentence ask-and-answer was that Vaccination Thing.

Her, “And you would like to skip vaccinations for now?”
Me, “Yes.”
Her, “Do you have plans in the future for any?”
Me, “Not in the near future but we may do a couple of them when he gets a bit older.”
Her, “I understand completely.”

This was so not an issue I can’t even remember if it was before or after the eczema discussion!

We wrapped up the visit with a quick talk about Creux’s iron levels. Because we do not eat red meat, she wanted to check and make sure that he was not anemic and was getting adequate iron from other foods. He passed the prick with flying colors, coming in with a level of 11.1 (under 10 is Not Good).

Before she left, I asked her if she would mind if I just took one day in the summer and brought everyone in for a well-child checkup altogether. We haven’t had a sick-child visit in ages, I can’t remember the last one but it’s been years, and never used our old pediatrician for anything other than these check-ups also. She was receptive to that so I’m scheduling Chas, Rhyse and Greer for physicals next month and then we’ll all see her again next summer!

I raved about Dr. Carine all the way home to Charlie and just felt really wonderful that I have a respectful, like-minded doctor, (”You’ll fit in well here, we have many parents like you in this practice, ” she told me) one who admitted to sleep-sharing with her own children (the horrors!), and who earned my faith and a smidge of trust already, one who gave me advice (the probiotic) that I didn’t find myself thinking, “no chance in hell, lady” as I typically did with my other pediatrician when she insisted that I supplement Greer’s diet by cooking food in butter because she was so slender.

If you’re interested, you can find many great tidbits about vaccinations (and other things!) on Dr. Sear’s website…whether you do them or not. And if you’re local, you can find Dr. Carine there, too.

Personally, I’d drive farther than Dayton for her. :)