Taking the Train to the E-Quarium

Clint hasn't had much time off lately, so my parents have been sweet enough to try to get up here often enough to make me feel like we are still haven't some semblance of a weekend every once in a while.  We always try to do something ambitious, that I wouldn't want to do on my own, when they are here.  So last Saturday, we picked an activity that would thrill Charlie: riding the train to the aquarium.  The train was the highlight of the day; the aquarium was fun, but Charlie really just wanted an excuse to ride the train somewhere. :)  Despite not knowing what an aquarium was, he developed very strong opinions about it on the way there.  We were debating whether to go to the aquarium or Klyde Warren Park and Charlie became intent on getting us to pick the "e-quarium."  He was very frustrated with all of Papa's attempts to get him to pick the park (Papa was drawn to the free park and yummy food trucks :), and continued to insist that we were going to the equarium until we finally agreed with him.

Here is the happy little man on the train.  He savors and loves every minute of the train experience--from the ticket buying, to the elevator down to the tracks, to the various noises and alerts.  We love it!

Another interesting storyline (that I didn't know until I saw these photos) is that Ahh is not too excited by trains.  Have you ever seen someone look so bored? ;)

And we loved the equarium--particularly the manatee and the sharks.  So fun!

For our post-aquarium lunch, we had Charlie's favorite--sandwiches!  (So random, I know.  Don't dare tell him that sandwiches aren't a huge treat!)

Our other favorite Charlie-moment of the weekend was on our way to dinner on Saturday night.  Clint and I were having a minor disagreement over where to eat.  Clint pulled in the Whole Foods parking lot to check out a few places on his phone.  Charlie apparently thought we were abandoning our eating-out plan, because as soon as Clint turned into the Whole Foods parking lot, we heard an angry "hey hey hey!!!  not whole foods!!!" from the backseat.  He looked quite sheepish when we all burst into laughter. :)

Thanks to Papa and Ahh for another fun weekend!

Charlie Burns His Hands

I had my worst experience as a mother thus far last week.  On Sunday morning, Charlie convinced me to cook pancakes and scampered up on the counter to help me mix them up (I had gotten way too lax about letting him up on the counter, but the boy is too persistent for me!).  After cooking a few batches, I turned around to put the bowl in the sink and heard terrible screaming behind me.  In the seconds I had my back turned, Charlie had moved over to the stove and put both hands flat down on the hot griddle.  I was completely panicked, but tried to stay calm (this was SO hard for me).  I got his hands under cold water and then immediately called Sam, who recently spent two months working in the Parkland burn unit.  Amazingly, he was about to get off work and headed straight over to our house.  He helped me get Charlie calmed down (this was not easy--it literally took 2-3 hours to get him to stop crying) and we gave him some meds for the pain.  Even little Evie started to get distressed about all the crying, and after watching us for a while, it was so cute to see her go find an ice pack for Charlie and take it over to him in an attempt to get him to feel better.

When Charlie woke up the next morning, his hands were covered in huge blisters--one covered half of his palm and was really swollen.  He looked at them in amazement and told me that "my blisters have huge tummies!"  So I called Sam again and the sweet guy got us an appointment at the burn unit that morning.  Charlie and I headed over and had a fairly harrowing appointment.  More physically painful for Charlie than me, obviously, but I was a mess.  I felt much better after we left, because they gave me all the information and tools to treat the burns and help them heal properly.  And they treated Charlie's hands and wrapped them up in bandages, which I think made them feel much better.  The doctors warned me that the dressing changes (we do this every night) would be painful, but nothing could have prepared me for the first few nights.  It was just awful seeing Charlie in so much pain, and know that we were inflicting it on him.  Even when I know it's for his own good, it just makes me sick.  Charlie and I both started getting a little nervous at the end of each day, knowing what we had coming, and it just broke my heart to see him shaking and crying on the way up the stairs each evening (especially since I feel like the whole episode was completely my fault).  But luckily, it didn't last too long.  We are a little more than a week out at this point, and his hands look SO much better.  I think we only have another day or two left with the bandages (if Charlie will let me get rid of them), and then his hands are expected to heal nicely.  The doctors don't think there will be any scarring or ill effects, so that is wonderful.  

I know that people deal with much, much worse than this, but this experience has made me even more sympathetic for parents who have sick kids.  This very small scare has been so harrowing for me; I can only imagine what it must be like to deal with something really serious.  

This has been a painful, scary experience for Charlie, but he has been so brave.  There has been a fair amount of crying, but he rebounds so quickly and is so sweet and understanding that it makes everything so much easier.  He is very matter-of-fact about the whole thing, and wants to tell everyone that "I burned my hands."  Every night when Clint asks how he's doing, Charlie happily responds that "my hands aren't feeling better yet."  Charlie didn't miss the opportunity to take advantage of his situation.  I have heard several dubious excuses for not doing things, including "I can't walk because I burned my hands" and "I can't clean up because I burned my hands."  Unfortunately for Charlie, I am catching on to his tricks. :)

Here is the sweet, brave boy waiting for the doctor.  

The little patient ended up with new stickers, a new football, sweet hand bandages, and a purple popsicle.  Not a bad haul for a morning!

Watching the ambulances was the highlight of the hospital visit.

I feel so blessed that Charlie is healing so well and that we learned our lesson about burns in a way that won't do any permanent damage.  I am grateful to our guardian angel, who must be working overtime watching over this wild little boy!

Update: We are almost two weeks out now, and Charlie's hands are looking much, much better.  They are not healed completely yet, but the bandages are finally off and he is using them (almost) normally.  I had to laugh the other day when I came home after leaving the kids with a babysitter for the morning.  The sweet sitter nervously asked me, "what does your husband do?"  I told her that he was a doctor, and she nervously responded, "because Charlie told me that he works at a hospital where they cut people's skin off with scissors."  (Charlie, as this was told, was watching us with wide eyes and a very knowing expression.)  Our sweet sitter looked very relieved when I explained Charlie's experience at the hospital to her. :)

Valentine's Day 2013

We had a wonderful Valentine's day this year (actually, thanks to our very generous and thoughtful grandparents and aunts/uncles, we turned it into two Valentine's mornings (the real one was a school day, so we had to make it a quick celebration :)).  

Here are my little Valentines on the "real" Valentine's day.  They each got two cards and some awesome cars from Meg, Fog, and Walter.  Charlie got five army vehicles and Evie got two shiny sports cars.  They were both thrilled, but Charlie saw that Evie (possibly for the first time?) had something that he didn't have, but would like to have.  So he engineered a trade, telling me, "Evie wants me to have this red sports car."  He indicated that he was giving her an army vehicle in exchange, but she was having trouble actually getting that out of him.  It cracked me up because he reminded me SO much of myself when I was little.  I think poor Meg was on the losing end of my "trades" more than once... :)

Both the kids LOVED their musical cards from Meggie.  Evie does the funniest little dance to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" every time she opens her card. :)

Valentine's morning, take 2.  Grandparents' gifts!

Thanks to our wonderful Christmas, these two are pros at opening gifts!

Evie LOVES her Olivia doll. :)

And Charlie is crazy for these animals.  Both kids have played with these constantly since Charlie opened them.  They are so much fun--the only downside is that they have sparked a few too many fights.  Apparently Evie needs her own set? :)

Grabbing the "big" animals away from Evie...

...which she is ok with, because E loves the babies. :)

Before we headed to school on V day, I had to get a few pictures of my two little Valentines.

Showing off his Valentine's sucker. :)

After candy for breakfast and a big party at school, we continued the sugar overload with a playgroup Valentine's party.  Charlie, as always, gorged on the chocolate pretzels.  Evie couldn't believe that she was finally big enough to climb up to the "big kids'" table, and couldn't get enough of her newfound access to unlimited treats.

Sweet Isabella with my two little piggies.

Clint and I were the lucky recipients of two very special Valentines this year.  First, we got an adorable, hand-painted, Jackson Pollock-inspired Valentine from Miss Evie.  And in case you didn't think she could create something quite so amazing, there is photographic proof at the bottom. 

Next, we were VERY proudly presented with this mosaic from Charlie.  Anytime he thought that his Valentine haul might be making me a bit jealous, he would redirect my attention to his Valentine on the fridge, telling me, "look at the Valentine I made for you mommy!  It says, 'mommy.'"  So other than the fact that he may not have dreamed up "Love you to pieces" on his own, I really love the Valentine. :)

Hope you all had wonderful Valentine's days!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I took these pictures in the playroom one day in an effort to make some Valentine's Day cards from Charlie and Evie.  They were not super cooperative, but the shots I did end up with were pretty amusing.

This is my best picture of the old married couple. :)

I love this one.  Charlie kisses Evie on the foot every night before we put her in bed, and there's just something so sweet about it. :)

Evie was not sure what was prompting all the kissing.

Miss Loves-Her-Personal-Space was happy when the couple shots were over.

Riding Rody...

 ...uh-oh!

 At some point, they demanded costumes.  Here are the firefighter and the ballerina playing garbage pick-up.

 Fairly typical...

 ...and again, a bit too typical. :)

 The black eye (seen below) is gone, but we have since acquired a new injury.  Not quite ready to blog about it yet, but I think we are healing nicely... :/.

Happy Valentine's Day from our house to yours!  I hope you are as excited about all the candy as we are!