The Booger Dilema

This is the time of year that all mother's have to ask: Do I send them or keep them home? We have all had a cold for over a week now but it seems to be at the end, when everyone is just drippy and coughing. I kept the twins home from preschool Monday, not as much for the cold as the kids had locked my keys in my car so I took the opportunity to be lazy all day and stay home! So, then today they both have running noses and Nick's is a pleasant shade of green. So, do I send them or keep them home? They are otherwise fine, definitely could benefit from three structured hours of play and learning, or perhaps I can benefit from their three hours of structured play and learning!

I think all Mom's have that fear of being "The mom who sends kids with boogers" and makes the entire class sick. But, I think all Mom's also have that desire to accidentally not see the boogers and naively send them anyway!

The Pros: If I send them, I get three hours of them at school. They burn off some energy. They come home fully enlightened and brilliant and stimulated (ok, exaggeration!) All the other kids probably have the same cold, so what's the difference? If I keep them home, I would save gas from the trips to and from preschool. If I send them, I'll be able to go to the grocery with just Harrison and Millie.

The Cons: All the other kids might be healthy and have good mom's who don't send them sick, and my kids will make all of them sick. Harrison has a half day, so I won't have time to myself anyway, so sending them with boogers won't really win me any time in the end. I will become the Mom who is scowled at after Nick sneezes and has big boogers shoot out his nose, right as the kids are all walking into class, so ALL the other parents see him! Fighting: if we skip, then that is three extra hours for the kids to fight all afternoon and drive me nuts!

What to do, what to do!

A History of Nick's Head

Poor Nicholas. He has always had a huge head, it has always been in the 95th percentile, usually over 100%. He sat up later than most of his peers which we always attributed to his head being so big, same with crawling and most other early gross motor skills.

He has two spots on his forehead that are probably permanant scars, from always hitting it in the same spot. He and Abby were wrestling once and she body slammed him into the wall and something that was hanging on the wall fell off and hit his forehead, four stitches and three hours in the ER later....He has bashed it when falling from his scooter, while runnign in the house and falling against something etc. His head really just seems too big for his body, it throws off his balance and just pulls him around. I am having a bad Mom moment, I cannot find any pictures on the computer of the stitches! Good thing I have already scrapbooked it!

Well, tonight it happened again. He was spinning in circles in the living room, he and Millie, I was in the kitchen cooking and Tom was off doing something. I heard this gynormous thud and waited, as Mom's know to do, but it actually took a few seconds for the crying to start. He was spinning and spinning and lost his balance in a dizzy stagger, and whacked his head into the wall. I probably wouldn't have thought much of it, except as I sat on the couch comforting him, I noticed that he left a DENT in the wall! It was one of those moments as parents where you know you just cannot laugh, but you just can't help it! No, Nick did not know we were laughing at him, his head was burried in my shoulder, trying to get over the embarrassment! The poor thing!

Icing the head after one of the many injuries

This one, the injury was not in the usual spot, but it still counts! Even better, we had their 18 month pictures the next day!

The damage to the wall from tonight's incident! Ouch!

Dog Park

OK, I know some of you have had to hear me ramble about the dog park, which really just says I need to get a life. So, let me explain: Elbert is a great dog, his downfalls are a) he is huge b) he is a young lab. I had quit taking him on a weekly romp at the dog park because we had Putter for a while, Putter was a wonderful way to control and direct Elbert's extra energy, unfortunately that didn't count enough in my book after cleaning up the presents left on the floor from him. So, now that Putter is gone, I have been trying to take Elbert to the dog park on Sunday afternoons. It is kind of nice because Tom is home to watch the kids, so I get out of the house and get some quiet time in which I am not rushing through the grocery, or doing something else 'house' related.

The dog park normally is a rewarding experience. Elbert gets to run and run and play and I get either some quiet time or some adult conversation, depending if there are other dogs there or not. Normally the people are all dog people, most are considered "regulars" and "know" each other from the dog park. Occasionally you get Joe Idiot who decides to bring their dog and that is when it gets annoying and sometimes just plain dangerous.

This afternoon Elbert and I pulled up around 3pm and there was no one else there. So, I just got out, made myself comfy with a magazine at a picnic table and let Elbert do this thing. After a while, a few "regulars" started to straggle in which was nice, gave Elbert someone to play with and burn off some energy. Most of the "regulars" know that the dogs humping is just something they do to work things out, their barking and growling at first is just their way of saying "I am in charge here, we can play but know that I am better than you" and then they run and play and have fun. Elbert is always a sissy and very submissive so I never have to worry about him. Then, after a while, in walks a family with three kids and a clearly unsocialized dog. My kids know, if on the rare occasion they go with me to the dog park, that it is a DOG park and if there are dogs other than Elbert, they are to sit on the picnic table and just be bored, they don't interact with the other dogs, they don't run and play with them or with Elbert and it is boring, so they don't like to go. Everyone also knows when you go to the dog park, you take your dog off leash before entering the second gate, because if the dog is connected to you by leash, that tells the dog that they are to protect you and guard you and be "on duty" and it causes resource guarding. So, this family walks in with a gomer of a boy, about 12 years old, a girl about 10 and then a little one about 2 1/2 who, coincidentally, was afraid of dogs. They leave their dog on the leash and then get all freaked out when she growled at Elbert when he said "hi" and sniffed her butt. This went on as each of the dogs approached to introduce themselves to their dog, and the little girl freaked out when a husky jumped up on the table to say hi. So, then the gomer of a boy decided he was going to "walk" his dog around the parameters of the dog park, on leash, to get her away from the other dogs. Dog people who are reading this, know what a brilliant idea this is. As he is walking, the dog stops to growl at other dogs, because as she sees it, she is protecting her kid. Finally one of the "regulars", tells the family/kid that the dog needs to be taken off the leash or she is going to cause a fight, points to the rule board where it states that all dogs are to be off leash.

Elbert and I finally left. It was just getting ridiculous. If you are going to take your dog to the dog park, let her be a dog! You wouldn't take your kid to the kid park and make them sit on your lap the whole time?