I'm a winner!

No, not for the usual reasons. Today I won tickets for "Walking with Dinosaurs". I was listening to my usual sports radio program on the way to the office (The Border Patrol on 810, if you must know). They started talking about the show, which I'd heard of but just couldn't bring myself to buy tickets for. They took two callers for 2 tickets and I was one of them! What a deal! After a quick call to secure a babysitter and a lunch trip to pickup the tix, it was set.

Jo didn't tell Sam about the tickets, so I got to when I picked him up. He was pretty excited, having seen a few commercials. He did great at the show and took it all in. I would try to explain the show, but so far every time I try to, it comes out sounding like a cross between the Disney Electric Parade and a science lecture. You can try the site if you want to know more: http://www.dinosaurlive.com/.

At one point in the show, Sam said something I thought was so cute. I don't want to give away the plot (no, there really wasn't one), but a mama dinosaur helped out a baby and they approached each other afterwards. Sam said, "What do you think they are saying, Mom?"

This type of question is not at all uncommon in our house.

"Um, I don't know, Sam. What do you think?" I responded. This type of response is not at all uncommon in our house.

"He's saying, 'You're welcome.'" He was so certain of the conversation, and I was just so pleased it was polite!

The one other notable thing about the trip was that when we got out of the show, it was pouring. Big time. Instead of waiting it out, we made a dash for our car, which was fortunately parked close. There we were, running through the rain. Sam clutching his new $20 plastic dinosaur and me clutching keys. We yelled and laughed as we ran-- hey, we already looked plenty crazy-- and it was actually pretty fun. The only thing I had to dry off with in the car was kleenex, so there you go. We got home to find Megan and Kate coming up from a tornado warning stay in the basement. Crazy!

Oh the drama

We had our first Wednesday without preschool this week. Our normal Wednesday routine involves running League errands and having lunch with the girls. So, we continued the first, and instead of lunch with girls, we did a little lunch at Cici's Pizza. If you're not familiar with Cici's, it's probably because you don't have children. Or teenagers. It's one of those chains that's all about quantity and not quality. But they do have games there. Not that I give Sam money to play them, but just being in the proximity of the games seems to be better than nothing at all. It was supposed to be a treat.

Shortly after we sat down, Kate started screaming. Wailing. She was pulling at her shirt and hair. She was just shrieking. It wasn't a normal temper tantrum; it looked like agony. I figured she was hungry, so got her a plate and she started to eat, but then pushed it away and started it all again. I tried all of the favorites: cup, pasta, brownie. Nothing. She threw the brownie. You may not know Kate, but the girl does not waste a perfectly good brownie. She's smart.

As we continued to eat (apologies to neighboring tables), this behavior continued. Calm for a couple of minutes, then wailing inconsolably for several minutes. I started to get a little worried. The longer it went on, the more I worried, so as soon as Sam finished his food, we ran out the door to the car.

I did what any good, non-reactionary mom would do and called the doctor's office to talk to the nurse. At first she talked about my bringing her in after the doc's lunch hour (a good hour later), but as the short (maybe 5 minutes) call went on she could hear Kate's screaming and told me to go to the nearest emergency room, which is exactly what I had already decided to do. My girl has a high pain threshhold. When she tantrums, you know exactly what she wants. I couldn't figure out what was going on, and apparently neither could the nurse.

The closer we got to the ER, the more worn out she got and so she would sleep for the 30 seconds in between and then wake suddenly and start screaming again. I was worried. Sam was really worried. Poor baby.

That's really the best part of the story. The rest is short: got to the ER. Ran in, carrying her like a baby. Took us straight back, looked her over in triage as she screamed. Back to dr. Waited maybe 5 minutes? By the time the doctor came in, she was calm. Way calm. He poked around on her stomach-- nothing. Had her walk. Saw a limp. Checked it out-- nothing. Yep, that's right. A big fat nothing. Crazy inexperienced mother. Hypochondriac. They gave her tylenol (yes, the same kind I have in the diaper bag) and wanted to watch her for a bit. After 20 minutes I called the nurse and conceded. If there's nothing wrong, can we at least go home for naptime? Out the door.

This was the most humiliating thing. Was it a tantrum? A cramp? She hasn't done it again since. Who knows? Rookie.

Tea for Two

Sam invited me to Tea for Two at his preschool, sort of like parents' day, but only for one parent. He didn't so much invite me as I decided to go.

I learned some interesting things about Sam at Tea for Two. In fact, two different parents told me the following story:
"Sam is SO funny. My daughter loves to talk about how Sam put his shoe in time out."

"What?"

"His shoes were a little too big, I guess, and they kept falling off. So he said, "I've had enough of you. If you fall off one more time, you're going to time out." When it did, he put the shoe in time out in his lunch box for misbehaving."

Sam's end-of-the-year note today mentioned that he has a great imagination. Yes, I'd say so.

I got a couple of pictures and a video during music time. The freeze dance was Sam's favorite. I'm having trouble with the SD card, though, so when I get that figured out, they'll be up here.

yummy

I got this note Tuesday from Jo, the kids' daytime child care provider:

"Kate is cracking me up! I love her personality and today was the first day that she said “trash shower” as she got excited about doing it. Maisy brought cereal and shoestring for a “stringing” activity. Maisy had made a sample necklace and had it on while others were making a necklace. I gave Kate and Ava some of the cereal to eat while the older children did the activity. I was busy helping the children at the table and then looked down to see that Kate was really taking the “sample” necklace seriously as she was eating the cereal off of Maisy’s necklace! It was so funny! Needless to say, we made Maisy another necklace."

Don't get between that girl and her food!