Bear Buttes
Gen, E, remember how hilarious that joke was? Between Bear Butte and the naked statues at Crazy Horse, the Black Hills were so dang funny!
So...Annika just stripped off all of her clothes and started running around naked. Right in the middle of a visit from Jen and her boys. I swear, she's never done that before. She couldn't figure out the mechanics of her diaper. Today, the mystery was revealed. I blame it on her Aunt Sarah's post about how cute naked babies are...
Actually, I think it may herald the beginning of potty training. She wants to be naked, I said fine, be naked, but you have to put a diaper on unless you use the potty. She went back and sat on the potty with no results, but at least she's interested. Maybe I'll try potty training using my friend Mariska's method of stripping 'em naked and letting nature take its course.
Yeah, right.
What else is new? Hmmmm. We decided on a whim to travel up to Ramstein Air Base on Sunday. Why? Well, we don't really know. It seemed to be a beautiful day, a good day for a little ride and we were itching to be consumers and at a PX other than Panzer's. I tell you, it sure gets boring shopping at the same two stores all the time.
It turns out that Ramstein's PX really isn't that different than ours, though it did seem to have a better selection of books. We bought a lot of books, but that isn't unusual. Hans was bitterly disappointed in their selection of electronics. He was hoping for something more Best Buy-ish and got decidedly less. He pouted all the way home.
The ride home was interrupted by a barrage of rain and pea-sized hail. We inched through traffic for well over an hour, then suddenly crossed the border of the storm. It was literally raining pitchforks and hammer handles one second and then not raining and sunny the next. It was like when Dorothy lands in Oz.
Today our morning was spent at the clinic, completing Josiah's 4-year check up. I have to say that the kids both behaved so amazingly that I'm still not sure I didn't have bizarre, mute clones from another planet for a couple of hours there. Josiah had to have blood drawn...probably nothing to worry about, but the doctor wanted to run a couple of tests. He hardly made a peep. He screamed like a stuck hog when he had to have his four immunizations (four!), two in either thigh. He is 39" tall and weighs a scant 34 pounds. Yeah, he's kinda skinny. The doctor advised me to feed him more red meat. Since he hates red meat, we may just get some bulking powder and mix him shakes.
After immunizations, it was off to visit with our insurance rep about a referral to...a child psychiatrist. Yes, I know...what in the world? Well, it all started when Josiah's preschool teacher made an offhand comment to me about Josiah perhaps having "sensory" issues. We were interrupted just after he said that and then, of course, he wouldn't return my phone calls to discuss (a) what the HELL he was talking about; and (b) how to go about curing said issues. The big issue, as you all know, is that Josiah didn't care to be involved in group projects and preferred playing on his own.
Anyway, being the OCD parent that I am, I googled "sensory issues" and had a whole bunch of stuff come up that convinced me (the hypochondriac) that maybe Josiah really does have some issues. And probably ADHD and autism, too. Maybe malaria and menopause, as well. Anyway, I mentioned it to Josiah's doctor today and the doctor said perhaps a referral to a child psychiatrist would put my worries to bed (mine?)?
To make a long story short, Hans called the preschool teacher today who claims that he never said sensory issues but social issues. I'm telling you, I was there and I know what I heard, but whatever. So the child psychiatrist is not going to be necessary, so the last 45 minutes of our clinic time was a complete waste. Oh, but the teacher did finally tell Hans that he thinks Josiah is of above-average intelligence and is way ahead of the curve developmentally.
He just doesn't want to finger-paint I guess.
OK, I've got to go chase Annika around and make sure she hasn't shucked her pull-up again!
So...Annika just stripped off all of her clothes and started running around naked. Right in the middle of a visit from Jen and her boys. I swear, she's never done that before. She couldn't figure out the mechanics of her diaper. Today, the mystery was revealed. I blame it on her Aunt Sarah's post about how cute naked babies are...
Actually, I think it may herald the beginning of potty training. She wants to be naked, I said fine, be naked, but you have to put a diaper on unless you use the potty. She went back and sat on the potty with no results, but at least she's interested. Maybe I'll try potty training using my friend Mariska's method of stripping 'em naked and letting nature take its course.
Yeah, right.
What else is new? Hmmmm. We decided on a whim to travel up to Ramstein Air Base on Sunday. Why? Well, we don't really know. It seemed to be a beautiful day, a good day for a little ride and we were itching to be consumers and at a PX other than Panzer's. I tell you, it sure gets boring shopping at the same two stores all the time.
It turns out that Ramstein's PX really isn't that different than ours, though it did seem to have a better selection of books. We bought a lot of books, but that isn't unusual. Hans was bitterly disappointed in their selection of electronics. He was hoping for something more Best Buy-ish and got decidedly less. He pouted all the way home.
The ride home was interrupted by a barrage of rain and pea-sized hail. We inched through traffic for well over an hour, then suddenly crossed the border of the storm. It was literally raining pitchforks and hammer handles one second and then not raining and sunny the next. It was like when Dorothy lands in Oz.
Today our morning was spent at the clinic, completing Josiah's 4-year check up. I have to say that the kids both behaved so amazingly that I'm still not sure I didn't have bizarre, mute clones from another planet for a couple of hours there. Josiah had to have blood drawn...probably nothing to worry about, but the doctor wanted to run a couple of tests. He hardly made a peep. He screamed like a stuck hog when he had to have his four immunizations (four!), two in either thigh. He is 39" tall and weighs a scant 34 pounds. Yeah, he's kinda skinny. The doctor advised me to feed him more red meat. Since he hates red meat, we may just get some bulking powder and mix him shakes.
After immunizations, it was off to visit with our insurance rep about a referral to...a child psychiatrist. Yes, I know...what in the world? Well, it all started when Josiah's preschool teacher made an offhand comment to me about Josiah perhaps having "sensory" issues. We were interrupted just after he said that and then, of course, he wouldn't return my phone calls to discuss (a) what the HELL he was talking about; and (b) how to go about curing said issues. The big issue, as you all know, is that Josiah didn't care to be involved in group projects and preferred playing on his own.
Anyway, being the OCD parent that I am, I googled "sensory issues" and had a whole bunch of stuff come up that convinced me (the hypochondriac) that maybe Josiah really does have some issues. And probably ADHD and autism, too. Maybe malaria and menopause, as well. Anyway, I mentioned it to Josiah's doctor today and the doctor said perhaps a referral to a child psychiatrist would put my worries to bed (mine?)?
To make a long story short, Hans called the preschool teacher today who claims that he never said sensory issues but social issues. I'm telling you, I was there and I know what I heard, but whatever. So the child psychiatrist is not going to be necessary, so the last 45 minutes of our clinic time was a complete waste. Oh, but the teacher did finally tell Hans that he thinks Josiah is of above-average intelligence and is way ahead of the curve developmentally.
He just doesn't want to finger-paint I guess.
OK, I've got to go chase Annika around and make sure she hasn't shucked her pull-up again!
Comments
Now my brain's all about naval history, I have epilepsy/brain tumors, I didn't date even in college, and I was a dedicated member of the College Bowl team. See? I'm FINE! Joe will be fine too...
I can totally see myself mixing up sensory and social (betcha there's another kid with sensory issues) if I were distracted, but I can't picture having a conversation about that where I wasn't sitting down with the parent.
If you were a girl in high school in 1987, you NEVER would have had an ESPRIT bag. NEVER.
Okay, 7th grade, but the point stands. And no, I doubt I would have had an ESPRIT bag, but not for lack of begging. My sisters were expert at that, I can tell you.