Bob is off from school this week - Spring Break. The end of March is beautiful in Arizona. The desert flowers are blooming. We also have a couple of small tomatoes on our tomato plants on the patio.
We had some adventures in veterinary medicine yesterday. Q (our dog) decided to lunge after a rabbit while Jim was walking him. He lunged onto a cactus. It was a cactus that had small balls of spines like the "itchy balls" that stick to your clothes from birdox. These spines have small barbs to make sure they stick into you. Q got them on one paw, tried to get them off with his other paw - so they stuck in that paw. Then he tried to scrape them off with his snout - they stuck in his chin. Then he licked his chin - they stuck in his tongue. Then he rubbed his chin on his chest - so some stuck in his chest. Jim wears gloves when he walks Q (so he doesn't have to put on sunscreen just to walk the dog). He tried to get them off Q, but they went through his gloves and stuck him too. Q couldn't walk anywhere, and Jim couldn't carry him because of all the spines. Luckily Jim had his cellphone with him. Bob was, of course, wearing nothing but a pull-up. I grabbed some pliers and carried Bob wearing nothing but a pull-up. I pulled out the biggest ones in his paws. At one point, when I pulled one out of one paw, Q nailed me with another paw. a couple of the balls of spines stuck into my hand. I screamed "ouch" and Bob got upset and started crying saying "broken". (Bob was on my lap at the time) He was upset mommy had a boo-boo. I pulled them out of my hand and pulled a few more of them out of Q. Then Q had enough out of him to walk home. We spent over forty-five minutes pulling them out of Q with the pliers. I was almost late for work. He gave Q a bath afterwards as he had blood everywhere on him, and soap and water would help prevent infection. Q is like a cat in the bathtub. He hates water. Jim pulled out more spines in the bathtub. I pulled a couple more out this morning as well. I think they are finally all out of him. He is walking with a little bit of a limp still - but there are no spines that I can see in the paw he is limping on. But, that is one of his paws that had a lot of spines in it and it did bleed a lot. I am sure it is sore. One of my co-workers said to put mecuricom on it because it works out any spines left behind. I stopped and got some on the way home from work and painted all of Q's paws with it.
Another day, another adventure.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Potty success story
Okay, maybe it is a little early to call our potty story here a success story, but it is getting there. Twice today Bob called for "Help! Help! Help Bob!". (His use of pronouns is not mastered yet) The first time he was too late...he had gone in his pull-up already. But, the second time, we made it to the potty in time for him to make pee-pee (and get another car). He still doesn't have the "poo poo" connection. He points to the big potty and says "poo poo go there" but he generally won't go in his potty. When he goes in his pull-up, we put it in the big potty to show him where the poo poo goes, then flush it away. He did go poo in the potty once last week - he asked if he could get three cars if he went poo. We told him yes. He went in the potty. The only problem is he can't count yet. I tried to give him three cars as promised, but he only took one car and called it "three cars" and squealed. I guess that is an advantage of having a child that can't count yet.
Today we went to the "trail mix store" - Sprouts - the farmer's market store. There was another boy there about Bob's age who was also sitting in a shopping cart. Bob said hi, then I said hi. I asked him what his name was. Bob said "me Bob." I think the other boy thought Bob said "me big" (it is still difficult for other people to understand Bob). The little boy replied "me bigger". Bob's reply was "hi bigger". It gave everyone in earshot a good laugh.
I try to get to the preschool at least once every two weeks to talk to the preschool teacher. I went to talk to her yesterday. She still had her hands full with other preschoolers so I didn't get to say much. I did find out that they made mud pies....or as Bob says, mud birthday cakes at the sensory table at school yesterday. They played with potting soil as the "dirt" areas around the school is all sand.
The floor I am currently working on is having budget issues. The nurse manager wants to extend my contract, but she is not sure she can get approval. The census has been low, and the seasonal surge in patients they have in the winter time is going to decrease. I do want to go back to days, so perhaps that is a good thing. I can try and get a daytime contract elsewhere. The pay is the same for both days and nights as a traveler.
Today we went to the "trail mix store" - Sprouts - the farmer's market store. There was another boy there about Bob's age who was also sitting in a shopping cart. Bob said hi, then I said hi. I asked him what his name was. Bob said "me Bob." I think the other boy thought Bob said "me big" (it is still difficult for other people to understand Bob). The little boy replied "me bigger". Bob's reply was "hi bigger". It gave everyone in earshot a good laugh.
I try to get to the preschool at least once every two weeks to talk to the preschool teacher. I went to talk to her yesterday. She still had her hands full with other preschoolers so I didn't get to say much. I did find out that they made mud pies....or as Bob says, mud birthday cakes at the sensory table at school yesterday. They played with potting soil as the "dirt" areas around the school is all sand.
The floor I am currently working on is having budget issues. The nurse manager wants to extend my contract, but she is not sure she can get approval. The census has been low, and the seasonal surge in patients they have in the winter time is going to decrease. I do want to go back to days, so perhaps that is a good thing. I can try and get a daytime contract elsewhere. The pay is the same for both days and nights as a traveler.
Monday, March 19, 2007
This week with Bob
Bob wound up being sick for most of the week. It figures, I had six days off from work in a row and we were stuck in the house with a sick Bob kid. For much of the time, Bob was mommy glue. When he wasn't feeling too well all he wanted to do was sit on my lap with his thumb and blanket - one of the best parts of being a mommy. (we won't mention the fact that he got me sick too) With the help of Motrin, Tylenol, and Sudafed, he became well enough to play in the house. I did not send him to school at all because he still had a runny nose and I was afraid he would get the other kids sick. Of course, towards the end of the week when Bob was feeling better, he turned into a terror because he was bored being in the house. Of course that was when I had to go back to work, so Jim had fun dealing with Bob on his own.
Bob is starting to use the potty more regularly, but I fear that is because he wants to matchbox-type cars he gets when he goes on the potty (okay, I bribe him). Stickers and candy do not work. Cars are working right now. I get the cheap cars and he loves them. In another couple of days I am going to start taking away the cars that he hasn't played with in a few days and "recycle" them into the "potty prize" pile. He has a whole collection of cars right now as it is. I don't think he will realize that some of them are being used twice - at least I don't think he will.
The dentist appointment went remarkably well. The dentist did a good job of explaining everything to Bob before he did anything to him. He even had the hygienist take a picture of him with Bob since it was his first time to the dentist. Bob's pediatrician recommended this dentist, and I see why. There was a play area in the waiting room with a slide and a fish tank. Bob went down the slide multiple times. He had a blast before his appointment. For the older kids they have computers with games, and movies - Finding Nemo was playing when we were there. Bob got a "goody bag" with stickers, his picture with the dentist, and things to color. They also gave him a token for the bubble-gum type machines they had. Bob picked the machine with the balls. He got a green ball. They had other "prizes" like tiny toy dinosaurs, jewelry, and other little knick-knacks. Bob was very happy with his green ball. He wanted to "wake up in the morning MORE dentist." I think the fact that he was able to play and go down the slide multiple times before the appointment made him more amicable for the appointment. He was able to get his energy out.
Bob saw us watering the tomato plants. Now he likes to get cups and pour water into the tomato plants. We did not realize this right away. He is sneaky about going into the bathroom, filling a cup up with water, and going out on the patio and watering the tomatoes. All of a sudden the plates below both plants were overflowing with water and Bob was heading towards them with a cup of water....hmmm!!!!!. He has a sand table on the patio that he sometimes likes to put water in to make the sand wet. So we weren't alerted to the fact he was drowning the tomatoes right away. He won't take the water from his water table and put it in his sand table or in the tomato plants thankfully. It must be because that is not what the water in the water table is for.
Bob and Jim went swimming on Saturday in the pool. The pool next to our building is not heated, but it has been unseasonably warm all week - in the nineties in the daytime and only getting down into the high sixties at night. The pool is only 4.5 feet deep at the deep end. The water, needless to say, was pretty warm. The big pool by the front office is heated, but that is a long walk away. We may go in the pool again tomorrow after Bob comes home from school. But, we have to watch out for golf balls from bad golfers when we are in the pool. There is even a sign in the pool area "not responsible for errant golf balls." If they reach us in the pool, those golfers are pretty bad. We have seen golf balls in the pool before, and there were four or five golf balls in the bushes in the pool area when we got there, so there are some pretty bad golfers out there. (We live next to a golf course, if you haven't figured it out). If a golf ball goes into the pool area, the golfer cannot get them as you need a key to get into the pool area. Generally speaking, the golf balls that are in the pool area are pretty much brand new because bad golfers tend to lose their balls before they are worn in. Bob loves walking around the trails in our apartment complex to look for lost golf balls. Jim is probably going to start selling recycled golf balls on e-bay. We have quite the collection right now.
I am hoping to get back to New York in June. We shall see what happens.
I hope everyone is doing well.
- until next time....
-Be Safe,
Elizabeth
Bob is starting to use the potty more regularly, but I fear that is because he wants to matchbox-type cars he gets when he goes on the potty (okay, I bribe him). Stickers and candy do not work. Cars are working right now. I get the cheap cars and he loves them. In another couple of days I am going to start taking away the cars that he hasn't played with in a few days and "recycle" them into the "potty prize" pile. He has a whole collection of cars right now as it is. I don't think he will realize that some of them are being used twice - at least I don't think he will.
The dentist appointment went remarkably well. The dentist did a good job of explaining everything to Bob before he did anything to him. He even had the hygienist take a picture of him with Bob since it was his first time to the dentist. Bob's pediatrician recommended this dentist, and I see why. There was a play area in the waiting room with a slide and a fish tank. Bob went down the slide multiple times. He had a blast before his appointment. For the older kids they have computers with games, and movies - Finding Nemo was playing when we were there. Bob got a "goody bag" with stickers, his picture with the dentist, and things to color. They also gave him a token for the bubble-gum type machines they had. Bob picked the machine with the balls. He got a green ball. They had other "prizes" like tiny toy dinosaurs, jewelry, and other little knick-knacks. Bob was very happy with his green ball. He wanted to "wake up in the morning MORE dentist." I think the fact that he was able to play and go down the slide multiple times before the appointment made him more amicable for the appointment. He was able to get his energy out.
Bob saw us watering the tomato plants. Now he likes to get cups and pour water into the tomato plants. We did not realize this right away. He is sneaky about going into the bathroom, filling a cup up with water, and going out on the patio and watering the tomatoes. All of a sudden the plates below both plants were overflowing with water and Bob was heading towards them with a cup of water....hmmm!!!!!. He has a sand table on the patio that he sometimes likes to put water in to make the sand wet. So we weren't alerted to the fact he was drowning the tomatoes right away. He won't take the water from his water table and put it in his sand table or in the tomato plants thankfully. It must be because that is not what the water in the water table is for.
Bob and Jim went swimming on Saturday in the pool. The pool next to our building is not heated, but it has been unseasonably warm all week - in the nineties in the daytime and only getting down into the high sixties at night. The pool is only 4.5 feet deep at the deep end. The water, needless to say, was pretty warm. The big pool by the front office is heated, but that is a long walk away. We may go in the pool again tomorrow after Bob comes home from school. But, we have to watch out for golf balls from bad golfers when we are in the pool. There is even a sign in the pool area "not responsible for errant golf balls." If they reach us in the pool, those golfers are pretty bad. We have seen golf balls in the pool before, and there were four or five golf balls in the bushes in the pool area when we got there, so there are some pretty bad golfers out there. (We live next to a golf course, if you haven't figured it out). If a golf ball goes into the pool area, the golfer cannot get them as you need a key to get into the pool area. Generally speaking, the golf balls that are in the pool area are pretty much brand new because bad golfers tend to lose their balls before they are worn in. Bob loves walking around the trails in our apartment complex to look for lost golf balls. Jim is probably going to start selling recycled golf balls on e-bay. We have quite the collection right now.
I am hoping to get back to New York in June. We shall see what happens.
I hope everyone is doing well.
- until next time....
-Be Safe,
Elizabeth
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Miscellaneous stuff
Tonight we had leftover birthday cake. Bob was really upset when Jim started cutting into it. We finally figured out what he was upset about. We re-lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday to daddy again. Then he was happy. But, we couldn't cut his piece of cake with the same knife we used to cut our piece of cake because the knife was dirty. We had to get a clean knife to cut Bob's piece of cake. He does that a lot. If you put his spoon in his bowl, he takes it out of the bowl, looks at it, calls it "dirty" and we have to get him a new one. He has to be the one to put the spoon in the bowl first or else it is dirty. It is really annoying sometimes.
Bob still has a runny nose, and his fever topped out at 102.3 last night, but it has been low grade today. Bob decided that he wanted one of the cars we bought him for when he goes on the potty. So he used the potty to get the car - once. The other prizes, cars, stickers, candy, movies, etc... we have I guess are not good enough for him.
We Just got an appointment for Bob to see a developmental pediatrician. She is the best one in the state. Unfortunately the appointment won't be until November 20th. That was the next available appointment.
Bob has his first appointment with a dentist on Tuesday. I will see how he is doing tomorrow. I may cancel. Up until about four or five months ago when I bought Bob an electric (Cars) toothbrush, it took both Jim and I together to hold Bob down and brush his teeth - with Bob screaming like we were killing him the whole time. He does not like it when other people touch his mouth. I worry about him and the dentist. If he is sick, he is going to be able to handle the situation that much less - which means he will probably scream that much more.
We are going to try and grow tomatoes on the patio. We bought extra large pots and plants that are designed for growing in containers. We also bought the soil that has the crystals that retain water in it (we couldn't find the crystals by themselves). I figure that would work better with the dry, hot heat we have here. Our patio only gets sunlight in the morning. In the afternoon, when the heat is really bad, it will be shaded. But, the heat will dry out the pot quickly. That is why I thought it would be a good idea to get the crystals. I hope we get tomatoes. Bob does not eat tomatoes here like he did in California because we cannot get fresh ones like we did at the farmer's markets. When we bought the tomatoes at the farmer's markets, we usually had to hide them from Bob because he would want to eat them right away - something we don't want him to do until they are washed. Even when Bob was still a baby in New York, we would walk through the garden and he would insist on eating the tomatoes off of the vine. He would get angry if you did not give him a tomato.
Have a good night all!!!
Bob still has a runny nose, and his fever topped out at 102.3 last night, but it has been low grade today. Bob decided that he wanted one of the cars we bought him for when he goes on the potty. So he used the potty to get the car - once. The other prizes, cars, stickers, candy, movies, etc... we have I guess are not good enough for him.
We Just got an appointment for Bob to see a developmental pediatrician. She is the best one in the state. Unfortunately the appointment won't be until November 20th. That was the next available appointment.
Bob has his first appointment with a dentist on Tuesday. I will see how he is doing tomorrow. I may cancel. Up until about four or five months ago when I bought Bob an electric (Cars) toothbrush, it took both Jim and I together to hold Bob down and brush his teeth - with Bob screaming like we were killing him the whole time. He does not like it when other people touch his mouth. I worry about him and the dentist. If he is sick, he is going to be able to handle the situation that much less - which means he will probably scream that much more.
We are going to try and grow tomatoes on the patio. We bought extra large pots and plants that are designed for growing in containers. We also bought the soil that has the crystals that retain water in it (we couldn't find the crystals by themselves). I figure that would work better with the dry, hot heat we have here. Our patio only gets sunlight in the morning. In the afternoon, when the heat is really bad, it will be shaded. But, the heat will dry out the pot quickly. That is why I thought it would be a good idea to get the crystals. I hope we get tomatoes. Bob does not eat tomatoes here like he did in California because we cannot get fresh ones like we did at the farmer's markets. When we bought the tomatoes at the farmer's markets, we usually had to hide them from Bob because he would want to eat them right away - something we don't want him to do until they are washed. Even when Bob was still a baby in New York, we would walk through the garden and he would insist on eating the tomatoes off of the vine. He would get angry if you did not give him a tomato.
Have a good night all!!!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Hello, Welcome to Bob's Blog
Since so many of our friends and family live so far away, I thought I would start a blog about life with Bob. That way I can keep all of you up to date about us and life with Bob. If you have a personalized goggle homepage, you can add a gadget to it that will update you on all the posts I make. Click on the link to subscribe for more information.
As most of you know, Bob has been talking more and more. He started preschool which has helped his vocabulary. His pronunciation has been making gradual improvements as well. He has also started to use pronouns finally - which has been a big accomplishment, although he still has not used "he" or "she" yet. He is using "I" and "me" and "you" - albeit inconsistently, but that is a start.
We had a birthday cake for Jim last night. Bob tried to sing "Happy Birthday" with me. He mumbled most of it, but the melody was right. He helped daddy blow out the candles afterwards. We will probably all be sick since Bob has had a runny nose and I'm sure he spit all over the cake in the process.
We were planning on going to the renaissance festival today for Jim's birthday, but that is not going to happen now. Bob woke up twice last night crying. The second time he felt warm so I checked his temperature - 101.0. I gave him some Motrin and he went back to sleep, but we are not going anywhere today - not with that fever and that snotty nose. Of course he would not go back to sleep without mommy. We have an air mattress that is too small for me, but it was more comfortable than the floor. It is Bob's air mattress, it has a sleeping bag attached to it. I slept on the floor next to Bob. I woke up and tried to go to sleep in my bed shortly after sunrise this AM, but Bob woke up upset shortly thereafter. I wound up lying down on the floor next to him again. Now I am unable to fall back to sleep.
Potty training has been a disaster. Stickers, candy, more stickers, toy cars, more candy, star charts, etc... Nothing has worked so far. He just says "no like it potty" or "wake up in the morning potty" and that is the end of it. We gave up on "big boy" underwear a long time ago. He does not mind being wet or poopy and it was just disgusting and made for lots of laundry. Pull-ups are a lot easier. I started giving Bob the option of wearing a diaper at bedtime if he wants to. I still have a half a Costco sized case of diapers, and he is using the Pull-ups as diapers anyway. I cannot donate them anywhere because it is an open case. Once the diapers are gone, I will only give him the option of wearing pull-ups at bedtime again.
Bob's artwork from both home and at preschool adorns just about every wall here. Just about every piece of artwork is labeled "choo choo train" on the front or the back. There is one that is a sailboat though. I am glad the school teachers label his artwork to tell us what it is. Bob gets so excited when I look at it and say "Oh, look at the choo choo train."
I think this is a good start to a blog. I will try and update it at least weekly, if not more often.
As most of you know, Bob has been talking more and more. He started preschool which has helped his vocabulary. His pronunciation has been making gradual improvements as well. He has also started to use pronouns finally - which has been a big accomplishment, although he still has not used "he" or "she" yet. He is using "I" and "me" and "you" - albeit inconsistently, but that is a start.
We had a birthday cake for Jim last night. Bob tried to sing "Happy Birthday" with me. He mumbled most of it, but the melody was right. He helped daddy blow out the candles afterwards. We will probably all be sick since Bob has had a runny nose and I'm sure he spit all over the cake in the process.
We were planning on going to the renaissance festival today for Jim's birthday, but that is not going to happen now. Bob woke up twice last night crying. The second time he felt warm so I checked his temperature - 101.0. I gave him some Motrin and he went back to sleep, but we are not going anywhere today - not with that fever and that snotty nose. Of course he would not go back to sleep without mommy. We have an air mattress that is too small for me, but it was more comfortable than the floor. It is Bob's air mattress, it has a sleeping bag attached to it. I slept on the floor next to Bob. I woke up and tried to go to sleep in my bed shortly after sunrise this AM, but Bob woke up upset shortly thereafter. I wound up lying down on the floor next to him again. Now I am unable to fall back to sleep.
Potty training has been a disaster. Stickers, candy, more stickers, toy cars, more candy, star charts, etc... Nothing has worked so far. He just says "no like it potty" or "wake up in the morning potty" and that is the end of it. We gave up on "big boy" underwear a long time ago. He does not mind being wet or poopy and it was just disgusting and made for lots of laundry. Pull-ups are a lot easier. I started giving Bob the option of wearing a diaper at bedtime if he wants to. I still have a half a Costco sized case of diapers, and he is using the Pull-ups as diapers anyway. I cannot donate them anywhere because it is an open case. Once the diapers are gone, I will only give him the option of wearing pull-ups at bedtime again.
Bob's artwork from both home and at preschool adorns just about every wall here. Just about every piece of artwork is labeled "choo choo train" on the front or the back. There is one that is a sailboat though. I am glad the school teachers label his artwork to tell us what it is. Bob gets so excited when I look at it and say "Oh, look at the choo choo train."
I think this is a good start to a blog. I will try and update it at least weekly, if not more often.
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