Good As New

If you had asked either Wally or I a couple of weeks ago which child we thought would be the first one to go to the ER we both would have responded "Chloe!!!" And this is why. Chloe likes to jump, climb, spin, hang, etc. One day she said "Mom, do you wanna see this?" She climbed on the ottoman crossed her arms over her chest and just fell from the ottomon to the couch about a foot and a half away. I told her "Chloe, I don't ever want to see you do that again." She promptly responded, "Mom, close your eyes." But back to the ER question, we would have guessed it would be Chloe, but we would have been wrong. It was Kelsie.

On the last Monday night before school started, we took our family to the pool for FHE. Our friends, the Ritchies, had the same idea and our kids were thrilled to have their friends to splash with in the pool. We were all just visiting when Kelsie and Brynley got our attention and told us to watch them. They were doing back flips in the pool off a little ledge. My mom instincts screamed "DANGER!" but I ignored them since the girls had been doing flips all night. As soon as Kelsie pushed off the ledge, I could tell that she didn't extend back far enough. She hit her head on the wall on her way up. When she came up out of the water I was trying to be calm. I looked at her and said "Kelsie?" She was holding her forehead and crying as she came over to me. As soon as she moved her hand, large amounts of blood began rushing from her head. I went into panic mode and screamed for her to get out of the pool. I ran (at the pool! Dangerous, I know!) and grabbed a towel and had her hold it on her head. At this point she was screaming, probably from a mixture of pain and the horrified expression on my face. When the screaming subsided into just crying, I had her move the towel so I could see the damage. It was not good. There was a deep cut in her forehead and still lots of blood. I started screaming to Wally something about getting the kids out of the pool and having to go to the ER. Thank goodness the Ritchies were there. They offered to take Jack and Chloe to their house while we took care of Kelsie. So we took off to the nearest Urgent Care. Now, if I had been calm under pressure and had really thought about it, I would have grabbed my towel and maybe dried off a little bit. But I wasn't calm and I didn't. And I regretted it the whole time I stood dripping wet in my swimsuit in the ER.

When we got to the ER, Kelsie started crying again. She was still in pain, but was now worried about the possibility of needing stitches. The nurse called us back and looked at her cut. He told her that she had a 50/50 chance of getting stitches. Kelsie was relieved at the thought that she might not need stitches and started to relax a bit. What he didn't tell her was that it was a 50% chance of stitches and a 50% chance of having staples! Good thing he left that out because she was pretty freaked out. The doctor came in a little while later and told her that fortunately for her, the cut was right in her hairline and he could just staple her back together. To me, staples sounded way worse than stitches, but I wasn't about to admit that to Kelsie. They cleaned her cut, numbed it, and then the doctor stapled her head back together. I have to admit that it was pretty gross, but for some reason I couldn't look away. The good thing was NO SHOTS! In the end, the cut was a little less than an inch long. It required three staples and a week to heal, but now she is good as new! She was extremely brave and we feel extremely lucky to have her.

Be Careful What You Ask For

We're getting ready to head out on our annual trek westward. Last week as we sat around the table talking about our trip and what we need to do before we leave, I made one simple request. I asked my children that if they were going to get the flu, run a fever, catch a virus, or contract a childhood disease, now is the time to do it. (Last year when we went to Utah, Jackson came down with Fifths Disease. Then Chloe spent a week with the cha-cha-cha's. The year before Jackson ran a fever for five days. Oh yeah, and every year Jackson gets car sick in Spanish Fork canyon and...well, you know.) Now, I can't get my children to flush the toilet, but they were obedient to my request and promptly broke out in Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease. Chloe started it all last week and just as she was getting better, Jackson took a turn. Fun for all!

We feel like we've been quarantined to our house. We can't go play outside (too hot!) and so we watch a LOT of t.v., play the Wii, and drive each other crazy. But, if this means we can spend all of our vacation...well, vacationing, then bring it on! Fair warning--next week I need to do some shopping. If you see us in Target, run the other way!

You Might Be a Texan If...

...you use a pistol to kill flies instead of a fly swatter. Oh, we love our little native Texan!

The Chloe Time Zone

We may live in the Central Time Zone, but all our watches are set to Chloe Standard Time. Last week (during Kelsie's wonderful FHE lesson), Chloe climbed onto my lap and whispered, "Mom, what does your watch say?" I glanced at the time and replied "10 minutes to 8:00." She grabbed my wrist, looked at my watch, and said "No. It says GET ME SOME CHOCOLATE MILK!"

The next day she ran up to Wally after he got home from work and asked him, "Daddy, what does your watch say?" He told her "It says it's time for Chloe to give me a big hug and a kiss." (Which she did.) She then added "Mom's watch always says it's time to go to bed."

Happy Birthday, Papa Miyasaki!

The Best Kind of Popular

Fourth grade has brought about some growing pains for Kelsie. While it has been fun and exciting, it has also had a few challenges. This year, Kelsie has had changes in friends and has had to decide what is really important in her young life. We've had many conversations about what it means to be popular versus what it means to be nice. Last week as we were driving home from volleyball practice, Kelsie was telling me about something that had happened at recess. An unkind statement was made to her and as I expressed my shock and sympathy she said, "It's okay, mom. I'm nice to everybody and when we have to get into groups in class, everybody wants to be my partner because I'm their friend. That's the best kind of popular." I'm so impressed with her maturity and the wisdom that far exceeds her age.

Jacksonisms

In honor of Jackson's 7th birthday, here are some of our favorite Jacksonisms:

• "If you see a white truck with a hooker (Jacksonism for "trailer hitch") say, 'white truck with a hooker'." He was really into trucks and wanted us to point them out to him! Gotta admit, that one's probably my favorite! (3 yrs. old)


• "So, mom's Japanese and Chinese and dad's just regular." (5 yrs.)


• "Braden can't play because he has refuse coming over." "What?" I asked. Jackson explained, "you know, grandmas and grandpas and cousins." "Oh, I think you mean relatives," I said. And then I added, "Jackson, do you know what refuse is? It's garbage." He laughed and laughed and laughed as he kept saying "Braden has garbage coming over!" (Last month)


• "So, when do we take the shower?" (Following a baby shower that Wally's co-workers generously threw us before Chloe was born. Poor kid, nobody explained what a baby shower really was.) 4 yrs. old


• "Mom, you just wrinkled my heart." (After a lecture I gave him about being a good friend and sharing. I try my best not to wrinkle his heart any more.) 5 yrs. old


• "When are we going halloweenering?" (Jacksonism for "trick-or-treating") 3 yrs. old


• When I was very pregnant with Chloe, I bent down to pick something up and Jackson whispered to me, "Mom, I can see your buffers." Now, in my non-pregnant or nursing state I am very flat-chested, so to be able to see any type of cleavage was a new and unusual thing. I must also explain that at 4 years old, Jackson was totally into Thomas the Train. On the front of each Thomas and Friends engine, there are two circles--yep, you guessed it, buffers--that prevent the trains from bumping into each other.


• "Call me Jack-A-Roo-Pumpkin-Pie." 2 yrs. old. Grandma Miyasaki always called him "pumpkin" and Aunt Nellie called him "Jack-A-Roo." One day I was calling for him and he promptly explained that his name was not Jackson. From that day forth he wanted to be called "Jack-A-Roo-Pumpkin-Pie" or "Jack-A-Roo-Pumpkin-Pie, kissed the girls and made them cry" for short.

Oh, Jackson, we love you! You are so very sweet and your easy-going nature really balances out your sisters! At the first PT conference with Jackson's teacher she told me that Jackson is "an old soul" in a little body. And he is. Couldn't ask for a better son than Jackson. Happy birthday, superman!