When the Tooth Fairy forgets

Last night Frost had a tooth fall out, unexpectedly.  I know that teeth don't usually announce their departure but, just a week before, the orthodontist (aka Awful Dentist, to Wren) had expressed a cautious optimism that Frost could avoid an extraction of the tooth which had failed to budge.  X-rays showed the underlying new tooth was pressed against it at an acute angle and it was thought that it might not exert enough force to remove it.  To help it along, the OD had loosened Frost's retainer and was hopeful that would help.

Never underestimate the will of a child faced with the threat of an extraction.  Frost said "the tooth actually kind of helped because wiggling the tooth helped give me something to do other than wiggling my retainer and I don't know why but I liked to wiggly it and I just kind of did it for fun!  After a bit I forgot about having it PULLED if it didn't come out so I just kind of helped myself by wiggling it!"

Frost bundled his tooth up in toilet paper and put it under his pillow.  I confess, since I read about stem cells being harvested from teeth whenever I see a dropped baby tooth I get all excited and think about all those stem cells in there that we could collect as insurance.  Now we know why the Tooth Fairy pays for baby teeth, she has this cryo-bank and is cultivating organs for sale on the black market!

In the morning Frost came through to Wren's room clutching his tuft of toilet paper.  The tooth fairy had been distracted and had forgotten to collect the tooth overnight!

"The Tooth Fairy FORGOT Mum."  he said, with much melodramatic winking.

"What?  Why did it forget?" asked Wren.

"Mum FORGOT!"  said Frost.

"FROST!!" I said, gesticulating madly at Wren, for whom I have not yet had a chance to dust of the story of the tooth fairy and stock his penny elephant with some coins.

"OOH!  The tooth fairy was busy."  said Frost, quickly.

"I think she was in her BOAT!"  said Wren.  "So she couldn't come.  She goes in a boat and she couldn't go in the boat."

"Perhaps it was a storm?"  I wondered.

Wren opened the curtain to check the weather.  On noticing the rain he felt that the fairy could not come in the rain because "Tooth Fairies DIE in the RAIN!"

Frost said "Will you pay me now?"  which, thankfully, went over Wren's head as he pondered the high risk employment of the tooth fairy.

I gave Frost $2 which he spent on a Mirraden Besieged Booster pack.  We went out to dinner tonight and enjoyed ITalian at Piccolo in Maple Leaf.   We played Magic the Gathering at table and did some puzzles.  Wren ate lots of spaghetti alfredo and Frost said "the spaghetti was really good.  Much better than I expected."  He was rhapsodic about the chocolate gelato.  He said "it was decadent, delicious and creamy.  I feel I have tasted it before somewhere but I can't remember...."

I am glad it is not only Old Tooth Fairies, like myself, who forget.

Photoshopping the Mind

Last night we went to John and Liz's housewarming.  It was a generously calorific and family friendly event (most kind for a couple who has house-rabbits but no kids) and we came home with a six-pack of home-brewed cider and some passion-fruit syrup for Frost to try in his soda-stream.   Once we were in the car Wren remembered he had left his Omnitrex (a Ben 10 artifact gifted to him by Alex).   Nobody knew where it was but Frost said:

"I know where it is!  I think.... I have a picture in my brain but my brain

may have Photoshopped it."

He ran inside to find the Omnitrex.  It was not photoshopped but was found, lying on the side-table where he remembered it.

As someone who has, in the past when sleep-deprived, accused people of taking my stuff only to find it in a place I mis-remembered, I am going to use this one in future.

Instead of saying "I am elderly, accusatory and have wronged you" I shall say "Oooooh, my brain photoshopped it.  Sorry."

"You must eat 9 hot cooked brussel sprouts"

Sometimes you have to go out and leave your children with someone else. Seriously, you HAVE to.  If you don't how are you going to come home and find them excited about their custom origami fortune tellers?   How are you going to learn what your children see in your future.

Wren's fortune teller (realized by Heather)

Wren grabbed me first and asked me for my color.  Then he moved the fortune teller around and asked me for a number.  He can read numbers so when I told him I wanted 7 (yes, yes, I know its predictable) he picked the right one and moved it again.  My final choice revealed my future!  It is:

You get a 

spartan Lazer and 

a thousand bucks 

to buy 

it!

This was all written by Heather as per Wren's instructions.   I was very excited about the money and although I have not received anything yet, I remain hopeful.   Wren told me that I could have another fortune too.  Given the specific nature of the first fortune I felt that was appropriate.  I mean, you can have a fortune for relationships, one for work, one for spiritual growth surely.

My next fortune was about food.  I chose number 5 which informed me:

You 

must eat 9

hot cooked brussel

sprouts!

 

 Now, I am one of those people who like brussel sprouts so I didn't feel upset by this instruction, but I am also more comfortable with the astrological or fortune cookie genre of divination.  In these fields the fortunes tend to be general and uplifting rather than didactic and cruciferous.  I was concerned enough that I agreed to receive yet another fortune from Frost's fortune teller.  

Instead of colors, Frost's version started with the categories  RED, UMMMM, RANDOM LETTERS AND RAINBOW.

I was intrigued and chose RANDOM LETTERS.  

It informed me:

Ninja's burst through 

your window, Michael Jackson

moon walks.

While not exactly reassuring the form was reminiscent of a haiku and I interpreted it to mean I would live an exciting life enriched by memories of happy dead people.

At this point I decided I should look behind the veil, so to speak, and catalog the range of possible futures in my children's fortune tellers.  I opened them up and I am sure you are interested in sharing them.  Here is what else they said:

WREN's:

You win

hot chocolate

But it will cost you $5

Please

hang up and

try again.

Frost's:

I have been encouraging Frost to WRITE more to practice handwriting
and was impressed by his small script.

This is a bomb.

*

A female

bull falls in

love with you

*

As I count

to 10

Wren will burst into

laughter

*

Vacancy

*

You! "write with"

improper.  grammar

and I does

to

On reflection, this fortune is less about me and more about my kid's view of the world.  

For Wren it is about significant events which populate his day:  the weapons of Frost's video games, the imperatives to EAT YOUR VEGETABLES and the possibility of reward (hot chocolate!).  

Frost is more interested in being the provocateur, aware of the rules (bull-love, weapons, grammar) and poking them.  But then there is that laughter, that joy he gives Wren (along with the terror when he makes my old doll, Lucy, into a zombie pursuing him).  As long as I prevent him taking the This Is a Bomb note to school, we should live long and happy lives.

That is my soothsaying for the evening.

Follow-up on the Legs

Thanks for all the feedback on Wren's bruised legs.  I took him to the pediatrician this afternoon and she explained that the main concern with "excess" bruising is low platelet levels.  If they suspect low platelets then he would need a blood panel (a full blood draw) which we could do at Children's.

However, she is not sure he needs it.  Apparently, his bruises are definitely more than normal but in their location and size they could easily be "normal active boy" bruises.  She showed me what to watch for - more larger bruises, bruises in locations that would not be common from falls and also [WARNING GROSS PICTURE] petechia which are a sign of low platelet counts caused by various ominous conditions.

If Wren gets more unusual bruises we will have his blood levels checked, but he seems to be just unfortunate (or prone to accidents) at the moment.

Anemia or Just Normal Wear and Tear

When I was changing Wren into his PJs this evening I was shocked to see the number of bruises on his little legs.  He looks like he's been hit with shrapnel!

I know he fell over twice this evening (tripping on his Uggs in the dark on the way to the Lunar New Year celebration) and that explains the scrape but what on earth are all the other bruises?

Wren's bruised legs.

I have been googling "child bruised legs" and "bruised shins" and see that this is a common concern for parents of mobile but stability challenged children but this picture looks far worse than any other posted on the topic.

Do you think he might have anemia?  I am considering sending this picture to his pediatrician to see what she thinks.


From Bruised Legs to Brooding Looks
Now, last weekend Josh and I went out to dinner at Tilth and enjoyed a 5 course vegetarian tasting menu.  Quite delicious and not overly filling.  I love this picture of Joshua contemplating his reaction to a braised cauliflower dish.

Joshua, contemplating the flavor of braised cauliflower at Tilth

Now, have to check that Frost's in bed.

Bird of the Day

It was cold today, getting colder over the next few days as strange weather conditions hit much of the US.  

 

But I don't mind because I am thinking about Hawaii! 

This posting is for Mum, who portentously said "if this goes well perhaps we shall have to go to Hawaii again" and I thought "damn sure we will Have To Go Again."

Not having every been before this may be too bullish but even the birds there are brightly colored. After days of almost-sun and half-rain, any saturated colors will do. Actually, secretly, I edited this image below to pump up the saturation. I didn't feel the scan did it justice.

This morning, the sun broke through around breakfast time and I was struck but an urgent happiness and rushed to Whole Foods and bought fluffy white bread (which we never get) and made French toast. Then the sun passed and I returned to my running training, Cleopatra reading apathy - interspersed only by episodes of pinching my belly fat and looking at Josh in a perplexed way, to which he replies matter of factly: "carbs" or "small-things" or "Sugar" depending on what he is thinking at the time.

Anyway, from saturated fats lets return to saturated colors:

PLATE 38:  Hawaiian Native Birds - Yellow, black and red honeycreepers.
From Pratts field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific.

Extinct Bird of the Day: ULA-AI-HAWANE  (top left)
From Pratt:
"Found in historic times only on the Island of Hawaii.  Last seen early 1890s in Kohala.  Extinct.

Other listings theorize that it was too dependent on the hawane palm to survive habitat destruction.

You might see it Bird of the DAY:  IIWI  (top right)
 From Pratt (p 309) A nectar-feeder often found in flowerin gohia-lehua, mamane and many introduced plants like banana poke.  Slow and deliberate in movements, keeps to the interior of leafy branches, rarely in the open.  More difficult to see than apagane, with which it often feeds.  Wings produce an audible flutter in flight....

In native forests above 600m.  Common to abundant Hawaii, Maui, Kauai...."

From Wikipedia we learn:

"One of the most plentiful species of this family, many of which are endangered or extinct, the ʻiʻiwi is a highly recognizable symbol of Hawaiʻi. The ʻiʻiwi is the third most common native land bird in the Hawaiian Islands. There are large colonies of ʻiʻiwi on the islands of Hawaiʻi and Kauaʻi..."

 While not rare, it is threatened because of habitat limitations, diseases and also pigs which create wallows which serve as habitat for avian malaria larva.  Avian malaria and fowlpox are serious threats to Hawaiian birds.  Apparently 90% of exposed Iiwi die.

------

 This weekend Joshua and I had a touch typing contest.  Josh says he thought he was fast and I said I was too.  Because he is Mr Always Right, he was right.  He is a bit faster than me.  He types at about 95 WPM at an accuracy comparable with my 85 WPM.   I can type faster worse and he can type faster-faster worse.  When typing antiquarian English typing tests we both scored in the high 80s but once the constraints of topic and crazy spelling were removed, Josh can do over 100 WPM with some ease.

His oddity is that he talks to himself while he's doing it, sometimes.  Surely I can deduct 10WPM for that?

Hawaii and Serial Thrillers

Last night, as I took my place on the couch at 10pm Frost asked, "Mum why are the only shows you watch ones about Hawaii, serial killers and medical dramas?"

He is frustrated because my standard line is "No, you can't sleep on the couch because its my turn to watch TV." 

He then counters with "I'll stay and watch too."

It being late on a Friday / Saturday / bedtime on a school night, I am not sympatico with this plan and explain that I am going to watch my child-inappropriate show.   Frost understands this to mean something about Hawaii, serial killers or grisly hospital drama.   I confess that he is not far off the mark but I throw in a few episodes of Parenthood, Masterpiece British dramas (about Serial killers or misunderstood troubled youth) and some odd Novas along the way.  Last night I watched Criminal Minds but fast-forwarded quite a bit to collapse the 1 hr screening time into 30 minutes of edited-entertainment. 

Is that sad that I don't even have the attention/time span for pulp television?

This morning, Frost has a cold and is collapsing on the couch reading 39 Clues Book 6.  He is unable to get up to make his breakfast and hopes for french toast, which I provide.

"I am sooo tired because Alex and Eve left random appliances in my bed from a game in which I was some guy with my stuff and they stole my stuff from me.  So I couldn't sleep last night because there was all this STUFF in my bed."

Last night, Josh and I went out to Tilth and enjoyed the 5 course tasting menu.  It was tasty and the Dark and Rainy cocktail was sublime.  Mental note:  try and recreate it with gingerale and various unknown alcoholic ingredients.

This morning, I am going to pilates class.  Courtney and I did a 6 mile run yesterday and I shall try and do another 3 today.  However, I am also thinking of joining a gym so I can do the strengthening exercises recommended by my physio.  I need attached weights to do them easily.   However, I don't know if I have time in my life to go to gym too...

Its hard work being fit!

Frost is hoping to get out of his soccer game today (due to cold, sleeping with debris and the temptation of lying wrapped up in fleece).   I need to get them out the house at some point but that point looks pretty far away.

This is an Axe Cookie

I took Wren to Whole Foods today to do some shopping for my Cookbook Club dinner tomorrow night.  They have changed the Kids Club free snack options so Wren chose a fruit leather from the snack area and then wanted a cookie too (cookies were on the old Kids' Club menu, along with pizza and fruit.)

I allowed him to choose a shortbread heart shaped cookie dipped in chocolate.  As he started to eat it, Wren kept turning the cookie around and around.  After a while he said "You are wrong.  This is not HEART cookie it is an AXE cookie.  See, you chop with it like this."

I showed him how you could turn it 90 degrees and it resembled a heart but he was emphatic that it was an AXE cookie.   Next time I will get him the dog shaped cookie and see what he makes of it.

This evening, at bathtime, Wren wanted to see my vagina.  I explained that was private and like the doctor had told him, you don't look at people's privates. 

Wren, chancing upon the "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" tactic, stood up and waggled his parts close to me and repeated his request.  "I want to see where I came OUT" he explained.

I countered that his bits were always on display and that girls were more private privates.  He said that its okay, "I don't want to see all the way INSIDE, just the part I came out."   I said that it was hidden but it was "down there".  He peered.  I told him not to.

He said he must have been very small to fit down there.  "Just this small" he showed me his fist.

"No," I explained "YOU WERE THIS BIG!" 

"What the hell!" he said.

"Yes, you were large.  But vaginas can get bigger when the baby comes out.  Like your mouth is small but if you want to eat an apple it gets big."

"Oh," he said.  Looking concerned.

I decided to get out before the conversation veered further off course.

Hawaiian Birding #1
Meanwhile, the Pratt Birds of Hawaii and Tropical Pacific which I bought from Abe Books arrived today.  It is used but in perfect condition and came wrapped in a piece of beautifully folded archival paper.  It felt like a present even though I bought it myself.

Unfortunately, reading Pratt is very depressing.  Half of the Hawaiian birds in the field guide are EXTINCT.   Hawaai Rail?  Extinct.  Kioea?  Extinct.  Hawaai Oo?  Extinct.   Its the most depressing field guide I've ever read.  Imagine going around Seattle with our bird book and half the birds in the guide are marked EXTINCT.  I'd say they should have two bird books - a LIVING bird field guide and an EXTINCT BIRD MEMORIAL GUIDE.   Here is a bird list for Kauai.  You can see the number of critically endangered species among those remaining, particularly among the indigenous passerines.

Also, a fair portion of the field guide is for Polynesian birds.  There is some overlap but there are 4 or 5 pages of native Island birds (inland ones) and then an equal number of pages of introduced birds.  This whole introduced birds thing is confusing.  I mean, I understand people introducing chickens and pheasant but why on earth do people introduce Cardinals, Australian Magpies and Indian Mynahs?  How about "I am going to live in Hawaii, I think I will bring some Sparrows with me?"  Its just odd.  I shall have to explore the process in more detail.

So, I was going to provide you with one Hawaiian bird per day but now, compelled to educate myself about the mass extinction, I am going to do two. One extant and one extinct.

Extinct Hawaiian bird of the Day:  Kauai Oo

Extant Hawaiian bird of the Day: Kauai Elepaio

 

Cardiology update

Wren's cardiology clinic visit went well.  He was very well prepared:  for the first time he remembered what to expect, calling it "the doctor who uses the goo to look at your heart."   He asked to hold the buzzer which they use to call you to the appointment and as we walked in he said "I LOVE this place."

The echo was quick and he lay still the whole time. 

Most importantly, the results are encouraging.   Dr Lewin said Wren appears to be in "a stable phase."

His gradients were almost unchanged from last appointment and he has gained weight and height.  His pulses are strong (although I can't feel them very well).

We can go anywhere from 6-12 months before our next appointment, depending on how neurotic I get at the 6 month mark.

I have vowed to be calm so we can wait a long while.

Happy to have this over.  Now there are no immediate impediments to GOING TO HAWAII!!!!

Cardiology and the Winter Dark

**** WREN HAS HIS SIX MONTHLY CARDIOLOGY CLINIC TOMORROW**** 
I shall update tomorrow night.

Life in Seattle
Christmas has passed and only the odd spattering of holiday decorations remain up in the short dark days.   Its supposed to be an El Nina year but we haven't seen much snow, just the days of half-light and rain interspersed with blinding cold days of sun where the falling temperatures are marked by our cars being frozen in with ice.   On those days the doors to my minivan don't open and I have to pop Wren in through the front door and then clamber over the front chair to buckle him in on the way to preschool.  The shadowed side of my car is always worse off and requires extra work with the ice-scraper.

These days, my mailbox is full of credit card offers as the major banks leap in to scoop up the debts of those overextended over Christmas (7 in the past 3 days). 
The boys have settled back at school and I have finally become used to typing 2011 as the date.   The mycology email lists are quiet.  The mushrooms are sleeping but in their place the parent-lists are in a flurry of Sale and GIveaways as families reorganize and declutter after Christmas.


Mid-Winter Break in late Feb
Coming up is Mid-winter Break where the schools are off for a week from Presidents Day (Feb 21st-27th) and then there's Tax Season.  For the first time in many years we have an appointment with a Tax Accountant.  Now that I am working part-time our taxation is a bit more complex and we are going to see if someone else can do it better.   Like cleaning your house before a house-cleaner arrives, handing the tax over requires organization and I am starting to make piles and lists of things I need to fill in the Tax Worksheet the accountant provided.

We are lucky to be going to Hawaii this spring.  None of us has been before and we are going to Kau'ai.  Mum is going to be joining us for a week away.  I am terribly excited.  So often, I have been on fabulous visits to family but the places are familiar.  It is such a treat to be planning for a visit somewhere WARM and Tropical and new. 

The Boys
With winter and the new games acquired at Christmas, the boys are in a screen-time pit from which I am going to have to extricate them.  Frost is loving playing a Skate Game on XBox and Wren begs to be allowed to play iPad (Zombie Smash or PVZ or Sword Poker) or Kinectimals.  We have an Xbox with a sensor which 'sees' his movements so he controls his saber toothed tiger cup with various gestures and makes loud thuds as he runs around the living room to simulate the cubs running around his favorite obstacle course.

However,  they are not doing so well with alternative forms of entertainment.

Wren loves Magic the Gathering.  He has a deck of creatures, spells, instants and mana which he carries around the house most of the time.  He puts it in a little plastic sandwich bag when we go out and shows significant cards to strangers, failing to read the utter mystification on their faces when he explains that his Duskdale Worm is a 6/6 with Annihilator 3 (Frost told him that, although it is not strictly true).  Whenever I am working, cleaning, cooking or reading Wren comes up to me and asks me to "Play Magic with Me?"   He is remarkably good at it, playing about 50% of the rules most of the time.  However,  his emotional investment in his creatures makes it hard for him to let them die in blocking attacks so he sometimes lets damage through or fails to attack when it would be tactically wise.

My Entertainment
I have recently joined a book group which meets a bit over monthly.  Right now we are reading Cleopatra:  A Life.  Those of you who know my alarming lack of historical backbone will be pleased to know that I am filling in my gaps of a particular era in history while reading a book with the cover showing a pretty girl.  Win-Win in my book :)

I am also doing well with my running training.  The first half-marathon I have registered for is the Whidbey which is on April 9th.  I have reached the point of being able to run 6 miles easily at 10 minute mile or less and will do that a few more times before moving to a few 7 or 8 mile runs.  I have a running buddy (Courtney) and friends in a running group (Lauren and her peeps) who are all more experienced than I and able to answer some of my basic questions. 

For now, my main concern is that I will get injured as I increase distance. 

Each longer run or run I go faster on, I get slight twinges in my calves / achilles that makes me feel they are not quite up to the task yet.  I am not sure whether I have to keep building distance before adding speed or just do dedicated stretches and exercises for the calves.  Research needed!  This weaknesses a bit unfortunate as I love running faster.  We shall see whether I can keep the tension between exertion over distance and pace within a healthy balance.

Wren and Math
Wren is interested in numbers.  He spends a lot of time counting things.  He counts to twenty with occasional omissions and can add numbers with some thought.  Once, we were driving down the interstate and he said "If you have 2 and you have 2 then you have FOUR!"  I asked him what you had if you "had 3 and you had 3?" and he said "SIX!"   However, the next day he said "I can't remember" when I asked him the same thing.

He is very puzzled by the decimal system.  He often says "O-one" for ten and "O-O-1" for one hundred.  Today, he asked me  "What is 1 - 1 - O - O  dollars?"   I explained that it was $1,100.

Wren said:  "Well, that is a lot of money.  If there was a toy or a costume that was very very big we would spend ALL our money on it and I would ask you for it and you would say YES.  It might be a Robot Monster Costume."

I am interested that he thinks I would say "yes."

Wren and God
Wren is also puzzled by God.

Frost saw a comic of a man, naked, holding a fig leaf in front of his pelvic area.  I asked if he knew what it was in reference to.  He had no clue so I told Frost and Wren the story of the garden of Eden and Eve and the Serpent.  I also told them about the story of Noah and the Ark (and Dylan's song, Man Gave Names to All the Animals." 

Later that day I told Wren to stop bouncing on the couch.  I said "I have told you not to!"

He said  "GOD TOLD ME I COULD DO IT!"

We had a talk about God and how many people think God made life and the world.  I explained that some people think that there is no god, some people think that God is everywhere, some people think she or he is in the sky or somewhere far away, others think he lives in your heart or is like a holy ghost.

Wren said "I believe in God.  He is a guy.  He does not live in your heart because if he lived in your heart he could not make life."

He added:  "God is an invisible Giant Ghost that Lives in the SKy.  God is Called Fertility."

"Fertility?" I asked.   "What does that mean?"

Wren said:  "It is what God is Called."

"Uh huh."  I said, quite confused.

"BUT!  Wren continued.  "Some people think God is in a Statue and not in the Sky!"

I was quick to grasp this one since we took Frost and Wren to a Hindu temple in South Africa and saw Shiva and Kali and Ganesha.  I explained that the statues were like pictures of the Gods but that they were not really in the statue only.   Still, perhaps my explanation of a Murti as an image which expresses a Divine Spirit but is not in fact its embodiment was too subtle for Wren.  

Later, at the Aquarium, Wren told me "I think that God has Magic ways.  If he touches glass in pointy ways he doesn't bleed.  And in this Quarium, God did a good thing.  He picked up each animal very very gently and put it in the Aquarium so we can see them."


The Quarium
We had an excellent visit to the Aquarium last week. We were lucky enough to come at Octopus feeding time and saw both octopi in paroxysms of excitement chasing a squid on a stick.  It was quite amazing to see them in motion - they are extremely quick and dextrous.  The one keeper poked a squid on a stick and kept it out of reach for a while until Homer, the one octopus, caught it with his tentacles.  Wren also enjoyed seeing the river otters.  One, in particular, was careful to pick up his tail and suck it whenever he went to sleep.  Wren and I decided it was his "soft shirt" for bedtime.

The octopus chases the stick with a squid on the end

He holds onto the stick to eat the snack

Wren, posing as an octopus

The Eye of Homer's friend

Josh and Hiking
Josh is also thinking of greater things.  He has often mentioned a desire to hike The Pacific Crest Trail.  Recently, he has started planning to do some of the first sections on his own and has thoughts of doing the first section this Summer.  I would drop him off and meet up with him 3 nights later down the trail.  It is very high altitude and only open for a few months each year.

Its late and I am going to fold laundry.  More on Frost and our wild winter life (not) with our cardiology update tomorrow.