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| Stimson's won the wellness challenge drawing |
As tax season wears on, we all get a little more tired. This past week, Nana left town. Our live-in maid and nanny is back home and
we are left to fend for ourselves for the last few weeks of tax season. The fighting with the kids has ramped
up. Each kid has had their moments –
good and bad. The bad usually ends with
a countdown to bedtime…if we can make it.
The good comes in spurts and often it is enough to keep us moving
forward.
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| Crazy 8's with Merritt's friend Anne |
There were a few moments this past week that brought out the
good and the bad. First the bad –
another adventure to Costco. During the
winter months, these trips have been good opportunities for Merritt and I to
get out of the house and move around a bit.
Merritt is typically a great helper and knows all of the food we usually
need. A typical trip usually involves us
racing inside and running to the fruit and vegetable section, with a short stop
to press the buttons on the phones at the Verizon station. We usually have no problem getting through
this portion of the shopping trip. However,
the rest of the trip through the freezer section and into the chips and baking
aisle involves running through each aisle hoping that I can stay up with Merritt
so the 3 foot lightning bolt doesn’t get be-headed by a shopping cart and
another shopper who has maxed out their cart and has no ability to see Merritt…..OR
it involves me bribing my daughter to somehow make it to the checkout without
losing her mind (randomly pulling items off the shelf, licking boxes, laying on
the floor, crying, etc). Yes, my
daughter… not our dog. If Stimson isn’t
along to activate the competitive side of her and the antagonistic side…things
are usually pretty good. Last weekend,
the two of us made a trip to Costco after she had spent a week out of town throwing
up, playing with her cousins, and staying up late. I think her tank was on ‘E’ when we got to
Costco, but sometimes there are still fumes and samples at Costco to move her
along. We got through the fruit and
vegetable section when she wandered off (away from me intentionally) to chew on
some boxes while looking at me with the ‘eye’….that eye that says “I know I’m
not supposed to be doing this and you don’t like it when I do this, but what
are you going to do?” I asked her 3
times very nicely to keep moving along so we could get the rest of our
things. It was now a challenge as she
said under her breath “I dare you to come get me…sucker”. I walked over and grabbed her hand so that we
could walk to our next area. She did the
thing that all kids have pre-programmed in them as they come out of the womb –
threw a fit. She twister her body and
proceeded to twist to the ground with her hand still in mine. She then started to cry saying “You hurt me
dad and you did it on purpose”. I’m
thinking, well for the record, I did ask you three times very nicely and I know
you heard me. I also did nothing other
than grab your hand. Hmmm, she must be
tired and this is the emotional side of her coming out. She doesn’t know what’s going on and all that
she knows to do is cry. Well, she kept
repeating (loudly too) – “You hurt me dad and you did it on purpose”. OK Merritt….I know we haven’t talked about
this yet, but our society gets weirded out by those phrases….can you keep it
down a bit? Not everyone knows you haven’t
been sleeping. A lady walked up to me
and asked me if she was OK. Yes, I said,
she is just tired. However, as we
continued to walk through the store, my tough daughter who rarely complains
when she is sick (Let’s just throw up so we can move on)…..and rarely complains
when she gets hurt (band aids are for wimps), kept saying that it hurt. I then started to notice she was carrying her
arm and not moving it. My heart started
to sink a bit as I thought back to a time when this happened with Katy. As we checked out, I tried to get her to move
her arm and she wouldn’t. I knew
something was wrong….. Off to pick-up
Katy at work. I shared the news with her
and we could see her arm starting to swell….Katy confirmed my suspicions. She dislocated her elbow – AH! After not really EVER going to the emergency
room or urgent care, we have been there 3 times so far this year!! Let’s see, we went to the ER for a freak
infection and ended up with a large invoice (not doing that again) for someone
to give us a prescription and a sling (that we didn’t wear)….then we went to
Urgent Care for Katy’s dislocated shoulder only to have two people struggle to
get her arm back in place (should have gone to the ER). Which should we go to this time? Well, we know what it is and we can beg them
not to do X-Rays…..let’s try Urgent Care.
As we approached the parking lot of Urgent Care, we had another sinking
feeling….they close at 5p and it is 5:05p….and Merritt is tired! She needs to go to bed at 6p tonight if not
now! We stopped quick and Katy quickly
ran inside to see if we could somehow get in.
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| Our new babysitter |
The receptionist responded – Sorry we are closed. “I just need someone to pop my daughter’s
elbow back in place!”, Katy said. Then,
as if the music started and Doogie Howser (remember him) entered the scene in
slow motion, a doctor came to the front.
His response was, “I can’t do anything in here since we are closed, but
I can help you in the parking lot”. Wow,
things aren’t like they used to be. C’mon,
can you help a brother out? I know there
are policies and scripts, but this is actually a real person and happens to be
our kid. He came out to the rescue and
popped her elbow back in place, shook our hands and disappeared back into the
walls of the American healthcare system.
Wow, what just happened? Needless
to say, there were several cookies that were made the next day and delivered to
that doctor. That was the bad.
The good……Merritt asking for Stimson (not mom or dad) to put
her to bed. One of those sentimental
moments that you file away for the rest of your life of Stimson reading a book
to Merritt, putting her in bed, tucking her in and saying a prayer to her. Hmm, babysitting may have just gotten a whole
lot cheaper!
