Safe and Non-Toxic

I am THAT mother. It has finally happened. Hard as a tried to thwart the inevitable, there is no turning back. Kid 2 has this "craving" for non-food items. I wish there was some medical explanation for it, such as PICA, but her hematocrit level is fine. She is just plain weird. I have tried to keep things hidden from her and obviously the deadly, poisonous substances are placed out of sight and reach. But that hasn't stopped her from coming up with her own items of sampling delight. My first run in with this was right after her 2nd birthday. We were up at my mom's and she had shut herself in the room we were staying in. I went to find her and she came out coughing and pulling at her tongue. I told her to show me what she ate and she pulled out my bottle of hand sanitizer from my purse. It was a 1 oz bottle and about half of it was gone. I decided I had better call Poison Control. I was told to watch her carefully and if she started to act DRUNK to take her to the hospital. Hand sanitizer is stronger than vodka being over 60% alcohol. Great, I had a drunk at age 2. Her craving for hand sanitizer is still extremely strong and I have to watch her so closely whenever she gets around it. I know what you are all thinking, and hopefully she has that figured out by the time she is a teenager. I also know that if things get quiet with her and I am not sure where she is at, I need to go find her quickly to see what she might be sucking down. A few months back a friend was telling me of a conversation that she had with T-man as she car pooled to school.

T-man: "Kid 2 is sick today"
Heidi: "She is, what's wrong with her?"
T-man: "She eats stuff like lotion, and sunscreen, and hand sanitizer."

Heidi thought it was so funny and decided to ask me about it, unfortunately for me, I had to admit that it was all true.

I should have known then that I would be that mother. The mother whose kid eats the glue. I was scared to have her start preschool for that very reason. I found a bottle of glue yesterday and she obviously had eaten some of it. I decided to go the route of asking her what she thought of it. All she could say is that "it tasted weirrrd". I know that won't stop her from doing it again, and again, and again. At least there is comfort in those words found on the bottle.

I Scream For Ice Cream

The Ice Cream Party that I won through the Dreyer's Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute Contest was this weekend. It turned out well and we went through 24 cartons of ice cream! We combined it with the annual party our neighborhood has and had a potluck and an outdoor movie. I ended up having to man the ice cream, too little many finger lickins' between scoops with the little kids for my germaphob personality. Plus, the ice cream was pretty hard to scoop. It was fun to have one more reason to get together and especially eat ice cream together. Thanks Dreyer's for the ice cream!

Heart Walk

First off, I want to thank all of you who supported us in the recent Heart Walk. T-man and I had a great time. It was a great mother-son bonding experience. He did so well. They had a little Kid Fun Run to start the festivities off and he ran the whole way. They gave him a ribbon and a Subway Cash Card when he finished. We walked once around Sugar House Park and then headed back to all the activities. T-man had fun at all the big blow up bouncy things, getting his face painted (Mom, I've never had this done before!), and building a bird house at the Home Depot workshop. There was also some food and free give aways that he couldn't pass up. It really was a beautiful morning and such a great cause that I may do it again next year. I didn't realize it when I was signing up, but it was for Heart Disease and Stroke. When I usually think of heart disease I think of arteriosclerosis or atherosclerosis, not of Congenital Heart Disease that affects most of the kids I work with. But this walk is to benefit all of those, so I am glad we went and did it.

Zoo Rendezvous

We went to the Zoo Rendezvous last week. It is a big fundraiser for the zoo that gets all of the upper eschelonce out to support it. Not that we are of that class, but we reap the benefits of knowing some who are. It was fun to be at the zoo with absolutely NO CHILDREN there. We even took the chance to go on the carousel. I can't even remember the last time I rode on one without the kids, yet alone, having it be ALL ADULTS. It was somewhat humorous. It was a very relaxing evening with some great food. There were about 20 restaurants there with food samplers, like Ruth's Chris, PF Chengs, Flemings, etc. We stuffed our faces and wandered the zoo, saw some animals up close and even got some great free stuff. I missed out last year going, but I made sure not to make the same mistake again, and will definitely be back next year!

2008 Utah's Start Heart Walk

I am in charge of trying to get kids signed up from our school for the Heart Walk this year. I wish I could say that the response has been overwhelming, but it hasn't. I am still pushing for it so I decided to make a plea to anyone who has been affected by anyone who has heart disease, which I think most of us are. T-man and I will be walking it together on Saturday. Anyone interested in making a donation for the cause go to www.heartwalkutah.org and you can make the donation in his name. As little as $5 dollars goes along way, and they take credit cards!!!

Ready for Preschool

Last year when I took T-man to preschool, little princess threw a fit. She wanted to go, but it just wasn't time. This year, she took preschool by the horns. T-man made sure to let her know not to be scared. She was so excited and loves her little bag her cute teacher made for them. It is in the neighborhood so I get to walk over. So nice. She is getting so big and grown-up. It is hard to believe that she is almost 4, but then there are times that she seems so much older to me. I still am getting used to the different schedules we are on now, and it is keeping me busy trying to remember who goes where when. I imagine it will only get worse before it gets better!

Midway

We spent the weekend up in Midway and had a great time. I took my camera, but didn't take any pictures! Oh well. We had fun swimming, playing, hitting the Midway Swiss Days Parade, shopping at Swiss Days, eating at the Blue Boar Inn, completing a 1000 piece puzzle (hardest puzzle I have ever done, I almost gave up more than once), and watching the Bourne Identity Collection. Nothing too exciting, but that is where I have been the last couple of days. Oh yeah, we were up there COMPUTERLESS.