Brushing Teeth

On Thursday afternoon, Henry and Miss R went to Grammy and Poppy's house for a couple hours. We gave them a bath when they got home. Henry did an excellent job brushing his teeth. Miss R doesn't have the front brushing motion down yet, so Jeff had to do her teeth forcibly. She is a master at keeping her upper lip over her front teeth and using her tongue to thwart the brush. I let the kids brush my teeth with my tooth brush so they'd get the idea down better. We got the kids to bed by 8:45PM.

Miss R was the first one up on Friday morning. She's been doing a bit better not waking up in the middle of the night. We'd hit a rough patch since our Oregon trip. I've wondered if it was her ear infection making her irritable. If that's the case, the antibiotics seem to have helped.

When we arrived at school, Miss R went happily into her play area. Henry wanted to "hold you" and stay in my arms. He finally went to Miss Lulu but cried. Miss Lulu told him to make a happy face for me. It was the most pained smile that I've ever seen. But by the time I got to the lobby, I saw him take a toy from a little girl and run, so I guess he recovered rather quickly. As of late, he loves taking something from a person and then running so that the person will chase him.

I went to the mall in the afternoon to get Jeff a birthday present. I realized that I had no juice in the car for the kids. The kids get cantankerous if there is no bottle or cup awaiting them. So I stopped by the grocery story and got some juice boxes for them. I got Henry first. He was outside in the play area being sprayed with a squirt bottle by Miss Diana. Henry and I then picked up Miss R who rushed over to give me a huge hug. The kids held hands all the way down the hall until we hit the parking lot. Henry tried to run for it. That didn't go over so well with me and he got scolded. I'm sure that he internalized my remarks and pledged in his heart never to do it again even if he didn't show the slightest trace of remorse.

Henry, Miss R, and I played ring-around-the-rosie in the living room while Jeff made dinner. We also called Grammy. Henry was upset b/c he wanted to see Grammy today. And he burst into tears when Grammy said that she'd see him tomorrow. He was genuinely upset. A few minutes later, while I spoke with Jeff in the kitchen, I heard a commotion in the living room. Henry had a puzzle that Miss R wanted, and she grabbed a fist full of his hair when he wouldn't give it to her. That earned her an automatic "time out." I then made her say "I'm sorry" to Henry, which she did although I strongly suspect that she doesn't really know what it means.

Henry didn't eat much dinner. Part of it was Chinese leftovers. Miss R had stuffed herself on raisins prior to dinner.

After dinner, I went to put on a saved episode of SpongeBob from the DVR but the machine won't open anything that is in a folder. Very curious. So I decided to put on a DVD. I hadn't selected a movie yet, but Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone was in the player. Henry wanted to watch it. He has seen the beginning of it twice. He knows the characters well b/c of our reading of Harry Potter aloud and his former nanny often played the audio book version of Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone. He knew that Uncle Vernon was going to throw Harry's letters in the "fire." He knows who Dumbledore is.

I walked Roger while Jeff and the kids watched Harry Potter. I ran into a couple neighbors but stayed a respectful distance so as not to get them sick. It was getting quite dark by the time I got back. I was fortunate to spot the rattlesnake in the driveway and keep a distance. Jeff went outside with a flashlight and confirmed that it was indeed a rattler.

I gave Henry a cereal bar to quell his appetite. He was hungry, of course, having not eaten. Of course, the books say that you should give kids their meals, and if they don't eat, that's fine but don't give them anything else. Given how sick we are, I didn't feel like listening to Henry shout "Eat! Eat!" if we didn't give him anything as a snack. I feel like we can only battle so much in one day.

Jeff got the kids to sleep before 9PM. Then, we watched a movie, which was nice.

In happy news today, Jeff ordered mattresses for the kids' beds! They might arrive as early as Monday, in which case we'll be able to take the kids sheet and comforter shopping. We'll probably not kick them out of Henry's king sized bed (formerly know as Jeff's and my bed) right away. I think that we'll start with naps on the new beds and work our way to night time sleeping from there.

I think that Miss R is going to have a tough time. She wakes up frequently wanting to know where I am. She has some separation anxiety. Given all that she's been through, I'm not exactly surprised and I certainly don't want to cause unnecessary stress. So we'll do things nice and slow. I'm hoping that she'll love her new sheets so much that she'll be excited to be in her new room.