Our dollar store fireworks draw all the neighbor kids to the yard

Houston unintentionally amused me a few times today. First, he fell coming up the basement steps and totally skinned both legs (not the amusing part, poor guy). Katrina and i gave him lots of sympathy, and after a few minutes he went into the other room, where he promptly slammed his toe into a table. Several minutes later, Houston was all, "I'm pretty sure i might have actually broken my toe!"
Me: "Which one? Let me see it."
Him: "This one. No, wait. That one. One of those two."
Me: "Okay then. I'm pretty sure you'll be all right." (One of my general rules of thumb: If you can't remember which toe you "broke," it's probably not broken.)

Whenever we do pizza-movie night, Juanito prepares Houston two normal pizza crusts. Houston then rolls the sides up so that he has really thick crusts, and then fills the inside with tons of sauce. Tonight he rolled the sides up extra far, so that his pizzas looked extra tiny. I commented on them, and Houston said, "Yeah. I'm not that hungry tonight."
Me: "Um...you know that it's the same amount...."
Him, looking somewhat sheepish: "Yeah...."

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Juanito bought some (very tame) fireworks at the dollar store the other day, and we did some of them tonight. There were poppers - the kind that you throw on the ground and they go POP! (Houston and i thought we'd be cool, so i threw one in his direction, and he used his arm to swat it to another spot...except that it totally popped on his arm. I was totally apologetic, but he was all, "Look! It burned a tiny bit! Do it again!!!") Juanito took his entire bag of poppers and emptied them all into a wrapper to make one giant popper, because...Juanito. There were those weird black snake things. And there were the kind that spin around and scream and light up, some of which pop and spark a few seconds after the spinning and screaming stops. The first time that happened, Beth and i both totally screamed.

In our neighborhood, there seem to always be loud fireworks everywhere. Tonight Katrina was all, "I can't wait until fireworks season is finished! It's SO LOUD when i'm trying to sleep!" Ours were really quiet, but they were apparently loud enough to draw neighbor kids to us. I'm fine with that, except that they're not quite as cautious as i am, and they make me really nervous. I'm all "Back up! Back up farther! Farther!!!" as they inch back a teensy bit at a time...and then run at the fireworks the second they stop. Meanwhile, i'm all, "Unsafe! Unsafe!!!!" (One of the kids was all, "My sister is 10, and she never ever brushes her teeth, so her teeth are all breaking off in pieces." So i guess their parents aren't exactly concerned with teaching them good choices?)

Concert, orthodontist, and Houston's finger

There was a concert for the elementary kids tonight. Zane was completely excited about it, and was very nearly literally bouncing off the walls beforehand. They split the concert into younger kids and older kids, which is really helpful in keeping it from being so, so long. 

I'm obviously mostly interested in my kid's performance, but the entire concert was pretty entertaining this time. In the third grade, there was one boy who thoroughly amused me by standing perfectly still with a defiant expression the entire performance, straight up refusing to participate in any way. He didn't just not sing, he did not sing, even going so far as to hide behind classmates so the director couldn't see him. And then the "honor's choir" sang, and Katrina and Houston both have a number of friends in that choir. 

And then the fourth graders came on! And...the director immediately lined the entire front of the stage with big stands, so that nearly the entire audience couldn't actually see their kids. I feel like the music and band teachers do that kind of thing nearly every performance. We'll have a perfect view of the stage...and then just before the performance they stick something RIGHT in the way. I just don't understand. 

Zane was really, really happy. He smiled and smiled. He got to play the ukulele for one of the songs and did so with perfect rhythm. (He told me beforehand, "He's only taught us to strum. So that's not really playing.") 

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Katrina and Houston had an appointment at the orthodontist this morning. It was mostly to determine what they needed. The orthodontist looked at Houston and used words "Overjet - severe," and lots of other words that i didn't understand the meaning of at all, and ultimately said, "Well, we can definitely fix this. We might need to pull a couple of teeth, but we'll have to do x-rays and molds before we make a decision. Don't get too worried just yet."

And then he looked at Katrina and declared that her mouth just doesn't have the room for her permanent teeth, so her teeth are shifting over to be out of alignment, so she needs braces, but we should wait about 6 months so that more of her baby teeth have maybe come out. 

Um, also? I don't know if you're aware, but braces are expensive. Like, "I probably don't need my spleen, so maybe i could sell it on the black market" expensive. 

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We got home from school this afternoon, and as we were getting out of the car, Houston suddenly screamed bloody murder and started weeping and panicking. His finger totally got slammed in the sliding door of the van and stuck there, so he had to open the door to get it out. He told me later that he didn't even realize it was hurt until he couldn't walk away, and then he looked, and his finger was completely bent a crazy way, and he was convinced that it was completely, completely broken. Possibly unfixable. So he was picturing his life with one of his fingers bent and deformed forever. 

Even without being broken, it was pretty well smashed up. He immediately had a giant bruise across his finger. Poor little guy. We put ice on it for an hour or so, and it's much better already. Baby's first finger slammed in a car door. They don't have a slot for that in his baby book.

Sunday

After church this afternoon, we went to Subway and got sandwiches and then went to the park for a couple of hours. It was kind of chilly (Houston says that he was shivering as we were eating), but by the time we left, it was quite lovely. (Of course, i was wearing long sleeves and a sweater, so i was probably warmer than the boys wearing t-shirts.)

The kids' favorite thing to do at the park is to ask for a challenge. That means that one of us adults has to think of something for them to do. For example: "Get from this thing here to that thing there without touching the ground." Or "Do this specific obstacle course." I'm sure that i can be directly blamed for this (I love obstacle courses!), but now i'm kind of cursing myself, because it's like the big-kid version of "Would you push me on the swings?" Once or twice, yes. A million times? NO! Go play! We're at a PARK, for goodness sake!

This afternoon i went to Goodwill to see if i could find some cute clothes for summer (I did! Success!), and then i came home and finally switched my closet over from winter to summer. While i had everything in piles on my bed, sorting and trying things on to decide what i should keep and what i haven't worn in years, Katrina came and sat on the bed to talk and give me opinion. In the process, i found about 4 shirts that i'd been given by Juanito or other random people that are just way too small. Katrina loved them, tried them on, and was thrilled that they totally fit her. (Women's size large. Fits Katrina perfectly. WHAT?!)

And then, as i was reading to the kids before bed, Juanito walked into the room with his hand held up over his head, blood smeared all over it, with a giant rag wrapped around it, and casually announced, "I cut my finger. I thought you might want to know." And then he was surprised when all of us reacted. He'll be fine. He just told me, "No, it's not bleeding anymore. Except when i poke at it."

Sigh.

Concussed.

Remember how Houston smashed his head yesterday and then threw up twice?

This morning he called from school, "I have a terrible headache and i forgot that i have a test that i'm supposed to take and i can't even think and, oh, also? I just threw up again."

The thing about Houston is that he throws up So. Easily. His body's response to EVERYTHING seems to be to throw up. And yet! Head injury! So i went and got him and called the pediatrician, who said, "You need to take him to the ER for a CT-scan."
Me: "But...he throws up all the time. And he was fine all day yesterday. And CT-scans are expensive? But obviously his health is more important!"
Him: "Okay.... I guess.... You can keep an eye on him, but if he throws up again, you really need to take him."

So then i sat at home, thinking about how i was letting money be more important than the fact that my son's BRAIN was possibly BLEEDING. I called Juanito at work, and he was all, "???? Maybe take him? But it's expensive? So maybe don't? I have to go deal with these kids now."

I talked to my grandpa, who is a doctor, and he was all, "He threw up three times? You need to take him to the ER for a CT-scan."

I talked to my mom and dad and Beth, and they were all, "Wow. I mean, it's a head injury. And your pediatrician says to go. But it's also one of those things where you know that Houston throws up easily, and it's expensive. But it's his head....?"

And then he said that his headache was getting slightly worse, and THEN he sneezed and it was bloody snot, and bleeding from the head was one of the huge warning signs, and i don't even know if bloody snot qualifies, but the amount that i was completely worried and the amount of risk involved in not going eventually pushed me over the edge, and i took him to the ER.

I also had emailed Linda, who's a nurse, in the deciding process, and i got her email while i was at the hospital, and she also fell on the side of "I think you need to take him." And she emailed HER brother-in-law, who is a pediatrician, and HE was all, "You need to take him." So i was well reassured that i was making the right choice.

The ER doctor, on the other hand, kind of had the opposite opinion. She was really nice about it, but she basically said, "So we've had lots of studies done, and what they've shown is that even one CT-scan in childhood significantly raises the risk of tumors. So we don't do those unless a very specific set of circumstances is met, and he doesn't meet those. Not even close. Also, we're more concerned when someone throws up a number of times in, say, the first 8 hours rather than spread out over 24 hours." I was all, "Okay. Good to know. So in the future, when my kids bang their heads, what DO i need to look for?" (And i'm putting this in here partly so that, in the future, i can remember what she said.) Apparently, as long as they're fairly cheerful and able to carry on regular conversation and are acting normal-ish, it's not too concerning. If they're acting like their head is really in pain and like they kind of have a migraine or if they start acting oddly, then THAT'S when we can panic. (On the other hand, she also directed me to cdc.gov, and their website clearly states: "People with a concussion need to be seen by a health care professional." So.)

But she confirmed that Houston had a concussion. He's not allowed to do any kind of activity that could re-injure his head for at least 5 days. (No gym class. No biking.) He's not allowed to use screens, so no video games or movies or phones. And (she threw in as almost an afterthought) no books. That's the point at which Houston gasped, "What!?!" He's allowed to listen to books or movies, but not to watch them. No drawing or writing either. (He's all, "What CAN i do?" Me: "Legos?")

So i'm thinking that he stays home from school again tomorrow. If he can't read or write, that's going to make doing any kind of schoolwork hard. 

Anyhow, this morning, as i was in the throws of, "WHAT DO I DO?!" i had a moment of, "Well, at least i know where Katrina gets her indecision."

Everything is awful, and i'm being a bit overly dramatic, probably.

Today has been kind of a terrible day, and i am sad. 

Houston called this morning. He was knocked over (accidentally) during gym class and smashed his head on the floor, so he had a headache. Could he come home? No. He called back half an hour later: he had thrown up. I went and got him, and then called the doctor's office just to make sure that i didn't need to worry. The nurse was very nice and gave me a whole list of things to watch for (bleeding from the ears, confusion, and differently dilated pupils, for example), including "If he stops throwing up and then starts throwing up again after a long time." 

So i parked him on the couch, where he moaned quietly for a while. Eventually, to get his mind off his headache, i introduced him to Sherlock. He was iffy about wanting to watch until i told him that some of it was written by one of the guys who also writes for Doctor Who, and then he was all in. He really liked it...although i think he didn't understand quite a lot. 

Anyhow. He was fine all day - laughing, playing, headache which got more mild as the day went on. Until just before bedtime, when he totally threw up again. I called the on-call pediatrician (feeling guilty as i did so), and he was all, "Right. How bad does his head hurt now?" Houston: "Really, really bad." Doctor: "Scale of 1-10?" Houston: "3." Doctor: "So...he's kind of a tough guy, then? Okay, give him Tylenol, wake him up a couple of times in the middle of the night to check his pupils, and if anything else happens, bring him to the ER at the Children's Hospital." 

So. In the middle of the night, i'll have to wake up the un-wakeable boy to look at his eyeballs and make sure that he's not confused. Yay.

Meanwhile.

In our city, there's "Zoo School," which is only for 6th graders for one year. They get to go to school at the zoo, and it sounds awesome. Katrina applied, and we finally got the letter today. Not accepted.

I am SO disappointed. I'm so much more disappointed than i expected to be. The thing is, she's been talking about Zoo School for years - though as it's gotten closer, she's experienced more of the nervous, "But what about...." syndrome that we kind of expect from Katrina. She doesn't like change or decisions.

The thing is, they make the decision of who gets to go based entirely on the standardized test scores. The tests that Katrina always does poorly on. She's so much better in school than the stupid test shows. She consistently gets really good grades and she's in advanced math. One of the girls in her class DID get in to Zoo School, and i know that Katrina gets better grades than she does AND the other girl is in the lower math class. I just want to yell, "NOT FAIR!" 

So. We can appeal. We're planning to appeal. But just in case, i sent her teacher an email this afternoon: 

My question is this: My husband and I think that she's smarter than she looks on the test, and that she'd do awesome at zoo school because she works REALLY HARD in school. But we're a little bit biased too, so before i call them and appeal and am all, "My special snowflake deserves a chance!" I thought I'd ask you your opinion. Do YOU think that Katrina's test score accurately reflects where she is and she'd honestly be in over her head there? I don't want to set her up for failure.

Anyhow. I am really sad. I told Katrina she didn't get in, and her response was, "Oh. Well, that's okay, i guess." (Also, she doesn't know yet that three of her best friends DID get in, and that might make her a lot more disappointed. Or not.)

And, just in case appealing doesn't change anything and she doesn't get to go: These are the things that would be good about staying where she is: Sports start in middle school, and she's mentioned wanting to try track and maybe other sports. She could continue being in band. Transportation would be easier....

Meanwhile.

Zane has a very loose tooth. He wants attention for that.