Slow Down, Gym Shoe!

An Animal Encounter

Everyone knows I love nature centers, right? And Little Bear loves nature centers too... especially the ones that have live animals on site (as opposed to the ones that just have trees and flowers and stuff!) Well, one of the nature centers near us does this thing in the summer called Wild Wednesdays, where kids get to learn about and pet a wild animal. So, this past Wednesday, I took Little Bear, Pufferfish, Tigerlily and Rafael over there for Wild Wednesday!

I was a little nervous about taking a six year old, a five year old, a four year old and a two year old out on my own. I've taken four or five kids out in public together many times, but usually a couple of the kids are older and don't need as much very close supervision. With this particular wild bunch of munchkins, I was sure I would lose someone! But it worked out very well. The kids stuck together Jon-And-Kate-Plus-Eight style and did very good listening, and nobody fell into the lake!

The first animal they showed us was a fox. That was pretty cool. We knew the fox was going to be there, and the kids were already excited about seeing it. The lady held the fox and talked all about her, and asked the kids some questions. Little Bear, who loves animals, raised her hand and knew a lot of the answers! She knew the word camoflauge, and she knew that the reason foxes have lots of fur on the bottoms of their feet is to protect their feet from the hot ground! (Because apparently they originated in the desert, or at least this particular fox did... I wasn't listening all that closely myself because I was concentrating on keeping Pufferfish from jumping off the picnic table!)

By the way, in this picture can you see Pufferfish and Rafael looking completely in the opposite direction of the lady with the fox? That was because we were under this picninc shelter, and there was a bird's nest up on the ceiling, and a bird kept flying back and forth from it! Every time the bird flew to the nest, all of the kids would go crazy. It was annoying the nature lady to no end. She kept yelling, "You can look at the bird later! Please sit down!" She didn't seem like she had much patience with little kids.

 There was also a second animal, which we did not know what was coming at all. It was a kinkajou! The name is pronounced Kink-a-joo, but when the lady said it, it sounded a lot like Pikachu! Whatever it is, it is a very cute, hyperactive little critter that is related to the raccoon family. It can hang from its tail, as you can see in this picture!

I don't know why we haven't been going to Wild Wednesdays all summer long, but I hope we can make it to the rest of the Wild Wednesdays! They are definitely fun!

And now, for no apparent reason, here's Lily! (The puppy formerly known as Pepper!) (Doesn't she have the cutest little paws?)

This One Is For The Birds!

Man, it has been a rough couple of days!
Pufferfish has been beside herself lately! She spent the whole day yesterday just screaming her head off! She wouldn't let me hold her or even talk to her, and hollered "NOOOOOO, NICKI!" every time I had the audacity to offer her some cereal, ask her if she wanted to watch TV, or feel her forehead to see i she was running some sort of fever.
It was weird for me, because she's usually a clingy little munchkin, and whenever I heard her crying I literally ached to pick her up, hold her, and comfort her. But she wouldn't let me! I felt so rejected! There was no apparent reason for it, either. She didn't have a fever, and she usually is able to tell us if something is hurting her. The only thing I could think of is that, even though she seems happy about the new house, maybe she's showing some anxiety in a toddler-ish kind of way!
At about two o'clock yesterday, Pufferfish finally calmed down enough to let me change her diaper, and she asked me for some crackers and a banana. Here's a picture I took of her, in her short-lived happy mood, eating her snack, still in her jammies and with her hair all dishevelled because she wouldn't let me have anything to do with her before this!

Then I let her play in the tubby for a while, which also made her happy. But just when I thought we had gotten through her horrid mood, Jimmy came home early from work, and Pufferfish went crazy because she wanted to be with him. He was sick to his stomach and had come home to take a nap, and Pufferfish ended up laying down with him for the rest of the day.
Today started out like it wouldn't be any better! Pufferfish woke up acting like she was possessed, screaming bloody murder all morning long! When I changed her diaper and got her dressed, she acted like I was ripping her limb from limb! I decided to just ignore her this time, turned on the TV for her, and left the room. After about half an hour I heard her talking cheerfully to the TV as she watched "The backyardigans," so I went and sat by her, and it seemed to go well. And she was fine, after that! Little Bear came home from school, and we all ate lunch, and Pufferfish even let me do her hair so she didn't look like a banshee anymore!
I had been particularly worried because I had to go to traffic court today, for a ticket I got a few months ago when my license plate sneaked around and expired without telling me. I was afraid that Pufferfish would scream so much in court that I'd end up going to jail or something... if not for being in contempt of court because of the noise, then for ducktaping Pufferfish's mouth shut!!!!! But by the time we left for court, Pufferfish was in a great mood. And just to be safe, I bought a bag of Dum-Dums, and handed each of the kids two suckers as soon as we sat down in the court room. The suckers were to keep their mouths busy and quiet and their minds happy. It worked like a charm! Both of them sat quietly beside me, double-fisting their suckers and not bothering anyone!
Here are some picks of them by the fountain outside the courthouse. They had seen it on the way in, and I'd promised them, if they were quiet, we'd go see the fountain afterwards. I especially love the picture of Little Bear... doesn't she look beautiful here?

Anyway. Then came our actual educational project for the day.
We've been learning about birds for the past week or so. So we made nesting balls! All you do is get a mesh bag, like the kind that apples sometimes come in, and fill it up with stuff that can be used to make a nest. (We used cotton balls, feathers, and pieces of ribbon and string.) You secure the top of the bag with a rubberband, and you hang the whole thing in a tree. Birds can then pull out pieces and use them to build, or pad, their nests!
Here is our very colorful nesting ball.

Here is Little Bear climbing into a tree to hang it. This is actually Little Bear's personal tree. She discovered it one day while we were walking in the park, and she adopted it as her own! Its a great climbing tree, as you can see!

And here is our nesting ball in the tree, just waiting for some birds!

After that, we climbed up to the top of the hill (the same one that I once tumbled head over heels down and nearly broke my spine) and did some bird watching!

So it turned out to be a pretty good day! Although, after we got home, it did go sort of sour. Pufferfish mentioned that her tummy hurt, and then went into the bedroom to play. When she came out, she had gotten diarrhea and it had leaked out of her diaper, and gotten all over her legs and the back of her dress and even on the bedroom floor! That took a while to clean up. But Pufferfish enjoyed another mid-day bath, and everything turned out just super after all!

Back To Nature... and a few updates!

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented on my last post, in which I was feeling very badly. Your kind words and encouragement meant so much to me! I don't have many people in "real life" who I can talk to right now, and it helps to know that at least there are a few people out in the world who understand and don't hate me. To answer one question, I have been on medication for depression (Celexa) for about nine years, on and off, but it doesn't seem to be working as well as it used to. I am really wary of medications because when I was a kid I was put on a really heavy medication that turned me into a zombie! My fear is ending up having to take all different kinds of psychotropic medications on a daily basis for the rest of my life, just in hopes of feeling normal!
At any rate I have still been feeling pretty crappy and hopeless. I am going to try calling the county health department today to see if I can at least go to a regular psychiatrist so maybe they can mess around with my medications. I've heard that if you are already taking a medication you can add Abilify and it will be like a booster or something. The last time I called the county to ask about medication management, they said I wasn't crazy enough and that they only helped people with severe mental illnesses, but maybe if I tell them I've been on the brink of suicide, they'll let me have an appointment???
Jimmy has been working this week so I have been watching the munchkins, which has been a welcome distraction. Today they are spending the day with their grandma though. Yesterday we had a pretty good day. We have been learning about birds, so we went to the grocery store and bought a couple bags of sunflower seeds (which can be bought with food stamps, unlike regular wild bird food!) and brought them down to our favorite nature center as a donation for the birds. We took a walk around the nature center and looked at all of the animals.
Little Bear really loves animals, and she says she wants to work at a nature center when she grows up, so she can hold and feed all of the animals! At this nature center, outside every cage there is a sign posted with the story of how the animal ended up there. Most have been injured too badly to be able to survive in the wild, and several were illegally raised in captivity until they were too tame to ever survive in the wild. Whenever we go to the nature center, I read the stories and tell the kids how the animals got there. And Little Bear remembers all those stories! This was the first time that we'd gone there in quite a while, and Little Bear knew which animals were new, and asked me to read the stories. And she remembered the stories of the other animals. I couldn't remember what animal was around one corner, but Little Bear told me, "Oh, that is the fox who lost his foot!" We walked up to the cage, and sure enough, she was right... it was a three-legged fox!
Here are a couple of pictures I took at the nature center.
By the way, can anyone borrow me $13.00 through Paypal ([email protected]) so I can get my cat some food? He is all out, and I don't have any cash left, after paying for my prescription the other day! I wish food stamps covered cat food! Sammy-Joe eats Wellness Brand food, and it is $13.00 for the small bag. If anyone could borrow it to me through Paypal, I will send it back to you on Monday!
OK, here are the pics...
Little Bear looking at a cage of birds.

Little Bear holds a "class" for me and Pufferfish inside the Quiet Reading Corner at the Nature Center!

I was trying to get Pufferfish to look at me and point to the birds at the same time, but it was just confusing her! I don't know what she was doing in this picture!

Pufferfish clamoring into the Quiet Reading Corner.

This is a cool little pond in the butterfly garden, with goldfish and frogs and stuff in it!

These next two pictures are my favorites... I want to put them in frames or something!

We spotted this duck just sitting there peacefully, standing on one foot!

Thanks for coming back, everyone! I'll write more soon!

Peace, Love and Goodwill For All!

Today we planned on going hiking at the Arboretum, but Monkeyboy woke up complaining that he had no clean shirts left. This is a common complaint for Monkeyboy. He often says he has no clothes, and the clothes he does have, he refuses to wear. Our dryer is broken right now, so clean laundry can be scarce, but Monkeyboy tends to exagerate.

Monkeyboy wanted me to buy him a new shirt at Wal-Mart on our way to the Arboretum. Instead, I agreed to stop at the Goodwill store near our house, where I knew he would be able to find a clean shirt for a buck or two.

I used to shop at Goodwill all the time when I lived in Denver, but that was years ago. I'd never been to the one in our town. Man, I should have never gone in! Instead of going in, and bringing all three kids with me, i should have just let Monkeyboy run in by himself.

I intended to just get Monkeyboy the one shirt. Instead I got:

2 shirts for Monkeyboy

1 T-shirt for Little Bear, which is about ninety sizes to big but which she desperately wanted because of the saying on the front. ("Yes, I'm an athlete. Yes, I'm a girl. Yes, I can kick your butt.")

1 pair of hiking boots for Little Bear.

1 pair of jelly shoes for Little Bear.

2 educational electronic toddler toys for Pufferfish.

1 VCR game.

1 board game.

I sopped myself there. But when I was offered a Goodwill Discount Card, I decided, this might just become a monthly outing for us! Can you believe Goodwill has a discount card? I only spent about $20, but I got a lot of good stuff, and made all the kids happy... in a ghetto-fabulous sort of way!

After Goodwill, we headed out to the Big Rock at the Morton Arboretum. Morton Arboretum has a Discount Day on Wednesdays, but never try going to the Children's Garden on that day... there's barely any breathing room! However, the hiking trails are barely used. We took the Woodland Trail, which is an easy trail... so easy I even pushed Pufferfish in the stroller instead of carrying her! We spent the whole day with the Big Rock. This is my favorite kind of day. No video games, no TV, no music... just four kids and a rock. How much better does it get?

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<---Little Bear spilled her orange pop on the Big Rock!

<----Are they dancing?

<---Pufferfish jumps off the ig Rock!

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<---I thought she looked so cute at the time. Later, I realized she was pooping!

<---I was jumping off the Big Rock, but it looks like I'm falling out of a tree!

<---Monkeyboy shoves Sarah off the Big Rock

 

 <----Hugging the Big Rock goodbye

Nature Calls!

Today Little bear and Pufferfish and i had a sort of campy theme. We read stories about camping and summer camp, went to the nature center, and tie-dyed some shirts!

But before the day had even started, nature called to us in another way!

I was helping the little girls get dressed, and the dogs were playing together, when Little Bear said, "Whats the matter with Mijo's privates?"

i looked over, and oh dear Lord, the puppy's... eh-em... private part was extended all the way down to his feet!

i mean, this little guy is hung!

Mijo didn't quite know what to do about the situation. He just stood there, staring at me, with his tail between his legs. It actually looked like he had two tails between his legs, since the private part was about the same length as the tail!

i called Diana to tell her, and after laughing for a while she told me to call Jimmy, and Jimmy didn't know what to do so I called back Diana, who was at work trying to consult the internet to find out what could be the problem with Mijo.

She asked me to send her a picture of Mijo so she could see exactly what was happening there.

Here is the picture I hastily snapped with my phone. Kind of blurry, but i think you'll get the idea!

Anyway, while we were all trying to figure out what to do for Mijo, he solved the problem himself. He just licked it for a while, and finally it shrunk back to its normal size!

Which was a huge relief to me, because Diana's Internet research had led her to some information that advised me to do some very X-rated things to Mijo to get the "swelling" to go down!

Now, go wash your eyeballs out with soap! Then scroll down to see some nice, sweet pictures of the kids!

Oh yeah, and the tie-dyes? Here's some pics of them in process! Chck back tomorrow to see how the finished products turned out! (They have to sit in plastic overnight before we rinse them out!)