The Kids – Page 10 – a hippie with a minivan

What a day….

Last night Simon was called into work… he wasn’t even on call but on Saturday morning there was an electrical problem and an electrician died and there was a small fire in his building…They had to transfer the system and the people that were on call were called in and needed to sleep so Simon had to go….

This morning he arrived at 9:20 and we left soon after for a friends birthday party at an indoor play area… we got there at about 11:15 and the boys disappeared in the tunnels and slides… Khéna didn’t want to go so Simon watched over him as he went around the arcade games… I was talking to another mom and I turned around to see Simon with Khéna in his arms and full of blood… I tool him and headed to the reception desk and asked for help… his face and shirt and hands were really covered in blood and looked for what was bleeding and found a long and deep gash on his forehead… Simon explained that he was just running along and feel and hit his head on one of the arcade games…

The girls at the reception desk called 911 for an ambulance… we applied pressure and cleaned up most of the blood and the gash stopped bleeding… the police arrived before the ambulance with a small emergency kit and stayed until the ambulance arrived, and as we thought, a trip to the emergency room was needed…

Khéna cried and screamed not wanting to go on the gurney… but the minute we got in the ambulance he was OK… looking out the back window and naming the things that he saw… trucks, cars, trees… it felt good to see him a bit more calmed…

We got to the emergency room and went right into Triage… the nurse asked a few questions and then came to the dreaded question… “are his vaccines up to date?” To which I responded that we don’t vaccinate… she said “OK” and then whispered… “I don’t vaccinate either”… and then she warned me that they might push the tetanus vaccine but that it was my choice…She said that the wait would be a few hours and they put a wet compress on his forehead so that the wound would stay soft and clean…

I got Khéna into a Wheelchair because he was heavy and a bit groggy… and went downstairs to get something to drink and get him a stuffed animal at the gift shop… he was happy and choose a stuffed cat that he has almost not let go of since…

I was able to keep him in the wheelchair for about 2 hours until he decided he had energy again and was wanting to walk… and then we walked and walked all over the small portion of the emergency room while we waited… about 2 1/2 hours later he finally sat down and nursed a bit…a few minutes later he was asleep… and they called… we went and waited in the suture room until the doctor came… when he got the he again asked the same questions.. what happened? how old is he? are his Vaccines up to date? I answered that we don’t vaccinate and he just said Ok… and left it at that… he looked at the gash and decided that glue was the best thing for it.. a nurse came in to help hold him while the doctor glues his wound and within a minute it was done and though he cried a bit because he was scared, he let them do what they had to do and the minute it was done he was OK…

I got him ready and headed outside with my little Khéna back to normal besides the wound on his forehead… I called Simon who had since gone to the house of the friends who were having the birthday with the boys. and they came and picked us up… we were at the hospital for more that 5 hours…

We just got home and he is asleep on me…and now we all are heading to bed… What a long day…

Beautiful day…

The last few days have been cold here… my hands were even freezing when I went on my bike last night… but today the weather turned and it was hot! I mean yesterday it was about 12-13 and today it was 30!

I did some things around the house this morning and by the afternoon I was hot and the boys were driving me a bit crazy… I am realizing that I have been so less patient these last few days and I am not liking it…

So, I went outside and dragged out the kiddie pool for the boys… they were so excited and I was able to get a few pics…

Colin never stops jumping…

and is a bit crazy… (ok… a lot)

but he is a cutie…

Xavier is looking so much older lately and is outgrowing everything… the pool is so small for him and he can o longer fit in the little car that the boys have…

Khéna had a blast! he was so excited when he saw the pool and played in it the longest….

(I have to admit I love the motion in the above pic… I wanted to get him pouring the water out, but it is cool to see the water still coming from the bottom holes… )

Anyway… we stayed and played until the boys wanted to come back inside… and after that the house was a bit calmer and my patience came back a bit…

I looking forward to having the big pool ready for swimming so that I can jump in too!

No more training wheels!

Xavier decided yesterday that he wanted to take the training wheels off his bike but Simon was not able to get to it at that moment… So today when he asked again we all went outside and got the wheels off and watched him try riding for the first time…

Simon held him a bit but was able to let go for a second or two the first time that they tried…

but after about 5 min there was no need to help anymore and in the rest of the time that we were out there he knew how to push off and how to turn…

He is so proud of himself!!

and it really goes for show…
when kids are ready to do something they will do it, and they will do it quickly!!

New books…

We have a lot of books in our home, neither Xavier or Colin bring them out on a regular basis… we need to make some trips to Montreal more often and go to the library there because our local library just doesn’t cut it… there are no English books at all… it sucks because we could walk there…

Their interests are changing of course, and because they know our books, and the topics are not what are interesting them at the moment, books have just been collecting dust (except for a few of Simon’s that the boys love)… so a bit more than a week ago I asked the boys to each choose a book online… something that they would really like to read or look at…

Colin choose the “Star Wars Complete Visual Dictionary”

which is an amazing book that shows each character in full colour… there is so much detail on each page but it is not overwhelming… great book!

Xavier has been playing Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter nights and has been interested in learning more about the game of Dungeons & Dragons and has been looking through Simon’s old Monster manual for a while now… so he got “Monster Manual: A 4th Edition Core Rulebook”

He was a bit disappointed that some of the monsters that he likes got cut out of the book but that doesn’t stop him from loving it and looking at it often…

Though they were a bit on the more pricey side then I usually would buy, I love the choices that they made because I know that these books will grow with them for a long time…

And the greatest part was that they were so excited to get their books and when they came they were so enthralled with them that they spent the day just looking at them…

(I put this post up about an hour ago but I have to add this.. a few min ago)

Progression of a strawberry mark…

I have been thinking about showing the progression of Khéna’s haemangioma for a while now and after a conversation with Annie the other day, I thought it would be a good time… ( I know that I would have liked to see something simular when I saw that he had one)

First… what is it? (you might not imagine how many times I have had to answer this out in public)

Infantile haemangioma (American spelling ‘hemangioma’) describes a benign (non-cancerous) condition affecting cutaneous blood vessels. It is also known as proliferative haemangioma because it is due to proliferating endothelial cells; these are the cells that line blood vessels.

Infantile haemangiomas are proliferative lesions that usually develop shortly after birth. They are distinct from vascular malformations, which are usually present at birth and are less common.

Over 80% of infantile haemangiomas occur on the head and neck area. They grow to 80% of maximum size in the first three months and most stop growing at about 5 months. However, they may keep growing for up to 18 months.

After that, they undergo regression or involution. This can take as long as 3-10 years. Nearly all flat infantile haemangiomas eventually involute and disappear without treatment. However, regression of bulky haemangiomas tends to be incomplete, and they may leave an irregular atrophic (thin) scar or anetoderma (a dented scar) in at least 50% of cases.

From here…

though you don’t see it, he had an even bigger one under his hair but it grew quicker and faded completely by 18 months…

(you can see all of his pics here)

3 days old (no sign of it)