Look Good?

I sure hope so. This is going to be our dinner, tonight. If it comes out the way I want, I'll post more pictures & a recipe.

Movin' on Up

Joseph has made the move to underpants! There's still ~1 accident a day, but that's about it. We still have backup diapers for long outings, since he's never used a real toilet, only the training potty, but that's OK. He's totally dry at night, though, and wakes up and uses the potty first thing, all by himself.

A Pair of Pants

James must be teething. He's gnawing on anything that even gets near his mouth, drooling more than usual, and crabby as anything. He is, officially, a Crankypants.

Joseph, on the other hand, has been feeling the loneliness of having Mom busy with other people, lately. It was his turn to get some good one-on-one time with me, so on Monday we went on a Super Special Shopping Trip to pick out underpants. He looked at everything Target had to offer and chose Lightning McQueen ("Tar!"), Thomas the tank engine (because it's a train), and "Big-gid Unnerpants Lite Daw-ee" (boxer breifs). Diego and glow-in-the-dark Spiderman didn't quite make the cut.

Simon LeGimp

See? Now that I can make bad jokes about it, I feel better.

Simon's back home, and behaving much more like a normal cat should. I have to say that the naked foot with only three toes is a bit creepy, but it's way less disturbing than what it looked like before, so I'll take it. He's still got the cone on his head, to keep him from messing with the stitches, but he can eat and drink just fine, so he'll be OK. He'll have to stay in the bathroom for a few more days, and he gets the stitches out in two weeks.

Simon

I'm not sure why it bothers me that I can't think of a witty title for this. The whole tale is gruesome enough that humor would be a bit tasteless, and yet I feel compelled to think up some sort of pun or something.

Simon snuck out, last weekend. He was gone for a day or two, and when he came back, Sunday evening, he was moving slowly. I just thought he was worn out and recovering from being hungry, so I didn't think much of it. By Tuesday he had a slight but noticeable limp. He was spending a lot of time sitting in one place, but, again, he'd just come back from the feline equivalent of being on the island in LOST, so I let it go. Late Wednesday night I saw that his hind foot (not the hind foot with the limp, though) was swollen to the size of a ping pong or golf ball and oozing bloody fluid. We took him to the vet first thing the next morning and they got him shaved and washed up, but they didn't know what had caused all the injuries. There weren't any bite marks, no broken glass, nothing to tell them what was wrong but a couple of roughed up pads, and the pain and swelling. They gave him an antibiotic and sent me home with pain meds. Saturday morning, when I went to give him his medicine, I saw that his swollen foot had ruptured, and one of his toes was now little more than a flap of skin. We rushed him to the vet and they washed him up again and put a cone on his head so he'd leave the wound alone, but there wasn't much else she could do. He'd only just started antibiotics ~48 hours earlier, and Dr. Garza didn't want to try anything that would upset the beginning of the healing process. She wanted us to let it be for a few days, then they'd look at it again. We set an appointment for today with another vet at the practice (our's has Mondays off) to get Simon looked at again, and he said that there's exposed bone on the mangled toe and it's starting to dry up. We could either amputate the toe (that was he would do if it was his cat), or attempt to let it heal naturally. There was no guarantee that the latter would work, though, and in the meantime it would be a long, painful wait. I don't really have the means--in time, equipment or manpower-- to tend that kind of wound, though. Dr. Garza had shown me the damage on Saturday, and it was pretty extensive. I'd never really seen an injury so bad that it made me ill just to look at it. There was almost no way I'd be able to care for him in that condition. We decided to take Dr. Riddle's advice. My cat is currently at the vet's office, where he's awaiting amputation for the bad toe. No one still has any clue what happened to cause all this.

Explore UT

Sorry I've been so slow to update. We've had a lot going on.

A week ago, Saturday was Explore UT. It's a huge open house for the public, especially students (of all ages) to see what sort of things UT has to offer. We started on the South Mall, picking up passports, and stopping to make knights' shields and princess crowns. We saw a bit of Shakespeare (Pyramus & Thisbe!) in the grass of a courtyard, and got to see our names written in a dozen languages from all over the world. We stopped for lunch at the science building, where they were making ice cream instantly, using giant bottles of liquid nitrogen. Inside, we got to look into microscopes and stereoscopes, check out real live crayfish and insects, and learn about germs. Nearby, there was a sand pit for digging up fossils you could keep and take with you. In the anthropology building, we got to see a real human skeleton, and put together a plastic one. Elena listened in awe to explanations of how to tell how old someone is by looking at bones and teeth, wanted to know what every one of the stringy things on the slightly fleshed out skeleton was. She wanted to see all the red and blue lines, follow the green nerve ones, and asked about all of the muscles and tried to read the labels. She stayed and listened another 10-15 minutes beyond when Joseph and Jonathan got bored and wandered off. While we were walking around, outside, we saw miniature trebuchets, about 4 or 5 feet high, launching water ballons at crowds of 8 year olds who were trying to catch them. Over by the engineering building, there were blocks--both wooden, and toddler-sized lego-style--for building towers. Every one had a great time seeing how hight they could go before the wind knocked it down. On the way back to the car, we got to march with the Longhorn Band, which was passing by and playing songs on the way to the tower. We got to sing the "Daddy's Hookin' Horns Spelling Song" and listen to Deep in the Heart of Texas on the steps at the bottom of the main building's plaza. It was a long day, but very exciting, and educationally entertaining.

Pretty Peas?

"I'm hungry, Mom. Can I have some food, please?"


"That looks good. What is it? Peas and cereal?"


"I don't know, Mom. I've never had anything like that, before."


"I guess I'll try it, but if it's yucky I'm not eating any more."


"Hmm. That's pretty tasty. Can I have some more?"

So Unfair

I've been trying to keep up with Marin's 10 lbs in 6 weeks Challenge, but I'm having a hard time pushing myself to exercise (don't we all?). I don't belong to a gym, or even the YMCA. There are very few places within walking distance that don't involve shopping or wouldn't bore the kids to tears. It's painfully difficult to hold Proud Warrior or Wide-Legged Downward Dog when there are small children literally climbing all over you. So, today we went for a walk. All those who had the coordination carried themselves. It was a leisurely 30-40 minute trip out to the Rec Center. We played on the playground for a little while, but not so long that Joseph would collapse on the way home. James was asleep in the sling, so he and I stayed mostly in the shade. Walking home took longer, as energy was finally flagging, so we paused every other block to check out interesting sticks. After being out for nearly two hours, we arrive back home and I pass around water to everyone and make snacks. Shortly thereafter, Jonathan gets home from work and tells me I have a sunburn. My husband doesn't get sunburns. It drives me crazy because I burn pretty easily. I grumble a bit, feeling stupid that I'd forgotten the sunblock, but check the kids to see what the damage is. Joseph has rosy cheeks. That's it. All four of us got the same sun exposure, and who ends up looking like a lobster? That'd be me. Even the baby still has perfect porcelain skin.