My dad and his wife are coming to visit. Fortunately, for once, my husband will actually be off when they're here and able to DO stuff...
Wolverine Update: Not sure if it's the food changes or the soap change - but he's not itching nearly as much so we're not changing either one to see which it is.
CrazyHorse update: He now has to wear a patch over his left eye for a couple of hours a day. He hates it but, if we can work on it now - he won't get worse. According to the perscription, he should have a lazy eye so maybe if we force that bad eye to work, maybe it'll even out. At least, that's the theory.
Otherwise: we're pretty good.
So - I'm not sure if it's working or if there is some other factor going on but - whatever is going on, Wolverine appears to be feeling better. His skin is clear, he's not scratching nearly as much - at least, it doesn't appear to be a constant. His little digestive system is being normal! And he slept through the night! In his own bed! It's been something like amonth since the last time that happened. I don't know if it's the food thing or what but I'm seeing a definate difference here and that's so awesome I can't even begin to explain.
We got passes for The Good Zoo at Ogelbay today. It helps to have a sisterinlaw whose sister a - works there and b - adores your children. CrazyHorse and Hubster have been picking berries like there's no tomorrow all week and we took some to the zoo today for Enrichment Day (when they give the critters fun stuff to do - like ripping apart paper mache stuff). We watched the African Wild Dogs tear up some paper mache fire crackers and the woman - I think she's in training to do the kid tours and stuff - asked about his name (his real one not the one I use here though they come from the same place) and he told her it was a lakota souix word. I'm not sure if she didn't know the lakota souix are American Indians or what but she decided that CH & the AFRICAN wild dogs have something in common. So it didn't surprise me at all when, regardless of the sign, he kept calling them American wild dogs. Anyway after that we made our way over to the ringtailed lemurs. CrazyHorse got to take the berries and go inside the enclosure to feed the lemurs. By hand. As in, he held the berries and they took them. From his hand. Of course, at this moment, my camera decided to eat its batteries again. Again. Fortunately, hubster got a few pics on his phone so hopefully he can figure out how to send them to the computer and I can post them. I'm not sure he fully realizes just how cool it is that he gets to do stuff like that. He's gotten to play with baby kangaroos and feed the otters and now the lemurs. We also fed some overripe strawberries to Petunia the Pig. Throughout all of this Wolverine was a basketcase. Crying and screaming and generally being a fussy fussy boy. I really hope this phase goes by quickly. I know a lot of it has to do with him needing to be away from me a little bit more. He and I are together almost 24/7. That's got to stop or he's going to be even more clingy later... on the upside - this food thing appears to be settling in some. Not sure its doing anything but - can't hurt him not to eat artificial crap either.
I am a fairly decent mom. I'd even say I'm a good mom. I've been a mom for almost eight years now, amazing as that is. So why is it that my grandmother can't seem to understand that I'm not an idiot? She called me today to make sure I knew all the risks of sparklers and small fireworks and to ensure that there would be no plans incorporating those things for the fourth of July. Personally, I have no problem with some of those little fireworks, if you're responsible enough to handle them. That generally means - to me anyway - not for use by children. But fun for children to watch!
My husband was a Marine. His specialty was demolitions. He happens to LOVE fireworks because it's really the closest he gets to that stuff now. I'm not going to take that from him. He loves to do it. CrazyHorse loves to watch it. I'm not saying that I'm going to hand the kid a sparkler or anything - even though my mom let me do it (and I'm sure she got the EXACT same phone call 20 years ago). That doesn't mean I'm going to let him light the bumblebees or pinwheels or whatever the Hubster happens to bring home (even though my mom let me do it).
I love my boys. I do my damnedest to ensure their safety. I enforce the helmet rule, the seatbelt rule, the booster seat rule. I make sure there are safety plugs in all the sockets, that the cleaners are out of reach, that the alcohol is out of reach, that all OTC and Prescrip medicines are out of reach. I'm not an idiot and I hate being treated like one. I did discover that the fastest way to get my grandmother off the phone is to tell her that I'm not an idiot. Somedays I wonder if she thinks I'd be the worst mother in the world without her constant, daily reminders of what I'm supposed to be doing.
Probably.
But I'm not. And I wouldn't be.
Given that this is the Hubster's vacation time, we've been doing more family stuff than usual. The weather hasn't been very cooperative but it's been fun. Hubster took CrazyHorse out to his grandmother's property twice to pick mulberries and black raspberries. Yesterday, we found two pick your own berries places and loaded up. Today, there is a double recipe of strawberry=blackraspberry fruit leather in the oven and tomorrow I'll be making a double recipe of black raspberry cobbler for the fourth of july picnic. It was fun to go out and pick the berries with Hubs and CH. Wolverine stayed with Hubster's parents because he would have gotten bored or fussy.
We've added another thing to our Someday Dream - berries. Lots and lots of them. With the veggies and eggs and all that stuff too - maybe we'll even start a side of the road stand on the weekends or something. Having the dream is nice. Working towards the dream is nicer. Living the dream... we hope to someday and that will be fabulous.