Saturday, June 27, 2009
Gone To The Dogs
Our local art museum is sponsoring a public artwork display this summer entitled "Dog Days of Summer." Several local artists have painted/decorated life-sized statues of dogs that have been placed all over town for people to see. As a part of their kick-off celebration for this exhibit, several elementary and middle school students were invited to have their own dog artwork displayed at the museum for the next month. I am so excited and proud of DD as she was one of the kids who were selected! She is definitely a much better artist than I could ever hope to be. Congratulations, DD!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
How To Get The Attention Of Lifeguards
One of the local high schools offers swimming lessons during the summer. Four days a week they offer "open swim" immediately following the lessons for the public to come and use the pool. Today was the third time I took DS & DD to open swim after DD's swimming lesson. I've always wondered just how much attention the teenage lifeguards are paying to the swimmers at times. Well, today I had the chance to find out.
We had been in the pool for about an hour when the incident happened. DS & DD were throwing diving rings out into the pool and then taking turns going out to collect them. They also decided that I needed to dive after a few as well. As I was coming up from collecting 3 of the rings I hear a loud, piercing scream. Of course it was coming from one of my children....DD. I got ahold of her and put her up on the side of the pool as I tried to figure out why she was screaming. At that point I noticed the blood dripping from her lower lip. So I climb out of the pool and walk her into the girls' locker room to check her out and clean her up. A couple of minutes later, after I had gotten the bleeding to stop, one of the life guards came in with a first aid kit to see if DD was OK. As I answered her that DD was fine, all I could think about was that the response time was not very quick. Hopefully it was just due to the fact that I had already gotten to DD and gotten her out of the pool & was obviously taking care of her.
Now you may be wondering just what happened to DD to cause the bleeding & screaming. Evidently DS had gone to get one of the diving rings and in the process kicked DD in the mouth. (He did apologize profusely when DD & I came back to the pool.) Ah, the joys of children. You just never know what will happen next.....
We had been in the pool for about an hour when the incident happened. DS & DD were throwing diving rings out into the pool and then taking turns going out to collect them. They also decided that I needed to dive after a few as well. As I was coming up from collecting 3 of the rings I hear a loud, piercing scream. Of course it was coming from one of my children....DD. I got ahold of her and put her up on the side of the pool as I tried to figure out why she was screaming. At that point I noticed the blood dripping from her lower lip. So I climb out of the pool and walk her into the girls' locker room to check her out and clean her up. A couple of minutes later, after I had gotten the bleeding to stop, one of the life guards came in with a first aid kit to see if DD was OK. As I answered her that DD was fine, all I could think about was that the response time was not very quick. Hopefully it was just due to the fact that I had already gotten to DD and gotten her out of the pool & was obviously taking care of her.
Now you may be wondering just what happened to DD to cause the bleeding & screaming. Evidently DS had gone to get one of the diving rings and in the process kicked DD in the mouth. (He did apologize profusely when DD & I came back to the pool.) Ah, the joys of children. You just never know what will happen next.....
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Always The Unexpected
I just never know what to expect during even the most mundane outings with my children. One would think that with only 2 kids, life would be a little more bland. But not with my two! We went to the bank this morning. Both kids had done chores for my mother-in-law (who currently needs extra help around the house & yard due to recent knee replacement surgery) and she had paid them for their efforts. So both DS & DD had checks they needed to deposit in their savings accounts. Now, I have taken both kids to the bank many times before without incident and had no reason to believe this time would be any different. They're 11 and 7 now....how difficult could it be? I found out the answer to that today.
I had both DS & DD fill out their own deposit slips (want to start them early on knowing the ins and outs of financial responsibility!), then we headed over to the nearest teller. DD made her deposit first. As I was handing her the receipt, I noticed that the amount listed on it as her current balance was way off....as in about $13,000.00 off!! I pointed out the error to the teller, who realized she had printed off the wrong balance. She quickly corrected her error (at this point I should have realized that things happen in threes!).
DD had picked up a sucker from the basket of suckers while making out her deposit slip and requested to be able to enjoy it at this point. She also then asked to get a drink at the water fountain. I gave her an affirmative response to both requests and let her head off for her drink while DS made his deposit. Just before he finished up, DD runs up to me saying, "Mom! Help! My sucker's caught!" I look over to see her holding out a section of her hair away from her head.....with the sucker dangling from it! I tell DS to finish up his transaction as I take DD to the bathroom to deal with the stuck sucker. (Luckily it comes out very easily by running her hair under a flow of water from the sink....so she ended up with very wet hair, but at least the sucker was out!)
One would assume that DS would be waiting for me just outside the bathroom door as he knew that is where we went. We were only in there for a couple of minutes, but when we exited the bathroom, DS was not anywhere to be seen! Someone else was at the teller's station where he had been. I started looking around (the bank is very small & it's very open with even the doors to the offices being all glass) and couldn't find him anywhere. I even looked out the door to see if he had gone to wait by the van. Nope! At this point the bank manager had come out of her office and noticed me looking around. She asked what the problem was, and when I told her I had lost my son she promptly started frantically looking around the lobby (she started by looking at the kids' area, which is stocked with paper, crayons, a small table, and little chairs....until I informed her that he was a tall 11-year-old!). At this point it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, he had decided to go to the bathroom. So I went over to the men's bathroom door and hollered in, asking if he was in there. And yes, that is where I found my son. (And when he came out, we had a little chat about letting me know if he was going to be somewhere other than where I was expecting him to be!) I must say, I never thought I would lose my 11-year-old, especially in someplace as small as our local bank. And especially as this is the child who has never been one to wander more than 2 feet from me at any store or such, ever! But I guess that just goes to show that life will never be dull with these two around!
I had both DS & DD fill out their own deposit slips (want to start them early on knowing the ins and outs of financial responsibility!), then we headed over to the nearest teller. DD made her deposit first. As I was handing her the receipt, I noticed that the amount listed on it as her current balance was way off....as in about $13,000.00 off!! I pointed out the error to the teller, who realized she had printed off the wrong balance. She quickly corrected her error (at this point I should have realized that things happen in threes!).
DD had picked up a sucker from the basket of suckers while making out her deposit slip and requested to be able to enjoy it at this point. She also then asked to get a drink at the water fountain. I gave her an affirmative response to both requests and let her head off for her drink while DS made his deposit. Just before he finished up, DD runs up to me saying, "Mom! Help! My sucker's caught!" I look over to see her holding out a section of her hair away from her head.....with the sucker dangling from it! I tell DS to finish up his transaction as I take DD to the bathroom to deal with the stuck sucker. (Luckily it comes out very easily by running her hair under a flow of water from the sink....so she ended up with very wet hair, but at least the sucker was out!)
One would assume that DS would be waiting for me just outside the bathroom door as he knew that is where we went. We were only in there for a couple of minutes, but when we exited the bathroom, DS was not anywhere to be seen! Someone else was at the teller's station where he had been. I started looking around (the bank is very small & it's very open with even the doors to the offices being all glass) and couldn't find him anywhere. I even looked out the door to see if he had gone to wait by the van. Nope! At this point the bank manager had come out of her office and noticed me looking around. She asked what the problem was, and when I told her I had lost my son she promptly started frantically looking around the lobby (she started by looking at the kids' area, which is stocked with paper, crayons, a small table, and little chairs....until I informed her that he was a tall 11-year-old!). At this point it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, he had decided to go to the bathroom. So I went over to the men's bathroom door and hollered in, asking if he was in there. And yes, that is where I found my son. (And when he came out, we had a little chat about letting me know if he was going to be somewhere other than where I was expecting him to be!) I must say, I never thought I would lose my 11-year-old, especially in someplace as small as our local bank. And especially as this is the child who has never been one to wander more than 2 feet from me at any store or such, ever! But I guess that just goes to show that life will never be dull with these two around!
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