Lightning and Thunder, Oh My!

Today we had a reasonably serious thunderstorm, which reminded me about some photos I wanted to share. This summer in New England has been like living in Florida. There was a two week span where we had afternoon thunderstorms every day. And they were impressive! Serious downpours! 1/4 inch hail! Take a look:


Check out the big pile of ice that collected at the bottom of the slide:

The latest cake! Yum!

I finished the cake for the second auction winner today. This was for a 10-year-old girl having a pool party. I wasn't as difficult as most, but it was really fun and I love how it turned out:


If you're going to do a castle cake, do a sand castle cake! I even wrote the birthday girl's name in the sand:


The kids didn't help, but this retro girl looks like she'd be great at baking cakes!

An Honest Effort

If you've been reading my blog and some of my comments to other blogs, you know that my son has struggled a lot with potty training. Recently, after his summer program ended, he went through a week or 2 long phase where he "forgot" how to use the potty. Now he seems to be back on track with few accidents. Today he gave me a good laugh. I heard him calling to me from the bathroom, "Mommy, I forgot to pull my pants down!" I went in the bathroom to find him "in position," hips thrust out at the edge of the toilet bowl. His shorts and underwear were still on, and there was a big puddle at his feet. We laughed together and I applauded his effort. It was just an honest mistake!!

Proud Mamma!

Things that may be ordinary or simple for other families are not always so easy for us. Things like... going to the dentist, or getting a haircut. At my son's first trip to the dentist when he was around 3, he refused to open his mouth. I wasn't there for that first visit, but I was told that they spent a half hour trying to come up with a way to convince him to open his mouth and count his teeth. No way. Not happening.

HOWEVER, today I took both kids to the dentist. They were both SUPER and cooperative and well-behaved and even had fun! Owen was laughing with the hygenist, that contagious and sweet belly laugh that he has! Both kids did everything asked of them and even had their teeth cleaned. I was so incredibly proud of them.

This really was a huge step for Owen and showed me how he may really be making major steps in his social development.

Yippee!

Ophthalmologist or comedienne?

So, I went to the eye doctor last week for a regular eye exam and new contact lenses. I was told that I have meibomitis, which is a clogging of the glands that release the oily components of a person's tears along the eyelid margin. This can cause dry-eye, sore eyelids, and higher chance of styes, among other things. The doctor said to treat it with warm, moist compresses. Specifically, she gave me a piece of paper with more info and instructions for treating. As a busy mom, this gave me a good laugh. Hope you appreciate it as well:
"It is important to be diligent with performing warm compresses. I recommend patient perform them in this fashion: take a potato, heat it in the microwave then wrap it inside a warm moist washcloth. Hold the warm compress over the eyelid and massage the eyelids for about 5 minutes. Do this four times daily or more, then gradually taper as condition improves."

Squished boobs

Today I got a mammogram. (My 2nd ever!) It's uncomfortable, but not as bad as other stuff we women have to go through! And I swear, the actual procedure only took like 5 minutes. Well worth the trip for the peace of mind! Here's some interesting things I learned today:
- Deodorant and powders can show up on the images (so don't wear them.)
- Most of what they look for is differences when compared to previous years' images (so the first one is mostly just a baseline.)
- The mammography lab actually runs on schedule -- I didn't even have a chance to take my book out of my bag!

Help!

So something triggered Owen to start really thinking about death. He was asking me this morning if he's going to die and if Mommy and Daddy are going to die. And at bedtime, he was still thinking about it, teary-eyed telling me he doesn't want to die. Have any of you dealt with these questions? What kind of approach do you take? I think it may be talking about his Grampy (Steve's dad) who died when Owen was 2 months old that triggered, or fueled, a lot of these thoughts. He's realizing that it's his daddy's daddy and he's concerned about losing his own daddy. (He was even concerned about something happening to his daddy on the plane home tonight....)

Another related issue is that my grandmother, who's just shy of 90, is not going to last much longer. I was kind of planning to take the whole family to the funeral when the time comes, but is this a bad idea, given the current emotional development of my children?

I'd love some other parents' opinions about this stuff or some suggestions for reading material that might help me.