Well-Mannered Frivolity

Katherine

14 years ago my life was forever changed. I became a mother. I will admit that I was somewhat indifferent during my pregnancy. I fretted that I would be a bad mother. I had no experience with babies whatsoever, and I was rather selfish. That all changed once I gave birth.

Katherine's was a difficult birth. I was induced on December 27th, 10 days after my due date. I spent the whole day hooked up to pitocin to no avail. That evening inserted some sort of gel into me (prostaglandin gel?), and the next morning the nurse hooked me back up to the pitocin. Then the doctor broke my water. Labor started shortly thereafter. I wanted to go drug free, but the pain proved to be more than I could handle. Turns out Katherine was face up. After 3 hours of pushing, the doctor manually turning her face down, a 3rd degree episiotomy, and a vacuum extraction Katherine was born at 5:33 PM. She weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 9oz and had a head full of black hair.

While I was pregnant I worked nights as a billing clerk at at trucking company, and Bill worked crazy hours at a grocery store. Our plan was that I would quit my job and look for one with better hours when the baby was 6 weeks old. Ha! 6 weeks stretched into 3 months into 6 months into 12 months and here she is, 14 years old, and I still haven't gone back to work. Other than a brief, disastrous stint in preschool Katherine has never been in an institutional school setting.

I discovered from a very young age that Katherine was a bit of a square peg. Rather than sending her to school and forcing her to fit into a round hole, I decided to keep her home a create a square  hole that she could thrive in. It's working out pretty good.

She's not your average 14 year old girl. She has absolutely no interest in boys, fashion, or current music trends. She reads 1-2 books per day. She loves the Science Channel. Her favorite thing to study is theoretical physics. She is very into politics and knows more about current events than most adults do. She is obsessed with Pokemon and the Warriors book series.

It has been a fantastic 14 years. Raising Katherine has led me to stretch and grow in ways I never imagined possible. In some ways I almost feel like we have grown up together. I love her more than she will ever know.

Wendy

Haircuts and head lice

I took three fifths of the clan for haircuts today. For the first time the boys got regular little boy haircuts. No spikes, mohawks, or faux-hawks for them anymore. They look so grown up. And Katherine. Poor Katherine inherited my hair. Our hair is extremely thick with a lot of body. I don't style my hair so much as I whip it into submission. The problem with Katherine is she doesn't care a lick about her hair. I have to remind her to brush it. She wants to be a scientist when she grows up. Well, she's got the Einstein hair already. You've got to admire a 13 year old girl who is more interested in science and politics than she is in hair, make-up and (ohthankyoulord) boys.

Taking the children to get a haircut is a bit of an ordeal for me. A couple of years ago we went through a year of on and off head lice. Every time I would eradicate the little buggers they would come back and bring more friends to the party. I think it is safe to say that I have a full-blown phobia of head lice--hold on a minute while I pause to scratch my head vigorously---Anyway, when I finally thought I gotten rid of the lice once and for all I ventured out to the hair salon. I'm sure you can see where this is going.....Bingo! The hairdresser found lice on James. That was the single most humiliating moment of my life. So now before haircuts I slather the haircutees heads down with conditioner and meticulously comb through their hair with a nit comb. As a matter of fact anytime one of my children sits next to me or sits in my lap I start picking through their hair with my fingers. Think they might grow up to be little neurotics?

 

Just in case you were wondering, here's how you get rid of head lice---Hopefully you will never need this info--

1. Wash the infested head with Neutrogena T-Gel Shampoo

2. Slather head with coconut oil and comb with nit comb and nit pick with fingers

3. Wash all bedding in hot water and dry on high heat--if multiple children are infested this is worth a trip to the laundry mat

4. Thoroughly vacuum beds, couches, chair--anywhere the child(ren) may have sat

5. Bag up all stuffed toys and dolls tightly for a minimum of three days.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 every night for about 5 days. Let them sleep with the coconut oil in their hair. Coconut oil loosens the nits from the hair shaft and dissolves the exoskeleton of the lice and nymphs. It can be found in most health food stores or the organic section of your local grocery store.

Don't waste your money on Rid or Nix type products. They are toxic, they don't work very well, and they are expensive.

Peace,

Wendy

My little hockey player

James has lost five of his baby teeth at once. I'm not sure how he is actually eating.

Peace,

Wendy

Willie-Bird and Jimbo

Will's nickname is Willie-Bird the Silly-Bird. That's what he like me to call him.

James likes to be called David James Jimbo Fairfull.

I am the only one who humors them in this.

James likes to make messes. He is a human dynamo. He can walk thru a room and clutter and foolishness appear in his wake. He inherited that trait from me.

Will likes to clean. About 3-4 night per week he cleans his room while the rest of us watch TV. At first I thought he might be a tad OCD. But he recently told me he wants to be "one of the Clean House persons" when he grow up. He's not a little off; he  watched too much reality TV. He gets his cleanliness and organizational skills from my dad. He never cleans on the nights we watch wrestling. The boy has is priorities straight.

Will likes jelly sandwiches.

James likes peanut butter sandwiches.

Will likes to wear khakis.

James will only, and I do mean only, wear blue denim.

Will likes to sit on the couch and cuddle.

James likes to run around wild.

James keeps us laughing.

Will keeps us in hugs.

Will and James are like yin and yang. They complement each other perfectly.

They are best friends and never fight.

How can two little people share the same DNA and the same upbringing and be so different?

I have solved the nature/nurture argument.

It's neither.

Peace,

Wendy

Forgive me

for getting so maudlin in my last post.  Twice I have sat next to children (Mary Jane as a newborn and Will as a 15 month old) at the Medical University of South Carolina PICU.  They were both seemingly healthy one minute and at death's door the next.  Because of that I tend to freak out over things like high fevers and prolonged puking.

Wendy

My kids are getting old!

My boys wanted mohawks.  Those of you who know me well know this is so not a big deal to me.  Bill was a hippie and I was alterna-punk-rocker grrl, so we think it is pretty cool when our kids want to do something outside of the mainstream. Mary Jane's hair has been rocket grrl red and hot pink, and Lila's hair has been purple and blue, after all.  Anyway, the boys wanted mohawks, so we took them to the hair cut place.  The hairdresser suggested cropping it close, but not bald on the sides, and pushing the center part together with hair gel.  She called it a 'fauxhawk.'  The boys agreed to this.  Now every morning they bring me the tube of hair glue and tell me they are ready for their fauxhawks.  They are such metrosexuals!
Here they are in all their 'hawked" glory-

What's really funny is my bff, BT, has a 5 year old son, S, who happens to be the twins bff. (Boy howdy, that's a lot of initials). S got a fauxhawk the same day the twins did.  At small group this morning the three of them spent about 10 minutes admiring each others hair.

In other growing up news I bought my girls a cell phone today.  It's a cute little Firefly Glow. I went with the black one because Katherine would probably rather face an emergency on her own than use a hot pink phone.  Have I ever mentioned that Katherine is my most no nonsense, conservative child?  She is the only one who's never had anything funky done to her hair.  She also was horrified when I got my nose pierced. I took the nose ring out, much to her relief.  Mary Jane and Lila wanted to know when they could get pierced.  Katherine is like the Alex P Keaton of our family.  Poor thing probably wonders how she wound up in such a goofy family.  Good thing she's got a good sense of humor.  I sense of humor will get you through  most of life's trials.

Wendy