Good Fire, Bad Fire, Toothpaste, and Happy Teeth

Fire Station!

At the beginning of last week, Eddison, Eleanor, and I got to visit the Hemby Bridge Fire Station with our Church play group while Jackson was at preschool.  I thought Eddie would go nuts (in a good way) once we got there, but instead he was surprisingly timid.  It only took a moment for me to realize that he's still not used to flying solo instead of being Jack's little wing-man.  After a little while he finally warmed up to the firefighters and even managed a few smiles for the camera. 

      

Eddie half-heartedly helped hold up the fire hose.  I think he was just humoring the firemen.

  

Norah June and Eddie-O

This one was just too cute not to post.  I love this boy!

Look at all of these little firefighters!  (Clockwise from left: Caden, Arwen, Austin, Katelyn, Ethan, Olea, Tyler, Riley, Emmett, Joleigh, and Eddison.  Not pictured: Eleanor, Will, Joshua, Savannah, Catherine, Abigail, Kailani, and Anakha-Marie.) 

Would you believe this silly girl burst into tears when one of the firemen tried to say hello to her while I was helping Eddie into the fire-truck?!  She's just recently become wary of strangers when I'm not within arms reach.  As you can see she recovered quickly. :)

Eddie looking not-so-certain about the situation at first. 

Mommy, Norah, and Chief Eddie

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Attack of the Fire Ants

Since living here in the South we've had our fair share of fire-ant encounters.  Jackson and Eddison have both been stung several times before, but this incident takes the cake.  Eddie was playing at his buddy Tyler's house while Norah and I made a trip up to the fabric store.  On the way back I got a call from Nellie (Tyler's mom) who proceeded to tell me that the kids had been playing in the backyard (fenced-in) and that she had suddenly heard Eddie screaming so she ran out to investigate.  When she found him he had apparently fallen onto an ant hill and was covered in the little red devils.  She quickly stripped him down and got the ants off, covered him in cortisone, and gave him some Benadryl.  Luckily, most of the stings were on the back of his legs and on his back, though there were also stings on his hands and feet.  The only reason I saw this as a positive point is because he can't see his back so they've kind of been 'out of sight, out of mind'.  What just killed me (and Nellie) is that he wanted to go back out to play, but she didn't want the kids out there until the ant hill was destroyed so she had to tell him no.  So he thought he was in trouble and kept saying, "I sorry." :(   

For those of you who have never experienced a fire ant sting it works, in a nutshell, like this:  The ants attack in swarms, latching onto the skin with their jaws and then simultaneously injecting the victim with their venomous abdominal stingers.  They then pivot around in a circular pattern and sting again, and again, and again until they are detached from the victim.  Their venom is unlike that of a bee or wasp as it contains a chemical that causes a severe itching and burning blister at the site of the sting which develops into a pustule within 24 hours.  Fire ant deaths are often the result of an allergic reaction which leads to anaphylaxis and death if not treated immediately.  (Fortunately, Jack and Eddie are not allergic to these little buggers.)  

Eddie has been such a trooper about the whole situation!  He didn't complain of any discomfort until hours later in the tub so I put some oatmeal baby wash on him and it seemed to help - or at least he thought it did.  Since then it has been a little difficult trying to keep him from itching the stings, but that could lead to infection as well as scarring so we're trying hard to keep the scratching to a minimum.  The following pictures were taken on the day of the incident.  If you click to enlarge the pictures you can kind of see the pustules starting to form on the stings. What you can't really see is that what looks like one sting from far away is actually several stings right next to each other.  This poor little man was stung close to if not 100 times!  I lost count and couldn't get him to sit still long enough to get an accurate number.  (It was hard enough trying to get him to stand still for a picture!  I didn't get pictures of the stings on his hands, feet, or legs for the same reason. :) 

I'm so glad Nellie found him when she did!  It really could have been much worse with how quickly the ants swarm.  I'm also very thankful that she immediately slathered him with cortisone and gave him the Benadryl to help counter-act the venom.  Thank you, Nellie!

Poor little man, but cute little bottom!

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Eddie the Artist

The day after the fire ant attack Eddie was back to his old shenanigans.  This time it only took him two minutes with a blue sharpie to do some serious art on the white wainscoting in the front room.   After trying acetone, alcohol, WD-40 (which worked wonderfully on the non-washable crayon marks that were left on a previous wall-tag), and peanut butter (seriously, some people swore by it online.  I think it must only work on wood, though.) to no avail I petitioned my contacts on facebook for help.  There were a lot of good suggestions, but nothing that would take the sharpie off without affecting the paint somehow.  Until Ward, a friend from high-school, suggested toothpaste.  My friends, it worked like a charm!  Without the photographic evidence below you'd never know what happened.   

Trying to take my own advice of, "don't get mad, get the camera," I caught this mugshot of the guilty party (after taking the sharpie, of course.)

You have to click to enlarge the picture to see the full extent of the graffiti.  And this was only a small section of the wall that he tagged.  How he managed to get to every other panel in the room before I caught him still amazes me.

 

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First Trip to the Dentist!

It's been a long time coming (for Jack, anyway), but the boys finally had their first trip to the dentist!  I chose a pediatric dentist to ensure the best possible outcome and I'm so happy to report that the boys loved their visit!  It helped that when we walked into the office there was a huge flat-screen TV playing one of Eddie's favorite movies, 'Wall-e'.  There was also a little play area with some fun toys and books that kept the boys occupied while we waited.  Once it was time to go back the boys each had their picture taken and then got to pick out a toy or two to hold during their cleanings.  Jackson chose a batman action figure and jumped up into the chair without hesitation, jabbering away non-stop with his very sweet hygienist.  Next to him Eddie chose a tiger and an airplane and then got into the chair with a little gentle assistance from mommy. :) His hygienist was also very sweet and did a great job of making him feel at ease.  While Eddie was only old enough to have his teeth brushed really well, Jackson had a full cleaning.  His favorite part was the high-powered water jet and the little vacuum tube that sucked the water up.  He also thought the little circular drill-bit looking thing (I'm sure it has a professional name :) used to brush his teeth was pretty cool, too.  After their teeth were cleaned the dentist came in and did a little checking around inside their mouths.  He declared them both to have excellent, healthy, strong, and cavity-free teeth.  Whew!  

    

At the end of their visit they each got a fun gift bag full of new toothbrushes, kid's dental floss, mouthwash (only for Jack since Eddie's not old enough yet), and of course - toys!  And finally, their positive experience at the dentist's office was sealed when they were also each given a helium filled balloon before leaving the office. :)  Having kiddos that are excited to go to the dentist again in 6 months = a very happy mommy. 

Just a funny note:  When I first told Jackson he was going to go to the dentist he became very upset and almost started to cry saying he didn't want to go.  Surprised, I asked him why he was so upset and he said, "I don't want a dentist to take my teeth out!"  After reading Dr. Suess's,'The Tooth Book,' he thought he was going to have to, "lose set number one" right away.  What a funny kid! :)