Seven Snippets: Three Days Until School Starts

Hey Hey! The snippets are posting a little later than normal, but They. Are. Up. Three out of four of us have come down with a late summer cold – Sarah Kate is the last holdout.

— 1 —

The kids spent last week in Tennessee with Mr. Andi’s dad and his wife. Sarah Kate pretty much never calls home when she’s away (strong and independent!), but she did text me a few times. Her grandparents are not Catholic, but they agreed to take her to Mass on Sunday, so I told her before she left that she needed to help whoever took her with the missal and responses.

Unfortunately, the parish they went to had hardback perpetual missals, not the “cheater” missalettes with the dates that we have at our parish, so she must’ve decided it was too much work.

— 2 —

The day after they left, I saw a video Sarah Kate had taken of Nathan sliding down the stairs in a pajama top and what appeared to be cloth training pants. I knew I didn’t send training pants, only Pull-Ups, so I made an inquiry. She told me that Jammie had bought them and a bag of gummy worms and was attempting to train him. I told Mr. Andi that I wasn’t sure if I’d be ecstatic or furious if it worked.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to choose. On Monday, when they returned, I asked how the potty training went. Jammie appeared dumbfounded that her method didn’t work. I chuckled. Between me – his mother who spends every day with him – and Miss Angie the preschool teacher – who worked with him for two years – I’m pretty sure we’ve tried it all.

— 3 —

We’ve been neck deep in preparing for the first day of school this week. I made the mistake of putting Sarah Kate’s meeting with the school counselor and walk through of the schedule back-to-back with Nathan’s Meet the Teacher on Wednesday. Just considering the logistics of dropping each kid off in one piece and on time at the two schools furthest from each other in Mayberry may cause my head to explode next week. That’s before the school day even starts for them.

The good news about Meet the Teacher is that one parent, two teachers, and one aide only lost Nathan once in the half hour we were there! Bonus points because he was found within about 60 seconds.

— 4 —

Remember how great Nathan did in his first trip to the dentist? I was certain it would be an exercise in futility – possibly even a disaster of gargantuan proportions – but he handled that dental appointment like a boss! I got all cocky and decided that it would be Totally Fine to have the kids seen at the same time for his second appointment, rather than back-to-back like I did the first time. He did so great there was no need to get him used to the idea by watching Sissy get her teeth cleaned first!

So yesterday I took them both to the dentist. He was PUMPED! He busted through the doors like it was the most exciting thing he’d done in ages! And then it went downhill from there. The only thing he would allow was the mirror (he even grew weary of that after awhile) and Mr. Thirsty. He even asked me to take him to the potty as a stall tactic.

Sigh.

— 5 —

On top of being sick and the trip to the dentist yesterday, I took Gabi to the vet to get the stitches from her spay out. No appointment needed! Just a quick in-and-out trip! I decided to run her by right after dropping Sarah Kate and a friend off at their young writer’s group meeting. Before they even got the door closed behind them, she had vaulted from the wayback into the back seat.

They took her back right away but a little while later came out and told me they wanted Doctor Somebody to “look at one little spot” before they let her go. In the meantime, Nathan had already eaten one lifesaver from the office candy dish, was jonesing for more, and was trying to decide if it was worth risking the promised spanking in order to experience the joy of whacking the resident cat with the settee pillow.

So the quick-and-easy stitch removal was anything but.

— 6 —

We are considering signing Nathan up for T-ball this fall. We initially considered soccer, as well, but ultimately T-ball had the edge because of the presence of a fence to contain him. Any thoughts you have on this potential fiasco are welcome!

— 7—

When it comes to disability, I’ve always thought it best to just acknowledge the 800 pound gorilla in the room – it helps mitigate the awkwardness – so I love this video:

Have a Great Weekend!

This post was inspired by and is linked to This Ain’t the Lyceum’s 7 Quick Takes.