Days 16-19

FRIDAY:


It was Career Day at school: dress like what you want to be when you grow up. Dee's final two candidates: Vulcanologist (Volcano scientist) and... one of Santa's Elves.

SATURDAY:


Originally there was a fuchsia skirt over the pants but it came off when it got in the way of her jump rope.

SUNDAY:


In the morning there were giraffe print shorts under the dress, by afternoon she had gone to the tights.

MONDAY:


Really remarkably tame, I think.

And a gratuitous dimple shot:

Day 15

Kind of a psychedelic schoolgirl look today. Pleated denim skirt over the penguin stretch pants. And the green socks with the pink sandals are pretty eye-catching, I think.

Days 13 and 14

Aaaaaand now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Day 13 was a good one, I think:


Especially the way she INSISTS on putting in her headbands:


Day 14 was a little more ho-hum.


Note Buddy in the background there, trying to steal the flashy pink shoes.

Things may get more sporadic here as I actually had to return to work. (Sob.) The semester's first class meeting was last night and it went pretty well, aside from the fact that I spent 3 of the 4 hours blabbing at the poor students. Introductions, the syllabus, safety orientation, roll call and adding latecomers, lab tour, how to use the equipment, how to write up a lab notebook properly... I was even boring myself. Fortunately now that this is out of the way, the rest of the semester I just give my hour lecture when they arrive and then they have three hours to get their stuff done. It's my favorite class to teach. Should be a good group, too, as far as I can tell from the first day.

Dee's enrichment classes started up again this week as well: gymnastics, a multi-sport class (piano was full) and then (drumroll please) her long-awaited "Mad Science" class starts tomorrow after kindergarten. This is the same group that we hired for her fifth birthday party:



They were making slime. I shudder to think what might be coming home in her backpack tomorrow.

Days... hmm. Who can say?

Our weekend was not so great. Buddy had a cold before Christmas and so a couple of weeks ago we took him to the pediatrician since he wasn't kicking the cough.  The pediatrician diagnosed bronchitis, and prescribed an antibiotic (Augmentin), which he duly took for the full 10 days without incident. His cough and funky nose went away.  Then, the day after the last dose of antibiotic he developed a horrible rash, so we returned to the pediatrician, who agreed that he's probably allergic to the antibiotic (which is in the penicillin family; I had a similar reaction in college). Then over the next two days he developed this weird joint inflammation, causing him to say "it really hurts" and not want to walk.  He just laid there like a lump.  My husband consulted Dr. Google and diagnosed serum sickness.  It degenerated to the point that he couldn't/wouldn't walk, so we called the pediatrician's after-hours line Saturday night, who told us to take him to the hospital.

So, the ER on Saturday night. You can imagine. They left here right after dinner and got home at 4:30 AM. Diagnosis: serum sickness. Treatment: wait for it to go away. Apparently the trip to the ER was all it took to cure him because Sunday and again today Buddy is back to his old self.

The immune system is weird.

Days 7 and 8

Well, yesterday was interesting. Between the two kids we now have a truly impressive rash, 4 new medications, and one suspected penicillin allergy. The Christmas cold: the gift that keeps on giving.

Yesterday did show a return to Dee's more traditional fashion flair. This is Dee getting one last Snuzz before heading out to face the world.



But then today, meh:



Buddy, however, got in on the fashionista action today, including his "Yucky Charms" t-shirt:



Please please please let me not need to return to the pediatrician's office any time in the near future!

Day 6

A vision in pink. Well, pinks. Several of them.

Back to school after MLK weekend. Just in the nick of time. I thought Dee and Buddy were going to kill each other. Buddy is going through two stages simultaneously: "Why? Why, Mommy, Why?" and the one where saying something once is only 10% as good as saying it ten times. This is driving Dee nuts: "Buddy, I KNOW. You already said that." My husband and I just giggle to one another, remembering the days when Dee drove us batty doing exactly the same thing.

I'm off to work myself in a few minutes after a paltry four weeks off for Christmas. It's a rough life. I actually had to put on something other than flannel.

Day 5 and Lego Brother-in-Law

Some new clothing makes its debut today, as I have just spent my Christmas Gymbucks. The penguin on the hem of the skirt is hidden in the fold, and you can just make out the sequined peace symbol on the front of the shirt. It worked even better later in the day with the ruby red slippers when she went to soccer.

And moving to an entirely different topic, my sister got married in September, to a wonderful man who shares a first name with my husband, so we call him "Uncle Critter." Here he is with my sister in a photo I have shamelessly snatched from my sister's blog.



Now Buddy is becoming quite the LEGO fiend, and he got quite a few new ones for his birthday. One of them is a police set, and includes a "robber" mini figure. I swear it is my brother-in-law in LEGO form. My sister thinks I'm nuts. I leave it to you.



I'm pretty sure it's the grin. Here, let me find another one.



(Also stolen from Jennie's blog)

Day 4... bland again. What happened to the style?

I guess this is what happens when you try to document something... it vanishes.

Day 3: Buddy's Birthday Party

Again, fairly tame. I guess she can tell I'm trying to capture her flair, since it's gone into hibernation this week. There was a peek, with the differing stripes on the sweater and the socks, and of course the ruby red slippers.

But the boy of the day... How can my baby be three?

Day 2

Kind of bland today, actually. What you can't see are the giraffe-print bicycle shorts under the cherries-and-teapots-print skirt. And the rats-nest of hair at the back of her neck that her mother forgot to comb out before school.

Pregnancy Blog Becomes Photo Blog?

Yes, I am still alive. I'm still lurking or commenting on all of your blogs!

I'm breaking my long silence for an interesting reason. I spoke to my sister last night, and she had an excellent suggestion for this blog. I was describing to her the interesting outfit that Dee had put together for school yesterday, and she suggested I document Dee's fashion choices for one month and post the photos here. So, here goes. I have no idea if I'll last the whole month, and I may not post daily, but I will give it a try. At any rate, I think it will be fabulous for me to have a record of the way my wacky 5 year old likes to dress.

Dee, dressed for a typical Thursday at Kindergarten:






















I should note that her shoes light up when she walks in a rather spectacular display of multicolored LED lights. And, in case you missed the tights: