A Bad Case of Phobia

Paige had a rough week last week.  The book fair was going on at the kids' school and a certain book that Paige has a full-blown phobia of kept popping up and sending her into fits of pure terror filled with screaming, running and covering of ears and eyes (her poor kindergarten teacher!).  You can't even mention the book without triggering these reactions.

I think it all started a couple of years ago when I bought the book and audio CD for the kids.  Paige listened to it with Hailey and I remember her telling me she thought it was a scary book and that she didn't want to read it again. I put it away thinking that I could pull it out again once she was a little older and she was more able to differentiate reality and fantasy.  She has mentioned it periodically over the last couple of years but I never really realized how serious she was until she came home from school last week in tears because they had read the book in her class that day.  I thought I'd pull out the book again and read it and show her that now that she is 5, she could look at it and not be afraid like she was when she was 3. She clutched my neck and was shaking, hiding her face and almost in tears.  I realized at this point that she was not being a "drama queen" (which she can be a lot of the time) and that she had a real fear of the book.  I let her throw the book in the trash and told her she never had to look at it again if she didn't want to.  I looked the book up on Amazon and saw that there were probably 20 reviews that said their kids had had the same reaction to the book.  But, there were probably 80 or so reviews that said their kids loved the book. 

I had volunteered to work at the book fair one afternoon last week so I took Paige, her friend Sofi and Crew with me.  Paige saw the book and seriously hid under the table (even after I took the book down and put it away where she couldn't see it) the entire time she was there with me...a good 90 minutes.  Then on Thursday a little girl in her class pulled it out of her backpack and Paige's teacher said she had a melt-down, and was screaming and running trying to get out of the classroom.  We are not sure what to do about this. I went into Paige's class this morning to read with the kids and stayed to talk with her teacher afterward.  She said she would talk to the school counselor to see if she had any suggestions. 

By the way, the book is called "A Bad Case of Stripes." 

On a lighter note, Paige's teacher said the kids were going through magazines cutting out pictures that started with the letter "N" and Paige cut out a picture of a man's nipple.  At least she still has her sense of humor!

Halloween 2009

This was Halloween Night before trick-or-treating.  This was Paige's 3rd costume.  For her school party she was a butterfly fairy, for her friend's party she was Snow White and Halloween night she opted for a witch (a nice witch).  Hailey was a vampiress, Crew a pirate.

Crew trying to keep up with the other kids.  It's not that hard when you have Gene Simmons chasing you.  I bought that mask for Jim as a joke and he actually wore it all evening, scaring all the little kids without even trying.  Let me tell you he stuck out a like a sore thumb in this perfect little neighborhood with all the other nice wholesome looking parents.

We took Paige's friend Sofi with us...she was a witch too.

The loot.  The kids are actually already sick of the candy and don't even care to eat it anymore.  I guess that's one benefit of having parents who keep candy in the house all year long...it's not that big of a deal so they never gorge themselves.

Paige Quote of the Day

Paige was pulling arm-length stretches of gum out of her mouth and I said, "Paige, if I see that gum outside of your mouth again I'm going to take it away" (we've had too many gum-in-hair/clothes/furniture incidents).  Without missing a beat she said, "Well, what if I'm at a limbo party and we don't have a limbo stick?  Can I use my gum as the limbo stick?"  How does a 5 year-old come up with this stuff?

Pumkin Picking & Carving

Pumkin Picking

Crew Turns 3!!!

This is the first year Crew has really been able to understand that his birthday was coming up and that he would be 3.  He was soooo excited.  While I  was growing up, my family would come into our room on our birthday singing "Happy Birthday" with a candle and all of our presents.  We would open them right there in the morning while we were still in bed.  So, we have carried on this tradition in our family.  The batman "dollhouse" was a big hit along with a batman car, a set of legos and some playdough.

While Crew was busy opening his presents Paige asked me "Is Crew really 3?  I said, "Yes, today is his birthday."  She said, "Well we still can't understand him." Hopefully this year will bring some milestones in the speech department.

That night we had Nanny, Papa, Aunt Bryn and Uncle Luke over for Crew's favorite food, spaghetti and of course birthday cake. 

I had blown up about 20 balloons and taped them to everyone's chairs before dinner.  I came downstairs to find that Crew had popped every single balloon with a fork.  The girls felt bad and blew up a few more for Crew's chair.

This next picture isn't from his birthday...it was a few weeks ago but I thought I'd include it on his birthday

post just for fun. He is such a good sport when it comes to letting his sisters get their kicks out of dressing him up.  Crew and Hailey have such a special relationship, they have so much fun together.

 

Crew's Canvases

Give Crew a couple markers and there is no end to his creative abilities.  The problem is, we didn't give him the markers (permanent) and there was no supervision one day while mom was out running errands and dad was busy helping Hailey and Paige with homework.  We have learned that paper is not the medium of choice for our little artist. 

The guilty parties...

He also is quite expressive when using himself as the canvas...

Note the gear in the elastic belt of his underwear...you never know when you'll need a spare block, car or dry erase marker!

We love this boy, despite his destructiveness.  How can you not?  So sweet...especially when he's sleeping.

A Day of Rest

Hailey has had nasty a cough for the last 2 weeks.  With no fever and a pretty good appetite, we just figured it was a virus that wouldn't let go.  Thursday she called me from school saying she didn't feel well.  This has happened several times this year already so I was having a hard time believing her but still went and got her.  When we got home, she went straight up to her room and fell asleep.  I knew then that she really was sick because she NEVER does this.  Friday morning she woke up with a fever and wanted to stay in bed.  Around 11:00 I went in to check on her and took her temperature.  The side of her face that she had been sleeping on registered at 106.5, the other side of her face 104.5. It was at this time, I knew there was something really wrong.  With Swine Flu going around I was pretty sure this is what she had and I gave her a dose of Motrin and Tylenol and called our friend Matt who is an ER doc to prescribe some Tamiflu.  Later that night, she said her side hurt. Jim listened to her breathing, thought it didn't sound right and took her in to the ER.  The chest xray showed a fairly dense pneumonia on one side.  At one point we thought she might have to be admitted so Jim's parents drove down from Rexburg at midnight to help out.  It's really nice to have family this close when these kinds of things happen!  Matt (our ER doc friend) decided to send her home with a heavy dose of antibiotics.  The next morning (yesterday) her fever was down but she was still pretty tired and stayed in bed most of the day.  Today, Jim took Paige and Crew up to Rexburg and Hailey and I have had a nice time resting and hanging out.  She's much, much better.  She's got her appetite back, no fever and is up and walking around.  Thank goodness for modern medicine!

Taking a break in between movies to do a little painting.

We watched Coraline up in my bedroom.  Hailey got a little scared and I'm sure it didn't help when she looked over and I had buttons over my eyes.  Here I am reenacting...

Here's Hailey reenacting...

I had time to make this incredible bread that my friend Johanna had the recipe for on her blog.  I admit, I'm a bread snob, I LOVE good bread and you can't find it here in Idaho Falls.  This bread is amazing...crusty, chewy, delicious!

It's been nice to have some time to spend alone with Hailey.  I'm so thankful she's ok and thankful for the people that helped.