Shooting beads

The other day, my three year old ran into the living room.  "Mama, I have a bead in my nose," she informed me gravely.  I, not able to keep calm the way I would have liked, repeated, using much higher pitch and volume, "You have a BEAD in your nose!?"  "Yes," she replied simply.  

This, my friends was how it started.  It ended with a trip to the emergency room.  The in-between part is a little fuzzy.  I remember walking away to calm down and think rationally about what needed to be done while D sat alongside the victim trying to see up her nose.

After I decided that it needed to be the hospital instead of the clinic, we executed our mission pretty fast.  A short drive, a short wait and in to see the doctor.  While J sat in the chair, I explained to the medical student attending us what had happened.  She hunted for an instrument for a few moments, then went to bring her supervisor.  In walked the doc.  He chuckled at our story and assured me that we weren't the first to come in for that reason.  Then he turned to the student and asked, "Have you ever seen the oxygen trick."  "No, can't say that I have," she responded.  He then explained to the two of us how it worked.  Afterwards performed the trick on my daughter.  Here's how it went.

He took a tube of running oxygen, had me close J's mouth with my hand, and quickly placed the tube over the nostril without the bead.  The next instant, a smooth, perfectly round, golden bead shot across the room.  Shot.  Across.  The.  Room.  I kid you not - it was like a gunshot but without the explosive sound.  It rebounded off the wall toward us and eventually rolled under our chair.  I have never seen a human propel anything quite like that.  It was amazing.  All that in an hour.  

I will remember the oxygen trick.  (Thank you, doc!)  Hopefully I'll never need that knowledge again.  Gah!  

As you can tell, my daughter is a true masterpiece.  Yesterday, she came bouncing out of her room, curls spring-spronging everywhere, as she commanded, "Look at my new pjs, Mama -  I am a zebra!"  Indeed she was with striped pants and zebra adorned shirt.  

With all her precociousness, the first thing that strikes you with J is her hair.  She can't help it.  Tight curls streaked with blond each marching to the beat of a different drum - just like her.  Wild and free.  In a way, it's like a preview into her character.  She is tightly wound and likes to bounce.  What a fun girl she is.  Loves to snuggle, loves to laugh.  And never stops going.  

I've seen hair like hers before on two of my sisters, so she probably gets it from my side.  But my hair is just frizzy and puffy.  Kind of wish I had curls like that little lady.  And a personality to match.  With all her pouty faces, she can wrap her dad around her finger.  (I still haven't managed the trick...)  And mostly everyone else.  Mostly.  Me, no way.  I see right through that little monkey.  :)  She is a charmer though.  A real charmer.  Her middle name is trouble with a capital T.  I confess, I am worried for her future.  I mean, look at that face!  At least I know she can take care of unwanted attention.  I mean, not every kid can shoot beads from her nose.  

Beware.  

Before I sign off for today, I though I'd share some art.  I haven't been very diligent with posting artwork these past few weeks.  It's not because art hasn't been a part of our lives, it's just that I haven't always been able to file it in my sketchbook.  My art is for the kids these days.  Constructing houses from recycled boxes, sketching cars for little handmade books, drawing ladybugs on posters.  That kind of stuff.  It's just part of the rhythm of our lives.  Sometimes I have the time to sit down and draw for myself.  Sometimes I don't, but usually because I've chosen to do something else, or indulged art in other forms.  (I consider crocheting art.)  I believe this is a healthy rhythm for our family, a flexible one.  We have structure, but it is a fluid structure.  Never demanding, never stress-producing.  

Art really is a part of our daily life.  M started drawing dinosaurs and human skeletons (it's not morbid - he is obsessed with the human body).  The two older ones love cutting, gluing, stencilling, doodling, and just getting right into the process.  That may or may not gift me with the space I need to do likewise.  It depends on my priorities for the day.  (Dinner really does get first dibs.)