February 28, 2012

Teeth (again)

     I swear it is raining teeth in our house. Poodaloo lost another one last weekend. I was unaware the little beastie was loose. Now she has multiple holes in both upper and lower jaws.

     And, once again the tooth was lost before it could be taken by the tooth fairy. However, this tooth was not swallowed. Poodaloo was attempting to booby-trap it and it fell to the floor and bounced. She was hoping to catch the tooth fairy when she visited. Thankfully, her booby-trapping skills are sub-par. It is doubtful the tooth fairy would visit again if she were apprehended in such a manner.

     This morning saw Panda at the orthodontist office to have the latest spacer installed. There is a great deal of metal in her mouth considering she does  not actually have braces. Her mouth was sore by the time school got over. In proper motherly fashion, I heartlessly informed her that is what always happens after a trip to the orthodontist. You mouth hurts!

February 15, 2012

The minutiae of life

     Lots happening the past few weeks. Here are the highlights (or low lights in some cases).

     Teeth continue to haunt our home. The tooth fairy has our house bookmarked. Poodaloo finally lost her other front tooth. The bad news:  she swallowed it. The good news:   the tooth fairy is a trusting sort and she trusts a tooth was lost when there is a note left where the tooth should be.

Dear: tooth Fairy, I swallowed my tooth and am hoping that it will come out the rear end. 
Date: 1-2-2012
Love

Be sure to notice the dot on the I in Fairy and the O and E in Love are shaped like teeth.

     Panda has also lost teeth. One the natural way and another had help. This morning the dentist pulled a primary molar because its misbehaving. The orthodontist is placing another appliance in her mouth to keep the space open. The new one is for the lower jaw. Her current spacer is located on the upper teeth.

     Gigi's big adventure. When I leave Poodaloo's room after putting her to bed, Gigi is waiting by the door. She rolls onto her back so I can rub her belly. Last week I felt something unnatural on her stomach area. More than unnatural, it was weird and icky. It looked like a fishing hook and I kinda freaked out. How could she get a fishing hook into her skin?!?! We don't own any fishing poles or hooks.

     Baba and I determined it was indeed stuck into her skin. Gentle tugs did not dislodge the hook. It didn't seem to be the slightest bit painful. We are tired parents of elementary school aged kids. It could wait until morning. Zzzzzzzz

     Gigi went to the vet before the girls got to the bus stop. It was a very strange circular piece of metal about the size of a penny. There is a small shaved patch of skin and not even a scab remains. We have no idea where the metal originated. The only thing remaining is fear of finding another oddity when I pet her belly each night.

     Living the gluten-free, casein-free life. I am enjoying the challenge of finding alternatives for family favorite dinners. I've made cream of mushroom sauce for Tater Tot casserole. Spaghetti with rice or corn pasta is great. Creamy potato soup without milk is not so good.

     The biggest success is finding a way to tolerate protein powder in smoothies. I can more or less manage to eat an adequate amount of protein for breakfast. They recommend 20-30 grams of protein. An ounce of meat or one egg has seven grams of protein. Do the math ~ four ounces of meat or four eggs. I cannot choke down eat that much meat or eggs for breakfast.

     Dynamic Dancing Dragons perform. The girls danced for the Lunar New Year celebration at Poodaloo's school. They also performed at a Spring Festival celebration sponsored by the local Chinese community. My camera is too basic to get stellar photos but these are acceptable. Enjoy!

High school boys performing the Dragon Parade to begin the Festival.

Two young men from the local air force base performed the Lion Dance next.

Panda's group dancing. She is fourth from the left.

Poodaloo is in the center (just to left of the boy in black). 
They are singing a song from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.


February 14, 2012

Flying high . . . . or maybe not

     Panda's class was one of several third grades invited to create paintings to illustrate a story. Panda's illustration of the Mississippi river was selected. She received a free ticket to attend the concert. Since Panda cannot drive, Mama was her chauffeur.

     An exerpt from a press release:  In Stella’s Musical Tour of America, Stella establishes herself as a brave adventurer with an active imagination. From a hot air balloon, in just one day she sees the Mississippi River, Rocky Mountains, Pacific Ocean and finally the Grand Canyon before returning home. Along the way, the audience will hear the music Stella hears in her head as she discovers these amazing features.

     They raffled a free hot air balloon ride. Panda filled out an entry form. But it said you had to be 18 years old to enter so we used my name. On the following Monday I received a call from the Philharmonic office. I assumed they wanted me to collect her artwork. This thought annoyed me.

     However, that was not why they called. I had won the hot air balloon raffle. I might have said, "Oh, no!" on the phone to the nice philharmonic lady when she told me the news (but I hope not). I would rather poke a needle in my eye than go up high in a tiny basket.

     At least I can't say I've never won anything!

Panda learns about coherance

COHERENCE
1: the quality or state of cohering: a systematic or logical connection or consistency
2: integration of diverse elements, relationships, or values

     Last May, in an on-line Every Day is Mother's Day conference from the Beyond Consequences Institute, I learned about the the HeartMath Institute (IHM). In July, my therapist (CA) suggested I use a device from IHM to teach my body to let my heart be in charge. I was very intimidated by the little box and didn't give it much of a chance. After a few weeks, I gave it back and said 'no, thanks'. We continued to work with EMDR and I try to remember to breathe, breathe, breathe when my buttons were pushed, pounded, and strangled.

     A couple of weeks ago, Panda met with CA to learn how to use emWave2 handheld device.  Baba attended as the technical person since the little box has me buffaloed. The device measures the the level of coherence between heart waves and brain waves. Red is low, blue is medium and green is high. There are games kids can play to improve coherence. For example, you can fill the pot at the end of the rainbow with gold coins by staying in medium or high coherence.

    According to the emWave2, Panda is very good at controlling coherence - far better than I. She likes it very much that she's better. Today we returned for a follow-up visit. Tonight we had one of the best nights we've experienced in a couple weeks. Coincidence? I think not, but I don't keep a journal to document it so who knows for sure.

     It has been several weeks with the emWave2. She doesn't do it every night but remembers to use the wave most nights. Panda has returned to talk with CA a third time. They also did some bilateral therapy by clapping hands across from each other. EMDR is a bilateral therapy and CA uses it every time I meet with her. (Memories are moved to long term storage ~ where they belong ~ by way of repeatedly crossing the corpus callosum.)