ER TRIP #2

Friday was a more interesting day than I anticipated. Mom & I ended up taking Mama Terry to the same ER that I was in a week ago. She had fallen in their garage and hurt her knee. Turns out she actually fractured it in a couple places! She's alright now, just sore. Her ER doctor was a lot nicer than the first one I saw there. Mama won't be picking me up from school & taking me for any Sonic milkshakes for a while....

Get Better Soon Mama!!!!

PS ~ The hospital actually sent mom an evaluation to fill out about her "experience" in using the emergency room.

BIG MISTAKE!!

ER TRIP

This past weekend I had a little accident. On Saturday I went with Mom to run some errands. We went to her office and then to the store. When we came home, she reached back and unbuckled me from my car seat. Then she came around and opened the side door. The unfortunate part is that I was holding onto the door handle, so when the door came open I fell out on my head. We have a large SUV and it was a pretty good fall. Not to mention the garage floor is concrete.

Here is the worst part. Mom says I was unconscious for about 30 seconds (which seemed like eternity to her). She tried to catch me and couldn't. It all happened so fast. She quickly picked me up and sat with me on a bench in our garage. I woke up screaming and crying. Which is a good thing actually. As much as Mom was scared, she was glad to hear me screaming. My head was swollen, but nothing huge.
Mom decided we need to go to the emergency room to let them check me out. Granted this isn't my first ER experience, but it's my first accident at home. Visiting the ER was indeed an experience in itself. I was pretty well calmed down by the time the doctor finally came in to see me. The face you see in the picture is about how I looked when we arrived at the hospital. Not so happy. I was excited about the bracelets I got to wear. Dad arrived shortly behind us (he had been playing golf). They did the usual things checking me over. I had a CAT scan done of my head ~ which I thought was a big space ship. It had red lights and this thing went in a circle and the bed I laid on moved. I laid very still and did such a good job they gave me a teddy bear.

Thankfully, the CAT scan was normal. The ER doctor kept telling Mom and Dad that he didn't understand how I could fall onto a concrete floor, head first, and not have something wrong with me. Needless to say, Mom had a very hard time not saying something back. She said that anyone who is unconscious after a fall should be checked out. So after 4 1/2 hours of "checking me out" we got to go home. It was past my bedtime and I hadn't even eaten dinner! Mom & Dad promised me a Happy Meal if I did lay still for the CAT Scan, so that's what we had for dinner. Then it was bedtime.
Mom & Dad were "instructed" to check on me an hour after I went to sleep, which they did. I was fine as far as they could tell. Around 10:30 p.m. I was throwing up everywhere. Mom called the pediatrician after-hours number and spent 30 minutes on the phone only to have a lady in California from some 800 service tell her that the "guide book instructs us to go to the ER." Again, Mom was not very pleased. So inbetween me throwing up and them changing my clothes, we headed back.

This time we had a different doctor who after another 3 hours explained to us that I had a pretty serious head concusion and that I just needed to be monitored closely for 24 hours. They gave me some medicine to help with the throwing up (and it did). Dad and I slept out on the couches, so he could hear me if I needed anything. Once again Mom was a bit upset that there was indeed something wrong with me, despite the first doctor questioning her. I've been playing most of the day today and feel ok. My head is a little sore. I did take a 4 1/2 hour nap today though! That might be a record?

Bottom line is I'm ok. For that we're all grateful. It was quite a scare for Mom & Dad ~ twice. We're instituting some new guidelines with unbuckling me from my car seat to try and avoid this from happening again.

Two Things To Tell You

There are two things I want to tell you about. The first being the closet that I helped Dad build a few weeks ago is finished! Mom has been too busy to get pictures of it, but here they are now. It looks better uh? You can scroll down to see what it looked like in the beginning. Dad & I did a pretty good job. The only problem I see is that Mom's side is much smaller than Dad's side. Do you see that too?

The closet has shelves and baskets and even allows Mom to keep their laundry basket inside (which she likes). Her favorite part is a square shoe holder that fits against the wall on her side. Dad says that's why her side isn't as big as his...she needs too many "extra's."

So what is the other thing I was going to tell you? You know how much I love getting mail! My Aunt Lynn mails me cards and things a lot. Today when I came home from school my Mama & Papa Snipes had sent me a big package! It was such a surprise! Inside were a lot of goodies - a t-shirt from a place my mom loves to eat in Warsaw, dinosaurs that grow in water, squishy sea animals, a Toy Story punching bag, etc.... I was really excited to get the package. A big thank you to them!!!!!!

ROBOT FAMILY

This is my ROBOT FAMILY. For my birthday last summer, Tammy, Karl, Faith & Bryce gave me a set of Kids K'nex. That was the start.....I spent hours playing with the pieces building things, so come Christmas a large box of K'nex magically appeared. That's kept me pretty occupied for a while. This weekend I got another addition to my set ~ the robot set (which included wheels). Thus, meet my new ROBOT FAMILY.

The tall one standing on the floor next to me is Dad. (Notice his hooks, not horns.) The robot directly behind Dad, with 3 eyes, is Mom. (I can't explain why she has 3 eyes, I've been asked and I just don't know.) Next to Mom on the couch is Me! (Notice the piece that bends around my 1 eye. I like those pieces a lot!). These toys allow me to be creative and imaginative (which sounds like an infomercial.) They do keep me busy and it involves one of my favorite things right now ~ ROBOTS! Who could ask for anything more?

Change Is Hard

For the past few months, Mom has been wanting to get me a new blanket for my bed. My old one wasn't originally bought for my big boy bed - My Mama Terry purchased it a long time ago on clearance to put in the bottom of my play tent, and it ended up in my bed. It has been washed so many times (during those potty training weeks) and wasn't as warm as it could have been. Or so those were mom's reasons. I did not see anything wrong with what I already had "a blue blanket with the cars on it."

Several weeks ago Mom bought what they call a "duvet" cover to put over the comforter thinking that it would make it look a little nicer and I'd still get to keep the blanket I seemed so attached to. That didn't work. I absolutely refused to use it. At night I'd go to bed without any blanket. Mom or Dad would come in my room and put it on me after I fell asleep, and they'd check on me again later only to find it on the floor. I'm that stubborn. (Wonder where that comes from?)

Mom's next attempt was to show me pictures of several blankets in a catalog. One had robots (one of my favorite things), but that didn't appeal to me either. I was set on using that "blue blanket with the cars on it." Mom had pretty much almost given up, until she saw a quilt blanket set on Ebay one night. She asked me to look at the pictures on the computer. The one she found I didn't like. And even though she kept talking about it (Dad calls it nagging), I wasn't budging. In fact, since she kept trying to show me other pictures on the computer, I went into my room and brought the "blue blanket with the cars on it" out to her and politely told her:

"This is my blanket Mom! I'm not using any of those pictures in my bed!"

She found several that any little boy would love ~ rocket ships, sail boats, bugs/insects, construction trucks, more robots.....Then one afternoon she asked me if I'd please look at one more picture. It was her lucky day (or my un-stubborn day). I actually liked it. I asked if they were giving my "blue blanket with the cars on it" to another little boy who needed a blanket (because we gave some things to a little boy at Christmas). Mom explained that we would take my old comforter to Mama & Papa Vote's house and I can use it on my little bed there. Seemed like a good plan to me. So she bought it (for what was a very good price ~ Mom is good at comparing prices and finding good deals). She said it would be in the mail soon.

Tuesday, I came home from school and when I got in the house I ran to my room. Being all dramatic (which I can be good at), I came out of my room asking Mom why my new blanket wasn't here yet? Two days later it arrived. We got it out and made my bed all nice (it probably won't stay that way after one night of tossing & turning). I love it! We packed the old blanket in the car to take Mama & Papa's house tomorrow. I went to bed with no problems, no complaints, no issues. Sometimes change is just really hard.

Now it's my "blanket with red cars and blue clouds on it."

Down on the farm....

Thought you all might like to know what's been going on down on the farm....wait, we don't live on a farm. We live on a busy street in the city. I have an Uncle Stephen who lives on a farm with a fence and lots of cows. That's close enough right? Mom says I just like to get dirty and Dad says I'm just being a boy, although that was before he found out where I created our little "Snipes" farm. Last fall, he used all the extra dirt that was in mom's pots and planters to fill in a low spot in the backyard. Yesterday the temperature reached 55 degrees, so I finally got to get outside and play, which is one of my favorite things to do. My idea of playing outside is going into our garage and pulling out the rusty, beat-up, small red wagon that has a very squeaky wheel. Inside that wagon is gold to me (not that I know what that means). About 2 years ago my Grandpa & Grandma Snipes were cleaning out their garage and sent some boxes that were my Dad's as a kid home with us. Last spring we cleaned the garage and went through the boxes (I say "we" as if I helped clean ~ if anything I probably created more of a mess). There was one box that Mom could have kept hidden, wrapped up for my birthday and I would have thought she'd put all of Toy's R Us in my hands. I found many of Dad's old toys. That's right, toys he played with as a little boy. Among those items were A LOT of tractors and farm equipment (fence pieces, etc.), some animals, G.I. Joes, and transformers.

Every chance I get to be outside, I head for the garage and straight towards that red wagon filled with my toys. From there I travel to our backyard to find an area to sit and spread out and spend several hours engaged in imaginative play (Mom's words not mine). But today I found the best place to build a farm......and it just happened to be in our own backyard!

Yesterday, Mom thought she'd take advantage of me playing in the (fenced in) backyard and work on cleaning her car out in the driveway. I was probably about 20 minutes into building my farm in the dirt area before she noticed. I'm sure the first thoughts racing through her head were about how she'd get the dirt out of my clothes, shoes, etc....but she suprisingly found it funny that I'd found my way to the fresh dirt. Then when I said, "Mom I'm making a farm in our backyard like Uncle Stephen's farm." What does she do? Run to get the camera & take pictures. We stayed outside and I played "on the farm" until Dad came home and could see my handy work. Much of my farm play included putting up a fence, arranging the animals, and using the tractors/dump trucks to move dirt around the yard. I think I ruined Dad's idea of grass growing in that spot anytime soon, because I'll need to be on the farm doing work from now til next fall. I can't wait until it rains on my farm!

DADDY'S LITTLE HELPER

Last weekend Dad started a new project of putting a closet shelving system in his and Mom's bedroom. Of course, when I heard the first hammer knocking, I rushed right in with my own tools to help.
Mom was complaining that one shelf was crooked.
And she didn't like the big mess in their bedroom. So I grabbed my tools and came to help Dad out.
First, I helped put things together for Dad. Then, he had to take it apart to find the right pieces he needed.
Are you sure this is level Dad?

(One of about a million questions asked that afternoon.)
Now I just needed to hammer it a few times to get it ready.

Dad, are you sure you cut this straight?I helped put it on a shelf that Daddy had already installed.
Apparently it didn't go there. So where does it go?
Hey Dad, what are these for?

I told him we could do it together and share.
Hey Dad, can you hand me that?
I'm pretty sure there is supposed to be a nail right here.

**As soon as the closet in completely finished we'll post a picture**