Of numb mouths and nasty little doggies

The school called me yesterday to let me know that Bren's mouth was numb and he could barely speak, so could we please come and see him right away. I was over there in about two minutes where I found his mouth swollen enough that he could barely be understood when speaking. Zyrtec cleared up the numbness and swelling within 25 minutes but I still took him to the dr to see what might be learned. She wasn't helpful at all, except in prescribing Zyrtec tablets and telling us to see his real doctor. Sigh.

In better news, Eden and Bren both won gold cards at school for academic achievement  The gold cards give them privileges throughout the quarter like getting into the lunch line first, going to the front office for a piece of candy, or electing to not turn in one assignment. Claire has had some organization issues this past quarter and the result was too many late assignments for gold, but she did get a white card. Bren just started chess club and Claire is doing choir again this year and adding in something called Battle of the Books. She has a pretty impressive reading list that began with The Tale of Despereaux. She read it in one day, so I'm not too worried about the other 9 books she needs to get done before Christmas. A kind friend was downsizing and brought us a barely used cello so Claire can do an instrument next year. She's already getting it out and trying a few things. I'm so grateful that this is a deeper instrument that won't squeak across the whole house as much as, say, any soprano instrument I could name.

Eden is loving school and her teacher is confident that she'll be getting into the gifted/talented program when she hits 3rd grade. Her grades are pure gold, and she's one of two kids in her class of 30 that got full marks for behavior. Can I just say that it's so amazing to watch one's kids succeed, especially after so much work.

So a friend of mine is out of town and wants me to go and take care of her dogs for a small financial reward. I'm totally cool with that since the dogs are ok and she doesn't live far. Today was my first time doing it so I picked Freya up from school and headed over. One of the dogs is larger and is allowed to roam the house alone, and she was pretty upset to see us come into her house without any of the owners there. The little one was crated since he makes the whole house his personal toilet as he can't handle being alone for so long. Long story short, despite sitting in the floor for several minutes just petting those little stinkers and giving them treats I found on a shelf, the little one bit me (there's a nice blood soaked paper towel in the trash for the owners, blech) the big one elected to sit on her rear in the attitude of submission rather than play, and I ended up having to wrap the little one in a towel to get him back in his crate. Worth it? We'll see. This was just day 1. Tomorrow I intend to take the whole crate into the fenced yard so the little one can't hide under the bed when it's time to get put away. Maybe I'll leash him as well.

I'm so not a pet person.

A friend of mine is starting a rabbit breeding business. She's breeding Rex's, and their fur is simply amazing. Most rabbits have two lengths of fur (think feathers on birds -- longer feathers and down feathers) but the Rex has fur that's all the same length. The net result is an exceptionally luxurious coat. Bren wants one desperately but we're not on board with that. Maybe I'll get him a stuffed rabbit that he needs to care for like a real one for 3 months before even considering the real thing.

Anyway, I'll try to get pics of the kids in their costumes tonight. Freya is a flower fairy, Eden is a ninja, Bren is an expert swordsman (his costume is more in the moves than in the appearance) and Claire is Hermione from the Harry Potter books. I'm dressed up like a stressed out soccer mom. Hah.