Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Boot To The Head!

LOL Quite literally, I'm afraid. But not for myself, for DD. Unfortunately the goose-egg isn't brilliant enough purple to show up well on camera, otherwise I'd be sharing a pic with y'all.

Evidently yesterday she & a bunch of classmates were playing football (what can I say, the kiddo is BUILT for those rough type sports) and evidently she tripped over somebody else & before long there was some sort of doggy-pile thing going on, and DD took an unfortunate stray boot to the head. Right over her right eye. She's got a nice little abrasion there (not too bad, mild case of boot-print-patterned road rash is what it looks like) and a goose egg that'd give her a slightly neanderthal-ish look if it was both eyes. (And if her bangs weren't covering it over so well.) *grin* I'm keeping her dosed up on Ibuprofrin as best I can, and advised her no more boots-to-the-head today.

Nobody got in trouble (it doesn't sound like) for yesterday's little accident. And it sounds like that's what it was. 3 or 4 kids tripping over each other trying to get the football, and one of them wound up taking a boot to the forehead. DD did go to the nurse, but only when recess was over & she noticed that her head was actually hurting a bit. And evidently the nurse gave her an icepack to hold to her head for a bit before sending her back to class. Obviously it didn't hurt TOO much, as I didn't hear anything about it till I got home from work last night. *shaking head* Gotta love that kid!

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Also, as she was going to bed last night, DD told me that somebody in her class mentioned that the world was going to end in 2012 and was this true?!?!

The best answer I could come up with was to tell her that this is indeed the prediction of the Mayan calendar. But, that there have been multitude other predictions made even in the most recent couple of years that the world would end soon & it didn't happen. I DID tell her that if our society ends, it won't be a COMPLETE end, but it'll be based on the incredibly stupid situation we've dug ourselves into economically (and fuel-reliance wise). I ALSO told her that we can't really predict accurately when our world will end. That we could ALL be wiped off the face of the earth tomorrow by an asteroid like the dinosaurs were. (Ok, so we'd have probably a BIT more time to think about it than a day's time, but not necessarily by much, depending on where the asteroid would come from.)

I told her that to worry about something like that is senseless and that if she's going to worry about ANYTHING, it needs to be doing her best to learn math, to get a good enough education that she can someday be a contributing part of society with a satisfying job, and how she's going to do on the next hockey game. I told her that worries like these are not things little girls need to be concerned about, and in the scheme of things there's nothing she can do about it if we are looking at a world-end on Dec. 12th 2012 (or was it Dec. 21st 2012, I can't remember).

I told her that while one person CAN make a difference, one person, one little girl, can't stop a world from ending, so she needs to focus on being a kid & enjoying what time she has. (Then she asked how old she'll be in 2012. *sigh* I told her that she'll be just entering HS at that point. Which she promptly said was "really young".)

*sigh* I know that massive climate shift is a reality. I know that the economical problems we're facing right now are set to become a major problem & big reality. And I know that the Mayan's calendar was one of unprecidented accuracy and they were much more highly skilled at the telling of time & the prediction of catastrophe than most of us truly want to give them credit for (else we'd have to face the thought that they may be right, in a big way). But, I don't really want my 10 year old daughter making herself sick with worry over such issues. I want my 10 year old daughter to get back out on that playground field today & think about football. I want my 10 year old daughter to go have fun at hockey practice tonight. I want my 10 year old daughter to bring her lowest grade (a C-minus in math) up to the level of the rest of her grades (A's & B's, otherwise across the board).

*sigh* Where does a mom draw that line???? How do I tell her the truth, without causing her to feel such anxiety over such issues that she cannot enjoy her childhood?

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Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes yesterday!!! It was a quiet one, but good. Of course I got my pressies the evening before, as I'd mentioned. And I had to work till 9:15 last night, which precluded going out for dinner or any such thing. I got home about 9:50 (after driving VERY slowly home so as to avoid any accidents prompted by slick roads) and found that DH and DD still hadn't eatten dinner. DH made tacos for supper last night, but he was still slicing & dicing the toppings as I walked in the door, while also helping DD through her math homework. (Which she'd attempted earlier in the day, but had done wrongly, so DH had to help her correct it.) We finally finished dinner at about 10:30, sent DD in to brush her teeth, and passed up on some Chocolate Silk Pie that DH had purchased for my birthday. We'll have it tonight. *sigh* So, nothing of any great importance happened yesterday. Just a quiet day.

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I just got off the phone with Dad and found out that he spent half the day at the Army Post's ER yesterday consulting dr's about some nasty chest pains the night before. He'd woken in the middle of the night on the 21st, evidently, with his chest hurting him somewhat, and very tight. Eventually the pain eased off & he fell back to sleep. But when he woke up yesterday morning, he said the pain was back, though somewhat milder. So after getting off the phone with me (during which he said NOTHING about any chest pains!) he headed over to the ER at Bassett (Army Hospital) for a run-up on all their machines. I guess they gave him a couple of little heart pills under his tongue (I forget what they're called) which he said was the ODDEST sensation! They also gave him an IV and did bloodwork, 3 EKG's, a stress test, and chest X-rays. Come to find out, they couldn't find a single thing wrong with his heart. But they said that it seems he may have had a problem with Acid Reflux or heartburn that was causing the initial problem, then anxiety over the possibility of having a heart-attack making things worse. *wry smile* Same crap DH was facing a year & a half ago. The Dr's gave Dad a prescrip. for Prilosec for the acid reflux & sent him home.

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There were a BOATLOAD of vehicular accidents yesterday. With the temp in the 30's and snow & rain coming down, even driving slowly didn't prevent a lot of the accidents that took place yesterday. One of my FIL's friends (who also happens to be the grandpa of DD's best friend) reported seeing a trooper car plowed into as the trooper was stopped at another accident. B. (FIL's friend) reported that it was just like watching one of those hard hit TV shows where you see the cop car hit. The cop was not hurt, evidently, but the guy who plowed into the back of the cop car was hauled into the ER & placed in the bed right next to my dad. The guy was dealing with head pain, neck pain, and back pain. *shaking head* And he said that he was only going 45 miles per hour (on a 55 mph stretch of road). Evidently the guy in front of HIM tapped his brakes as he saw the cop car, so he could safely go around. So the guy that hit the cop car, tapped HIS brakes, started fishtaling, tried to correct but couldn't get control back, and hit the cop car while praying that HE could avoid the cop car altogether & just go in the ditch.

DH had to stay in town late yesterday, picking up our fundraiser Ham & Crab sales, and while chasing around after the person he was supposed to get our orders from, he wound up stuck waiting for an accident to be cleared up. Evidently it was a 5 car pile-up on top of a bridge. *shaking head* Yesterday was NOT a good day to be driving around Fairbanks. DH and I, fortunately, avoided all problems ourselves and didn't sustain any damage to either of our vehicals. *wry smile*

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I think that about covers it for the day. Gotta get on with the tutorials on the darned MS Word program.

Have a Blessed Day!

8 comments:

whimsical brainpan said...

OUCH! Glad DD is doing ok.

If I remember correctly the Mayan Calendar ends December 21, 2012.

Quiet birthdays are nice. Save the big party for next year.

I'm glad you remained accident free during all the mayhem.

Toriz said...

Personally, I think you answered your daughter's questions about the world ending very well. And, I agree. A 10 year old shouldn't have to worry about such things. And, anyway, when the world does end there's not much we can do about it. I don't think it's going to (unless you count the end of life the way we're living it with this throw-away society we seem to be living in, etc) but nobody can know for sure. Hopefully you were able to convince her not to worry about it and to just enjoy being a kid while she still has the chance. Kids have to grow up quick enough as it is.

I'm glad nobody seems to have been too seriously injured in those accidents. Hopefully there wont be any more.

Glad there was nothing serious wrong with your Dad.

Robin said...

Happy Belated Birthday, Kati!

I think you did well by your daughter. Though we all know that things aren't going swimmingly in the human vs. planet department there's no reason to hand it over to them at a young age. You gave her a real picture...that you have reservations but that she needs to live her life and that nothing is written in stone.

I was raised by Baptist parent in the south. Educated at they were, I remember a Sunday morning at church when the rumor went around that we were about to be invaded by aliens. (I don't remember why....)

For a while it was terrifying...being locked in Sunday School without most of the adults (or my parents) and hearing about this. Later, all of the adults stood outside the church in the sunshine and discussed the possibilily.

My parents soothed my fears as soon as they recognized I had them, and nothing more was said. And nothing more happened.

I can't say that 'nothing more' will happen to your daughter, but what you gave her was enough for her present (and common for childre) fear. And it's obvious by your blog, that you guide her well, otherwise.

~R

DirkStar said...

I think I would just tell her that those things are a long time away and that she should just enjoy being mom's little girl for as long as she can.

Celticspirit said...

2012....I've studied much about this. Some people have moved this date up to the 2020's. What I've learned is that it all has to do with the polar tilt, the cycles of the earth, how the earth always renews itself....a natural cycle of the earth. IMO, it's not really a scary thing. I don't believe in death as an ending but as a new beginning. I'm not sure what you teach your daughter but as a Pagan maybe you teach her the same thing I teach my son. There is really no death. We just go back home to the Other Side. My son is at peace with it at age 12.

How is your daughter's head today? Better I hope?


Happy belated birthday. Honestly from the way you wrote I thought you were older which is a good thing I think. I never noticed that you had your age in your profile. Duh to me. You got a better head on your shoulders than I did at that age.

Blessings

Toriz said...

How's your daughter's head today?

barefoot gardener said...

Dangitall! I missed it.

Well, Happy Birthday Belatedly!!!

I know what you are saying about wanting DD to just be a kid and not worry about all the troubles of the world. It is so tough to find the line to walk when raising kids. You want to be honest, and yet there are just some things that they shouldn't have to worry about.


Good luck!

Greg C said...

Wow if the world is ending maybe I don't need to keep doing that homework. It hurt my brain to help my son do his last night. I say keep pushing just in case it doesn't happen. Like the big Y2K scare, :)