Tooth Trauma
Thursday night was crazy… I’ve definitely had some traumatic moments in my life, but nothing has ever affected all our children like what happened on Thursday. The day started out completely normal. I posted about our Kindergarten activities for the letter B, I spoke with a friend on the phone, my kids worked on their schoolwork, we picked up the house, and then the tutor came from 1:00-6:00. She actually even took the boys to their Lego Robotics class for me, where they had their picture taken for the local paper! However, just after 7pm I posted on Facebook that “We could really use some prayers right now…” before heading to the ER.
After the tutor left, I started making dinner while my children completed a couple science experiments left over from the last couple chapters of their science course.
After completing our 2nd experiment, we headed back into the house and into the kitchen so the kids could all add the results and conclusion to their journals, just as Dad/Hubby arrived home from work for the day. The kids and I continued to discuss what we had just learned. I was sitting on one of the bar stools talking to the kids. Captain was holding the baby on one side of the island, Twinkle Toes was standing at the end, Chiquita had skipped off to the school room to find a pencil, and Rascal was standing in between the island and the sink. (In the very spot, I will add, that I had *almost* purchased a rug for a few days before, but didn’t want to spend the money… Still upset with myself for not buying it!)
Of course, even when they are talking, boys don’t hold still for very long… Lifting himself up between the sink/counter and the island, Rascal swung his body forward. As he swung back to “land” he slipped and went down, face first, onto our hard tile kitchen floor. He had been looking at me and talking to me at the time. I was about to say “Don’t do that.” but by then it was too late… Blocked by the counter and totally helpless, I saw his face hit the ground as a tooth flew out of his mouth, his head bounced before coming back down and hitting again, this time chin first, while the remaining dagger of a tooth tore through his bottom lip.
His initial response, grabbing his mouth and trying his best to shake it off, was “Ooh, that hurt!” before noticing the blood gushing everywhere.
By that time I was around the counter and praying that he was okay and that I had imagined the tooth bouncing out… I kept thinking “Are there any baby teeth left in the front??? Please let it be a baby tooth!!!”
Everyone came running to the kitchen. I had him open his mouth while my husband went to get a rag to help with all the blood, and, sure enough, he was missing more than half of his top front tooth. I told him to open his hand, there was the rest of the tooth, which he had somehow managed to catch! I couldn’t help it, I started crying. “Oh, NO! Your tooth!” which set everyone else to crying… He was crying, saying he was “so sorry…” Captain who was already holding Bud started crying along with the baby… Twinkle Toes and Chiquita started crying… Snuggles started wailing… and Rose must have thought “enough of all this” since she just looked around at everyone crying and headed back to here room, climbed into bed, and went to sleep without dinner. It was traumatic to say the least!
I called our dentist who asked a few questions before telling me to put the tooth in some milk and take Rascal in for stitches. He would see us in the morning…
We drove in to town and instead of stitches they ended up glueing Rascals lip back together. Apparently stitches would have been too easy to mess with and pull out right there on his lip, and glue is working much better for these sorts of injuries. He was also given a prescription for antibiotics to prevent infection from the “Human Bite” and his lip should heal in about 2-3 weeks.
By the time we got home everyone had calmed down… It did make me smile when Captain told me that Snuggles laid in bed, while we were at the Doctor’s, and cried, “I just NEVER wanted this to happen to ANYONE!!! First it happened this summer to Big Michael, and now it has happened to (Rascal)!” All of the kids were so sad for their brother. ♥
*Big Michael is the 14 year old grandson of our friend/swimming teacher, who broke both of his front teeth this summer doing a back flip off the diving board… I was surprised Snuggles remembered, but he loved meeting “Big Michael” who was up visiting.
Friday morning Hubby took everyone to Mass, while I headed to the Dentist with Rascal and the baby. Rascal, being the good sport that he always is, decided to wear his new “Hockey” shirt. (So much for me worrying about the boys losing teeth playing Hockey… It happened anyways, while doing schoolwork with me!)
We did discover that one end of a nerve was exposed and it will take time to tell the extent of the damage, and whether or not the tooth can be saved. (Basically his tooth could possibly start to turn black within 3 months to 3 years.) He will probably end up needing a root canal and/or a cap or crown. The dentist was able to glue the tooth back together for now. We also found that there was still another piece of the tooth missing, which we then x-rayed his lip to make sure it hadn’t been embedded. (Thanks be to God, that it hadn’t!) The dentist told us that in a couple days the tooth would hopefully be rehydrated and blend in (better) with the original tooth.
“B” is for Blueberries, Bubbles, Bibles, and Blessings!
We were busy, busy, busy, having a blast with the letter B Along the Alphabet Path the past couple weeks, so brace yourself for another extra long post!
Bumble Bees with painted Blueberries and grass at the Base
Snuggles colored this picture from My Book of Letters last school year…
I pulled out the rest of the activity pages for the letter B…
I asked Snuggles to color the sky gray and the b his favorite color (which happens to be blue) and he went on to “finish” the picture by coloring the grass, tree, and bat as well. He even colored the moon white. He was determined to cover that page with color!
He went on to sounding out the names of four pictures and figuring out which three began with the sound “b.”
Snuggles loves forming the letters with Wikki Sticks!
When we were at the craft store looking for fleece for the Blanket, we also ran across a “Nemo” themed piece of scrapbook paper that the kids all thought would make a perfect Background for Snuggles’ A, B… Seas Ocean Box! After gluing the page into the box, he also added dots of white paint with the end of a pencil to create “bubbles.”
Mix 2 cups water with 1/2 cup dishwashing liquid and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a shallow baking pan.
Dip the tip of a straw in the bubble liquid and blow bubbles. The straws were fun, but Snuggles especially loved the bubble makers we made from pipe cleaners. This was such a fun and simple experiment!
Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats
Pop! A Book about Bubbles
The Big Dipper
I posted the instructions and additional pictures from this craft here: Angel Art for A Week.
I posted the instructions and additional pictures from this craft here:
B is for Blanket :: A No Sew Fleece Tie Blanket Tutorial
B is for Building, Boat, and Busting the Burglar! 😉
For the letter “B” I pulled out this little lego set for Snuggles to Build a Building, Boat and a Bad Guy/Burglar, getting Busted! 😉
Brushing paint on Building Blocks
Snuggles was Burn out on this after painting a few blocks… I took over the project. 😉
B is for Blessings
“Look, Mom, I’m reading it first, before I take a bite out of it! Oohh! B-b-b-bite starts with B!!”
Taking advantage of the letter B theme, we finally Began Snuggles’ Bible Narrations and Picture Study for this year. We are reading the New Testament Stories from Classic Bible Stories: A Family Treasury. (I decided to wait on the Old Testament since our whole family will be moving on to Ancient History next year.) After I read the story to Snuggles’ he narrates it back to me and then illustrates a page in his book based on the picture provided.
This week we made a cover for “Snuggles’ Picture Book of Saints” using another Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheet to protect the page after it was glued to the front of his book.
), St. Benedict (An Alphabet of Saints), and St. Brendan (S is for Saints) we also read a few picture books about these saints:
The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica
I Believe: The Nicene Creed
Brendan the Navigator
Bernadette: The Little Girl from Lourdes
Brigid’s Cloak
The Life of St. Brigid: Abbess of Kildare (Not Pictured)
Saint Brendan and the Voyage Before Columbus
Of course we had to read about Pope Benedict too, and the sacrament of Baptism!
Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat
Max and Benedict: A Bird’s Eye View of the Pope’s Daily Life
The Fish in the Fountain: A Story of Baptism
I also had ordered a copy of the new book Be Saints!: An Invitation from Pope Benedict XVI but it’s on backorder and hasn’t arrived yet. Hopefully it will arrive in time for All Saints Day!
{pretty, happy, funny, real}
{pretty}
Our science experiment for the Letter B was making bubbles using the directions in Apples, Bubbles and Crystals: Your Science ABCs.
{funny}
Snuggles really loves school this year, at least that is what he keeps telling his Daddy each night. Hearing that makes all the extra work totally worth it!
B is for Baking Bread
One of the “Recipes” we came up with for the letter B Along the Alphabet Path was our “B” shaped Bread served with Butter and Blackberry Jam to enjoy while reading Bread and Jam for Frances!
For this Baking project, I totally cheated and just purchased a package of frozen Rhodes White Bread loaves. I also purchased some Blackberry jam, but you could go with Blueberry, Boysenberry, Black Raspberry, Black Cherry, Triple Berry, or….
Note: You could also make a much smaller version with three frozen dinner rolls, but we were aiming for a BIG B!
Defrost three loaves of bread (five come in one package) on a baking sheet, coated with non-stick cooking spray (we didn’t do this, but I never have problems with anything sticking to my stones). Cover with plastic wrap, also coated with cooking spray to keep it from sticking to the dough while rising. Let dough rise for 4 to 7 hours, until soft enough to work with.
Carefully remove the plastic wrap. Roll out the dough to create three long round pieces for the letter B.
Slice and serve with jam. Snuggles, of course, refuses to eat any sort of jam (it’s just “Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter” sandwiches for this picky little eater!) but he loved his white Bread with Butter!
Wordless Wednesday
My Blessings Handprint Tree
One of the themes we studied Along the Alphabet Path for the letter “B” was Blessings. And what a perfect fall time theme, with Thanksgiving right around the corner! At first I was going to have him get started making this year’s Thankful Tree, but since I didn’t have quite enough time for that I came up with this quick and simple craft. He had made something similar for his Valentine’s Day Cards earlier this year, he just made fall colored “leaves” and added a few of his “Blessings” to the “Branches!”
Supplies:
- Construction Paper
- Finger Paint (Brown and various colors for the leaves)
- White Paint Pen
My Daybook :: October 15, 2012
Outside my window…it’s raining… it’s pouring… We finally had rain for the first time this weekend, since Captain’s birthday in July. It had been one of the ten driest periods in our area’s recorded history!
I am thinking…
that it was really ironic to drive Hubby to the airport and watch him fly off to another fire assignment in the rain early Saturday morning. He is in Estes Park, Colorado at the moment, though it looks like this fire will be turned over to a smaller management team and he will either be coming home this week, or assigned to another fire. We’ll see!
I am thankful…
that the colds that the kids have had never turned into more than runny noses. As for the poison oak on the back of my leg, that is another story… I guess I am just thankful I have plenty of intentions for which to “offer it up!” 😉
Learning all the time…
We begin the letter “C” today Along the Alphabet Path! I have so many more pictures to share for “B” and hope to start on those soon – these Alphabet Posts are a lot of work to pull together! This week we will be reading more about the Election Process for History and the big kids are all moving on from Whales to start learning about Seals & Sea Cows for Science.
Celebrating the liturgical year…
This coming Sunday, October 21st, is the Canonization of Blessed Kateri! (How perfect for the letter C!) We will be using these lesson plans, along with picture books about Blessed Kateri. I already had planned to tie in (Indian) Corn, and hopefully we will be able to watch the canonization online.
From the kitchen…
Pan de Santa Teresa for breakfast, in honor of today’s feast of St. Teresa of Avila!
I am working on…
checking off all the orange boxes in my binder as we get close to completing our first semester this school year! I did go back and upload my modifiable documents for all of you who asked for them, and anyone else that would like to save a little time making your own.
I am creating…
that craft I mentioned last week turned out so cute! I’ve decided to make more to give away as Christmas gifts, which means I will have to wait to share pictures. Still, I’m dying to show it to all of you! It will be a good lesson in patience. 😉
I am going…
to need to order some more Craft Parts.
I am hoping…
that Rose’s hair grows quickly. She decided that she wanted to add “bangs” and “layers” on Friday, while I was at Bud’s check-up. She was very sad, since she “thought it would look pretty-uh!” I’m blaming Hubby (who she caught cutting his hair earlier this week, even though he said “Don’t YOU do this!”) Hallie and Amy! How did Rose know that bangs are so trendy at the moment?! 😉
My hairdresser told me to bring her on down and she blended it in as best as she could. That, combined with a cute little owl clip, made Rose much happier!
I am praying…
for safe travels for my husband, the upcoming election, and our adorable little goddaughter who celebrates a name day today!
I am reading…
I love the books on parenting and celebrating the liturgical year that were written by Mary Reed Newland back in the 50s. How to Raise Good Catholic Children (revised/edited edition) and The Year and Our Children have been on my bookshelf for years and were very instrumental in motivating me to begin celebrating the liturgical year in our home. When I saw that We and Our Children: How to make a Catholic Home, a new reproduction of the work originally published in 1954, I had to order a copy!
Pondering these words…
on The Rosary from We and Our Children: How to make a Catholic Home:
I am listening…
to the sound of rain drops falling on the roof. It’s especially loud here in the schoolroom, as well as in the entry living room and boys bedroom, with the open wood beam ceilings. We are enjoying the weather, but I am hoping it clears back up for our All Hallows’ Eve Party at the end of the month!
Around the house…
piles of clothing as I try to pack up the summer clothes and prepare for fall.
One of my favorite things…
moments like this:
Lego Robotics for the boys, Orthodontist Appointments, Tutor, and hopefully a trip to the Pumpkin Patch next weekend, if the weather is nice!
State-by-State Baking :: Louisiana Beignets
For the state of Louisiana, the 18th State, the girls read P is for Pelican: A Louisiana Alphabet before completing their Notebook Pages.
by Twinkle Toes (L) and Chiquita (R)
served piping hot and sweet.
Children love to eat Beignets,
What a yummy treat!“
Oil for Frying
Powdered Sugar
Thaw dinner rolls according to directions. When they’ve risen to the size of dinner rolls, heat up canola or vegetable oil in a frying pan. Using kitchen scissors, cut each roll in half and then poke a hole in the center for even frying. Fry until golden brown on each side and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar.
State-by-State Baking :: Ohio Buckeyes and Cincinnati Chili
For the state of Ohio, our 17th Sate, the girls read B is for Buckeye: A Ohio Alphabet and then worked on completing their Notebook Pages, as usual.
Of course, we had to make Buckeyes for this state, and with a spice packet straight from Ohio (Thanks to a dear blog visitor, and author!) the girls also made Cincinnati Chili! We made sure to serve it with all the suggested additions, and everyone seemed to prefer it differently… Hubby, the older boys, and I all loved it “All-the-Way”, Twinkle Toes and Chiquita liked the “4 Way” with beans (no onions), Rose loved the “2 Way”, and Snuggles wanted it “No Way! I’ll just have spaghetti with cheese, thank you very much!”
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners’ sugar. The dough will look dry. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.
6 cups water
4oz. of tomato paste
1 packet of Cincinnati Style Chili Seasoning
- Combine all ingredients in pan.
- Stir mixture with fork and bring to a boil.
- Cover pot and boil for 3 minutes.
- Uncover pot, reduce heat to medium, and continue to boil until desired thickness (approx. 25-35 minutes). Serves 8.
Serving Suggestions:
2 Way
Cincinnati Chili served over spaghetti.
3 Way
4 Way
Add onions or red beans to the 3 Way.
5 Way (Should be called All-the-Way!)
Spaghetti with Cincinnati Chili, red beans, onions, and mild cheddar cheese.
State-by-State Scrapbook :: Louisiana
P is for Pelican
The Pelican is a funny bird –
It catches its food in a pouch,
I’ll bet that poor bird says “Ouch!”
.: Louisiana by Captain :.
.: Louisiana by Rascal :.
*The links to the worksheets used for these notebook pages can be found here, and here is the link to all of our State-by-State Study posts.
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