Heat Wave......

Heat index will be and probably is as I am writing this in the 110-120 range here in Iowa this week.

My husband is prone to heat stroke. He's been hospitalized for it once (even if he claims it was food poisoning.....it wasn't). Still he insists on drinking soda in the heat or when he's doing hard labor or both. He's the smartest man I know except when it comes to this. Everytime I start to explain that soda pop actually leaches important minerals and couple that with the excreting of minerals through sweat and you got a whole mess of trouble.

If he won't listen to me say the words, at least I can document it here:

What is heat stroke? 

"How can dehydration be prevented?
Take precautionary measures to avoid the harmful effects of dehydration, including:

• Drink plenty of fluids, especially when working or playing in the sun.
• Make sure you are taking in more fluid than you are losing.
• Try to schedule physical outdoor activities for the cooler parts of the day.
• Drink appropriate sports drinks to help maintain electrolyte balance.
• For infants and young children, solutions like Pedialyte will help maintain electrolyte balance during illness or heat exposure. Do not try to make fluid and salt solutions at home for children." 

Yikes. Oh there's more. Here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1742-7843.2007.00053.x/abstract;jsessionid=E6048CB10B8230E2340632FA7161977F.d03t02

and here:

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/full/97/4/667?view=long&pmid=17329656

So, please be smart in the heat. Make good choices and stay hydrated. 

Merciless cute kid photos to drive my point home. :)

Cinderella

The Missoula Children's Theatre came to town and did a one week long intensive theatre camp. We heard about it on Saturday, the auditions were Monday morning, and the performance on Friday. So basically the kids had 4 days to learn the script, the music, and the choreography for a musical called Cinderella.

And they did it, they did it well.

Presenting, Lil'Bug's stage debut!

A rare photo of Mama.... waiting for the lights. Blueberry Girl was really jealous and several times this week marched p to the director and demanded to be included. Alas, she is too young and will have to wait. She was Lil'Bug's biggest fan though and her encouragement and enthusiasm could be heard throughout Chariton.  

Lil;Bug was really nervous. Four days isn't a lot of time to remember all the cool moves and song lyrics!

She was front row pumpkin girl. 

Deep in thought. There was some drama back stage......see? Real life happens outside of school too. 

The older kids in the cast were awesome. They took to Lily and were sweet to her and the little kids. They did an amazing job with their parts too.

My sweet pumpkin.

My sweetie pie. 

The Spring Fed Creek and a Strange Girl Named Emily

We have 10 acres in the wooded part of our farm, to the East of the 8 acre pond.  That pond is a man made water body where a Spring fed creek was dammed off. The excess water from the pond, the drain that allows the level to stay the same, puts the water back into the creek path on the other side of the dam. So the creek, through small most of the time, meanders through our woods and eventually through several other farms, feeding into the Chariton River and Lake Red Haw. 

We rarely go to that part of our farm because where the water drains is a very deep hole and the creek water can be wide and fast. Our kids are too little to safely explore there even with us so mostly that area is left to itself. 

Chad and Lil'Bug took a long explore the other day to document it. So here it is, from the bee path all the way to the underpass where the creek leaves our farm under the road.

Lil'Bug came home and insisted her name was Emily and we found her in the creek bed, sleeping. She insisted I label this post, "The Finding of Emily" and so it is.

More on Structure

So I was thinking, what prompted the suggestions for structure was actually a really bad day we had here. Actually, it wasn't all that special as far as parenting goes- every kid has a day like this. Lil'Bug went all sorts of nuts and drew on walls (so did Blueberry Girl), CUT my new curtains, painted on a chair, and generally threw lots of tantrums. It was the day after a really bad storm smashed up the new playhouse the girls had built with their grandpa and took several healthy limbs out of trees all over the farm.

Perhaps it was reaction to the storm? I made a point of engaging Lil'Bug a couple days later while playing chess and asking her.

She overheard some very adult conversations about 22q11 (the anomaly that Zap was born with) and was afraid that he is going to die. Then she overheard us wondering if one of us has it too, since it can be inherited and she was afraid that we might die too. What incredibly big fears to struggle with! No wonder she was working hard to redirect with art mediums! I do that too, but when I do art it is considered ok, because they are my curtains or my chairs and walls to paint on. She doesn't understand ownership and only knows by example. That makes sense. We talked through it. I doubt it will be the last conversation or the end of her fears.

The doctors appointments threw off our regular structure and that broke up our normal routine and caused me a lot of stress. She felt that. SHE was able to process it more than I was at the time.  Quite honestly, she wrote "1 love you" and "I <3 U" all over everything. Love letters to mama.

Every kid has bad days and bad behaviour. Finding the actual cause and addressing that is more effective than punishing with busy work and calling it structure. Just more of my thoughts.