"I had to use my dog as bait"

I'm learning all about required annual car inspections for Texas residents.  Yesterday Ava and I went to get my car inspected so we could register it in state of Texas.  When we arrived home I noticed the dogs were tied up outside.  I thought to myself, "Why did Ben tie the dogs up if he wasn't at the camper?  He knows if one's dogs are outside, the owners have to be present."  


Then I saw a note on the door that read:

"Your dogs came through your screen.  I got your neighbor across the street from you.  I came from behind and used Patches (my dog) as bait.  Your dogs are tied up and watered."  -C.L.

As I opened the storm door, I could reach my entire torso through the screen door.  Part of me thought, "Great.  Now, we have to pack/tie down our belongings in our home, hook it up to a truck and take our home into town to get the door repaired."  Part of me thought, "How scary would it be to be walking by with your dog and have two dogs (60lbs and 75lbs) lunge through a screen toward you?"  And part of me was just embarrassed by thought of our dogs running around the RV park while our neighbors chased them down and used their dog as bait to catch our dogs.  THEN they were kind enough to make sure the dogs had water.  How do you thank someone for doing that?!


We've had our camper for just under 3 weeks and so far all of the "oopses" that have occurred are: 

1. A partially drank bottle of wine came uncorked in the fridge, spilled all over, leaked through the fridge seal and dripped onto the floor.  By day two, our home smelled like we were alcoholics.
2. I'm surprised it was day three before Ava spilled milk on the dining room bench.
3. I'm struggling to learn how to cook with a gas stove/oven so at least once a day the smoke alarm notifies the neighbors dinner is almost ready...or maybe TOO ready!
4. The dogs make their own doggie door through the screen on day 17.

Oye!

Shaken Baby Syndrome

I've heard a couple of radio commercials recently about Texas that led me to do a little research. The first commercial included the fact that Texas ranks fourth highest in the nation for teen pregnancy.  I found the following statics at the Texas Department of State Health Services (http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/famplan/tpp.shtm) site rather interesting:

How Often Does a Teenager in Texas Get Pregnant?Every 10 minutes, a teen in Texas gets pregnant. 

Every 10 hours, a 14-year-old teen gets pregnant. 

Every 3 hours, a 15-year-old teen gets pregnant. 

Every 1.5 hours, a 16-year-old teen gets pregnant.  

Every 52 minutes, a 17-year-old-teen gets pregnant.  

Every 35 minutes, an 18-year-old teen gets pregnant. 

Every 28 minutes, a 19-year-old teen gets pregnant. 
What are the Outcomes? 

Every 48 minutes a teen has an abortion.

The other radio fact I heard regarded Shaken Baby Syndrome.  Texas has the highest mortality rate of infants as a result of shaking.  According to the National Shaken Baby Coalition a baby can fall 3 stories and not get as seriously injured as a shaken baby!!

Ben and I were hypothesizing correlations between the two facts (Teen Pregnancy and Shaken Baby Syndrome) then started talking about our own daughter.  We started discussing how many times Ava has tripped or ran into something or fell off of something.  

Just as Ben started to say, "...and Ava's still okay'" we looked down the hall of our camper towards Ava.  Ava was playing independently, sitting on the floor in her bedroom, putting a puzzle together...wearing her bicycle helmet.  

...Maybe I SHOULD get her checked out.

Ava's Transformation--Imaginative Play

Several people have asked "Where is all of your stuff?" To that I reply, "We have a REALLY big storage garage. We had a LOT of stuff." My last several post have been about events I found rather humorous. But I would like to start addressing the transformation we've had to make.

Ava never had a lot of toys...somewhere in the realm of the volume of two storage ottomans, plus a big wheels, a scooter, a grocery cart full of fruits and vegetables, a bicycle, a drawing table and a shelf of books.   With living quarters being so limited in our camper, real estate is priceless and modern toddler toys are fairly non-existent.  Ava is limited to one backpack of toys and a bicycle.  It’s really made Ben and I think about how families with children live.   

I  know I’ve walked into houses where narrow walking paths are made through drifts of toys. Some families dedicate entire basements to playrooms. Some children have enough toys on their bedroom floor to cover every surface of our camper...multiple layers deep! According to a book by Adproofing Your Kids “The average number of new toys a child in the USA receives in a year is 70.”  In a U.K. News article, the average 10-year-old has 238 toys worth £7,000 ($11,000 USD)!

Today, Ava spent nearly an hour alone filling her shoes with rocks from our camper spot, moving buckets of leaves from one area to another and climbing in and out of the back of our pickup like it was the best jungle gym ever!  She’s toted around 4 sticks for the last 3 days everywhere we went.  I’ll give you that they’re not the most sanitary, but I don’t have to worry about it having lead paint (if you remember the 2007 China toy recall).  Nor do I have to worry about its cost to replace if its forgotten, lost, broken or taken by some other kid at the playground.  

I've research the importance of imaginative play. However, several examples I found were not what I call "imaginative".  Here are some of the examples I found:

1. Get your child a kitchen set and have them pretend to cook.2. Find clothing kits and accessories for dress up play.3. Children can play with toy cash registers or pretend ATMs to learn and understanding of how to use money.

These options do not sound very imaginative or cheap. Ava is 3 and today she arranged coins to make a flower (complete with pistil, petals, stems and leaves), used shape and color flashcards as a memory game, and played the part of a dancing princess with a bath towel.  Piles of rocks become snow piles. Big rocks are bunny eggs. Leaves are money. Depending on the game, sticks are magic wands or guns or fishing poles. Part of me worried about Ava getting bored without many toys, but without branded toys we’ve seen her imagination take off.

"Diamond Earrings" or "Dime and Earrings" ?

This afternoon while Ben was attending a scuba training session Ava proudly announced she went potty.  As I walked into the bathroom, Ava was peering into the toilet.  Then, the following conversation took place:

Ava:  "Did the dime come out of my tummy?" Me:  "I don't know.  Let's find out." (after a minute)Me:  "Here.  I think we found it."Ava:  "Let's keep it and show it to Daddy!  Let me grab a Ziplock baggie!"

When Ben returned and found the "present" he thought he should make it into a necklace for me...or try to get Ava to eat another one so I could have a set of earrings.

When You Have No Pockets

The great thing about Texas is that southern hospitality.  My mother’s side of the family all live about an hour from Austin.  When we went up to visit them this last weekend, 4 out of 4 families we visited offered up their homes to us or hook ups on their property for our camper.  

Tonight, Ava and I went to visit my cousin.  We had a good laugh about the dime incident from the other day.  Before leaving around 10:00pm my cousin provided Ava with a pull-up and pajamas for the ride home.  

As we were preparing to leave my cousin’s house, my cousin picked Ava up to give her a hug good-bye, and lightly patted her bottom.   My cousin then got a strange expression on her face and asked Ava, “Do you need to go potty?”  Ava said, “No.”  My cousin then opted to check Ava’s pull up while I observed from the doorway.  

As my cousin pulled Ava’s pull-up down we discover Ava’s play cell-phone.  I said, “I didn’t realize Ava ate a cell phone.  If only the dime was as easy to pass.”  My cousin said, “Ava’s only been in Texas a week but she sure must be missing her Grandma Rita.  We need to get this girl a training bra!”  (This may only be funny if you know Grandma Rita.)

Hoping for Diarrhea

Today, while eating lunch our neighbor next door came over and.said, “Ya’ll are connected to the wrong well.”  Ben went outside with our neighbor.  Apparently there are two water hook-ups.  As one well periodically gets contaminated, we’re supposed to switch to the other.  Fine time to finally find out about this.  My only hope is we all get diarrhea (yes, I just said that) so hopefully it will speed up this “dime passing” process.

The Benefits of Eating Together

It’s day 7 of RV living.  We’ve settled into a bit of a routine where Ben gets up early to work while Ava and I sleep in.  We get up, shower, get dressed, make breakfast and all sit around the table together for the first meal of the day.  Ava and I will usually make an outdoor play run while Ben works, return to our camper for lunch together with Ben.  While Ben works in the afternoon, Ava and I will play around the camper, run errands, then return to eat dinner with Ben.  Then, the three of us will spend the evening doing whatever together.  Yes, we spend a lot of time together.  We also gather together around a meal table 3 times per day.


There are all sorts of studies out there about the benefits of eating together:  time for bonding, decreased rates of smoking, drinking, or illegal drug use, better grades, etc.  Some of you may say those studies are biased in some way, but if you can’t believe a study at Columbia University by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), you have to believe Chuck Norris.  That’s right, Chuck Norris’s C-Force Rule #3) 

“Slow down and eat with your loved ones. The art of cooking needs to return to American homes, and so does eating together. Sitting down for meals with your family not only improves eating habits and ensures proper nutrition but also reduces obesity patterns in children and provides for daily times of interaction and relational building”

However, to reap the benefits, the family sitting around the table must not be dysfunctional.  Humm...