Ok, so a year later I am back on and find the previous two drafts sitting (unfinished, of course), waiting to be posted. (The dates on the previous two posts should be roughly June 2011 and August 2011!) Rather than try to complete my fragmented thoughts of 12 months ago (probably not terribly intelligible at the time and definitely not more so now), I posted them for what they are and will continue from here (ha, ha!)...
We've been in Vernal for nearly a year now and, though we definitely miss many things about Tennessee, we are feeling pretty settled. Clayton has had to adjust to a different teaching experience, but I think has done pretty well. I think this will actually be a much better fit for him (given a couple more years of adjustments). I have been teaching at a challenging (but wonderful) school with so many incredibly dedicated and caring people. I have, of course, spent my entire time in Primary, first with Ian and then, for the last several months as (you'll NEVER guess) CHORISTER. No joke. Shall I tally up months and years? Ian has been loved by and has enjoyed his teachers and friends at school. He and Anya have been able to ride the same bus, which has truly been a blessing. It's made it simpler schedule-wise, but it has also given Anya the opportunity to become friends with other children whose siblings are a bit different from the norm -- they can relate in ways she is unable to relate to just any friend in her class. She has had an amazing year with a fabulous teacher (we are daily thankful for Mrs. Gorum) and has really blossomed this year. We feel so blessed.
Our dental friends will be able to most fully appreciate this, but our last few months have focused largely on (you guessed it) TEETH! Anya has been losing them like wildfire (6 and counting -- one had to be pulled before a surgical procedure) and with her blood phobia, it's been an excruciating experience...for all of us. She has cried and screamed and been terrified to the point that she wouldn't eat (because it might make the tooth that was laying upside down against her gums finally fall out), she wouldn't talk, and she even missed the bus over one. But they're finally out.
Ian's experience has been no less excruciating. He has also lost teeth -- two he shouldn't have, in fact. The day before Easter (Saturday night about 5:30, of course) he was doing his usual spinning at my parents' house (with Clayton not 5 feet away), when he lost his balance and fell face-first into the oak entertainment center. He fell so hard that as he pulled away, his two front teeth stayed embedded in the oak drawer. Teeth on the floor, blood everywhere, panicked Dad, sobbing Ian, hysterical Anya (remember the phobia -- plus she's VERY sensitive when it comes to her big brother), and less than cool Mommy ("I need the dentist's phone number NOW!!!")...We were truly grateful to have Papa's voice of calm and reason. And for Uncle Stephen's cool, quick, insightful thinking. As we scrambled around to help Ian, he scooped up the hysterical little sister so she would see as little of the blood and panic as possible, and took her for a walk. Rational enough. But what never ceases to amaze me about him is how he just seems to instinctively know what will help. Instead of just taking her for a walk to get her out of the house, he asked her if she wanted to walk to the dentist's office (small town, remember?) where Ian might go after the hospital (we hadn't yet been able to reach the dentist and were first heading to the ER). He calmly talked to her about how nice the dentist was, how he was a friend of Mommy's and how he would take good care of Ian. Anya was in good hands.
We rushed first to the ER and immediately upon arrival received a call that they had gotten in touch with the dentist and that we were to meet him at his office. We were met there only to learn that he could not anesthetize, that the hospital there (we were in little old Rupert, Idaho, remember) would not touch teeth, that it would be at least 45 minutes later before we could get to a bigger hospital and a pediatric dentist. In the panic of the moment, we were preparing to hold him as the dentist attempted, without anesthesia, to shove the teeth back in. Ian was amazingly calm and as we waited for phone consultation with a pediatric dentist, we realized that even if we did reposition the teeth and the teeth (which had been extracted beautifully, by the way) were still viable, Ian constantly chews on everything and they wouldn't be able to be still enough to heal (causing more problems with possibility of infection, etc.) The pediatric dentist confirmed our hesitation and said they probably wouldn't have attempted it even if we'd been closer to the hospital. So, Ian and Anya now have matching smiles (when he smiles big enough -- wish we could get a picture of that!), but hers will grow back.
As we calmed down from the crisis moment, we realized how truly blessed he had been. We often feel like he has angels watching out for him but before you think we're really crazy this time, let me explain -- the force with which he hit the drawer left four distinct teeth marks in the solid wood.
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| teeth marks in solid oak |
The drawer sticks out MAYBE an inch. For him to have hit and pulled back that hard and that precisely without breaking his jaw, his cheek, his nose, putting out an eye, needing stitches, or at the very least tearing the heck out of his gums is, to me, nothing short of miraculous. Those teeth couldn't have come out more perfectly if a dentist had purposely extracted them.
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| two front teeth perfectly extracted |
The gums were not torn or ripped, the teeth were not broken. And, as Clayton pointed out, if Ian had fallen and broken a leg, he would never walk again -- by the time it had healed and he was out of a cast, his body would have forgotten how to use it. So yes, once again we see the tender mercies of a loving Heavenly Father aware of and watching over our little boy. We do feel blessed.
On a lighter note (I don't like to exclusively recount the damage Ian often suffers), the other night I heard Anya calling from the bathroom, "Mom! You have to come see! I taught Ian a new trick!" I, of course, thought of the tricks she teaches Jack (the parakeet) -- you know, "Close your eyes, Jack!" "Stop tweeting in 5, 4, 3..."), but I came in anyway. Ian was sitting in the tub and Anya had been brushing her teeth. "Look. Ian, say 'ah'...See he did it!" At first, I thought it coincidence -- he didn't make a sound, but he did open his mouth wide in an "ah". So, we waited a couple minutes and she did it again. Again -- success! She repeated this a few times and we left the bathroom. When I came back in to get him out of the tub, she came and commanded again. Once more, he complied. I tried it a few times and he did the same. Sounds like something small, but he hasn't been able to imitate accurately for a few years now. I was pretty impressed. But when we tried to get him to show Clayton after getting out of the tub, he wouldn't repeat it. Apparently it's just a trick for the bathroom...
Anya's latest effort is to work on getting over her fears of the unexpected. Her friend Caden (arguably her best friend both from school and church -- a REALLY nice, fun little boy that she plays and talks with and has such fun with -- probably relates to better than anyone) came over to invite her to come with them to see a new baby horse. How much better could it get, right? Uh-uh! Anya was so startled that he had just dropped by that she hid under her bed and wouldn't come out -- even when he came back by on his way back home and came in to talk to her. Anything unexpected (or maybe unscripted) socially makes her really nervous (a "yucky feeling in my tummy"). We're working on it and the last time Caden came by to give Anya his address, I was able to coax her out and she came out to talk to him. She still wouldn't go play at his house, but we're making progress.
ANYWAY, that's what has come to mind at the moment as far as catching up. If that's not all random enough for you, I guess we can just wait and see how long it takes me to post again. Hopefully I'll be more diligent now that school is out, but I'm done making promises...You know me!
