August Journal

    Let's get caught up.  Ellen was invited to a pool party for her friend Dylan.  They had a little slide (with extremely cold water running down it.  Ellen didn't seem to care, but I was waiting at the bottom where it all spilled out.), a basketball hoop where El could dunk balls through when I lifted her up, and floaty foam pads that she could completely get out of the water on (as seen in the pictures).

    Bridge Pedal was this month as well.  We dropped the Phoebe off at "grandma" Janet and "grandpa" Ned's in the wee hours of the morning.  Ellen, Jada, and I headed downtown to meet up with Jada's dad and Pete.  The rain threatened us all morning, and the route was a little different this year due to the St. John's bridge being closed.  We were having a pretty good day though.  Ellen started to get a little cranky on the way up the Fremont bridge, and the clouds started looking more threatening to the north where the long course would take us.  So at the turn-off, we bid adieu to Pete who was going off on the long route, and Jada, Ellen, Larry, and I all headed off on the short course to the finish line.  Ellen got a pin and a patch for the ride.  And from what we heard from Pete, it did, in fact, rain on them on the long course.  Phoebe did a great job for Janet and Ned.

    Ellen did not have a great month.  Somehow, one night, Ellen hit her mouth somewhere.  We thought she had gotten sick, so we pulled her into bed with us.  In the morning, we saw that her mouth was totally swollen.  As the swelling went down, I noticed that the tooth (the same one with the discoloration) was chipped.  We luckily had an appointment with her dentist already scheduled for the Monday after we noticed the chip.  He said that the tooth looked like it was cracked all the way up the back, and the gum above the tooth was infected.  So we scheduled a follow-up appointment to pull the tooth.  It was a horrible decision to have to make for a 2.5 year old, but it had to be done.  The day of the appointment, I think we were both more nervous than Ellen was.  I had taken the morning off work to assist with the aftermath.  The room that we did the tooth pull was too small for me to stand in as well (luckily) so Jada and the dentist were in there, and I was peaking my head in from the hallway with Phoebe.  They held Ellen so that Dr. Downey could hold a local anesthetic on the tooth and gum area to numb it for the next step.  He had to hold it on the tooth for 2 minutes, and he did it twice.  After that came the needle to numb the area even more.  There were 3 shots of this.  Between each time, they let Ellen get up and move around.  She headed out to the hall where I was standing next to the treasure chest.  She chose temporary butterfly tattoo to wear, and then it was time.  The tooth pull itself was quick, then it was trying to squeeze the yucky stuff out of the gum from the infection.  There was lots of blood, but as soon as they let Ellen out of the chair, she was fine.  The worst part of it for her was being held down, it seemed.  Whenever she got to get up and move around, she was her normal self.  It took a couple days to get used to her new smile, but she is just as cute as always, but now she looks like a 5 year old.  Dr. Downey said that it looked like the tooth was trying to give itself a root canal.  We really like our dentist, and the really amazing thing is that Ellen still likes him too. 

    Then we set about trying to figure out how to pull the tooth fairy bit since she's such a light sleeper.  We settled on leaving the tooth box that the dentist gave us on the shelf just inside her room.  Jada snuck in and swapped it for a dollar coin that we've been saving for just such occasions.  We primed her with some books from Jada's class room on the tooth fairy and dentist before hand.  Ellen really enjoyed them.  I think we read them before naptime and bedtime every day for a week.  It certainly was not an experience that we would have chosen to have happen, but it ended up being the best we could expect.  The dentist had asked us if we wanted to pull both front top teeth to try to give the new tooth room to come in, but from the digital pics and x-rays the doctor took before hand, it indicated that Ellen will definitely need braces due to over crowding in her mouth anyway.  Some things are nice to know ahead of time, but I just feel so bad for her.  But at least we know and can be prepared for it later.

    Microsoft left our favorite OS vulnerable so I had to work for 12 straight days helping patch our servers, so I didn't get to see the girls much during that time.  I was at work early and home late every day during that time.  It was really hard being away so much, but we finally finished.

    My friend Kathy got married this month.  They were kind enough to allow us to bring Phoebe even though it was a small wedding with no kids.  She did a great job.  Luckily there was a lot of background noise to cover up when Phoebe started to talk a little bit.  Plus, the Harley Davidson Rose City Thunder festival was going on, so the occasional rumble of a hog could be heard as well.  We left early, but we were able to catch up with the bride and groom before we left.

    The grand event of the month was Big Truck day hosted by the Tualatin Valley Parks and Rec center at the Conestoga site.  As the name suggests, the cities of Beaverton and Portland bring in their big trucks: fire trucks, ambulances, dump trucks, tractors, police cars and motorcycles, moving trucks, flatbed trucks, monster trucks, and construction equipment.  It's really fun...Ellen liked it too.

    As a final tune up for Cycle Oregon, Pete and I decided to ride to Seaside, OR.  We started from Pete's house, so the total distance only ended up being 66 miles, but we certainly didn't miss any of the climbs in the coast range.  We started in sun, but ended in cold and rain...as almost every trip to the beach ends.  We met up with Jada, Ellen, Phoebe, and Jada's mom on the "prom".  (In an odd piece of foreshadowing, this is exactly how our Cycle Oregon week ended up.  Hopefully, I'll be able to write a journal on this soon.  I didn't have a notebook to write in.)   

    Sadly the school year had to start, and the girls had to go to day care.  Not too bad for them, since the girls love their day care provider.  Jada was definitely sad to see them go.  Laurie was bringing the girls to Jada's new school since it was too far for Jada to get their and back during the lunch time.

    Update on the girls.  Phoebe started on real food (August 13) with rice cereal as a supplement.  On August 23, she had her first Gerber sweet potatoes, and she loved it.  We set her up in the high chair in the reclined position, and she just kept wanting more.  She can really put it away.  Just like her big sister did.

    Ellen has been trying to dump her afternoon nap...unsuccessfully.  She likes to cry for an hour, and occasionally she'll actually get up out of her bed and leave the room.  However, we meet her at the door, and most of the time she'll go back into bed and fall asleep.  Sometimes, it's a fight for the whole 3 hours.  She some times goes for a couple days without a nap, and then she'll sleep for a few days.  It's all about the cycles for her.  We continue to be amazed at how well she does at making things up.  She takes melodies of songs she already knows and puts her own words to them now.  Usually consisting of things that are happening or around the room or happened during the day.

Journal entry September 21, 2003