When we were moving to San Francisco from Minot we decided not to take Laura's crib. We figured that it wouldn't be long before she would be going into a big girl bed anyway. Dave's folks put the crib up in their attic, awaiting any future nieces or nephews.
Danny had some bunkbeds that we bought for him in Minot. Laura used her crib through that year. We bought her a bed when we got to San Francisco. Most people would have bought the nearly two year old a youth bed or a single bed. We decided to get her a double bed so if she wanted to have a friend sleep over (in the future) there would be enough room. We also had a bed for any overnight guests we may have.
Laura was so little she couldn't even get up into her bed. We had to lift her up on it when we went to tuck her in. One night when Dave and I were going to bed, we found her sleeping on the rug beside her bed. She was so darned cute. She obviously had gotten out of bed for something and then couldn't get back up.
Whenever it was Laura's naptime, I would put the safety gate across her bedroom door. She would just call me when she was finished napping. One day she seemed to be "sleeping" quite a bit longer than usual so I went up to check on her. She was a very busy baby girl, she had an orange crayon and had colored lots and lots of squiggles and loops all over the back of her bedroom door. This artwork was from as high as she could reach, clear on down to the floor. I had her help me clean it up and she never colored on anything she wasn't suppose to again. It seems to me that I also put her crayons up a little higher. lol
Monday, June 8, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Danny's Second Set of Stitches
I had to go back and re-title a post in May that I had said was his second set of stitches. The one with the cut on the knee in his pool was his third set of stitches. This is the second set--- a cut above his left eyebrow while we were living with Kathy in St. Louis. We had taken Darren for a checkup to his pediatrician. Danny was sitting and playing around at a little table and chair set in the waiting room. He slipped off of the chair and hit his head on the edge of the table. Now one would think that since it happened in a pediatrician's office, that he could fix it right? Wrong!! He wasn't equipped to do stitches so we had to take him to a nearby hospital emergency room.
So my little fellow had three sets of stitches by the age of five. I was within a few feet of him for two of the accidents above his eyes (the first set was up close to his hairline). There is just no way you can prevent an accident like that from happening. When he got the cut to the knee, I was inside the house with Laura but could see the kids playing in the water.
So now the saga of Danny's stitches has been straightened out. Maybe these three accidents were a premonition to future accidents---ya' think?
So my little fellow had three sets of stitches by the age of five. I was within a few feet of him for two of the accidents above his eyes (the first set was up close to his hairline). There is just no way you can prevent an accident like that from happening. When he got the cut to the knee, I was inside the house with Laura but could see the kids playing in the water.
So now the saga of Danny's stitches has been straightened out. Maybe these three accidents were a premonition to future accidents---ya' think?
Friday, June 5, 2009
First Grade and the Peach
Shortly after moving to San Francisco, the kids had their 2nd and 6th summer birthdays. We celebrated both birthdays with cake and ice cream and a few gifts. We just had a family party, just the four of us. The only gift I can remember is Danny's Snoopy lunchbox because he would be starting school in a few weeks.
Yes, in just a few weeks I was to put this small 6 year old boy on a bus to go off of the base to a public San Francisco school and trust that somehow he was going to return to me. I wanted to keep him home all safe and warm under my care. This is the first time in my parenting days that I was traumatized. There were to be several more through the years, but this was devastating to me. When the dreaded day came I walked him down to the bus stop a few blocks away. Now this was a walk that he was quite capable of doing himself, but not today!!! lol I did put him on that school bus that day, and I asked the bus driver how in the world was he going to get him home. He assured me that they have been doing this for many years and they never lost a child yet. Of course I worried and stewed about it most of the day and I was at that bus stop to meet him when and if he ever got home. It was nothing short of a miracle to me that he did return home.
One day Danny came home from school with a large bulge in his pocket. I asked him what it was and he pulled his ripped tee shirt out of the pocket. When I asked him what happened he said that a peach boy ripped it off of him at recess. I inquired what a peach boy was and he replied that he wasn't black and he wasn't white, he was a peach.
Yes, in just a few weeks I was to put this small 6 year old boy on a bus to go off of the base to a public San Francisco school and trust that somehow he was going to return to me. I wanted to keep him home all safe and warm under my care. This is the first time in my parenting days that I was traumatized. There were to be several more through the years, but this was devastating to me. When the dreaded day came I walked him down to the bus stop a few blocks away. Now this was a walk that he was quite capable of doing himself, but not today!!! lol I did put him on that school bus that day, and I asked the bus driver how in the world was he going to get him home. He assured me that they have been doing this for many years and they never lost a child yet. Of course I worried and stewed about it most of the day and I was at that bus stop to meet him when and if he ever got home. It was nothing short of a miracle to me that he did return home.
One day Danny came home from school with a large bulge in his pocket. I asked him what it was and he pulled his ripped tee shirt out of the pocket. When I asked him what happened he said that a peach boy ripped it off of him at recess. I inquired what a peach boy was and he replied that he wasn't black and he wasn't white, he was a peach.
Move to San Francisco and the Oakland Zoo
Dave come back from his second tour in Viet Nam in early summer of '72. Our next assignment was in the Presidio of San Francisco. We had a little time to get everything ready for the packers and for Dave to see his extended family before we headed west again.We had to give our dog away, it broke our hearts but we felt it was the best decision for the dog. Dave had heard that there was little to no yards in San Francisco and that he wouldn't have anyplace to run around and no place for us to walk him to do his "thing". As it turned out, we did have a yard but he would have had to be on a chain because it wasn't fenced. We had a large woods right out beside us.
Our quarters were very nice. It was two story with the bathroom and three bedrooms upstairs and the living & dining rooms and the kitchen downstairs. If I had to pick something wrong with it, it would be that the only bathroom was upstairs. One of my first purchases was a safety gate to put across the top of the stairs at night. I was afraid that one of the kids, and in particular the baby, would get up in the middle of the night and turn the wrong way and fall down the stairs. She navigated them pretty well during the day, afterall she was going on two years old. lol Most of the time she was downstairs with me.
The first family fun thing we did together was to go to the Oakland Zoo, across the double decker Bay Bridge. They had a small amusement park so we put the kids on a few rides before going to look at the animals. The first ride we saw was the carousel (merry-go- round). So the kids and I got on, Danny of course was a big boy and was able to get on his horse with just a small boost to get his foot in the stirrup. I lifted Laura on her horse of choice and stayed there to be sure she didn't fall off. When the ride was over, Danny hopped off and was ready and eager for the next ride. Laura, however, hung on to that pole with all her might. She didn't want off and the only way she was going to come off was if I physically forced her to. I told Dave that she wasn't going to get off so give me a couple more tickets and he could go put Danny on a few more rides. After all the rides we went over to the petting zoo and had a great time. It was a wonderful day.
Our quarters were very nice. It was two story with the bathroom and three bedrooms upstairs and the living & dining rooms and the kitchen downstairs. If I had to pick something wrong with it, it would be that the only bathroom was upstairs. One of my first purchases was a safety gate to put across the top of the stairs at night. I was afraid that one of the kids, and in particular the baby, would get up in the middle of the night and turn the wrong way and fall down the stairs. She navigated them pretty well during the day, afterall she was going on two years old. lol Most of the time she was downstairs with me.
The first family fun thing we did together was to go to the Oakland Zoo, across the double decker Bay Bridge. They had a small amusement park so we put the kids on a few rides before going to look at the animals. The first ride we saw was the carousel (merry-go- round). So the kids and I got on, Danny of course was a big boy and was able to get on his horse with just a small boost to get his foot in the stirrup. I lifted Laura on her horse of choice and stayed there to be sure she didn't fall off. When the ride was over, Danny hopped off and was ready and eager for the next ride. Laura, however, hung on to that pole with all her might. She didn't want off and the only way she was going to come off was if I physically forced her to. I told Dave that she wasn't going to get off so give me a couple more tickets and he could go put Danny on a few more rides. After all the rides we went over to the petting zoo and had a great time. It was a wonderful day.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Triangle Trips and the Traveling Playpen
Since we lived in California for two different three year assignments (Ft. Ord near Monterey and the Presidio of San Francisco) we did a lot of traveling when we took a vacation (military leave). We would go from California to North Dakota and to southern Missouri) It made for a very long trip and a lot of driving. This started when Laura was not quite a year old and Danny was going on five. We built up the floorboards in the back so they were level with the seat. Then I put quilt over the top of all of it. They had a "traveling playpen" to move around in and weren't as cramped up as they would have been just sitting in the seat. This was a very long time before the seatbelts came out. Some of these trips were across the deserts of California, Arizona and New Mexico. This was also long before the cars had air conditioners. When we left Fort Ord, we had a car seat for Laura. This carseat was similar to a booster seat, it was just a small chair that hooked up over the back of the seat. It had a low back and very little padding. Laura would sit in it so nice and never fussed at all, she wasn't a fussy baby anytime. She would fall asleep and her little head would just hang down and bob around and it looked pitiful to me. When I would take her out of the seat to lay her down more comfortable, she wouldn't sleep at all. I even switched places with Danny and got in the back with her. She was so tired and I thought that if I layed down back there with her she would sleep. She layed so sweetly beside me but never did go to sleep. When she eventually got put back in her seat she would go to sleep, and even though it looked pitiful to me---she must have been comfortable or she wouldn't be sleeping.
Monday, June 1, 2009
The Rabbit and the Dart gun
Danny had received the "coolest" toy from his Aunt Sandy for his 5th birthday in August of '71. At first I thought how ignorant this was to give a small boy a dart gun especially with a baby girl toddling around the house. There were definitely some house rules set down about it. I explained to him that although it is a toy, it could seriously injure someone if one of the darts would hit a person---especially if it would hit them in the eye. He could only play with it when Laura was taking a nap or was put to bed at night. He was very careful when playing with it and never aimed it at anything but the rabbit. The rabbit is the cool part. It was a brown wind up rabbit that would run (slowly) around in a circle and you were suppose to try to hit it by shooting the darts at it. It was about the size of a real medium sized rabbit. I don't know why I thought this was "blog worthy" but there must be an underlying reason I suppose.
His other favorite toys were hot wheels, Tonka trucks and Jeep, and a small train set he had received for Christmas. He loved his little two wheel bicycle (with training wheels). In the spring the man down the street took the training wheels off of it for him. He knew that Danny's dad was in Viet Nam.
His other favorite toys were hot wheels, Tonka trucks and Jeep, and a small train set he had received for Christmas. He loved his little two wheel bicycle (with training wheels). In the spring the man down the street took the training wheels off of it for him. He knew that Danny's dad was in Viet Nam.
North Dakota Winter& Laura's Ears
We had a lot of snow that year the kids and I stayed in Minot, North Dakota. It was very very cold. I had to have a tank heater installed on my car and had to plug it in whenever I was not using it, or else it would freeze up. I had an extention cord stuck out our front bedroom window to plug it in to. By pulling the car up far enough to plug in the car, left a lot more driveway to shovel. This was a very strenuous job--that snow is heavy. Danny came outside with me a few times to help me shovel. He had a small shovel to use and he worked just as hard as I did. It was so cute to watch him because at least half of the snow he shoveled fell back where it had been when he went to dump it out. My brother in laws (two of them) came over a couple of times but mostly I was on my own with it. I kept some of it cleared by driving back and forth over it when I was coming and going.
Danny went to Kindergarten every afternoon Monday thru Friday. Laura and I would drive him down there (it was seven or eight blocks). Then we'd go back home and she would take a little nap and I just had some nice quiet time. Then we would drive back down and pick him up from school. I learned to drive fairly well in the snow and made it around town alright. There were only a few days that I wouldn't go out and drive in it because I thought the roads were too bad.
We had quite a time that year with Laura's ears. She would get ear infections so bad that pressure would build up behind her eardrum and it would pop. This is extemely painful. Every time she got a cold it would go to her ears. Doctors started just putting her on an antibiotic whenever she got the cold, to ward it off before it got so bad. Many of nights I sat and rocked her while she cried in pain from her ears. I would cry some too because I couldn't do anything to help her--it just took time for the medicine to start working. In months to come, we had to put her in the hospital to have tubes put in her ears. This was a fairly new procedure at the time, and the doctor had to do some talking before I would put my baby girl in the hospital to have this operation done. I'm glad they talked me in to it because she was so much better after that.
Danny went to Kindergarten every afternoon Monday thru Friday. Laura and I would drive him down there (it was seven or eight blocks). Then we'd go back home and she would take a little nap and I just had some nice quiet time. Then we would drive back down and pick him up from school. I learned to drive fairly well in the snow and made it around town alright. There were only a few days that I wouldn't go out and drive in it because I thought the roads were too bad.
We had quite a time that year with Laura's ears. She would get ear infections so bad that pressure would build up behind her eardrum and it would pop. This is extemely painful. Every time she got a cold it would go to her ears. Doctors started just putting her on an antibiotic whenever she got the cold, to ward it off before it got so bad. Many of nights I sat and rocked her while she cried in pain from her ears. I would cry some too because I couldn't do anything to help her--it just took time for the medicine to start working. In months to come, we had to put her in the hospital to have tubes put in her ears. This was a fairly new procedure at the time, and the doctor had to do some talking before I would put my baby girl in the hospital to have this operation done. I'm glad they talked me in to it because she was so much better after that.
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