England Expat Adventures: Never a Dull Moment...

Ethan seems to like school but never wants to go in the morning. He always tries to come up w excuses like it is raining or H has to go to doc so he needs to go too (that was yesterday morn). He tells these stories and I'll ask him questions but then will say the opposite thing 2sec later (he's all over the place) so I have no idea what really happens. Or if "the kids chasing him" was kids being mean or a game from gym class (that was what I came to find out yesterday). Ethan talks every day about wanting to go back to the U.S. And about Syd.

Today he told me that he gave his friends hugs and kisses since he won't see them tomorrow (he's missing school tomorrow for Normandy), which was sweet.

H fell out of a chair yesterday morning (she insisted on sitting in reg chair w booster but we are going back to high chair I think). Anyways, her foot got caught in the arm of the chair when she fell and it got twisted weird and she wouldn't stand or put weight on it at first and was rolling her ankle weird. Anyways, we went to ER to get it checked out and she was fine by then (of course). He said she was putting weight on it and seemed ok and he didn't think she should have an X-ray but that it's really hard to tell with toddlers (if the bone has buckled) so we should come back in if we notice it is giving her problems after some time has passed. Luckily the wait was a little over an hour (because she is a kid) but the general wait time was over 4hrs. We lucked out and didn't have to pay anything, which was nice.

But then when we got home later she was in pain going up the steps and was grabbing her groin and saying "owie". So then I'm thinking "oh great, maybe it is her hip or groin instead--we didn't even look at that yesterday." So I called this morning to try and talk to the doc and see if we should go back in (before waiting for a ton of time for nothing and if it was a pulled muscle or sprain that was sore and just needed some time to heal or was something that wouldn't need an X-ray and I could just see a normal doc) and it was like pulling teeth to talk to ANYONE. That doc wouldn't be in again for a week and they were really busy etc. And then they were really vague and said to give her some ibuprofen and come in to have it looked at if it still continues to bother her and they couldn't advise on if a X-ray was a possibility without seeing it (which didn't really help). Private healthcare definitely has its advantages. So then I talked to a general practitioner at a clinic and he was much more helpful and said to give it some time, that it was likely a sprain or pulled muscle that was sore and would probably heal on its own (and that she probably wouldn't be walking/running around most of the time if she broke her hip). Which answered my question and made me feel better that it was likely sore and needed some time to heal. Always an adventure, eh?

I've been on a movie kick lately-I discovered the pound store sells DVDs (and it's cheaper than renting them from the library or buying them at the charity shops). Today I found "Oceans 12"--yah! Chris has been working so much and I just want to veg out after putting the kids to bed. Chris got some streaming thing so he can watch the football games (he had to wait a day to see recent packers game though which drove him crazy).

Ethan is officially done with naps now (for awhile he'd still take one about every other day), which is good timing with school. But I miss my quiet time alone. He's been really cute though and asks, "Is there something I can do to help?" Yesterday we baked toll house cookies together. I still try to make him have quiet time but it doesn't always work. I've started showering at the gym.

Hailey was playing on this at the gym childcare and wanted to stay on it!