My argument for not vaccinating...

SHEER EMBARRASMENT.

I was telling this story to some friends and thought I should post it, for your reading pleasure... At John's last check-up, he asked, about as soon as the doctor came in the room, if she would give him a sticker. She said of course and asked what kind he'd like. An innocent enough question it might seem, but I think she left it too open-ended for John, who then said he'd like a tiger one, of course. Well, then when she tried to explain that she really only had two choices for him, and she even went and brought them back to try and peddle her goods. Nope! My child did not politely say thank you and accept what was offered to him gratefully. He asked what else she had. Aagh! Of course I was trying to say she did not need to try to satisfy him any further, but she kindly was trying to oblige. She was trying to think of what she had when he asked specifically for a fish toy (Of course he remembered these from a visit like a million years ago). What child is negotiating for their prize from the doctor when they are four? I think my face was kind of red.

Oh, but wait. There is more. After the nurse gave him two shots, he started a little (huge) fit and went off yelling about how he will never, ever come again. I believe the words stupid and doctor may have been mentioned as well, but it was hard to tell since he was being so calm and composed--at the top of his lungs. Perhaps I should have prepared him for these shots, although I'm not sure it would have helped. I tried to tell him that shots help us stay healthy so we don't get polio so our legs will work. He was inconsolable for several minutes and didn't care about being healthy!! Of course a few minutes later he was telling Sara that she had to have shots so her legs would work, so I guess he was listening. I'd say he'll get over it, but I bet I'll hear about it for many doctor's visits to come. He'll remember. Kids.

PS--Sara was excited about making some jell-o a few days ago, but I think she was confused, because she insisted that it was "jealous" not jell-o and she couldn't wait to tell her joy school teacher about it. I believe there was a lesson about emotions that didn't fully sink into her almost-three-year-old mind. What can I say?

Yes

Uh, yes, we ate the duck. It really was good, and I think I could have been fooled into thinking it was a steak--seriously. Jared grilled the breasts and then made a soup with the rest of the meat. Does that count toward our emergency preparedness plan?

Duck hunt

I never thought I'd have a post like this, but here you go! Jared brought home a duck from hunting last Saturday morning and the kids totally loved it. John wanted to hold it, and even helped Daddy "take it apart." Although, I should note that Sara asked several times how it can fly, and we weren't sure how to explain it all. Anyway, Jared had a ball--he says it's just like the Nintendo game, and I guess it's a good survival skill, and who knew duck meat was red like a steak? Lis, Jared really wants to serve you duck meat sometime, so you can consider yourself warned!

Funny kids

I never seem to remember for more than 10 minutes the funny things the kids say, so before I forget I wanted to write down a few from this week. John was coloring a picture the other day when our friend came to pick up her kids and all of a sudden he tells her quite matter-of-factly that "coloring is exercise." Allrighty, then!

Then, at a different time this week when we were eating taco salads, the kids were going nuts over the olives as always. When Sara had a whole hand loaded up with an olive on each finger, she says like she's made a huge discovery, "olives are like gloves." It was cute. My other favorite of Sara's right now is that she calls every bulldozer a "Bob-the-Builder." Oh, and instead of saying she sneezed, she'll say she "bless you'd." Cute.

Halloween!

Just thought I'd put up some of the pix from this week of non-stop parties! We did a party with play group on Tuesday, one with our play date group Wednesday, one at Joy school on Thursday, and of course the ward party on Friday. We also went trick-or-treating at the outlet malls before the party, which was very fun. The weather was perfect, too, which was a nice surprise, because it had been quite cold earlier in the week. Anyway, John was thrilled to be a tiger, and has had the costume on about 24/7 since I showed it to him. Sara was kind of difficult to please this year. I had an adorable Cinderella costume, and she loves Cinderella, so I thought she'd love this. But, she didn't want it to be blue and she said it was tight. Anyway, then I bought a pink generic princess costume, but she said that was tight, too. Luckily, I asked around for ideas or dresses to borrow and Julie let us borrow the Dorothy stuff (which is obviously blue as well, but she liked the shoes and Toto well enough to forget that I guess). Whew. I thought I'd never satisfy this little 2-yr-old and I was about to stop trying, so thanks, Julie and Alyssa!

This is the bounty from the trick-or-treating at the outlets with Gabe and Garett, which was fun. All the crowd ooh'd and aah'd over the kids, and they had fun finding the pumpkin signs that showed that the store had candy to give out. Sara was, uh, taking her time, so poor Gabe and John kept having to wait for us.

This was the Joy School party when they were about to sing the Pumpkin Song, which I couldn't get to upload. I'll keep trying to figure that out, because it was fun to watch them sing. They also made cute witches, and decorated cookies. We also did a jack-o-lantern for the party and roasted the seeds, which none of them liked. At our other party we made pumpkins out of lunch bags, but they didn't want to paint them orange, so that was interesting. We also did the suckers covered with a tissue to make a ghost, which they really liked. Anyway, it's been a busy week!

This is the kids with our neighbor Tyler in our trunk after getting their candy at the ward party. John said this was his favorite part of the church party, and they did think they were totally hysterical for being in the trunk. It was funny. I had a lot of fun seeing all the kids and costumes, and I even dressed up like a witch, too. We should have tried a little harder, and we could have gone with a whole Wizard of Oz theme, but I don't think Jared would go for that for all the tea in China, the bum!

Here we are after the party...