Dating a Military Man

Good morning, everyone! Welcome to mid-week!

1. What was the most surprising thing about yesterday?

2. Today is "Plush Animal Lovers' Day." Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or "lovey" as a child? Do you now?

3. What's on your agenda for today?

1. What was the most surprising thing about yesterday?
~ Toby! I was playing with him on the bed while he was checking out his own reflection in a nearby mirror. Suddenly, I noticed he was playing peek-a-boo with himself by ducking out of the mirror's range and then popping back up -- exactly the way I play with him when he's in his jumperoo. Smart little monkey!

2. Today is "Plush Animal Lovers' Day." Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or "lovey" as a child? Do you now?
~ I still have a pink bunny -- a boy bunny named Pink Bunny that I got when I was one or two. I also have a Pink Panther named Cartoon that I got when I was two or three. Those were my favorites. Before Tom deployed, he got me a build-a-bear type rhinoceros with his voice telling me he loves me. I love that, of course.

3. What's on your agenda for today?
~ Today, I'm doing presentations for four classes at Pre-K. I'm reading "Night Catch" (about a boy who plays catch with his deployed daddy using the North Star as the ball) and taking some of Tom's gear in to show the kids and talk about what he does. After that, Alexis is coming home with me, and we'll go to her gymnastics class tonight.

Good morning, everyone! Welcome to mid-week!
Hooray for the week being half way through (almost).

1. What was the most surprising thing about yesterday?
The information my orthodontist gave me about my jaw. I was hoping braces would be enough to realign my upper and lower jaws and possibly relieve all the pain I have in my actual jaw joint, but he says braces won't do it, instead I need upper and lower jaw surgery. Ugh.

2. Today is "Plush Animal Lovers' Day." Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or "lovey" as a child? Do you now? When I was little, my favorite was a grey pound puppy. I eventually had to get rid of it because of my allergies and asthma though (as I got older). Now my favorite is a little yellow ducky that was Nathan's first rattle/stuffed animal. Once he outgrew it, I took it and it sits on my desk.

3. What's on your agenda for today?
Making a doctor's appointment to get another opinion about the jaw surgery. Since the jaw pain is related to TMD and it's basically part dental and part medical, I want to be sure that both sides agree that I'm at the point where surgery is necessary. I've been dealing with this for about 5 years now and I'm in pain every day from it, so it's not the nice version of TMD that only has pain occasionally and that goes away with avoiding certain things.

Thank you to mom2jess_n_ky for my beautiful siggy!                                                                                                                                                                                           

I highly recommend it. "Night Catch" is by Brenda Ehrmantraut. I also recommend "The Soldier's Night Before Christmas" by Christine Ford and Trish Holland. Alexis LOVED that one when Tom was deployed over Christmas. She even named all the soldiers in the illustrations after other soldiers Tom was deployed with.

The morning readings went really well. I took in one of Tom's body armor plates, a couple of his medals, his dog tags, and his helmet. I wore one of his ACU jackets while reading. The kids have really enjoyed passing around the armor and helmet, looking at a picture of him on patrol and the medals, and asking questions about what soldiers do. The hardest part is dealing with the inevitable questions like, "Does he kill people?"