Thermoregulation and a little ADPD

Mack is the funniest kid. He is serious about getting his body temperature just right.

We were playing Sorry on Sunday and he got hot, so he popped one arm out of his sweatshirt.

{Here comes the ADPD (Attention Deficit Photo Disorder) part}

Mack played really well with the rest of us for quite a bit of the game, moving his own game pieces to the appropriate spaces instead of just messing around with his guys. But then he got hungry and decided that he was done. The girls and I kept playing and it came down to this close of a game (try to ignore the fact that we've improvised for missing game pieces):

Amelia was the first to make it Home and she was pretty freakin' excited about it!

Now, back to thermoregulation.

Mack started doing the funny one-arm-out thing almost two years ago when we first moved into the big Hammond house. He wasn't hot enough to take his shirt off, he only needed a little adjustment to make things just right.

{photos from March 2012}

He doesn't do it a lot now, just occasionally. But what he does do a lot is this:

One sock on and one sock off. I am constantly finding single discarded socks all over the house.

P.S. Raise your hand if your kids use your smartphone more than you do.

Mack started this funny habit about a year ago (or at least that's the first time I took a picture of it).

I couldn't resist sharing these photos of Super Wedgie Man:

{May 2013}

If you look very closely you'll notice that he has a wooden sword tucked into his pants. All superheroes need a special weapon.

"Dude, there's something stuck to my foot."

Yeah, that's what happens when you walk around without a sock on.

The one sock behavior isn't limited to the indoors.

{June 2013}

Mack sees absolutely nothing wrong with going outside in his socks. Even if it's just one sock.

It reminds me of a certain someone who is also a little quirky about thermoregulation. She who shall not be named.

I love Mack. He keeps us laughing everyday!

There's cold and then there's COLD

Here in Wyoming, where winter lasts for 6 months, cold is a part of life. Kids take their snow pants to school for recess, you have to start the car 20 minutes before you go anywhere (unless you have the luxury of a garage), and you become a religious weather checker. After living here for a couple of years, you get to the point where you can gauge the temperature by how quickly your snot starts to freeze.

There's a bit of pride involved in being able to live where the elements are harsh. I know how to drive on the snow and ice, I can build a fire, I can go for a walk in 10 degree weather and think it's not that bad. Don't get me wrong, this time of year I envy those who live in more temperate climates. But if it weren't for the long winters and mosquito filled summers, Cokeville would have a population of 10,000 instead of 535. The cold is what keeps this little slice of heaven one of America's best kept secrets.

One of the downsides of the cold is that we don't get very good snow for snowball fights and building snowmen. It's usually so cold that the snow is dry and doesn't stick together. When we get a big snowstorm, it's not necessarily a kid's dream. You can go sledding or skiing if you can handle the cold, but hanging out in your yard playing in the snow usually doesn't last that long. Oh, and we NEVER get snow days.

Well, last weekend we got a bunch of snow followed by an unusually warm day. And by unusually warm I mean upper 30's. It's only the second time this winter we've had good snowman snow.

Here's a quick peek at our first snow day in November:

Silver's like, "Freakin' human with the camera, making me sit here and get ice balls in my fur."

This is one of my favorite pictures. Amelia and Mack are actually working together.

This snow came right after the last weekend of decent weather. I never did get the leaves raked in the back yard.

The cats had mixed responses to the snow. Spooky wanted to be right in the middle of all the action. Firetail mostly stayed under the camper or the propane tank (unless you were offering pets, then he came running). Annie decided that snow was for the birds and she went right back to the door, thanking her lucky stars that she's an inside cat. Jackie and Sophie were off cattin' around the neighborhood.

Isn't he a pretty boy, especially in the snow?

One of the coolest gifts we've ever gotten is a snowman building kit. My cousin's wife, Jenn, gave it to us for a family gift exchange a few years ago. It includes wooden eyes, a carrot nose, a pipe, coal for the mouth, and a scarf.

The girls were sure proud of their snowmen (Mack had long since called it quits and gone inside for some hot chocolate).

Now, fast forward to January. After the kids had been sick and cooped up in the house for several days, they were super excited to bundle up and play outside with our next-door neighbors, Rebecca and Brenden. Oh, they had a fun time!

Silver hung out with us, but had to be tied up on her long leash because she kept trying to run off to snoop around the neighborhood. Can't have that, not everyone is happy to see a dog in their yard. ;)

The snow was great for packing, but the snowballs got big fast. Mack wanted to roll his own snowball, but it got so heavy that he couldn't move it. He didn't want any help from his sister and had a little meltdown when he couldn't do it all by himself.

Each of the kids got a little brick maker from Stan & Betty's store here in town. Mack was so excited to get one, but it took a couple weeks before there was the right kind of snow to use it.

During the snowman building, Lily was out in Daddy's camper/wood shop working on a small wooden box with dovetails. I had to get her help to lift the top two snowballs and I still almost broke my back!

A snowman's hat stays on better if you fill it with snow and attach it with a stick inserted into the snowman's head.

The kids really wanted Silver to be in their picture.

I suspect our giant snowman will be watching over our front yard for the next two months. :)

That was a fun day. But let me show you what a more typical winter morning looks like in Cokeville.

I drive Amelia to school each morning because she is never ready early enough to walk and there's no way my non-morning girl would ever walk in this cold anyway. Lily, however, is up early, ready early, and is not afraid to walk in the cold if it means she can get to school at 7:30 when they unlock the doors.

-9 degrees isn't the worst we've seen this winter. On December 11 my Facebook status said, "-20 degrees. Wyoming ain't for wusses." This is the inside of our storm door that morning. Jack Frost's handiwork.

Occasionally we'll have a foggy night combined with freezing temperatures. Everything gets encapsulated with frost and the trees look so pretty.

{photos taken January 2010}

The other morning I went to take Amelia to school and Spooky was covered in frost.

Now before you think we're cruel cat owners, note the little roof Spooky is sitting on. It goes to an insulated cat house that has heated beds inside.

This is where the cats are supposed to sleep. But apparently they're not too bright because I went outside at midnight last night to take Silver out and Jackie was the only cat smart enough to be in on the heated bed. Whatever.

I guess everyone adjusts to the cold, even the cats. You gotta get tough or die!

What is it with Boys?

These are the words uttered from my lips this morning:

"Your penis is not a toy or a snuggle friend. You use it to pee."

We have entered the stage of saying 20 times a day, "Get your hands out of your pants." It's Mack's local hangout and it is totally gross. I'm like "Don't touch me, don't touch my stuff, and here's some Germ X."

I understand the need to itch or readjust occasionally. But why, oh why, do boys just like to hold onto their junk as if it's going to run away? I talked to my friend who has 3 teenage boys and she was like, "Yeah, you'll be telling him to get his hands out of his pants until he's 14. Then he'll just sneak through his pocket."

Awesome.

(Yes, there are no sheets on the bed. I hadn't replaced them yet after Mack pee'd on them for the 237th time.)

A few nights ago I was giving Mack a bath. After I got him out and dried him off, he stood in front of the full-length mirror, and struck a pose. Then he literally started strumming his penis like a guitar, singing, and doing the Elvis hip swagger.

I'll admit. It was kind of funny.

The Orthodontic Journey Begins

I'm the mother of an almost-teenager.

I know, Lily's only 11 (for 6 more weeks), but I think when you start seeing the orthodontist that means you're pretty dang close to being a teenager!

I've always been of the philosophy that you should not get braces early, that starting too young just sets you up for having to wear braces twice. I didn't get braces until I was in 10th grade. A year earlier would have been nice, then I could've had my junior and senior years braces free. But no big deal. High school is the time for braces.

About a year ago, when Lily's dentist began suggesting we have a consultation with an orthodontist, I was like, "Maybe in a couple of years." But he continued to suggest it and the hygienist said that sometimes you can prevent further complications by finding out if there are other non-braces treatments that need to be done first to get the jaw ready for braces. I conceded to have a consultation just see what the orthodontist said, fully expecting to wait a couple of years before braces.

The orthodontist said that Lily's upper jaw is too narrow, which surprised me because she has all those gaps. But she has two peg laterals (the ones adjacent to the top front teeth are small) and that is what's giving her the extra space. She has a crossbite where one side of her top teeth align properly with the bottom teeth, but the other top side sits inside of the bottom teeth.

{San Diego, July 2013}

In order to correct this crossbite, the roof of her mouth needs to be widened with a palate expander.

She would need to wear the expander for 3-6 months, then get braces on.

Lily was so excited by the news. She has been wanting braces for awhile because her jaw hurts sometimes and she is always biting her cheek because of the crossbite. But mom wanted a second opinion. ;)

My friend Karla highly recommended her orthodontist, Dr. Johnson, as one who is adamant about not putting braces on too early. He is most interested in correcting the jaw, not just aligning the teeth. So we went to see him and his suggested the same treatment plan as the first orthodontist. When I asked him about Lily's age, he explained that girls' palates fuse together earlier than boys' do, so it's best not to wait. The palate bone has a suture down the middle which is not fused together until approx. age 13 in girls and 15 in boys.

The bones have a finger-like structure and if you begin early enough, the bones can be spread apart and the "fingers" grow back together at a surprisingly rapid rate. But once the bones fuse together permanently, you have to do jaw surgery.

Lily has one baby tooth, a molar, left on the top that will need to fall out before she gets her braces on, but she will need to wear the palate expander for at least 3 months. The tooth should come out by then and if not, they will pull it. The opposite molar on the other side of her mouth as been in for a year, so it's possible this one might have some sort of problem that is keeping it from descending, so it might need to be pulled anyway.

We went into Dr. Johnson's office last Friday to have the palate expander put in. Two weeks earlier Dr. Johnson inserted some rubber bands on either side of the teeth where the expander would go. This was to create a little space around the teeth. All the rubber bands fell out by the time we went back. The expander was inserted around the teeth and pushed in with a little tool that Lily bit down on.

Then it was glued in.

Groovy, no?

See the little straight hook looking thing with the rubber string attached? That's the key/tool Lily uses to turn the screw inside of the expander twice a day.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked in Lily's mouth the day after she had the expander put in. Her teeth had already moved! I meant to take a good before picture of her smile, but I forgot and figured I could do it the next day. Too late!

Here's what her front gap looked like the day of installation:

And the next morning it looked like this:

It had opened up to a bigger triangle.

Duuuude.

Many kids with palate expanders have their front two teeth spread into a huge gap and as the palate bones grow back together, the gap closes again. I have the feeling that Lily is going to have some serious Bubba teeth in a couple of weeks! She goes back in two weeks and depending on how things are progressing she may need to continue turning the key twice a day, or Dr. Johnson may have her leave it where it is for the next 3ish months.

The first couple of days were no big deal, but now Lily's mouth is starting to hurt and we're keeping her on regular doses of ibuprofen. Unfortunately, Lily (and everyone else except me) has had a nasty chest cold for several days and has been grossing us all out when she coughs and gets phlegm stuck in the appliance. Gross.

It's been amusing listening to her figure out how to talk with that thing in her mouth.

Good times!