Toe, Question, and Photo Updates

Zoe's toe

Lately, every night after dinner the whole family has been having dance parties out on the porch. I love it. It is usually right as the sun is setting or directly after. The girls go crazy dancing and Warren and I either join along, play DJ, or just watch. It's a nice break in between dinner and the dreaded bed time routine. On Wednesday night the girls were dancing while Warren was picking out the next song, and Zoe came over to check out the music. The next thing you know she looks up at us with that silent cry....the kind where they cry so hard no noise comes out. I look down at her and suddenly see so much blood all over the floor. She had stepped on a broken pane of glass on our porch (that I didn't know was there until now.) I panicked. I sat there like a stone....frozen. Warren swooped her up, rushed her inside to the bathroom and got her foot under that shower. I ran behind him with my heart and head pounding so loudly I couldn't think straight. I held onto her to help her stop screaming, and kept staring at all of the blood. At one point Warren said, "Kate, call the embassy. I think we need to take her to the hospital for stitches." I ran to the phone, left a panicked message for the nurse, and then sat back down with them as he rinsed away the blood. After a few minutes he said he thought it would actually be ok, and maybe she didn't need stitches. The nurse called back and gave Warren many tips on cleaning the wound while I sat with Zoe. All I could think about was how rampant infection is here. Everyone tells (what feels like all of the time) to be so careful about any sort of cuts...even the tiniest cuts can cause a huge infection. While I sat panicked, Zoe sat screaming that she didn't want to go to school the next day.

When it was all washed, soaked, medicine applied, and propped up, I finally took a breath. I am not sure why I panicked like that. Thank God Warren was home because I was such a wimp about the whole thing. I realized that I had no idea how to get to the hospital if we had to go (I've since remedied that) and that it was tearing me apart to see all of that blood and hear that screaming. I've GOT TO do better in situations such as these. There are times when Warren is not home and I've got to take charge. I really don't know why I was so freaked out. Ultimately, it's not even that big of a deal. She's going to be totally fine.

She did stay home from school the next day, but probably because I am more of a softie than I need to be. We soaked her wound a few times and I decided to take her to the embassy nurse to have a look at it. I am glad I did because she did an excellent job cleaning it and made me feel better about the whole thing. She validated my concerns of possible infection and helped me see that she would be fine as well. Thank goodness I don't have a child with a more serious illness. What was wrong with me that I couldn't stay calm?. Again, when Warren had his near death accident nearly 7 years ago, I was the most calm person there. Zoe cuts her toe and will be totally fine...and I panicked. I'm a weirdo! At least now I know how to get to the hospital.

Post accident. Andie was a great big sis through it all.

Dance parties inside the next night

Lice Question

I am now a parent liaison for both kids' classes. It's sort of like a room parent in the states. We recently had a parent liaison meeting for all of us. As what usually happens when you have a room full of parents together whose kids attend the same school, we all started talking about the school and it's positives and negatives. I brought up the lice and had a few other moms nod their heads in agreement with me. But, one mom pointed out that this problem is not a public health problem. Lice are more of a nuisance than anything else, and there is no reason to get upset about them because no one is harmed by them. She stated that some may need to get perspective about the matter and she disagrees with the policy of sending kids home with lice. She said education is far more important than this nuisance which really doesn't cause any medical threat/harm at all. I found myself nodding in agreement with her too. I do see her point. On the other hand, I don't want my kids having lice and us having to deal with it. What do you all think? Is it that big of a deal or do some parent just over-react?

When discussing lice one of the mums said, "Let's not get our knickers in a knot over this."

Photo Updates

Here are a few photo updates of the past week. We had a few playdates, a birthday party, puzzle time, swimming at Andie's school, some great meals (one made by me!!!and a lot more made by wonderful chef hubby), massages, and some more great sunsets.