La Habra Children's Museum

A few weekends ago we went to the La Habra Children's museum with an old friend of mine from high school. It is a great kids museum if you ever find yourself out the way. We lucked out because it was Target FREE Saturday and they had all sorts of Halloween/pumpkin activities going on. It is so nice to get out and do things as a family.

Carter driving the real school bus. Of course, it doesn't run!

Carter making a butternut squash quesadilla with black bean sauce during the free cooking class.

Jadon and Cole helping to make a pumpkin smoothie during the cooking class.

Cheers!

Jadon painting a pumpkin.

Ivy's daughter painting a pumpkin. Carter was over the pumpkin painting pretty quickly.

Christmas in October for Jadon

Well, Jadon got a huge break this week and it paid off BIG time. He was booked as a back-up to another little boy for a Walmart commercial. Long story short, after two hours of shooting on the first day the producers didn't like what they were seeing. They reformatted the commercial, brought Jadon on to set, gave him all the lines of the other two boys who were supposed to be doing the commercial and sent those boys home. Jadon shot the whole commercial with his "sister" and had the time of his life. I think we got to see many of the most popular tricks in Hollywood on this set. He got to ride in a car and deliver lines while being pulled by a trailer with a camera crew riding on it with a police escort! The best though, was the snow. They brought in a huge truck that shaves ice and then shoots "snow" out of a giant hose. They literally covered someones yard with 2 feet of snow, built a huge snowman, Christmas lights...the works. Then "the family" got to have super fun having a snow ball fight, "making the snowman," and again Jadon got to be mic'd and deliver lines. It was really a wonderful two days. Moreover, in the gift opening scene they let Jadon and his sister keep the present...a Fisher Price portable DVD player! This is a toy commercial and should be out very soon given it is a Christmas spot. It should be aired nationally, so wherever you live (in the US) you should see it. Let us know if you do because we'll be looking for it too.

Okay...now back to the real world.

Jadon in the hair chair before the Christmas morning scene.

Jadon and his little sis watching a DVD while they wait to be called to set.

In the van on the road shooting the scene. We followed behind in a van in case the kids had any problems. We had pulled over here for a minute for the crew to check something.

Blowing snow. This equipment was amazing.

Still getting the house ready for the shoot.

The snowman on the monitor.

Snow ball fight on set.

One more shot of the scene being filmed. I couldn't get very close, so this was the best I could do.

Yom Kippur = ER (warning...a bit graphic)

Well, with 3 boys it was bound to happen, but did it have to happen on our holiest day of the year?

Our first trip to the ER:

Yesterday the boys were to stay home from school and go to children's services in the afternoon. I was awoken by Jadon screaming and running into our room with blood dripping from his forehead. Cole and he had been "playing" and Cole had pushed him off the bed with his feet. Jadon fell forward and hit his head on the dresser. It looked like a bad enough cut that it at least needed to be seen be a doctor, so I threw clothes on him and myself and off we went.

We got to the ER at 9am and they were ready to stitch him at 10am having commented that it was an uneven cut and against the natural grain of the skin. I decided to ask for a consult from the plastic surgeon. I swear the ER doctor and nurses hated me. I could see them rolling their eyes in the hall and pointing to their heads and discussing what a small cut it was. I felt like an idiot for having asked, but the cut was on his face and whatever scar that was left was going to be there for life. I was on the verge of tears, but sucked it up and stuck to my guns. The plastic surgeon came down around 11am and looked at it. He said that if he stitched it like the ER wanted to (by tying Jadon down) it would leave a bad scar because there was no way Jadon was going to keep his head still. Jadon told us this himself. So we had to consciously sedate him, but first the doctor had to go finish a case in the operating room. He said he'd be back in about 45 minutes. Two hours later (1pm), IV in, heart monitors on, pulseox on, blood pressure cuff on, we were ready to begin. The procedure didn't take more than 20 minutes...tops (I wasn't timing it). The doctor trimmed the edges of his cut to make them even and then put in about 5 stitches. Jadon had a hard time shaking the sedation. It was conscious sedation so he never really slept, just had a glazed over look and was out of it. He was very agitated when he started to come out of it. He screamed and cried and vommited a few times until they finally decided it was too much and gave him some anti-nausea meds. It took him two and a half hours to shake the sedation enough that he could walk without falling over and speak without slurred speech and then we finally got discharged at 4pm.

On one hand, I feel ridiculously guilty for asking for the plastics consult. If I had just let the ER do it we would have been out of there by 11am, he wouldn't have had sedation, and it probably would have saved me a ton of money. On the other hand, now I know his scar will be minimal, there was probably less psychological trauma by being sedated rather than tied down while they put lidocane in his head, and the plastics doctor was SO much nicer to him than the ER doctor. In retrospect, I think I made the right choice and I highly recommend that anyone who gets a cut to their face ask for a plastics consult. That doctor clearly knew how to make Jadon's head look as pretty as possible...the ER doc was just going to patch him up with little regard for the scar.

And so life continues here at the Sand houshold. Jadon has to have ice for 10 minutes off for 30 minutes for 72 hours while awake. The bandage should fall off on its own along with the stitches in about 5 day. We will go in for a follow-up with the surgeon sometime next week. In the meantime we prepare for some auditions and a possible commercial shoot for next week. Good thing his long curls cover the cut!

Finally, as a new addition to my blogging and totally copying my cousins idea I introduce "Funny Things My Kids Say."

Funny Things My Kids Say:
As we drove home from Yom Kippur dinner last night Jadon said, "Mom, what do you prefer, throw-up or poo poo?" I respond "poo poo." To which he responds, "Well then you'd better drive faster."

Rosh Hashanah

So Tuesday night my family minus one (Arnie was out of town) decided that before bed we would have some apples dipped in honey to celebrate the sweet new year (a Jewish tradition). Carter had put a bowl of applesauce on his head during dinner thanks to Jadon and Cole egging him on. I was in a hurry to get them served and into bed on time since they had school the next day. So I quickly dumped Carter into the bath and as the water was draining I encouraged him to get out quickly. I was met with protest. He loves his baths. So I said, "Carter we have to get out fast so that we have time to have apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah." That sufficed and he hopped out. As I was changing him he said, "Is she here yet?" Is who here yet, I asked. Carter's response: "Mrs. Shana." So then I had to explain that Rosh Hashana wasn't a person, but a holiday. He repeated: "She's not a person, she's a holiday." Okay...close enough. So we were all set to sit down and eat our apples. Carter was loving the honey, which he has never been allowed to have before (for those non-parent readers, honey often carries botulism spores harmful to young children). So I said, "Carter, do you know where honey comes from?" No answer. I say, "Bees make honey." Carter replies, "No they don't, Mrs. Shanah makes honey." Oh well...I guess we'll work on the whole "not a person" thing next year!