Happenings and other miscellany

1. Thea lost her first tooth on Monday, June 30 while at Oma's. It had been loose for about six days. It was a slightly traumatic event, for both of us - for Thea because it bled a little bit and came out somewhat unexpectedly and for me because she's not even five yet. The tooth fairy had to be contacted so that she could delay her visit until we were back in Princeton the following night. (I was attending the AANP conference through the 1st.) She got the Tooth Fairy's 1st tooth bonus of $5. Future teeth will be compensate at the regular rate of $1 each (4x the quarter that Mommy used to receive. . . )

2. AANP - what a great conference! I have to thank my mother a thousand times since she made it possible for me to attend What a great birthday gift. And aside from the registration fee, my mother, who took on babysitting both children for the last two days of the event. Both kids were on their good behavior on day #1, but one who shall remain nameless acted up a bit on day #2. (And my money was on Micah giving her grief, and he actually was the better of the two. . . ) And I got lots of CME credits so things should go smoothly for renewal of my NP certification - smoothly other than coughing up $400 or so for the privilege of renewing for another five years in addition to paying for whatever classes I have to take for the CMEs. What a racket.

3. Micah's assessment from the speech therapist was that he has all the appropriate sounds for a two-year old and his expressive language is in the 21-month range, so he's made some amazing progress considering that his initial assessment last August put him in the six to nine month range.

4. After 45 minutes on the phone with a computer geek for our EMR software, my laptop for work finally works at home. Doesn't sound like much of a big deal, but it gives me access to medical records and the ability to send prescriptions electronically while on call. Of course I was on call from the 4th through this morning and the laptop was here all weekend waiting for me to have time without someone trying to interrupt. What a pain in the butt - and all this work so I can work at home on days that I am not in the office, oh rapture.

5. The box from the new stove has been refashioned into a house, a project started last Friday and continuing through the weekend. Yesterday Thea and I went to Michael's to buy paint, spray paint and tempera, to spruce up the drab brown. It's architectural style is more shack/out-house than Architectural Digest, but Thea is quite taken with it. This afternoon we made a paper fireplace to put inside, but I am getting attitude from the homeowner because the glue stick didn't do a great job in getting the project to adhere to the walls. If she can work this much attitude at four, I am dreading fourteen. This semi-artistic monstrosity, too large to fit through the front door or the door to the garage, is now sitting on the landing, listing to one side - I've got to come up with some way to shore up the one side with the door cut into it.