Family Time mostly photos Tiny & Buba: fire truck injury puddle jumping
by reanbean
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Water Play Weekend
Saturday morning, T and I took Buba and Tiny to wash the fire trucks in the center of town. It’s an event organized by our town’s family focused organization and tends to happen once a year (maybe twice, we’re fairly new to this group). We got there right at the starting time and were pleased to see many of Tiny and Buba’s playmates from library storytime were there as well. The kids, however, skipped the hellos and headed straight for the buckets of sudsy water.
Both Tiny and Buba had a great time washing the trucks and playing in the water.
And they each got to take a turn sitting in the cab of the fire truck.
Before we left, the fire fighters passed out hats, fire safety coloring books, and stickers. After close to an hour, Buba was ready to go, but I’m pretty sure Tiny could have stayed all day.
Sunday afternoon, just as the Buba and Tiny were getting up from their nap, it began to pour as if someone had opened a fire hydrant in the sky. The kids stood watching the rain at the window and whined a bit about not being able to go outside to play. Fortunately the storm only lasted about 30 minutes, and then the sun was shining again. It was way too wet to play in the yard, but perfect for going out for a puddle walk.
There was a nice big puddle right in front of our house, and Tiny had the best time jumping up and down in it. It wasn’t long before her shorts were soaked all the way through, and we had to double over the waistline to keep them from falling down. Buba wasn’t much of a jumper, but he still loved dragging his feet through the water.
Our house is on a slight downhill, and it wasn’t long before Tiny and Buba started to follow the little stream near the curb down to the bottom of the street. There were some fantastically large puddles down at the end, and Tiny was in heaven (we didn’t get any still pictures, but I think T got a few video clips with his iPod).
Unfortunately the fun was cut short when Tiny fell into a puddle and came up screaming with blood dripping pretty heavily from her right hand. I picked her up and rushed her into the house. T put her in the bathtub and did his best to clean the wound and stop the bleeding. Honestly, he was completely calm and amazing, and I don’t know what I’d have done if he wasn’t there. My head was spinning in a crazy panic, and I felt as if I could throw up or pass out at any moment (no Mom of the year award for me). I managed to call the doctor’s office and got connected to a nurse at the affiliated hospital. She explained how to stop the bleeding, how to clean and bandage the wound, and how to know whether or not we would need to go to the emergency room for stitches. We determined that stitches were not necessary, and T continued to treat a hysterical Tiny while I did my best to calm her down. Buba was left completely on his own during this time and may have made several overseas calls, as I’d left the phone well within his reach. Fortunately, he didn’t talk long. 
As soon as the bandage was on, Tiny calmed down enough to request a Popsicle.
Unfortunately, Tiny had a rough day today. She just wasn’t herself and seemed to fall apart at the drop of a hat. To make matters worse, she fell on her owie and it started to bleed again. Depending on what it looks like in the morning, we may be headed for the walk in hours at our pediatrician’s office first thing. Still, as T pointed out, we have to consider ourselves lucky. We made it over 27 months with nothing more than bumps and scrapes. And we have no doubts that, stitches or not, she’ll be good as new in a week or so.
All the Little Ducks are Swimming in the Water
This past Saturday, T and I took Tiny and Buba to the Ducky Race & Fair in a nearby town. This is the 5th year the event was held, and it serves as a fundraiser for a local preschool and sometimes other nonprofit organizations. It was our first time attending, and the kids had a blast!
We arrived about a half an hour early to avoid having to park too far away. Our first stop was at the ducky table, where for $10 you could buy a little, yellow, plastic ducky that would be thrown into a pool for a chance to be drawn (scooped out with a big pool cleaning net) for a $500 prize. Our duck was #1206, and we were asked to give it a name when we signed up for the drawing. I asked Tiny what she thought we should call it and she said, “All the little ducks are swimming in the water”, which is the first line in a song that both Buba and Tiny enjoy singing (we learned it from Buba’s EI teacher). That name seem a bit long for a little, yellow ducky, so we opted to call him Swimmy instead.
The event took place at a playground that was adjacent to a track, some baseball fields, and a swimming pool. The kids started off on the playground and then did some running around on the track. Just as we were coming off the track we saw some women setting up a small petting zoo with a goat, two small dogs, a small pig, two little rabbits, and a chicken. There were also some kittens and baby bunnies in cages nearby. We waited around while they finished setting up and were among the first to go in to see all the critters. Tiny and Buba had great fun petting the pig, goat, and doggies (especially the doggies). The women used baby blankets to tightly swaddle the kittens and baby bunnies and let the kids hold and pet them while sitting in the grass. Unfortunately, there were so many kids waiting, that we were only allowed 15 minutes in the petting zoo, but Buba and Tiny didn’t seem to mind when we told them we needed to move on to other things.
There was also a fire truck parked on the road, and Buba and Tiny got to climb up into the cab of the truck to see where the rescue workers sit and all the gear they have. Upon leaving, they each got shiny silver stickers branding them Junior Firefighters, which Tiny seemed to take very seriously.
We moved onto the library book sale just a few blocks away before picking up sandwiches and heading back for the ducky parade and drawing. Sadly, our little Swimmy did not win, but we all had fun waiting and listening as they drew ducks from the water for the $500 and various other prizes.
The only thing that would have made this experience even better would have been if I’d managed to snap a few pictures of the kids. I don’t know how other parents do it, but I was so afraid that if I took the time to try and snap a few photos, I’d lose my kids in the crowd. So that look on Tiny’s face as she stroked the baby bunnies ears and the look of wonder Buba had as he looked all around the fire truck’s cab will just have to remained engrained in my memory forever.