tooth begone

Poor Liesl had a random extra tooth in the bottom front of her mouth. It first popped up in February, and after xrays, it became clear that it was not a wayward adult tooth (that needed to be coaxed into position), but was in fact an entire extra tooth, appearing where it had no business. So we scheduled oral surgery to have it pulled (along with the baby tooth that should have come out already, but had not, because the adult tooth underneath couldn't find any room to move). Because she's little, they recommended general anesthesia to make the whole procedure easier and less painful.

She knew that the surgery was coming, but didn't remember the actual date it had been scheduled. And we chose not to tell her that it was on Monday until the actual morning of, when she couldn't have any breakfast. It was obviously a very unpleasant surprise, but better than enduring days of anxiety ahead of time and losing sleep over it. (I didn't sleep very well on Sunday night, worrying about how it would go.)

She was so brave about the whole thing, staying calm while they inserted the IV needles and stuck on heart rate monitors and the blood pressure cuff and inserted a cannula in her nose for oxygen ... she had questions and was very curious about the anesthesia procedure. And then she fell asleep and I left the room (and promptly had a little crying jag in the car); 15 minutes later she was done and I got to see her in the recovery room. 

 

She was super loopy and super talkative, despite the gauze in her mouth, and was talking to and making up stories about a stuffed cat (Daisy!) that the surgical office gifted to her. It was pretty funny.

And now she's recovering well, eating ice cream and yogurt and applesauce. We made chocolate pudding together. Obviously it's uncomfortable to have two gaping holes in your mouth, and the neighboring tooth is sore from getting pushed around, but it seems to have been very straightforward and we're glad that it's over. Phew. (And on the bright side, the xrays seemed to show that she has no wisdom teeth - none at all! So hopefully this is her last experience with getting teeth pulled.) But in the photos below, look at the size of that tooth!!! Where was that fitting into her small face??

Xbox

Well, it turned out that the new PS5 console sold out everywhere within seconds, and is now unavailable  for an indeterminate amount of time. Seb decided he didn't want to wait for it, especially because season 4 of Fortnite (which he has largely missed because he couldn't play it on his iPad, because of a business dispute between Apple and Epic games) is only going to last for another four weeks. So instead we ordered an Xbox, which arrived Saturday evening, to a rapturous welcome.

Seb turns 13!

And just like that, we have a teenager. Eep! Sebastian celebrated his 13th birthday today. We had a good day, with some shared special meals, and everyone getting outside to enjoy the afternoon sunshine.

I made waffles, bacon, and berries for breakfast, which has been Seb's standard special occasion meal for the last few years. 

There were not as many presents this year -- the boy repeatedly said he didn't want anything -- so he opened them all at breakfast. An iPad stand; AirPods (wireless earbuds); a portrait by Liesl; 2 boxes of fig newtons (kind of a joke, but also, he loves them); and the crown jewel, the promise of the new PS 5, a gaming console that is being released tomorrow. Steve and I are not gamers and it has taken us awhile to come around to accepting Seb's love of playing video games, and the ubiquity of them in boys' social life these days.

And then everyone did their own thing for awhile. Liesl and Arianna played outside, creating their movie/tv show. Seb met up with friends at the school field to ride scooters and bikes and skateboards, and to play football. Jasper and I went for a walk in Forest Park.

For dinner, cheeseburgers on pretzel buns, tater tots, salad, peas. We finished playing Machi Koro (Seb won!) and started playing King of Tokyo. And then lemon tarts and pies for dessert! We had a dessert showdown between Pie Spot and Baker & Spice; the kids preferred the tarts from B&S, but Steve and I liked the pies from PS. Yumminess all around, and a very happy birthday to our boy.

 

rainbow day

It was the usual Saturday -- I vacuumed, cleaned bathrooms, and did laundry; took Jasper for a walk; went for a run; cooked coconut chicken curry and baked pumpkin-apple bread. The kids had soccer practices and played outside with friends (biking and riding scooters and playing football). But I felt a tremendous sense of lightness and relief all day, and am so glad the election is over and that Trump lost. We watched Biden and Harris' speeches, and Kamala's in particular was so powerful and really resonated with me and Liesl.

 

On my run this afternoon through the Skyline cemetery, a double rainbow lit up the sky and made me smile. 

Pumpkin-apple bread. Yum! (Not pictured: optional cream cheese frosting)

Liesl came with me to drop off our ballots at our local drop box on Monday. I'm really happy with our local election results -- Oregon (and Portland) passed a number of very progressive measures, providing funding for universal preschool, parks and recreation programs, and public schools, decriminalizing some drugs, establishing campaign finance rules and a police oversight board.

And so we move forward. Here's some photos of Jasper over this past week -- in the forest, during one of my long walks to distract myself; being tortured with a birthday balloon clipped onto his fur; licking peanut butter off my plate; and just being cute with his toy pineapple.

 

personal best

I have always been a casual runner - 3 or 4 miles, a few times a week, fairly consistently since high school. I ran on the river valley trails in Edmonton, while abroad in Sweden and later in China, I ran at Amherst, in New York (except in Astoria), I ran the gorgeous Aqueduct trail in Westchester (except when pregnant), and I have run here in Portland. But in the past year, since joining a Hood to Coast relay team, and especially since the pandemic began, I have begun to run more and more. I've increased both the frequency of my runs and the distance, and somewhat to my surprise have begun to see results. This week I ran my fastest ever 10k in 51.19 - overall completing 7 miles at a 8.18 pace per mile. During October, I ran 24 times, logging 105 miles, also a personal best. I am so proud of myself and so excited to keep running.

Steelers

In one of the rare bright spots of 2020, the Steelers are 7-0. Steve's Sunday ritual is to watch the games; our Sunday ritual is to stick around when they're winning, and run away when things go badly. :)

 

Touchdown!!!

Halloween

It should have been an epic Halloween -- a Saturday night with a full moon, and a surprisingly warm and clear night -- but instead there was Covid. 

Liesl and I decided to walk around our neighborhood, with masks on, in costume. I warned her to keep her expectations low, because I was not sure there would be any candy available, since we were not going to knock on any doors. We met up with her friend Maya and family at 6:45, intending to enjoy the company of friends and the over-the-top house decorations around here, and hoping (hoping!) for some trick-or-treating. As it turned out, everyone had as if by magic landed on the same basic idea -- put the candy outside on a table, and let kids help themselves. Liesl was THRILLED. There were obviously many fewer kids out, and fewer houses participating, but we had set expectations low enough that all of the kids felt so much joy.

 

Liesl and Maya, with full bags and big grins under the masks. 

We came home and Liesl sorted her candy, and then we put the whole bag in quarantine -- I don't really think Covid is transmitted through wrappers, but no harm in letting it sit for 48 hours. If she needs to eat candy, we still have scads left from our own birthday party/giveaway stash.

 

This was our setup, on our front steps -- a small table that we kept restocking with candy -- the purple lights were quite bright and alerted kids that there was candy here! 

Sebastian was invited to a house party, but given the recent case numbers in Oregon, we were uncomfortable with the number of kids who might be there, and asked him not to go. He was incredibly mature about it and agreed, but it was still an enormous bummer. He supervised the candy table, played some Fortnite, and posed for this sad photo. It might not reflect the actual amount of candy he got (Liesl and I gathered a stash for him), but it does encapsulate his mood quite accurately.