Ach-chooo!!

I finally got an allergy test done to see exactly what causes my almost year-round stuffy nose and sinus issues. Yep, I'm allergic to everything...OK, not really. However, out of 38 allergens tested, I'm allergic to 23 of them to varying degrees.

There's nothing quite as fun as getting stuck with 40 + small needles filled with various diluted allergens. You want to inject me with "Cockroach Mix"? Awesome. Oh, and two different kinds of dust mite allergens? Sign me up. My upper arm still has a cross-hatch pattern of red dots from the testing. It looks like I had a run-in with Pinhead.

Also? I now know more than I ever wanted to know about dust mites. And where they live. And how much of their "waste" adds to the weight of your pillows and mattress over the years. Just don't google it. Trust me. I wish I didn't know.

So, my list of allergies includes the ever popular dust mite and molds and several grass and tree pollens, as well as cat and dog. Not mice though. Or horse. So, you know, if I wanted a pet mouse, that would be ok. I'm allergic to Virginia Oak tree pollen, but not Eastern Sycamore. It seems very random to me. Why am I allergic to this tree or grass, but not that one?

Now, Allergen-Free Bedroom! is on. (Or as allergen-free as we can get it.) I need to get full mattress and pillow encasings to block the dust mite allergens. An air filtering unit for the bedroom would be wise. Just those things will probably cost about $200 to $300. We need to minimize dust collectors sitting around the bedroom, and dust, vacuum, and launder weekly*. Next, I will start allergy treatments, which are going to cost about $100 a month! If it improves my sinus situation though, it would be worth it. I hope.

*I almost forgot to add -- I now have a doctor's excuse for not cleaning. Heh heh heh. The literature says that an "allergy sufferer should avoid being home when cleaning is done, or wear a face mask". Sorry, DH, I have to go have a manicure while you clean. Heh heh heh.

Awesome...we're only at a heat index of 106, instead of the forecast 117

You know you live in Texas when...

You park farther away from the door just to get the spot that is shaded (even if that "shade" is just a few piddly leaves/branches).

Your city's forecast looks like this - Highs: upper 90s and Lows: upper 70s - for the next billion days, or until August, when it will get even hotter.

Even your three year old knows the score. "Let's go there, where it's nice and cool," he says, when talking about what to do next.

You love to look at the flowers in your garden...through the window, from your air-conditioned living room.

You ignore the weeds in said flower garden, because it's too damn hot to pull weeds.

You actually can watch the grass grow (it grows so fast), unless the grass is turning brown from no rain.

Short takes

We were discussing dinner. I asked Little Bit, "Are you going to eat a lot?"

He said, "No...a little a lot."

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DH and I were dropping Little Bit off at the drop-in daycare near our house this past Saturday. (Yay -- date time for mom and dad!) This place has a huge indoor play set that looks like a tree, with slides, climbing boards, tunnels, and bridges. Little Bit grew very excited when we said that he was going to that daycare for the afternoon. The daycare rules say children have to be over 3 years old to climb on the tree play set. Sometimes in the past, they have let Little Bit climb on it because even though he wasn't three yet, he was tall enough for a three year old. However, he remembered clearly his disappointment the last time when a daycare worker said he couldn't climb it because he wasn't old enough. He wanted to be sure that they knew he had a birthday, and that he is three now.

As we checked in at the daycare desk, Little Bit proclaimed to the woman there, "I older. I feel old."

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Little Bit has taken to declaring all the things he will be able to do when he is older. These things are quite varied. According to him, when he is bigger he will get to watch cartoon after cartoon on the tv. He'll be tall enough to touch the ceiling while standing on the top step of his bunk bed. This morning he commented on my dress (a dress he has oooh'ed over before and said was pretty). He said, "I be bigger, and I can wear that [points to my dress] and that [points to my cardigan] and that [points to my necklace]!"

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Now that the days are longer it has become more difficult to convince Little Bit that his bedtime is approaching. Some of the neighborhood kids were playing in the turn-around at the end of our street after dinner last week. Little Bit insisted on going to see them. DH took him. Little Bit had the best time playing with the "big kids" and the "big girls". They were throwing and kicking a ball and drawing on the street with chalk. The olders kids were great with Little Bit, including him in the fun. Little Bit wanted to keep playing and playing. DH finally had to physically carry Little Bit home as it was getting dark (and way past his bedtime).

The next morning, the very first thing Little Bit said as he got out of bed was, "The big kids getting up? We go play the big kids?"

Apparently, another thing he thinks he'll be able to do when he's older is play for as long as he wants. "I get bigger and play the big kids!"

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It's always fun to have your words thrown back at you, isn't it?

Me: (calling Little Bit to come here, please)
Little Bit: Just a minute!

DH: (joking around with Little Bit, but Little Bit is in one of his 'No!' moods)
LB: That's enough!

Big Boy Bed

Little Bit's "big boy" bed arrived at the end of last week. We got an awesome bedset from RoomsToGo. Ours doesn't have the desk on the end, but is otherwise like the picture. It's like having a clubhouse indoors. Little Bit kept saying, "Come see my new bed!" several times a day. He wants to sleep on the top bunk, but we have made it clear that he can only play there during the day; when he's older, he can sleep up there. He loves climbing up the steps and throwing himself down on the bed.
For now, he has to sleep on the bed on the floor. Over the weekend I showed him how to hang a blanket from the top bunk to make a tent. Little Bit thought that was the coolest thing ever!
"Come on, Mommy! Come inside the tent!....This is fun!"

Now that he has his big boy bed, we've begun the transition to him sleeping in his room in his bed by himself. While it's been awesome having a snuggly little boy snoring quietly with us many nights, he also can be a flopper. Somehow he'll end up with his feet on his dad and his head on me. Or he'll be completely flipped with his head at the foot of the bed. He sometimes cries out or talks in his sleep if he's having a dream.

Little Bit loves his new bed so much that he'll excitedly run to his room when it's bedtime. When I go to bed, I sleep next to him for now. I tried just going back to my bed, but he toddled into our room in the middle of the night. The next day it took some convincing to get him to go to his own bed, even when I reassured him that I would sleep next to him. I think he got scared when he woke up by himself and then had to walk through the shadowy house to find me.

Next, I may sleep on the floor of his room, all the while during the day talking up him sleeping in his room by himself, and that mommy and daddy will be just in the next room.

He's at the age where he talks about monsters - more in an abstract way and possibly feeling the idea out. He'll make up stories or pretend play. "Mommy!! There's a monster! I'll hit it!!" Sometimes he hits the monster or dinosaur; sometimes the dinosaur goes stomp!stomp!stomp! through our house. I have been telling him that no monsters are actually allowed in our house.