Dude!

Some great things have happened here in One of Threesville this week. There were a few low points, (the car going kablooey, the not-going-to-sleep, and the mid-life angst moment) but there were a few really awesome things and dude, I want to talk about them. (The Kid has entered "the dude stage" where everyone and everything is addressed as "dude" and dude, it is rubbing off on me.)

At the seven year check up (with the pee scare), our beloved pediatrician asked if Max was using a sinus rinse and I said, um, no. Lefty and I both use a sinus rinse. (Not the same one. Eeew. We have separate ones, please!) I had an antibiotic-resistant sinus infection a year ago which had me in it's grip for three full rounds of increasingly hideous antibiotics before it let me go. The ENT (that's ear nose and throat) guy told me to sinus rinse twice a day no matter what and I was so grateful to be finished with all those antibiotics that I promised him I would. I'm a good girl – I keep my promises. I have a squeeze bottle version. Neti pots are very hip and cool, but they required that you position your head just so to work and I have never been very good at just so. The squeeze bottle is like sinus rinse for dummies. Sinus rinsing is a little unpleasant. It's a lot like purposely getting pool water up your nose twice a day. The Kid, I thought, will never go for that. But he did. I ordered him a pediatric size squeeze bottle of his own and he's been rinsing all week. He looked up at me in between nostrils last night and said, "This is kind of gross, and unpleasant" but he is doing it and I'm really proud of him. Is this a weird thing to be proud of your kid for?

Here's the other great thing. As most of you know, I have been experiencing a bit of ambivalence about The Kid's karate class. ( ha ha ha ha) One of my beef's with the newish instructor (other than him being a self aggrandizing &#%*#@*) is the emphasis on point sparring in the class since he took over. The Kid (because he came up under the tutelage of the beloved other instructor) has never been taught to point spar. In fact, the only sparring The Kid ever did before this was no-contact sparring which is basically pretending to punch or kick your opponent. In point sparring, you make light contact. Needless to say, he's had a hard time getting the hang of it just by watching his classmates. But on Wednesday, after sitting rather glumly for a while, he volunteered to spar and actually made his first point! We were thrilled! He was thrilled, and so excited he came home and spilled a huge glass of water all over the table during dinner, because that's how we celebrate here at One of Three, with big spills and lots of paper towels!