Zipperhead Returns...and other happenings

Last Valentine's Day, Tallulah, Elizabeth, and I spent about four hours at an ER getting Tallulah's forehead stitched up. We called her zipperhead for a few weeks. The boys especially enjoyed this nickname.

But there's a new zipperhead in town: Vincenzo suffered a head wound in the course of trying to beat his brother to the ball while playing soccer at school. The school called and told us, and from what they described, I didn't expect to be alarmed by the look of it. But when I got home last night and saw for myself, well, let's just say I was not going to put myself in the position of hearing a doctor say to me, for the second time in my life, "You should have brought him in yesterday to have this stitched up."

(This happened when a metal basketball hoop fell on Sam's head last summer and I didn't take him to the doctor until the next day. The only reason I took him at all was that his sister already had an appointment, so I included him in what I thought would be a quick Yeah-he's-fine kind of a thing.)

Anyway, Rick took him (and Lola, who treated the whole experience like a special outing) off to the ER at 6:30pm. Four stitches and four hours later, they were back home.

He came downstairs this morning proudly calling himself Zipperhead.

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And since it's been FOREVER since I have posted, let's see if I can come up with some snapshots of life in the past few weeks.

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While I was in a cleaning frenzy, the kids asked if they should find stuff they no longer use or want to give away or throw away. Impressed, I said by all means, go ahead. A few minutes later, Samuel appeared at the top of the garage steps (I was down in the garage doing laundry), holding his little sister Elizabeth in front of him by the shoulders: "I found something we don't need anymore, Mom!"

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While driving around town with Elizabeth and Tallulah, I had to listen to Elizabeth teaching Tallulah new words.

E: "Lu, say 'big.'"
T: "Beeg!"

E: "Lu, say 'juicy.'"
T: "Jushee!"

E: "Lu, say 'chicken.'"
T: "Sheecket."

E: "Lu, say 'BUTT!'"
T: "BUTT!"

You'd be surprised just how much adorable 2- and 4-year old girl giggling this conversation sparked. Repeatedly. They went through that little routine -- adding gems like "smelly socks" and "smelly fus" -- about 8 or 10 times in a 10 minute car ride.

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And in some exciting family news, my mom has joined the blogosphere! I inherited my writing bug from my dear mother, and am very happy to see her launch herself into the Wonderful World of Blogging. Please visit; please comment; please spread the word. Congratulations Mom!

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And a big fat welcome to 2009: here's hoping it's filled with (a) lots of witty, profound posts and (b) two or three surprising financial windfalls. I'd wish for good friends and lots of wine, but I am lucky enough to know that I start every new year with plenty of both. Just another piece of evidence that I am the luckiest woman on earth.