The Acne Tutorial

*Snow Day!*

I cannot tell a lie.  Snow days are a big perk to being a teacher.  We have gotten hit with a ton of snow the past few days.

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David and the boys have all the calves in pig pens currently and they are basically swimming in snow.  The other day, Little Dude neglected to close the gate to the pen after feeding them.

Rookie mistake.

So, we found three of them huddled together and riding out the storm in the wood shed.

Hadley’s new puppy, Charlie, is loving the snow.  Our dog, Abbie, has become a great “big sister” to her and takes her outside to play in the snow and check on the cows.  Charlie has a lot of energy.

And a lot of issues controlling her urges to toilet in the house.

***

You might recall a few weeks back that Handsome Dude requested I purchase him supplies for his non-existent acne issues.  He has been using them religiously.  And now, I will let you in on a convo between the two boys.

HD:  I need to show you how to take care of acne.

LD:  Nah.  I don’t care.

HD:  Mom!  Mom!  Mom!  Can you make him listen to me?  Please?  Please?  Mom!  Mom!

Me to LD:  Just go.

LD (giant preteen angst sigh)

So they head to my bathroom where I also happen to be getting ready and I got a front row seat to this AMAZING conversation.

To set the scene, you must understand that even though LD is the younger brother, he is now much bigger in both weight and stature than his older brother.

Also, for the acne tutorial, HD must take his glasses off, which always makes his weak eye wander about.

HD:  First you open the container. (Oxi-pads)

LD (surprisingly into it)  Got it.

HD:  Then you wipe it around your face like this.  Be careful!  Do not get it in your eyes!

LD:  Shoot!  It touched my hair!  What will happen?

HD:  Nothing.  It should be ok!

LD is quite relieved that his hair is not destroyed.

HD:  Now THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.  You need to CLOSE THE LID TIGHTLY when you are done.  Or the pads will be RUINED.

HD makes LD watch him demonstrate how to properly close a container of oxi-pads.

HD is now ready to move on to the moisturizing stage of his acne regimen.

HD:  Next!  You take this lotion and you put it on your face.

LD:  Nah.  I don’t want to.

HD:  TRUST ME.  If you don’t you face will be dry and flake off.

LD:  Oh, Ok.

HD:  When I first started doing this, I had problems.  I used way too much and had white cream all over my face.  You need to watch me do this and see exactly how much you should put in your hands.

LD:  Got it.

The boys moisturize, clean up after themselves, and HD puts his glasses back on.

LD: Am I allowed to drink water now?

HD: Yes! That should be fine!

LD:  I liked that.  It was refreshing.

So that was that.

***

Speaking of LD’s current weight and stature, he is now quite similar in size to his big sister, Kate.

Kate had a basketball game on Saturday, which was day two of our snow storm.  She planned to wear socks to her car because:

1.  She cannot wear her basketball shoes outside (True story.  It is frowned upon)
2. She would prefer to not wear her Vans and get them possibly stained.
3. She would prefer to not wear her Timb’s.

It took me awhile, but I figured out her “Timb’s” were in fact, Timberland boots.  Which sounded like an excellent option to me in a snow storm.  But what do I know.

Me:  You cannot walk around in socks.

Kate:  But, Mom!

Me:  FINE!  Ask LD to carry you.

And carry her he did.  And look!  I made the boys wear pants.  They were quite furious with me and feel as if I am the most unfair mother of all the mothers.

***

I have this student.  She is precious to my heart, as they all are.  This one was acting out at the beginning of the year, but after learning about some of her personal life, I realized she was just needing some attention.

Before I had this all figured out though, she would tell my reading aide that she could not see any letters and thought she needed glasses.

I was a bit confused, because she always seemed fine and also passed the vision screener we ran.

Finally, one day I referred her to the nurse.

And the child told the nurse that she was born blind.

So, nurse had to call home, and dad confirmed that she sees just fine.

So me and Little Miss had a nice chat and she stopped seeking attention in that way.

Fast forward to last week-

I was out for a training and had a brand new reading aide.  I had asked the new aide to do a few reading tests on some of the kids, Little Miss being one of them.

When I returned to school, I read my aide’s notes:

“Could not get Little Miss to read at first.  She said the lights hurt her eyes and she needs to wear sunglasses when she reads.

I sense the need to check in on my clever Little Miss again, no?

These kids.  And I love them.

***

The other day, we fancied taking a drive to check on our river property we purchased with several family members for camping.  We were hoping to see the power was hooked up.

We are basically more like “glampers.”

No power yet, but look at how pretty it looked.

Me:  David!  We must figure out a way to be here!  In the winter!  Look how pretty!

So, hopefully he will get right on that.

Update:  his shingles situation is basically healed up.

He only took three pain pills for the entire ordeal and did not once take any time off from work.

Happy Snow Day!