KampKrug

Out muddin' again! This was sent to Daddy at work

Last night Ben was so excited to find mommy’s collarbones – he found one, then the other as we were having our good-night hugs before bed. He is very chatty and you have no idea what he might cook up for bed-time chats. Sam and I just laugh every night about the Ben Show. But “Mommy’s hollarbones!” really made me laugh Today we had a fantastic expedition around the fish ponds – we had Gramma and “Prichard” with us to show them the critters in the canal. We were patient and eventually two hammerheads started prowling the waters looking for fish lunch! Sam excitedly pointed out all his crab friends, and then puffer fish came along to say hello as well! We continued on our bike ride and ventured out to another part of the fish ponds where we’d seen some AMTRACs out working to clear invasive plants. (These are huge machines with tracks that can go on sand, mud, ocean, anywhere…) As Sam biked and I pushed Ben around/through mud puddles, we saw an injured stilt (long-legged endangered bird). Concerned for the stilt, I tried to hail the Marines on their big machines from about a quarter mile away. They’d stopped for a break and were sitting on top of their huge rigs. I waved, then walked with legs collapsing and “wings” outspread to imitate the stilt, then pointed toward the stilt. No response. So we continued around the muddy trail to them and within hollaring distance (using mommy’s capable hollarbones!) we hailed them. I again did the injured stilt walk and they got the picture – “where exactly ma’am?!” they hollared back. Then one guy goes “How exactly did it look?” ha ha ha! Very funny! I did the injured stilt walk tonight for Dave and the boys…I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and it was pretty ridiculous indeed! The environmental officer with the guys came to look at the bird with us, then he said he would be back to pick it up and take it to a rehab clinic. The boys and I continued on, through more mud puddles, and on to McD’s for a reward – shakes. Shakes were a reward for Sam’s TB test, which he got today with far less freaking out than the last shot episode. Actually, he tried to make an escape again this time but we got in, he wrote his name on the sign-in sheet, and we sat down. Two Marines were next to us, so I struck up conversation with them about big tough Marines getting shots. I go to the guy next to me “Hey, how’d your shots go? Ok?” “yeah…” “You’re not crying – you did well!” “yeah…” “You didn’t pass out, did you?” “uhhhh…yeah, I did actually.” Whoa! I was so sorry to have asked that but then we both chuckled and he was so sweet about it! I said something to the effect of I knew that sometimes happened but had never met anyone with as great a story about getting shots (I mean, how boring is it really to just get your shots and not do something crazy during the whole ordeal?). The guy was so nice, and so funny. So I go to his buddy “Did you catch your buddy here at least?” “Uhhhh…” “Soooo…did you? Or are you not telling cuz he’ll never know the difference?” “Well…I sorta caught him, then I sorta let ‘im go.” Sam did some practice shots. (Mommy pinched his arm while he took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. I said it’d be over by the time he breathed out.) Sure enough, he panicked a bit once we went into the shot room, and the nurse doing it didn’t help one bit as he dramatically pulled on his gloves, took his time asking the name and date of birth, then tried to make jokes (“Well, I’m just trying to make this a bit more lighthearted this time!”) The nurse had recognized us from last time – his eyes went wide as he called out “Krug?!” when it was our turn…and mine went wide, too! But I was also smiling. This whole thing has gotten a bit funny…or at least we’re trying our best to see the funny side as we’re learning to be brave. The big tough Marine thought it was a riot when Sam told him about trying to run away last time, and told him by age 10 he’d be able to outrun me!  Much later, as Sam biked (and Ben and I tooled along with the stroller), he said “You know, Mom, you’re a GREAT mom.” What a sweet reward it is to be a parent and get to enjoy all these unbroken moments together, no commitments other than where we want to go and what adventure we want to unfurl next. Should we head down this tank trail? There’s no sign and no obstruction… (At dinner, Dave goes “You know, my rule of thumb is if I have to think about whether or not I should be somewhere, then I probably shouldn’t be there.” True.)