35!

Happy Birthday Jeff! 

Work Hazards

My job in a biochemistry lab comes with some expected risks:  toxic chemicals and exposure to radioactivity in particular.  It does not, however, come with the risk of venomous bites. 

Okay, I take that back.

The sign I posted outside the darkroom door after our (not so little) friend was discovered.

Yesterday, a student in our lab ran in just twitching with revulsion.  He had just seen a LARGE black widow in our darkroom. 

Yep, the darkroom. Where we turn off the lights and essentially work by feel under a red light, just like you see in the spooky movies right before something jumps out at the unsuspecting victim. 

Yep, in the box containing the reagents I routinely refill. Which I likely would have been doing later that day as they were nearly empty. 

So we went back in to take a look and the spider had gone back into hiding.  We did however, find a large web underneath the bench complete with baby spiders crawling everywhere, including on my arm as I touched the bench. 

Hasty exit from room.

Signs posted.

Exterminator contacted.

Today the exterminator came out and found her... a large black widow.  Just like the pictures we saw when we googled it yesterday.



Size comparison done by the exterminator during capture.

Our new pet is now living in a filter sterilization bottle and dining on fruit flies contributed by someone in another department.

As soon as someone put the fruit flies in, our little pet grew agitated and weaved a little web of death for those flies.

Notice the classic black widow red hourglass on the abdomen?

It's like our very own discovery channel over here in the biochemistry department! 

Playdate with Addison

Cassidy and I had our first playdate with one of her classmates.  Whitney and Addison came over on Sunday morning for a couple of hours.  The girls played in the backyard on the playground, and spent most of their time in the kiddie pool!

The girls had a great time and Cassidy did a good job sharing, only needing one time out while swimming to prevent what looked to be the beginning of a tantrum (over what I don't remember). 

Mean Girls

Cassidy is a very friendly girl, but in particular, she has two friends that she talks about everyday ... Rebecca and Emmy.  They seem to be inseparable while at school.  Some days Cassidy comes home and whines "Emmy wouldn't be my best friend today."  Other days, she says "Emmy and Becca were my best friends today."  Occasionally she throws in Taylor, but most days it's Emmy and Becca.

The other day, when we got in the car after school, Cassidy said "Mommy, Taylor said I'm not pretty."  I stopped trying to buckle her in her seat, looked her in the eyes, and asked for more detail.  There wasn't much more to her version than that.  So I asked her if she thought she was pretty, and she smiled and said yes.  I told her I thought so too, and it didn't matter what anyone else said.  Hmmmph.  I was a bit concerned by this kind of talk (AT AGE 3, no less!) and mentioned it to Jeff that night.

His response:  "Hmmph!  Well, let me tell you how the day started when I dropped her off at school.  We walked in and Taylor ran right up to Cassidy to give her a hug.  Cassidy shrugged her off, pushed past her, and ran up to hug Rebecca.  They each put an arm around the other, and walked away from Taylor.  And I'm pretty sure she said to Taylor "You're not my friend today." So I'm not surprised Taylor told her she's not pretty."

Oh my god... Cassidy's only 3 and already becoming a mean girl.

We have had A LOT of talks since then about not hurting other people's feelings and using nice words when talking to people. 

I refuse to raise a mean girl.

Birthdays at City Park

As I mentioned before, we have entered the "birthday party" phase.  The past month has been particularly busy with classmates' parties, including the most recent ones at Storyland in City Park. 

This particular party was for Emmy, one of Cassidy's best friends (more on this in another post to come!)  The pirate themed party started out with a treasure hunt outside storyland including pirate bandanas, treasure maps, and burlap bags for collecting doubloons.



Cassidy, Emmy, and Rebecca in the background... BFFs



Cool fish sculpture in Storyland

The party including a face painter!

Rebecca and Cassidy

Birthday girl Emmy

Ella and Cassidy watching the cake cutting eagerly!

At the end of the party, Emmy's mom gave all the kids wrist bands for unlimited rides at the amusement park, and the parents wrist bands for the carousel and train!    We headed for the rides with classmates Addison and Jackson!

Cassidy and Addison riding together

Addison and Jackson on the motorcycles, Cassidy in the car!

Slimebucket!

While riding the carousel, Cassidy told me she'd like to invite a friend to come over to our house and play.  I suggested she invite Addison.  She promptly shouted across the carousel "Addison!  You want to come to my house and play?!"

And so, after informing me that she wanted to ride with her friends on the train, not us, Whitney (Addison's Mom) and I sat on the train together and arranged our first play date!

Should I be concerned by the way Cassidy is gazing at Jackson?

What a great party! 

Cassidy has decided she'd like to have her birthday party at Storyland also! 

Cassidy Goes to the Dentist

Cassidy had her first dentist appointment this week!  We prepped by talking about getting our teeth cleaned, practicing opening our mouths and looking inside, and reading Dora's "Show Me Your Smile".  She was very excited to go!

I went first for my teeth cleaning so she could watch.  She bounced nervously between sitting in the chair next to me and standing closer to watch the action. 

When it came to her turn, she did GREAT!  We took her sunglasses with because she's always sensitive to bright light in her eyes.  She had xrays taken to get a peak at her adult teeth, chose cherry toothpaste (she hates the bubblegum flavor!) and sat nicely for most of the cleaning.  She needed a short break towards the end, but let them finish up.  She had her teeth flossed, and chose grape fluoride for the finishing touch!  (I hope her grape fluoride tasted better than the adult version I got, 'cause that was some vile tasting stuff!)

"MY TURN!"

Chillin' in the chair before starting.

Finishing up with floss and fluoride!

Everything looks good with her teeth!  They recommended flossing once a week to prevent decay of the back teeth from food getting stuck.  They also said save up our money for braces.  Her bottom adult teeth are about three times larger than her baby ones, and she's got no extra space right now.  It's possible that her jaw may grow enough to accommodate them, but the dentist expects quite a bit of crowding when the adult teeth come in. 

That evening, we decided to have a reward night because she was so brave at the dentist!  She chose a walk to McDonald's for dinner, followed by a movie night (Toy Story) with popcorn.  (We don't usually do movie nights on school nights.)

We all had a great time and Cassidy says she wants to go back to the dentist again!