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Comments
I had a frat brother from college who set himself on fire twice (!) in two separate boating accidents several years apart. Apparently fumes built up in the bilge area and exploded. Both times he jumped into the water to put the flames out, but even so, he was severely burned. He went though pure hell in rehab.
Bob
I received an update from my mother a few minutes ago. She says that the hospital was able to stabilize her already. The worst damage is actually in her throat, due to inhaling extremely hot air. Because of that (swelling in her mouth, throat, lungs), she has a breathing tube. Externally, her hair was mostly burned and she has some areas of 2nd degree burns on her face and head.
After asking what happened, she said that the kids (the older brother is 8 I found out) were with their father while he was burning with a burn barrel. He had started the fire with gasoline (not the best starter choice) and had the can nearby. He went inside for something and, in his absence, the boy thought the fire had gone out. He poured more fuel on it; it sat there a few moments and then flared up with gusto. The girl was too close and it caught her hair on fire and this also is probably when her throat/lungs were damaged. She started to run; her brother caught her, pulled her to the ground, and smothered the flames. Apparently she seemed okay for a little while, but thankfully her mother had been called by then (the parents are divorced) and took her to the hospital. Not long after that her airway swelled shut and she went downhill fast.
I am still not sure of the extent of the internal damage, but my mom sounded optimistic that she would recover quickly.
Mark
The staff at Children's said that toddlers are resilient and that they take treatment extremely well. My little girl is a toughie and even today is mentally stronger than her 11 YO brother.
Personally, I'd tell your kids about incidents like these. It helps them to understand what can happen.
My wife had already relayed the situation to our son when I arrived home last night. He was eager to learn more about what happened and why. I expect that they will write a letter to her today.
My son is extremely interested in learning how things work; he was nerve-wracking around electricity when he was about two years old. I tried to keep him away from it for a while, then realized that was not going to work. Instead, I taught him about its uses, dangers, etc. Now, just shy of four, he is incredibly responsible with electricity and can sit you down and explain just how it works. I think, come this summer, I will give him the privilege of plugging/unplugging appliances to live outlets. Right now I will let him use power strips, but he has to ask me to plug them into the wall outlet for him. Then, he uses the power switch to shut off the strip, manipulate the plugs, then turn the switch on to observe the results. He is quite the little electrician.
We purchased a contraption called "Circuits, Jr." for him a couple months ago. We have not given them to him yet, but I expect he will have a blast with them when we do.
That's cool. Two years ago we had an addition done and I did all the electrical work - reading the NEC is sooooo much fun. My son watched me do the rough and then the finish and was fascinated by the entire process of how electricity travels in a circle.
He was even more fascinated by the inspector who he felt wasn't thorough enough. He expected the inspector to be climbing ladders and checking every single cable, staple and connection.
He rides on a kiddie boat ride, and inspects the boat and how it operates.
He's always checking the mechanicals, asking how things work.
When he was 6, he helped me gut a bathroom by swinging a little hammer and picking up tile. Last month he built his final Pinewood Derby car and he used the table saw, sander and rotary tool with heavy supervision from me. Last year he got a thrill out of using a wet saw when I was tiling. But he has no interest in doing clean up and I have to remind him the chore fairy was on a perpetual vacation. On a positive note, he is always asking me if I need help when doing projects - he's a good kid with a kind heart.
Vice President for Supplies (they hand me all the stuff)
Vice President for Tools and Manufacturing (hand me that wrench)
Senior Procurement Officer, Refreshments (pass me that soda)
We contracted a couple small projects on our house to "professionals" early on. One of them, the foundation footers, was a mess. I am still not sure whether my frustration with it centered more on the fact that the work was so shoddy or because they left such a physical mess behind. There were literally thousands of used nails scattered about the site and even one large pile (several pounds) of unused, double-headed 16d nails. When speaking with the business owner about it, he said that the mess was "standard procedure on a construction site." I told him, "not on my construction site" and found someone else to perform the other contract. I paid him more than his company deserved for the work, but less than they wanted. He was livid about it at first, but I gave him a disc with over 100 photos of the footers and he called me later saying my payment was "quite reasonable." In other words, he was thrilled I did not take him to small claims court. :sick:
he's a good kid with a kind heart
I have a feeling that has as more to do with nurture than it does with nature.
Recently he's been trying to finish up a bunch of pins as he is finishing Webelos and crossing over into Boy Scouts in the next month. One was Handyman which required he change a tire, check air pressure, check oil, et al. We did those and he started asking me questions about how engines work, why the Passat engine went front to back versus the Odyssey going across, how disc brakes work and so on. It was pretty cool. He's into Legos and very much a Step A then Step B person - I just know he's going to be some sort of engineer.
My daughter OTOH looks at the lines that life presents and tries to see how far outside she can color!!
Her latest practice is to be a perfect angel while I am interacting with her, then, a few moments after I turn my back, let out an squeal as though she is being harpooned. Reactively, I turn to look at her. She gives me a heart-melting smile and starts talking gibberish. Awwww..... Darn girls, anyway.
I was in Webelos for a while; I never took to it though because there were so many projects, like the pine racers, that required (or could have used) family involvement and I had none. I think my mom encouraged me to join in order to get me out of her hair. Instead, I just sat in the shadows watching other kids interacting with their families and felt depressed. How's that for a backfire? :P I took up a different hobby instead: Growing plants. Twenty years later and it is still a favored activity.
You should be proud! :shades:
My daughter OTOH looks at the lines that life presents and tries to see how far outside she can color!!
Hmm... an engineer and a non-conformist.... sounds like a couple of future Subaru owners :shades:
-Frank
Sounds like one of his future gifts is going to be a visible engine...
Len
We'll see - we've never owned a Subie. I'm just living vicariously through you folks.
That, or...
Excite Truck for the wii with a steering wheel controller.
Tough call!
-mike
Is that for you or your son?
oops!
Should I wait for Mario Kart? It comes with a steering wheel.
Excite Truck? That's the game that has been recommended to me by store employees, and it's popular enough that it's out of stock.
I've also seen Cruisin' for a good price, and I'm a cheap-skate.
Any others?
I guess it depends- I find that unless you have a driving wheel and pedals, how real is any game you drive with your fingers?
Excite truck is fun for kids. Mario cart for the Gamecube was a lot of fun so I'm sure it will be fun for the wii as well.
But if you are into realistic driving, you need a PS3 or Xbox 360.
tom
who's' 5 and who's 8?
I forget the name of that game. A white, turbo Miata is one of the default cars.
The kids were completely MIA, as in not interested. It has to be a bit easier to use. They waited in line to play Mario Galaxy on the Wii. Galaxy seemed a bit hard for them, though. I want a game they can do on their own.
Maybe Mario Kart is the way to go for them.
I can go home and check how it works on the wii for you if you want juice.
tom
My little brother had Mario Kart, but I think it was for the Nintendo that came before the Game Cube. SuperNES? Nintendo64? Something like that. It seemed like a decent game, well targeted for my kids.
To be honest I found Mario Galaxy a bit challenging for my kids. They get frustrated and then they want help. I want to get something they can try and succeed on their own.
I saw a Sonic game at Target for $14.99 for Game Cube and almost bought it. I wonder how well the controller will work, though, given the game was written for the old style ones.
I don't know how well the game cube games work with the wii controllers- I'll try, um, I'll have my kids try tonight.
Some of these games are amazing. They're so complicated I don't know how kids play them- I sure can't! But kids learn really fast, even the young ones.
When your kids get older you'll have to try guitar hero. It's really fun and you get to listen to all the music that you knew while growing up!
tom
-mike
Motorsports and Modifications Host
Maybe waiting for the wii version would be better.
tom
I think I'll pass if I have to buy Game Cube controllers. I really think that's for people that had Game Cube before and want to be able to continue to use their game library.
We have 5 games now:
Wii Sports - love it, great for the kids. Included for free.
Wii Play - came in a package with the 2nd controller, simple but good training. A bargain the $10 extra it cost.
Links Crossbow Trainer - came with an accessory that makes it shoot like a crossbow. I really like it. It's too hard for the kids, but we play together. I think it was $25 but it came with the crossbow, so worth it.
Cooking Mama - kind of silly but cute. It was $30, a bit expensive, and I wonder if they will get tired of it soon. Not sure.
Ramon's Raving Rabids - hilarious game. The kids love it. It's hard, though, so I have to help them through many stages. You can go back and play other levels. Some times I let the kids shoot and I do the reloading, so you can team up. This was a $50 game just last year but I got it for $20 because version II just came out. A total bargain and recommended.
I want a Mario style adventure game but Mario Galaxy may be too hard for them.
Definitely want a driving game. Maybe I'll get Mario Kart ($50 with steering wheel) for them and Cruisin (down to just $20) for me.
Their birthdays are this summer so we'll see.
Oh, and the wife wanted Guitar Hero ($90, ouch, but it comes with a guitar), which I find hilarious because she's never picked up a guitar. I may get her Dance Dance Revolution instead. She may actually use that. That costs $70 but it only comes with one mat, I wish it had 2.
You can spend money pretty quickly, eh? I think we spent $375 already.
But...I have not splurged on any video games since I was a kid. Before college, even.
The problem with a steering wheel game is that is turns people into spectators. Our kids love playing with 3 or 4 at a time on Mario Kart - only possible with 4 controllers.
BlockBuster rents them but at $8.50 a shot it's not cheap. Still, if they have a week off they could probably go through the whole thing in those 5 days.
I will probably get a 2nd steering wheel so we can race 2 at a time.
Get Guitar Hero, you'll all love it (and your wife will be happy). I've been talking about getting an XBox 360 for Halo3 (supposed to clean garage and computer room first) but we've played Guitar Hero and Singing Star with my nephew. Now my wife wants the Playstation for both games! Go figure.
Mark
-mike
Motorsports and Modifications Host
Her b-day is in 2 weeks.
My little brother came over yesterday. He has Zelda and Smash Bros, so I'll borrow those to sample them for a while. Both are rated Teen, though, so I'm not sure I'd buy them for my young kids.
I tend to only use Wii Sports and will sometimes be the second player on Star Wars with my son although I sometimes morph into Princess Leia and can't figure out how to change back to another character!!
Now I remember why we have a minivan - 3 day ski trip and we had the back loaded!!!
The last couple of days I've been getting in to Links Crossbow Training.
I guess that makes me a green leprechaun that wears tights and shoots people with a Cupid-style crossbow.
Thanks, folks.
-Jeff
Hope it goes okay. In the space of about four years, we scored all four of our family with hernia repairs and the boy suffered least from it. First I had one that went wrong, then Angus (day procedure) then Tamsin then Judy. Angus was bouncing immediately afterwards. I recall coming into his room shortly after he recovered from the anaesthetic to find him bouncing and leaping off the furniture shouting "Jump!". Quite made me feel ill, remembering how much agony I had suffered, but I was almost forty at the time. he appeared gloriously unfussed.
When Tamsin came around from her surgery, she was horrified to find her teddy bear, Max, was wearing a dressing in the same spot. Poor bear thought he was only along for reassurance, not unexpected surgery. Tamsin was immensely pleased to find that pretend teddy bear wounds heal even faster then children.
Cheers
Graham
Bob
I've been very fortunate the last year or two so hopefully some of my luck rubs off on you. :shades:
Len