Duct tape bandaids?

Yes, that's right, duct tape bandaids! 

Growing up with a Dad who is a mason (tough, dirty, covered in cement dust) I learned quickly that duct tape is good for many things, including first aid. Bang your thumb with a hammer? Wrap it in duct tape! Cut your finger with a sheet rock knife? Wrap it in duct tape! Trip over some bricks and break a leg? Wrap it in duct tape! 

Okay fine, not really that last one, but the other 2 scenarios are very plausible! 

I have taken this knowledge of duct tape bandaids into motherhood with me. I have save mucho deniro with this knowledge, fixed tens, no! hundreds of boo-boos and non-boo-boos alike, stopped countless tears with this very valuable knowledge of duct tape bandaids.

Now don't worry, if there is a big enough injury, I do cave in and breakout the dusty bandaid box. But for the most part for, hang nails, paper cuts and of course for the non-boo-boos - a little neosporin covered by a piece of tissue and then a strip of duct tape does the job. Actually does the job well! Stays on way better than anything Johnson and Johnson puts out and you can fashion any size or shape.

Now I'm pretty sure you need this knowledge from day one of Moommyhood, since I'd assume if your kids are used to Hello Kitty and Sponge Bob adorning their boo-boos the duct tape may not be accepted. Although you could try drawing smiley faces with a sharpie!

Here are my kids, (happily) showing off their Duct Tape Bandaids

Thanks Dad!

Eye doctor hat?

One afternoon, a couple years a ago, I noticed Caleb would occasionally mistake the color purple for blue or blue for purple. Growing up with a dad who is color blind I knew pretty quickly what this means.... MY BABY IS BLIND!
:o) Not really, but I did find out that day that Caleb is in fact colorblind. Looked up colorblind tests on the web and found some that both he and my dad ?failed? miserably.
Here's an example of one...

In this image if you see normally you will see a yellow square and a faint brown circle.
If you are colorblind you will only see a yellow square.

In this one, normal vision sees a 5
Colorblind individuals will see a 2 or extreme cases will see no number

In this one, normal vision won't find anything
Colorblind folks see... Well the website didn't say, I'll have to ask Caleb in the morn :)

The way normal folk see color

The way colorblinds see color :(
I'm not totally convinced this is how Caleb sees red, because he will identify red in some cases, though at times it does look brown. It's very interesting that some shades of color are no problem but a slight change in shade and it totally changes things.





We have come across some little hiccups in our homeschooling adventure where color is a bit of an issue. Like for example, at times his phonics book asks for him to color certain sounds in various colors to color in a picture...

On such pages I do not require neatness :)

Another subject affected by this is math. We do a curriculum called "Math U See" which uses manipulatives that are of course color coded :o/

So in this bunch there is the 7 manipulative that is a cream color, Caleb cannot see the difference between 7 and 9 -which is the mint green color. Also 5 -light blue and 6 -lilac. But this has not be as big of an issue as expected, he's just learned to look at the length not the color (which I see as kinda good anyway, since that's what maniplulatives are all about - seeing the numbers)















So these are just some examples of how life is affected by being colorblind... Nothing to inconvenient, yet...not looking forward to when he learns to drive! Just hoping he can tell the difference between stop and go lights!

Caleb quote: (reminding me after he got a color wrong) "Mom, I have colorblind." :)