Emergency room, parks, climbing

I just finished two books on Wednesday, marking the end of a months-long work marathon, so as usual, here's a catchup blog on all the Mallon craziness.

The weekend our stove caught on fire, Darrick had to go to the emergency room. He stabbed himself in the hand with a steak knife, trying to pry granola from the pan. We spent the entire day at the emergency room, but Alexander was awesome. He hung out in my lap for a while, cruised the waiting room, played with the water fountain, showed us his amazing powers by opening and closing the automatic door, and then spent some time trying to unlock a door with a pretzel stick.

Darrick's stitches are out, and his hand is fine, but now we have to be very watchful to avoid another trip to the emergency room, as you can see from the photos and video below:





Last Sunday, we met for lunch at Reid Park with the Fawcetts and the Beaudry Brockschmidts. Alexander particularly enjoyed the rose garden. We couldn't find his hat, so he's wearing one of Darrick's (sometimes).






We've also had other park adventures, but I'll save that for another blog.

Fire

Went to turn off the oven last night, and the knob starting sparking like crazy, then caught on fire. Darrick put the fire out, but it kept restarting until he managed to pull the stove out and unplug it. The fumes were horrible, but the house is aired out now, and we were able to keep the air in Alexander's room clear.

Fortunately, we didn't have to use the fire extinguisher. That would have been an annoying mess.

Darrick is perversely excited because now he can get a gas stove, which apparently is much, much better for cooking. We have hookups for gas and electric. Until we can fit this in the budget, however, we will be getting very creative with our microwave.

Sorry, no Alexander stories or photos because I have to get back to work (what with a fire interrupting my worktime yesterday). See the latest photos on www.flickr/photos/mallons. I'll blog about our park adventures and all the crazy people we meet as well as the other kids as soon as I can.