When you are getting billed by a medical service but you are sure that your insurance already paid or some account under insurance, such as an HRA, already paid, call your insurance company. Once upon a time, when I naively thought I could resolve such matters myself, my family called Labcorp three times without any resolution regarding two bills that had already been paid through my HRA. The first call was handled by someone who was tricked into paying a second time for the billed service on one of the invoices. I made the second and third calls. In the…
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The answer, in my case, was “yes”. I did only have mild bruising and there was no damage to the eardrum. As for how this happened, Small Sophie helpfully woke me up with a chopstick in my ear. I grabbed it, pulled it out, fought with her over it and ultimately won (because I am much bigger and stronger than a 2-year-old even while confused and sleepy), and said, sternly, “No putting things in ears!” She cried, probably because I rarely raise my voice. In a short while, she was in her own bed and sad, because she had no…
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At 17 months old, Small Sophie finally gifted me with a mess on a white carpet. (She thought it was a game to run away as I chased her with a diaper. I got tired and rested. She also stopped— and made her mess. And stepped in it. Yuck!) Until today, I had been fortunate enough that my daughter had only poo-ed out of her diaper once, and that was on hardwood flooring. Hardwood is easy; pick up the offending object(s), wipe the floor, and let dry. Carpet is different, and white is especially annoying to get stains on. Fortunately,…
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When Small Sophie first played with these round locking blocks at a little under 15 months of age, she did not know what direction to put them in. She understood that the round part aligned and accurately placed those—— but upside-down or right-side up? She had to try both if she first went with upside-down. By the second day, she understood that they go right-side up and consistently placed them correctly. However, she often left blocks halfway locked. We would help her lock the blocks now and then, else the towers would fall. (She put them back up if they…
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Right as Small Sophie turned 14 months old, I decided that it was high time for Young Sophie to learn to sleep in her own bed. 14 months is a large number! It has two digits! And I had endured many months of her rolling, flailing, and climbing on top of me throughout the night. Although she has had her own bed for the majority of her months alive, she was in the habit of rolling into my bed and on top of me every night. You see, her bed was placed next to my bed: In one easy motion,…
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At 14 months, Young Sophie does not have the height to reach interesting hiding places. Fortunately, she, too, can participate in egg hunting by picking eggs off of the grass. She surprised us all by picking us her basket and taking it to the eggs. We had thought we would have to carry the basket for her. I bought 2T and 3T outfits when she was a few months old thinking they would be good for growing into. The dress is 2T sized and fits fine now that she can walk. I actually had laid out a white onesie for…
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Young Sophie cannot yet read. Were she able to, she would know that she sometimes bears what my husband calls “Mommy Propaganda”. He refers to the common “I love mommy” quotes printed on babies’ bibs, footies, socks, and more. There are many variations of this. (I did not buy any of these clothes. They were all gifted.) “Do you want to wear your Mommy Propaganda shirt?” he asked our grinning infant as she lay on her back, beaming after a diaper change. “Oh, look, it’s your Mommy Propaganda bib!” he would exclaim while grabbing the topmost bib from the clean…