A Walk With One Kid

Last week when Leo was recovering from his ear procedure, he and I went on a walk together. Just the three of us (Leo, the dog and I).





He found this lion costume in the basement where he was playing and insisted on wearing it for most of the day. Yes, it was Ellie's Halloween costume, and also Leo's two years ago. He used to hate wearing hoods. Now he's kind of obsessed with them.



It was so nice taking a walk with just Leo. One kid is so easy! The dog is another story. I don't think she enjoyed the fact that she had on two leashes, one for me, one for Leo (he loves to walk her but alas, cannot be trusted to do it independently, well truthfully, neither can the dog).



He did pretty well. But he still hates holding my hand to cross the street. It was very cold that day and neither one of us was dressed for it. And we walked to far. Almost a half mile, before I realized we should turn around. Leo got tired, at one point sitting down on the sidewalk.


When we got home, we had a snack and warmed up. Still wearing lion suit.

The New Normal

Remember this little girl I used to brag about? How she ate everything? I don’t think I ever wrote the post about how cute it was that she was loving eating everything out of little bowls.


She ate so delicately and with such thought. She brought to mind Albert in one of my all-time favorite children's books, Bread and Jam for Frances:

"He took a bite of sandwich, a bite of pickle, a bite of hard boiled egg and a drink of milk. Then he sprinkled more salt on the egg and went around again. Albert made the sandwich, the pickle, the egg and the milk come out even." (Note to self: Order this book for kids. OK, for myself).

Well, she wasn't sprinkling salt on her egg or anything, but you get the picture. Anyway, it's too bad I didn't write about it because the thought and daintiness with which she ate was really cute. And too bad, because it’s over.

Ellie is in that new stage called Throw Everything On the Floor But First Mix it With Milk on the High Chair Tray. Oy.

I ask you, why do I ever even bother to mop the kitchen floors (truth be told it is barely a monthly occurrence if I’m lucky, but still!)

It seems that she hardly eats anything right now as she is too busy being Jackson Pollack with food. To be fair, she has a few staples: grape tomatoes, dehydrated strawberries (I know, weird), string cheese and her bottle. She’ll graze for a few minutes on the other stuff and then begins the wiping and the sweeping of everything from the high chair tray to the floor or onto the kitchen table. Lovely.

Sometimes I think my children were put on this Earth solely to make me chill the you know what out about the state of my house. I really have been trying to lower my standards. I don’t clean the toys in the living room up every night now. I don’t freak about piles. The one thing I’m a stickler for though is the dishes (I hate a sink full of dirty dishes but truthfully, I can’t go more than two days with out running the dishwasher because I need the little glass bowls and lids and sippy cups and bottles for packing lunches). And laundry. I don’t like to let that get out of hand. I don’t do it every day but I like to at least sort it every couple of days. Having those lovely piles of dark, white and “middle,” lined up neatly in the basement give me a delightfully deceptive delusion of order.

But back to the eating. I know this is typical for 16 months. Leo was a big time food thrower. I think it’s why our poor dog is about 20 pounds overweight. I was secretly hoping we might avoid the throwing with Ellie (as was, I imagine, our dog’s endocrinologist).

In the meantime, I am just not going to mop ever again. I mean, why bother?

Nice (She Said, Sarcastically)

I received a call from the principal at Leo’s school this morning. Evidently he was escorted off the bus by the bus aide (she works for the bus company, not the school), without his shoes and socks on. Did I mention it was 33 degrees this morning in New Jersey?

Leo has this thing about taking off his shoes and socks in the car. It’s mind-numblingly annoying but hey. It’s one of his little quirks. I live with it. There are some mornings when I think I miss my bus because I am fishing around in the back of our van for a missing Stride Rite sneaker. Actually, what he loves to do is throw his shoes. He’s narrowly missed me a few times. And he’s got particularly good aim with the socks.

But back to this morning. Escorted him off the bus barefoot! How hard would it be to put the shoes and socks back on? The principal was irate. She suggested I call his service coordinator (done). She returned my call right away and said she’d ask the principal to submit a report in writing and that she would take it up with the bus company. Of course, paperwork.

I just hate the idea of people not thinking Leo is “worth it.” Not bothering to put his shoes back on. He doesn’t know any better, people. He’s four. He needs help. I mean really.

All Good or Do You Hear What I Hear?

Just wanted to pop in and say we are home. Leo did well. The doctor said he has probably not been hearing ANYTHING out of either ear. There was so much wax in both ears it was as if he was wearing ear plugs. Yeah. He left one tube in and took the other one out that had fallen out. It will be interesting to see how he feels/acts now that he can you know, hear.

This was such a minor procedure. Whenever we do things like this my thoughts go out to all the parents who have to watch their children endure such difficult, painful medical procedures. It makes me feel both nervous and grateful.

So we're home, eating scrambled eggs and prepping for a long day of Dora and playing in the basement playroom. Should be fun.

Thanks for all the support.

Following Directions and Making Observations

This weekend Ellie was whining and stumbling around the kitchen. I guessed that she was hungry. I said, Ellie do you want to eat? Go get your highchair. A few beats later, she returned from the den (next to the kitchen, where we keep the high chair) pushing her high chair.

She also brought me her coat when I told her it was time to go bye-bye.

And when I asked her for Leo's Pull-up, she brought it to me.

She is only allowed her paci when in her crib. Overnight it usually pops out of her mouth and lands on the floor under her crib. Every night before bed she runs into her room and crouches down to search for a escaped paci. She remembers exactly where it will be.

In the car she had a bag of Veggy Booty. I asked her to give Leo some and she did.
I'm amazed by how much she understands and remembers.

This morning Leo was eating his oatmeal and spotted my umbrella sitting next to my purse on the kitchen table. Our conversation went like this:

Leo: "Whassat?" he asked (his favorite question of late), pointing to the umbrella.

"That's an umbrella," I answered.

A few beats later:

Leo: "Rain."

I love watching Leo's mind work.

Out of Touch

I haven’t been writing much lately and I don’t know why. Actually I think I do know why. There just seems to be so much going on that I can’t find a single thread to boil down into a post. I know that shouldn’t stop me. I should just write lots of small entries. I don’t know, I just feel overwhelmed and when I feel that way I don’t write and then it just snowballs into silence.

So, a few updates.

-After a lot of hand wringing and analysis, we’ve decided to go ahead with the sedated ear procedure tomorrow. I sincerely appreciate all the comments in response to my question. I’m beyond nervous about it (think of us tomorrow at 6:45 a.m. EST if you’re up) but the pre-op nurse assured me it would be a quick procedure. It’s just been a while since we’ve had to do anything like this and it’s just, well, it’s always hard. Leo’s been having ear issues since he was tiny and he’s become downright traumatized when it comes to anyone touching his ears. As much as I am not a fan of general anesthesia it would be nice to not do anything to contribute to his terror of All Things Ear. Also, he squirms and carries on so much during ear exams that it’s not out of the question that some actual damage could be done. And, how great would it be if, while under anesthesia the doctor could really get in there and clean and get rid of the fluid and do whatever it takes to help our guy hear better? Come on, language!

-Leo’s parent-teacher conference was last Wednesday. It went well. He is meeting and exceeding all of his goals and he is on track to “graduate” to the next grade (primary) in the fall. He’ll go from being with three and four year olds to a class of kids that ranges from five to nine! That should be a pretty big change for him. We also discussed our goal (mine and Erin’s) of having Leo begin kindergarten at age six in district, most likely with a one-to-one aide. No one looked at me like I had three heads when I brought it up so hopefully it’s an actual possibility for the 2010-2011 school year.

Leo’s teacher described him as being like a “sponge,” that he loves to learn and that she has had to be quite creative with his goals because he is mastering them so quickly. So I can’t complain about that. I even wondered if maybe he might be getting a little bored in this class? But he’s not ready to move up yet (he actually can’t since he’s not five) so we’ll just hope that he can continue to get what he can out of this class and really master the skills he needs to move up. We also talked about Leo’s behavior (he is mostly very well behaved at school and has only recently started exhibiting some problems with transitions, throwing tantrums when he doesn’t want to do something) and we all agreed that it is directly related to his frustration with language. Since that continues to be his greatest delay, I asked for and got an additional private speech session. Who knows if throwing more therapy his way will help, but I’m pretty sure it won’t hurt. And it’s somehow satisfying to get additional services.

-I haven’t talked about potty training for a while because A) I know that it’s pretty boring to anyone but the parent doing the potty training and B) I didn’t want to jinx it. Let’s just say that Leo is consistently performing. He still does not tell us when he has to go but apparently that is a long way off. So for now the onus is on us to get off our butts and take him every two hours like we’re supposed to. Easier said than done! Never thought I’d say it but diapers are almost easier.

-The attacks against Ellie seem to have mellowed slightly. This may be in part because Ellie has developed a high pitched shriek that I liken to something you might see on a National Geographic special, when a smaller animal is at risk of being attacked by a larger one that smaller one might emit this decibel to frighten the attacker away. Mostly, Leo laughs when Ellie does this. But it also stops him directly in his tracks. Of course there was this morning when a sweet pat turned into a hug which then turned into a full on, push Ellie backwards so that she lands on her head. Oh well. Baby steps.

-This might be the most boring post ever, but I feel at least slightly up to date now.

Ear Question

Does anyone out there have any experience with needing to sedate their kid to clean out their ears?

Long story short, Leo had an ear infection a few weeks ago. His ped pronounced one of his tubes had "fallen out" and to follow up with the ENT in a few weeks. We went yesterday and the ENT said that Leo's ear was too filled with wax for him to be able to see anything (I know, ick!) and that the only way to clean it properly would be to sedate him (no I.V. or intubation, just some gas and it would take five minutes). He said if the tube was out, he'd clean out the ears, suck up the fluid and maybe put it another set of tubes.

This just sounds, I don't know...extreme. For waxy ears? Sedation? I spoke to Leo's old ENT today and he said maybe once he's had to sedate an older, uncooperative child who he could not restrain. But that he would never sedate Leo. But, he also said that he would recommend getting those tubes taken out anyway, since he doesn't like them to be in longer than two years (and we're approaching the two-year mark).

Trouble is, this doctor is in Manhattan, not so far geographically but such a headache to get Leo into, on a weekday (traffic, traffic, $ to park and oh did I mention traffic?). Not that I would let a little traffic and $ stand in the way of my kid receiving the best medical care, but I'm just wondering if it's worth the hassle.

And...I have to say that the time Leo was restrained (not sedated) in order to get a tube removed by this previous doctor (which I think is similar in trauma speak for a four-year-old), that probably took a few years off my life (Leo screamed so loud and hard that he split his lip in two places. Yes there was blood, he cried so hard). Which is making me think, maybe sedation isn't so bad?

But I'm open to opinions. I know there are some ENT veteran mommies out there. Please, speak up! What would you do?