Friday, July 25, 2008

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left right left

When I was a child, I remember the first time my mom let me walk to town. It was one block away, and in my small rural hometown of Beach City, Ohio, it measured less than a football field in distance. I had to cross one major road to get there.
"You have to look left, right and LEFT again," my mom said as she sent me on my maiden solo voyage to the store.
"Left, right, left, right, left, right...." I chanted turning my head continuously as I crossed just in case a sneaky car sped up in an attempt to run me over. Back and forth, back and forth, just to be sure.

Recently while turning my motherly head back and forth while protecting each of my ducklings across the road, my gaze got stuck on the poopy 2- year-old kid with the speech problems.
While my eyes were fixed on him, my oldest K got struck by a seizure.

Life has a funny way of doing that.

So we checked into the ER with our frequent shopper card, CT scan and blood tests proved to be normal, ruling out the real scary stuff like tumors and watery brains. We will see a pediatric neurologist in a week for more tests.
He is fine. And has been ordered to rest for 2-3 days, and he is clearly not a child that wants to rest. And he has two brothers that do not want him to rest.
tbc


Wednesday, July 23, 2008

update on kc -- july 08

I have a shocking diagnosis from the pediatrician that I know is wrong. I can't even say what it is because, I swear it is just for insurance purposes. I swear it.
We will go to see a developmental pediatrician next month.
In the meantime, our silent baby appears to have turned a corner. He has picked up new words and phrases and has started to sing songs, kind of.
Upon the advice of a wise friend, I have changed his diet. Eliminating dairy, processed foods and white flour.
He has also started with an new oral-motor therapist who really gets in his face and makes him do all sorts of weird slobbery exercises.
He seems more connected and present. There really is a boy in there.

Monday, July 14, 2008

chaos

This house is slowly, OK, not so slowly, descending into chaos.
And hey, I'm the first one to say I thrive on the stuff, after building a career that gets it's jollies on the uncontrollable fast-paced uncertainty of breaking news.
The screaming baby just ran by chasing the dog. He was hollering about the injustice of it all and I could have sworn he mentioned the cat.
I had given the dog a small can of uneaten cat food that, Baka, the senior feline of the home had turned his nose up to.
Leo had taken off running with it in his mouth as the small prize of a life well lived in the house of pain. Forward to me trying to wipe up the small bits of fishy foulness that had become mashed in the fibers of our carpet.
The baby, who can hardly be the judge of all right and wrong in the world, has proven that diapers, clothing, sheets, mattress pads, stuffed animals...are ALL disposable. I shake with fear when I approach his room because due to his potty training efforts he has, let's just say, insisted on spreading the 'love' around. "When will the shit stop!?" I yell in a weary way that only moms can understand. As I pull more Lysol, vinegar and the steam vacuum from the corner of the room.
He also succeeded in pulling a branch I had hung from the ceiling....it was assembled ten years ago filled with multi-colored origami cranes with sweet wishes written by the guests at our wedding. "Many children and a long life," reads one. "Patience and kindness," implores another. This branch has hung in our home for TEN years. It has hung over the bed of two other children. But this two year old pooping tower of power has somehow managed to pull it from its perch -- 9 feet off the ground.
One child broke the other's light saber...the special one that lights up and changes color depending if you are a Sith Lord or a Jedi Master. The saber of power that makes the "whooshing" and clashing noise.
The grass in the backyard is so high, I'm never sure where the dog or smallest child is when they go out.
The baby thought the cd player in the van looked like a vending machine, and so everytime you start the car the player grinds through 89 cents of coins.
The middle child broke our garage door.
And the laundry, oh heck, did I mention I haven't showered in two days?
And yet....I will go upstairs and shower and read a book, because it is what I need to do. for now.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Shiny happy people


The universe is forcing me to look on the bright side of life. The message even comes through the eggs. Of course by the time I found the camera, my yolky friend had changed his expression into a smirk.