What, No Pictures?

I know, we've been too busy over the past few days to take any pictures!  Crazy, eh?

But a brief update.  Mattie cried only at dropoff at preschool on Tuesday, and was fine almost as soon as the door closed, according to his teacher (and according to him: "I didn't cry at preschool!")  So, yay! 

Today he had one of his toy animals on a train, and the horse was riding the train to preschool.  Mattie said, "It's a special day at preschool.  His mommy is coming after snack time."  (That's how we talk about the parent of the day sessions, to make it clear that mommy or daddy won't always be coming to preschool -- but hearing him say it made me a little sad that we didn't get to go on Tuesday!)

Jamesie went to the audiologist today.  His ears are still very gunked up, and the audiologist told Mike that that isn't normal, and she paged the ear doctor (who was in surgery so couldn't talk to her right then.  In case I hadn't mentioned, James actually saw the ear doctor on Monday, but unlike his previous visits, James wouldn't hold still to have his ears cleaned out or even fully examined, so the visit was basically pointless. Just flushing away another $70 for the copay and another two hours of Mike's time.)  But she assured Mike that she's going to coordinate with the ear doctor to try to get this taken care of as soon as possible (which unfortunately probably means another trip to the operating room for James).  She said that it would be one thing to be waiting around to see if this clears up for a kid who had neurological problems and wouldn't be picking up language anyway, but it's not right for a smart kid like James who wants to learn.  I'm glad she's on board, because I am so angry at how we have been dealing with this for months and months without the doc taking it seriously until just recently. 

She did a bone conduction test, and the hearing from his auditory nerve is the same as always.  But because of the gunk, he's not hearing speech until it reaches 90 decibels.  By comparison, a Google search tells me that 90 db is the sound of a lawnmower.  A LAWNMOWER.  This is absolutely ridiculous.  Have I mentioned how angry I am that poor James has been living with this for months while we're supposedly seeing the best doctor in the state?  (We have actually asked, without really pushing it, for recommendations of other doctors, but everyone seems to hmm and haw and say Dr. B is the best.  And he is a nice guy and I'm sure he knows his stuff but I think the current situation has not been handled well.)

Grrrr. 

On the bright side, James and Mike made a visit up to the NICU and saw many of our favorite nurses.  (James's primary and Matthew's primary are both expected babies in March -- how exciting!!)