Many Checkups

  With all the rain we've been having, the mosquitoes are out in force -- poor Mattie is their favorite!

In addition to his ear procedure last week, James also had a visit with peds surgery to check his growth, and his much-delayed 4 year old checkup.  He now weighs somewhere in the ballpark of 31 lbs, and his height is somewhere around 38 inches (at the peds surgery visit, it was 39 inches; at the pediatrician a couple days later, it was 37, which strikes me as a surprisingly large margin of error). In any case, he's still on the charts, roughly between 5th and 10th percentile.  (Woo-hoo!)

His body mass index was down a little from the last peds surgery appointment, so they want us to try using the feeding tube for a month or so at night and see if that helps him put on weight; they'd ideally like to see him a pound or two heavier.  Their current thought is to try to take the tube out before he starts kindergarten (presumably next year). 

It seem like lots of people around here hold back their kids (particularly boys) and have them start kindergarten at 6 rather than 5.  I asked the pediatrician about that in general, and it turned out that they held their son back, because the son was having a hard time with separation issues at preschool.  He also said that he'd never talked to a parent who regretted waiting, but he had talked to parents who regretted not waiting.  Ugh.  We don't have to decide about that for a while yet, fortunately. But it just seems a little crazy to hold back a kid who is already reading and doing addition, and is perfectly fine with trying new things.    

James and I also went to the audiologist today, to pick up the new transmitter system for his hearing aids.  They also did impresssions for the ear molds, so by the time we get back from the beach, the poor kid should finally be able to be back wearing two hearing aids!

All Done!

We got a call from ENT last night around 8:30 telling us that they had rearranged the surgery schedule, so that James would be first. (This was a mixed blessing -- it meant we wouldn't be delayed and there was less time he had to go without eating, but it also meant leaving for the hospital at 5:30 AM!  Not a bad tradeoff, though.)

N wasn't scheduled to arrive until 8:15 (since we originally thought the procedure would be at 9 AM), so James and Mike went over, and Mike tells me James was great all the way through.  They're already on their way home (at 8:30). 

For the first time, they were able to just use fentenyl and gas instead of full anesthesia, which was awesome because James didn't have to have an IV, and the whole thing (cleaning out the remaining ear wax and removing the remaining tube, which was half-way out but stuck in the wax) was really quick.  He didn't have fluid behind his ears, which is great, and it sounds like we don't have anything special to do as far as recovery (he can even go swimming).  Yay!

(As an aside, whenever Dr. Buchman talked about doing surgical procedures with James, he would always describe it as "just a whiff of gas", which infuriated me because it was NEVER that simple with James and anesthesia.  Apparently there's something about former preemies or maybe his history in particular, but the Peds Anesthesia team was never comfortable doing the gas with him before -- they always wanted a respirator, etc., so it was always a big deal.  So, it's exciting that this time it was able to be more minimal!) 

So, the doc that called us about the rescheduling and who assisted with the procedure was named Dr. Slaughter.  Not perhaps the most reassuring name for a surgeon!


(Photos from 7/19 and 7/17). 

Swimming Playdate

The boys had a swimming playdate with one of their preschool friends.  Not too much playing together, but everyone had a great time!

Not Bowling

 Our original Sunday plan was to go bowling, since James has been asking to do that.  (The boys have never been bowling -- I think James heard about it from Cousin Daniel.)  But when we announced that we were going to the bowling alley, James said no, he didn't want to bowl, he wanted to go the the Marbles museum.  And then of course Mattie chimed in that he had been hoping to go to Marbles.  So, we went to Marbles.  :)  It was the typical weekend madhouse. 

We "discovered" the outdoor water feature, which the boys fully enjoyed (even down to their soaked shirts.)  Mattie spent a lot of time in his favorite red car, and James enjoyed commanding the submarine.  He also was quite pleased with the hula hoops!

Cleaning and Extraction

James and Stanley both had doctor's appointments last week. 

Stanley had to have his teeth cleaned, and the poor little guy also had to have a couple of teeth pulled, all under anesthesia, of course.  (The vet assured us that he still has plenty of teeth left.)  He isn't acting like it's bothering him at all, but he's on a soft-food diet for the next couple of weeks. 

Other than that, Stanley got a clean bill of health from the vet, and in fact, the vet commented that after looking at his chart (10 year old dog with previous back injury), she was impressed to see him bounding in like a young dog.  :)

James had to have some impacted ear wax removed.  (It's about time; he's been all-but-deaf in his left ear since at least early May.  Very annoying to have to wait so long in between appointments like that.)  As usual, he was extremely good for the doctors, and charmed all the people in the office.  :)  The ear doctor was impressed with James's language (and also made some comment like, "If I had a kid like that at home, I'd never go to work!")  Flattery will get you everywhere, my good sir.  :) 

Unfortunately, the removal of the earwax revealed that one of ear tubes was sort of half-out, so the doctor wants to do a procedure to remove it (because he thinks it may be contributing to the earwax buildup).  So, Jamesie has to go in for that (which also requires anesthesia) on Friday morning.  Poor kiddo!  They'll also take impressions for new ear molds while he's sedated. 

And James has an appointment with the surgeons on Tuesday to check on his growth; Mike is getting kind of eager to have the g-tube removed (but I'm not particularly getting my hopes up on that score).  James has been eating well and he's certainly getting taller, so it would be great if he didn't need the tube any more, but we'll see. 

Frog Slide

 When I was looking up directions to the Burlington Park, I noticed they had an aquatic center, so we brought swim stuff just in case.  After the playground, Mattie really wanted to go for a swim, so we decided to try it out.  It turned out to be great!  They had a big toddler/kids area (about one and a half feet deep, so they could walk or swim, and then a big 4-ft-ish area as well).  It's also outdoors but under cover, so no worries about sunburns.  There were lots of people there (including a couple of birthday parties), but it didn't feel too crowded.

But the real attraction for the boys was the frog slide -- they went down it again and again!  It was just the right size for them.  After we'd been there an hour or so, there was thunder, so everyone had to get out of the pool.  It turned out to be perfect timing, because the boys only realized they were starving once they were out of the water.  :)

City Park Redux

We took an expedition today back to Burlington City Park.  It wasn't crowded, which was great, but it was hot and humid!  I think the boys were more excited about the idea of the rides than the rides themselves this time around, but they seemed to enjoy themselves, especially on the playground.  (James was a bit disappointed that the plane ride was off for repairs.)

Bye-Bye, Pacis?

James announced this morning that he didn't need his pacifiers any more.  Matthew was very gung-ho about mailing the pacis off somewhere.  ("We need to put them in an envelope and take them up to the mailbox!  Can you put them in an envelope, Mommy?  Now?")  We didn't do that because 1) we didn't actually have anywhere to send them, and 2) I wasn't totally sure that James wouldn't change his mind when bedtime rolled around.  But he didn't -- he went to bed paci-free.  Good for him!

I wasn't too concerned about the pacis -- my philosophy was that if it didn't bother the dentist, I wasn't going to worry about it. (And besides, with Mattie being such a bad sleeper for so long, I certainly wasn't going to rock the boat and mess up James's good sleeping routine!)  But I think N has been encouraging James to give them up, which is fine.  If he's happy without them, that's one less thing to keep track of when we travel!

In the Rain, on a Train

 It was another drizzly, overcast Saturday, but that didn't stop the boys from enjoying their pool (and making patterns with the hose) or a trip to the museum.  Matthew especially liked the rocket ship area, including the new "Mission Control."  (In fact, when he went to the bathroom, he wanted me to stay and "guard" it so that he could still play with it when he returned.)

Just the Usual

 The boys like using the puppets that Lakshmi got them for their birthday to chomp things. :)

Their enthusiasm for marble runs is still going strong -- but they were down to only two marbles (the rest are presumably somewhere in the house, but we don't know where), so I picked up some new ones when I was out today. Hopefully they'll last for a while!

The third picture is the boys doing their "smile for the camera" -- they wanted me to take their picture.   (And further down, that's their cousin on the iPad.)

Independence Day

 Here are some 4th of July pictures from Nora.  :)