Hopefully the End of the Ear Saga

Wesley's ear surgery was this morning and so far we can say that everything went perfectly smoothly.

We checked into the hospital around 6:20 am. From there we went up to the Pediatric Unit where they did a little pre-assessment on him, checked his vitals, that sort of thing. He was then given some lovely pink and white striped pyjamas to wear. We had a while to play then until they were ready to take us downstairs for surgery. There was a great little playroom there. Of course, he fell against the car table and got a nice bruise on his head but was otherwise OK. His favourite thing was that there were little cars like they have at the mall and a wagon for him to ride around in. We did several laps of the floor in each of the different vehicles. He loved it.

Our surgery was scheduled for 8:15 and they took us downstairs at 8:00. We met the surgical nurse and the anaestegiologist down there. Wesley was then taken to the operating room and I was led to the waiting room. At 8:30 the doctor came and told me the surgery was done and that everything was great. A few minutes later a nurse came with Wesley in her arms to get me. He was whimpering a little bit but nothing serious. I got to hold him then instead of him being in a bed in the recovery room. After 20 minutes or so there it was back up to pediatrics.

There they checked his vitals again and gave him some apple juice. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 7:00 last night so he was very thirsty. He made short work of the apple juice and then I gave him the Cheerios I had brought for him. He inhaled those as well and was generally our normal, happy little Wesley. The nurses were very pleased with how calm he was and how easy he was to work with.

We were able to go home around 10:15. As I type this he is, as normal, trying to crawl onto the computer desk to get at all the cool things that are up here, supposedly out of his way. He's certainly not letting anything slow him down today! I expect that his nap might be a bit longer than usualy this afternoon, but who knows. Then maybe I can have one too.

Some Excitment We Didn't Need

I was expecting today to be pretty laid back day. Why would I ever think that???

The kids were playing happily this morning and I thought it would be a good time for me to take a quick break to go to the bathroom. Even Moms need a bathroom break every now and again. I was gone for less than 2 minutes but I came back to Wesley screaming and Darcy trying to settle him down. He had fallen and hit his head on a wooden toy. When I got him settled down I could see that his nose had a welt on it and was starting to swell. I pressed on it a bit and that didn't seem to bother him but it did make him sneeze. When he sneezed there was a fair amount of blood that came out. I started to worry.

There is a clinic down the road from us that has short wait times and an x-ray clinic in the same building. We got in to see a doctor in 5 minutes and got an x-ray in another 5 minutes. There is some damage to the nose, but not enough for the doctor to be able to do anything for. We have to monitor him for a head injury (checking for alertness, waking him up, etc.) but that's all. I had visions of him in a Hannibal Lecter-style mask.

So within about half an hour of the accident we knew that everything was OK but I had a few anxious moments in there.

Robert Munsch

What an exciting day we had at our house.

Darcy recently wrote a letter to Robert Munsch. In it she told him how much she loves his books and a bit about herself. We also included a copy of the Montreal Gazette article in which she'd recently been featured, discussing her love of his books. We also asked if he'd autograph the copy of the article and send it back to her. Just to be safe, we included a self-addressed stamped envelope. I've had my eye on the mailbox, looking for that envelope. I had heard he responds to all letters he receives but I had wondered if things had changed since his stroke. Apparently not.

Today when I went to the mailbox, it was empty, however there was a parcel in between the front door and the screen door. It was addressed to Darcy with a return address of "Bob Munsch Enterprises". She ripped it open (ripping his response letter in the process, but we managed to salvage it). He sent her a very nice letter which was clearly personal to her. It talked about the article she sent and how he enjoyed it and was glad to have received it. He also mentioned that he had signed it and sent it back, as she requested. In addition to that he had also sent a hardcover copy of one of his newest books, which he had also autographed to her. Our friends were over for a playdate at the time and Darcy had Michelle read the new book to her twice in a row before it had been out of the package for 10 minutes. She was absolutely thrilled, to say the least. I think we'll be reading that book a lot over the coming days.

Hooray for Robert Munsch!

Success!

Last night was one of the Wednesday nights when I had to be at Kids' Club at church and Nick was working until 6:00. That means there's a 45 minute window where we need someone to watch Wesley. As you know, this has not been going well. Finally, last night, it seems we had a bit of a breakthrough.

I'll admit I was less than optimistic when I left for Kids' Club last night. Wesley did his usual scream-fest when Willow arrived. Again, I need to say that this is the sweetest lady imaginable. When she babysat Darcy, Darcy didn't want me to come home. There's no explaining Wesley's reaction. He just knows when he sees her that Mommy and Darcy are about to hit the road.

As I was getting ready, he was clinging to me. I could barely move. He was wailing as we walked out the door.

When I got home and asked Nick how Wesley's night had gone, his response was, "Perfect.". Perfectly awful? No. Absolutely perfect. He had cried for a couple of minutes after we left and then he calmed down. And played. When Nick got home both Wesley and Willow had smiles on their faces.

We are so encouraged by this. I'm sure the separation anxiety isn't a thing of the past but maybe, just maybe, it's becoming more manageable.

Now if we could just get him to swallow his food instead of just hoarding it in his mouth like a chipmunk!

Odd

Just when you think you've got your kids figured out, you see a new side of them that surprises you completely.

When I think about how Darcy would act at school, I expect her to be a complete chatterbox, the kind of kid who has a story for everything and tries to answer every question (kind of like me when I was in school). Yesterday I accompanied her class on a field trip and I saw a completely different kid than I was expecting to see. Our trip took us to the local Children's Safety Village and started off in a classroom with a Police officer teaching the kids about safety. Darcy sat beside her best friend, Sam, and pretty much did the opposite of what I had expected her to do. She raised her hand from time to time but not often. When questions were asked that I knew she knew the answer to, she didn't put her hand up. She knows her address and phone number but when the officer asked, she was silent. When I asked her about it afterwards she said she had been too scared to answer. So I don't know if she's always like that in class or if the police officer made her nervous. I think if she had been asked the question in her regular classroom by her regular teacher then she would have answered.

At one point, Elmer the Safety Elephant came in to help reinforce some of the rules the kids were learning. At the end, all the kids were given a chance to go and give Elmer a hug and Darcy stayed in her seat. She wasn't going near that elephant. Her teacher told us that they'd had Carnaval a few weeks ago which featured a visit from Bonhomme. Not only would Darcy not go near Bonhomme that day, but she cried. A lot. It brought me back to her fear of Santa Claus too.

Aside from her fear of small animals, Darcy isn't the kind of kid who's afraid of lots of things. We don't face these kinds of situations a lot so when we do I get caught a little off guard. I'm sure the new situation made her a little uncomfortable so I hope that's all. We'll have to keep our eye on this one.

Improvement

Over the past few weeks we've had the opportunity to leave Wesley with a few different babysitters and we're starting to see some really encouraging results. So much so that we're trying it again tomorrow night!

A couple of weeks ago our friend called us with tickets to see Creedence Clearwater Revisited at Casino Windsor. It's really not a show we would have chosen but the tickets were free and the friend who offered them even offered to come over and watch the kids so we could go. Sold! Of course that time the kids were in bed before we left but it was still a good night out.

Last Friday night we had arranged to go to a fundraising dinner to support the private school where my friend teaches. Nick and I used to go out with Jerilee and Fred all the time before we had kids. As we sat down to dinner last Friday night we tried to think of the last time just the four of us had been together. The best we could come up with was June 5th, 2004 which turned out to be the night I went into labour with Darcy. Anyway, we wanted to go to the dinner and we nervous about getting a babysitter the kids didn't know for Wesley to have a major meltdown. So, we recruited my brother to come from Cambridge. It was a PA day so Darcy had the day off school. Brian came in the afternoon and we all went bowling together and then Brian and the kids had supper while Nick and I got ready to go. We left and the three of them were having a great time. When we got home, Brian said that everything went pretty smoothly. Wesley had been really calm and even went to sleep for Brian without any incident. We were thrilled.

Then last Sunday we tried a new group meeting at our church. The plan is to meet for a potluck supper and then the adults go to a Bible study group with babysitting provided. We weren't sure how that would go, because attempts for me to leave Wesley alone in the church nursery have been pretty disastrous. Last Sunday though, he was perfect again.

So, why the change? What's going on? We really think that Darcy has a lot to do with it. It seems to make him a lot more comfortable knowing that she is being left behind with him. I also think it helped to have Brian spend time with us before we left and then for us to have supper as a big group before we left him on Sunday. So I'm trying to learn from this and trying to implement things that will make things go smoothly from now on when we have to leave him with someone.

There's a movie night at our church tomorrow night and we're going to go. There's a young woman at our church who is living in Windsor and going to the University here. She's going to come and babysit and even put the kids to bed. I've invited her to come for supper (not sure yet if she will) to give Wesley a bit of time to get used to her. She teaches Darcy's class at church so Darcy knows her (and loves her) but Wesley doesn't know her very well.

We'll see how it goes. Maybe I'm just getting greedy, going out three weekends in a row!