Crazy Week

Lots of stories to tell you.

First of all, Monday went as planned. I prepped and cooked most of Sunday and Monday, but we had a feast on Monday night (and leftovers for the entire week)...everything turned out so yummy even with all the new recipes that I was trying for the 1st time. Tuesday night at Alan & Andrew's was just a nice with such yummy food as well! We are very happy to have branched out on our own for the holidays - not that we don't miss catching up with all the family friends that we only see about once a year, but we really are a large group (and growing) on our own.

Tuesday, started the day with Ethan's cavity filling. He sees a pediatric dentist, so they catch the cavities early and try to fill them before they need numbing (shot) and drilling. So, it is basically little more than a cleaning. Ethan was so nervous and just stiff and tense and immediately reacted to anything they put in his mouth - a bad omen. When they squirted water in his mouth, he cried and pulled everything out, so they moved him to a private room so as to not scare the other kids (herd mentality prevails w/children). I had Ryan with me too, and I don't want either boy to have bad vibes about the dentist. So, he didn't fare much better there, so we opted to do the 'restraint' method, where they basically wrap him in a papoose board to keep his hands out of play and get in an out as quickly as possible. So, Ryan and I leave the room for that - we couldn't do anything for Ethan at that point (he is normally reasonable, but he was beyond any reasoning, explaining or bribing as well. So, we wait outside for what seems like forever but was actually about 5 minutes, and then he is done and seemed to be fine and calmed down at the end. That's done and with any luck we will NEVER have another cavity to deal with again.

The plan was to then go to the Zoo with our neighbors, Silke and Noah, but first we had to find (and wait in line for) gas. So, we stop into a QT (on 92), and wait our turn. The line wasn't so bad and we waited 15-20 minutes. We were 2nd in line when a man swings into an open pump diagonal from us....the QT attendant yells at him and the guy bolts out of his car all bulked up and yelling...3 more QT guys come over (they were all outside directing the mess) and I think for a minute that there will be blows...the boys were asking what was going on, and I tell them to watch their movie. Then it is our turn to get gas - swipe my credit card and start to pump - then to my biggest fear, the pump stops on 3 gallons....turns out they ran out - but only on the back pumps (one tank), so the QT guys tell us to pull to the front pumps when they open up...I do, and swipe my card again, but it won't take it because it thinks I just got gas. The QT guys goes in and overrides it and I start again to pump gas - praying it won't run out. It is so slow that it takes me almost 15 minutes to fill my tank, but filled it was!!! And by now the cops were there working out the 'fight'. We were on our way home and then to the Zoo.

The Zoo was great - it has been a while since we have been so it was new and fresh. Lots of new babies there - 3 lion cubs and a new panda. The weather is great and the boys are loving to walk and explore. We took the wagon and they loved that as well. Got lots of cute photos (see below). One weird things happened. We were walking up to the 'bog' display with the crocodile and turtles...seen it many times, but as we walk up and the boys peer into the Plexiglas wall and the two moms over, we see the slow croc, whip around, catch a turtle and hear 'crunch, crunch' and it's gone!!! I am pretty sure they don't keep the turtles in there as snacks for the crocs, didn't even know that a croc would want to eat a turtle - the shell sounded hard and not sure how he will digest it. But it all happened so fast....Silke and I look at each other with a bit of shock and amazement in our faces...and wonder too late if we should cover the boys' eyes, but they are busy saying how cool it was - they still are talking about it. Wow! "geez, what stinky breath - have you been eating zebra again"

On Wednesday, Ryan had his speech evaluation. We are still waiting on the full report, but based on my brief conversation with Terri, the Speech Pathologist, Ryan seems ok in most areas off language and vocabulary (on target for his age), but he is having some issues with his mouth, teeth and tongue as well as breath control. He just isn't able to get his mouth to make some of the sounds especially complex ones. He has an under bite and frequent congestion (cold or allergies?), and Terri noted that he has very small nasal passages. So, she would like for him to see an ENT to get a medical perspective on any issues that may exist - possibly allergy testing, and then she would like to come up with a plan for him based on that. If nothing medically can be corrected, then she may recommend some speech therapy in the next 6 months to a year to be sure that he doesn't fall behind speech-wise (especially a concern in my mind since he is one of the youngest in his class because of when his b-day falls) and also so that he doesn't become frustrated or embarrassed by it. He seems to communicate what he wants/needs fairly well at this point, so I am not too concerned, but want to make sure that we intervene earlier rather than later if therapy or medical correction is needed.

I had Ashley come to babysit Ethan while Ryan and I went alone to his eval, so after that, we all had lunch together and then Ashley and I took the boys to get their much dreaded and long put-off cholesterol testing. The boys had to get blood drawn and let me tell you, they did NOT like it! Although they were both better then I thought - mainly because they didn't know what was coming since they have never done/seen it before, but if/when there is a next time, we are in for it! After that, we took the boys to DQ to get a treat - they both picked a slushie :) I hope the results come back well (fully expect them to)...

So, finished medically for a while, well except Ry's ENT that I am now working on finding and getting scheduled with a pediatric ENT. And Ethan's 5 year check-up in a few weeks (shots are involved!).

The boys were finally back in school today, and I was hoping to get a workout in - I have been bad this week...been very tired and had tons to do and just haven't fit it in very well. I had lunch plans with Wy today at 12, and had to make a few phone calls on bills for dad. Tomorrow, David and I are going to school with the boys and will stay for a little while to celebrate E's birthday with his class - we have a chocolate cake to share. Tomorrow night, we are meeting D's family at the park for a picnic dinner and to watch E.T. on a big screen. Then Saturday, Ethan will host his Spiderman B-day party at Pump It Up. Here is the cake he picked out. He helped me make the take-home gifts for his friends today...too cute. I love that he is older and can have opinions and help. He is so much more excited about it all! He has a calendar in his room, and marks off the days. He is very interested in what day of the week it is and what month - he is finally grasping that days have a name and numer and are within a month. He remembers that Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays :)