Just another day in paradise

Nothing like a couple of small children to keep life interesting!


Carter is definitely back to his old self after last week's bout with a yucky virus. Over the past few weeks, he's become increasingly destructive around the house. Here's what we know of:

• He brought the knob off the water heater to us. Hot water may never be the same again.


• He broke the switch off the dryer door...the one that tells the dryer that the door is closed and it's okay to turn on.


• He adjusted the thermostat -- up to 90 and switched on emergency heat. (And I wonder why we have a $400 power bill.)


• He jabbed a yellow crayon into the ground of an electrical socket at the end of the bar.


• He tried to use a knife to open a piece of candy that I told him he couldn't have...and nicked himself on his "hurt" hand.


• He broke the drawer in the fridge so that you have to pry it open and force it closed because it doesn't fit on the track any more.

They say he's just a typical little boy. Yeah right...and Mt. Everest is just a little hill.

He's also taken to hiding food around the house. Hannah says it's because he's part squirrel and he's getting ready to hibernate (her words exactly). Here's the run-down of known occurrences of late:

• He found a pickle so old it was shriveled up...and ate it.


• He found a half-eaten apple and ate off the un-molded side.


• He found a stash of grapes (I don't even remember giving him grapes)...and ate them.


• He stashed a pickle in his night-night -- Jason found it when he picked the blanket up off the couch to fold it up. It just fell out into the floor. Jason disposed of it, and then Carter came back a while later and started looking for it. Jason said, "What you looking for?" And Carter said, "Pickle." So he knew exactly what he was doing.


• He loaded up the back of Hannah's flintstone car with popcorn (for later).

Typical little boy? or mini-hoarder?

In other news -- Hannah started t-ball practice on Monday, and she definitely enjoyed herself. I don't know how much she actually learned, but if she got points for having a good time, she'd be set.

At one point -- when she was supposed to be practicing batting -- she was literally skipping in a big circle around the tee. As happy as can be -- but clueless as to what she was supposed to do with it. When they ran the bases, she ran to first base then the pitcher's mound, then second base, then the pitcher's mound, then third base, then the pitcher's mound...maybe we need to work on that a little. I just know that she needs to be an in-fielder -- or else she'll be picking flowers, digging in the dirt, catching bugs, etc. -- and not paying attention to the game.

My biggest problem was keeping Carter off the field. I took his little ball and glove, thinking he'd be satisfied to play on the grass. But NO -- he wanted to be out there with his sister. I ended up sitting on the ground and bear-hugging him to keep him still -- and then we called Mimi. Good ol' Mimi -- what would we do without her?!

Last week, Hannah went for a ride on a real school bus. Mrs. Scott said she looked up at her and asked, "Mrs. Scott, is this a dream?"

On the mend (again)

The past week has been a whirlwind…but isn’t that just life in general?

Carter had surgery on his hand again last Wednesday…this was the third time Dr. Ray has operated on him. Each time we pray that God will continue to extend His merciful healing grace on our precious son, and each time God has granted our request.

We were blessed in that we were able to feed our little guy that morning on the way to Birmingham. After all – this is the child that has begun to squirrel away bits of food around the house in case he gets the munchies (more on this later). Since 9 a.m. was the cut-off, Mama and I fed him all the pineapple Jell-O and Apple Juice he could stand right up until the last minute. Thankfully, he never asked for “juice” or a “snack” once we got to the hospital.

The surgery went great (according to Dr. Ray), and he told Jason and me that it was “a miracle” (his exact words) that Carter’s hand had healed this well. He performed a z-plasty, which is essentially a series of zig-zags from Carter’s index finger around to his thumb. This allows more flexibility in his thumb, since the scarring from the burn had caused his skin to tighten and restrict mobility.

We left with Carter in a blue cast (War Eagle) up to his shoulder, with just the tips of his little fingers showing.

He slept all the way home (sleeping off those good meds), and even played and ate supper once we got here.

He never let on like he was in any pain, although he protected his hand and wouldn’t let anybody really touch the cast at all. Friday night while we were on our weekly Walmart run, he held it out to me and said, “Bug bite". I don’t know if it hurt or itched, but that’s how he described it – so sweet and innocent. So we made a game of squishing the bug several times. And today when the cast came off we looked for that bug…but he somehow got away before we got to him.

 

We had a moment (or two) of panic Sunday afternoon when Carter woke up from his nap with a 102.8 fever – one of the warning signs we were told to look for. After a few phone calls to docs in Birmingham and his pediatrician (and packing bags to go to B’ham), we settled on taking him to the ER in Andalusia for a quick exam. But after waiting for 2 hours and not seeing a single patient called back to the exam rooms, we decided to chance it at home.

He ran fever all night and woke up vomiting Monday morning – and since his blood tests, flu test and strep test all came back OK, Dr. Baldwin decided it had to be a stomach bug. Thankfully, he never threw up again, but he felt pretty crummy Monday and Tuesday. As if a hurt hand weren’t enough…

Today we took him back for his checkup and after the cast came off (and the smoke cleared), his incision didn’t look nearly as bad as I had pictured it. Sweet nurse Dana checked him over and gave her stamp of approval – along with a bag full of supplies to get us through until the 25th when we go back to see Dr. Ray.

The nurses and even Dr. Ray keep telling us how we’ve done a great job of taking care of Carter – Dana even told me today that Dr. Ray was bragging on us in the OR last week. But how could we not do the daily exercises? How could I not religiously massage Cocoa Butter on his little hand every day? Why would I not strap him into that splint every night before I put him to bed?

But what I do know is this: I know that God’s hand is in it all. I know that this has made us stronger, closer, more aware. I know I’ve learned how truly blessed we are in spite of it all -- you don’t have to go far to find someone less fortunate than yourself.

Enough of that…

Today Hannah rode a school bus for the first time. They are learning about ways we travel, and Mrs. Scott arranged a real-life bus ride for her class. Mrs. Scott said that everybody was so excited, and my child looked up at her and asked, “Is this a dream?” (Loved that!)

The beauty pageant a couple of weeks ago was quite an experience for all of us. Hannah was such a doll in the dress I made for her, and she did such an excellent job on stage – she hit all her marks and smiled her best smile. We were so proud of her! At first, she was utterly devastated that she didn’t get a trophy (the winners did), but we made such a big deal about her medal and wand that she quickly decided the medal was better than any ole’ trophy.

It was probably the first time (for all of us) that she wanted something we couldn’t give her. I know she thought that if she cried enough Mama would fix it. But she has to learn that Mama can’t always do that – and Mama has to learn, too, I guess. A tough lesson for both of us.

She says she wants to do more pageants, and I will probably let her do a couple more this spring – with the understanding that she shouldn’t cry if she doesn’t win. Even though she didn’t really understand that some won and some didn’t, she needs to know that she just has to do her best and smile pretty for us…and what really matters most is what’s INSIDE your heart.

I did an awful job of taking photos that day, but maybe I can redeem myself soon…