Let Me Vomit All Over You

Wow, what a month filled with laughs, palm smacks to the forehead, and tests of faith, strength, and patience.  It's taken me a while to sit down and write this entry.  I think I was waiting for a moment of normalcy and calm.  Thank God it finally washed over me. 

Kaz

Laughs and Palm Smacks

How do you discipline a kid while you're laughing?

Me: "Kaz you have 2 options, you can blank or blank."
Kaz: "But I want sree (3) options (while making the German 3)!"

Kaz has become quite the little situational songbird (he will bust out in song to fit the situation.)  For instance one day I pinned him down and riddled him with kisses (as you do) and he began to sing To Close by Alex Clare, "And it feels like I am just too close to love you."  And as he squirmed away (cause I was laughing so hard) he continued with, "So I'll be on my way."  That kid, he slays me with his quick wit!

Kaz continues to develop his "characters" and here are a couple that emerged this month.

Facebook February 11, 2013: "Best dollar I ever spent! Thank yoooou Target!!!"

"Tonight Aaron asked me to get this framed for his desk so the next time someone comes storming into his office full of piss and vinegar he's just gonna turn the picture frame around towards them and zap them with this cuteness. How can you be mad and look at this goofinator? Genius!"

Of course I happily obliged.

Look, up in the sky!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's KAZAAM!  Target strikes again.  We found the perfect mask to go with his superhero cape and he just came ALIVE!  He even wore it to the store (with a shirt of course- which btw, it's a miracle he doesn't have a shirt on in this picture.  He can walk around the house alfresco from the waist down all day long but heaven forbid you ask him to take off his shirt = a definite palm smack moment.)

Faith, Strength, and Patience

Good thing the funny outweighs this category...

2/16/13

Look at the intensity on this kids face.  He was determined and by golly he was FINALLY able to pedal his bike (with training wheels) for the first time after 9 months of trying.  Three days later was the bike-a-thon at school.  I was torn.  I was so proud of my little man but I just knew he wasn't ready to show off his new found skills. 

So I thought to myself, "I'm sure not every kid is participating."  Boy was I wrong.  EVERY kid could ride a bike!  Silly momma, with my head hung low (to avoid the head tilt of others) and tears welling in my eyes I simply said, "Oh his bike has a flat."  Which it did!  "Oh that's okay we have extras."  "You know he's just not ready."  Why did I feel so humiliated, judged?  Of course no one would judge Kaz, it's those lazy parents of his!

Someone came to my rescue and kindly offered a scoot-about and those tears of sadness (all I wanted was for my boy to be like everyone else) turned joyful - if only you could have seen his face.  He had the BEST time!  He didn't know there was anything different about his "bike".  All he knew was that this was fun!  My son and his love for Bruno Mars ala Sesame Street taught me a very important lesson.  Just do you.  "You’re gonna get there, just keep on grooving."

We had the OT (Occupational Therapy) eval and follow-up meeting with the school district to discuss the results of both the speech and OT eval and of course we were not surprised by what they said.  Basically they said, " Kaz is as smart as a whip and doesn't need speech therapy.  Although he could benefit from it we don't offer OT as a stand-alone service so we can't help your son until he's failing in real school.  No early intervention here.  So we'll see you in a few years."  The delivery was much more pleasant than that but that was the general jist.  They did offer to meet with Kaz's current preschool to give insight and suggestions on how they could help Kaz now.  They also suggested that in the interim we seek out a private OT.

Facebook 2/4/13: "$350 to assess the situation and $100 an hour to help him, who can afford this? BK you TOTALLY need to become an OT, that's where the moola is!!!"

  
So as a result of this we've made 2 big changes. 

1. With only 3 months to go in the school year we changed preschools. This was and was not an easy decision. We really liked the people at Kaz's preschool, they were very sweet and nurturing. BUT we think the new preschool will offer Kaz a greater challenge and more focused support. 
2. On 4/4/13 we visited Kaz's new occupational therapist.  A fun filled room with ropes, swings, balls, and trikes.  This is therapy?  Hell yeah!  So what did they think?  Well they are a little perplexed.  Kaz has a VERY strong core - thank you gymnastics (check out the six-pack in his superhero pic) but has loosey goosey limbs (yes that's a technical term - ha) and flat feet.  So their initial assessment is he may benefit from some shoe inserts and some work with a PT (Physical Therapist) as well as an OT.  It was only our first session so time will tell but if Kaz had his way we would be there everyday.  He had so much fun he pitched a fit when it was time to leave.  (Yes, I said "pitched a fit.")  So that's a bonus in my book.  Ahhhhhh.  Did you feel that?  That was a glorious sigh of relief 4 years in the making.

In the Category of Weird

A frantic wail screeched over the baby monitor and I sprang into action rushing to the boys room.  In the darkness I saw the baby standing in the crib.  As I got closer I realized the body standing there was too tall to be Zane.  What?  "Kaz what are you doing in Zane's bed?"  Kaz began to hysterically cry.  Zane's wailing.  Kaz is freaked out so I call Daddy to comfort the baby and I took Kaz out of the room.  As he's curled up in my arms asleep I ask him again, "What were you doing in your brothers bed?"  "I don't remember."  Uh oh.  My mom always talked about me sleepwalking.  There was a time I walked right out the front door.  This is NOT cool and kinda creepy.  Sorry Mom.

Zane

Laughs and Palm Smacks


This is a thing he does,
often.  Not weird at all.

2/26 1st Solo Slide Ride.
Look at that gleeful anticipation!

Zane is building his vocabulary everyday.  He says things like, thank you (which I love seeing the look on peoples faces when they do a double-take and see a little guy like him say it without prompting) please, more, up, down; you know, all the important ones.  Anyone who's spent a minute with Zane quickly realize his all time favorite phrase is "All Done!"  In fact I hear it sooooo often I decided it would be fun to see just how many times he says it in a day.  So I counted every single "all done."   82.  Can you see the look on my face?  Eighty-two times in 1 day.  I think this might be more than just a "palm smack" moment.

Oh and "snack."  Is quickly becoming Zane's "smell it."

Milestones

• 3/12 Was a magical day for us.  It was the day we washed our LAST bottle.  Our boy was MORE than ready to quit that "b".  What an odd liberating feeling.
• He can blow his nose which blows my mind!  At exactly 17 months he showed off his new found skill.  He was SO proud of himself.  What a good baby!

Faith, Strength, and Patience

Okay, I just need to dive into this one.  Yes I'm giving myself a pep talk! 

Kaz had a VERY painful abscess on his bum and had to be put on antibiotics for 10 days.  This is the 2nd time this has happened to our boy.  The first one was when he was just a baby and without getting into the details I'll just say his pediatrician is forever scarred.  Aaron has had these too.  A month after leaving the NICU Aaron got his first one and had to be quarantined from Kaz.  Later down the road he got another one and had to be put on IV antibiotics for 10 days. 

Fast forward to March 13, 2013:  almost 2 weeks after his brothers abscess, Zane had a little one on his groin.  I knew where this was going, off to the doctor we went.  YAY, Zane's first round of antibiotics!  Within 24 hrs the abscess had quadrupled in size.  So I called the nurse line and left a message.  Then the phone rang.

Ring!

• Me: "Hello?"
• Nurse:  "Hiiiii."
• Me: "Uh oh, I don't like the sound of that."
• Nurse: "(Nervous laughter) I'm gonna need you to pack a bag....(insert the sound of a peanuts teacher and my brain exploding.)

The infection spread so rapidly that...

Facebook 3/16:  "EVERYTHING IS FINE!

 

Someone got an abscess and apparently his body is a lover and not a fighter so he landed himself in the hospital for some IV antibiotics (This was Thursday 3/14 - don't get all sentido. I didn't say anything because I was ...hoping we would just be visiting.) I repeat, EVERYTHING IS FINE. The surgeon's say he can go home (yes surgeon's - there was a chance it may have required a surgeon to drain it) now we are just waiting on the attending to determine if and when he can come home. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow - oh boy is he ready!"

Facebook - later that day: "YAAAAAY, we're going home tonight after a 6 pm cocktail of the good stuff! Oh doncha worry Mom he got his appetite back :D"

Picture Story

• This sticker was posted on the outside of Zane's room.
• Zane sported a little diaper mit so they could feed his body the good stuff without his curiosity getting the better of him.  Thank you to his daddy who held him down while I waited in the other room rocking back and forth trying to drown out the screams while they inserted the IV.  I've had enough needles and tubes to last me a lifetime.  Shhhh, don't go there!
• This is "Boo", Zane's 1st love.  Every time she came into the room he would yell Boo and put his arms up for a hug.
• We thought maybe there was something in the bloodline that makes these boys susceptible to abscesses and staph (yes it was a staph infection, thankfully nothing more), but those results are not back yet and what we more likely have here is a good old exposure situation.  That's what 66 days in a hospital back in 2009 will get ya!  So what does this all mean for the future?  We are going to have a love affair with bleach.  Cleaning our toys with bleach once a month.  Weekly bleach baths.  Yup, you can bathe in bleach.  It's a whole new world and it smells mighty clean.   

Thank you.  I would be remiss if I didn't thank those of you who offered to visit.  Why didn't I let you visit?  I should have let you visit (I see that now) but then I would have been admitting that he was IN the hospital and I just couldn't allow myself that reality.  In my head I told myself he was just hanging out waiting to go home.  I thank you for wanting to come and see him and I hope you understand that I'm a nut-job.  A grateful nut-job but a nut-job nonetheless.

How's he doing today?  When we got home the antibiotics were so strong they caused vomiting and diarrhea.  It was so bad a carpet cleaning guy had to be called in.  There was even an incident where we thought it was vomit but it wasn't (I cringe).  The day before we were admitted into the hospital he weighed a whopping 30 lbs!  In the matter of days he dropped almost 8% of his body weight.  Yeah, no need for alarm.  He's back to his old self eating everything in sight.  This is NOT an exaggeration.  "SNACK!"  The boy loves to eat!  

While Zane was in the hospital I made a delightful discovery.  It was definitely quieter without Zane here but Kaz was not nearly as Kaztastic.  That boy undoubtedly brings out the best in him and that makes my heart swell.






Momma

Ummm, I joined a mom's club.  Please, if any of my MOMs Club members read this please do not be offended.  I'm not a "club" kinda person but I thought I might step out of my comfort zone and try something new.  You know, grow!  Look I made my first valentines.  That's a mighty Mom thing to do.  Yes I know, I'm a mom.  I carried these babies and "birthed" them.  Just because you can doesn't mean you do.  I'm a doer.  Awww geez IDK.



MNO Salsa Dancing Mom's

Chanting:  Just do you.  You’re gonna get there, just keep on grooving.

Yeah, that's right I joined a mom's club and you know what, I like it!     

Ahhhh that feels better!  Well, Now that I've verbally vomited all over you I leave you with this picture of family perfection until next month when I hope for a much SHORTER less eventful entry.

 

Happy Easter 2013