Tubeless!

Michael went back to the ENT today for a follow up. He had his tubes put in over two years ago (February 22, 2010).  We knew that the left tube had already fallen out.  It was actually out last February when we went for a one year check.  The right tube was still in place as of last Thanksgiving.  But today it was no longer in place - it was still in his ear sitting in some ear wax, but it had served it's purpose.  The doctor pulled it out (along with a decent amount of ear wax).  (We brought the tube home.)  He checked his hearing and confirmed that everything was good.  He no longer needs to wear his ear plugs around water!  We were fortunate that both fell out on their own as it would have required another surgery to remove them.  The doctors kept complimenting him on how well he followed instructions and how patient he was.  

Ryan's wound is healing.   He refused to wear the band aid after Monday.  Despite three attempts to reapply it he kept taking it off at day care.  He would just hand it back to his teachers.  Tomorrow we'll start applying ointment to help prevent scarring.  Hopefully, it will be cleared up before 18 month pictures! 

New Bike!

We made a pretty good trade today.  Toys R Us was running a promotion - trade in a bike for $20 - $50 off a new bike.  We brought in a bike we bought at a church sale for $4.00 and got a $20 off coupon.  Michael has a new CARS bike.  It has 16 inch wheels!  It seems so big for him, but the others were too small or had no room for him to grow.  He did a pretty good job riding it, although he does need some help getting it started at times.  But don't try to help him with that, he got really upset when he realized he may need some help with getting the bike moving. 

Rough Night

Well, Friday, March 23rd, will not be a day worth repeating anytime soon.  Ryan fell in the living room and cut his head open on either the corner of the table or a game box. We tried to make our lives easier by visiting a satellite Children's Hospital Clinic.  Unfortunately, she took one look at him and decided the cut was too bad and he may need to be sedated and need plastic surgery.  Fortunately, Ryan seemed to be in okay spirits.  He didn't seem to be in any pain and was acting normal. 

We then drove about 45 minutes to the main Hospital's ER, only to find a slew of people there.  And even though he is so cute and had a big gash on his head... that didn't get us in any quicker.  Eventually, we saw a nurse and were told that if he had to be sedated it would be at least 6 hours before they did anything.  Seeing how that would have been midnight, I opted to take Michael home. 

Feeling somewhat distraught about if I should stay or go (didn't want to watch him be sedated or get stitches but didn't want to leave either) ... I wasn't paying attention and hit the front of the van into the concrete column in the parking garage while backing up. So now, there is a nice dent above the driver's wheel.  Also, when Michael saw how upset I was about the dent he said "Maybe we should walk home." He didn't realize it would have taken us until morning to get home. 

Of course, about 20 minutes after we left, the doctor looked at Ryan and decided that he didn't need to be sedated, so he had a numbing ointment applied and then he had four stitches put in for his cut.  The van is still waiting it's visit to the ER.  It continues to run, but both Ryan and the van are getting a lot of looks when we are out. 

Definitely not worth repeating. 

Michael's World

Ian had a glimpse into Michael's World on Tuesday as he chaperoned a field trip to the Carnegie Science Center.  All the kids have a buddy for the day, Michael had to sit with his buddy on the bus, so Ian had to sit by himself.  For the most part Ian just had to monitor Michael and his buddy, but he did have to help out with bathroom duty and getting all the kids to wash their hands.  Ian reports that Michael is a very well behaved all day which explains his craziness when he comes home.  Michael also raised his hands to answer some questions during a lesson on animals (he didn't get called on).  And he only tried to suck his finger once all morning.  Ian had a fun time, but he was quite exhausted at the end of it.  Michael can't wait for him to chaperon the next field trip!

Ryan still doesn't speak and continues to point and hum for what he wants.  He is a good walking, but still struggles outside with the uneven terrain.  He likes to "crash" the matchbox cars with Michael (although Michael doesn't like that very much).  He basically likes to get into whatever he shouldn't be getting into. 

Walking

Ryan is attempting a lot more walking on his own now.  He can get himself into a standing position if he is on the floor and he can stop and bend over to pick something up if he is walking.  He can walk the length of the living room, but reverts to hand holding or crawling if the distance is longer than that.  He also has a fascination with the toilet bowl.  Already this week, he has thrown a ball in the toilet and tried to stick his hand in the water. 

Michael and Ryan have taken a few baths together, which is pretty funny.  Ryan likes to kick his feet and then Michael will kick his in return.  Ryan just laughs and laughs. 

Michael has been quite the singer the past two days.  He must be learning a lot of songs at day care.  He sang one to us tonight about leprechauns, "down by the bay", and "take me out to the ballgame".  He also likes to add lib his own words.  So, he sang "take me out to the hockey game".