How questions, pulling up and baking.

I've been waiting for the Capt to get to the "why" phase. I figured this would really be big for him. Now I'm thinking he is bypassing that question altogether. Instead he asks: "How?" Like leaving Dada's office the other day. As we leave the building he looks up and says, "wow, that's a tall building!" "How do the people get up there?" And getting onto the freeway he sees a parking structure and says, "what's that?" "How do the cars get up there?" I am required to explain everything in great detail. Or I get, how.how.how. I hope I'm smart enough for this! Oh! And the Kid this last week, started pulling himself up! Yippee! (I think!) He is really taking off. Today we lowered the crib and he just loves standing at his crib waiting for me to get him. What this also means is a lot more bruises. Knees, elbows and even feet! And I am sooo happy for bumper guards! Yesterday he was lowering himself from the coffe table and bong! his head bounced off the bumper guard. Whew! He went along his merry way. As far as baking goes, I will let the pictures explain. This is what baking with a soon to be 3 year old looks like. What you didn't see is the Capt getting started on his own while I was changing the baby. The Capt got the egss out and cracked about six into the mixer before I made it into the kitchen. While we didn't need six eggs, he did a pretty good job of keeping the shells out. I don't suggest any of you let your toddler try this at home. I guess I'll be making omelets for breakfast! Here's the finished products. The Capt of course made his snowmen in blue. The cheeks and ears were of his own creation!

Bedtime

So, The Capt doesn't take naps. Hasn't for about a year. Trust me, I tried EVERYTHING! I came to terms with it, but am glad to say The Capt has always been a great night time sleeper. He has never slept with us in our bed and usually goes to bed fairly early (6:30-7:30pm) and gets up at a reasonable hour (7-8am) The digital clock has worked like a miracle during a recent rough patch when The Capt was getting up before Mom's happy hour, ie 7am. The clock sits on his dresser and he cannot get up until seven oh-oh. He's tested this a couple of times recently and I simply show him the clock, tuck him back in bed and tell him to wait until seven oh-oh. He usually falls back to sleep or plays quietly in his room (which we lock for his own safety.) The most current bedtime trend for the Capt is having a flashlight and reading to Lambie after lights are out. I took this route when he was getting out of bed and turning on his light and wrecking havoc after lights out. This solved it. Our routine goes like this. Jammies, 1 show (15 min.) brush teeth, wash hands, potty. Read 2 stories, hide under covers for Dada to come say good night and talk about the day. Mom sings 3 songs, kisses tedddy, lambie and baby lambie. The Capt asks for drink of water (which is a miniscule splash in a plastic cup.) Kisses and hugs. We used to have music and white noise of either a fan or a heater but The Capt decided that was no longer needed. Now he asks for his flashlight and a book. Currently it's a toy catalog or Where's Waldo. Sometimes he reads to Lambie. He stays in bed and is usually asleep within a few minutes. If he is up before seven oh-oh, I give him his flashlight and book and all is well. Ahhh...more sleep. Oh and this was a night where he insisted on sleeping with Elmo, who (by the way) can wear a size 2T.

The List

This is a very busy time of year in our house. We are lookinf forward to holidays AND birthdays. The Capt is VERY into holidays at this time and Halloween was very exciting with all the trick or treating and cand involved. We have now moved into the upcoming birthday and Christmas. He knows that when it starts to get snowy and cold that his birthday will be coming. Since he has already experienced a couple of birthday parties and PRESENTS, he knows what is to come. Thus, "The List." We are getting bombarded with toy commercials and catalogs. We are emphasising gift "giving" but The Capt knows he will betting getting things too. With all that he sees he asks daily for different toys. " I want this, I want that!" And so I came up with "The List." Anytime The Capt asks for a toy he sees on TV or in a catalog, of which I freely let him browse or we look together, (the catalog, not tv.) I tell him that we will put it on "The List." Now I have never picked up a pen, or written anything down on this so called "List" he just trusts that there is one. My word! The list would be like, 20 pages by now! No, it is more of a magical list. And so it goes like this. Commercial for Clipo: "Mom, I want that!" Me: "Okay, we'll put it on the list! (:) smiley face!) The End. There are never any questions about the list. Where is the list, can I see the list, nothing. I highly suggests you try this with your own toddler/preschooler. I'm actually curious to see if this works with all of them. Dada and I secretly laugh about this and wonder if it will cause trust issues and therapy....naaaw! If they can believe in Santa, they can believe in "The List!"

To Treat or Not To Treat

That is the question we must ask whenever The Kid gets a bruise. The learning curve is great but we are getting good at determining the answer in just the few months we've been dealing with his hemophilia. I will get to the head bonk shortly but let me first give a quick summary. In May we learned the Kid had severe hemophilia A. This affects his blood clotting levels of factor viii of which he has -1%. He does not bleed any more or any faster than the rest of us, he just bleeds longer. This is due to not having the factor that clots his blood. Ther are different types of hemophilia that is affected by different factors. You can go to the National Foundaton for Hemophilia to find out more or check out the Bleeding Disorder Foundation of WA as well. Anyway, last night during "the insanity hour" ie dad's home, dinner's on,and bed time is coming hour, The Kid was happily playing at his activity table when he leaned out to see a puzzle. And boom! Baby fell down right smack on a puzzle piece knob. Of course he used the middle of his forehead as well to catch his fall. He has not yet mastered the part where you put your arms down first. So right away a bruise formed. We iced it with our nifty little Nemo ice pack and sent him off to bed. Any other kid would have had a welt and all would have been well. The Kid on the other hand is a bleeder, so when he woke up around 9:30pm and we saw a lovely hematoma had formed, we knew it was time to call the nurse. I'm starting to get good at determining a good bonk from a bad bonk. My first question is "would I give him factor if I had it at home?" The answer in this case was "yes." So after speaking with superstar hemo nurse Renee, I packed up the little monkey and set off in the rainy darkness to Childrens Hospital. Some may ask why we don't go to our nearby hospital if we have our meds with us. The reason, the local hospital, as wonderful as they are, aren't set up to A.) treat hemophiliacs and B.) expertly find a vein on a chunky monkey baby. We want the fewest pokes and the least trama as possible so we stick to the best in kiddie care. The other great thing about our hemo team is that they call ahead to the ER and tell them we are coming. I must say I feel for the other families there (especially when there was a full house like last night) who have to wait for such a long time. For us we usually don't even have to wait. The first nurse was nice but couldn't get a vein after the first try and although I asked about the head vein, people were still freaking out that I even suggested it. She must have realized I wasn't messing around because after that first unsuccessful try, she called for the i.v. team. This nurse was older and wiser and although the head vein was discussed we opted for a fat little vein in his arm and after some prodding it was successful. Now here comes the learning curve. I hope others with little ones with or without hemophilia will feel this blog entry is helpful for any (God forbid) future trips to the E.R. Please ask questions! Don't feel rushed and try not to panic when presented with suggested options. At this point in our trip we were ready for our factor treatment. Then a nurse comes in and says we are going to get a CT. Um excuse me? First no one talked to me about this and second, why would they feel this is necessary. The nurse and the ct tech are not in charge so back to the room we went so I could speak to a doctor. My questions? Is this 100% necessary and why. If he is being given factor and he shows no signs of concussion or any other abnormal behavior, is the radiation risk and cost involved really necessary. Hemophilia treatment is extremely expensive. One of the most in the world. Cost does not outweigh the care for my child, but I want to be certain that we minimize any tests or other treatments that are not absolutely necessary. Honestly, I think the doctors last night did not even consider NOT doing it. For them, this was protocol. They were on auto pilot. I called Dada and he called Renee and we were on the side of thinking it was PROBABLY not necessary. However, since we'd be going home and putting the Kid to bed for another 8 hours and we couldn't be 100% sure about bleeding to his brain, I decided to go ahead with it. This is where I am gathering knowledge for another time. If it had been the middle of the day and we were going home to play, I would have opted against it. But better safe than sorry and now I have an experience to judge others with. In the end, I was right and the doctors told me so. We ended up being in and out a little over 2 hours. We were home about 1:30 in the am and when I opened the car door to get that baby out, his little peepers were wide open and he was laughing! Needless to say he went right to bed! And slept until 9am. So another hemo notch into our belts and to all the bleeder parents and non bleeder parents, please advocate! When in the ER especially, ask what is being done and why and what makes it necessary. I would not have changed my decision, but I certainly felt empowered by being able to have the choice. Oh and the Capt saw the bruise on the Kid's head this morning and concluded that red and blue make purple and he likes that color.

Election '08

A historic day for all Americans. We are proud to be a part of it. It is a powerful feeling to know that we took part in this event. It is even more powerful to know that we will someday tell The Capt and The Kid about where we were and how we voted during this amazing time for our country. We are hopeful that this turning point in America when Barack Obama, the first African American president, will bring the change that we all need. A fresh start and a new outlook in many ways. We especially hope for great changes on the health care front. It will be exciting to watch history take place! Yes we can!

First Tooth

The Kid finally had his first tooth come through! We've been waiting for at least a month for that thing to come in. With hemophilia you never know if the gums will bleed when the tooth breaks through, so I kept imagining peeking into his crib and finding him covered in blood. Whew! Not a spot of blood whatsoever. Just 19 more to go!! It must still be a little sore because he won't let me stick my finger in and so far only Grandma has actually seen "the tooth." I will now be on a stealth mission to capture "the tooth" on film.

Baldness

The has been much talk about the Kid's hair, or lack of. It used to stick up in a natural mohawk, then whithin the month of Sept, it was gone. We've started calling him "Charlie" as in "Charlie Brown." And you just can't help it. I'm holding myself back from drawing Charlie Brown's face on the back of his head. The temptation is so great!

Halloween

This Halloween was the start of the Capt's holidays. Including birthdays. He's getting it. Except he lumps it into the "pretend" catagory. Meaning he doesn't quite get that it happens once a year. He is asking to dress up and go trick or treating again "when it gets dark." The Kid, he's just trying to adjust to the time change and a cold. A note on his personality. I was just reading somewhere about "serious" babies. This is not a direct reflection on their personalities, it is simply their way of absorbing information. Well, he should end up as smart if not smarter than his brother then, cause he must be taking it all in! Here are pictures of our festive evening! The Capt went as "Go diego go" and The Kid went as a monkey or as Baby Fester, which ever you prefer.