Tubes!

Poor Collin - Yet another ear infection! This time the doctor gave us a referral for tubes - I've talked to some folks at work and daycare and apparently it is more common than I thought. So we have two good recommendations and now I just have to call.....

Here are some cute pics - second is from the Children's Museum...

Ouch!

This morning, as we were getting ready to go, I was thinking to myself, gosh, things are going so smoothly this morning. Kiss of death - Collin and Conner came racing into the kitchen and Conner bashed his head against the corner of the kitchen counter. It was loud enough that I actually said Oh my God! and jumped. He of course burst into tears (as would anyone) and as I hugged him, I asked him where it hurt. He pointed to a spot that looked free of blood and I thought, whew, just a bruise and maybe a bump coming. So I hugged him some more and then he put his hand to his head and said it was wet. Sure enough, the ACTUAL area of injury was bleeding, so there was also blood all over me!

I cleaned him up (and then me) and it looked okay - just a bump and a forming scab over it. We went to school and I thought all was well. Then daycare called about 10am to say that it started to bleed again, so after some time applying pressure and checking with the school nurse, we agreed I should call the pediatrician. For whatever reason, they didn't have a doctor available between 11-2. Seems odd to me, considering I manage a clinic and can't imagine why I would ever stay open during that time period without a provider. No revenue coming in, but I'm still paying for staff time? That's fairly dumb!

I decided not to wait and walked down the hall to ask my lovely friend Allison (a nurse practitioner extraordinaire, although a little obsessed with boobs) if she would see him. She was nice enough to say yes, so I drove from Eagan to St. Paul, picked up Conner and drove back to Eagan. She took a look, said it was good - no glue or stitches needed, just a little spray-on bandaid and he'd be great. I took Conner to lunch at McDonald's (the bribe for being good) and then drove back to St. Paul to drop him at school and finally back to Eagan again. Whew!

Apparently, Collin also bashed his head today, but he just has a bruise - no gaping cuts.
Time for the christmas picture!

Shots and Haircut!

Conner had his 5 year well-child check today. He did very well - although sometimes I think the doctor must think I'm a completely controlling mom, because he always looks at me before answering any of her questions. And of course Conner told her that his favorite foods are pizza, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, french fries, etc. No mention of all the fruit and veggies that he eats.....The end of visit had 3 shots and he did great. No crying - just tried to grab one needle - who can blame him when they shove 3 vaccines into one needle - OUCH!

Also today: Collin got his first "real" haircut. He made through the first half without any drama, but there was quite a bit of screaming during the last half. I can understand how scary it must be to have scissors right above your eyes. But he looks very cute!

Cutie!

He's pretty cute!

school photos

We got the school photos back - for those related to me and who want photos - take a peek and tell me which you like best. We aren't fond the one one with Conner and Collin together - we were going to try and have a different photo taken later this month.

Addendum to flu shots

I failed to mention that on Friday, Collin got his second flu shot. The nurse we had was really amazing - I didn't even know she had given it, she was so fast. I was holding Collin's arms and she gave the shot and he got that funny look on his face - the one babies get when something hurts a bit, but they can't quite figure out what in the heck it was - then it was done, I picked him up and distracted him onto something else (like mother like son!) and he didn't cry a single tear. Amazing!

Especially considering the screaming 5 year old that was outside my office today - I am hoping she was freaked out about the coming 5-year shots, but the absolute fit she was throwing because she didn't want to get on the scale was quite impressive. I was starting to google SuperNanny, but then my phone rang and I had to actually work.

I was unimpressed with Mom's attempt to handle the situation - "If you don't take off your shoes by the time I count to three, I'm calling your father! That's it, I'm calling your father and he won't be happy!" After each comment like this, the girl would shriek in fear and scream even more - I can only assume that dad is going to do something like get out the belt - the way my husband's father did for many years. It made me think that in almost 5 years of being a mom, I have never once said - just wait until your father hears about this. Why would I teach my sons that their father is the "mean enforcer" when I am perfectly able to handle the situation - and vice versa for my husband. That would be very unfair to him. Sigh....there should be laws forcing people to take parenting classes before they can have children.

Weekend

We had a busy weekend - time flies with two young kids!

Sunday was the most memorable, I took the kids to the local rec center that has a kid pool and regular lap pool. Conner LOVES the place and is always begging to go there. We were the only ones there for at least an hour and then another young girl came and he just latched onto her. I apologized to her mother later for my son stalking her daughter. But Conner did great in the bigger pool - he used one of of their life jackets and swam around quite a bit. We went back and forth between the pools several times and the last time he went in by himself and did really well.

Collin wasn't so sure about the whole thing - he spent the first 90 minutes clinging to me - no smile, no talking, nothing. Finally, in the kiddie pool, he started to enjoy himself and let out many screeches of delight. He dunked under once, but did just fine.

When we got home, both kids passed out and I realized how tired I was. Carrying around a 20lb kid for 3 hours can really poop you out! So I took a nap as well!

Flu Shots

Ocassionally the nurses put the flu clinic next to my office, which stinks! I just hate hearing the kids scream. And I'm always amazed at the older kids who throw absolute fits and literally have to be held down for their flu shot. I understand there may have been some trauma at some point in their young lives which makes them terrified of needles, but I have a suspicion that most are just being brats.

So I am happy to say that our two kids - ages 4.5 years and 10 months, were very good for their shots. Conner sat on the exam table with me holding him and he didn't flinch, shout or cry a single tear. Collin cried the first time a little, but yesterday he had his second shot and not a peep. He looked a little surprised, but then he was fine. Must be our extraordinary parenting skills....

Here are some cute photos of Collin:

Happy about chewing on a big chunk of apple.

I'm not entirely sure what diet deficiency this represents, but it's funny. He was crawling around the floor with his brother's sock in his mouth.