A dramatic end...

to a drama filled month.

First dude started to periodically turn blue.
Then I noticed he had a teeny spot on one of his wee white teeth.
So the month went something like this:
family Dr., dentist, xray tech, dentist, lab tech, dentist, cardiologist.
And all is mostly well.

He actually had two soft spots on two different teeth.
One is filled, one is not.
Oral aversion reared it's ugly head during our final appointment
and so the most needy spot is filled
and the 3 month cleaning/check on the second spot is booked.
If it further develops he will need visit a paediatric specialist
and be sedated.

In newer more dramatic news
(in terms of the drama Ben displayed, not the results)
we visited a lovely cardiologist today.
Drove a long way to get there
on the sunniest day of the month
and it was worth the drive.
Blue is, apparently, perfectly normal for Ben.
That diagnosis (benign hypo cyanosis...or something close to that)
was not easy to get (and essentially is the opposite of blushing).
We weighed the dude (14.6kg or 32 and a bit pounds)
measured him (95cm while uncooperative)
and then took him into a room full of equipment.
Very very scary equipment in Ben's opinion.
The lovely technician asked him to take off his shirt
and he entered full on panic in the blink of an eye.

FULL.ON.PANIC.

It was ugly.
She works with a paediatric cardiologist.
She was good.
We got past it eventually.
And all is well.
Blue, like I said, is normal for the dude.
All the pumping parts are perfect.

Went home.  Gardened.  Played.
And then made the mistake of going to the new grocery store in town.
Where men were dressed up
as red bulls and cookie monsters and big hotdogs on a bun.
Dude hit FULL.ON.PANIC again.
In the blink of an eye.
So we left.  Spent only 7 bucks.
Costumes will be around for about a week...so we won't.

Dude had a hard day and is overtired and a bit overwrought-
and it's the big community 'party all night' night tonight
and nice enough outside to bring the party home to our street
so we left.
Enjoying some peace on the farm.
He crashed at 8:30.
I'd like to see him get 11 or 12 hours.

Pictures tomorrow.

Thank god for the farm...and it's human inhabitants.

fun, funner, funnest

Going back to work may suck on Tuesday...
just saying...

A day of cottage fun

extended family worker-men 

tearing down walls

banging with hammers

putting in new doors

throw in some fair weather bike riding

a hot fire in the livingroom

a VERY large tin of nana's cookies

a nap in the car

followed by another hour or so on gramp's chair

back at the house

all put together makes a great day

of cottage fun

Ben and I are so happy to be at Nana and Gramp's place.
Slept like a dream last night.
Dude woke up just before 8 and at 9:30 is running about in his PJ's
munching nan's homemade molassas cookies
exclaiming loudly,
"Sometime I like stay in jammies and eat lots n' lots of cookies."

Me too Ben.

Where have we been?

A tough month.
Really tough.
Dude wants so badly to be in charge.
He isn't.
That makes him unhappy.

Dude wants so badly to be napless.
That makes him unhappy,
especially on the days he is actually napless.

Dude has less than perfect teeth.
So a few trips to the dentist.
Last one is Easter Monday.
Turns a bit blue from time to time.
Ped. cardiologist appointment at the end of April.
Really wants to be in charge
(did I say that one already?)
All of this makes me unhappy.

And spring.
Where are you spring?
Wearing a winter coat makes both of us miserable.
Last year april was glorious.
Shorts on Easter.
April 5th.
Hello?  It's the 20th?
There was a blizzard last weekend!

But the month is almost over.
The sun is sure to shine on my perennial gardens eventually.
Right?

And we are heading to nana and gramp's tomorrow evening
and we CAN.NOT.WAIT.
Brand new baby lambs at the neighbouring farm.
And chicks (though they may be too young for visiting).
An egg hunt in the nearby city.
Visits with friends from the lake.

So mama is bringing the chocolate (and a toothbrush or 2)

And we are going away to play for 4 days.

And that makes both of us very happy.

But let us make one thing very clear...
there can be no easter bunny.
Dude hates the bunny.
Made it very clear during a car ride panic attack yesterday
(brought on by naplessness I'm sure)
that I had to call nana
and make sure no man in a bunny costume was coming to her house.
Men dressed as bunnies make dude VERY unhappy.
"Mama, tell Nana man in cowboy costume bring me little bit of chocolate.
No bunny man mama.  Bunny man is scaaaaaaary."

My little rockstar...

Waaaay braver than his mama!

Actually...

"you be mama t-rex and i'll be baby t-rex"

"okay baby t-rex, its time for bed.  Lets go get a diaper."

"actually dinosaurs don't wear diapers mama.  only boys"

"well, my baby t-rex can be the first t-rex to wear a diaper
because he is the first t-rex to sleep in my bed
and I don't want dinosaur pee in my bed"

"actually mama t-rex, dinosaurs don't have a penis
actually dinosaurs don't pee"

Dozing together as the big guy was falling asleep in my bed.
He leans over, gives me a little kiss and say,
"You be mama broccoli and I be baby broccoli."

My response,
"Okay, what are we going to do together?"

Big guy says,
"Stay in the garden together forever mama broccoli."

"Okay baby broccoli, count me in."

normal

The chest x-ray
The 4 vials of blood
All normal
And it's the weekend
And dude slept for about 30 minutes in the car
on the way home
resulting in a great mood.
We had a decent dinner
Then 2 plus hours of outdoor play

And tomorrow promises to be warmish

CAN'T WAIT!

Lovely, lovely, lovely, not so lovely, lovely

Seems to be the way the days go.
Mostly lovely with a bit of not so thrown in.
Typical two almost three?
Bit of a control freak in the making on my hands?
Mama not watching for patterns and working on avoidance?
Probably, probably, probably...

So here goes...some things are non negotiable.

If dude goes in the mud on his bike and even with a reminder that he will get dirty if he falls he remains in the mud...only to fall...well taking off the offending muddy pants to make him happy?  In the park?  When it is 6 degrees?
Um no.

If dude wants to take control by going back to the moment he lost the control position (back in the mud) and that involves crossing back over a 4 lane street that I just carried wrestled manhandled  helped him across during rush hour?
Um, no.

If every time I put dude down he heads back towards the street?  No matter how far we get from the street he is always focussed on going back to the mud to "do it myself" and turns around and walks away. But he doesn't want to be carried? Can he walk?
Um, no.

But in the end while we are safely in the livingroom and the fit is winding down and dude wants to go back to the front door and put on his dirty muddy pants so that he can "do it myself" and take them off?
By all means.  Go for it.  And come and give mama a snuggle.  And pick a few books.  and move on.

Now, about avoidance.

The big fits and the end of napping seems to be a strong parallel.
Dude is tired by the time we get home...
Tired, hungry but eager to spend time outside.

Our new rule will have to be:

Home, feed the dog, eat dinner THEN go for a walk.
Never walk first and eat later.
Our evening fits always seem to happen on an empty stomach
while Ben is riding his bike.
If he snacks he doesn't eat dinner.
Boomer will simply have to wait.

In order to do dinner first dinners will have to be prepared in advance.
I'd love some advice on this.
I HATE cooking and dude pretty much HATES variety in his diet.
Plus, the dog has been in the house quite a long time by dinner.

Wow, like a miracle! and an Ohip name change warning

He grew Veins!  

After several attempts to find a lab local to our home 

equipped to deal with a toddler with poor veins

we walked into a lab around the corner from school

(at Auntie Barb's prompting).

Sat ourselves down,

2 minutes later we were heading to the back,

a few more minutes and the blood draw was over!

Not a single tear (from either of us!)

though the dude's heart was racing out of his chest.

All it cost me was a jelly bean

and a daylight milk baba.

Cheap and easy to please.

Oh how afraid I was.  

Like stress induced sleep loss

and in me that is big.

I'm seriously post traumatic after the blood draw/barium crisis of 2009.

Big deep breath.

Big exhale.

Done.

Tomorrow chest x-ray.

And an afternoon visit to OHIP to discuss the fact that I was nearly denied service for Ben because his new name on his OHIP card is different than his original name which came up when the lab scanned his card...

No issue with the card.  Really the issue is with procedures.  The number stays the same when the legal name changes but if you have used the service provider previously the scan brings up their service file in the old name.  Big red fraud flags start waving.  They wanted to see the name change certificate which I have no intention of carrying around with me...so Ohip perhaps needs to make a clear statement about their position on issues like this.

Luckily they didn't scan before the blood draw=too late to deny services obviously.

never a dull moment

So
Booked off the afternoon today so that I could take the manh to a couple of appointments.
3am he woke me up.
Im wet mama.
Changed him. Changed the bed linens.
Back to bed.
Coughing and coughing and well, I'm sure you see where this is going.
Still awake at 6am.
20 minutes before the alarm.
So I called the VP and took the morning as well.
I coud not imagine dragging him, sickly, from bed
booting down to work and daycare,
picking him up 3.5 hours later
booting up to the dentist on no sleep
(hmmm, no sleep+oral aversion+gag reflex=no thanks)
then on to the doctor for 3pm.

So he stayed in bed until 9.
It was the right choice.

The dentist experience was surprisingly good.
He was cooperative.
Good thing too because he has two more appointments this month.
Appointment 2 for a cleaning and an introduction to a few more tools.
Appointment 3 to take care of some damage,
possibly from early medications (soft spots).
He was on lots and lots of medications while his teeth were coming in.
When he wasn't on meds he was vomiting.  Also not good for new teeth.
Add to that the oral aversion teeth cleaning drama and it is a miracle there are not more problems.

Then on to the doctor.
Sort of the 3 year check combined with the
"why are Ben's lips turning deep purple from time to time?"

Yeah.
Special for sure.

So the 3 year stats...well, 34 months.
95cm and 14.3 kg.
50 % for both based on the 3 year measure.

Here is what parent canada has to say:
Height: 50th to 75th percentile 
Weight: 50th to 75th percentile 
If Ben continues to grow in the listed percentiles, Ben's approximate height and weight when fully grown will be 182 centimetres (6' 0'') and 79 kilograms (174 pounds) respectively. 

Can you say big vietnamese boy?

Then there was the whole purple lips thing.
Well, the doctor feels there is probably no reason for concern
given his growth,
normal behaviour during episodes
and given that the lip changes do not seem to be exertion based...but
Love those buts.
There is a protocol that is followed and that includes
a cardiac specialist,
an echo of the heart,
a chest xray
and blood work.
Should be special.

And everything except the specialist (who will do the echo)
should happen soon.
Like this week.

While he feels like death and is hacking up a lung.

You are my sunshine

It was a grey day around here today
but I can look at the face of my "workerman"
and remember warm sun shining on us out by the farm shed.

Such a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Here dude was being pretty adamant that Matt's time with Boomer was over.
He took away the ball throwing chuck-it
tossed it into the fenced garden area
and stood guard.

So funny!

Spent some time shed cleaning with Uncle Bill.

And simply hung around having fun.

And then slept like a baby.
Starting at 7:30.
Which he did again tonight.
There might be something to this "no nap" rule he is implementing.

They saw another side of him...

at the local coffee shop today.
And it wasn't pretty.
Trust me when I say
"He was that kid".

Started with a flying bagel,
aimed at mama,
followed closely by
the removal of the aggressor from the shop
with no warnings and no coat
and ended with a temper tantrum
in a mud puddle.
A big mud puddle.

The fact that he was willing to interrupt the fit
to move to dry grass
at mama's suggestion
simply lends support
to the notion that this is a phase.
One he is fully directing.
One where he hopes to become boss.

To make things clear...
I was still boss when we got home.

The other 23 hours and 20 minutes of the day were lovely.
Simply glorious.
Sunny.
Warm.
And full of worker-man tools and bikes.

and wonderful photos that I can't seem to upload...

Spring has Sprung! (edited for Samantha)

and what a difference it makes!

A picture diary of our wonderful "mama-day-ben-day"

It began at 7:30 with a snuggly wake up
but don't rush if you don't want to.
Lovely.
Mood altering apparently.
Off to the sugar shack early enough to get great on-site parking,
crisp fresh air
and long morning shadows.
And several lovely photos.

Sugaring the old time way.

A visit with the "Zoo to You" presenters.

A chance to make a bird feeder for Uncle Bill's backyard.

Eating "hotdogs", not sausages, cause if they are not hotdogs dude won't eat them.  He ate a hotdog he liked last week so apparently round hotdog shaped food is on the menu now.

But pancakes?  NO WAY!  they have wet creamy stuff on them.  they are yucky.

A self portrait while on the woodland horse drawn wagon ride.
Trying to keep Ben awake at this point.

Cody and Jacob.  The much loved horses.

Never actually saw the inside of the sugar shack.
Ben didn't care and neither did I
but about 300 others did care...

Home after 4 hours in the bush with mama hoping dude would nap
but instead we found our neighbour changing his tires on the driveway.

Wow.  Ben was no longer tired once he was hired on as a worker-man helper.

and he scored some serious, long dreamt of  dress up clothes
out of Ken's trunk
as the afternoon progressed into evening.

A little picnic with neighbours.

A long and leisurely bike about the hood.
A break to play Mama beaver baby beaver
(and work on the lodge apparently)

Ending off with a bit of Dora
a whole lot of dinner
and a 4 second sleep record.

More joy in the sun planned for tomorrow.