ENT twice

On Monday we headed to Tamworth about 120kms from home for ENT surgery for both Owen and Cy both got Ear Tubes (grommetts) and Cy also had his adenoids out. It is always so hard handing your child over for surgery and even worse having to do it for 2 children on the same day.

Owen went in first and did so well in his recovery. His ear canals are so tiny that the surgeon traumatised them putting the tubes in, so his left ear had quite a bit of blood coming out of it. He had lots of glue in both ears and infection which needs ear drops for the next 5 days - and to say putting the ear drops in is traumatic is an understatement - the Hulk returns !

But to top it off I get a phone call today saying that a swab taken at the time of surgery shows 3 different types of bacteria (we aren't that grotty are we???) and he needs an Uber strength antibiotic to knock them off, seems my boy has been putting up with a chronic sinus infection. Don't know how I am going to get an antibiotic into him - he HATES any kind of liquid medication and I have to hold him down just to give him paracetamol, Cy on the other hand is no problem with medicines which is lucky because his recovery was exhausting, painful and upsetting. My middle boy is so sensitive and once the drugs from the op wore off - it was on ! He bellowed and screamed and coughed and cried, till I ended up yelling at him, I was terrified that he was going to start haemorraging.

Finally and although we were advised that paracetamol would be enough for pain relief I sent Col out to get something stronger - 30 minutes after taking it Cy was sitting up in bed watching Iceage and giggling away at Sid - quite stoned but whatever ! Crisis averted. We stayed overnight in Tamworth in case of bleeding - so we stayed in a hotel it was a rough night between worrying about the bleeding from Owens ear and worrying Cy might start bleeding and trying to keep the pain medication up to him so that he (we) got some rest. In the morning it seemed everything had settled and we drove home Monday afternoon, exhausted.

Things are settled now -3 days after the surgery and I can tell already that Cy and Owen are hearing better but Cy still sounds like a cigar smoking Tweety Bird.

Next on the list of appointments is a review of the boys orthotics and Cys night splint - a 5.5 hour drive to Brisbane for that one - in 10 days time.

In the meantime there is painting to be done and train lines to build .........

Power Play

It seems like every. single. thing. is a power struggle with O right now. He wants to do so many things for himself and growls and swipes at me if I try to help him.

Most of these power struggles have to do with things that are not negotiable like for instance brushing his teeth. Usually I would take turns with him brushing -my turn to brush properly and then his turn -munching the toothbrush. Lately its become a wrestling match complete with growling and writhing, with my legs wrapped over his legs to hold him still, .... think WWF on the floor of our bathroom. Its all such a put on, because as soon as I am done with doing it properly and offer the brush for his turn he stops instantly, snatches the toothbrush and goes over to the shower screen where he can see his reflection to laugh at himself while munching the toothbrush, while I collapse in exhaustion from wrestling his 14 kg Hulk (Hogan) body, seriously this kid is uber strong. So, with teeth done its onto brushing his hair and getting clothes on, all with variations of the brushing teeth performance.

Hulk, lucky I love you and sometimes you are gentle and thoughtful, like when....you stack blocks !?

Just cause

Cause its my birthdaycooked up a batch of Deadly Choc Cupcakes with cream (of course)

SO GOOD

Potty Saga

Things were going great nearing 3 weeks without a poopy accident. Then O went to his family day carer for the day and each time he went near the kitchen table she thought he was signing toilet and kept taking him and sitting him on the potty with no result, we worked out later he was actually signing yogurt!! Then when he actually did sign toilet she missed it (or ignored it (not sure) and he pooed in his nappy. And the next day he was at home with me and he went in his nappy without telling me (first time for over a month so that was so disappointing).

The following few days at home we got back on track, then back to family day care this Monday and another poopy nappy - and the following day at home 2 pooey nappies. Its like, just because of the confusion at daycare he has lost his groove for toilet training. So to say I am disappointed is an understatement.

So today he signed toilet and I took him along with success, so all is not lost - but later he did another in his nappy - what the ??. With my other kids once they had, had no accidents for a couple weeks they never looked back, so this is a new scenario for me - one step forward and one back.

I feel like with Owen there is alot of pressure to get things right all the time because I think he can get confused or start a habit easily. It seems to me if he starts right, things seem to keep going along right. But all it can take is one accident or unintended action and things go a bit pear shaped, eventually we get back on track but it takes consistency over a long period of time and sometimes some creative thinking to break the habit. Sadly at the moment I feel like I don't have energy for it, and since it is at daycare where the problem starts/is I am not even sure what to do about it. Frustrating.....

Littlest Jedi

You know, the very ordinary, normal, funny, family moments are happening more and more these days.

On the day of diagnosis it was these moments I thought lost, or more like stolen, like we had been robbed of a normal family life.

But we have found our ordinary again, infact we never really lost it at all and its these ordinary family moments that make my heart smile most, its like life and hope are returning to my heart.

After dinner last night Randall dressed up Owen as a Jedi - complete with wooden spoon light saber.

ahhh just another "ordinary" moment to melt a mothers heart

Potty Update

Owen has been doing #2's in the potty and I think it has been about 2 weeks without accident !

If he could, he would take himself to the toilet, we often find him signing Toilet (with serious urgency) as he toddles his way across the lounge room into the hall to the bathroom door. Once he is at the bathroom door he's stuck because he can't actually reach the door knob to open the door. (we have to keep it shut to keep him from playing in there) Even if he could get it open, he has zero skills in taking his pants and nappy off, so I do that part, and sit him on the throne.

He HATES the real toilet, I don't know, maybe I pinched his leg between the toilet seat and the toddler insert once, because he certainly acts like the thing is going to bite him, he squeals if I try to put him on it and stiffens his body so I cant bend him to sit on it.

So much to my disgust I have him using the dinky little potty (cause I really think pottys are ick), he loves the little sea creatures painted on the front and his feet are on the floor giving him support which I do think helps him feel stable and safe not like the nasty biting toilet.

His reward for going to the potty?? To push the button on the toilet - once I have emptied the pottys load (shudder ick) into it.

Here he is caught in the act. .... of pushing the button

Finally on water

After mixing fruit puree in water for what must be a year, I was so worried about O's teeth I thought I should try some thickeners instead and I dont' know if it was just coincidence but Owen seemed to have stomach pains by the end of the day when he was just having thickened water, so I decided to ditch it and just try straight water and to my surprise he has done really well with it, still a bit of coughing every now and again but nothing like before where he coughed with every mouth full.

What I notice is this if I offer him a drink he almost always ends up coughing but if I just let him drink when he wants he deals with it fine, spoke with the SP about this and she said its sounds like dyspraxia - if he has to conciously think about drinking (when I offer it to him) it doesn't' happen in a fluent way, if he is not thinking about it and just guzzles it down because he is thirsty he does great.

With practice, over the past 2 weeks Owen has gotten better and better with drinking water through a straw - good riddance to those bloody fruit purees and to thickener and cheers to healthly teeth too !