Transitions

In a couple of weeks we are starting a new chapter. E is going to Pre-Kindergarten. Seeing that he's been at the same daycare since he was 12 weeks old, this is kind of a big deal. We've been doing all the right things in talking it up to him, taking him to the school to check it out, driving by it every day as I drive out of my way to take him to daycare and chatting up all the new possibilities, friends, teachers and experiences. The pre-K will be where he meets the friends he will spend his elementary, middle, and possibly even some high school years with. It's a change that brings - for all of us - a lot of excitement.

It's also bittersweet.

At daycare, he met some of his very first friends. Friends he's been with for four years. It was in daycare that he started learning the social graces of sharing and not knocking your friend over because they took your Lego even though you wrote on their arm after you pulled their hair. It's where he started learning respect for others and how to paper mache a planet. It's where he became fully potty trained (and all the money we've paid for daycare makes that worth it!) and learned to take turns and that it's not okay to moon your friends or show everyone your penis while standing on top of the jungle gym.

It's also where I met other moms, who like me are working to balance (or juggle is more like it) a career and family, and could commiserate over the totally over-abundance of the words 'fart', 'poop' and 'booger' in our young boys' vocabulary. One of these mothers and her son, who became one of these first friends for E delighted me today with a very wonderful note - a walk down memory lane - of our two boys and their friendship over the past four years. It's been a whirlwind for them, for us too, I was reminded. The time goes by so very fast. While I can't recapture four years here in a few paragraphs or a few pictures, it can't hurt to try. Eand D have had a friendship full of laughter, birthday cakes, zoo encounters, train adventures, pool parties, park outings, and tears and hurt feelings and back to laughter. A friendship that undoubtedly has had positive impacts for both of them.

Nectar Sweet

Today we underwent Emerson's bazillionth swallow study down at the Children's hospital. Actually, this was probably his 7th study and his last one was so long ago that he certainly wasn't saying poopy-farted-head and laughing said potty-mouthed head off every time he says it. Amazing where nine months will take you in a toddler's life. Nonetheless, we were there at the hospital to test him after 9 months of challenging him with thickened liquids in the hopes of making it one step closer to removing his G-tube and one step closer to drinking normalcy. His last two studies yielded no change so the past several months of testing him with slimy thickened Kool-Aid and juice and milk and the like had T and I intrigued by the potential outcome or, dare we dream, improvement.

Well, it pays to dream.

Emerson improved an entire level, meaning we can now serve him liquids thickened to the consistency of nectar (previously it was the thicker honey variety). This means there's just one more level to pass before he can tolerate plain old liquids in their au naturel state. He also showed improvement when they tested him drinking milk without thickener -- it's just not totally safe for him to drink yet as he almost aspirated it into his airway.

After four years, we finally feel like this kid might actually outgrow this thing.

A Summer Sunday

Happy Fourth!