Somewhere along the way, I read that traditionally Kazak boys are circumcised at 3, so wanting to keep with his culture, Nick had his man snip yesterday! ( we had some other reasons too but the Kazak thing sounds the most manly online!) He was quite a trooper and was excited to go to the doctor and take moose with him.
He changed clothes, talked with the doctors, took his sedative to ease his transition to the OR, and then got to ride a cool car up to the pre-op area. The surgery was very short and we didn't even get time to read or enjoy our first minutes alone without having to watch or chase Nick during daylight hours. They called us up and told us how great he did and he had just opened his eyes when we got up there and then just like in the exorcist, his head started spinning and he didn't stop screaming, hitting, biting and did I mention screaming until we got him into our house and up to his room. I think the nurses were a little overwhelmed. We had of course experienced these fits but not too this extreme. Pat and I were both exhausted. We were worried that the hospital security was going to come after us thinking we had stolen him from his parents or something. Poor little guy was so mad and disoriented....I am sure all the guys out there can identify or at least empathize! ;) It was so sad. We felt so helpless...there was just nothing we could do until we got him home. He calmed down quickly at home and was our sweet boy again. He walks like a cowboy sometimes but otherwise he has done well. He was not happy about the clear liquid diet they said to give him post surgery and demanded "eat, eat, pancakes!" so he did and was fine. He has been good today and says "be ca-ful and no touch"
Hopefully, this will all be a distant memory although I may push his dentist appt back again to avoid a repeat situation at least until Pat and I have recovered! ;)
We went and bought him some more sandals and tennis shoes today. He has grown a full shoe size in 3 months. Everyone kept telling me that he looked like he has grown when we got back from vacation so I guess they were right. We bought a height chart in Wisconsin and look forward to marking his growth as our big boy gets bigger.
We finally took a big step and went back to church last week and he did pretty well. He played for the first part of his class time but when they went to big group the teacher said he went to a corner and just started crying. Of course, they got us out of church and I went and sat with him for the big group and small group until Papa got out of the service. He did fine and I think he will understand soon that we will always come pick him up in a little bit. We are also going to start practicing at the gym where they have a childcare area so I can exercise and visit him in shorter increments to get him used to being away from us. And, hopefully, soon we will graduate to getting babysitters too. We could sure use a night out. We have not been able to do something together since he became ours in March. Very much like having a newborn in that way although people don't really treat you as if you are new parents when you get a toddler. It has been kind of a weird experience for us. We are probably going to have to find a toddler specific support type group to be involved with just so we don't feel like we are alone. We have some great online groups that we are involved with and can email many like-minded families but sometimes you just wish they were here in town.
We are having some great weather this weekend so I look forward to doing some outside activities with my boys and we may finally get Nick's real bed ordered. I think he is ready to move from the big mattress on the floor. He was so excited when we told him that we were looking for a new bed. We couldn't get him of the subject for hours! ;) He is grasping so many concepts now that I can't keep up and will gladly send him to preschool in the fall for two days. He loves to talk about over and under, open and closed, big and little and is definitely enjoying the educational tv shows that we watch now that he understands more english. He is so fun to talk to now because his comprehension has improved so much in the last month or so.
We hope everyone is having a nice summer and would love to hear from you! Much love, K-Pat and Nick
3 comments:
No wonder Pat looked a little tired today. Wow. This season of exhaustion shall pass but (speaking from experience) it will be many years before you two get much time together.
I can sympathize with you too. It sounds like Ethan when he would get one of his tantrums. Luckily, they have greatly diminished since he turned 4. You are in my prayers! It is tough, no argument there. I wonder "How can I handle this?" many times a day, but somehow we get by. Nothing brings you back to reality like children. We went to see Thomas the Tank Engine on stage last week with both boys! Paul of course thought I snuck this through without asking him, which I did! :) I told him that we have 4 tickets and his boys would never forget it!!
They were wonderful throughout the entire thing. I think my 2 year old liked it more than Ethan, as he clapped, sang and squealed at the top of his lungs! All the moms around were laughing at him, but he was soooo cute! It was so loud from other kids having melt-downs that I actually felt like we were doing great! Its not nice, but I enjoy seeing other children doing what mine also do. Makes me feel that things aren't so bad. You will get through this!
We are fortunate that we have so much family around that we can get couple time. We go on a date at least once a month and take long weekends without kids about twice a year. It really reminds us that we actually enjoy being married and why we are together. We couldn't do this without our families and feel blessed that we can run away for 4-5 days. Once Nick is a little more adjusted, hopefully this will happen. We would love to take him for a few days so you two could get away! The boys would think it was an adventure. It couldn't add any more chaos to our already crazy house! :) All our love and prayers!
Karen,
Just checking all the blogs and saw your new post. Thanks for keeping us updated. We need to schedule another playdate and I need to return your towel from the last one. Did you all go to 8:30 service? I have been showing Libby the three year old room and she is ready to go. Maybe we could have a playdate and then they could see each other at church that same weekend. I hope you are checking comments -- I somehow got my blog to send my an email when I receive comments, which is very nice to know. I think I was fooling around in the settings. Hang in there -- you are doing great at this parent thing! Talk to you soon, kml
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