Today, has been terrible for me.

It hasn't been so great for you either. You had your adenoids out, tubes put in and an endoscopy.

I woke you up early so that you could have some water or juice before we went to the hospital. You couldn't have any milk or food after midnight, which wasn't so bad because you slept through most of that. But after 7:00A this morning you couldn't have anything, before that you could have clear liquids. You weren't interested in anything to drink at 6:00A, you just wanted to go back to sleep, I should have expected that.

We sat in the living room watching Sesame Street while we were waiting for daddy to get home, the rest of the morning seemed to drag on for-ever. You and I headed to admissions while daddy parked the car. Miss Michelle put a hospital bracelet on your ankle which DID NOT amuse you. Putting your socks back on over it fixed it all- thank heavens.

We were on the 9^th floor for more than two hours just... waiting. We didn't know it then, but there was a problem with the first patient of the day so everyone else ended up being pushed back more than 1.5H. You could have cared less. There were plenty of toys and crayons to keep you happy. I on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to wiggle and whine in my chair.

Eventually we went down to the 2^nd floor where we sat for another hour or so, again it seemed much longer to me. We still had to talk to the anesthesiologist and ENT before you actually went in to the operating room- everyone told me the day would drag on but I had no idea that it was going to feel so painfully slow. I didn't know that when they told us we were going "down stairs" that it meant in to the OR, so I didn't bring your Elmo. That meant daddy had to ride the terrible, slow, TINY elevator back up to 9, ask the nurse to open your locker and then make it back down to 2. Pretty sure he wasn't a fan of me at that point. I said I was sorry though. When he went on that trek you started the meltdown that I'd been waiting for all morning. You were tired and hungry- and just generally very sad. I asked if I could go with you in to the operating room- I didn't want you to go in upset and just get worse when you weren't with us anymore. Thankfully you fell asleep after I talked to the anaesthesiologist and before the ENT came to talk to us.

You were in the operating room for about 45min. That time seemed to fly, I was grateful for that. There was a tube helping you breathe while they were operating on you, when they took it out you started crying and wouldn't stop. You were still asleep which made everything that much more complicated. Parents aren't allowed in the recovery area until their child is awake. Your doctor had the nurses come to get me because she didn't want you ripping any of the stitches open in your throat while you were crying.

I am so glad she had them come get me.

You were sad and confused. You wanted someone's ears to hold and someone to hold you. I was more than willing to hold you and let you grab my ears. You were trying to rip off every wire they had attached to you. There was one for oxygen, 2 for your heart rate, a blood pressure cuff and your IV's. You wanted every one, OFF. I took disconnected what I could and turned you around so I could hold you and you could hold my ears. After I got you up on my shoulder the nurse got them back on so she could check your vitals so that we could leave the recovery area.

When we finally made it home you slept for 6 hours straight. You managed to eat four fruit and veg pouches when you woke up. It still seems like a lot of food- but you hadn't eaten in 24h. That's a long time for a little person with the kind of appetite you normally have.

You're not really interested in going back to sleep just yet. You'd rather snuggle with me and daddy on the couch watching a movie and that is perfectly fine with us.

A note from your 17mos old self

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Building a better you

Today we went to see an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. She checked out your earns, nose and throat; like any good ENT should. Unfortunately it wasn't so pretty in there- but I expected that. So now January 12^th you'll be having tubes put in your ears and your adenoids taken out.

She's going to use a camera to take a peak down your throat to see if there is something in there that has been making you cough.

On the one hand, I don't want them to find anything terrible or gross when they take a peak; but I know that chances are they'll be able to fix whatever they find. I'm just very nervous at the thought of you having to endure more surgery, so for now we'll hope that it's something they can fix right then and there or something that can be corrected / maintained / mitigated with medication.

Star light, star bright- first star I see tonight

Combined, your Wish List item total eclipses mine. I'm ok with that. I'm older. I have more stuff than you do, I've had a lot more time to go shopping than you have. I also have credit cards and bank access, BUT I DIGRESS!

Your Amazon Wish List is about to eclipse mine in total items- this does not please the gods. I will now begin shaking a fist at the sky.

Happy Thanksgiving, again!

I tried to sit you at the table like the rest of us, but that only seemed to confuse you. You wouldn't touch your plate until I put it on the tray of your high chair. So I guess you're not quite ready to sit with us at a table, but we'll get there.

While you could eat anything and everything your little hear desired this year, you only wanted to eat one thing: cranberries. You kept asking for more and eventually you gave up the spoon to shovel them in to your mouth with both hands. That change in delivery also lead to a discovery: cranberries are good for squishin'. So from that point on you squeezed and squished them to bits.

Poppa came over for dinner and daddy even woke up early for the occasion so you had almost double the number of adults you normally have a meal time. You kept asking Poppa to give you food and he was more than happy to oblige. However, you weren't too impressed with my turkey cooking abilities but you did like licking all of the gravy off of your fork, so that'll have to do for now.  Maybe next year you'll learn how super awesome Thanksgiving turkey is.

It's incredible to me how much has changed since last year. Today, I am thankful for all of your crazy, independently formed ideas. That's one awesome melon you've got there.

Oooooh well

I was awestruck when you started to play with dolls appropriately. You'd rock them, kiss them, dance with them. It made me seriously reconsider a lot of what I thought about nature vs nurture. And then today I put a dress on you- and you cried. No, you shrieked and SCREAMED. You may not be a real girl after all.

Ohdear

You can climb out of your crib. It's not terribly graceful and it sounds awfully painful.

Please stop?