Fifth

 Emmeline is currently about two hours into her fifth surgery to remove the remaining nevus on her ankle and calf, as well as a small one that we recently noticed on her back.  It's about the size of a normal mole, but as Dr. Chester says, it looks a little "funky," so we're going to take it out.  It was hoped that this would be her last surgery, but the nevus on the ankle is still large, her tummy is not, and thanks to a recent growth spurt, the nevus is a little bigger and the tummy a little flatter than it was when Dr. Chester saw her at our pre-operative consult a few weeks ago.  But we'll see.  And if we don't get it all, we'll do this again next year.

Emmeline did great going into this surgery.  Each year older means she understands a little bit better what is going to happen.  I talked to her about what was going to happen several times this past week so she would know what was going to happen.  I told her we would wake up early, go to the hospital (with Dolly), change into some jammies, and then she would take a nap while Dr. Chester fixed her leg.  She knew that it would hurt (She would say, looking a little tearful, "It will hurt me," or "Dr. Chester will hurt me" sometimes, which just broke my heart), but I told her that she would be asleep for much of it and then would get medicine afterwards to help with the hurting.  She repeated that back a few times, which is usually a sign that she understands.  She wanted to know where I would be, and I assured her I would be there with her until they took her back for surgery.  Dolly got to go back with her, and Wes and I are in the PACU with her when she wakes up.  In the past, we've been home by 1PM, so I'm hoping for the same today.

I got up at 4:30AM this morning, as we had to be at the hospital at 5:30AM for a 7:15 start time.  I got Emme up around 5AM.  She was groggy getting onto the toilet but fully awake by the time she was getting dressed.  I picked out a fun outfit for her to wear to the hospital, and she has something new (and roomy to fit over the cast) for afterwards.  We got to Children's on time and checked in.  She looked at the fish tank, played on the LeapPad, and colored.  We didn't wait too long before we went back into the holding area.  They took her vitals, I talked to the anesthesiologist, Dr. Chester came by, and we confirmed her name and birth date and allergies several times over.  Emme put on her special jammies, and she played in the bed and in the little push car they brought in for her.  She seemed to sense that something was coming and would get a little nervous when someone new arrived, but otherwise she laughed and giggled with me like normal.  She kept checking out the little boy across the room from her.  I thought she might cry when they took her back, like she did last year.  But when the time came, I gave her a big hug and kiss, and they carried her (and Dolly) off without incident.

They called from the operating room about 15 minutes ago to let me know they were "working diligently."  The doctor who called was telling me how cute she was going back to the operating room and getting hooked up to the monitors.  It sounds like she was giggling and just being cute.  They cracked a joke about her brother's stinky feet (related, I think, to the gas that helps put her to sleep), which made her laugh.  I am thankful that the child who needs all these surgeries is also the one who most likely bears it best.  Or perhaps the relationship is causal in the opposite direction.  Nonetheless, I'll be glad when she's done with these -- whether today or a year from now -- and she can just run and play without having to take a break from her craziness for surgeries and casts.

Update: Emmeline's surgery lasted around 4-5 hours yesterday.  They ran out of consult rooms by the time she was done, so the surgeon just came out and talked to me.  She wasn't able to get all of the nevus, but she got most of it, so the next surgery should be the final one.  Emme's belly was too taut to take the skin from the same place as before, so she has to large incisions from just to the left and right of the belly button and up each side.  Emme has a full cast on this time, halfway up her thigh, and it's pink.

She woke up from anesthesia in a relatively good mood.  The nurse kept commenting on how unusual it is for kids to wake up happy like that.  She drank some juice while she sat with us, and then the nurse unhooked her and sent us on our way.  We were home by early afternoon.  Emme camped out on the couch for about three hours, watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Finding Nemo. She looked exhausted but never napped.  She kept complaining (even in the PACU) that she wanted to walk and wanted "this thing" off her leg.  Mid-afternoon, she told me the surgery didn't hurt.  She's such a feisty little girl!  I had to change the gauze around her belly because her first few post-surgical diapers were so full that the top of the diaper leaked into the gauze, and open wound + urine is just not a great situation.  The incisions are pretty gnarly, and after two changes just in the afternoon, she's since whined for me not to take off her "bandaid" again.  Fortunately, she's not overflowing her diapers anymore and can sit on the little floor potty, so the gauze has stayed dry and clean.

She had a good day today, waking up relatively happy.  She's tried to stand and walk some but hasn't been able to put enough weight on the cast to do either successfully unsupported.  I got her out in the stroller some yesterday, took her to Target and a friend's house today, and she plays some with the other kids when they're home.  She did wake after bedtime tonight in pain, complaining about her side incisions.  I gave her some ibuprofen -- the only dose she's had today, I think.  She's going to daycare for about two hours Thursday while I have an appointment -- just a visit, really, to see how she does.  And then she'll go back next Monday.  She has an appointment on November 25 to see Dr. Chester and hopefully have the cast removed.  Here's hoping everything heals well!  

He said it

One of my favorite things about being a parent is getting to see the world through my kids' eyes.  Recently:

• Oliver and Emme have been waiting for the leaves to change this fall.  We have lots of trees in our backyard, and when the colors really start, it's going to be quite the event out there.  I guess they had more of a color spectrum in mind, though.  When we were riding home from school yesterday, I pointed out the yellow, orange, and red leaves in the trees alongside the road.  "Where are the blue and purple ones, mom?" Oliver asked.
• Oliver has been watching some of the World Series with his dad.  Last night, Wes and Oliver were sitting on the couch while Wes pointed out some of the players to him.  When the pitcher ran onto the field, Oliver said, "And that's the coach."  We were confused for a minute and tried to correct him.  "Yeah," he said, "that's the coach."  Then we realized -- Oliver's baseball division is coach-pitch, and the coach is the pitcher.
• Tonight I was helping Ollie get out his wallet and the money in the "spend" compartment of his bank.  He's spending the day with me tomorrow, and we're going to the Lego store at Opry Mills.  He only has about $8, saved since his birthday 6 weeks ago (he's put most of it into the "save" and "spend" compartment, sweet boy that he is), so I told him we'd take his wallet but wouldn't necessarily be able to buy anything.  I wanted to make sure he understood, so I asked him, "What happens if we get to the store and you don't have enough money to buy what you want?"  He looked at me earnestly and said, "Find someone who has some money in their 'share.'"

"Dood it"

Oliver is now in that phase of speech language development when irregular verbs are, well, irregular.  He has in the last week told me about how he "builded" something with his Legos.  He "swimmed" in the pool.  He "fighted" with his sister.  The usual.

My favorite conjugation, though, has to be "to do."  "I dood it," he tells me.  Yes, you dood.  

Moving on up

Zola got her "move up" letter at daycare today.  It means that she's ready to move up to the next class, in this case from the infant room to the one-year-old room.  She'll be with Makeda and Anna, who also had Emmeline, and Anna was a teacher in the class Oliver started in with another lead teacher.  They're both lovely women, and they already "borrow" Zola from her current teachers for snack and a little time on the playground.

Zola is definitely ready to move up.  She's walking well, trying to communicate (she signed "please" tonight at dinner and said "more"), and sits up at the table and eat school snacks and lunch.  She'll have to transition to a cot, but other than that, I think it will be an easy transition.  Especially since she already knows and likes the teachers.  The other kids in her current class are all little babies.  Some as young as 8 weeks, but lots of true babies in general.  She needs to be around kids who are a little more advanced in their development to keep moving her along on things like talking.

But I'm glad we started Zola at daycare in the infant room.  We had originally planned to start her in August instead of July and go right for a one-year-old room.  But even as well as she got used to daycare, I think she would have missed a lot by not going to the infant room.  Kendi and Annette are wonderful and really loved on her to help her get used to the center.  They got her using her sippy cup well and even got rid of her pacifier for mid-day naps.  She's very comfortable at daycare now, with any number of teachers (they all come "borrow" her sometimes to carry her around or do her hair; Wes and I say she is the daycare mascot), and I think it's because she felt secure in her own classroom.

One of the things I've loved about the infant room is the long notes they send home about her day.  I think Annette writes a short little blurb, and then Kendi fills the page with all the details.  Here is what we got today:

From Annette, "Today Zola enjoyed outside time riding the boat, playing with pom poms taking them out of a container.  I talked to her about the different sizes of the pom poms and the textures of them.  She also enjoyed playing with the telephone."

From Kendi, "Awesome day!  Full of lovable hugs, laughs, smiles!  Zola and Roy had a good time playing in the treehouse, babbling, giggling to one another and of course squealing.  Too adorable!  Their favorite toys outside are the Pre-K shoes.  She will always go for the pink shoes and carry them to us with that sweet grin.  So adorable!  She played nicely with her friends!  We had children music playing.  She was bouncing up and down to the music, clapping her hands.  Too cute!  We had story time.  I read Whose Baby Is It?, ABC Look At Me, and Farm Animals.  She loves it when we tickle her; then she enjoys tickling the younger babies.  So adorable! Played on the foam blocks and automobiles."

So thankful for a great daycare that has loved and nurtured all three of my kiddos!

Swinging

Behold, the thing of beauty.

Several months ago, Wes and I started talking about a swing set for the kids in the backyard.  (Who are we kidding -- a swing set for me in the backyard.  Both to swing on myself and to soothe otherwise fussy children.)  We have enough room for it, and the kids love to go to the park.  Plus with three kids, it's often hard to get them all on the swings at the same time.  We visited a play set store that's at the back of a baby boutique in Franklin, but the sets were very expensive, and in what I imagine will be words repeated throughout the years, Wes said, "I can build that."

And he was right.  He could.  It just took awhile since he had to do it in free time and good weather.  He got the basic structure put up when his dad was here with the big beams and the cement for the three main posts.  He added the angled supports, the swings themselves, and some additional support pieces as he went.  It was fully operational last Saturday for Oliver's birthday party, but we got some better connector clips and another toddler swing (Emme can use the big kid swing but can go higher and is certainly safer in a toddler swing still) later this week.  Wes still has to stain it, but otherwise, this is what we'll have.

We had initially wanted to have four swings (who are we kidding -- I wanted to make sure we had four swings) in case we add the "one more child" that still gets references around here.  I wanted all of the kids to be able to swing at the same time.  But a longer beam would have meant more structural issues and a post in the middle, so Wes did this.  He did the "add on" to the left that we can actually have four swings up if we want -- a toddler swing would fit perfectly there and doesn't need the 12-foot height of the others that lets them go so high -- but meanwhile we have the three plus a fun trapeze for us to play on (read: me and Wes).

I can say that thus far, this is one of the best decisions we've made at this house.  (Okay, maybe replacing the molding dishwasher was the best, but that was also pretty clearcut.)  All of the kids, but especially the girls, LOVE to swing.  They cry to get in, the cry when they're taken out.  I've seen Emmeline, half asleep, still in a swing after more than an hour.  She just seems very at home there.  Both the girls giggle and squeal when we push them high.  And Oliver has discovered the fun in laying on a swing on his belly and twisting it up and letting it untwist with him on it.  But most importantly, I love it.  When I've pushed the kids over and over again, and Oliver has moved on to play light sabers with a tree or do a routine that vaguely resembles rhythmic gymnastics with foliage involved, I climb on, pump myself higher and higher (hoping no one toddler nearby), and learn back to look up in the trees.  Bliss.

Episode five

Last week, Oliver turned five.  It was an exciting birthday for a lot of reasons.  He's now old enough to know when his birthday is and get excited about it.  There's the anticipation of the day, the birthday shirt, the cake, the presents, and just the narcissistic nature of the day.  And this year, Oliver got his first real birthday party.  I did a party for Oliver's second birthday, but it was more like "hey friends and neighbors, come over and have a cupcake and ohbytheway, it's Oliver's birthday."  (In fact, that might be what the invitation said.)  This year was about him -- he picked the theme, and we invited his friends from daycare.  It's the last year he'll be with them, so it seemed like a good point to let him do a real birthday party.  They know each other well, and the parents usually know who at least some of the other kids in the class are.

We had planned well in advance for this birthday, and so my parents and my sister and nephew were able to come for the event. I had made the invitation to my sister somewhat jokingly -- to see if her husband would come and help with Jedi Training Camp for Oliver's birthday -- and she happily surprised me by saying they'd love to come if possible.  This is the first time any of my family has been in town for one of the kid's birthdays.  We usually don't make a big thing out birthdays, so it's not something worth traveling for.  And none of their birthdays happen over a break of any kind.  But this was fun.  And exciting.  And extremely well planned (I mean, my sister and I were doing, so of course).  And so we were all able to come together on what turned out to be an absolutely beautiful fall day.

Oliver's actual birthday was on a Thursday.  The night before he and Emmeline helped me make sugar cookies shaped like the ships in Star Wars (thank you, Williams Sonoma for the cookie cutters) for him to take for snack the next day.  He also got to wear his Little Mermaid Ariel birthday shirt.  On Thursday morning, Wes and I let him open one gift since Wes was not going to be home that evening.  He opened his Yoda watch, which he also proudly wore to school.  We measured him on the stick that shows his height at each birthday, and his growth from last year was pretty clear.  (He'd been to the pediatrician the day before for his well-child checkup, and I learned there he'd grown almost 3 inches in the last year).

That afternoon, after a huge thunderstorm that wracked the city during go-home traffic, Oliver got the Skype with aunt and uncle and cousins in Florida while he opened up their gift, a Lego Star Wars book that he now looks at every evening before bedtime.  Grandma Kay came over to have dinner with us, as well as a small ice cream cake I got from Ben and Jerry's.  We wore party hats, sang happy birthday, and Oliver opened his gifts from her -- two Star Wars action figures.  And at the end of the night, after all the excitement was over, he went to sleep on his new Star Wars sheets.  (Are you seeing the theme here?)

Friday saw the beginning of several days of beautiful weather.  My parents arrived in town in the early afternoon, and Laura and Maddox arrived by plane a few hours later.  A few of us took Oliver to baseball practice, followed by dinner.  Laura and I sat up late into the evening making light sabers out of pool noodles and duct tape, naming our light saber moves for training camp, and coming up with ideas for the few activities and making a schedule to get ready the next day. My mom made the chocolate cupcakes and icing.  And fortunately everyone fell asleep easily.

Saturday was a busy day.  Wes and my dad took Oliver to his baseball game while my mom baked the birthday cake and iced it, and Laura and I got the backyard ready for about a dozen of Oliver's friends and their parents.  The kids had a brief rest after naptime, and we got the balloons up on the mailbox just in time for the first birthday guests to arrive.  My mom made Oliver a real Jedi robe for this birthday, and he wore it during his party.  (Actually, Oliver wore Emme's, which she was afraid of.  The length was better for him running around.  And I wore Oliver's.)  When the kids arrived, they colored Star Wars pictures at the picnic table and played on the new swing set.  Then Laura and I ran Jedi training camp.  We taught the kids three moves -- the swing and slash, the step and stab, and the no-look toss and turn.  (I included the last one because I thought it would be hilarious to see the kids trying to master it!)  All of them were really into it.  Some had donned their training tunics that Laura cut out of brown fabric earlier in the day, and they all looked adorable with their green light sabers.

Once camp was done, we went on our first mission around the front of the house to find Stormtroopers.  Laura and I had hung black and white balloons on our trees with Stormtrooper faces on them, and the kids used their new skills to beat them into submission.  When we were making the turn around the front of the house towards the back, where the balloons were hung, my dad growled at the kids from back by the trees, and two of the little guys were ready to turn back and find their moms!  The second mission was an obstacle course, and at the end of the course was a basket with lots of items, including pictures of Princess Leia.  So the kids had to complete the course and "save the princess."  The third mission was to shoot water with a water pump through either a hula hoop or, for those skilled enough, one of our baby floats, both hanging from a tree limb.  We told the kids they were practicing their X-Wing shooting skills so they could blow up the Death Star like Luke did.

The finale of the planned activities was the kids using the Jedi force to get the garage door to open.  Behind it was one of our friends, dressed as a Darth Vader with his red light saber.  He came out, and the kids who weren't ready to run in fear pummeled him with blows!  We had to finally stop them, lest Sean suffer actual damage.  They thought it was great.

Afterwards, we did cake and ice cream.  The kids could choose between the dark side (chocolate cupcakes) or the light side (vanilla cake).  I'd asked people not to bring presents, which meant the kids could just enjoy themselves (and he got plenty of gift anyway, including two Lego Star Wars sets from Aunt Laura).  The kids all played for another 20 minutes or more before their parents hauled them off, probably good because the level of light saber play was getting a bit violent for me.  Clean up was quick and easy, and everyone was excited to put their feet up and watch college football until bedtime.

It was thrilling to watch Oliver at his very first party.  He was gracious, though he did start to melt down by the end, likely very tired after the baseball game, no nap, and then anticipation of the party.  He can be a little socially awkward in new settings, but he does great with those he already knows.  I cannot say that I'm in disbelief at having a five year old.  I've seen him grow from a tiny baby to a happy toddler to a thoughtful preschooler, and I know just where the time has gone.  And I cannot say I'd wish him back to babyhood.  He was my easiest, for sure, but it's just too much fun getting to talk to him, see him learn, and enjoy his fresh perspective on the world.  Happy birthday, Buddy Jeeps.  I can't wait to see what the next year bring us!

Another reality

This morning the whole family took a walk at Edwin Warner Park, one of my favorite places to go with the stroller.  Oliver walked almost the whole way, and Emmeline did a bit of jogging alongside the stroller, too.  Zola fussed, then played with a leaf, then napped for a bit.  All of us went down to the creek at the end of the walk to throw rocks (which the other dogs then tried to find in the water) and let Lucy get a nice long drink.

About midway through our walk we heard the sounds of a nearby train.  There are tracks on the others side of the main entrance from the park, which the kids have often commented on, so we knew where the train was.  We were just walking down into a curve on the path, and Wes asked Oliver if the train was going to come around the corner and run into us.  I kind of giggled, but at the same time, Oliver got really nervous and moved over near me on the side of the path, looking anxiously to see if the train would come.  Wes and I both quickly asked how we would know if the train were coming, but then sensing his anxiety, assured him it wasn't.  Once Oliver realized there were no tracks -- and that the train would need tracks to come our way -- he calmed down and started to understand why he need not worry.

I've been reminded several times recently that as smart as Oliver is, he's still a little boy and cannot always tell reality from fiction.  He and Wes and Grandma Kay were talking last night about their favorite Star Wars moving in the original trilogy.  Oliver always wants to watch Star Wars itself, and last night -- on the verge of tears -- he told us that he doesn't like The Empire Strikes Back because Darth Vader chops Luke's hand off.  Poor kid.  I remember having nightmares about the Emperor myself.