Graft complication

Apparently it was a good thing that we followed instructions from his ER discharge after the fall from the cart.. I had made him an appt. to f/u with his primary care doc as they recommended, although I will say my goal was more for him to get a flu shot, up to date on immunizations, and the 18 mo. well-baby check-up. While I was showing his physician his grafted finger, we both noticed a few small white spots, and on further exam, pus could be drained from the suture sites at the bottom of the graft. Yes, the graft site was infected, so Dr. Erickson collaborated with the NP at Children's Mercy and they but him on 2 wks. of antibiotics. Now it made sense why the last couple days he was more guarding of this hand, and really resistant to allow us to put lotion on it and put the glove on as we had been doing without any trouble. Poor guy. Seems like one thing after another at times. So, he ended up getting the flu shot but no immunizations-- will go back in 3 wks. and try again when he gets the second flu shot. Oh, and then we went to Walgreen's and waited on his meds-- he did really well (considering his cart limitations now after the fall). Then when we got home, I was temporarily horrified to see that he had bitten the plastic tip off his sippy cup, and where was this plastic tip? I could just see going back to the ER (again) for yet another accident. How many accidents are allowed per child anyway before parents are reported to DFS? Hmm, hope we never have to find out. Luckily, I searched around in his carseat and was able to find it- thank goodness he hadn't swallowed or aspirated it. Geez. This kid is something else.

Ahoy Mateys

More at the Pumpkin Patch

Slides, tractors, trucks, and post-goose egg #1.

Pumpkin Patch

We visited the KC Pumpkin Patch last weekend with Jordon, courtesy of Everest. There were a lot of activities for kids, although most of them were for older kids. Jordon still had a great time, despite a goose egg and red marks from hitting his head against the steering wheel of one of the trucks kids can "drive". He loved the slides, including a tube one that Ma-mo (what he's calling me lately) thought he might be too small for. Nope, although Da-da said from his point of view, Jordon banged his head off the side of it and went tumbling down, he giggled and wanted to do it over and over again. The real fun (yeah, right) happened when we left the pumpkin patch and decided to stop at Costco on the way home. Da-da put J in the cart like he had many times before, and I went to the bathroom. On my way back, I heard people gasping and then a screaming kid. I thought, wait a minute, that sounds like my screaming kid, and it was. He had fallen out of the cart and hit his head on the concrete. I did not witness it (probably a good thing), but Don did, and needless to say, everyone was pretty upset. We ended up taking him to the ER for a CT scan to make sure there were no injuries, and a few hours later, he was given the all clear. Not a fun way to spend the remainder of a Saturday afternoon.

Playing with my trucks

My First 4-Wheeler

After the Myers' told us about the Kawasaki their boys used to have, and we watched Jordon try to ride everything around the house, from a truck to a shoe box, to a cooler, we thought maybe it was time to try and find an actual toy for him to ride. We did some looking online and found quite a few options, so just decided to go to the store and see what was available. He has loved this thing, so much that we now have to keep it out of his field of vision or he will throw a fit wanting to get it outside and ride up and down the streets at all hours. It's good for going downhill, but not so great at going uphill. He has been able to ride it indoors and outdoors.

Fun at the Fair

Jordon's a little young yet for a lot of the rides- the only one he could really go on was the Merry-Go-Round. At first he was excited about getting on the horse and made the horse noise that Daddy always makes. Then as it started up and we were moving, he started whining and seemed to be a little freaked out. He settled down but wasn't exactly upset to get off when the ride was done. After we got a grape snow cone and some cotton candy for later, we went out to Grandma and Grandpa's for a bit, and then visited with their neighbors Gary and Ginger Meyer. They have been family friends for a long time and were very excited to see Jordon. Ginger got out Kyle's old matchbox cars and Jordon had a lot of fun playing with them. The picture of him sacked out is on the way home. His head falls way forward when he sleeps in that carseat, so we used Puppy to prop it up. Poor little guy was tuckered out after a long day.

Baby Health Contest

Here's Jordon at the contest at the Concordia Fall Festival on 9/12. There were a lot of kids in his age category, and he got a ribbon for participating even though he didn't win one of the main prizes. That's ok buddy, Mom never won this contest either. Everyone says if there was a contest for the cutest baby, you would win hands down. Grandma came, and then we got to visit with Helen Schlueter while we were waiting for my 15th year high school reunion dinner to start. Unfortunately, no carnival rides were going until 1:00, so we had to wait till later to try out rides.

Yuck!

Jordon's saying more words almost every day now. Now his favorite word is "yuck". He says it about dirty diapers, about the insect page in his animal book, about getting dirt on his hands.... and sometimes when it doesn't even really make sense. He also seems to understand "hot" and says it when food comes out of the microwave or oven, and about burning candles. "Hat" and "puppy" continue to be favorites. He also says words like "bubbles and "Grandma". Don and I are noticing that he really seems to understand more of what we are saying and is able to follow commands now. I took him to have his feet measured over the w/e and his foot has grown so that he now needs a size 6 shoe instead of a 5. So he is growing, even if he's not gaining much weight. He's pretty much been stalled out at 22# for a while now. We're thinking he might end up potty trained before busting out of the Huggies size 3's. Don and I are convinced that he's not gaining 'cause he burns off everything he takes in- he eats pretty well but probably not enough to sustain constant running and climbing. I'm planning to enter him in the baby health contest in Concordia this weekend just for fun. Not expecting he will win anything, unless there is an award for a one-armed runt.

Cast off

Yesterday am I was all ready to head out the door - Jordon to daycare and me to work, when I went in to pick him up from his crib and discovered he had managed to get himself out of his full arm cast. There it was, lying in his crib. There he was, pointing at his grafted hand and making the "eww" face. I think the folks at Children's Mercy finally believe us about this kid being a Houdini. He has managed to get himself out of every splint they've designed, and now a freakin' cast isn't going to stop him either.

The surgical wound seemed to freak him out a little. He kept looking at it and crying, and wouldn't let me put him down. We had an appt. today for a cast change, but apparently Tuesday was a better day for Jordon. After I finally got through to someone at Children's Mercy, we went in yesterday morning to have his arm recasted. I put a dressing on his hand twice before we left, just trying to keep it covered, clean, and dry. Twice he removed it. Finally I said screw it, and we just left it uncovered till they could do the cast. He threw a fit while they did it- for Jordon the worst thing in the world is being restricted with movement. They gave him a talking Elmo to try and distract him during the procedure. Then he didn't want to give it back, but ended up exchanging it for an orange matchbox car he could keep, which has been a big hit since then. He loves driving it over different surfaces. His second cast is green; the first one was blue. The surgeon did the first one; the OT did the second one- the one he has now seems much lighter, has a bend in it, and he seems to tolerate it easier.

Today was a change in the usual routine. Because of everything that happened yesterday, I felt I needed to work some today, so Jordon went to Granny's. Unfortuntately, Don had a meeting late at school, and they didn't get home till around 7 pm. We still had to feed him and bathe him, and he had managed to sleep 30 min. on the way home, but appeared exhausted so we tried to put him down at 7:30. Two+ hours later, a dose of Roxicet, multiple hand-offs between Mom and Dad, several periods of alone time wailing, some time in Mom and Dad's bed, etc. he was still awake and fighting sleep. Dare I say it sounds like maybe he has finally fallen out? Jordon, mark my words buddy- some day you will wish for naps and being able to go to bed early. Don and I are getting really tired of this whole bedtime routine- tonight was especially brutal, but it's rare for him to just fall asleep easily, quickly, or quietly. Why does going to sleep have to be such a difficult task? Seems like it should be much easier than it really is...