Psychotomy

So …

As I’m getting home this evening (literally, I was halfway up the 10-15′ walk to the house), my phone rings. Kiir is calling to find out when I’ll be home. I’d been planning to go past the farmers market, see if it was open for the season yet or not (I forgot, but I suspect not yet), and she was going to suggest I come straight home.

Because during bathtime, DK slipped and whacked into the side of the tub. Or maybe the cup toy he had in hand hit the tub and he hit it. Either way. Stand. Slip. Whack. More to the point, he was not bleeding at the eye.

After I got in, I took him and we called the Dr’s office, closed (they close at 5PM, it was 5:05PM , *sigh*), then called the emergency line at the office. They took information and said they’d have someone call back soon. Apparently the phone message got lost somewhere, because we called back an hour later and they just went and talked to the doc whilst we waited on the line instead of the standard procedure. They suggested that we take him to the ER and get an X-Ray of his eye, make sure he hadn’t fractured the orbital.

Things you don’t want to hear as a parent? “Take him to the ER for an X-Ray, make sure he didn’t fracture his FREAKIN EYE SOCKET” No matter how much you assure me, beforehand, that it sounds like it’s probably nothing. No matter how much “better safe than sorry.” NO MATTER! It still scares the living daylights out of me when you then suggest that I need to get his skull CTd for fractures!!!

*shudder*

Packed up and went to ER. Kiir packed a bunch of toys etc, since the last three times (yay, I’m only 50% of our total ER visits now! uh, lets not have that fall any further, kthxla~) it’s been like a 6-hour visit each time. Including 3-hours in waiting while I’m bleeding from slicing open my hand, before anyone checked to make sure I hadn’t severed a nerve. Oi. Not that I’m bitter (mostly, probably, because I HADN’T severed a nerve or anything permanent and damaging). Packed up my folks, too, since I’d invited them up tonight, since otherwise it was nearly a month between visits for them, which seems excessive what with them only living half an hour away frankly.

Get there, fill out the admissions paperwork, get sent within 10 minutes to Pede’s ER. Straight into a room, nurse comes in under a minute to take some info, look at DK, temperature, etc. Less than 5 minutes, Doc’s in and checking him. Decides it’s just a small cut.

Right Peri-Orbital Laceration
Right Peri-Orbital Abrasion

And, yaknow? Looking at a medical form that says “R. P-Orb Laceration”? Strangely frightening. Even thought I’ve watched enough medico shows to understand that it just means he has a small cut by his eye.

Mentioned that the pediatricians after hours emergency line suggested bringing him in for an X, and doc said he felt around, bone seemed solid and showed no softness or give that would suggest a fracture. So DK didn’t get xapped with alien rays or anything.

THEN another nurse/staffer came in to take insurance information and get us to sign the papers to approve being seen by the doc and billing the insurance. While he was in the midst of getting our info, doc came in with the discharge papers to send us home, lol!

Dinner with my folks (DK likes black olives, it would seem), then they played with D and K for a few hours before heading home.

DK had a big day today. Here’s hoping, as Kiir said at bedtime, that tomorrow is significantly more boring :)

Posted in: PI by attriel /
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Last year was Kiir’s First Mother’s Day. (Did you know they make special mother’s day’s cards for that? I didn’t, so I didn’t get her one last year for it :/) But DK was only about a month old at the time, so while I got her flowers (and my mom, and her mom, and my grandmother, and BOTH of her grandmothers (holy hell wtf was I thinking??? even cheap sets add up!!!)), really, it barely counted.

So this year is her first “real” mother’s day (and when he’s like 5 and wants to make her breakfast in bed, that will be her first REAL mother’s day, I s’pose) (and wouldn’t you know, I didn’t think to get her the card again this year … oops ;wonder if they’ll still have them at Target tomorrow :o). So for Mother’s Day, I got her something special. Peace and Quiet.

DK and I left ~11 to go get the oil changed in her car (it’s only been 7500 miles or something, and like 7 months maybe?), and the itinerant bits there (35$ oil change ended up out 200$ ; some of it was stuff they’d wanted to do last time, too ; they did however skip the tire rotation after telling me I needed new tires instead (we skipped that followup errand :o)). Then lunch at Fuddruckers (mozerella sticks & fish&chips, although the fish was LOUSY ; mostly I wanted the milkshake for the next part of our journey)

Drove out to South Mountain and picked up milk for me & dk (our weekly home delivery hasn’t been fully setup yet, so I’m guessing this week that’ll process and we’ll get next week, but he needs milk in the meantimes). We were gonna stop at my Grandmother’s on the way back, but missed the exit or something, so we just came back and went shopping at Costco, then hit the liquor store (that was for me, though, not kiir ;) )

Target for various essentials (like the new Word World video for DK and bubble bath), and decided to stop at EBGameStop. Picked up Boom Blox for Kiir (I promise not to play it for at least 1 month, so she can get some enjoyment out of it before I play it every night with babe and she gets tired of it (I ruined Blue Dragon for her, and she won’t touch Lost Odyssey now either after me playing every night with DK)), a PC game called “The Guild 2″ which DK picked out, and a spare WiiWheel. (Whiil?) That’s so we can play together, as an excuse. Realyl it’s so DK can steer one and I might actually be allowed to control my Karts :o

All-in-all, we were out of the house for a little over 6 hours, so she got that all nice and quiet and peaceful and unassaulted :o Now we’re home, though, b/c it’s dinner time and things are closed now :o

Posted in: general, PI by attriel /
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So, Des’ latest trick is climbing. Well, not really. His latest trick is climbing onto the table or my desk.

A few weeks ago, Kiir looked out from the kitchen at lunch, and he was sitting on the dining room table clacking the glasses from dinner together (because, frankly, I didn’t worry about picking them up since they’re on the table). He’s done that twice now. He does that by way of climbing on surface A, getting onto my dining room chair, then up to the table.

He also likes to climb onto my desk. There’s a pair of boxes keeping him out of the corner with all the power cables (and the server). When he works at them long enough, he can push the top one back a bit so that there’s a ledge. Then he uses the ledge, the sofa and the armchair to get into the chair, and from there onto the desk. Where he proceeds to toss things off and push around the speakers and monitor a bunch.

Occasionally I’ll look up and he’ll have moved the ottoman to push himself up onto the glider rocking chair, and he’s just hanging out smiley and happy and proud :)

Posted in: PI by attriel /
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So, babe (and kiir) got back tuesday evening. We stopped for dinner and groceries and get home …

I put him in the living room whilst I bring in the groceries … and he’s grabbed an XBox remote and booted the box. I find him at the gate looking at me, alternately trying to pass over the tv remote or chewing on it. “Dammit, daddy, I know i need this one for playing, too, but I can’t make it work right!”

I guess he’s not a big fan of HGTV and Raymond, which were probably on tv the entire week they were gone. After putting away the groceries and taking K out, I played Catan with Des, so he could get some gaming in. He seemed to appreciate it :)

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Des keeps growing and growing. and growing.

Kiir posted his stats on her blog from his last checkup, and he’s kept growing.

He’s figured out how to walk. He’ll take a few steps to go between the sofa and the desk, or the table and the chair, etc. He actually managed a string of about 8 the other day, before stepping on uneven surface and sitting down.

He also figured out how to push the cushion off the ottoman and climb onto the armchair i play from. he then figured out how to climb THROUGH the ottoman, without taking hte cushion off first. The ottoman, thus, is now on the other side of the room. I had to put a few boxes of books in the corner to hide off that space to keep him from playing with cables and the like.

He then figured out he could push the cushion on the chair, and climb up under it. Then stand up and reach the keybaord. Cushion is fitted, though, so it doesn’t work great. he ends up frustrated and angry :/ Of course, yesterday he climbed up on one of kiir’s scrapbooking cubes, and they’re really not THAT sturdy. He was trying to use it as a point to climb into her lap :o

He’s currently sleeping on the floor in front of hte sofa. we went for a walk with the puppy :o

Posted in: PI by attriel /
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So yesterday kiir wasn’t feeling well, so I stayed home so she could rest and I’d watch des.

Around lunch, K kept barking and wanting to go out. I’d take him out, he’d wander around for five minutes, usually with Des inside screaming about abandonment issues. Then he’d look at me like i was a nutjob for bringing us out here. go figure.

Anyway, it started getting on my nerves. A LOT. Eventually I just snapped and screamed at him to shut up. Which scared Des, didn’t make K stop, and apparently woke Kiir up. After yelling, however, I realized that I was being irritable, it wasnt’ just K at fault. So I put on my jacket, I put on Des’ pants and jacket and put him in the stroller, got K’s leash and puppy treats.

And I walked the impossible walk! I took them both up the street and over to the lake. K only went around to the pavilion, but since he was then tired for the rest of the evening, I’m OK with that.

This afternoon we three did it again. Des isn’t terribly impressed by the whole thing (that might be b/c I keep ending up with his hood over his eyes). K’s leash keeps tanglging under the wheels, and my hand starts to hurt from gripping the leash and stroller.

It’s difficult, it’s complicated. And I’ll grant that I may be the only one with the height and experience with K to pull it off. But I walked the impossible walk!

Posted in: k-line, PI by attriel /
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It’s christmas time, in the city …

Des’ first christmas was, basically, everything you’d expect. In the morning, I peeled and cooked and mashed 10# of potatoes. Since Des was going to be eating stuff, we decided we wanted real potatoes instead of flaked (and kiir doesn’t like flaked, but this was all about des!). And my mom doesn’t mash potatoes since “we did 5# for 3 of us and fought over the last spoon” or whatever … so I made 10# for 10 people. yeah, it’s not quite as much as she was indicating we’d need, but I figured it’d be enough. The night before I’d made the Sweet Potato and Apple casserole, twice as much as usual to fit the # of people.

Get to my parents, and my grandmother and aunt are both there so Des gets some time playing and showing off for them before my other aunt and her brood arrive. Then it was gift time! we got some neat stuff, and des had twice as many gifts as anyone else (duh). We took him four things (including a motorized train that sings and makes animal noises and that K despises with a passion). Then he got a few things from my Grandmother & Aunt, mostly hand made crochet and knit stuff. My other aunt gave him some toys. My parents gave him toys and books and stuff. Amusingly, I think the only plastic made in china stuff he got was from us :o

My dad kibitzed and finally got to put out cheese & crackers right after everyone got there. Which was amusing, since half of us were still eating my grandmothers yam buns when he started putting things out :o but it kept eveyone happy, b/c they were allowed to give des Cheese and saltines. Kept people from t rying for hte yam buns (mmm, sugar and nuts, TWO things he doesn’t need a lot of yet) he got a little fussy after a while, all these people and i don’t wanna sleep i might miss something but i’m soooo tired. kiir got him to take a nap by laying with him on the bed upstairs.

That worked until we set the stove on fire. Fire alarm woke him up (gee, duh). he sat at dinner, had some fish, some broccoli, some yams, some apples, mashed potatoes, bread. he had some of almost everything :o he probably would have had more, but he needed a diapser change and we decided not to put him back in my hichair (mmmm vintage!)

I went home with about a third of the potatoes, and my mom kept the second (untouched) dish of yams. I think i can scale back some, maybe :o

Posted in: PI by attriel /
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this just happened in a chat with kiir when desmond decided to help

brb goingdo[w]n[stai[]r]s

i swear, it looks like a regex, and the boy even managed to close his brackets :o

Posted in: PI by attriel /
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So, we g ot back from our annual thanksgiving traipse to kiir’s folks. checking in at the airport was fun. two suitcases (one for us, one for him), the big stroller (we took it down so we could leave it at their place since we never use it and we were just going to donate it off otherwise), a carseat (not OUR carseat, b/c that’s in our car, but a new 40$ carseat that we figured was good to let the airlines whack-a-mole with), desmond, three carry ons (one for me, one for her, one for his butt) … ended up taking the stroller to the gate and gate-checking it. it was convenient to haul the bags around ;)

then we hauled that all over to car rental and picked up a car. and spent ~30 minutes or something getting set up to go. WHEE! ended up stealing a towel from the inlaws to put under the carseat on the way back b/c we decided it just wasn’t really properly stable. It was OK, and we drove out with it, but we decided we wanted to make it a bit better for the return trip.

spent most of the time with one or the other of us holding des b/c he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and kept wanting to go to someone he knew. and when he was willing to crawl around, people kept picking him up. I especially liked when dad picked up a happily crawling baby, and almost immediately handed him to kiir “he wants mommy” … uh, no, he wanted to not get picked up man! (she then handed him to me, and I took him back to his starting point, sat him down, and let him set off again, happy as a clam now that he was crawling like he wanted to)

every year at thanksgiving (well, for hte last few, don’t really remember doing it before that) dad goes around the table “everyone say something they’re thankful for” … which is boring and tedious and no one wants to participate. Zebras are popular at thanksgiving. (kiir went for wildebeasts this year, to be different). I “spoiled the mood” (my mother in law … makes you wonder why we do this yearly, eh?) when I said I was thankful for desmond being happy and healthy. I don’t even remember that dad did a serious one. grandpa did, happy for family being together, and my wifes sisters husband parents were there and they’re raising their granddaughter, and were thankful for her. but 3 out of 16 (? sounds right) why bother?

my sisterinlaw got all pissy one morning b/c des was awake and crying and I took him out ot the common room to see if he’d play with his toys or crawl around. she suggested that i should take him back to our room so that those who didn’t have kids didn’t have to suffer them, b/c it wasn’t her fault we brought him with us, and parents are so self centered. i took him for an hour walk to cool me off after that. at 7am … wheee. too bad i couldn’t find my car keys to get the stroller, certainly would’ve beeen less strain on my arms :o

overall des had fun, he likes seeing his nonnie and his uncles. i could do without his aunts a lot of the time, but his uncles actually aren’t raging egomaniacs, so they’re cool.

Posted in: general, PI, trips by attriel /
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A few miscellaneous items.

my car’s starter went out, so i had to blow 500$ last night getting that fixed. bleargh.

does everyone get searing pain from things being “too bright” every time they get a headache? or is that actually unusual? my headaches have always come with light sensitivity, and it’s only recently that i realized that was a “migraine symptom” … and it occurred to me today that perhaps not everyone gets that all the time?

we picked up mario galaxy yesterday b/c toys ‘r’ us had a deal where you got a 25$ gift cert with it. i figured it was unlikely we’d get a better deal somewhere else (yeah we might save 10$ somewhere, but 25$? not likely). now, i figured we’d buy a second game with it, or hold onto it for later maybe. b/c we’re trying to stay away from plastic and chinese made toys (mmmm lead and ghb, what could be better for babe?) to the point that my parents are afraid of buying things for babe b/c “we might disapprove of it”. and we are not shy in being quite vocal about it when we dislike what they say or buy or whatever … anyway, we then spent ~30 minutes wandering around trying to find something to buy. b/c we had a gift card. so we had to spend it! oi :o

what is it with our parents and rice cereal? it is NOT a cureall wonderfood! eesh. you’d think babe’s very soul was in danger if we didn’t give him rice cereal STAT

Posted in: general, PI by attriel /
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