3 year old stats

Luke finally had his 3 year old well visit today. Here are his current stats:
* Height: 40 inches (1.01 meters, 95th percentile), up 2 inches (5 cm) from last year
* Weight: 35.5 pounds (16.1 kg, 75th percentile), up 4 pounds (1.8 kg) from last year

I had to laugh that he is sticking solidly to his "2 inch" rule. Every time he has ever gone to the doctor for a well visit, even from when we were going every 3 months when he was a baby, he has grown at least 2 inches every single time, and this one was no exception. He may actually have grown a little more than that, but as they are now taking his height measurement standing up, the spinal compression is "shrinking" him a touch. Probably not enough to worry with, just something I find interesting. They have also started taking his blood pressure, which I find odd, but whatever. It was a cute little teensy cuff! Only about three inches (7.5 cm) high and not even a foot long (30 cm). LOL His BP was 80/40, which is apparently normal for his age (or, more precisely, his height). And his hematocrit was 38%, which is really good. I have to say, that is one of the few *good* health things he got from me! Doctors are always amazed that mine is as high as it is. "Anemia is very common in women, so we'll just check your hematocrit." There's no need, it's fine! They come back with the results. "Wow, your hematocrit is excellent." Told ya.

She said everything looks fine, and he is growing well (obviously). She did refer us to an allergist, per the request of his ENT. We'll see what they have to say. But if they say he's allergic to cats, he may just be out of luck! LOL Nothing much else to report, really. Everything is fine and excellent. What more could a mother ask for?

Currently feeling: well

Dad doing well, so far

Mark is doing well after his surgery this afternoon. They were running over two hours behind, so it put this email a bit later than I had planned! Dr. [edit] was pleased with the surgery - no rotator cuff involvement, thank goodness. He repaired the cartilage damage and removed several large bone spurs. He called it all "good news." They gave him some pain medicine before we left (at 3:30pm), and the nerve block still has his shoulder, neck, arm, hand and the upper right of his chest numb. Needless to say, he is sleeping well at the present!

Thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers today! Sounds like things are going as well as they possibly can, for now. Tomorrow will be the real test, once the nerve block wears off and he is on oral pain meds. And IIRC, it is either the second or third day post-op that is the hardest. Gee, that will be just about the the time I arrive to help. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing! LOL I know it will be good for Mom, though. Thanks again! I'll keep you updated.

Currently feeling: relieved

Dad in surgery Tuesday

Thankfully, this is not unexpected. In fact, the doctor wanted to do it much sooner, but given the amount of days he will be out of school (he teaches 8th grade math/pre-algebra), he intentionally booked it for this week so that he would only miss 4 days but have nearly two weeks off (they get the whole week of Thanksgiving). Then he will go back for only a couple of weeks before having two more weeks off for Christmas. He is having a lot of work done on his right shoulder (did I mention he is right handed?), including something about "cleaning out the joint," ligament repair, and bone grinding. Doesn't sound fun, but at least the surgery itself is not for some life-threatening issue. Still, there is risk with any surgery, so if you could spare a thought for him tomorrow, we would all appreciate it. I will be going down on Friday to help get the house ready for Thanksgiving, since Mom will be busy helping Dad.

I think he has some fascination with surgery at Thanksgiving. This is the second time in 5 years (I think?) that he has been fresh out of surgery over the week of Thanksgiving. The last time involved removal of a vertebra, fusing bones, and inserting a titanium plate in his neck because of a blown disc that was pressing on his spinal column. Thankfully, nothing quite so scary this time. Guess he's just trying to make us truly be thankful at Thanksgiving! LOL

Currently feeling: hopeful

Car bling theft

Someone stole my car's nose ring! Okay, now that I have your attention:

Friday morning, I had a horrible headache, so I asked DH (who works from home on Fridays) to take Luke to daycare that morning. When he got out of the car in the garage after he got home, something smelled like it was burning. We had just had a lot of work done on my car Thursday. Apparently, a something or other had gotten stuck on my brakes, causing them not to release, so I drove around for a good couple of weeks with my brakes slightly but constantly applied. There was no way to know or prevent it, but it wore both my brake pads and my rotors out completely, which also overheated the brake fluid and caused uneven wear to my tires. I had dollar signs flashing before my eyes, OUCH! Anyway, having just had that work done, we knew it could just be something spilled and is burning off, but he went around to the front of the car to see if he could see anything underneath.

That's when he noticed the hole in the front of my grill! The Toyota emblem was missing. Huh? Did they just forget to put it back in? I called Toyota to see if they knew anything about it, and our regular tech guy (Tim) said that someone had probably stolen it. I'm sorry, what? Someone stole it? Why?! "To make bling. They have them gold-plated and wear them on chains around their necks." I am speechless. That makes no sense! First off, it's not like I drive a Mercedes or something flashy and expensive. It's a 9 year old Toyota Camry with 112,000 miles on it for cryin' out loud! Secondly, didn't stealing hood ornaments go out of style in the 60s or something? Sheesh!

I didn't notice it missing when we left, but who really looks at the front of their car? We had only been a few places since then, and I doubt someone could have taken it. When we picked up Luke at daycare, I stayed in the car. We then went to Arby's for dinner, and there had just been an accident in front of the restaurant, so there was a cop parked in the space directly behind our car with her lights on writing up the report, so I doubt someone was that brazen to snatch it right out from under the nose of a cop. And then we came home and parked it in our closed garage; no chance of it going missing there. It had to have happened at the dealer.

I was all prepared to make this speech at the dealer to indicate that I had no intention of paying for a new one, but it was a non-issue. He checked the front to see if any of the parts that hold it in place were broken. Then he disappeared. I was starting to worry when he was gone for a good 10 minutes, but he finally came back with a new emblem in hand. Their inventory showed one in stock for our car, but given its age, he had to really hunt for it in the warehouse. He walked back out to the lot with us, popped it in, and that was it! (Yes, they just pop in and out, all you need is a little leverage. No wonder they get snatched!) He apologized for the trouble, shook our hands, and we were on our way. There is something to be said for being good long-time customers, I guess (who had just paid nearly $800 the day before). I suppose a new emblem was the least they could do to keep us happy. But hey, I'm all for good customer service, and I am not likely to forget it.

Currently feeling: baffled

Hurting for my friends

Are we having February in the fall this year? (BB folks will know what I mean by that.) Just seems like lots of different lives around me are falling apart at the moment. Terminally ill and/or recently deceased parents, a rash of suddenly deceased/euthanized pets, several marriages finally reaching the breaking point, some having other family struggles, employment and/or money woes of all kinds.... I'm starting to worry that I should be worried that nothing bad is going on in my life! Just some child frustrations which, per the other parents I have spoken with, are both quite normal and relatively minor. And it hurts me to see my friends in pain, especially when there is really nothing at all that I can do for them because they are literally spread out all over the world. The closest person is nearly 150 miles away. All I can do is listen, post on the boards, and leave supportive comments or send emails. I hope it helps, at least some.

I love you guys!!! I don't know what I would do without you. Know that I am here for you if you ever need me.

Currently feeling: want to give you all a hug

Should I be proud or embarrassed?

That in less than six months, my now 3-year-old son is almost as proficient as I am at Lego Star Wars? There are just a few things, mainly ones that involve specific timing (like a series of jumps or shooting a target from a moving platform), that he has trouble with, but most of those things (the ones with the jumps, especially) even I have some trouble with and usually need multiple attempts to succeed. He'll be better than me in less than a year, I expect.

Currently feeling: ridiculous

Thud!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I bring you virtually real-time blogging. In less than 60 seconds, I went from "witnessing" the event to blogging it.

I just heard a thud from upstairs. I do believe that Luke has just fallen out of his "big boy bed" for the very first time. He has been in it for all of 4 hours, LOL. It is just a plain old mattress and box springs, and they are sitting on the floor for now (not on any sort of frame), so he didn't even fall 18 inches (less than half a meter). I heard one brief wail, then nothing. I will assume he put himself back to bed or has chosen to sleep on the floor for tonight. I'll go check on him in about 30 minutes, when I am fairly certain he is back in a deep sleep, and let you know.

BTW, for everyone curious, here is a rundown of this week's sleeping activities:
* Monday: had to lock the door, slept through the night
* Tuesday: had to lock the door, slept through the night
* Wednesday: had to lock the door, woke up at 2 AM and 5 AM, had to relock the door each time
* Thursday: did *not* have to lock the door, slept through the night
* Friday: did not have to lock the door, fell out of bed, will update you in the morning on the rest
Currently feeling: floored