Hey! Look at the Cute Preschoolers!

This morning we had our traditional sugar binge, I mean, cookie decorating event. When the boys finished, I remembered that we had pictures of the same activity from way back in 2002. Do you think their food art skill have progressed any since then?

Ben

Connor

Henry

Henry and Connor's Thanksgiving Haiku

Nine degrees outside
Stomachs hurt so we throw up
We race anyway

So a couple of months ago, I talked Henry and Connor into running a 5k race with me on Thanksgiving. I only had to bribe them with a trip to the restaurant of their choice after they finish. I had them follow the "Couch to 5k" plan, where they gradually increase their jogging time from just a few minutes, to 30 minutes straight. They did a good job with their training, and kept their complaining to a minimum.

Thanksgiving morning arrives, and it is a whopping 9 degrees outside.
In addition to the cold weather, Connor has had a stomach ache since the night before. Since he hasn't thrown up (yet) we bundle up and head off to complete out mission.

We arrive for the race. Connor thinks, "I feel like I'm going to puke." Henry thinks, "Wait, my twin brother is going to throw up? I think I will, too" So we warm up for the race by emptying our stomachs.

Finally, after standing around if the cold, its time to start. Our goal was to jog the whole way. It was a hard fight, but Henry and Connor performed admirably and did indeed jog the whole way, stomach aches and all. Since the race course was in the shape of a figure 8, I offered to let them quit half way through, but they decided to finish. I'm very proud of all the hard work they have done to prepare for this race. It's too bad that the conditions were less than ideal, but I think that added to their sense of accomplishment. Well done boys!

Tomorrow, its off to Chili's!

I Am Twelve Years Old

So today at the periodontist, the assistant asked my for my birthday. Without thinking, I immediately replied, "8-14-98", which is . . . Ben's birthday. It makes me think I've spent way too much time talking with medical personnel about Ben lately.

Welcome to the Real World

So, after missing five weeks of school, I decided that yesterday was the day that Ben needed to return to jr. high. I could tell that he was nervous about going back, and he isn't 100% physically better, but I figured that at this point, the benefits of staying home were not as great as the risk that school would become more and more dreaded, and scarier than in needed to be. Sometimes its just best to take a deep breath and go out and slay your dragons.

Ben returned home from school in good spirits. He said that the yelling kids made his head hurt. (I'm with you on that, buddy!). He felt a little stupid because he didn't know where to sit in any of his classes. Reportedly, "about a million" people asked him about his scar. He told them, "I had surgery, and it hurt a lot." All in all, I was pleased with how he seemed to be dealing with his first day back.

The picture shows Ben's new haircut, and how he isn't attempting to hide his scar. You can also see that all of the stitches have now come out.

Thanks to Henry and Connor for smoothing the way back for their brother. It's good to have a support system in place. Another thanks to Ben's in-home tutor from the school district. She always brought him candy, and loves the Indianapolis Colts just as much as Ben. If it were up to him, Ben would have worked with her all semester. Also, thanks to the staff at Willow Creek. Everyone had been very understanding. I'm impressed that Principal Browning came up to the hospital to visit Ben, and knew who he was talked with him last week when we had to drop something off at the school for his brother. It's good to know that he is not forgotten in such a large school.

Edited to add: Ok, so yesterday was an "B" day, and today was a "A" day meaning Ben went to totally different classes today. Since his surgery he has been really sensitive to loud, shrill noises. Apparently, the foreign language teacher Ben had today likes to BLOW HIS WHISTLE in class! What? Ben was pretty upset about that. I'll have to think about the best way to handle this . . .

Three Weeks Seizure Free!

Today marks the third week since Ben's surgery, and three weeks with no seizures. This is especially promising because last week he was sick and coughing a lot. Normally, he is way more apt to have a seizure when he is sick.

As you can see, his scar is healing nicely, and his hair is already growing back in. One side effect that he has noticed is the skin inside the "C" shape of his scar is numb. He says that is often itches, but he can't feel the scratching. The Dr. said that this is totally normal. And now we all know that we can repeatedly pinch Ben on his scalp.

Ben is slowly continuing to get back to normal activity. He went to the Lehi Mascot Bowl football game on Monday with his brothers, and had a good time. I even saw him do a little slow jog to catch up with them when he got out of the car. He said the event made his head hurt, "but it was worth it." I'm sure he meant, "It was worth it to get away from you, mom, for a few hours."

I'm thinking that I will send him back to school on October 3rd. I'm a little worried that orchestra might make his head really hurt, because, who wouldn't get a headache in beginning orchestra? We'll have to see how that goes.

Thank you for all your continued thoughts and prayers. We are overwhelmed with all the support that we've received.

What I've Learned About Ben

Ben is not a procrastinator.

Example 1: We make Ben go for walks outside every day. He doesn't like them. I'll generally say something like, "We need to go for a walk before lunch" and he'll reply with, "Let's just go now and get it over with."

Example 2: The school sends a tutor to the house on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help Ben do a little school work. Yesterday she left Ben with two pages of math to finish by the next Tuesday. After she left, right away Ben starts working on his assignment. If you've read my next post, you'll know that Ben felt worse than normal yesterday. I told him, "You know, you have a whole week to finish this, right?" He replied, "Yeah, but I just want to get it all done now." And so he did, coughing all the while.

Hooray for Antibiotics!

It's hard to tell if your kid is sick, when he already feels like crap.

So, Ben has been coughing a bit ever since he got out of surgery. And ever since we've came home, if you ask him how he's feeling, he'll reply with, "I don't know" or "Not that good." On Monday, he started coughing more, which turned into even more coughing on Tuesday. He also said that his head hurt, but when hasn't it hurt? Tuesday he was saying he felt, "Not that good" and in the afternoon I noticed his temperature went up a little, to around 100 degrees. Of course, this was around 5 o'clock, when the regular pediatrician and surgeon have gone home. When Scott got home, Ben said he felt, "sick" which is worse than "not that good." Scott insisted that I take Ben in to see the pediatrician on call, instead of waiting till the morning. (Good job dad!) The Dr. said Ben had a little bronchitis or pneumonia going on in his left lung, and gave us two antibiotics to take.

Skip to this afternoon. Ben's coughing has noticeably lessened. He says he feels, "Not that good" but he is feeling good enough to 1) tease his sister and 2) eat more than he has for probably two weeks.