Carnival Fun with a New Friend

We took Drew to the park this weekend for the fall carnival. You may recall me blogging about our trip to the spring version of the carnival when Drew was extremely reluctant to go on any rides. Why take him back, you ask? Well, we made some new friends in the last month. At the park on Labor Day Drew and a little boy about his age named Ryan enjoyed running around the playground after each other, while I chatted with Ryan's mom and dad. Since then we've had a few playdates at the park together and decided we'd meet at the carnival to see if there was a little more courage in numbers. It worked out very well.

The boys started out easy with the train and the cars/trucks/motorcycles.


Then they got brave enough to try the flying saucers that went up and down in the air. This was Drew's favorite! He loved being up high, especially when he could see the other saucers that were below him.


Drew wanted to hit the superslide, so he and Daddy did that.



Ryan wanted to go on the rollercoaster next. Drew had not enjoyed that on a previous trip to the carnival and we tried to talk him out of it, but he was adamant about going on with his friend. As you may be able to tell in the picture, Drew was not a happy camper.


After a lunch break for some yummy and so-not-good-for-you carnival food, we let the boys hit a few more rides. No surprise that Drew wanted to go back to the flying saucers and the slide. He had such a big smile on his face while flying through the air.


As for the slide, Bill thought Drew could try it by himself. I was hesitant, but Drew certainly wasn't! He took the tickets from me, handed them to the man, grabbed the burlap mat and started climbing the steep stairs. He did hold up the line a little bit as his little legs couldn't move quite as quickly as the big kids behind him. But he happily slid down all the way!


Ryan wanted to go back to the rollercoaster a second time and Drew was not interested in a return visit, so he stood on the sidelines this time. Actually he watched atop Bill's shoulders so he would have a better view of his friend's rollercoaster ride. He was much happier watching the rollercoaster go round and round.

At the end of our time at the carnival, Bill and Drew walked to the car to get inside with the air conditioning while I picked up a funnel cake to go. Bill told me when I met back up with them that all the way to the car Drew said "I had fun Daddy" or "I had good time Daddy."

Retreat

We had a last-minute opportunity to go to a marriage retreat this past weekend. Those that are in the Army will know that the unit chaplain sometimes organizes and fully sponsors weekend retreats for different audiences (single soldiers, married couples, single parents, etc.) throughout the year. Bill had several of his married soldiers sign up for the retreat but we got the call on Friday morning that there was a last-minute cancellation from another company and we packed our bags.


The resort we stayed at was really beautiful and the rooms were out of this world. It's entirely possible the suite we had was nearly as big as our house! And Drew and his guys didn't seem to have any trouble making themselves right at home.



He amused himself for quite a while with the cushions from the pullout couch as well as the extra pillows (he stacked them, jumped on them, hid underneath them--what fun!). Here's a few pictures.







Child care was provided during the training sessions. Drew happily (most of the time) played with the ladies from CYS. The retreat training focused on Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. It was quite nice for Bill and I to have the opportunity to focus on our relationship and our vision of our family. I'm sure we're all guilty of it, but sometimes life gets so busy we do more talking than actual communicating. Fortunately we discovered we are mostly on the same page. All our meals were provided and it was wonderful to not have to worry about cooking for a couple of days.


It would seem Drew thoroughly enjoyed the weekend as well because all the way home in the car on Sunday he kept saying "I wanna go back to the hotel." We told him we were going to a different hotel "The Hotel Cherkauski". It appeased him until we pulled up in front of our house...oh well. We have various upcoming travel plans and other local fall adventures planned so I'm sure Drew won't lack for entertainment.

Biking His Way around the Cul-de-sac

I know I just posted a video of Drew riding his bike, but since Drew's friend Ian, who lives in Ohio now, liked his video so much in the last post, I thought we'd add another one.

Though Ian's mommy and daddy are very good friends of ours, Drew and Ian only got to spend a few months together when we were both stationed here in Arizona. Since then, they are left with viewing pictures and videos of each other. So go toddler friendships in the Army.

Drew is really getting the hang of steering now and clearly doesn't want any help from Mama anymore.

Catching Up...

It's been busy here lately, so I thought I'd do a catch-all post of what we've been up to.

Drew started a new school right after Labor Day. We had hoped to get him into the preschool age class at the on-post Child Development Center, but the wait list was too long. So we found another preschool that we felt comfortable with that's closer to our house than his old daycare and that had immediate openings. Drew cried a little the first two days I dropped him off, but the teacher said he was his happy normal self within minutes of me leaving. After the 3rd day he now happily goes to join the other kids in whatever they're doing and barely notices I'm leaving. His teacher has "helpers" each day that help with various tasks in their class. So far Drew has been the froggie helper (feeding the class's pet frogs), snack helper, and line leader. He's so proud of himself when he tells me "Mommy I was Miss Ashley's snack helper today!" and he's still talking about feeding the froggies the first day. He seems to be having trouble remembering his new friends' names though, because whenever I ask who he played with on the playground or who got to feed the froggies he says "Some people."

Another nice feature of Drew's new school is that the playground has tricycles for the kids to ride on. Drew had figured out pedaling earlier this summer, but still sometimes resorted to his Flintstone method of bike-riding. I think the tricycles on the playground have improved his pedaling. Here he is in the driveway a couple of days ago.

Drew and Daddy's museum Saturdays have been replaced the last couple of weeks by a shopping trip to Phoenix and a visit to the Tucson zoo. It amazes us we're still able to shop for Drew while he's with us. Bill just kept telling him the toys and books were for Daddy. At the zoo, Drew loves to feed the fish and ducks. Here he is on the elephant statue.

Drew has also taken to singing quite a bit lately...copying the Wonder Pets theme song, the songs they learn each day at school, and his favorites (Pop goes the Weasel, Wheels on the Bus and Ants Go Marching). Here's his version of Happy Birthday. And after Drew finishes singing you can hear Drew's latest take on how old Mommy is. I had hoped adding the one to thirty might magically make Drew figure out the difference between 30 and 40, but as you'll see in the video, no such luck.

I had a pretty low-key but nice birthday that included an hour long massage and dinner out with Bill, Drew, and our friend Mishja whose birthday is 4 days before mine. My boys also got me a great birthday gift, in addition to the massage, of the first two seasons of Friday Night Lights on DVD. I love that show. Can't wait till it premieres Oct 1st!

Morning at the Park & Surgery Follow up

We spent our Labor Day morning at one of the parks in town. The summer heat usually prohibits playing outside for any extended period of time, but this morning the temperatures were only in the upper 70s. Seemingly perfect weather for playing outside...that is, until after I spent over an hour standing in the beating down sun. Yes Drew managed to get nice and sweaty while running and jumping and climbing. He could barely be bothered to stop for water breaks every now and then.

Who can drink water when there's slides to be slid down (or climbed up as the case may be)...

Bars to climb... Bridges to run over... And monkey bars to swing across? He started out just wanting to hang on the monkey bars and then I helped him cross it once. Then while this Mom was helping her own kids cross it Drew got right in line and she was kind enough to help him too.
Drew is so funny about swings. He typically begs to go on them and after 30 seconds or less is screaming to get off because he's scared. Today was no exception. We were headed to the car after over an hour at the park when Drew spotted the swings and pleaded with me to go on them (even though he said he had to go potty and refused to go in the public bathroom at the park). He promised he could hold it so we went to the swings. He could hardly contain his excitement over getting on the swings and then after I pushed him a couple of times and took this picture he screamed to get off. He's such a funny little guy.

Oh, and for those who asked, after his surgery Drew had to wear his big bandage for 5 days, then he was okay with just a regular band-aid. With a shower the morning of his surgery, we were able to get away with just one additional shower while he had the bandage on. He was quite amused at the concoction of plastic bags and tape that Daddy fixed up.We head back to the doctor for his follow up appointment tomorrow but everything looks good to us and he has full range of motion in his thumb, so we expect to get the all clear from the doc.

Future Olympian?

Drew's latest session of swim lessons coincided with the start of the Beijing Olympics and it definitely made an impression on Drew. One of the first events we watched was a swimming race and Drew immediately exclaimed "Big arms Mommy! They're doing big arms." Later he commented on the swimmers' ability to "kick all the way to the wall." On our way to lessons one day I asked him if he wanted to do big arms just like the swimmers on TV. He responded "I will try Mommy."

In his last class of this swimming lesson session, the teacher made it more of a free day for the kids. So they donned life jackets (the only day they wear those) and headed outside to the diving pool, complete with 3 diving boards. First they just swam around.


Here Drew practices his backstroke. Look out Aaron Peirsol!














Then he switched over to the freestyle...aka big arms.

Then his teacher asked Drew and the three other children whether they wanted to jump off the diving boards. Drew excitedly said "Yeah!" He and the other little boy even wanted to jump off the highest diving board (3M), though his teacher obviously thought better of that. Anyway, here is a mid-air shot I managed and a video of Drew's repeated trips to the 1M diving board. Look at that form! Pay close attention to his giggle right at the end of the video for an idea of his excitement level. He was so happy. No fear whatsoever. He couldn't wait to tell Daddy all about it. And he's still talking about it, occasionally mentioning with a bit of sadness that "the big one was too high for me." No doubt in my mind he would have jumped off that one if his teacher had let him.

It was especially nice that Drew had swim lessons for the week between his birthday and surgery that my parents were here for. Drew was very excited to show off his swimming skills for Grandma and Grandpa and they enjoyed seeing him in action, especially going down the big slides (all by himself) and jumping off the diving board.


So whether Drew's swimming and "diving" turns into competitive quality remains to be seen, but if they add cannonballing (or maybe more accurately freestyle jumping) to the Olympic slate of events, then, in 2024, look out world!

Doctor Fixed My Thumb

Since we received the information that Drew would have surgery on his left trigger thumb at the beginning of July, Drew has told us (and anyone else who will listen) that "Doctor's going to fix my thumb." After a trip to the dentist he also came out with this gem a few times "Dentist is not going to fix my thumb." We told him we thought that was probably a good idea.

So Friday morning was the big day. Originally the surgery was scheduled for 11 in the morning, with arrival time an hour and a half before that. But two days before the surgery, we were relieved to get the call that, due to his age, his surgery time had been moved up to 9:15. While this made for an earlier morning for Mommy, Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa, it was much easier to deal with the "no food or drink" pre-surgery rule. Drew is usually not awake for more than 5 minutes before requesting his morning milk. We were not optimistic that he would take the no eating and drinking well. Fortunately, we were half way to Tucson before his first requests for milk and we were able to distract him with questions about the things he could see outside his window.

Shortly after arriving at the outpatient surgery office we were taken back to get Drew's vital signs and get him changed into a gown. The vital signs did not go well. Drew screamed and squirmed through the attempted blood pressure reading, the ear thermometer, the oxygen finger reading, and even the putting on of his hospital bracelet.


The pictures to the left are from the room we waited for the doctor in after the horror of vital signs was over. As you can see, we were able to sway his mood from really not happy to mildly amused to showing off his thumb with a smile.

We sang songs, played peekaboo with his blanket, had a short nap, and practiced counting with the stars and stop signs on his gown. He was quite funny about the gown. He kept saying "I no like these jammies." "I need take these jammies off." But then he'd spend the next 5 minutes enthralled by looking for stop signs on the gown.

Anyway, eventually the surgeon and anesthesiologist came in to talk to us. The plan was to take Drew back to the operating room (without us), cover his mouth with a mask to put him out, then do the IV and surgery. After the vital signs tantrum we were not optimistic he would do the mask without us and without being restrained. The wonderful anesthesiologist mentioned that there was a quick shot up the nose (I can't remember the name of the drug) that would make Drew groggy and not remember leaving Mommy and Daddy. Basically a little like being drunk. The only downside was it was supposed to sting when it went in (like snorting

soda out your nose). The doc said most kids didn't like that. Drew, on the other hand, barely reacted. We get more of a rise out of him trying to give him Tylenol in his mouth! So then we just waited for the medicine to kick in and he happily left with the anesthesiologist. While we were waiting for the medicine to work we tried counting again, and as the medicine started to take effect Drew would very groggily say "I'm thinking!" after every few numbers. It was quite cute.

The procedure took just about 15 minutes and we were only in the waiting room for about 45 minutes (with pre-op and waiting for him to wake up). I handled the wait remarkaby well although my parents were amused at my drinking two cups of coffee during that time. I very rarely drink coffee...and I'm not sure the extra caffeine was really what my nerves needed, but I had to do something and I couldn't concentrate on the newspaper or anything like that.

Eventually the nurse came to tell us Drew was awake and we could go back. They let all of us go back to see him, which was nice and, I think, comforting for Drew (Grandma & Grandpa hadn't been able to go back with us before the surgery). He was still pretty dazed when we got back there, but happy to see us and very happy to be able to drink some Gatorade and munch on a few graham crackers. I had wrapped George's left hand in an ace bandage before Drew went in to surgery but after the nose shot and behind Drew's back so he wouldn't notice (they let him keep his Nemo blanket and George with him). But when we got back to him we realized the doctor had really fixed up George's bandage with a sling and everything. So nice of them. The doctors and nurses were all so wonderful. I realize they probably say this to a lot of parents, but they kept going on and on about how sweet he was and how he well he had tolerated everything. They warned us that many children wake up mad after the surgery and very angry about the big bandage, but Drew showed no signs of this at all.



Little man and George after "their" surgeries. Having George bandaged up too really helped with Drew's protests during the car ride home about keeping the "big band-aid" on. "I need take it off. I no like big band aid."

The time in the recovery room was quite brief and we were on our way back home about an hour after the surgery had began. Drew was acting fine other than his protests about the bandage, and I almost thought I might not need to fill his Tylenol with codeine prescription. Thank God I decided to do it anyway. Drew woke up from his nap that afternoon screaming and crying in pain. Heartbreaking to see your child like that. Fortunately the medicine kicked in within 15 minutes and he was happily playing with his train set like nothing had ever happened. He had no side effects from the anesthesia or Tylenol with codeine and even his complaints about the bandage subsided by Saturday morning.


We are very grateful this is the most serious health concern Drew has had in his 3 years and that he did so well with it. Thanks to everyone for your concern and prayers.

Happy 3rd Birthday Drew!

This past Saturday Drew turned 3 years old! Finally I can stop getting the "Are you sure?" looks from people when he would say he was 2. He's just tall people!

Drew has been very excited about his impending birthday. He's been counting down the days until Grandma and Grandpa arrived (the day before his birthday) and has been saying they're bringing him a train for his birthday from the store ever since the phone conversation when Grandma asked Drew what he'd like for his birthday. Quite a memory in that kid's brain.

Since we had big plans for Saturday during the day, Grandma had to make the cake on Friday night, and Drew was, of course, very eager to help. This time he got to lick one of the mixer's beaters. He wasn't quite sure how to approach it at first, but once Mommy demonstrated he jumped right in!

On Drew's birthday, we all headed up to Tucson to visit the Children's Museum.

He climbed...

He made music...Mommy & Drew had a bit of a bongo banging war.

He got quite a kick out of making music with flip flops.

He drove the fire truck AND...the police motorcycle...

He did puzzles...

And he climbed the tree/dinosaur and swung like a monkey!

It was quite a day!

After our morning at the museum and some lunch, we headed home to set up for our little Nemo birthday bash. Drew's teacher had made him a Nemo birthday hat to wear at school so he had that on for a bit. He loved the Nemo blowouts that Grandma and Grandpa found. And he was surprisingly patient when it came to opening presents.

Drew shows off his new 2 in 1 Elmo games.

Drew is all smiles over his new GeoTrax train set (and it's not even out of the box yet). I've never seen him so entranced by a toy. He will play with it for hours.

Drew anxiously waiting as we are singing the Happy Birthday song.

Family shot.

(Mommy should have reapplied some makeup after the museum...)

Drew digs in to that Nemo cake...clown fish are yummy!

Finally, if you'll allow me a little stroll down memory lane, here's just a few pictures from the last 3 August 16ths.

8/16/05: Drew joins the world at the Wurzburg Army Hospital at 10:31 am after 2 1/2 hours of pushing...worth every second once it was finally over. I remember being relieved that he wasn't born during the 6 hour time difference between Germany and East coast time zone.

8/16/06: Drew's 1st Birthday. We enjoyed Chinese food and cake on his actual birthday and a trip to the Columbia, SC zoo and party with Grandma Carolyn, Aunt Katie and Uncle Johnny that weekend.

8/16/07: Drew's 2nd Birthday. Again, we enjoyed Chinese food and cake on his actual birthday and a trip to the zoo (Tucson this time) and party with Grandma, Grandpa and some friends that weekend.

Happy Birthday Andrew!