The Cute Little Tyrant

Maya has been growing into a toddler more every day. She now has about a 30-50 word vocabulary and loves to say "Hi" and "Bye-Bye" to people. She can go from being extremely affectionate and caring to a little comedian to a sneaky little bully in a short period. She has been affectionately written up at day care as perhaps training to be a boxer. The worst target of her random hits is her sister. I think Maya gets a kick out of Brianna complaining to us that "Maya hit me again" or "Maya hit me in the face." Maya then is subject to a time out in a corner, which she goes and takes willingly. We started out counting to twenty, but now we count to fifty and she canot have her binky during the time out. She then is required to "say sorry" to the person hit and give a hug to that person. She also does this willingly and affectionately. It is very cute how she "says sorry." It is not verbal, but she made up her own sign, which is a sort of shrug to her right shoulder, with equal up movement on the shoulder and down movement from the head. I have it on video and will get it up here eventually.

Medically she has been stable, with the exception of her stomach peg tube. The site needs 2x daily treatment with a corticosteroid cream to prevent the development of a granulomatous wound. Even with the cream the site still looks red and pusses a bit. She can speak and drink well now, but she still has the tube in because we have been told that it would be dangerous to remove it before mid-January, as there is risk of stomach injury if the stomach has not fully adhered to the abdominal wall yet. So we still watch the tube closely and it still is an interference with her freedom of movement and ability to lie on her stomach and develop that skill (prone activity).

So that's that with Maya. Brianna is doing very well in Kindergarten. We got her first report card and had our first parent/teacher conference and she is performing at or above expectation in all areas. She is noted as being kind to other students. We like.

Victoria is as I type undergoing laparoscopic exploratory surgery to look for endometriosis or other possible explainations for recurrent pains in her abdomen that doctors have not been able to determine the source of by MRI (or CT Scan, I'm not sure which she had), ultrasound or x-ray. It would be nice to find out and if possible resolve her discomfort today. Hopefully we'll have some indication of a cause...

OK, the doctor just called me. They did find some minor areas of endometriosis which he removed. They also discover dialated veins (like vericose) around her uterus, which are apparently somewhat common and can cause generalized abdominal or pelvic pain after prolonged standing or at the end of the day, but are no big deal. Lying down relieves the dialation so in the AM people with that condition usually are discomfort free. He has some ideas for treatment for those which we get to discuss when Victoria wakes up and is able to converse - about an hour or so from now. So all in all perhaps some pain relief will occur for her now - yah!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
-Chris

Excellent News Confirmed!

Maya just had a swallow study done and she can swallow just fine! We just need to await clearance from her GI doctor for an all-out drinking fest!

We assume that after that the PEG stomach tube can be removed ASAP.

Maya joined cousin Maverick to see the Wiggles today!

Maya got a special treat today thanks to Aunt Michelle. Michelle (Victoria's cousin) had purchased four tickets for the Sunday, November 2 Wiggles show in Albany at the Times-Union Center. Her older son Phoenix, who is six years old, decided that the Wiggles were too immature for him, so he said he did not want to go, but his younger brother Maverick was still gung-ho. Michelle then invited Victoria and one of our kids to go in Phoenix and Dana's (Michele's husband) place. Victoria was not feeling up to it in the morning, and Brianna was sharing the same sentiment as Phoenix, so I went with Maya. Maya loved the excitement of seeing such big buildings in Albany. For a moment it reminded her of one of the other cities she's been to for medical procedures and she said, "Noooo" when I went to take her out of the van. I reassured her this was no doctor visit, and when she saw that her cousin Maverick was there too, she calmed quite a bit. Maverick is just a bit older than Maya and he is almost fanatical about the Wiggles. Maya had no real experience with the Wiggles, and I doubt she's ever seen them on TV, but she enjoyed her first show experience very much and did a bit of dancing and also moving up to the short wall separating the floor seats from the upper levels and getting into the "mosh pit" of kids dancing up there.



So after meeting Michelle and Maverick at the Colonie Center Mall near Albany and eating at Friendly's there, we piled into Michelle's van and made our way to the Times-Union Center and very cheap ($5) parking only 2 blocks away.

From the parking lot we got a great view of "The Egg," a performance center made famous in They Might Be Giants' "The Egg" from their album "Venue Songs."



We were there a bit before the show and found our seats were only 3 rows up and to the right of the stage. The view was still very good. They put Wiggles stickers on each seat for everyone, nice touch. I went to the concessions and bought 2 fruit cups for the kids. Of course when I presented them I said, "Fruit salad, yummy yummy" (insider Wiggles humor).

The first thing I noticed when the Wiggles entered in their "Big Red Car" was that Greg, the "Yellow Wiggle" had been replaced. Apparently he has quit the Wiggles due to a medical condition.



Another thing I learned is that the Wiggles, for all of their worldliness, seem to have as much geography knowledge about the USA that most USA kids have about Australia. Anthony, the blue Wiggle, as part of his banter with the other Wiggles, said that he just learned that Albany is the capital of New York.

The show was fun for Maya and Maverick. Maya especially loved the song "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," as she sings and does the motions for that at preschool. Maya, towards the end, was getting very tired and needed a nap, so was a bit grouchy. Maverick was just plain silly, doing slides on the floor as well as dancing.

It was a good time. Thanks to the Heleba family http://www.helebafamily.blogspot.com/ for the invitation and the tickets!