Grace and Ears

I believe I mentioned Grace's ears at her 12 month wellness. It was the third time her pediatrician mentioned "watching her ears" in the event she got an ear infection. I brought it up and he sent us to a specialist, ENT doctor. We saw one doctor and I didn't care for him, so we sought out a second opinion.

I'm ready for the doctor.

And we're waiting for the doctor...

And we're still waiting...

The second doctor confirmed the issue, but we preferred his way over the last doctor. She needs tubes in both her ears.

She's never had a fever. She's never had an ear infection. But I guess when she's had colds in the past, the mucus can slide down the eustachian tube (which for young children is completely horizontal from eardrum to nose, and as we grow becomes more diagonal - hence why adults don't usually have ear issues like children) and sits behind the eardrum getting stuck. The stuck fluid makes her ability to hear a little more difficult - like being under water. Though I never notice having to raise my voice for her to hear me and she's saying words like: No, thank you, night night, bye bye, hi there, mama, dada. The doctor said we could remove the mucus and not insert tubes, but the fluid might return then we'd be back to square 1. This is such a critical age in learning to speak that we don't want to hinder her at all, and so the procedure is super easy (15 minutes), in and out.

Miss Grace is scheduled for surgery in early December. Quite a bummer, but at least it's nothing too major. As she grows the tubes will fall out (in around 6-12 months depending on her growth) and the eustachian tube grows larger making it harder for fluid to get stuck. She should be good to go.

Always smiling! She'll do great!

Potty Time

So the day came where we didn't have anything planned for 3 straight days and started the potty training weekend for William! It started the day after Halloween. The first two days William got to pretend he lived in a nudist colony. We put his Thomas the Train potty smack in the middle of downstairs and reminded him constantly to try #1 and #2. William had just one accident on Saturday (after insisting on wearing underwear, which I think he thought substituted diapers) and same scenario on Sunday - 1 accident when he insisted on underwear. The first day he went 2 (which I've heard can very daunting) all by himself and told me after the fact! So funny! He did the same thing on Sunday with Matt. Good job!

Grace likes the seat

On Monday I gave him more free reign. He got to wear underwear and I wasn't reminding him. But we had a couple accidents. So back to the nudist colony. 

Chilling in our big boy underwear

The next day was a school day. I was thinking about keeping him home, but figured - eh, let's just deal with it. And lo and behold, no accidents! So proud and we went to the toy store right after to pick out a new toy. 

Big boy at school with big boy underwear!

The week has gone by and he did amazing. We went out and about all week long without any accidents. He went to school on Friday and did have an accident, which I was fully expecting because I signed him up for "Lunch Bunch" that day, which means he stays until 2 p.m. They were painting Christmas ornaments that day and I had signed him up before I knew we'd be potty training. William loves art and I didn't want to hold back the little artist. So yes, a new pair of pants were on him and I suspect it happened at lunch bunch when he probably wasn't sure who to be asking to use the potty. No big deal.

To sum it all up - it was pretty easy. He's got it and I'm sure now and then there will be accidents, but it's been quite stress free.

Great job William!!