That's Funny

Jake is one of the funniest kids I've ever met. I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom. When he finds something funny, he says, "That funny." Tonight, I asked him what makes him so funny. He replied, "beep beep dot com." If you don't watch a lot of TV, beepbeep.com has a commercial with the Road Runner that Jake thinks is hilarious!

We went to OT again today. Even his therapist thinks he's a riot. When he doesn't do what he's told (like not eating or touching food) he goes into "time out." He loves time out. He sings to himself, recites the alphabet, counts and mocks several TV commercials. His therapist can hardly keep from laughing at him when we are all supposed to ignore him.

We got a new CD called Here Come the 123s. There are several songs about numbers and counting. Jake has all of hte songs memorized and really freaks people out when he starts singing, "4 +4 is 8, 8+8 is 16, I can adddd...."

New Do

I've been having problems with my thyroid for several months and I've lost a lot of hair. I avoided my hair dresser for the past 4 months. Today, I decided to take the plunge and heed my endocrinologist's advice and get my hair cut short. Here it is - the hair cut everyone seems to have lately. I think this is the new "Jennifer Aniston" cut.

Random Pictures

We are getting ready for Christmas. The tree and lights are up. Jake is more interested in the porcelain nativity set than the tree. I had to move the set because he kept picking up the figurines.

As you can see in most of the pictures, Jake is obsessed with the iPod. He knows more about the iPod than we do. He can access all of his videos and even wireless internet connections without passwords. Scary!

Jake started OT about 2 weeks ago. He's working on building a tolerance to certain food textures. He's doing very well. Tonight, he tolerated eating some applesauce and touched a piece of cheese to his lips. He continues to gag, but at least he's trying it and not puking.

Jake also got a few early Christmas gifts, including a tricycle, Mr. Potato Head and Elmo slippers. He loves all of them!

I've got one paper left in this semester. I should have it finished by tomorrow and then I'm semi-free of school for 3 weeks. I still have to work at practicum and finish up a bunch of psych evals., but I will feel better without the stress of classes!

Trip to Pennsylvania

We traveled to PA and NJ this past week. We had a great time with friends and family.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in New Jersey with my side of the family. My sister served 22 people in her home. She even planned a pilgrims vs. indians trivia contest! Jake had an awesome time visiting cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. He was so excited about a ping pong match between his cousins that he ran into the table and bruised his eye. I think it will be healed before his Christmas picture this week.

New Obsession

Jake is totally obsessed with this song. Greg is totally obsessed with the singer, Lisa Loeb!

Trick-or-Treat

Pumpkin Patch

Zoo Pictures

We went to the Zoo on Saturday and had a great time.

No Surgery for You!

That's right. Jake didn't have surgery today. We got to Children's at 7:45am with an irritable, hungry kid. We went through every step of the registration process and surgery prep until just before heading off to the induction room. The plastic surgeon stepped into the room and said, "I can't operate on this kid. There's nothing there to remove." Apparently, all of the cauterizations and stitches from last weekend destroyed the pyogenic granuloma. What we thought was a temporary fix, turned out to be the cure. Well, possibly a temporary cure. The surgeon couldn't guarantee that it won't grow back or start bleeding at the site. I had ambivalent feelings about this. I'm glad he didn't need another surgery, but yet can't help but wonder when/if this is going to crop up again. I really don't think I can handle another week like the past one. This dramatic week ended in a fizzle - very anti-climactic. Greg summed it up nicely - "We wanted a homerun, but ended up with a bunch of singles leading to a run."

When a get a chance, I'll post pictures of his sweet face. We're going to the zoo tomorrow, blood and God willing.

Update

We went to Children's Hospital Monday for a plastic surgery appointment. Jake is scheduled to have surgery this Friday. I really had to beg and plead to get this appointment. I'm not too proud to cry, yell or threaten doctors. I've come to realize that I need to go to these doctor appointments loaded for bear. I'm lucky to have a mother who's a nurse who helped me gain a small understanding of the medical world. Even my limited knowledge of medical procedures is helpful in a world that doesn't seem to want to help.
We have excellent children's health care in Cincinnati. I can't imagine living in a place like Pulaski, VA and having this type of crisis. Despite our access to excellent care, it's been difficult navigating this system. I can honestly say that I am COMPLETELY OPPOSED TO SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE!!!! In a world of socialism, I would have to quit my job and school and stay home with Jake to make sure he didn't bleed again before his surgery appointment in 5 months.

A Bloody Mess

This summer a spot appeared on Jake's face. It looked like a blood blister, pretty harmless. It seemed to grow as the weeks passed and finally he scratched it open 2 weeks ago. We got the bleeding under control and put liquid Bandaid on it. Well, this Thursday it openned up again. It bled uncontrollably Friday and I took him to the ped. The ped said it's a pyogenic granuloma and would need to be removed by a pediatric plastic surgeon. The ped cauterized it, but was doubtful that would hold. Sure enough, we were headed to the zoo on Saturday when it started bleeding again. We went to the ER and had it cauterized again and covered with DermaBond. We are scheduled to see a plastic surgeon Monday, but just for a consult. While this may not seem like a crisis, it's caused serious disruption to all of our lives. Jake is slowly bleeding all over his clothes, bedding, not to mention the house. The health care professionals don't seem to be concerned about this because he's not gushing blood. I try not to overreact to these types of situations, but I'm seriously stressed out. We need to get this under control ASAP. I couldn't even take him to church today because I was afraid he would start bleeding all over the place. On top of that, he is sick and vomitted more than I've ever seen a child vomit this morning. Please pray for us. We are incredibly stressed by this (seemingly) benign situation.

Halloween Costumes

I'm a terrible blogger. I just don't have time to take pictures, upload them, and then get around to posting. I'm seriously rethinking this whole blog thing.

But anyway, we went and bought a couple of Halloween costumes today. Two gently used costumes and one from Target. What do you think? Which do you like the best? I think he's going to wear the 2nd dog costume for trick-or-treat. I'm going to try to put together a dog costume for myself. It might just be white sweats with spots and ears. The next town over has a yearly mother-son dance at Halloween. If we can swing it, I think we'll go.

Potty Time

Jake peed in the little potty 3 times in two days. Last night, however, he sat on the potty for 5 minutes, then stood up and peed on the floor. Oh well! I just need him fully potty trained by August so he can go to preschool.

Hello, Hello

In case you want to know, the words are:

Hello, hello, let's sing together,
Hello, hello, let's sing hello,
Hello, hello, let's sing together,
Sing together let's sing hello.

The other verses are Wave to Ben and Bounce to Annie.

Lavendar's Blue is the other song he is singing.

Greg's Artistic Side (by Candlelight)

Greg was inspired by the candlelight. It looks like we have power (b/c of the flash), but we really didn't.

Baby's First Hurricane

Who would've known that we would get hit by a Category I hurricane in Ohio?

We lost power Sunday and have limited power today. Lots of fallen trees, power lines and patchy roofs.
Jake got a little bit fussy when he couldn't go outside or down in the basement.

Caricature

The picture was too big for my scanner.