A Cousin Visits!

We were blessed with another special visit from a family member this month! Mommy's cousin Emily from the Thompson family came to visit for a week! Such a treat! Emily wants to be a PT like Mommy, and used this as an excellent excuse to come visit and observe! We were happy to help!


Drew took all of about an hour before he became attached to Emily - "Emilens"! (Sounded awfully close to ambulance!) Emily was a trooper the whole week and played along with Drew and all his antics to get her attention and presence wherever he wanted to be. He obviously picked up on her sincerely loving being with kids and took full advantage. The first night, Mommy & Daddy planned to go to Julia's graduation and have Emily stay home while Drew slept. But with all that Drew had been through in the last few days with the tooth, etc., Mommy stayed late to make sure he got down to bed normally - much to her chagrin, Drew asked "Emilens turn" when it was time to go to bed - oh no you didn't! Mommy stayed home to put you to bed you little squirt! The other thing that was quite surprising, but amazing, was that Emily was able to brush Drew's teeth that first night! This was a taxing task even before he lost his tooth, and even worse since then. Mommy was starting to get to the end of her rope since the dentist said it was even more important now to keep them clean to prevent infection in the gum. Well, Mommy tried to brush Drew's toys' teeth and then Drew's - this intrigued him, but was not to be so easily tricked. When it was offered for Emily to brush his teeth - he happily opened his mouth & let her brush them completely! What a little stinker! It was decided then and there that we would be happy for Emily to stay with us as long as she wanted! :)


We had a fun time playing in the evenings with everyone, and showing Emily a little bit of true Texas/Fort Worth flavor. No Texas visit is complete with out some good Tex-Mex food, which we enjoyed more than once while she was here. Being the beginning of summer, we didn't pass up the opportunity for 7-11 slurpees or Sweet Sammies ice cream sandwiches either! Oh, and Emily got in her observation hours too! :) She told us she had a good time with everything, hopefully being truly honest! We had a great time spending so much time with her & hope she can come back to visit somehow - we've already offered our home for any PT internships or to just come to school at TWU with using our address for her residency to get in-state tuition! We hope she does well wherever she ends up - she will be a gift to any of her patients for sure! In the short time she spent just observing, she made connections with staff and patients, even getting a hug from a few on her last day! A skill that can't be taught - earning patient's respect and trust - she's already on her way to being a great PT!


As for cousin, props to her for making the trip to Texas - thanks for bringing the Thompson love to us, down here in Texas. You are on a short list of people willing to do that for quite some time (and yes, this is an easy & purposeful guilt trip to all the others who haven't been to visit! Will it work? Only time will tell)! Love you! Tell everyone how fun it can be to visit! :)

Mourning the Loss of a Tooth

So, the joke amongst the Palmer family for some time now is that Drew will get stitches or go to the ER before cousin Luke (2 years older). Well, Joyce was the first to say it, and she was right! While I heartily agreed, the naive part of my mind never thought it would be this soon, and never thought through what that might entail physically and emotionally. Sadly, now I know...

We got a call from Drew's daycare around 4:30 today (though mom didn't recognize the phone number because it was coming from the teacher's cell phone, so it was ignored, oops!) So Daddy got the call and was quickly on his way, even though Mommy was only moments away - he needed to be on his way to join us anyway as it turns out, so it was ok...

So Mommy walked into the daycare, unknowing that an emergency call had put in, and was taken back a bit when approached so quickly by the director's daughter, essentially escorting me to my son in his room where he always was...then they mention, if the tooth falls out, put it in milk and they might be able to save it...now is when I realize that something has gone awfully wrong. I get my hands on Drew and peek into his mouth to see the top left front tooth cracked and part of it slipped down past the rest of the tooth. More is starting to sink in...Drew is doing quite well, not crying or fussing, just not crazy about anyone getting too close to his mouth. The teacher explains he was playing with the door to the classroom & it bounced back from the wall and caught him in the face. We sign out, including the inevitable incident reports, and head home, where Daddy is waiting and calling our dentist, who we can't get a hold of. We get back in the car, drive to our dentist, just in case they are still in the building, since they are only minutes away, but no luck. Mommy starts to call the list of pediatric dentists that Dr. Worsley (pediatrician) has given us and told us to make an appointment with multiple times...now I'm regretting not doing that. It's after hours, and low & behold, they don't offer call backs from the on-call for people that aren't their patients - go figure! :) So, I call our pediatrician's after hours clinic, explain what's happened, and they say to the ER we are to go.

So, we head back home, pack a few things in the diaper bag to hopefully entertain Drew, and head downtown to Cook Children's ER. We got in pretty quickly with a nurse, and then onto a different area to wait for the doctor. Drew was doing MARVELOUS, staying calm & content, and even letting all sorts of strangers look into his mouth - quite impressive! The doctor took a look, and realized this was meant for a dentist, so put in the call to their on-call. We waited to hear back and it was decided that the dentist really needed to come in to see what could be done. Drew is still doing really well at this point, only having a few times of 'melt-down' which is quite reasonable considering it was dinner time and night time to shortly follow, but neither of those things were about to happen. Poor kid wasn't even allowed anything to drink until a dentist could see him! :( Thankfully Mommy's lap & the movies on TV were quite comforting and distracting. Unfortunately, pregnant Mommy was starting to get to the end of her ability to hold out for food, so made a quick escape to the hospital cafe to grab something to keep her on her feet during the rest of the ordeal. The dentist was surprisingly quick and in the room when Mommy returned. It was quickly decided that x-rays of the mouth were needed - these were NOT easy. Unfortunately, Mommy was no help since x-rays are a no-no for baby on the way. They were able to get a partial glance, and it confirmed that the tooth couldn't be saved, but needed to be pulled - here comes the fun part, right!

So, Drew got some 'giggle juice' sprayed in his nostrils and quickly became quite loopy and goofy - pretty funny stuff. Very similar to before getting the ear tubes placed. So all is well until it comes time to wrap him up to keep him from moving - a pillow case behind his back with his arms in it, then wrapped snuggly with a blanket to keep the rest of him still. They put a clamp on this teeth to keep his mouth spread apart - this is where Drew really starts to be unhappy. He gets a few shots of numbing agent in his upper gum - not fun either - and then almost immediately the dentist starts to pull the tooth, so not sure how effective the numbing agents were there. Drew is miserable and screaming. Mommy & Daddy are in the room, praying, holding Drew's legs for the little bit of comfort we could give, but mostly just enduring the pain our boy is going through with him, not able to do anything to help. The tooth ended up being cracked into 3 pieces - split vertically to the gum line, and then horizontally - this last piece was NOT easy to get - Drew's heart rate got up to 200 bpm at this point. They weren't overly concerned with this, and I know it's tolerable for a short period of time for them, but Mommy started to cry along with Drew at this point - I just was so sad for my little boy being hurt so much!

It did all end, and Drew was quickly swept into Mommy's arms. He didn't want anything to do with gauze to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Was quieted relatively quickly, and was happy to take to the popsicle offered by the nurse. No reason to hold back, he grabbed it with both hands and devoured it before the nurse even left, quickly asking "More!". The nurse could hardly refuse, so another was brought and quickly eaten as well. At the end of 2 popsicles, with teeth fragments in our pocket (in a cute little tooth container of course), we left the ER about 4 hours later than we arrived.

We got home and fed Drew some more soft foods - on his diet for the next week or so - which he happily ate. Then upstairs to get ready for bed, and not a moment later, Drew of course is running all over the place - he obviously didn't realize the connection! Aunt Lynne & Cousin Taron were here when we got home, working on a graduation present/project for Cousin Julia, so they got to be the first to re-live the entire encounter with us and see the partially gummy smile that Drew is now toting. After Drew was in bed, and all was cleaned up, they were also the ones to offer support to Mommy crashing in and crying over the events of the evening...mourning the loss of a baby tooth and the vanity of a 'perfect' smile for the next 4 years, plus or minus 2 years! We were expecting to be at Drew's preschool graduation where he with his class were to sing a song or two (would have been hilarious, right?!), but ended up in the ER instead. The exhaustion, physically and emotionally, coupled with pregnancy hormones made it impossible to avoid a full blown cry...ah well.

We all slept well that night, though Drew had some rough nights the next 2 or 3 following, resulting in Daddy sleeping on the floor of Drew's room and Mommy doing lots of laundry of blood-stained sheets and blankets. But by Monday, all seemed on the mend. We aren't seeing any blood anymore, and food doesn't seem to bother him, though we are taking it easy with anything that could be a little too harsh. He quickly adapted to chewing initially on the right side of his mouth until broken down enough for the left side to play a part. Poor kid will probably feel weird when the permanent tooth finally comes in - he won't remember ever having a tooth there! The pediatric dentist did say it is likely that the adult tooth will take longer to come through, seeing as that the path will be closed. Our dentist said it was likely that they'll have to cut through the scar tissue to let the tooth come through. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, as soon as this new baby arrives & we can make changes to our insurance plan, we'll be adding Drew to our dental insurance and making an appointment, just like our pediatrician asked us to about a year ago!

22 Months

So, the days keep flying by, and Drew keeps changing and changing, amazing us along the way...


Drew's Class Picture from Preschool! A few smiles, but I'm just impressed they are all looking at the camera at the same time!

Well, we know this boy is active, but he has really started to rev it up this month, as well as playing around with it! It is not uncommon to see him walking around, doing what can best be described as a shoulder shrug with an arm pump, usually the right arm - just when walking around being silly or when he's liking the music! He's such a goofy little boy! He also is almost never seen running without pumping his right arm back & forth quite purposefully and mush more than the left, or what would happen 'naturally' when running! Sometimes he'll top it off with weaving or scissoring his feet & legs. Other times, we've caught him walking in slow motion purposefully, or 'sneaking' off somewhere - it can be quite funny when we catch it! This boy just loves to play around with movement I guess!


As is supposed to happen, he is becoming more and more expressive, and is now frequently using 2-3 word sentences, and just lately, every now & then will stream 4 words together. Two of my favorite phrases that make me smile are often after a bump (which happens ALOT) he'll come looking for attention from us, needing only a little peck of a kiss and off and running he goes again. But he's started to beat us to saying "Beda" (Better) right after the kiss - just the cutest! He has also started to use the phrase "Have it" to ask for items, sometimes putting up his hand! It's hard to describe how cute this can be at times with his little voice and hand posed just so, so you'll have to see it for yourself or just trust me - it's pretty stinkin' cute, despite the obvious lack of manners that goes along with it! We'll have to work on turning it into "Have it, please"! He has also started to show some skill at repeating some of those basics we want to teach our kids, with reciting the ABCs, counting to 10, and trying to spell his name! Now, we are pretty impressed with this, but know that there is work to do as there are quite a bit of letters or numbers skipped, but we are pleased with his progress so far. He loves to race to the end of the ABCs and receive his applause. For counting, he often gets to 4 and skips to 8 or 9, finishing it off with "NUMBERS!" And for his name, the E is almost always left out, but 3 out of 4 ain't bad! He is quite proficient at his colors and shapes, rarely making a mistake. We've moved past the primary colors, and are adding in purple, pink, brown, black, white, grey - he just soaks it up! He does great with his shapes as well, pointing them out, identifying, and trying to draw (though this is usually a circle). We are pumped about him picking this up for sure!


He still loves to sing, learning and picking up on more and more. He will request different songs at naptime or bedtime, but most of the time, loves to sing along to the Doxology. Other favorite songs are ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, Happy & You Know It, Mr. Sun, and our variation, Mr. Drew. He does still love to dance to songs, music, and especially his guitar! It can be quite hilarious really! He has also started to voice his preferences regarding some clothing items. He does love to wear our sunglasses as well. (Mommy will be needing a new pair soon thanks to Drew's handling!) He can be quite adamant about his shoes and socks. Two separate days he insisted on putting clothing over his pajamas - thankfully he was equally accepting of the pictures that followed!



With the morning nap gone, the mornings can be quite long if not broken up by some sort of 'activity', so we try to get out of the house, frequently heading to the park (where he can spend almost the entire time on the swing!), the zoo, or running some sort of errand. One very rainy day this week, that just wasn't an option, and being cooped up inside was making us both stir crazy, so we had our first inside 'tent' experience. Drew got a good little kick out of it, and it was a nice diversion for Mommy too. Of course, it didn't take my little snuggler too much to enjoy a 'structure' made out of blankets - we got lots of snuggle time that day!



As if it wasn't already obvious that Drew is all boy, his favorite toys for sure are his Legos and anything with wheels. He loves to play with Legos with his Daddy - and Daddy loves it too! (The toddler sized Lego man is one of Daddy's creations of course!) He is quite fascinated with cars in general, with his favorites being garbage trucks, buses, and motorcycles! We look for those ALL THE TIME when in the car!



Luke's Birthday Party was a real treat - Drew had a blast playing on the playground, barely stopping for pizza or cake! He also LOVED the balloons, if that wasn't obvious already from the pics below. Thankfully Uncle Joel was thoughtful and let us take one home as a party favor - Drew played with it until it lost almost all the air!



Now, to finish it off, lots of people have asked if Drew understands that he's going to be a Big Brother. We are pretty hesitant to commit to Drew getting it really, but every now and then, he will do or say something that makes us think something is starting to trigger. The last night Drew spent in the nursery he noticed a few things that had changed with Mommy working on making the switch between the 2 rooms. There were a few items on the wall by the changing table that had been taken down quite a while ago with Drew repeatedly knocking them down that reappeared. He made quite note of those & then pointed to the changing table and stated: "Dipa...Baby". I quickly affirmed that yes, that was where we changed Baby's diaper...hmm, maybe there's a little bit of grasping what's coming?! Daddy will ask Drew to kiss the baby, and he will quickly come to kiss Mommy's belly, so yes, there are a few things he gets. However, just like we expect, his world, as well as ours, will be rocked when this baby arrives. There's no amount of mental prep that can happen to get us ready for the adjustment that will have to take place...but we are comforted in the fact that there are families everywhere that have had children 2 years apart, and they are still surviving!