off to Duluth

so we are headed to Duluth (in a blizzard) to have Parker's ENT second opinion appointment. After what happened at the preschool screening I decided to push a little harder and be that mom and take things a little more aggressively. When I hadn't heard back by 10 am on Monday after the screening I called the Duluth Clinic to be sure they saw my request in the system. They did. But it was in the wrong section of the system, so we went ahead and made the appointment for Wednesday the 18th. We just happened to get 5 inches of snow today and it is still snowing...so in Duluth terms, they probably have like a foot by now! So I got Milo to ride along with me for company and an extra set of hands.

Emmitt had his 1 year well child check yesterday and Parker had his first dentist appointment. The whole day was very interesting and exhausting. I do it to myself. I have a day off, so why not schedule everything that needs to be done, on one day, all by myself (Bear is gone for the week working). I am a glutton for punishment, I swear.

While at Emmitt's appointment-which was horrible I might add-I had the Doc just check in Parker's ears to see if he still had fluid (flat tymps) and he said "oh, yeah...when is your appointment in Duluth?". He actually let me look in his ears to see what it looked like. It was terrible. Bulging, gross, ear drums...ick! So he said the good thing is we have the appointment, the bad thing is that he has had fluid on his ears for at least 10 days.

Emmitt had 4 shots, he has bruises on one thigh. They poked his finger for lead levels. His hands were super warm, which meant he bled for a long time. Parker was really ready to leave the clinic, but I couldn't get Emmitt's finger to stop bleeding. So the nurse wrapped it tight in a bandaid and as we were walking out to the reception desk Emmitt bit the bandaid off and the blood just kept coming. So I sit down and apply pressure, all the while holding him tightly so he would quit moving, which just made him squirm and scream more! Parker is now swinging the rope gate back and forth. I finally make eye contact with the receptionist and get another bandaid, simply by mouthing the word bandaid and the look on my face. Finally got that under control and out to the car and Parker has to pee! I actually made him hold it and told him he could have a surprise at home if he made it all the way there. He did.

Later on in the afternoon I took Parker to his first dentist appointment. He did perfect. I wasn't sure if he would sit in that chair the hole time but he did. We had read Mercer Mayer's Just Going to the Dentist book a few times yesterday and then again in the waiting room. It was the perfect book. We got in there and the nurse asked if he had a cold. Nope he just sounds like that. She wasn't sure he was even breathing through his nose or if he would handle the cleaning because he wouldn't be able to breath through his mouth. Well he did. Sort of. We realized he was basically holding his breath and then taking a really big one when he needed to. I covered his mouth and asked him to breath through his nose and he can...a little. It's definitely restricted though. All the more reasons to go to Duluth!

I'll keep you updated on what happens tomorrow...