Small Setback

Yesterday evening we took Julie to the McDonald's playland for a little time out of the house. We went to the one for toddlers...no climbing or sliding or anything, just plastic animals to crawl around on. About 10 minutes into playing, an unsupervised toddler barreled into her, hitting her right in the surgery ear. (The kid knocked down two children, actually...why are parents so irresponsible about watching their kids there? Grrrrr.) Julie reacted in a way that we only see when she is truly in pain. Then we saw the blood. Oh my, the blood. The lady at the next table was a pediatrician and she ran over to look. She said it looked like part of the incision had opened and maybe we should go to the ER. We quickly gathered our things while holding napkins to Julie's head. I rode in the backseat of the car to keep applying pressure. Julie was fairly hysterical, mostly about the blood on her hands. We decided to go home so we could see how it looked and get her head bandage. It was chaos. Julie was screaming, Melody was screaming, Larry and I were in crisis mode. There was blood on Larry's shirt and pants, my shirt and undergarment (soaked through my shirt), Julie's shirt and pants, the bathroom rug, the floor, the cabinet, the sink...everywhere, it seemed. Amazingly, we managed to stop the bleeding and clean everybody up while placing a call to the on-call ENT in our practice. It happened to be Julie's surgeon! He called us back and said not to go in. Suturing the wound would just risk more infection. He said we could use ice and ibuprofen to help the swelling if we wanted to. We felt so much better after talking to him. Julie was fine after we cleaned her up, minus the swelling and bruising behind her ear. So that's our small setback. Things are fine today, but we're feeling much more vigilant about her activities (the Dr. had cleared her for play, in case you're wondering). She's going back to preschool next week, but I think I'm going to talk to them about recess. We don't need a repeat of yesterday!

In other news, Melody has learned to say "hi." It is SO sweet! She said it to a lady at church today, who exclaimed "she's too small for words to be coming out of her mouth!" That is so exciting to hear! Melody is also now able to sign "more" and then "please" together. Two signs together, at 13 months!

Julie has made a huge leap forward in language as well. I can't even adequately convey the significance of this one. We have been trying for SO long to help her get it. It's been one of the major items that has made her seem "different" from other 2-3 year-olds. What is it? The word "yeah" (not "yay," but the casual form of "yes"). Previously, I could say "do you want to watch a video" and I'd be met with silence or maybe with "video." I could say "do you like your food?" and I'd feel like I was talking to the air. Now, however, I get an amazing reply..."yeah!" I can say "do you want some juice" and Julie will exclaim "yeah!" Or she'll use it on her own, like "go playground, yeah!" Maybe it's hard to grasp why this is so exciting to me. I don't know how to put it into words. Suddenly I'm having an actual conversation with Julie...getting a reply...sensing comprehension...interacting...receiving confirmation from her...connecting...talking with my daughter, not just to her. Her words are flowing more and more. It is truly amazing and gives me such renewed hope for her future. I know that God has great plans for her life and I am honored to be part of them.

Finally, I want to note that Julie is doing so well with the potty. She has decided that she wants to go #2 in the potty now, mostly to get the lollipop reward. That's fine with me! We've had several successful #2's in a row now, so I think she's pretty much got it. We even tried putting her in underwear overnight, but she woke up wet. We'll just use pull-ups for now. I do have to work with her on wiping technique. Yesterday she wiped (#1) and then pulled the tissue up and wiped Melody's nose!!! ACK! Today she did the same thing to herself! I can see I have some work to do (cough!). It'll make a good story one day, and Melody will have fun holding it over Julie's head, I'm sure! :-)