I have no excuse

I have no excuse for not updating the blog. I have some great photos and stories to share from this holiday season. I'll just have to take it in small chunks, so consider this the first installment. We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of gifts and visiting family. Actually, the gift giving was pretty much continuous for days as we celebrated Hanukkah, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, not to mention catching up with grandparents for New Year's Eve. Anyway, I love this picture of Sylvie who got a trunk of princess dresses from Santa. She dressed in her finest to fix things around the house with Rex's toy drill. It sort of sums up Christmas Day.

The day after Christmas, Rex split open his chin while taking his bath. I hauled him out of the tub to find a very deep gash under his chin pouring out blood and fat cells. I slapped a washcloth on it and called my brother Johnny. He came running and I immediately sent him back next door for Grandma Karen (his mother-in-law) as well. I pulled some jammies on Rex. Sylvie was scared to death and tried to be as helpful as possible. I foisted Sylvie off on Karen and threw Johnny and Rex in the car and took off for yet another visit to the Children's Hospital with Rex . They slapped a bandage on him in triage and sent us to a room in which we waited for the next 4-5 hours for a doctor to have enough time to put some stitches in him.

Well, that time came after midnight when he was totally hyper with over-tiredness. First they gave him a narcotic to make him drowsy; it didn't work at all though he got a little loopy calling a toy Kangaroo a rabbit so we know it had some effect. In fact, my friend Nancy suggests that it might be a good test for when the kids are teenagers and I want to see if they are using drugs. I'll just wave the kangaroo around and see how they identify it. They then put Rex in a baby straightjacket, which he loved. He kept telling us, giggling madly, that he was a baby burrito. Then they washed the wound with cold sterile water producing more giggles. By this time, the nurses were themselves laughing over what a strange guy he was to be taking this so calmly. After that came shots of lidocaine directly into the cut, ouch. He didn't like that so much but no real crying. It made me want to cry. Finally, they stitched him up with four stitches. He did great. What was funny was that on the final stitch we realized that he had Houdinied himself out of the straightjacket and was waiving his little hands at us.

The problem is that he loves going to the hospital b/c he's the center of attention with Sylvie not around. He thinks it's a fair trade for a little discomfort. I thought the stitches would change his mind, but I think not. Here are some pictures from our Boxing Day trip to the hospital.

My little man. He only has this expression on his face b/c he's realized that the in-room TV didn't have any cartoons (in the Children's Hospital! What?)

Pretending to be contrite . . .

But really having the time of his life - Mommy, not so much at midnight.

Baby Burrito

Is that you rabbit?

Next installment hopefully will be photos from our big family trip to Ft. Bragg and Philo, CA.