The little things

As Tricia and I have both realized during the last two weeks, the amount of time and effort of having not one, but two little guys in the house under the age of 2 years is a little crazy. Tricia's maternity leave is on its last leg (1 month left) and year-end push for audit work is picking up for me as well. So I'm basically seeing Kale from 5:30 until 7:00 (maybe) each night and Nolan is about the same, except for our little half hour stint in the morning while we go through the "wake-up" routine. This morning was too funny, Nolan literally was kicking the wall (his sign to let us know he's up) at 6:40 so I open the door and I hear "DAD!" in his little under-stated way. He crawls out of his bed from in-between the safety bar, his pillow, and the wall where he finally gets is footing while rubbing his little belly. Then of course he has to play with his two little pillows that match the quilt while I pick out his outfit for the day. (A green shirt with a Jeep on it, with matching camo pants of course!) We go through the trying to potty routine, which ended with him leaping off stark naked and running to his bedroom without having "made a deposit." We get ready to go, brush his teeth while he holds onto my Sonicare and then he has to help hold my toothbrush while I do mine-he's such a help…maybe he'll be a dentist? After milling around the house we finally get his shoes on, and he helped pull the Velcro over (which he was super excited about). Then winter coat, matching hat, with a sprint to the bedroom he wakes up a sleeping Tricia to get a kiss goodbye then like a flash we're on the way to daycare…all in 15 minutes-not bad. Tomorrow morning I'm taking both boys…so hold on for that update!

Kale continues to give us lots of smiles as well, unfortunately they tend to be before he goes through the new physical therapy regiment of trying to get his head to turn to the left better. Tricia has been running that little guy back and forth between the chiropractor and now PT a lot lately. Our hope is that the flat spot developing (and actually getting worse) on the back-right portion of his skull will meld back into the position that it should be. Kale's ears have become noticeably different in relation to each other and his left eye has started to slightly change as well-both of which are signs that we're doing the right thing by trying to correct the bone movement in his head. We do have an appointment on the books with a orthodontic prostetic specialist next month about getting him into a helmet to shape his head more if needed-so more to come on that I'm sure. (Too bad the Vikings are sucking it up so bad, cause I doubt Tricia will let him wear a Steelers helmet!) Our niece, Allie, had a helmet on and I think that it's one of those things where if we can help Kale out now any future ramifications from having a flat head could be curtailed, but it's tough when you have to turn his head and he doesn't want to!

I think both Tricia and I are recovered from Thanksgiving and our lack of sleep from having two boys in the same room with us, but if anyone has any good ideas as to how to keep a 20-month old from wanting to get out of their sleeping bag and join you every 2/3 minutes I think you'd have an attentive audience! Other than that, the Christmas lights are up outside the house, the tree is lit and ready for gifts to be placed underneath, and the annual Bleck letter is going to get printed tomorrow…all sorts of holiday spirit around our place!

Update from Tricia: Nolan went potty again on Sunday! Adam was giving him a bath and Nolan decided that it was a good time to let some kiddies swim at the pool. Adam quickly grabbed him out of the tub and put him on his potty. While Adam did clean-up Nolan sat there - and when he got up he had gone potty! Adam went from being irritated to really excited in a quick hurry. We know it's going to take a very long time to potty train Nolan, but we're going to keep trying every time we have an opportunity. Nolan is talking a lot now days, and has come home this week with a new saying he picked up at daycare - "I want that". He learned it from the older kids when toy commercials come on during cartoons. Nolan has no idea what he wants, but he likes to say it! Jane called me today to let me know that Nolan loves playing the video game "Just Dance" for the Wii. She said she's impressed with how well he imitates what he sees on the screen. I do have to say he has some killer dance moves!

As Adam said, Kale is requiring quite a few trips around town these days, plus a lot of work at home. The physical therapist did a measurement of his head on Tuesday, and it measured at a 10. Below a 7 means the head is symetrical, so a helmet isn't required. Between a 7-12 rates as moderate, so that's currently where Kale falls. Insurance would cover a helmet at this point, but we can't get him in for the laser measurement of this head until January (he has to be 4 months old). In the meantime he's going to go to physical therapy every other Tuesday from now until February, and I'll continue to take him to the chiropractor for the time being. Adam and I both agree that we're willing to put in the time it takes now in hopes his head will start to correct itself. The PT also told us that his neck muscles might improve if we can get his acid reflux under control. We started him on Prilosec on Monday, and so far the results have been positive. He still spits up a little right after his bottle, but he's no longer spitting up hours after the bottle. Kale is spending as little time on his back as possible, which may help, too. He is keeping himself most busy by trying to get his thumb to stay in his mouth for an extended period of time. He can get it in there, but it falls out soon after. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he'll figure it out before I go back to work!

Tomorrow I'm taking a much needed day for myself while Kale goes to daycare with Nolan. I have a full day planned - Christmas shopping, haircut, massage and pedicure. Here's hoping the weather holds up so the roads aren't terrible! Adam is gone Saturday night at a hockey game in Mankato, so it's just me and the boys. Paulette is coming over to hang out Saturday afternoon, and I have big plans to wrap some Christmas gifts after the boys go to bed. They both go to bed at the same time (between 6:30 and 7), so it does make for a peaceful evening.

Oh - funny story. On the way to my appointments with Kale on Tuesday I saw a turkey and an eagle standing on the ice on Lake Minnetonka. Yes, you read that correctly - a turkey and an eagle. Maybe they were celebrating a late Thanksgiving meal:)