Sliding into a whole new Zachary--we hope

Zachary is going to be my outdoor child. Don't get me wrong, Calvin & Emerald love to play outside, too. However, the never reacted the same way Zachary does to wanting to be outside, and the sheer disappointment (aka tantrum) when he is forced to come inside. This day was the first time we'd had him go down our Ft. Garmin slide (in our backyard). I think he is hooked. The top 2 pics are him trying to climb up w/o our help. The little man shows a lot of determination. He also tried to climb the window the other day. The front room window was open and he stood on his tip-toes reaching for the rim, got his fingers on the window sill, and hiked a leg up the wall. Skip and I are a little worried!

We really hope today was a step in a new direction, aka a "slide" transitioning Zach into better oral habits. This morning he had his Frenulectomy, or his tongue "clipped". His tongue was tied pretty tight, and the ENT agreed he needed it clipped. The procedure (it was called a surgery, but really, didn't seem to be worthy of the title surgery) literally took less than 5 minutes. It took longer to prep him, sedate him, and walk out to the waiting room, than the actual time spent working on him. This is nice compared to his surgery last August. Skip took him, and said he came out pretty well from the sedation. He just seemed angry that they took his milk away from him before he was done. That tells me he was back to normal :) When he walked around the corner and saw me he gave that sweet little smile of his, and was playing with his tongue (in his mouth). I got to see him stick his tongue out beyond his teeth for the very first time this morning, and it was so sweet! A little Tylenol today, take it easy on the food, very little salty foods, and he should be fine. Now let's hope that this opens avenues for him to eat larger pieces of food, and can move his tongue around to work on forming words.

Zach's procedure seemed even more minor to us after what I witnessed last night. My neighbor called me and asked me to go to the ER with her for her 3 year old girl. She had fallen in the tub, on a toy, and there was a lot of blood. We drove her to Children's Mercy South, but they chose to transport her via ambulance to the downtown location. Thankfully surgery wasn't needed and she finally got to come home around 6:00 am. That was one of the scarier times in life--ranks up there with Zach's scary birth!! We were all very concerned for her, and are still praying she heals up nicely. Today she had to go back to the doc and might have to have a transfusion due to the amount of blood loss. It hurts so much seeing these little munchkins in pain, us being helpless for them. Singing to them & rubbing their little heads just doesn't seem like enough. She is a trooper for enduring 2 sticks for her IV, and putting up with what they did. Hugs to the family and praying that she continues to heal. I left them at the hospital so I could get home to send Skip w/ Zach for his surgery. Luckily I was able to get a couple hours of sleep, more than I can say for my neighbors.

Hears wishing all the kids stay healthy!!!!!!!!