Gunning For His Sister

Kean must be in one of those learning windows.

He's really starting to mimic words and up until

now, he'd get on his "Harley" and was barely able to get it to move.

Now just look at him trying to run over his sisters!

When you have a little one who works as hard as Kean does...

every little accomplishment is h.u.g.e.

I'll be off radar for a few days

but hopefully, will have lots of fun stuff to post when I am back.

Lessons in Love

Nothing has changed.

Reesey still thinks she is Kean's mother, best friend, head therapist and teacher of all things great and small.

After Kean masters Chopin, Reese will be starting on Latin lessons next week.



Grouch-ola for a day

We had a big week for the little guy.  On Wednesday, he had a playdate with Spencer.

Spencer is 6 months older than Kean and has Down Syndrome.

It was fascinating talking with his mother about all they've gone through.... and all the similarities of our lives.

Kim, Spencer's mom, didn't find out they had a Down's baby until after giving birth. 

Sound familiar?

And it was just as initially devastating for them as it was for us.

Of course, knowing what we have now we both wish we could re-wind the clock and erase all that anguish.

Guess it's all just the process of life.

 It was fun to see Spencer doing his "Mowgli" crawl and walk with the aid of furniture. 

I kept hoping Kean would pay attention to his friend's mobility and get some ideas of his own-- but it will come.  And that was what was great about having Spencer and his mom over...

it reconfirmed that it all will come with time.

 I'm hoping the two of them will be friends as they grow up and amaze us.

Yesterday (Thursday), Kean had minor surgery to clear out the gunk in his ears, the mucus in his throat and put tubes in his ears.

We had to be there at 6:45 in the morn.

Kean was the first up and did just fine.

The doc said he had to use a tool to inflate his ear canals so he could get in there.

All D.S. kids have tiny, tiny canals and tubes-- so that wasn't a surprise.

Our boy was grouch-ola all day yesterday-- quite a detour from his normal disposition.

But I'm happy to report he is getting back to his ol' smiling self.



Reunion

Just look at where I caught Reesey yesterday morn-- in bed with Kean. I think she was very excited about his soon to be big day. We went to the park to meet up with some very important friends.

This is my dear, dear friend, Kelly (who drove down to meet us from the Sun Valley area). Her daughter, Emily was a micro-premie. She weighed only one pound something and spent 80 days in the NICU. Her twin sister only lived 10 days. Emily was in the room next to Kean. And Kelly has been my sounding board, my soul sister, my email psychiatrist as we've both found our way through quarantines, therapy and hospital bills. I just wish she lived next door. (Emily has a mouthful of chompers and smiles perfectly anytime a camera is near. She's adorable-- she and Kean were due only one day apart. I think we were all destined to be friends).

And if you are a long time "Girl World" reader, you'll recognize this angelic face-- my all time favorite nurse-- Liz. She was the one who kept me sane during my staycation at St. Luke's and she's also the nurse who helped bring Kean into the world. I love this woman!!! Aren't her boys dashing?

We had the best time... you know, eating, talking, talking, talking. And most of it was even adult conversation. The kids had quite the time playing in the park and splashing in the water. (And eating snow cones-- a right of summer)!

All was well and right with the world until Reese said her eye hurt. Within a half hour or so, it started oozing and swelling up. Yup, you guessed it. PINK EYE!

So much for the partying. Poor Reesey. I just pray little Emily (or the boys) don't get it!

Kelly says we need to get shirts printed up that say "It's always something!" Who wants one?

Playtime

Ahh the goings on around the Barker house. The girls took Kean up to their room while I got some work done. Welcome to the doctor's office. Reese is on the bed on the left with her legs bandaged. Then it was Kean's turn to be the patient patient. He stayed perfectly still while they fussed and bandaged the poor boy. Guess he's had lots of hospital practice.

Then on Sunday, they turned the diaper box into a customized car for Kean.

One thing we can say for sure is the boy is LOVED....

By the way, last week, I broke down and talked Aunt Dana into giving Kean his first real haircut. I couldn't stand the "comb over" dripping into his eyelashes any longer.

He now looks even more like a little boy instead of a baby. But dumb me, I didn't get any pictures of the "finished" do. So I'll get that done and post soon.