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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Smiley, Horseflies, the Cubs, and Christmas shopping

I suppose I should comment on tonight's second loss in a row to the Cubs or risk looking like a sulking loser, but in truth I didn't see/hear the game and only caught the final score on the web. It's lousy but there's a long way to go in the season and I'm gonna O'Hara this one and say tomorrow's another day.

The Cubs still suck, btw. Just in case anyone forgot ;)

* * * *

I spent most of the afternoon at a pair of doctor's offices with Smiley. We're aggressively trying to determine a cause for his lack of speech, and more importantly find a solution. Disgustingly nothing much happened today. One doc officially noted a speech development problem and referred us to someone else. We traipsed over to Doc #2 and were referred again to a different set of doctors, etc. So on Thursday Lisa will take Smiley to Children's Hospital for testing I'd hoped to have completed today.

Meanwhile we're trying to teach him sign language, with mixed results. 'Please' and 'help' seem to have caught on but to cope with years of his speech problems he's mixed in a bunch of signs he created himself. It's all kind of a jumble right now.

But no boo-hoo and no pity fest. The kid's happy and handsome and healthy. One of the doctor's today asked if I had any concerns about him beyond his speech. I dismissed the question immediately. "He's as healthy as a horse. Look at him, the kid's built like a brickhouse."

(for the record, he's 39# as of today)

Knock on wood about the health.

* * *

You know, there's a disturbing amount of flies buzzing around inside my house tonight. I killed three in the bathroom alone. As a matter of fact a big horsefly just buzzed by my head. How big? If this was WWII I'd have mistaken him for a Messerschmidt.

That's truly a scary big bugger.

I guess I'll have to redo the insulation around the window air conditioner.

* * * *

I had a great comedic line in that fly section that I edited out to avoid the slight chance of a misconception that would hurt someone's feelings, someone who to my knowledge has never read this blog and doesn't know it even exists. Better safe than sorry.

Still, sometimes the self-censorship that makes this site work makes me gag. One of these days I'm going to have an epiphany ala George Carlin (he of the once clean routines) and just go ga-ga.

* * * *

We got the majority of our Christmas shopping done last week as we hit the pre-season clearance sales, and wrapped up all the back to school shopping today.

Yea us!

 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG how can you have all the Christmas Shopping done? We don't even know the hot items! HA! And then there are those pre-Christmas Sales...HA! They have Halloween stuff out now though. I went Hannah Montana wild on Back to school for my niece for her birthday. She loved it. Personally, this bts stuff out this early is pathetic! We have a month left before our fall term starts!

We had like 50 flies in our apt hallway...OMG...I think some midsummer hatching thing is going on. I had never seen anything like it.

Anonymous said...

Second comment first is somehere way out "there" !!!
Sorry that you still have not found the real reason for the wee fella's lack of speach,  however as you say he is a healthy lad and that is the main thing..and I am sure that one day he will just start speaking and shock you all  That is my prayer anyway.  Good on you for getting your Christmas shopping done. I wish all parents were as sensible.
Love  Sybil xx

Anonymous said...

I saw a horsefly the other day too--it's been years since I saw one, but there he was on the screen. They are HUGE. As for regular flies, everyone has noticed that they seem to be really bad this year. Perhaps a Biblical plague?

Hope you find out more about Smiley. Good luck.

I didn't notice a whole lot of suckiness coming from the Cubs last night. ;)

Beth

Anonymous said...

Amazing that you have already started your Christmas shopping!  I used to have mine all done by September most years.

I do hope your child's speech improves.

Hugs, Rose

Anonymous said...

I think its good news that no one can find the reason why Smiley isn't talking.  By this I'm hopeing its no big thing.....he will be the tall and silent type :)....Anyway I too hope and pray that he will just start talking....he is a sweety.

My granddaughter and I found a big horse fly the other day, it took me by surprise, she said that they don't bite, but I think that they do, but didn't correct her....We determined that deer flys bite....Just small talk with my grandchild.....

OMG,  Christmas shopping done, that's great....and school hasn't even started....

Jeanne

Anonymous said...

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING?????  It's not even August yet Dan.  I'll bet your little one will one day just start talking.  He's just not ready yet (I hope).  Kids are all different.  Maybe all the sign language has made it too easy NOT to talk...just a thought.
Hugs, Joyce

Anonymous said...

;)  we pay a quarter a fly around here.  Pey's made a few dollars this summer from swatting flies.

Children's Hospital sounds very promising...I hope they give you some results to work with.  Best of luck with it.

Take it easy~
~Bernadette

Anonymous said...

In my minimal experience (just my family and the other siblings), our first borns spoke very early and our second borns stayed silent til past age two.  My theory is that the older ones tend to interpret the grunts and points of the younger sibling, so the younger has no need to learn in the same way the older did.  I hope that the test results are something you can work with.  Good Luck, Estela

Anonymous said...

Yup, you are like us, we get our Christmas shopping done early also.  We are pretty much done except for some gift cards.  

As for the Cubs, well.... They Rock :o)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on getting the shopping done early. I have found that even if I get it all done by October 1st--my usual goal--I'm still picking up little things "for stocking stuffers" right up until midnight Dec 24.

;^) Jan the Gryphon