Farewell, Three.

Here is perhaps the most pathetic picture I could ever post of my little guy...immediately post-anesthesia for the kernel removal. He did great, it was fast and easy (once we got to the right place), and everything is good now...

And I must post the final bit of media we have of Liam as a three-year-old. Here he says his full name:

Did you catch that? Liam Alexander Milo Bass. Yes, the child has four names, and no, he still can't pronounce one of them. But he's darn cute trying, no?

Tomorrow, my first son turns four years old. 

May.

Time flies...we've had birthdays, school beginnings, school pauses, babies born, kids busy with school, speech development exploding, grandparents buying house, and popcorn kernel embedded in an ear...all in four months. Wow.

January - visits from both sides of grandparents
February - birthdays! Grandma P, Oliver (TWO!) and I all celebrated; my parents bought a lovely house in NE Mesa...
March - lots of births
April - Clara turned nine
May - Liam put a popcorn kernel in his ear, setting off the most ridiculous chain of doctor visits I could ever imagine!

Wednesday night at dinner, Liam told us he put popcorn in his ear. Skeptical, I peeked...and sure enough, could see the thing nice and deep in his ear canal. Thursday morning, we went to Urgent Care where they tried unsuccessfully to remove it...so we went to the ER. Why the big guns? Because I figured the ER had access to an ENT, since every specialty is on call there...and it's a CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, so they would be used to such a thing, right? Well the ER doc took a peek, said it was beyond what he could do, and called in an ENT consult. Well the "consult" was a "call the office and make an appointment." That's what we got after 2.5 hours in the ER. Grrrrr. So I called the ENT - they were closed at lunch for the next hour. Waited, called - they didn't take our insurance. Got another name, made a few more calls, was finally told the PCP had to make the referral. Great. Called our (non-existent, but on the books) PCP and took Liam there on Friday. They tried again (unsuccessfully) to remove the offending object, and finally referred us on to the ENT I knew we needed two days prior. Drove actross town to the ENT, where the peeked, and said he'd need sedation in the OR to remove it - OK, I knew that by now. However, just to get there took another visit to another ENT, and another visit to the PCP for a "pre-op physical." I am SO fed up with the medical system right now - and we still have a popcorn kernel wedged in our almost-four-year-old's ear, a full week (and six doctor visits) later. Tomorrow he goes in for the removal.

More to come.