PIIIIIINK

I thought we could use a fresh coat of paint around here. I liked the obnoxiousness of the old, green template, but this one just feels happy.

Tomorrow Susan's getting tubes put in her ears to mitigate the repeated ear infection situation. I hate taking the surgical route, but the constant ear and sinus infections were getting to be too much of a problem. The ear, nose and throat doctor described her ears as "just pitiful." How sad is that? She's probably had some pain and hearing loss going on for a while because of fluid built up in her inner ears, we just didn't know about it. Put that on my list of things to feel guilty for - it's about number 1003.

We've put off going to a feeding clinic because of the cost and time commitment this summer, and because she's making good progress on her own. She's drinking from a sippy cup and feeding herself smooth foods like pudding and yogurt. She only takes about an ounce or two at a time, but it's good progress. In August she's going to start going to school for six hour days, and I'm going to try letting her go without tube feeds at school and see how she does. If she starts to lose any weight we'll obviously have to work out at least one tube feeding while she's there, but I think she can handle it.

She has advanced to the status of toddler recently. It's very exciting. She still wants something to hold onto while she's walking, but the physical therapist has managed to trick her into taking as many as nine independent steps at a time. Woo hoo!