margaretyagan

On Monday morning I was surprised to see that Mom and Dad were both home to celebrate the holiday.  Aunt Claire and Jess Hurt were around to share the fun, too.  Dad took me to cooking class and we made delicious raspberry muffins!  On our way home, we stopped by the park and had a really fun time in the hot hot sun.  Aunt Claire stopped by on her way to somewhere fun.  We headed back home and I hung out with Mom and Jess Hurt the rest of the day.  For dinner, I got to help everyone cook and even helped Dad with the grill up on the roof.

On Tuesday, Mom and I went to music class and we loved the substitute teacher that we had.  He was so much better than the one we had last time.  After Wiggleworms, Mom and Jess Hurt took me over Nana’s and Grandpa’s for fun afternoon of eating, reading, and playing.  Dad picked me up on his way home from work.

I’d been looking forward to Wednesday for two whole weeks.  It was my follow-up appointment to see how my hand is doing.  Aunt Claire took me to the hospital where we met Daddy.  It took a really long time to get in and see the doctor, but I kept the receptionists amused with my talking and dancing.

The first thing we did was go in and get my old cast taken off:

I wasn’t even scared!  Then we went into the X-ray room where they took a few more pictures of my hand (and gave me two Elmo stickers!).  Then I went into my own room and waited to see a doctor.  After a few minutes, she came in and said that my hand didn’t need to be immobilized any more — no more cast!  My bones seem pretty healed, but they won’t know about the growth plate on my middle finger for a few more months.  Dad was pretty worried that I would be out of a cast, but after a few minutes of conversation, we were on our way home.  I spent the rest of the day enjoying having two hands!

I spent Thursday morning with Julie.  We would have gone to soccer practice now that I dont have a cast, but the weather was too yucky.  Nana came over and we had a great time.  She was so excited to see me with my cast off!  I danced around, ate a great lunch, and read many books before nap time.  I kept on saying “look Nana, I have two hands; no more cast!”  Nana gave me so many hugs and kisses today!

I had a fun Friday morning with Julie.  When I got up from my nap, Mom announced that I wasn’t going to wear diapers any more.  I ran around the house naked most of the day, allegedly to help me get access to my potty when needed.  Well, as it turns out, I had zero successful uses of the potty and three accidents.  As Dad’s old basketball coach used to day, “There’s only one way out of a valley!”

While Saturday got better, it was mostly through brute force.  Because we were so focused on potty training, we didn’t go on the usual trip to the grocery story.  I spent a lot of time just sitting on the potty hoping that I’d accidently go in it.  Well, I went in it a few times (three to be exact), but the best part was that Mom and Dad let me watch so much TV to get me to sit on my potty.

Any progress that might have been made on Saturday went away on Sunday.  I overheard Mom saying she thought Sunday would be great and that I’d be potty-trained by the end of the day.  Hahahahahahaha!  Not only did I have more accidents and fewer successes, I did so with panache.  For example, after sittig on the potty for fifteen minutes, I got up, walked over on to the carpet, and let out a huge pee all over everything.  Dad thought he could take me over to Bagel on Damen without a diaper.  Ha!  We got no further than the stairs outside of our door when I let out a huge pee that sent me back in to Mom and Dad off to BoD on his own.  I think this potty training thing  will be quite the adventure!

Last year I got my Elmo stolen!

I started feeling a lot better on Monday, which is a good thing, because if I hadn’t, I was going to have to go back home with Mom tomorrow.  We had a pretty low-key day.  I hung out with Mom and then we had lunch with Grandma at Panera. 

The big excitement on Tuesday was taking Mom to the airport.  Aunt Claire and I dropped her off and then made a stop by Whole Foods on our way back to Dow.  I had my best night sleep in a while and woke up on Wednesday in a great mood.  My nose was still very runny but I ate a big breakfast and was finally like my normal self. 

The big event on Wednesday was going to the zoo with Aunt Claire.  Check out these videos from the zoo!

Then I got to go make my own penguin!

And finally, we ended the day with some butterfly catching!

When we got back, I went out to dinner with Grandma at the best mexican restaurant in Madison county, El Mezcal!

On Saturday we went to the Finn Inn, an “aquarium restaurant”:

On Sunday, A/C and I hopped in the car and drove back home!  It was a long trip, but I think I was pretty well behaved and had a really fun time!

A year ago I already loved Starbucks!

I woke up Monday morning with Dad and was delighted to learn about my new schedule.  On Mondays I get to hangout all day with Aunt Claire!  And as an added bonus, two two of us get to go to cooking class.  Normally you’d think cooking requires two hands — but not for me.  We had a fun time making a Very Berry Cherry Salad.  Yum!

We also spent some quality time playing (being careful not to fall on my hand!) and having a yummy lunch before nap time.  My hand is still pretty swollen but I’m definitely getting used to the splint.  After my nap I played with A/C until Dad got home and got me dinner and ready for bed.

Tuesday was another surprise!  More of waking up with Dad and then hanging out with Aunt Claire after he left for work.  We went to music class (Wiggleworms!).  It was fun, but we didn’t realliy care for the teacher.  Maybe I’ll switch to another class session and hope for a better teacher.  When we got home, Nana was here with lunch ready for me.  I ate and had lunch and then had a fun time playing with Nana until dinner time.

Wednesday’s schedule included another full day with Aunt Claire.  Dad got me up and then I went to the top of the stairs and yelled down to Claire: “Aunt Claire, where are you?!”  I played and helped Aunt Claire get ready downstairs and then went to another session of cooking class.  This time we made tebouleh!  Not quite as good as Nana’s, but still yummy!  I sampled each and every ingrediated that came by, so I had to watch my hands a bunch.  We came back home and played in the living room and had an early lunch at 11 so we could leave for the hospital at 11:30, where we met Daddy.  I had to get another x-Ray and have my hand examined.  The bad news is that it looks like I have three broken bones and possible damage to the growth plate on my middle finger.

I got a purple cast and did a great job.  I’m so glad to be rid of my dinosaur blanket!  We gothome and read two books and then went to sleep for a very long nap.  When I got up, A/C celebrated my new cast with a trip to get ice cream!  There was a tornado watch so we ran downstairs and hid.  We called Aunt Sarah, so it turned out to be fun.

On Thursday I woke up not feeling great, but I had a good morning with Julie nonetheless.  I was supposed to go to soccer practice, but my cast made that a bad idea.  Nana came over for the afternoon.

Friday was a terrible day.  The morning was fine with Julie, but I kept feeling worse and worse.  Around 3:00, Aunt Claire, Mom, Dad, and I got in the car and headed down to Dow.  About half-way there, I started running  a really bad fever.  We stopped by a Subway and got a huge cup of ice water to dip towels in.  We got to Grandma and Grandpa Droste’s and I just went to sleep.

Saturday was even worse.  I ended up having to go to the Emergency Room, where I was diagnosed with a virus — meaning I couldn’t get any medicine!   But I did get a purple popsicle!  Sunday was pretty much more of the same.  A lot of sleeping, tylenol, and motrin.  Between my cast and my virus, I was a pretty pathetic site:

Last year I was heading back to school!

Well, this week was my last week at school before my summer schedule of fun with Nana, Aunt Claire, and Julie. But of course, it didn’t pan out that way.

On Monday, I woke up with Julie and had a yummy breakfast before heading out to the park, as usual.  Nana came at noon and deemed that my rash was getting better, but that I should still see the doctor this afternoon.  Mom and I went to the doctor for my appointment at 6:45 pm.  Apparently I have a non-specific dermititis (rash!).  Some good that diagnosis is.  I’m supposed to see a specialist, but we’ll just see if that ever happens.

On Tuesday I got up with Dad and Mom took me to my penultimate day at school.  It was pretty uneventful.  I started bringing some of my stuff home and getting ready for my last day on Thursday.  On Wednesday I woke up with Dad again and Julie came by for breakfast.  We had a fun morning and then in the afternoon, Nana deemed my rash to be much improved! 

So, Thursday started out pretty normal.  Dad got up with me and got me ready for school.  Mom drove me out to school and dropped me off — saying she’d see me around 5:00!  Right around noon, I was standing near the sensory table when a cabinet door fell off a hinge and crashed on to the table, smashing my right hand.  I screamed in pain!  Miss Holly and Miss Laurie tried to sooth my pain and called my Mom, saying that my hand had gotten “pinched.”  Mom didn’t think that sounded too bad, so she didn’t come to get me right away.  To make matters worse, Lexi bit my left arm while I was still dealing with my smashed right hand.

I took my nap and when I got up, my hand was an ugly, swollen mess.  Finally my teachers told Mom to come get me and she was there in no time.  We went straight to the ER got my hand X-rayed.  It looks like I have two broken metacrapels!  My hand was too swollen for a cast, so I got a splint, a bandage, and a sling (“dinorsaur blanket!”).  Once my swelling goes down, I’ll most likely get  a cast.

Well, so now I just have one hand!  Mom and (especially) Dad seemed really upset about what happened.  I was too focused on learning how to get around without my right hand to worry about that.

On Friday I got to show off my dinosaur blanket to Julie.  I had a ton of energy!  We went to the library where we read books about broken bones and being a big sister.  We met Ava and her nanny, Jen, and played with them, too.  Ava and Jen joined us to the park and we even exchanged phone numbers!  We got home just in time for lunch and a nap.

When Mom came home, I started asking “can you help me, I only have one hand!?”  I was also showing off my dinosaur blanket at the park.

On Saturday I went to Nana’s while Mom and Dad went to a wedding and then the three of us all headed out to Baby John’s baptism way out in Geneva. 

On Sunday, Aunt Claire moved in with us!  It was also Father’s Day, so we took Grandpa Yagan out to brunch and even visited Dad’s office — now I know where he goes when he leaves me!

Last year I had tonsilitis!