Alex's First Visit to the Emergency Room

Last night marked Alex's very first visit to the hospital emergency room. Before I go any further, let me assure you that Alex is just fine - he was, and remains, in good spirits about the whole thing.

My parents decided to take us out to dinner last night. We had a wonderful meal at the Outback Steakhouse in Longmont. Alex spent most of dinner taking each of us in turn on a walking tour of the restaurant. So at any time, the remaining three of us had a very nice conversation.

Anyhow, we had just driven home from the restaurant. I was sitting in the back seat with Alex and my Dad. I unstrapped Alex from his car seat and set him on the sidewalk while I got out. He ran across the yard towards the front porch as he often does, while I followed about a yard behind.

But when he got near the front steps, he tripped and fell forward, striking his forehead solidly on the stone face of the front steps. He started crying immediately, and I knew it was a pretty hard knock because of the sound it made. Still I hoped for an instant that all was OK. The blood ended that hope.

The offending stone stair

I've heard many times before that head wounds bleed profusely. Now I believe it. Alex's forehead was bleeding all over the place. I rushed him into the kitchen to get a better look while Dana, Gene and Carla caught up with me to find out what had happened. It was definitely a big gash in his forehead, and we weren't quite sure if anything else had gotten smashed in the accident.

There wasn't much debate - we kind of all decided as a group to hop back in the car and head for the nearest hospital. We weren't sure if MCR in Loveland or Longmont United was closer, but opted for the newer, fancier MCR. In retrospect I now believe they're about equidistant, and probably equally well-equipped.

On the ride up to the hospital, Alex was upset, but gradually calmed down while me and Gene sat on either side of him and comforted him. Grandma and Dana had a couple of Starburst candies which they split into small pieces to give him, which greatly improved his mood. He was talkative and interactive throughout the 15-minute car ride, and we came to the consensus that he hadn't suffered any major brain injury. We also were able to feel his hands and face and figured out that nothing else seemed to be wrong.

After being admitted to MCR, we sat around for an hour or so talking in turn to a trauma nurse, a head nurse, and an administrative assistant. Everyone agreed that Alex needed a few stitches to sew up the gash in his forehead. By the time we got to the ER, it had stopped bleeding, but was still a big enough cut to need attention.


We had the presence of mind to keep his diaper bag with us, which had a small stash of toys, books and food. Alex had two of his favorite trucks with him the whole time, plus a great new truck book he got from G&G over Thanksgiving.




Here Grandma and Grandpa sit patiently and watch the patient


Alex was really happy and calm for most of his visit to the ER. He was really jazzed to meet all of the ER nurses. He said a big, friendly, "Hi!" to each of them as they came into the room.

The only times he got upset were when we had to keep him from scratching his forehead, and when the nurses gave him a topical anesthetic called "LET" (lidocaine, epinephrine and tetracaine) to numb the wound before the stitches. But once the clear liquid started doing its job he didn't even mind the wound at all.

The other tramatic moment came when the physician's assistant came to stitch him up. One of the nurses wrapped him up in a sheet, so that his arms were clamped to his sides. Then they laid him on the bed and put a surgical drape over his face. At this point Alex started to get very frustrated, and a little scared too. But me and Dana stood above him the whole time so he could kind of see us around the edge of the drape. We sang songs (very badly, I assume), and talked him all the way through the stitches. I was amazed at how efficient and practiced the PA was at doing the stitches. The whole team of 3 staff who attended were so professional and quick - as if they had practiced this all the time. Each one knew exactly what to do and never fumbled or stalled.

It only took a couple of minutes to stitch him up, and he was all set. They put a bandage on to keep his curious fingers away, and sent us home. We'll be back on Saturday to get the stitches taken out. Meanwhile we have to wash the wound twice a day with mild soap and water, and avoid getting it wet. That means no swimming this week for Alex and Ryanne. Bummer.

We were released at around 11pm and headed home. But we promised Alex more food and a video when he got home. So we had some yogurt and watched a Richard Scarry "Busy People" DVD. That really made Alex happy, and he didn't put up much of a fuss going to bed. But it was a very, very late night for all of us!

I think it's safe to say that Dana and I were freaked out and shaken by the experience. I feel rotten because it happened on my watch. I know that it will be a long time before I let Alex run off ahead of me -- even in our own front yard! Maybe this is how parents become super over-protective? I hope not.

Now here's the patient as of this evening:


Extreme close-up of the stitches:

We counted 6 stitches.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Colorado


It snowed just enough so that the visiting Californians got a little taste of the season, but they didn't have to shovel the sidewalk or get their feet wet.

Meanwhile, everyone got re-acquainted with a certain little 21-month old boy named Alex.

Alex really took a shine to Uncle Eric. They ran all over the back yard together!

Alex and Grandpa Gene also seemed to share a special connection, perhaps their shared love of biiiiig trucks?

Over the last few years we have adopted a new family tradition of making cranberry sauce the night before Thanksgiving. We use 2-3 apples, 2-3 oranges, and 2 bags of cranberries. We run them all through an old meat grinder we picked up at a barn sale just after Dana moved to Colorado. It takes about an hour and is a great bonding experience! Plus it beats the heck out of those gross cans of cranberry jello you find at the grocery store, that make the disgusting "schloop!" sound when the red loaf oozes out of the can.

I believe this is one of two major food-related traditions we adopted from Dana's father Michael -- the other one being Michael's now famous (infamous?), heavenly, creamy egg nog recipe.

Long story short, homemade cranberry sauce = MUCH better:

Here Grandpa Gene and Grandma Carla try their hand.

And Gene and Dana have a whirl

In fact we have a somewhat ill-enforced rule that only those who actually help make the cranberry sauce may partake of it. So far it has never actually been called, but you can bet that yours truly takes no chances and is sure to take several turns at the meat grinder!

Alex had a ball at Thanksgiving dinner. In addition to his Aunt and Uncle and 2 sets of grandmas and grandpas (whom he consistently referred to as "Grandma and grandma"), we enjoyed the presence of our dear friends Tyr and Mandy. The couple had planned to spend Thanksgiving in Las Vegas, but Tyr suffered a minor stress fracture of his foot that forced them to revise their travel plans -- much to our great delight! (other than the bum foot, of course)

Here Alex hops up and down on Ali's lap

Most of our dinner guests - (clockwise from left) Ali, Eric, Tyr, Mandy, Carla, Alex, part of Gene, Herb, Susan and Dana (I am taking the picture)

The only major mishap was a seriously backed up kitchen sink drain. As my grandmother observed, "Messes under the sink always happen when you have company" Tyr and I ventured down to the deepest, darkest, dankest recesses of the basement to open the cleanout and clear it of the stoppage, while Eric kept a close watch on the turkey fryer.

Oh, we fried a 15.3 lb turkey again this year. This time we used cottonseed oil, as it was massivly cheaper than any other oil. Tasted fine - nothing outstanding, but it was certainly respectable, I think.

Here Alex brushes his teeth, standing on his potty / stepstool.

This video may be my all-time favorite Alex video ever. Each night when it's time to go to bed, we have a simple ritual. We walk through the house and say "good night" to all the things we pass on our way upstairs to Alex's bedroom. It gets me every single time Alex says "bye bye" to each item. Most of the video is dark - our camera can't handle low-light very well - but the audio is the important part anyway.

Here's a short video clip of Alex at Thanksgiving dinner. He was having fun getting everyone to clap for him. He is a "ham" for the crowd!

We're here!

It's been a few weeks, sorry! We have been preparing for guests over Thanksgiving. The weather has been anything but normal. We have had a long string of beautiful, warm, sunny days here in Northern Colorado. Nights are chilly, to be sure, but it's almost shorts-and-t-shirt-weather during the day. In fact, I've been running at work every other day around 2pm for the past 3 weeks (yeah! go Dan!), and I've only had to resort to the indoor treadmills twice in that time.

This past Saturday was no exception; we decided Dana needed a break from studying for finals and Alex needed to get outside a bit and burn off some toddler calories. So we headed up to our favorite park in Loveland -- one of the few left in the world with a real merry-go-round.



They have two of these scoopers that Alex was intrigued by. He loves scoopers (backhoes, bulldozers, Bobcats, dump trucks, etc). He calls them "coopers!"








We bought a training potty for Alex a few months back, and he showed some interest, but it was poorly designed and he didn't fit on it very well. So a week ago Dana got him a Baby Bjorn training potty that fits MUCH better, although it does not have a seat cover. That's OK because his old seat does have a seat cover and it makes a nice step stool for washing hands or brushing teeth at the sink.

But alas, Alex is just not quite comfortable yet using the potty for its intended purpose. He is very happy to sit on it for several seconds at a time, even with his pants down. But then he stands up and wants to go do something else.

So we have all the equipment we need, including training pants. Now we need to convince Alex that if he uses the potty, he won't have to have his diaper changed any more (an activity he is not overly fond of).

Other words...

For the last week, Alex has said "tickle!" a lot. For a long time we thought he was just affirming the fact that he is ticklish. He is VERY ticklish. :-)

But then this past weekend, we realized that at least part of the time he is saying "Thank you". I noticed it after handing him a sippy cup of milk at his request. He said "Tickle" or actually more like "tee-koo". I thought about the context for a minute and realized it was thank you! I think Ryanne has been working really hard with him on manners, and it is really paying off. He still needs help with "please" (or, in Alex-speak, "peas"). We usually have to remind him to say please, by prompting him, "How do you ask for it?"

Last Thursday was my last full class at the Sherrif's Office Citizens' Academy. We spent class at the Detention Center - a nice name for the Jail. Generally the County jail is used to lock people up awaiting trial who can't post bail, and people who have been convicted to sentences of 2 years or less for any single crime. In some instances, however, courts choose to use the DC for more serious crimes because of the circumstances of a case or the convict. So the Larimer County DC has people who were just hauled in for the night on DUIs, all the way up to convicted 1st degree murderers. (They are not, however, housed in the same units). Suffice it to say, if I wasn't convinced before, I have no desire to go to jail. It amazes me how hard the deputies work to take such good care of these people we lock up for doing some remarkably bad things.

I continue my battle with the fall leaves around the hard. I've now blown and vacuumed them 3 times this fall. I think I'll have to do it one more time at least before I'm done. The cherry trees are the hold-outs every year, hanging on til the last. That, plus leaves that blow in from neighbors' yards, keeps me busy.

I'm also working on several small fix-up projects around the house. Since we installed baseboard electric heat in two bedrooms upstairs, I've decided I need to move the electrical outlets that are now above those baseboard heaters. This is actually required by code, and now I can see why. Cords that are plugged into the outlets above the units get VERY hot while the heat is on. This will eventually weaken the cord and could cause serious problems. So I'm adding new electrical boxes on either side of each of the two baseboard units, which means lots of crawling around in the attic, cutting old-work holes in the wall to accomodate the new boxes, and fishing romex through the walls. What fun.

On top of that I decided last week it was finally time to re-caulk the upstairs shower. It was a mess. Almost all of the effort was in removing the old caulking and grime. This took me about 3 hours of scraping, scrubbing, and swearing. But once it was clean, it only took a half hour or less of carefully applying the new caulk. Now it looks much better. The only remaining problem with the shower now is the cracking shower pan. After careful inspection it appears that somebody took a stock shower pan with a drain hole located 12" x 12" from one corner, cut a new drain hole to accomodate their wacky plumbing geometry under the floor, and then filled in the old drain hole with some epoxy. Gradually over the years the fill job has been deteriorating, and the new drain hole has compromised the strength of the remaining fiberglass surround so that it has sprung several hairline cracks around the edges.

So far nothing has leaked through the floor to the downstairs playroom. But I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I'll need to rip out the entire shower stall and replace it, thanks to some shortsighted construction work years ago. Unfortunately, this has become the legacy of our home: every project I undertake reveals some shoddy workmanship or half-assed construction from days gone by. Before I can address the symptoms, I have to address the root cause by undoing whatever nonsense was done before.


I recently got a new application for my iPhone that is supposed to allow me to post pictures and text directly from my phone to this blog. I have not had a chance yet to configure it and try it out, but I'll try to do so in the next week if I have time during the holidays. If it works, you can expect more, and more frequent, posts in the future.

Oh, I almost forgot two new words Alex knows: "Pumpkin Pie!" He likes pumpkin pie.