Here Comes The Dynamic Duo: July 2010

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Bring The Boys Back Home

The boys are back home on the mean streets of the GTA and were apparently much-missed by the locals. A full report of their exciting second summer trip up north will follow shortly...

Mystery Of The Missing Tee-Tee: Case Solved!

Regular readers of this blog will be hard-pressed to remember a photo of Carter without his trusty soother, or "tee tee". Like Linus' security blanket, it's been his essential relaxation tool morning, noon, and especially, night. He's been through several in his short time on this planet--we've been careful to have backup at the ready else risk some very sleepless nights for everyone.

All that changed, in a sudden and surprisingly painless way, during our trip to Pembroke. Somewhere along the trails of Storyland, it vanished, and to everyone's amazement, Carter took it rather well.

Sure, we offered an array of substitutes. None of which passed the test. We tried a few more we had in storage upon our return to Toronto, but again, his refined senses would have none of them. Eventually, he just stopped caring, and he hasn't even asked for it since. The bandolier of pacifiers we have hanging from the powder room doorknob is all but forgotten. I just can't bring myself to get rid of them--yet.

Uploading pics to the blog, I stumbled upon a solution to the mystery. Photos confirmed that Carter had the tee-tee upon entrance to the park, but after we left the first display--a puppet fiddler crooning some vintage Mac Beattie--it was gone. He dropped it there.

Look closely in the pic, and you'll see its final resting place...

Sick Kids Followup

It's not often that you go to a hospital and leave with good news, but today's followup with Dr. Tesky in Nephrology at Sick Kids revealed something very positive indeed: Nathaniel's kidney function has improved since the last inspection, no doubt due to our discovery of his aversion to dairy products and the introduction of substitute formula, which has resulted in greater fluid intake, hence, his creatinine numbers dropping from the troubling mid-50s to the "normal" range of mid-30s.

Of course, Nathaniel was a real trooper throughout--not caring much for the ultrasound (and the near-hour-long wait!) or the bloodwork understandably--but the hospital's offering of cool toys and friendly staff made the afternoon pass with relative ease...

Sunday, July 25, 2010

July Vacation: No Sleep 'Til Tweed...

Somehow, the boys managed to convince Grandpa and Grandma into taking them on yet another neighbourhood tour before they were buckled up and we hit the blacktop for the long ride back to home shores.

The boys slept until Tweed, where we made our usual rest stop, and then entertained us with songs until we hit the city limits.

A traffic jam on the DVP? Yeah, we were home all right...

Saturday, July 24, 2010

July Vacation: Making The Last Day--Last!

The boys must've known the week was coming to an end--they were up early and eager to patrol the streets again. Later in the day, while Grandpa and Grandma spent the afternoon in Eganville in a party in Grandma's honour, we returned to Wal-Mart to print off some photos to leave for everyone, and then checked out the offerings at the Marina's playground.

Since the boys were alert and full of energy, we then headed straight to the hospital to surprise Nanny. Grandpa and Grandma showed up minutes later--they'd passed us on their way home--and thankfully, we had the visitors' room to ourselves for a long, proper stay.

We then enjoyed another late night and let the boys play to the verge of collapse...we were all on the verge come to think of it, but that's what vacations are for. Tomorrow, it would be back to the mean streets of Toronto to reimpose some order...

Friday, July 23, 2010

July Vacation: Day Three

A change in the weather kept our ambitions a bit more modest today: a trip to Wal-Mart and the Pembroke Mall, and romps around the yard and the 'hood between rain showers.

While at the mall, the boys met a pair of cute torties for sale (won't last long, I bet) and managed to pick up a second copy of Nathaniel's favorite book "Barnyard Dance" (since we read the current copy on average of 10-15 times/day, it's bound to wear out soon).

While the boys were sleeping, I took a visit with Grandma's to the high school where she works so that we could pick up a monitor for the PC I was setting up, and got to meet her friends on staff, who were going to throw her a party the next day. It's always great to be able to put faces and voices to names...

Later in the afternoon, we paid Nanny a daytime visit, only to find she'd been moved to a new room yet again. We couldn't get the visitors' room so it was a shorter stay than we'd planned, and we wrapped it up just in time for Nanny to grab dinner.

That night, Mom and Dad managed to steal away for a screening of "Inception"--a movie about dreams while the boys were dreamland of their own...

Thursday, July 22, 2010

July Vacation: Another Hospital Visit

It was a busy day trucking around the trails of Storyland, not to mention the long ride there and back, but the boys managed to muster up enough energy to explore the halls of Pembroke General, and entertain Nanny for another too-brief evening. Thankfully, Nanny had been at last given a proper room in Recovery, and would hopefully only be there a few more days...