Tuesdays

ARGH-Tuesday!!!!  2014 has been tough on Tuesday.  It seems that most everything has been happening on Tuesdays this year.  Most of the major weather has come in on Tuesdays.  The first snow was fun but each Tuesday lost a little luster with each added bout of ice/snow/sleet mix.  Until late March, Graeme had missed more school on Tuesday than he had gone.  Last Tuesday we had the failed hearing test.  We finally managed to mix it up this Tuesday with some fun mixed in with our crazy.

Our day started with the usual Tuesday morning at speech therapy for Liam.  He loves going to see his speech therapist.  She is great with him and he had a good day.  While waiting, Graeme kept picking out books for me to read to him (and we had a couple other kids come over to listen during the Dora Valentine's Day book).  I love that Graeme is really starting to love books.

After speech, we headed over to a nearby used book store.  While I love finding discounted books, Liam especially loves to run laps around the bookshelves.  Graeme, of course, must chase him down. They actually are very nice about it and the boys enjoy being around the books.

Tuesday was also the annual free cone day at Ben & Jerry's.  I promised the boys a trip for ice cream after the bookstore.  We headed over to grab our free cones, but turned out to be almost an hour early.  Much to the boys chagrin, we went back to the car, grabbed our packed lunch and had to eat lunch before having dessert.  We ate, hung out and ended up being first in line when they opened.

Our last stop of the day was the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor to check on Liam's hearing.  A misunderstanding of timing had us there extremely early.  This place was great and actually got us in early (we actually were completely done before the scheduled appointment time).  They did not do a hearing test on Liam as when they used their equipment his inner ears were filled with fluid.  His eustachian tubes appear to be blocked and cannot drain the fluid.  Our first step is antibiotics to try and clear this up.  We will find out in a couple of Tuesdays!

After this we finally got to do what Graeme had been asking to do after each stop-go home!

Some Crazy, Some Fun and then Some Crazy Fun

So it has been two days since we went to the zoo to start our spring break and yet it feels like so much longer.

On Tuesday, we started the day with Liam's audiology appointment for the process of getting him into Wake County Preschools next year.  He failed it.  It showed no movement in his middle ear and some problems with ear drum response as well.  To make sure it wasn't an ear infection (first time I've ever prayed for my child to have an ear infection which I knew was unlikely as he didn't have a cold and he doesn't have a history of them either), we scheduled an appointment with his pediatrician and headed there next.  As expected, his ears were clear as far as they can tell.  The pediatrician then referred us to a pediatric Ear, Nose & Throat specialist and we have an appointment there next week.  (We will make that appointment better with free cone day at Ben & Jerry's afterward)

After this craziness, we grabbed some lunch and played at the Waverly Place Play area for a while where the boys enjoyed some more beautiful spring weather.

Graeme loved the twirly thing

The shared drink looks almost as big as Liam in this picture :-)

Wednesday was a return to truly fun adventures.  A friend invited us to join her and her 3 kids to visit a place called Three Bears Acres about an hour north of us.  It is a great outdoor play area where kids are encouraged to be kids.  They had a blast!

Our first stop was the jump zone. (It was also our last)

Graeme with his friend Zoe bouncing around

Next the three "big" kids tried out the rolling "pipes".  They are actually pretty light and the kids could roll them up the hill without a lot of help from me.  It took a few moments to adjust to the fact that the  "pipes" wouldn't just roll down the hill on their own and would need some effort from the kids.  

Liam let Graeme and Zoe do all the work, he was just along for the ride.

After the sand pit, I didn't really have a chance to get out my phone again.  The boys enjoyed (though they weren't very good at) the tennis ball slingshots, they loved sliding down the giant wet carpet slide on snow sleds, and the big play set was a huge hit. 

The only part we were a little sketchy on was the port-o-john toilets.  That many kids in one place does not lend itself to a clean restroom much less a clean port-o-john.  

A great time with friends and a great way to find smiles after the stress of Tuesday.  Tomorrow will be another great adventure, this time with daddy (mommy will be home alone!)