The Day After

Friday, November 12, 2010

Our first post-surgical day was so exciting (actually, every day has been, but this was the most exciting! And since it's taken me this long to do one day, I've pretty much given up on the idea of day-by-day updates beyond day # 1!)

Anyway, our day in pictures (and a few words. I'll try to keep them to a minimum. I promise!):

Nothing unusual here. Ayize loves to hover over Weeman while he eats breakfast. Luckily, the Weezer is a tolerant old guy.

Unfortunately, he's prone to some pretty deadly death-bomb farts, and he let one go just as Ayize was moving in to deliver a cute little kiss upon his back. I was so happy I had the camera handy for this momentous event!

If you've ever experienced the gaseous fumes that my little pup emits from his tookus, I'm amazed you've lived to tell the tale. They're some pretty serious stuff.

After breakfast, we headed out for some errands. One of them was at Hand Me Downs, a resale store. He hiked over to the toy table as we entered, and I called after him in a quiet voice, "Where are you going, Ayize?"

Without missing a beat, he replied, "I play with toys, Mama," as he walked away. Hurrah!

Next, off to Starbucks to meet Mizz Avery. Andrenise parked illegally and we hung around, waiting for a slowpoke lady to move her car so that Andrenise could take her spot. When the lady finally left, Andrenise headed towards her car. Avery was content to hang with us, but Ayize grew terribly alarmed. I asked, in a normal tone of voice, "What's wrong, Ayize?"

He answered, "Where Avery mama go?"

I told him she was going to move her car and come right back, and he listened, understood, and completely relaxed. Wow! Real conversations. I was getting very excited.

Kisses ensued. Ayize was a little leery - no surprise, as his earlier kiss attempt upon Weeman had gone so awry!

What was he playing with?

Oh, it was the little tinkling sound this charm made as he moved the ceramic pieces against the metal stand. I was so excited that he was listening eagerly to such a sweet, quiet sound.

Oh, the message was cute, too. So - awwww. Okay. Will do.

I particularly thought the use of the singular was notable here.

Next stop: Currey Park to play. We had only meandered one block in that direction when a garbage truck began to approach. From several blocks away, we heard the low rumbling. Andrenise, Avery and I were just ambling along when suddenly Ayize stopped in his tracks, ran to my leg, and grabbed it, quavering. He shouted, "I scared it, Mama!" He really did look terrified. I realized that he was probably hearing the low register of that kind of truck for the first time.

I knelt down and explained that it was a garbage truck, just like in I Stink, a book he likes about garbage trucks. I told him it made a funny sound, but that was just what it did, and it was going to drive right past us and everything would be fine.

Again, he completely listened and visibly relaxed. We had to wait and watch the truck pass, though. When events unfolded as I had predicted, he seemed very elated. As was I!

Time to ride trains...

...ring chimes...

...and engage in more of the Avery/Aye-Aye lovefest!

So proud of her find!

A quick lunch at Gigio's. Busting out the utensils like a big girl LOL!

There were some crazy negotiations going on behind our table involving a group of mentally-disabled people. One of them splintered off to sit at a separate table and started talking loudly to herself and to them, and rocking back and forth. She did all this so vehemently that she accidentally launched herself off the picnic table bench and landed with a thud on the floor.

Ayize turned to see what the heck had happened, then started giggling, and shouting, "He (it was a she, but let's not quibble over the details, people) falling down! He falling down!"

I was mortified (fortunately, the lady was a good sport about it, and shrugged off his attention with an embarrassed smile), but also so excited! He had heard the soft thud and turned around in response! Yeahhhhhh, boyyyyy.

As we left, I noted this sign and snapped a photo. I now knew why such a sign was posted LOL.

That afternoon, we hit up the library. Inspiration had struck, and I wanted to rent the I Stink DVD to watch together. I figured that was we could talk about the garbage truck incident again to prepare us for future repeats. I was also excited to see how much more engaged he would be in the video now that he could hear it (we'd watched it once before not too long ago and he was pretty disinterested).

We put on his "truck shirt" and headed over. He played with the colorforms on the wall, pasting up a bunch of leaves. Then he went and got a plastic elephant and began to push it against the wall of leaves. I asked what he was doing and he said, "I cook, Mama! He eat it!" I was thrilled!

We chose a bunch of books and I grabbed the DVD. We headed to the front desk to check out, and as the man scanned each item, Ayize watched the machine beep with great curiosity. After each item, a paper printout would roll another inch or so off its reel, too. He began to imitate the beep and then the whirr, over and over. Of course, we had like a dozen books. The library guy looked a little unenthused, so I apologetically offered, "Sorry, he just got his ears fixed! So now he loves sounds!" He looked at me like I was off my rocker, but I couldn't have cared less.

Last stop of the night was Dominicks. I grabbed some quick grocery items and we headed to the checkout line. Unfortunately, there were a few people ahead of us in line, so the minute I parked the "car cart", he had hopped out, as usual. He began scaling the face of the car, ascending to his usual perch atop the roof. Suddenly, inspiration struck. I spoke softly, "I'll give you fruit gummies if you get back in the car." I'd just bought a packet of "baby crack" (as I affectionately refer to cubes of dried fruit) and he'd seen me put it in the cart.

This was not the first time I'd tried this, but he'd apparently never heard me before. This time, though he didn't utter a peep, he was off that cart faster than a jack rabbit and had his butt parked firmly on the bench seat of the little car. I waited a moment to see if it was just coincidence. Maybe he hadn't heard me at all, and had simply realized the danger inherent in perching atop a precarious, wobbly, wheely-cart in a crowded store...maybe??

Nope. A little tousled head poked out of the car's window. "Mama, foooooot!"

Ha! He did hear me. Cool beans!

During dinner, he suddenly pulled off his pants and his diaper, in one fell swoop. "Mama, I pee." Wow. We've been "working" on potty-training so long that I'd about given up. But earlier that day, I'd told him, "If you use the potty, Mama will give you candy!" I'd prepared a jar of mini M & Ms and hid them in a drawer near the potty, to use as incentive. (Yes, I know this constitutes bribery, and I'll get a lot of flak for it, but put yourself in my shoes! I've tried everything else, and my kid is about to turn three, for Chrissakes!) I guess he'd retained the information and was ready to go! We walked to the potty and he sat on it and made fake (?) grunts for a while. Then he stood up, inspected the empty innards of the potty, and allowed me to hike his skewed-up diaper back on, before clambering back up onto his bar stool for the remainder of the meal. He didn't even ask for a candy. I guess he just wanted to give the potty a try - a far cry from his total fear of it up until now. Wow! Things were happening so fast! It was a little alarming and a lot exciting and a little exhausting all at once!

After dinner, I let him watch the DVD. This was the most amazing proof of all that my boy's ears are really back!

Man. What an awesome day. Baby steps to big adjustments.

Very excited about what the coming days will continue to bring!