Owies and Trumpets

Sorry it's been such a long time between posts - we've been busy! Josh had his gall bladder out the day after his birthday. The first week was difficult, especially with Misha often forgetting how delicate daddy is (ouch! poor Daddy!) and with some bad nausea/vomiting that seems to be tapering off a bit this week. Hopefully he'll only continue to improve. The operation, as Misha describes, went like this: "The doctor cut daddy with the knife and now he has owies and they GLUED them! Now he doesn't have a gall bladder!" We talk about how Daddy is recovering a little more every day and pretty soon he'll be able to play like before (wrestling and the like). Misha says, "And when Daddy gets better, we can do strong hugs and WRESTLE! Daddy's getting stronger and stronger!" He says soon Dad will be able to lift dressers and beds -- amazing how a little surgery can make one into a superhero. :)

Misha has also become very interested in trumpets.

Upon hearing that Grandpa had a trumpet, he immediately wanted to see it and play it. Amazingly, he could actually produce sounds, over and over! It takes considerable effort, of course, but he loves it. To make things a little easier for Misha and a little quieter for the listeners, his grandparents bought him a shiny silver toy trumpet to play, although he still wants to play the real one when we're at Grandpa's. Here's a video of Misha playing on a trumpet belonging to his second-cousin-once-removed (or something), Josh.

We recently watched the Sound of Music, and Misha loved it. When I told him that this movie featured the yodeling goat song, he dashed downstairs to get his singing goat. After the first five minutes of the movie, he asked, "But where is the goat?" I told him the goat didn't come in for awhile. Five minutes later .... "Where's the goat, Mommy?" But he was by no means bored with the movie - he watched it all intently and loved the songs, especially the goat song. (We didn't watch all the way to the end though, because I remember not liking the end when I was little.)

Our snow is slowly, slowly melting away. Meanwhile, Misha loves to climb on the piles and dig with shovels with the neighbor kids.

He also likes to get his bike out every chance he can - which means pushing pedals with booted feet, grabbing handlebars with mittened hands, and getting Mommy to push him out of slushy spots and ice patches. We have even made it around the block a few times!

It's always a blast to play inside of a giant box!

Grandma got him a "baby brother doll" and a magic bottle of disappearing milk. He really likes it. :)

Reenacting the "yoga tree," as he learned from playing Wii Fit with Jenna.

Here are some more clips of Misha reading - he loves to sound out letters that he sees on covers, signs, etc.

Hospital Field Trip: "I like this place!"

Josh had various stomach/gallbladder/esophogus tests done this week, and as a result, Misha and I have spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms lately. Both Monday and Friday we went to Sioux Falls to wait while Daddy saw the doctor. (Diagnosis: he needs his hyperactive gallbladder removed.) So while Daddy had IVs put in, scans done of his gallbladder, and sensors and cameras stuck down his throat, Misha got to entertain himself and everybody else in the waiting room. He has suddenly become extremely sociable. When it was just the two of us in the room, he colored and played cards peacefully (playing cards in photo above), but the second someone new walked in, he jumped off his chair with a "Hey! Watch this!" as he started to blow his balloon around with a straw. He soon engaged the newcomer in a game of balloon catch while dancing and chatting. He seemed to especially like older people. When an older couple came in and sat down, Misha asked me, "Is that Great Grandma and Great Grandpa?" I told him they probably were to somebody, and they said, yes, they had four great-grandchildren. He soon had them playing balloon with him. Then he bluntly told them, "My Great Grandma died. She went to the hospital and had a decoration and some medicine, but it didn't work and she died." They said that was too bad. On Friday, he met another old couple that were as entralled with him as he was with them. He danced and jumped and made them smile with high fives and drew pictures for them. One of the first things he told them was, "My Great Grandma died." Luckily he didn't dwell on that topic! He thought the hospital was a great adventure - he loved exploring the hallways, running up and down the ramps, and eating a meatball sub in the cafeteria. "I like this place!" he told me.

We got to go see Daddy when he was waking up from the anesthesia after the upper GI scope. Misha cuddled in the hospital bed with him. (If I had had my camera, I would have taken a picture and posted it for you. It was so cute.) However, he soon became wiggly and before I knew it, he had lifted up the curtain and chirped "Peekaboo!" to the old woman next to us who was recovering from some sort of colon surgery. Luckily, she laughed and said "peekaboo!" back. We kept reminding Misha to talk quietly and not to run around because people were sleeping and trying to get better. No one seemed to mind him though - on the contrary, everyone thought he was charming. And he knew it, too, because he kept showing off every chance he got.



Misha trying to stay warm after a shower.

Our great new step-stool! Perfect for brushing his teeth.

Mommy and Misha cuddling.

We worked on a picture together. I drew a princess in a castle, and then Misha added the 'mean guy with the sword.' You can see the holes he poked in the castle.