Kung Fu Echo

Clare had her Echo last week. When we arrived at the exam, the technician cheerfully told me that Clare had to lay still and couldn’t cry. Oh, and it will take an hour. And she has to lay still. And not cry. FOR AN HOUR. I was like, hello, have you met a 1-year-old? Being still is like number one on their list of things not to do. Oh, and crying is at least number 3 or 4 on their list of things to do.

Our savior? Kung Fu Panda. Not the first one. It was one I have never seen before, but involved some kind of baby bird that was lost and had to be cared for by the other animals and some alligators came and were threatening, or something. I don’t really know what was going on, to be honest, but Clare was ENTHRALLED. She stayed still and watched the heck out of that movie.  When she’d start to get a little antsy, we plied her with milk and snacks and car keys. She was such a champ. She did have to sit in my lap for a little while, which led to me being covered in gel, but that’s okay. Whatever it took to keep her still, I was going to do.  Afterward, we treated ourselves to apple cobbler in the hospital cafeteria. It was actually pretty good, and Clare ate the heck out of that cobbler.

We heard back from the doctor earlier this week - Clare does in fact have a small hole in her heart. We will be meeting with a pediatric cardiologist sometime in the next few weeks, but Clare's pediatrician assured me that this is nothing to worry about. Even if it doesn't close on its own, Clare will be just fine. We will just repeat the Echo in a few years and she can't go Scuba Diving. (Darn it, I thought we'd take her for her second birthday!) And as you know, I am really good at not worrying about things so I am sure I won't think about it at all. HA HA. Right. Sigh.
On a completely unrelated note, Clare received her birthday present from Grandma Jo and Grandpa Ralph (it was backordered). She thinks it is pretty awesome. Heck, if I had a chair with polka dots and my name on it I would think it was cool, too.

This morning, I was sitting with Clare in our rocking chair, and the cat climbed onto Clare’s chair. Clare immediately started shaking her head no (number 2 on her list of things to do), climbed off my lap, and stood in front of the chair shaking her head. I asked her, “You don’t want the cat on your chair?” “Na nan a,” she said. So the cat was ejected, Clare jumped onto the chair, and all was again right with the world. Isn't it great how easy it is to solve problems for children? I wish someone could do that for me. I don't want to leave this on a down note, so hey, happy Friday!!