With Eleanor home from school this summer, it has been so heart melting to see our two kiddos bond. They're at the age *dare I say it* that they enjoy each other's company and can even play/entertain each other without constant supervision. The moments are sometimes fleeting, but they are so sweet. With Eleanor on very restricted activities until her fracture heals, we've had to get creative on ways to keep them both entertained without Eleanor re-injuring her wound.
Fisher is 17 months and really in a fun and silly stage:
:: He loves anything with a motor and/or wheels and/or loud noises. Trains, cars, buses, construction vehicles are a hit.
:: Along with the other BOY DNA came his love of tools, switches, knobs, buttons - he studies so intently on how things work.
:: Fish has been super silly lately and loves to make people laugh and even more so making himself laugh. It's hysterical. He also has a new thing where he gets so excited and then covers his mouth with both of his hands (like, "I can't contain the excitement!!!")
:: Loves to say buh-bye like the southern gentleman he is.
:: Dogs continue to be a hit - loves dog kisses. He doesn't quite understand that not all dogs are toddler friendly.
:: Starting to talk a bit more, but really just mocking things that we say.
:: Eats like a high school aged boy and doesn't stop moving for a full second while he's awake.
:: Swim lessons are going well, and while he's not quite the fish that his sister is, he's able to "swim" underwater for 4 seconds.
Eleanor is almost 3 1/2 years old and continues to blow our minds every day.
:: I can't keep up with all of her brilliant ideas, thoughtful comments, and silly observations.
:: She's been a real trooper while her head wound heals.
:: School starts on 8/26, and I think she's definitely ready to be back in a routine and stimulated by teachers and friends in a classroom setting.
:: One activity that's helped us through her recovery period is swimming. She has blossomed into quite the swimmer and can swim the long length of our pool (10+ seconds) without a floatation device. She could swim for hours if she could. Her swim teacher talked about advancing her to the next class mid session because of her progress.
Here's a recap of the last couple of weeks...
Drive-through safari in San Antonio.
Stopped over in Gruene, TX for lunch on the way back home.
Brother loves his bike rides with Daddy
Baby buns
What to do with it's blazing hot in Austin in July? Walk the mall and watch fish.
In other fish news - we made a visit to the Austin Aquarium.
Coffee date with Hacks. Chocolate/raspberry croissant - yum!
Eleanor adores Baby Grant
Parents day out thanks to Nana! Bike/hike and then hanging at the Greenbelt.
Audrey Beadle's 4th birthday party at The Little Yoga House
Reunited friends
BFFs:)
Grant and Fish being boys - yoga? sitting still for more than .02 seconds? calmness? Heck no.
The Beadles stayed with us for 2 nights, and Eleanor was in heaven. Audrey and Eleanor went to yoga camp together for the week and had a blast.
While E was at camp, Fish tore it up at the kids' gym
So proud of monkey bar action... love this little monkey
Post work out
Loves supervising workers around the house
Sunday walk+breakfast downtown
Silly siblings.
Swim/lunch/playdate with Hadley Greager
So our kids love making trips to the pet store. It's sad because it basically taunts them with all of the pets they'll never have. It's entertaining though!
Fans outside the pet store to keep the adopt-a-kitty crew cool.
A couple of weeks ago, Eleanor was sitting on a barstool in our kitchen and fell over. Laura didn't see how she fell since her back was turned tending to Fisher. When Eleanor fell, she immediately cried, and complained of major head pain. She's not much of a complainer, other than pointing out her various cuts/scrapes/bruises/bug bites she gets DAILY. To calm her down, we let her watch some TV, and she seemed just fine. But when her show ended and we took her upstairs for nap, she wailed in pain.
Fortunately, she was able to take a 3 hour nap. While she was napping I called her pediatrician to explain what happened and that I was concerned about injury to her head given that we were supposed to fly to Oklahoma this morning. The doctor recommended going directly to the ER, where they could do a CT scan, if needed.
So, long story short, the ER doctor quickly found a suspicious spot on her head that warranted a CT scan for further discovery. Within minutes, we were told that Eleanor had a left temporal skull fracture and an epidural hemorrhage (bleeding outside the brain but inside the skull).
Generally this type of would heals on its own, but as a precaution, they admitted her to IMC (ICU) so that a team could test her every couple of hours through the night. Poor girl was hooked up to loads of monitors and barely slept, but she fortunately passed all of the tests (checked pupils, vitals, asked cognitive questions like her name, age, brother's name, etc). If she were to start vomiting, lose consciousness, change of personality, lost of memory, they would have performed another CT scan, and if the bleeding had worsened, she would have to go info for surgery.
Eleanor was the BEST patient ever and kept me positive during our slumber party at Dell Children's Hospital. She didn't even flinch when they put her IV in - what a hard ass that gal is!
Luckily, our sweet Eleanor just has to take it easy for the next 4-6 weeks while her wound fully heals. Tough orders for an active 3 year old during the summer, but a huge sigh of relief for us as parents.
Thank you again for your support, kind words, and positive thoughts. Eleanor is one lucky girl to have so much love in her life.
Coloring in the waiting room. We were lucky that we only had to wait 15 min to be seen by a triage nurse.
Brought some reinforcements to cheer her up.
Digital tea party while waiting for CT results.
Kiki is the BEST! She came with dinner for us and kept Eleanor is great spirits.
IV time.
Admitted to a room in ICU after the CT scan confirmed we indeed had a skull fracture. Lots of machines but they set her up with a special Frozen pillowcase to help her slumber through the night.
Middle of the night selfie
Not exactly the mother/daughter bracelets I had in mind, but souvenirs nonetheless.
Daddy and Fisher came to visit the morning after our overnight. We missed our boys!
So many thoughtful gifts from friends and family. These came from Laura with a note that said, "Eleanor, you are one TOUGH cookie!"
