It had to happen...(Postscript)

Countless tears & shrieks, 6 stitches, 1 gauze pad, 1 roll of gauze, and an order to keep it dry & clean, & go get the stitches removed by Dr. Schwanke in 10-14 days later, we are home & everyone is sleeping soundly.

I did note, when Rohan had his mouth open & wailing, that he has 2 more teeth visible now, 1 on top & 1 on bottom (this fact, a likely contributor to him gnawing on big brother Deven earlier).

Here's hoping he sleeps thru the night.

Kate Sherwood
Mobile (650) 387-6767

It had to happen...

Sooner or later.

The boys had to fight until 1 went to the hospital.

Tonight the cause was big brother Deven, who accidentally cut Rohan on the hand with a broken pen-clip from the pen that they'd been fighting over. Rohan was far from innocent - he had been using his teeth, pushing & grabbing Deven.

I had been in the shower, and Yogesh was tired after having a long day outside & himself, a bad-belly the past few days. My planner, with the offending pen, was out of place on the floor, in perfect reach for the boys to fight over.

Now I sit with the poor little guy @ CPMC's pediatric urgent care, waiting for the doctor to come put 3-5 stitches to seal the 1" gash on his right palm. He's calm now, but I hear the lidocaine (sp?) will be painful for him.

This is actually Rohan's first time in a hospital, because he was born at home. I hope it's his last, but somehow I think that's unlikely.
Sigh.

Kate Sherwood
Mobile (650) 387-6767

Happy 60th Anniversary, Daadaji & Daadiji!

Tuesday 4/20/10 marked the 60th Anniversary of Daadaji & Daadiji. They were married when she was 15 and he was 18, after his younger brother, sister, and mother had met her and approved (this was normal at the time). There are no photos of them on their wedding day.

While they live apart now, they share regular telephone conversations a few times a week, and had a nice long, sweet-sounding chat that morning. Daadi is always happier after she speaks with Daada.
Her rascally grandsons danced around and congratulated her (while we tried to get them to stop throwing things for the occasion). We've had our cousins-cousins in town (that makes them just cousins, right?) - twin 3-year old boys from Atlanta and their lovely parents, so we celebrated the occasion with a pizza dinner and 4 under the age of 4 rioting in the living room - perfect.

Photos to come, soon.

Ring Around the Rosie on our Anniversary

...enjoy the dancing!

Happy!

We celebrated today.

Photo: Mommy, Deven, & Rohan reading this evening (following Mommy's facial).

Bad Mommy Blogger - and Happy 3rd Birthday, Deven!

The trouble with starting something (like blogging) that you like doing, and that other people have told you they like reading, is that you have to stick with it. Not just because other people care, but because you care. Or in my case, because I find myself playing with my sons, and actually thinking in short-blog-format.

That's scary, I know.


I try to be "present" with them - to not get sucked into the CrackBerry, the mail, the many, many interesting magazines and articles and Macy's One Day Sale catalogs. To simply enjoy Deven saying "Ro-HAN!" and Rohan whisper-talking "Wat!" (that's his word for water) or "Mik" (that's "milk").


And I'll try to not think in blog-post format.

UPDATE

Rohan's hearing was retested, and it is perfectly normal. Unfortunately, his speech is not yet; but he is making more noises which is good. We're still on the research-and-maybe-therapy track but I know Yogesh and I both breathed a big sigh of relief that at least he can hear.

Deven is now three. 3! We had a wonderful, successful birthday party weekend for him, complete with
- Naani.
- Nanni buying Deven a skuut bike, and Deven grinning wildly as he rode down the sidewalk after getting his birthday gift.
- Party for 20 children + their grownups, with fire-truck cake, nobody cried and most people sang along with Music Teacher Andrew (scroll down to see a photo of him - we think he's great).
- Rainy Sunday where Naani and Yogesh managed the kids while I umpired a lacrosse game (boy was it wet!)
- Good Monday - Deven's actual birthday.
- LOTS of gifts for Deven; he hasn't even opened them all as he hasn't quite figured out how much fun it is to open gifts - instead he just likes playing with the ones already opened. Unfortunately, we didn't have great systems to confirm who-gave-what; so we'll have to just say THANK YOU to everyone, here

Now that we take most photos with our camera phones, these snaps aren't the best, but they're what we've got for now.

Daddy's new executive assistant and co-founder

Mommy received this calendar invite today:

SUBJECT: Nmnmsnm,nnxz

TIME & DATE: 2:30
PM - 3:00 PM March 29, 2010

HHQQQQ SBHSSSS HAHAHHHAH

-----

This is the first ever calendar note entered into a computer by Rohan
Sherwood Sharma. For that matter, its the first ever computer activity he
has ever done. Yes, he sat on the computer, double clicked on a time,
entered a subject and a description. Pretty good progress as his first day
on the job as Daddy's executive assistant!

Flossing

Cousin Bernie (the Dentist) would be proud of us! Today is also Cousin Troy's birthday (he's her husband) - happy birthday!

I'm headed out on a brief overnight business trip - and Deven woke up without me there, heard this & cried. Which made me almost cry. I need to go, but I'm reminded that these boys are only young once...
Kate Sherwood
Mobile (650) 387-6767

Sherwood Sharma Family Fun: Aah, that makes sense

Sherwood Sharma Family Fun: Aah, that makes sense

Aah, that makes sense

I took Rohan to the Audiologist and Pediatric Otolaryngologist (say that 10 times fast!) on Friday, and came out with some good news, and some bad news.

But first, a story that Grandpa Doug recounted to me, when I told him the situation:

A woman went to the doctor & said "Doc, I'm having terrible gas. It doesn't smell bad, but people can hear me passing gas and I'd like to fix it."
The doctor looked at her & said "ok, take these pills and come back next week."
The woman did as he said. When she came back, she said with dismay "Doc, I'm still having terrible gas, only now it smells bad, too."
The doctor replied "well, the good news is, now we've fixed your sense of smell. The bad news is, now let's get to work on that gas."
(Hahahahaha!)

THE GOOD NEWS
We now have (at least) 1 logical, likely-fixable, reason that Rohan hasn't started speaking yet.

THE BAD NEWS
It's likely in large part because Rohan can't hear properly, because his ears are filled with fluid!

Rohan basically failed his first hearing test. He can only hear @ ~50-70 decibel level; where the normal human can hear ~ 20 decibels. The fluid in his ears is likely from ear infections or maybe bottles left in his mouth as he fell asleep - no one knows for sure but whatever the cause, we must get it out.
How?
First, we go back to his pediatrician, Dr. Schwanke, and get him to prescribe antibiotics (takes ~ 3 weeks to go the full course). This might work - then we have him re-tested to see whether there's any damage to the audio nerve.
Then, if antibiotics don't work, the next step is minor ear surgery, where he goes under anesthesia (this is the biggest worry-inducer) to have the gunk sucked out and tiny ear tubes placed in his eardrum.
From a god website I learned
"Ear tubes are tiny cylinders placed through the ear drum (tympanic membrane) to allow air into the middle ear. They also may be called tympanostomy tubes."

It's a fairly common surgery, and I hear has very good outcomes. I'm already mentally ready for this if needed, as his Otolaryngologist (again, say 10 times fast!) suggested that the gunk in his ears has already turned the consistency of glue, and thus may not come out easily, even with proper antibiotics.
I want him to hear properly 'asap' - and even though the tubes mean he has to wear earplugs in pools and the bathtub, that's an inconvenience I'm willing to deal with.
So, though there may be more wrong that we can't yet even diagnose, at least we have 1 logical explanation.

Photos are of my boys @ the park, and then snoozing in the car on the way home, this afternoon.

Kate Sherwood
Mobile (650) 387-6767