Catching up

I can hardly believe it is April and that my sweet Kelsey will be 2 in less than three weeks. We've been busy, as usual, but thought I'd take a moment to post a few updates:

• Ryan has had a stye in his left eye for more than six months. At first, it would come and go. Then it started to stay longer and grew bigger, and Kelsey scratched it one day, causing it to bleed. We made a few trips to the pediatrician, who eventually referred us to an opthalmologist. (Would you believe there is a 3-4 month wait to get into the U-M Kellogg Eye Center?!?)
  
  For at least two months, we've been applying an ointment to both eyes (the styes like to spread) twice a day. We're also supposed to be cleaning it with baby shampoo daily and applying warm compresses for 5-10 minutes a few times a day. Well, for any of you who didn't notice, Ryan is 3. So we're lucky if he agrees to the daily cleaning, and we're lottery winners if he actually holds a warm compress on his eye for more than 10 seconds.
  
  I have been mostly skeptical that this treatment would ever work, particularly if it depended on these warm compresses. Happily, I can report, that Ryan's eyes almost look normal. They styes are getting smaller. I doubt they'll be gone forever until we can apply the compresses, but I can handle that.
  


Ryan's eyes are improving, even since this photo was taken a couple of weeks ago.



• Brendan lost his third tooth -- on St. Patrick's Day. He is Irish, after all! Kelsey knocked his tooth out while the two rolled around wrestling on the living room floor. (Aside: No doubt that Kelsey will grow up rough around the edges!) Brendan was treated to ice cream at Dairy King and a visit from the Tooth Fairy that night.
  
• Earlier in March, Brendan had a read-in at school. He packed a bag with his sleeping bag, pillow, slippers and multiple favorite books. The class read all day long. Ryan was upset that he couldn't do the same at his school. So we staged a read-in at home. Both Kelsey and Ryan loved it!

Kelsey and Ryan, during their read-in. They were happy to snuggle in their sleeping bags on this rainy Friday and look through books. Ryan stuck around a bit longer than Kelsey.