Ash Wednesday...

And so another Lenten season begins. Most everyone participates in Mardi Gras or "Fat Tuesday" and the plethera of "Pancake Suppers" around without knowing the reason behind the "feast" is the imminent "fast" that begins today. For anyone who doesn't know...look it up on wikipedia...just kidding...Lent is a period of 40 days and nights of fasting, prayer, and inner reflection, culminating in the Great Feast of Easter. Ironically, Sundays don't "count" in the 40-days and nights because each Sunday is considered a "feast" day. As a result, one might be inclined to cheat on Sundays...but I try to avoid the added temptation.

Anyhoo...many observe the season by giving up a vice temporarily...like sweets, drinking, or whatnot and never really focus on the whole spiritual journey that ideally takes place as well. In recent years I've begun focusing more on the spiritual journey and I recommend it for any of you observing the Lenten season. Another thing I began doing three years ago, was not only giving something up that I love, but also taking up something that might benefit me spiritually as well. So...lots to think about and work on this season. If you are beginning this fasting season with me, I wish you strength, patience, and perseverance. Okay...well, I wish that for all of you anyway. :)

Here's Fender "feasting."
 
 
 

And enjoying the warmer days of the season.

Fender plays guitar and sings...

A funny video.

Fender distracted...


Some of the commentary in case you don't understand him:
"Look. Chocolate." (referring to the name he gave his train.)
"Hi little buddy." "Thanks for coming by to see me." "(Chocolate) comes to see me again." (repeat x 2) and "I need to pause him."

This week in Fender photos...

Well, Daddy has been in Chicago this week for a training workshop and we've missed him so we took a few photos this week to make sure he didn't miss anything while he was away. So this is for you, Daddy...








Having a lazy morning with breakfast in bed.

Artwork at 28 months...

 

The most notable thing about his artwork these days is how hard he insists on pressing the crayons to the paper. Most of the colors break under the pressure. We've reassured him that color will still make it to the paper even if he colors lightly but apparently it just isn't as pretty. I have to admit I love the deep colors in all his artwork these days and a new box of crayons is only about $0.97. Well worth it.

Typically Fender wakes up about 7AM and he'll come crawl into bed with us and wake us up too. But one day last week he got up and went to play by himself in the living room. When I got up to check on him this is what I found.
 

I decided to start taking the occasional pictures of some things I find rather funny when I just happen upon them at random on any given day. Finding things like this around the house are just a teeny part of the tremendous joy of being a parent.
 
 

Making chocolate milk...

Recently Fender decided he could make his own chocolate milk. I've filmed it twice and the second time was longer... and a slightly cuter video as there was a pretty big spill and the dog came over to lick it all up. Ha. This one is still about 3 minutes long...proving that sometimes you have take your time and work hard if you really want something. This is a partial video...he's already gone to the fridge, gotten the chocolate, poured it in, and retrieved the milk... he had gotten that far pretty much on his own before I decided I wanted to get the video out. So here you go.

The video...(you may have to click the play button twice).

Here we are...

Fender is now 28 months old and I haven't checked any books lately, but it seems to me he is doing everything he needs to be doing at this stage.

He is really beginning to enjoy puzzles, but isn't real good at them by himself yet. He has a wooden "Horton Elephant" puzzle he likes the most. It has about 9 pieces and he gets frustrated when the pieces don't move into place easily. He also has a couple of 4-5 piece cardboard wal-mart puzzles that he is really good at, but we've lost a piece from each one already. Today we tried a 25 piece jigsaw puzzle ($1 at the Dollar Tree) and he was good at identifying what was on the pieces so if I asked for a "tree" piece or a "tigger" or "winnie the pooh" he could hand me one that went to it and told me where it should go. He just can't get them together well.

Okay, and now I will bore you by telling you about one of the more special moments I've ever had in my lifetime. Several nights ago we were all sitting down for dinner at the kitchen table (not a rare occurrence, but not every night either) and when we do so we try to always say grace before we eat. Well, in the past Fender hasn't been one to sit real quiet or still through it so this time I said a quick prayer while still passing out dinner. (Yes, I know some of you would not approve of this, but my thinking is that the important thing is that we are thanking God for the food we have been blessed with even if we don't follow typical protocol while doing so.) Okay...so we say "Amen" and I'm about through passing out the food. And when everyone has food on their plate and we are all about to eat, Fender starts rambling out a very rapid "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. We fold our hands and bow our heads and thank Him for our daily bread. Amen." Drew and I just stared at each other while this spilled forth from his sweet little mouth never missing a beat and at breakneck speed.

I am sad to say it wasn't us that taught it to him because we typically say a different prayer each time. I thought it had to come from Memaw and Papa because he's had dinner with them a lot lately during my recovery. It turned out it wasn't them either...so where did he learn it, you ask? In typical Fender fashion, he learned it the first time he heard it. He spent one Wednesday evening with Great Aunt Virginia, her husband Tom, and a couple of cousins and learned it when he heard them say it at dinner time. All of it. I had never even heard the last half of that prayer before. I was so impressed and so humbled when he stopped and said it with us at the dinner table. Definitely one of the cooler moments of my life!

We haven't been doing much of anything worth mentioning...just living our daily lives. So here are some pictures from the past several weeks.

He blows his own bubbles now.
 
 

Climbs up and slides down the neighbors playground setup in less than 10 seconds!!
 

Keeping it straight...
 

oh yeah...almost forgot my eye update...
Second opinion showed I could see out of all quadrants and could make out some red and green lights shining at my eye, though green was white in most of it and "sight" meant I could make out some vague motion in most areas. Doc thought those were all really good signs. He said I had to have the surgery, of course because my retina was detaching and I still have about a 15% chance of regaining any useful sight. He also said he would do it, but that we were already with the best retina and uvietis specialist. Ugh. So we went back to my doctor and had the surgery again.

This one was a bit more invasive than the previous two. He cut out a huge layer of scar tissue, which he was pleased about, but said the retina is pretty rigid and he didn't like that. He put in a silicone oil bubble, which will stay in for a long long time. He had to make an actual incision in order to get the bubble in because the oil bubble won't fit through the microscopic holes he usually makes. So this all required stitching up multiple layers of my eye...which wasn't all that pleasant at the time, and has been an irritation ever since. I expect it will eventually go away. He left the cataract lens in after all because it is better with the bubble if I leave it in. He said if I'm not detaching after several months then he will get me in to see one of his cataract specialists who have experience removing cataracts in patients with oil bubbles...which can apparently be pretty tricky and not a good thing if the bubble gets nicked. Woo-hoo!

Okay...so no sight in that eye at the moment, but hoping for brighter days ahead. At my appointment on Tuesday my doc was really pleased with the way everything looked. He even smiled (which he had never done before) so I'll take that as a good sign, though I can't get my head around why this is looking better than anytime before. They've always re-attached following surgery and detached later. Oh well. He's happy, so I guess I should be too. I had to do a few more days face-down because the scars were still healing. But hopefully everything has healed properly now and will stay attached forever!! The End.

Face-down and all caged up...

Hey folks...there have been no posts because I have been in face-down recovery after having a third vitrectomy eye surgery the Monday before last. Doc said things looked good on Tuesday, but the scars were still healing so I was ordered to stay down a bit longer. I get 15 minutes up each hour, so I decided to update this real fast. I'll even add a quick picture of Fender. I promise more Fender days are ahead and a better eye update is forthcoming when I have more time.

Thank you to all of you who have called and/or come by to check on me and/or emailed to say you missed the blog updates. :) Uh oh....times almost up. And since I'm caged up in the house at the moment, here's Fender caged up with the dogs at a friend's party we attended just before the surgery.