Moo

Hey Jakey,

To add insult to injury, I now have "hand, foot and mouth disease." Characterized by blisters on the hands and feet, canker sores, fever and sore throat. Not to be confused with "hoof and mouth disease," usually reserved for species of the bovine variety. Thanks, little man. Of all the shit you've brought home from school with you, this one sucks the most suckiest of all.

On a lighter note...

We went to the Pumpkin Patch on the edge of town on 395 Sunday. The photos here seem to indicate that you had a great time! Which you did, until it came time to leave, and you then had the meltdown to end all meltdowns. The mother of all meltdowns, as it were. I hadn't seen you that worked up in many a moon.

Again, *that's* the stuff I should be taking pictures of, if this blog is going to be of any educational value at all to you in your later years.



Love the picture of you trying so hard to ignore the pesky goat, which was frightening the bejeezus out of you, but you refused to back down. You just walked away. My brave little man!



This morning we met with your SLP and a rep from the school district. We're trying to get you into a special pre-school to transition you from the Early Intervention program into regular school, cuz you'll be kicked out of IE the day you turn three. This was our first meeting, the next will be an evaluation with a school psychologist (scary!) sometime in December, and then sometime before your birthday in January, they'll let us know if you qualify.

The lady from the school district was nice. She had a southern Geor-gah drawl, and completely charmed you and your father. I liked her because she kept reminding us that most of these "behavioral issues" that your parents and your therapists like to saddle you with can, for the most part, be chalked up to "being two years old." We forget that sometimes. She said she'd be surprised if you don't qualify for services. That's a hard thing; hoping that your "problems" are severe enough to warrant intervention, yet also hoping that everything is just a big misunderstanding and will eventually go away by itself.

Screw it. We'll take anything free and educational that the state wants to throw our way. No harm, no foul. And, it's free daycare for at least part of the day!

So a couple of nights ago, I thought I was going to either frickin' DIE, or give birth right here in our home.

I was up all night with intermittent Braxton-Hicks, plus the onset of the hoof-and-mouth thing, which at the time was a sore throat and fever, and my pelvic floor was just about ready to painfully bust its way outta my body. I could not get comfortable, I could not sleep, I just laid there for hours, thrashing about and wishing for a handful of Valium and a glass of port. Daddy said he would not spend another night like that with me, if I do not pack my "goin'-to-the-hospital" bag immediately and set it by the door. He, too, was convinced that Sunday night would be the night.

Feelin' much better now, except for these strange cravings for hay and leather pants. Love you, sleep tight.