Sophia's 4th Birthday - A big day in the City

To say Sophia was extremely aware of her birthday this year is an understatement. She had a countdown going and, for the final 3 weeks before her actual day, kept asking if she could bring cupcakes to school TODAY. 

Birthdays were always big in my house growing up. Some of my best memories are of times I spent with my mom and dad on my birthday. I could have whatever I wanted to eat and we always had a special day planned. 

This year, Sophia was particularly enchanted by the Make Way for Ducklings Book, as well as taking the Subway. So we built the afternoon around that. 

The morning was all about school, where I got to parent help and bring in cupcakes. It was great to see her in action at school with her teachers and friends. The cupcakes were a big hit, mostly because they were chocolate, but also because the simple recipe made them very friendly for kids, even those with allergies. 

After school got out, Sophia & I hopped on the T to head downtown the Charles street. 

But the first order of business was to get some Mac n Cheese. So, lunch at Figs it was! Great food for everyone. 

It had been raining earlier in the day, but we dried off during lunch and made our way down to the Garden. First order of business was to say hi to the ducklings & Mrs. Mallard. By this point, they had "shaved" their playoff beards and were back to normal. 

Next stop was into the Garden to feed the ducks. I had baked a loaf of bread for the occasion. (It sounds really good - usually by bread doesn't rise and is pretty painful, but this one actually stuck - lucky ducks. 

 Sophia was just ecstatic to watch the ducks eat and flat all around. It was pure joy to watch.

 Apparently, smiling big smiles isn't cool for four-year olds to do anymore... Sigh. It's like Blue Steel or something...

 Final stop of the day was to get tea. It felt like a very fun and grownup thing to do. We headed to Panifico for a cup of tea and, when the women heard it was her birthday, they brought her a special cupcake with a candle.

After a long day, we made our way home for hugs and presents from Nonni.

With that, I proceeded to pass out on the couch in exhaustion. Man, was that a busy fourth birthday! I can't wait till next year.

The Seizure

On Friday, October 18, I got one of the most dreadful calls ever while I was at work- Lidiana called to tell me Theo had had a seizure. We had been texting about giving him some tylenol because he had spiked a little bit of a fever. The next thing I knew, she was on the phone and passed it to our neighbor downstairs, who is a NICU nurse. She had brought Theo right down once she realized what was happening. She said it was likely just a febrile (temperature induced) seizure, but he should be checked out. They drove him over to Children's, where I met them after what felt like the longest cab ride ever. 

When I heard, about 80 different things were running through my mind. My frame of reference for seizures was mainly through my colleague, who's young son suffered from them so badly that they were performing a left-hemispherectomy the following Tuesday. 

I called Dave en route to the hospital and made arrangements for Sophia to be taken care of. Thank god for her school director and teachers. They usually let out early on Fridays, but they agreed to hang with her till we got everything sorted at the hospital. Dave was able to run back across the river, get Sophia and she hung out with our neighbors till we got home - I'm so thankful for our village! 

 Dave met me at the hospital - I just snuggled Theo who was just wiped out. But it was just good to hold my baby. On top of the seizure, it was almost 1 and he hadn't eaten and was definitely exhausted. Luckily, the two of them were just able to zone out for a bit while we waited for him to be seen.

His temperature was up and down a bit while we were in the waiting room. He had light fever when I had left for work that day, but nothing of note and his spirits were normal, so I didn't think twice.  After what felt like forever, he finally was taken in to see the ER doctor. She was fantastic as, was Lidiana, who relayed the full story of what she had seen/what happened. I think that was the hardest part through all of this for me - that I didn't know firsthand what had happened. I'm thankful for Lidiana's quick thinking and love for my son. Still, it was tough as a mom. The Dr. said there were somethings about the way the seizure was described that she catalogued as irregular (Lidiana could only confirm that one side of his body seized - both may have, but she remembers seeing one side specifically). With that info, they wanted neurology to see him.

After another long wait, we got into see neuro and they thought he looked ok but the irregularities had them recommend a follow-up EEG. At least we could go home.

 Here's my happy boy after a long, tiring day - doesn't look like someone who just spent the day in the hospital?

And here's a shot from his EEG a few weeks ago. They scheduled it during his nap time as they needed to image the brain sleeping and then awake. There are 24 nodes on his head tracking what he's thinking. He was such a rock star through the process - not something I want to go through again, but Theo is a rock star in my book. And the best news was that it came back all clear. The neuros chalked it up to a temperature induced seizure, which up to 10% of kids under the age of 6 have. This could be the only one he ever has, or he could be more inclined to have another. Let's just hope this is the only one.

And back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Halloween Fun

Halloween has quickly become a family favorite here. Sophia decided early-on in the year (probably before the end of summer) that she was going to be "Minnie Red Riding Hood." I looked online for the costume, but quickly found that the pre-schooler version was a small version of the hooker-looking adult version. Yup - complete with pleather tie-up bodice. All set with that!

It actually worked out great, because my mom sewed the most beautiful fleece cape for her, which looked amazing and kept her very warm. The other bonus - we could dress her in whatever underneath the cape!

 It was only fitting, then, that Theo was The Big Bad Wolf.
I found the fuzziest costume online and well, he didn't look very bad, more adorable and snuggly. Better yet, he was warm, though the night turned out to be in the high 50s, so the poor guy ended up wearing just a diaper & t-shirt underneath!

Both kids were all about getting candy - we traipsed around our new neighborhood with a bunch of friends from our current neighborhood. It is just getting to the point where the kids are somewhat self sufficient - at least the first edition are - and can move along at a good pace and really enjoy the process!

 Theo got into it - he wouldn't let anyone hold his candy bag, for fear of missing out. He also went 2 fisted into most bowls and while I tried to reign him in for just 1 or 2 pieces, people kept telling him, "Oh you're so cute, take what you want." Great - more donations to bring to work :)

Here's a shot of the whole crew, including: Astronaut Doggie, Dinosaur, Red Riding Hood, Fireman and a distracted Wolf!

 More shots including our neighbor who we met up with at the end - Spiderman!!

 And finally, after having the velcro of his diaper getting caught on the inside of the costume all night (causing a few malfunctions) we finally stripped him and let him wander around getting some air.
It was a good night!