Madelyn Rocket Frog Turns Four

Madelyn turned four a couple weeks ago. Can you believe it? Four is so much older than three, don't you think?

There were a few similarities between this year's party and last year's. In case you don't remember, we had frog cupcakes then.

We also had them now. (Yeah, I know "had them now"... it is what it is.)

You see frogs, right? (All smiling Muppets... er... frogs were done by Grandma Margaret. As usual, the nonplussed frogs were created by yours truly.

This year's party had a camping theme.  Although my dad's generous offer to bring over their fire pit was tempting, I opted for these insanely delicious s'mores cookie bites. (My version of the recipe calls for dark chocolate instead of sickeningly sweet Hershey's bars. Plus, dark chocolate has antioxidants, so these bites are healthy.)

I got the recipe here, although you can see mine bear little resemblance. The main difference, aside from the chocolate is that my pan was apparently 9 X 9. The extra inch in each direction meant less cookie on top. As far as I'm concerned, this is a serious win.

Our parties are developing quite the reputation for crafts and activities. Nobody pretends like I'm some amazing child party guru. They ask if they can rent out Grandma Margaret to come up with great fun that costs nothing.


Like the pine cone bird feeder. Okay, so you made dozens of these when you were a kid. In my sheltered (ha!) life, I only learned of them when Grandma Margaret recently said, "Hey, I was thinking... "  

Pine cone, peanut butter (just go ahead and accept now that the kids are all going to stick that spreader back into the peanut butter after licking it off... yes, even your beloved Princess Smooshy Face) and birdseed. Use a pipe cleaner to make a hanger and put it on the tree in your yard.  

Ours are buried in the full foliage of one of our plum trees, but they are already needing to be reseeded. The birds are happy.

Hand- and fingerprint trees are a lot of fun. (Bailey's is a weeping willow.) Be sure to tell the kidlets that it's not chocolate, even if it looks like it could be. I've said it before, whoever invented washable inks and paints is my favorite person. In the world.

No campsite is complete without a tree and a roaring fire. (I cannot stress how much better that fire looked in real life. Same for the tree. No matter how schmancy the camera, sometimes it just comes down to operator skill... or lack thereof.)

Madelyn, giving me her latest "Oh, you're taking my photo?" look. Bonus:  A little Fynnie in the lush landscape that is our perpetually awesome backyard.

Last year at this point, Madelyn looked just as excited. And then we gave her ice cream and she passed out. Over the course of the past year we have taught her about breathing exercises to calm herself and that ice cream should be enjoyed slowly with small bites. Although she and I did buy ice cream for the party, it never made it out of the freezer. What?! She didn't even notice.

Not that Madelyn didn't make my heart jump into my throat anyway. Why she threw her head... and hair!... forward while blowing out the candle, I'll never know. But she didn't catch on fire and we did not find any other reasons to seek specialized medical treatment. That, my friends, is a successful party!

Fynnie may or may not have gotten hold of three or four cupcakes. All we know for sure is that we found three of them sitting outside with the frosting and candy faces eaten away.

This, my friends, is Fynnie's thinking face. Ask her a question and this is what she will do. Usually while saying, "Um..."

I'm pretty sure she's planning her next party.  Not to worry, Grandma Margaret is all over it!

News of My World

Doesn't involve any hacking, sneaking or listening in on other people's conversations.  But there's a lot to share!

We are feeling increasingly more pleased with our decision to switch to Kaiser.  We met the girls' pediatrician last week and Mad's neurologist today. Every medical professional we've encountered greets us and then tells us why we're there.  Because they've read our file.  Doc walked in this morning and said, "So you're here about the incident in April."

Yes, that was my jaw hitting the floor.

Moreover, he really listened to what we were saying.  We discussed Mad's fall in 2009.  Unlike the neuro we met back then, at no time did our new doc try to insist that Mad had a seizure and then fell.  He listened.  We laid out everything.

Two women in Tom's family have a history of seizures.  Teen onset, lasting through early adulthood.

Mad fell.  Knocked herself out.  Came to.  Went out again.  Had an EEG that showed some minor activity that our old ped, Dr. Present, said could result in a seizure disorder later or could be nothing.

At the birthday party in April, Mad was extremely excited.  By the singing.  Her first candle to blow out.  The frog cupcake.  The ice cream that she was eating way too fast.

She seemed to have a brain freeze followed by a seizure.  But she came to and was her normal self (albeit upset) in a matter of seconds.

What did all of that mean to our new neurologist?

Mad fainted.

Apparently some people are susceptible to vasovagal episodes.  And do you know what can cause them?  I am not joking when I say being excited and eating something cold.

Yes, that was me breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Doc is going to redo the EEG to be on the safe side.  Again unlike the previous neuro, New Doc does not advocate using heavy duty meds to prevent something that may or may not happen.  So if it turns out she is at risk for developing seizures, we will wait to treat them if they show up.

He said Mad seems perfect.  Developmentally appropriate.  Smart.  Pretty (he did say that, but not as part of his diagnosis).

So next up will be an EEG.  Unlike two years ago, Mad isn't likely to fall asleep anywhere we put her (not that she did then), so she'll probably have to be put under for it.  That's our least favorite part of the whole thing, but we'll take it to get the answers we need.