We decided to combine Maya and Sam's birthday parties this year, on a weekend between birthdays and between surgeries, and during the brief time in Spring when Sam could walk.
They both had a blast at the party. Jim worked every second it wasn’t pouring to at least get half the play set set up, a clubhouse with a ladder/climbing wall and slide, and the kids loved it. It was a miraculously sunny day, though somewhat cold, after weeks of rain. Fortunately that meant everyone could hang outside for a few hours while Jim barbecued.
Sam astounded us by scaling the wall by himself and hurling himself down the slide, after a friend held onto him the first few times. I was bringing more chicken out for Jim to throw on the grill when I heard him shriek, “Look Daddy, I’m doing it myself!”
We both cheered and he beamed, so proud.
Here are Sam and Maya enjoying his Chick Hicks cake on his actual birthday. Party pictures are yet to be uploaded. For some reason, I'm a little behind on life and pretty much everything else.
He’s getting around so well, though I’m still carrying him frequently too. He’s trying to go down stairs more, but it still seems tough to go up them.
It’s sinking in what the other surgeon said, that Sam’s coxa vara will be corrected, but he won’t necessarily move like other kids. I can still see it in that right leg, the gait.
But he’s still healing incredibly. After going up that ladder and down that slide about 1,000 times, the next day, it was his left knee he grabbed, screaming in pain. The right knee, the knee on the leg that has already been operated on, didn’t seem to hurt.
So I wish I’d written something before that party, when I wasn’t even thinking of surgery, nobody was. But it was so busy, I just didn’t get to it.
Maya has had two more seizure episodes, one the late night of the party, and we’re set to see the neurologist next week.
I’ve also been gently trying to prep both kids for surgery again, since it’s only a week and one day away.
Today became intense both in terms of typical 3-year-old behavior and questions you wish your kids never had to ask.
Sam (who never wears pants for naps) was diaper-clad as I held him this evening. His 5-inch scar, wider at the top and still almost blistery, caught Maya’s attention as it always does.
“Is that a scratch?” Maya asked.
“No honey, that’s his scar from the surgery,” I reminded her.
“I’m worried about Sam,” Maya said as she always does when she sees his scar. “Will I be there for Sam’s surgery?”
“No.”
“But he’ll be lonely,” she said, her face turning concerned and much older than a girl who is not even 5 yet.
“Daddy and I will be there.”
“But who will keep me company?” she asked, looking at her plate.
“Nonna,” I said, keeping my voice steady, but she had to have heard it move up an octave.
“And you guys will have lots of fun, just like last time!” I said, much too vivaciously. “And Daddy and Sam and I will just be gone for two days, and then we’ll be home!”
“But, Sam will have another cast,” I added
“I’m going to have another cast?” Sam asked, almost comically incredulous.
“Yeah buddy, but remember how quickly you walked again after --”
“I want to get down Mommy!”
And he was waddling off to the next thing, laughing with Maya. She was racing with him, letting him getting a head start, and then announcing, “We both won Sam!”
In the grocery store earlier, we were getting some frozen, already-prepared meals, and the kids were getting antsy on this epic food-shopping trip.
“Why are we going down this aisle?” Maya wanted to know. I rarely buy frozen meals except for some favorites at Trader Joe’s. “Are we almost done?”
“I want to have some things in the fridge that are easy to make after Sam has surgery again next week,” I told them.
“Surgery?!” Sam exclaimed. “I’m going to have surgery? Why? Will it be today?”
This will be the last one for a long time, I assured them both. (That is, until they have to go in and remove the hardware in both legs. But I thought it best not to mention that just yet.)
Memory, at least in terms of very small children and surgeries, is a negative the second time around.
