Throwing Pitch Forks

Just as he was getting over his ear infection that kept him out of school for a week with a fever, Danny had an accident. Yesterday afternoon, he and Hayden were throwing pretend pitch forks at each other. One caught Danny in the right eye.

Kathy and I heard him screaming home. Hayden was walking with him. His eye looked bad. It was purple and it looked like a marble was under the swollen lid. We all got in the car and drove to the emergency room. Danny held an ice pack on his eye all the way. He said that he could sort of see. Some things were black and white and some things color.

I carried him in. The triage nurse said it didn’t look like the eyeball was punctured and directed me to a registration nurse. As I held Danny in my arms, the registration nurse started with her list of questions. She didn’t get past asking for my zip code when I asked her if someone could look at Danny’s eye. I would be glad to answer all her questions after that.

That got us in. The triage nurse looked more carefully at Danny’s eye and then had him read an eye chart. He did real well considering he has only a recent command of the alphabet. He stood behind the line by himself, one hand over his good eye, his hurt eye swollen. I was relieved.

We rented The Empire Strikes Back and moved the couch so that Danny could be comfortable and close to the TV. He fell asleep before it started.

Kathy, who does not care for science fiction movies, played with Kelly in the sitting room. It was Kelly’s 3rd month birthday and she laughed (giggled) for the first time.

Nicole and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

[Danny’s version transcribed…]

Me and Hayden were throwing pitch forks at each other. We had to go to the doctors because I got hit in my eye with the pitch fork. They had to cover my good eye and they made me read the letters. I wasn’t right on some of them and I was right on some of them. After that they put me on a scale to see how much I weigh. I went into this bed and they put lots of eye drops, water, on my eye. I cried. They had to turn off the lights and they looked at my eye with a flashlight. Then they looked at my eye with another flashlight. I cried because I didn’t like it shining in my eyes. Then they had to put a double patch on my eye. Then I went to go home. I fell asleep at the start of Star Wars.

Kelly Moves Out

Kelly is slowly turning into a person. She likes playing with the little toys that dangle from the bar over her recliner. She likes to smile and she’ll even laugh with an inhaling yelp.

We kicked her out of our room last weekend. She can move around enough to get to the edge of the swinging cradle and end up sleeping with her face tilted into the bars. She has graduated to a big crib and has enjoyed the past few nights sleeping with her big brother.

Danny has been recovering from a week long fever and an infected ear. Kathy remarked how pleasant he was throughout his sickness. Very quiet and cooperative.

He must have recovered because he is already giving us fits with all of his running around, torturing his big sister, and whining.

House Update

The aerating, lime, seed, and fertilizer all paid off. The yard looks great. I’m most proud of getting a thick stand of grass to come in under the southeast Bradford Pear. The leaves are off almost all of the trees. The Bradford Pears and the Willow have yet to change color. I guess the Magnolia stays green year round.

An invasion of dandelion weeds has crossed the border between the up-hill neighboring yard. The results of the surgical counter strikes with salt spray will not be known for a couple of weeks.

gutters-cleaning-plan.pngBob E. and I worked up the latest plan to attack the gutters. Three approaches have failed thus far. The latest idea is to place two screw eyes into the joists of the roof. Tie a rope between them, and then hold onto a rope that will slide along that one as I go down the length of the gutter.

Later I realized I don’t have joists, so that could make placing the screw eyes tricky. The 32 foot ladder I could buy would be $189. I’m not sure where I would store a ladder this high, though.

Kelly Baptized

Kelly Elizabeth was baptized today. She was much better behaved than Thomas Joseph who was also baptized. She contributed her share of noise however, especially when the deacon was paying more attention to what he was reading than his pouring. She got a face full of holy water and did not enjoy having some of it go up her holy nose.

However, she was much quieter than Danny had been at his Baptism in front of the entire congregation at Holy Cross. St. John Neumann’s after-mass Baptism is a much better arrangement. At least you only have to worry about bothering the immediate family.

After the Baptism, Godparents Ted and Bernadette, Mom and Dad, Tom and Jennette, Tom Jr., and assorted tots (Little Bill, Shawn, Eric) and siblings (Nicole an Danny) gathered for a terrific lunch. Kathy worked hard all day Saturday to prepare it. Delicious honey baked ham, fresh fruit salad, pasta salad, a regular salad with some kind of topping, and three desserts: coconut cake, cherry-chocolate-chip cheese cake, and some peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses on top.

Kelly even put in a nice stretch of smiles an cooing for the occasion.