Update: Talia is under anesthesi

She's being prepped for surgery. We'll know more in half an hour.

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Waiting for the anaesthesiologis

They just told us there's going to be a two-hour delay due to complications with the operation scheduled before hers.

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Talia in the pre-op waiting room

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1022070015

Nathan Rein posted a photo:

Another test. Bear with me.

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Original source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/nbr/1683172731/...

Surgery tomorrow

I'll be posting updates on Talia's surgery here, from my phone, as they happen. If this works, that is.

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The punning gene must skip a generation

Zeke, while playing with trains: "Daddy, this one pulled so much coal, he got cold."

Audio post: post-day-care-drop-off report on Zeke and Talia's latest shenanigans

If the sound doesn't work, call (510) 248-0386 (probably as of about 3 pm EDT) to hear it, or, if that fails, click this link for an updated number.

More two-year-old humor

While driving to daycare this morning, Zeke informed me: "Daddy, I have a little cold. I'm sniffy. And I'm coffee."

Video diary: an update on Talia

Feeling too fried to write. Basically, though, the news is reasonably good, and things seem under control. She'll go into surgery next Monday and stay in the hospital probably four days. Call (510) 248-0386 to hear the audio if necessary, or click this link to get an updated phone number if that one doesn't work. I wasn't able to extract the sound. Sorry.

There is an update on...

There is an update on Talia. She is scheduled for surgery on Monday. She will be in hospital for four days and should make full recovery with in a month, so that's good news.
Click here to listen

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Today as we where driving...

Today as we where driving to day care Zeke looked out the window at the sky, which was little bit pink and yellow, and he told me: "Daddy, it's twilight. The sun is mixing. It's mixing with pink suns and purple suns."
Click here to listen

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A few recent photos

Here's Zeke captured while bathing...


At the Norristown zoo, posing as a swallowtail butterfly (note the die-cast train in his right hand)...

Those two were taken with my phone.

And here's Talia, at a recent outing to Pretzel Park in Manayunk, PA. Taken with Heather's phone.


That's it. No news on Talia's health. She continues to act normal, though now that we know about it, it's easy to find the little ridge of bone running down the center of her skull. The next doctor's appointment is downtown on Tuesday. Apparently CHOP (where we're taking her) is the place to go. I also learned that dolicocephaly means "long head," scaphocephaly means "skiff-shaped head," and craniosynostosis means "skull-bones together."

The clinical name for Talia's condition...

... is variously dolicocephaly or scaphocephaly (premature closure of the sagittal suture of the skull). The general name is craniosynostosis. I've never heard of it before, so I've started doing a little online research, the results of which can be found here.

Another update on Talia's health

Here's the email I sent out to friends and family this afternoon:

Hello,
I've just heard back from the doctor regarding the results of Talia's various tests from last week and unfortunately the news is not good. The MRI shows no problems. However, the skull X-ray shows premature fusion of several of the skull bones. I am taking Talia for a neurosurgery consultation next week. It's possible that they will decide the problem is not serious enough to justify intervention. But the normal thing to do in such cases is surgery, and, from the limited amount I've been able to find out from the internet, it is quite invasive and traumatic -- basically cutting the skull apart and screwing it back together, involving a multi-day hospital stay.

I'll keep you updated as I get more information. Thank you to everyone for your concern.
Nathan

I'll post updates here too.

Video diary: Talia, one day post-MRI

Click To Play

Not much going on in this ninety-second video, but at least you can tell that she's more or less back to her normal, active, cheerful self. She woke up pretty groggy this morning, but by mid-afternoon seemed to be full of piss and vinegar again. She's doing a lot more cruising -- you can see her take a tentative step right near the end of the clip.

A little bit more of an update on Talia

It's been an exhausting day, but everything's gone fine so far. I went to work this morning as usual, and Heather took Talia to get some blood drawn (we're checking for lead, given that we live in an old house with some peeling paint). Heather reported that she didn't cry during the drawing. Then off to the pediatrician for a quick exam, since her eye has been looking puffy. They found an ear infection. She'll be on amoxycillin and ear drops for the next ten days. Then the hospital for the day's big event: first a skull X-ray, which I missed (Heather reported some crying), then an MRI (under sedation with chloral hydrate), which took a half hour and was completely uneventful. After that we went home and she slept for three hours. Now she's up, acting pretty groggy from the sedative (which will probably continue until mid-day tomorrow), but her appetite is back and she's obviously in a fine mood. Aside from the little bandage on her arm, you'd never know what an ordeal today was for her. I was especially amazed at how well she seemed to manage being prohibited from eating for half the day. She's a big, big eater these days.

The big question is, of course, what the tests will show, and we won't know that for at least four days. So all we can do is sit tight. No doctor so far has given us any reason to think this is anything other than a perfectly routine screening based on her head size and shape, so I'm not too worried. But still, being at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia), and seeing all those sick, pale, bald children with their parents, -- well, it left both of us pretty rattled.

A lot of people have been very supportive, and we of course are very grateful.

By the way: the previous post was done over the phone, using Jott, an excellent free phone-to-text service. They have a mysterious transcription mechanism that relies on a combination of computer speech recognition and human transcribers, presumably in some overseas location. That explains the misspelling of "survived."

Here is an update, Talia...

Here is an update, Talia just finished her MRI and we are on our way back home. She servived the day so far fine, we should get results on Tuesday.
Click here to listen

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Talia and Zeke in the kitchen

If I were into puns, I'd make some crack about a beany baby, but I won't. Talia likes beans, anyhow.

Zeke climbs a ladder

Click To Play

This was at a big birthday party with a lot of kids and parents milling around. One parent beckoned me over when Zeke was already halfway up this thing. I couldn't believe he negotiated it entirely without help; it made me kind of nervous, but he was completely confident and secure. I made this little video with my phone while his way up for the third time, I think. He was pretty pleased with himself but evidently didn't think it was much of a big deal.

This one is for the folks back home

Click To Play

This is an old favorite from a long time back. A favorite of a very small group but still a favorite.

Another bedtime report from Zeke

Tonight when I took Zeke in for bed he didn't want to leave his mother. He cried and said that he "wanted Mommy." Then, suddenly, he stopped crying and sat up.

Z.: Daddy, do you sometimes get sad when you can't see Mommy?
Me: Yes, sometimes I do.
Z.: Why, Daddy? Why do we get sad?

Big-head Talia

Talia had her nine-month well-baby checkup Tuesday. To our astonishment, the fact that her head circumference is in the 95th percentile is a cause for concern. She's having an MRI and X-ray next Friday to determine whether there is fluid in her brain and whether the plates in her skull are fusing prematurely. Yeesh. Poor baby. They'll sedate her for the procedure.

A recent one-liner

Walking through the war memorial in the park by our house:

Z.: Daddy, what's this?
Me: It's called a memorial.
Z.: Not your morial. My morial.

Zeke sings the alphabet

A few days ago, while driving, Zeke decided to perform the alphabet. About forty seconds. If you can't hear the audio, call (510) 248-0386, and if that number doesn't work, click this link and get the correct number.

Another little batch of photos

I took Zeke to the park before bed tonight and he spent a while dashing around inside the bandshell. I took a bunch of blurry but (I think) interesting photos.

Zeke entertains Talia in her high chair

Zeke was really trying to amuse her, and she was loving it. Go through the whole series to get the full effect...

A "day out with Thomas"

Over the past six months or so, Zeke has become a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, a TV character with an enormous range of licensed products you can buy. I think he sees a fair amount of Thomas at the daycare. (We try not to think about how much "movie time" there is there; he definitely doesn't see TV at home.) I have a certain amount of ambivalence about this. I don't remember growing up with a lot of brand-name characters as important elements of my imaginative life, but I could be wrong about this. Anyhow, though, about an hour from here, there's an old steam railroad that's been maintained in daily operation. It's in Amish country, in Strasburg, PA, and it's a pretty significant tourist draw. Three times a year or so they stage a "day out with Thomas" event. We decided sort of on the spur of the moment (i.e., the night before) that we'd try to make it. Zeke was probably more excited than I've ever seen him about everything; it was pretty charming. So, we got up early this morning and drove out there. It was a raging success. Zeke loved it. He was patient waiting in line (though since we arrived at 8:30 a.m., this was pretty manageable). He was so excited that he basically didn't eat anything till the afternoon. Unfortunately most of the photos I took were blurry. Of course I made a video as well but that was also out of focus. I'll see if I can salvage anything over the next couple of days. But in the meanwhile, here are some nice shots.

The trains.


Photos of Zeke riding.

To see all the pictures from today at full size, click here (there aren't too many more than this).

Video diary: Talia plays with a balloon

Click To Play

Not a particularly high-quality video (one minute or so; made with my cell phone), but take my word for it, she was really having a blast.

A few photos of Talia

Photos of Talia eating ...

    
  



And playing music (while standing up)...

Talia tries cheese

This may amuse you... Sorry about the terrible quality. Made with my phone.

Click To Play

Exciting times at the homestead

These are exciting times indeed. The reason why is a little delicate, but Zeke does a pretty good job explaining it in the one-minute interview below. Have a look at the video. To listen to the audio by phone, call (510) 248-0386, or if that number doesn't work, click this link and use the number supplied there.

Click To Play

Last thing Zeke said to me at bedtime tonight

"I want to give you a big hug, Daddy."

Which he did. Then proceeded to curl up with his favorite stuffed animal -- a small green dinosaur -- and go to sleep.

I must have done something really nice in a past life, or something. That's all I can say.

Video diary: Talia today (Sept. 8, 2007)

Click To Play

Talia's basically been doing three interesting things lately: standing up (with support; she's trying to do it hands-free, though), eating a ton, and making a lot of noise. You can see her do all three in this four-and-a-half-minute video. (Nothing's wrong with your speakers -- there's hardly any sound, except when she pounds on the toy piano.) You can see her try to launch herself into the air from a sitting position. Her "piano playing" is so funny I started laughing while I was trying to film her; that strange noise coming from her is actually, we presume, laughter.

Oh, and yes, the dates in the video are wrong -- they should say Sept. 8, not Sept. 7. Oops.

Wait, you're not supposed to be doing this yet

That's correct, folks, your eyes are not deceiving you. Here's a photo of Talia, standing up, without holding onto anything, in a wading pool, chomping on some watermelon. This is not a trick.

Talia and my nose

It's sort of hard to tell in this photo, but she's actually manhandling my face with both hands here. It kinda hurt.

What Zeke said in the car this morning

While I was driving Zeke and Talia to daycare this morning, Zeke started telling me about "ghostez." After I'd dropped him off, I phoned in this post. If you can't hear the audio, call (510) 248-0386, and if that number doesn't work, click this link and get the correct number.

German, Zeeky-German, and Tally-German

I made this video with my phone while driving and you probably can't make out a thing, but what was going on was that Zeke wanted to practice saying the German word "Kipper," which means "dump truck." He's lately gotten very interested in the idea that you can express familiar terms in a language other than English, and he keeps asking how to say things (especially, for example, the names of animals and of construction equipment) in German. He has also started referring to Talia's babbling as "Tally-German," which I find hilarious.

A few recent photos

Click this link to browse through these photos one at a time.

"Just one more kiss"

As I noted in an earlier post, Zeke is -- and has been for a while -- very good when it comes to delaying the inevitable, i.e., bedtime. Tonight, however, he outdid himself. Here's the scene. I put him in bed, talk to him quietly for a few minutes, sing a lullaby, then sit quietly for a few more minutes, then say goodnight. Normally he objects and asks me to "sit quietly for one more minute", and these days, since Talia is sharing the room with him and I want to avoid having him wake her with his crying, I usually (against my better judgment) tend to oblige. Tonight, though, when I said "Good-night," he answered -- in an unusually sleepy voice -- "Night-night, daddy." I thought I was going to, pardon the expression, get lucky tonight.

Me: Sleep tight.
Z.: Sleep tight, daddy.
Me: See you in the morning. I love you.
Z.: I love you daddy.
(I rise to leave.)
Z.: I want to give you a hug.
(I lower myself again, give him a hug, and then head for the door.)
Z.: I want to give you one more kiss.
(I return to the bedside. Z. takes hold of my arm and kisses it probably thirty times. Finally, he gets bored and lays his head back down.)
Me: Night-night, Zeeky. I love you.
Z.: Daddy, sit quietly for one more minute.

And there we were again...

You gotta admit, that's pretty good. Who could resist?

Another one-liner from Zeke

A few days ago Heather was with Zeke over at the neighbors' house. Zeke and his two-year-old friend next door were playing in the sand table. They were, I think, starting to irritate one another; there was a little bit of quarreling going on, maybe even a little sand-flinging. Our neighbor pulled her daughter aside for a moment to talk to her quietly about manners and behavior. While this was going on Zeke ran up from behind with a toy shovel full of sand and dumped it on her head. Needless to say, Heather took him home. Here was their exchange:

H.: Why did you do that?
Z.: Sometimes, I just feel like doing it.

Personally, I thought this was funny. I may be the only one, though.

Talking about feelings

I was pushing Zeke on the swings two days ago and we had this exchange. Actually it was pretty much all him talking. This is as best I can remember the conversation.

Z.: I felt sick, but now I feel good.
Me: That's good.
Z.: The wind came, and blew my feelings away, and now I feel good.
Me: (Silent; pausing to reflect on the poetic beauty of my son's use of metaphor.)
Z.: Feelings ... feelings are little round things. Gums. Gumdrops. I put them in my mouth and now I feel good. I eat my feelings.

Food for thought.

Zeke wanted to get in on the action too

Just a quick hello from Zeke. Click the large triangle to view. Created in about sixty seconds using Twango.

As promised, here's your Saturday post

A two-minute video of Talia and me. If you subscribe by email and you are reading this as an email, then your subscription is still working.

A technical note about "subscribing" to this blog

If you've been getting updates to this blog via email, you may have to re-subscribe. I'm making a couple of minor technical changes that might deactivate your subscription. It's also possible that you won't notice any difference. I'll put up a new short post tomorrow; if you get it, you'll know that your subscription is still working. If you don't, visit this website (Life-with-Zeeky.blogspot.com) and re-subscribe. Or: if you're not reading this blog via email, and you want to, why, you can subscribe too.

To subscribe by email, enter your address in the box at the top right of the screen. You can also click the gray "Subscribe to this feed" link at the bottom of this post, which will pop up a screen with a few more options.

This blogging system is set up to prevent spamming, so, unfortunately, there's no way I can add your address to the mailing list; you have to do it yourself.

One other thing: there's also a gray link at the bottom of each post labelled "Email this." That will let you send a copy of a post via email to whoever you want.

That concludes this technical bulletin. I hope you have, or have had, a pleasant weekend. They were forecasting a tornado here, but now they say it's not going to happen.

Recorder-keyboard combo chez Nani and Pop-Pop

Nani shot this video a week and a half ago. It's a little under a minute long. Watch to the end. Created in about twenty minutes using Jumpcut.

Video diary: Talia crawls, Zeke lectures on crabs

To watch the video, click the triangle. To make it bigger (it looks better that way), click the small rectangle in the bottom right of the video player.



Big news: Talia has started crawling. Now, it's been so long since I posted anything on here that the news isn't quite so new anymore. This video is a week old, and at that time, Talia was really just beginning to get around by herself. It's pretty exciting. The first few days of her crawling, she pretty much cried miserably while she inched herself along. By the time I made this video, she was still working pretty hard, but not crying about it any more.

The other thing that's new around here is that Zeke got into a real swimming pool (with Heather) for the first time. He loved it. I was actually really amazed -- he was very fearful of the water at first, but within a half hour Heather had somehow convinced him to try it out. I don't know how she did it. She certainly didn't try to talk him into it. I guess she just kind of paddled around gently in the water where he could see her and just chatted with him about this and that, and then after a while he wanted to put his feet in the water ... and then he wanted to jump in. It was really hot out and it probably felt really good. Anyhow, he now officially likes swimming pools and wants to go back.

As I write, Heather and the kids are down in D.C., staying with my folks. I'm frantically trying to get ready for the semester to begin. (Along with posting blog entries.) Hi guys! You'll have seen the kids more recently than I have. Anyhow, enjoy.

Noah's ark

Zeke has a toychest that I think we inherited from someone, I forget who, decorated with bright-colored Noah's ark motifs. I've never given it much thought. Today, though, he was sitting looking at it and pointing out the pairs of animals. For each pair, he told me, "That's the mommy alligator, and that's the baby alligator. That's the mommy giraffe, that's the baby giraffe." Et cetera. Anyhow, it occurred to me that the Noah's ark story, which of all Bible stories we probably treat as the one most appropriate and least complicated for young children, is a story that most little kids probably completely misunderstand, given that they wouldn't have any clue why there would need to be pairs of animals on the ark. The cute, innocent "floating zoo" -- the impression that I suspect many kids have of the ark -- is a little world containing only adult animals, none of the animal babies that small children are often so interested in. Which, to me, is just an interesting example of the way common ideas in our culture might look very different from a small child's perspective. I wonder when Zeke will figure out that the pairs of animals on his toychest are not actually mommies and babies.

P.S. That picture is a random toy I found online, not something we own, but if you have a hankering for it, it can be had for about twenty dollars from a website called -- ahem -- Punkin-Butt. It's down at the bottom of the page.

Zeke and Talia playing together

Sometimes I get the feeling that Zeke still thinks of Talia as just another toy (at least, at good moments). Here, he's dressing both of them up using some cloth rings that are actually part of a whole different toy.

Overheard conversation

Zeke and one of his very best friends, a two-year-old girl who lives next door, were having a fairly involved discussion by toddler standards, which I overheard part of.

Z.: Can you come to my house?
K.: No. I don't want Jimmy to hiss at me.
Z.: Do you like Jimmy?
K.: No, I don't like Jimmy.
Z.: Do you like Lucy?
K.: Yeah, I like Lucy.
Z.: Do you like Hector?
K.: Who's Hector?
Z.: He's a cat.

I didn't hear where it went after this. And yes, it's true; to our chagrin, Jimmy has started hissing and swatting at small children (sometimes older people, too). Seems like he finally got fed up with the stress of having two little kids in the house. Hopefully he won't get too much nastier.

Zoo pictures from D.C.

I guess this is a little on the predictable side. Oh well. These are from our visit to the National Zoo in D.C. this weekend. Mostly the photos are of animals, with a few of Zeke. Nothing of Talia came out decent. Click here to see the whole set (a dozen pictures or so), presented with great drama.

www.flickr.com

Talia is almost crawling

Talia - early July 2007 - mosaic, uploaded 12th July, 2007.

Here are a couple of recent photos of Talia. She's not crawling yet, but she's trying. I don't think it'll be much longer now. She's remarkably cheerful about the whole business.

A visit with Carmen

A couple of very good friends are back in town after being gone almost two months. We visited with them tonight. Talia sat on the grass, diaperless, and consented to being amused by Carmen's funny noises.




Later, Zeke and Carmen had some ice cream together.


A few more photos are here.

More animals: Elmwood Park Zoo

Today we visited the Elmwood Park Zoo in lovely Norristown, PA . Talia rode around in her stroller...


... and Zeke ran here and there.


Some favorite animals:

From top left: Flamingoes, sheep, Nubian goat, four-foot alligator supposedly found roaming around in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, peregrine falcon, jaguar.

Zeke also rode a pony. See the previous post for a one-minute video.

Pony ride (one-minute video post)

Click To Play

Today, July 4, we took the kids to Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown. Zeke rode a pony named Chocolate, probably the smallest pony I've ever seen.

Independence Day is just around the corner

At bedtime, Zeke heard some fireworks in the distance and asked what they were.
Me: I think those are firecrackers.
Z.: (long pause) Can you eat them?
Me: (chuckling) No, not crackers. Firecrackers.
Z.: (nodding sagely) Oh. Because they would burn your mouth, and that would really hurt.

Miscellaneous photos of kids and animals

Today we visited Upper Schuylkill Valley Park, which is about ten minutes from our house and very bucolic. Note: Click any of the photos to view a larger version.

We saw lots of animals there.

Piglets ...


... turkeys ...


... an owl ...


... and a noisy crow named Scrappy.

Click To Play

Talia rode in her stroller...


... and Zeke and Heather admired the animals on foot.

(There's a donkey in that paddock just out of sight.)

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day.

Talia slept, like a baby, as the saying goes...


... and Zeke and Heather admired the garden.