Totally Tubular Anniversary

Today was Peter's big day to have tubes put into both ears!  Here he is at 22 months standing outside of Primary Children's Hospital in Riverton. 
Oh, glorious, happy, long-awaited day!
Too much enthusiasm?  I don't think so.  I am convinced his ear troubles have been wreaking havoc on this poor little guy for many, many months, if not for most of his life.  I think it has affected his eating habits, tummy troubles, his lack of speech, his sleep, his mood, his frustrations.  It's likely, and probable, that my expectations of this "miracle cure" of tubes in his ears are too high, but today I am feeling elated and relieved.

He has been at this hospital before when we did some allergy testing, so he was happy to be back to see the fish on the wall.

He was even happy to get on his special hospital pajamas.

How very gender neutral of the hospital!

He even had a smile for us.  

Actually, he was in a very good mood this morning and gratefully we had to be to the hospital by 7:00 AM, so the fasting thing wasn't a problem.  

Speaking of gender neutral...

He was having a great time with all the toys in the surgery waiting area.  He especially like this light-up bubble tower.

Watching a movie with Daddy required a lot of concentration.  

And speaking of Abe, happy 19th wedding anniversary to my sweetheart and very best friend!  There is no one whose company I enjoy more.  No one I'd rather have by my side for life's ups and downs.  We will find another way to celebrate soon, but for today, we were both very happy to be with Peter getting this taken care of.

The nurses and doctors all said the procedure would be very quick, and they meant it.  We barely had time to get back out to the waiting room and get situated before they came to get us.  The Dr. told us the surgery went perfectly and that there was a lot of drainage from his right ear.  Which was interesting because as of his last check, it was his left ear that was blocked up.  But like we've suspected, he's been having drainage problems with both ears for a long time and it changes-- which one (or both) that aren't hearing well.  

Fortunately my sister warned me that some kids tend to be very disoriented and irritable when they wake up from the anesthesia.  I figured if most kids were irritable, I should expect Peter to be irate.  

He didn't disappoint.  

Here he was mad that Abe was taking his picture.  The nurses were very reassuring that this was normal and we shouldn't worry.  I tried to explain that although this was a bit more intense that usual, we were not phased by Peter's crying.  He was mad at the beach ball they gave him, mad at the jello, mad at Daddy's story, mad at my singing, mad at the bubbles, mad at the blanket, mad at the nurses,  mad at Disney Jr. channel on TV.

He kept it up for a good hour after he woke up.  When we left the hospital he was still raging and was not to be distracted.  We took him for a little ride in the car, hoping it would calm him down as it usually does.  Nope, he wasn't buying it.

Finally, he calmed down when we got home and has been in a very good mood ever since.  Although, I though that after such an exertion, he would go down early for a nap.  No such luck yet.

And as a side note, we are now less than a month away from a planned induction date for the new baby!