Oh the attitude!

Kiki's new trick? Smacking her father.

Seriously! She'll be sitting on his chest, and they'll be happily interacting with one another, blowing raspberries at each other, babbling at one another and then she'll haul off and smack him across the face. And giggle.

Where she got this, I do not know. There is no one in this house who smacks anyone. And yet, there you go.

So she's a baby, and it doesn't hurt, but it's not exactly behavior we want to encourage. So I finally put my foot down and told Kipp we HAVE to make her stop. She doesn't exactly get NO unless it's bellowed, and so the next time she smacked him, he bellowed NO in her face.

Her eyes widened. Her eyebrows dipped in. Her bottom lip curled up and quivered.
Daddy melted, but before he was even done saying "ooohhh", she blew a raspberry at him and smacked him again.

Parents of the Year that we are, our simultaneous response was to turn our heads away so she wouldn't see us laughing. Because, you know, we're SERIOUS about curtailing bad behavior.

Thanks by the way for the comfort about Kiki's upcoming ear tubes. I appreciate it, very much. And I know I promised not to be whiny and all that, but what's a blog for if I can't, you know, emote and stuff.

I'm scared. And this is all about me, of course. But I am. How scared am I? I made an appointment for her preadmission, which HAS to be done before the procedure because we have to meet with the anesthesiologist and whatnot. Anyway, I made the appointment promptly, like a responsible adult.

And then I did not write it down. And then I completely forgot all about it. Which does not usually happen around here, I might say. I make appointments for Kiki two and sometimes three times a week. I'm very good about writing them down, even calling to doublecheck times and whatnot. For her entire life, I've missed exactly two appointments before this one: once when her PT was scheduled for a day that was not her usual day, and her cardiology appointment which I made an entire year in advance (so I think that one is actually forgivable.)

Okay. I'm not perfect. I'm a flake. But I'm usually pretty darned responsible, and this time, it just slipped away. I got two stern phone calls over it, too, by the way: from the preadmission AND from the doctor's office because preadmission tattled on me.

So it's rescheduled. I have it written down. I have it hovering in the back of my head, so I don't forget again.

Here's the thing: Kipp can't be there for the surgery. See, he got laid off back in May because his company merged with another company and his position kind of just went away. Happily though, he found a job this week, with a very large company, excellent benefits, doing something he's going to love. But... the first 5 weeks of employment are training, 6am to 1pm, and he can NOT miss a day for any reason at all. So... there you go.

I won't be alone or anything. My parents-in-law have promised they will be there with me, thank God, because honestly? Rationally, I know I can do it alone if I have to. But emotionally, it will wreck me.

I've spent a lot of time in hospitals, the lone caregiver for the person I've brought there. I don't know, maybe I exagerrate. Maybe it isn't a lot by many standards. Maybe I'm a wuss. I don't know. I just know that I've done that, been there, and I just can NOT do it alone for my daughter. I can't. I refuse.

You know, like I have a choice or something. Well, I guess I do have a choice -- and that makes the difference, if that makes any sense at all? I don't want to be alone, and thankfully someone wants to be there with me, and CAN be, and WILL be. And so there you go.

Now, if I could just stop being a wuss about this, I'd be alot happier. Umm, you know, duh.