I was spared the frustration of a disappointing weigh-in this past week because our clinic appointment was cancelled. I still don't exactly know who cancelled it; all I can say with certainty is that it wasn't me. I realized on Thursday morning that I hadn't received the usual barrage of appointment reminder emails and phone calls, so I called the clinic to make sure I had the right date and time on my calendar. The receptionist told me that the appointment had been cancelled, since we'd "been seen earlier." I am still really irritated and frustrated by this, especially since our written clinic-provided notes from that earlier visit specified that the visit we'd already had on the books was the next step in our follow-up plan.But, once an appointment is cancelled, it's gone, so I scheduled us for the next available in a few weeks time. Honestly the news will be the same as it would have been on Friday--at the moment we're doing well on pulmonary (two cold/runny nose/cough things defeated without resorting to antibiotics) and not doing so well on nutrition (visible ribs and spine, throwing rice on the floor, etc). Having never been the parent of a "normal" two year old, Lemon usually looks "normal" to me, but we went on a little outing to the zoo with some of his friends from school and seeing him next to his classmates really drove home to me how skinny he is at the moment. We'll just keep buying heavy cream by the quart and hoping that eventually Lemon acknowledges that we aren't trying to poison him at every meal.
Another development this week was that we decided to add one more member to our care team. Our nanny's bout with pneumonia a few weeks ago was a stark reminder of the fact that we are constantly one illness or travel conflict away from a child-care emergency. So, we hired a very capable-seeming college senior to come watch Lime while Lemon is at school. She'll also come a few other odd afternoons per month to hang out with Nona and both kids so she and Lemon can get acquainted, and then she can serve as our back-up/pinch hitter when another member of the team goes down. When I describe our child-care arrangements to people, they sound ridiculously complex. Honestly, even to me, they sound ridiculously complex (7:30-12:30 every day: our indispensible nanny. 12:30-4:30 M/W/F: Nona and Opa, T/R 12:30-4: Lemon to preschool, Lime at home with our new babysitter). Even with all these machinations, I have 43 hours per week of child care to work 40 billable hours for my job. I can just make it if I work absolutely flat out all the time that Lime isn't nursing, and put in a couple of night or weekend hours on top. So far, it's been worth it--I'm really enjoying my job and my new coworkers, but the schedule is a bit intense with every single minute accounted for.
Fall is in full swing out there in the sunlit world above my office. We've been trying to take advantage of the last few warm days by spending as much time outside as we can. I'm really sad that the farmer's market on our street ends on Saturday. It's become an integral part of our family's routine. In fact, Lime has never known a single Saturday in his life aside from the day after his birth that we didn't go. We've been having a lot of fun raking leaves in our yard, and collecting interesting specimens to look at in more detail.We also made the bold move of booking some winter travel. I've learned through hard experience not to get excited about a trip out of Wisconsin until I've actually arrived at the destination, but we at least now own plane tickets to Boston for the week between Christmas and New Years. So, Boston/New England friends, please stick around for the holidays so that we can see you. Lime can't wait to meet you!
