Miscellaneous

There's a lot to report, it seems. We've had a busy week. First, we've had a birthday among us. Will is officially one year older, that's right. In the pictures, you'll see Will's birthday celebration at his parent's house in Winnetka last weekend and then pictures from his actual birthday on Tuesday, the 11th. I could not help but post a picture of the cake I made and decorated for him since it was, by far, my best work to date. It's a boxed cake but with two different homemade frostings. I got some tips and a recipe from the Feed Your Family blog I like to look at. The cake he features is way fancier, but I was happy with the way mine turned out. :) There's also a video of Ethan's latest obsession: blowing raspberries. He does it all the time now. It's a messy habit but still cute.

Another piece of news we have is not as celebratory. Ethan had his second head scan this week, and because his head shape has not improved, we are going to go ahead with a reshaping helmet. We're not too happy about this but know it's the right thing to do. From the front, you cannot tell there is any kind of problem, but there is definitely an obvious flatness on the back right of his head. Hopefully, he will only be in the helmet for a few months. He's still pretty young, which is a great advantage. But I'm still sad. I realize he could have far worse issues and in the grand scheme of things this is not at all a big deal. But the mama bear in me is really dreading this helmet. I don't want strangers looking at him funny or feeling sorry for him, and I know I will not be able to help feeling sensitive about this, even though I know I shouldn't. Also, both Will and I were talking about how strange it will be to not kiss his little head and how the helmet will seem a bit obstructive. He'll have it off for only 1 hour a day. Even though it's only a few months, I won't get this time back with him when he's just my little man. He loves to burrow his face into my shoulder, which is such a wonderfully cute thing, and I keep thinking he won't be able to do that anymore, at least not easily. Thankfully, when it's all over, his little head will be back to normal, and we won't have to worry about teasing later on.

This leads me to a contest for all readers of this blog. Please leave a comment with your most entertaining comeback to someone that either asks about the helmet or stares at it in an annoying way. Will said to tell people he was born with an extra large brain and is waiting for a cranial transplant. What do you think? Might as well have some fun with the situation.

I have to close now because our replacement keyboard (ours broke this week), which is a floor model while we wait for a new one, is making me have to pound on each key in order to work. Very annoying.

*Dec. 19 addendum: Click on the first picture below and it will show up nice and big. Then look at Ethan's face. We discovered this last night...so hilarious!