Spring Has Sprung...Sorta

We've had some warm days, in the 70's, and Zoe is taking full advantage of them. She loves to draw with the sidewalk chalk on the patio, run laps in the grass, throw and kick her ball, and now she has graduated up into a full size "Crabbie" Sandbox. Up to this point we kept 50 lbs of sand in a long, shallow plastic storage box that she could easily get into and play with. After deciding she enjoys the sand enough to invest in a sandbox, I did some research to determine what type to get, and then we stalked Toys'Rus waiting for a good sale. The sale hit on Sunday, and "Crabbie" came home with us.

When we first brought Crabbie out into the yard, Zoe climbed in and danced around in it and twirled in circles squealing "Wa wa!" I think she is going to love it when it's warm enough for swimming again. Incidentally, after spending many days inside, being trampled on, jumped in, and climbed on, the wading pool sprung a couple air leaks. We will have to shop for a new pool when the weather is warm enough. For the present, we will concentrate on sand.

Zoe thought Crabbie was Elmo at first. She is correct in that he bears a very strong resemblence both in color and with the big white googly eyes. We told her it was Crabbie, and now she's got it down. She had great fun sitting in the middle of her sand, pouring it on her arms, legs, and head. As you can see in one of the pics, she also had lots of fun laying in the sand on her tummy. Two baths later, I think I'm still picking sand out of little chubby toddler skin creases.

After a couple days in the 70's over the weekened, it has been cold and rainy. Crabbie has not gotten much attention for the past few days.

On another topic, Zoe had another follow up visit with her Orthopedist this morning. He continues to monitor the cyst on her finger that was present from birth. He is still calling it a hemangioma, though it definetely does not fit a clear textbook diagnosis. It has shrunk according to his rather crude measurement. He acknowledged it is not the most precise method of measurement. Basically he feels either side of the lump, places a small pen mark and then measures the diameter. He determined it has shrunk roughly two millimeters since he saw her 6 months ago. However, after the appointment 6 months ago, it grew considerably larger through January before beginning its shrinking again. It has followed that intriguing pattern all along, growing and shrinking. He still recommends that we simply monitor it awhile. If it had grown consistently over this past 6 months, we would probably at least try another ultrasound on it. Since it does not interfere with her fine motor skill development and causes her no pain, and has been shrinking over the past 3 months, he did not recommend any further testing or surgical removal at this time. It would be very difficult to do an MRI according to the doctor. She would have to be sedated to keep her still enough. He stated that if we were to go that far, he would actually recommend surgery to remove it rather than the MRI. Of course, we don't want to be that invasive unless necessary. I questioned abnormal tissue and the possible growth of cancer cells, and he stated that would be very very rare, though not "impossible" insomuch as any medical issue should never be deemed "impossible." He did say we could seek a second opinion and he would be happy to help connect us to someone for such an opinion. We may do that, but first we have an appointment on Monday with a potential new family medical practitioner for Zoe's general medical care. We will see what she says about it. In the meantime, the orthopedist requested we return in 4 months this time rather than 6 to continue the monitoring.