another trip to the e.r. and school at home

On Sunday afternoon, we took Porter to the emergency room to evaluate a cut on his upper lip. Porter was in his room playing with Seren when he decided that his cd player no longer belonged on his shelf and proceeded to pull it down by the cord... onto his face. (No heavy metal jokes, please.) He cried for all of 3 seconds before resuming whatever it was that he was doing previous to losing a fight with a small electronic device. Seren seemed almost entirely unconcerned with the event, as Porter usually kicks up a pretty good fuss when there's something serious going on. However, there was a bit of blood to be cleaned up, his lip was pretty swollen, and there was some defined bruising on the inside of his lip, so we decided to take him in to be seen at SEARHC. Stephen thought it would be a good idea if I called ahead while we were loading the kids into the car, just so that the medical staff could pull his chart or whatever before we got there (I did this, mostly to humor him because I've never had much luck with calling ahead with an IHS facility). After we parked, it took no more than 15 minutes to check in, let them see Porter's injury, and walk out with a topical antibiotic. These people are amazing. In the end, it's just a cut and Porter should still be able to grow a full moustache in the future with no problems. Afterward, he didn't let his battle wound affect his ability to polish off a burger and some fries at McDonald's.

In other news, Seren has started Preschool at home. Thanks to the wonderful materials and lesson plans provided by my mother, Seren is learning to read, write, and count to 100 under our own roof. This decision to home school was not an easy one for us to make because, though we like the idea of being the only ones to influence her development (read: poison her mind), we would actually far prefer her to be able to get the peer interaction she has been lacking since birth. Our hope is that she will work hard this year and possibly be admitted to Kindergarten next year. Only time will tell. For now, she has already developed a healthy habit of waking up, getting dressed, and asking me if it's "time for school." She's really enjoying it and I am too!

Seren's "classroom" area

Seren's calendar: she adds the number and says the date each morning

One of her first completed assignments

I've been enjoying Seren's schooling, too, since she's begun really looking forward to my return from work so that she can give me very enthusiastic hugs and kisses and then tell me all about her day. Because he copies all that she does, this means that I get really good hugs from Porter, too (he's even jealous when he doesn't get his turn fast enough)! --S