This time last week we were on our way to Wilmington, Delaware -- about an hour from our house -- to see a pediatric scoliosis specialist at the Nemours Children's Hospital. Emily did a 3-inch growth spurt and suddenly her curve went from 10 percent to 20 percent...in a mere three month's time.
The hospital was fantastic, created with only kids in mind. It was colorful and inviting and even had wagons everywhere to be used as "patient transport."
Of course, poor Emily was too big to ride in one, but Ethan and his carseat got a ride and that made his big sister very pleased.
Dr. Shah was extremely friendly and kind and explained everything that he was doing and seeing. He concurred with our local spine doctor that Emily's curve had indeed increased and told us that the hospital is a beta testing site for a new genetic study of pediatric scoliosis patients that gives the doctors an idea of how much more growing their patients have to do before puberty. This gives the doctors an idea of how much worse the curves will get so that they can be proactive rather than reactive in treating it. Make sense? Well, we were impressed. Emily had to spit in a little vial and that was the end of it. Doesn't sound hard, does it? But it's actually harder to spit on command than you think.
After a yummy snack in the hospital's mini coffee shop, Stuart took the kids out to the huge playground for a bit of an energy/emotion release. It was a very windy day so Ethan and I headed to the car for his bottle and to watch without being blown away. (Emily's excited to return later in the summer so that Ethan, who will be 11 months old by then, can join them on the playground.)
Being that we were so "close" to Edward's chosen birthday adventure spot -- King of Prussia Mall -- we decided to surprise him by going there afterwards. We figured we'd hit it on a Thursday rather than a Saturday (and Valentine's Day) when it would be much more crowded.
Edward was THRILLED!
We started at the LEGO store where he built a race car and challenged Emily and Stuart to a race. Then he chose an Indiana Jones set to buy with birthday money.
After lunch, we headed to the Build-A-Bear store, and Edward stuffed a cat which he named "Chaucer." Emily chose a bunny which she named "Sweetie." Even Ethan and I joined in the fun. He got a furry blue bear we named "Fuzzy," and I got another frog which I named "Freida."
It was a long but very fun day!
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