Shorty has responded extremely well to his course of antibiotics and will NOT be needing any kind of surgery.  In fact, when he went in for his follow-up appointment today, his doctor said his sinus and ear infection was completely cleared up.  Thank God!  Since we were already there, the doctor decided to give him his yearly check-up.  We haven’t gotten the results of the bloodwork yet, but as for everything else, he has declared Shorty to be in extraordinary physical health.  He also informed me that Shorty is now 5′1″ and weighs 92 lbs (about  7 and a half stone, for our UK friends) – a 25 lb. increase since last year’s check up.  Guess Abuela can stop fretting about whether or not he’s too skinny   Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and notes of well-wishing!!

At the appointment, Shorty’s doctor and I decided that he should be brought up to date on his immunizations.  Because of seeming adverse reactions to his prior immunizations and the theorized link to autism, his former pediatrician back in Boston suggested that we stop immunizing him – he is only “missing” some boosters – and simply check his blood yearly for titers. If those were still present, there was no need for booster shots, and sure enough, they have been every year.  However, Shorty is nearly 11 now (!!!)  and the chances of autism-related averse reactions are very low, if not entirely negligible, and so we are going to bring him up to date on all his immunizations.

Do you immunize your children, or do you believe it’s harmful?  Though it is largely a moot point for us now, I have read persuasive and often vehement arguments for both sides of the issue and I honestly don’t have a definitive opinion. Please do share your thoughts in the comments.

I’m 33 and I never learned how to ride a bike. I was primarily raised by my grandmother, who couldn’t ride a bike herself, and it was just something no one really got around to teaching me how to do, like cooking and cleaning and other necessary life-skills. Since I don’t know how, I’ve never taught Shorty how to, either. He has fairly poor coordination and balance, as well as low muscle tone in his legs, so it might be a challenge for him, but after months of trying, he’s pretty good with a scooter, so I think it’s doable.

Much like cooking and cleaning, though, riding a bike is something that can be self-taught, and with rising gas prices, a greater desire for physical fitness, and 90% of our trips being less than 20 blocks from home, I got it into my head that Shorty and I need to learn how to ride bikes. So I put out an ad on my local FreeCycle for any used bikes for an adult woman and a 10-year-old boy, and within the hour, two different people had responded. One lady had exactly that to give away, and now we are the owners of two new (to us) bikes.

The one for Shorty is barely his size, but I figure it’s probably good to learn on. He’s already scraped an elbow within 5 minutes of trying it out, but practice makes perfect. When he’s over his ear infection (we should find out tomorrow if it’s any better or if it needs more aggressive treatment) we are so hitting the local parks.