Trigger Happy
January 22, 2007
My young son, Ryan, came down to our room tonight, as per his usual nightly custom. He hopped up on our bed and we loved him a little before it was time to send him back up to bed. I always give him the “I love you” sign in sign language and we’re teaching him to do it in return. He’s nowhere near getting it, as it usually comes out like he’s pointing his index finger at me or Melanie. Tonight, I decided to help him get his fingers in the right place and noticed a little something that we instantly recognized:
Our son has trigger thumb in both hands.
You may ask yourself, “Self, how is it that Josh and Melanie are so wise in the subject of trigger thumb?” Well, that’s a good question. Is it because of our collective vast medical training obtained through years in college? Nope. Is there some sort of omniscience that comes with being a parent? Nah. Is it because Melanie had it in both of her thumbs when she was a kid? Ah ha! I think we may be on to something here. Melanie has scars to show from her surgeries when she was five so she’s known all about it for about …, well, she’s 29 again, so that would be about 24 (or so) years.
My first-hand (no pun intended) knowledge comes from the fact that our oldest boy, David, had it in both of his when he was a baby. He had surgery on one hand when he was nearly 7 months old, and the other hand a month later. We look at his 6-month photos and you can clearly see one thumb in the bent position. I should scan in that photo. Someday.
So, Betsy has a doctor’s appointment in a week or so, so we’ll talk to the doctor about it then. We figure that there’s no sense in making a separate doctor’s visit just for this, as that would involve another visitation fee (we sure are bargain shoppers when it comes to medical care!). We know that he’s going to need surgery to fix it, and we know what to expect, so we’re not too worried. Now, we just need to figure out when we can possibly do this.
I wonder if I can get photos of the surgery, whenever it may be …
Glasses
January 17, 2007
Byron got his glasses today and he looks so cute / handsome in them. Melanie brought him to see me at work today so he could show them off and I was so shocked. He picked them out himself and he’s got such good taste!
Torched
January 17, 2007
Melanie’s parents live down in Phoenix, as do her brother and sister, and their families. This past weekend, her parents went to Disneyland with my brother-in-law and his wife and kids, finally getting home on Monday evening. The problem? Well, their car wasn’t where they had left it when they headed out of town. They had a 2006 (maybe 2005. either way, it was really new) Ford Freestlye that apparently had something desirable about it because it was just gone. The neighbors said that they heard somebody leave with the car late Sunday night, but they thought it was Kade, not knowing that he was out of town. Kirk called the cops to report that his car was gone but it seemed that they already knew about it. They’d found it torched in the desert that morning. The police are surmising that narcotics traffickers stole it to move a shipment of “product” and then abandoned and torched it to hide all evidence. They typically steal them and torch them before the owner even knows they’re gone.
It seems like such a waste.
In talking with Melanie, she said that Kade has had a bunch of problems in their neighborhood in the past couple of years. One night, Kade ran out to find somebody trying to hook up his boat to their truck. The gun he was carrying helped to convey the message not to mess with his stuff. Another night, a prowler/peeping Tom was looking in their windows, which prompted Kade, gun in hand, to chase the person off.
The joys of living in the Phoenix area.
I can see clearly now …
January 4, 2007
So, Byron has been complaining of headaches for a month or so, and we finally had his doctor’s appointment today. Evidently, he’s farsighted and needs glasses. When the eye person was telling him about today that he’d need to wear glasses when he reads, plays computer, or play video games, he said excitedly, “Those are my three favorite things!”
Kids are funny.
New Word
January 2, 2007
My two year old son, Ryan was taught a new word today. When he was talking to his mom about taking a bath tonight, he was calling it a tubby, with a sort of a growl sound to it. The funny thing about it is that it sounded somewhat like the wheelchair-bound character Timmy on South Park, when he says his own name (which is actually the only thing he can say). When he says it, it comes out like “Timmah!” and is very gravely and disabled sounding. Well, when Melanie heard Ryan say “Tubby!” she recognized how similar it was, so she taught him to say it as “Timmah!” Imagine my surprise when I received a call at work and heard my exceptionally funny son saying, “Timmah!” He is so stinking funny.
I don’t believe what I just saw …
January 1, 2007
The title of this post is a stolen line from the late great Jack Buck, the famous broadcaster of the St. Louis Cardinals. Well, if any of you watched the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl tonight featuring the Boise State Broncos against the Oklahoma Sooners, you will know exactly what I mean.
First of all, Boise State was having a horrible time protecting its (at one time 18 point) lead, and then just threw the game away with about one minute left. The game was SO over (and I mean REALLY OVER) when Jared Zabransky threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown to put the Sooners up 35-28 with 1:02 to play. On the ensuing drive, with the ball sitting on the 50 yard line, and facing a 4th and 18 with only 20 seconds left in the game, Zabransky completed a pass up the middle of the field where the receiver then pitched the ball to another Boise State player who ran it all the way for the touchdown with only :07 on the clock. The “hook and ladder” play had worked! One extra point later, and we have a tie game.
That play was the first time in the game that I could use the stolen line from above. Well, let’s just say that the game wasn’t over, yet.
Oklahoma started the overtime period with a 25 yard touchdown. Adrian Peterson, who’d been held at bay all game long, bounced outside and took the ball all the way in for a touchdown. This took a bunch of the wind out of the sails of the Broncos, who’d been on a high since scoring that last second touchdown only minutes before.
On 4th and 2 from the 6 yard line, Boise State pulled a trick play and had wide receiver Vinny Perretta complete a touchdown pass to tight end Derek Schouman, putting the Broncos within one point of sending the game to a second OT.
This is where it gets even more interesting, and where I gained a ton of respect for the Broncos head coach Chris Petersen. Rather than playing for the tie, he chose to play for the win. I respect that. Oh, and did I mention that they were successful? Yeah, they split three wideouts to the right and Zabransky faked a pass out to one of them, but was really holding the ball in his left hand. He handed it off behind his back to his trusty running back Ian Johnson, who then scampered out to the left side and into the end zone to seal the 43-42 win.
Truly outstanding. I have seen some dang good football games in my life, including USC-Notre Dame in 2005 (where Matt Leinart led the Trojans to a win when they could have gone for the tie) and the Texas-USC in the National Championship (where Vince Young singlehandedly beat the Trojans) game last season, but this one was every bit as exciting, if not more so. Knowing that Boise State was a 7 1/2 point underdog coming into the game, and knowing that the WAC (and MWC and anybody else who’s not a BCS conference) just gets no respect from anybody when bowl season comes around, made this game so much more exciting to watch. To see a big-name school who is so highly respected get beat by small school from a small conference was just wonderful to see. To see it happen in this way was both gut-wrenching and exhilarating.
So, once again, “I don’t believe what I just saw!”
Here is a link to the video of the last little bit of the game, including the touchdown and game-tying two point conversion on the part of Oklahoma, the interception return by Oklahoma, the amazing hook and ladder play, the overtime touchdown by Peterson, then the touchdown and winning two point conversion by Boise State. What an amazing game!
