How to Tell Your 6-Year-Old Has Too Much Time on His Hands

 

A Bunch of 💩

Tukk has been dealing with some new issues. A couple of weekends ago we noticed his eyes were starting to cross inward. We took him to our eye doc, who referred us to a specialist. The specialist said all the bad words, like "tumor" and "brain lesion." It was extra hard because he said those bad words in front of Tukker, so the T man has been worried.

It was not an easy appointment. I overcompensated by buying him a giant brownie sundae on the way home. Teaching your kids to eat their emotions is healthy, right???

The doc ordered an MRI and wanted it done "urgently," so the hospital got us in just a few days later. It was a very stressful week at the Bott house. We tried to stay calm for Tukk's sake, but secretly we were hemorrhaging out our eyeballs. 

Tukk was mostly pretty quiet about all of it, but he kept needing melatonin to help him sleep, and occasionally he'd ask, "Do you think it's the brain thing?" or "Do you think I'm going blind" or "Do you think I'm going to be okay?"

It tore my heart out. 

He's already had so much. 

But even after all the worry and quietly asked questions, the morning of the MRI I heard him singing in the bathtub. This kid is so friggin tough.

The MRI would take at least an hour, and the hospital peeps weren't sure he'd be able to hold completely still that long, so they placed an IV in case they had to sedate him. They also thought they might need to do contrast, which has to be done via IV.

Tukk was a champ. The staff was impressed with how chill he was about it all, especially since they blew the first vein they tried and had to try again.

He did really well through the whole MRI and didn't need sedation. The neuro who was reviewing everything also felt like they got good enough images without needing the contrast, so Tukk was only in the machine for about 70 minutes.

We overcompensated again afterward with a brownie and Chick-fil-A. 

Thankfully, the hospital sent the results to our doc the same day. He called that afternoon to tell us everything looked normal on the MRI. 

It took two more days for our backs to un-knot and our guts to stop churning, but at least we know it's not anything too terrifying. The doc said that since it's not the brain, it's probably muscular. Tukk may need double eye surgery. They detach some muscles on the eyes, re-align them, and reattach the muscles. 

We go back in 3 weeks for another consult, so we should know more then. 

Worrying about this kid has taken years off our lives. But he is so worth it.

Puppy in Training

 He can't walk on a leash or stop jumping on everyone, but he knows how to wield a sword. We consider it just one more defense against the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

Cole's Biking Adventures

I forgot to post about this! Last summer Cole bought an adventure bike and took a couple of trips with his buddies. 

They went to Bear Tooth Pass. Cole loved it so much that he set up our family road trip there right after. 

They stopped in Ashton, Idaho and were lucky enough to get to spend the night in someone's "cousin cabin." It was toit. I'm sure they snuggled. 

Darrin and Cole snuck off for a ride when Cole and Caulder went up to paint D's house. 

Bodee went on one of the trips with them in his fancy race car. It got a LOT of attention. He kept telling everyone it was Cole's, and when they'd see Cole in his all-camo outfit no one believed it. Weird. 

This was on their Telluride/Million Dollar Highway trip. 

Only one of them was dumb enough – excuse me, I mean brave enough – to try to ride up this trail. He tipped his bike over. Hmmmmm.... I guess this is why they call it an adventure bike? 

Love this gang. They're some of the best.

 

January 2021

Tukk used some Christmas money to buy a Dungeons & Dragons cookbook, so we made Elven bread for Sunday dinner. 

He and Cole have been building bike jumps and modifying his old pedal-brake bike to be a BMX bike. 

For the past few weeks, we've had these deer hanging out behind the fence above the rock wall every night, and every night Soos goes out and barks at them.

Apparently one of the momma deer has had enough, because a few days ago she jumped the fence and headed down the rock wall toward the dog. He sprinted to safety, then sat being-have very quietly while we all giggled at him from inside the house. 

We've had some amazing sunsets.

Cole was going crazy while we were all on quarantine with the Rona, so he built some shelves in our cold storage room. Now we just need to stock up on food storage and fill them!

We had a crazy wind storm that destroyed our patio table.

When I opened the man door to the garage to move the chairs inside before they blew away, the air sucked into the attic and knocked the access door down on my car.

Cole and I had an early morning date in Midway. He had to go up for his annual medical exam, so I tagged along and we had a soak afterward. 

 

Winnie & June Week

We got to spend A WHOLE WEEK with Winnie and June! Kolby and Jess took Klive to Harry Potter World since he's turning 11 this year, so the girls came to Utah to hang with us. 

It was so much fun.

We made hot cocoa bombs, complete with gold glitter.

The best part was the gold Benny smooches. 

We learned that Daisy still likes Tukk the most. She always smiles for him.

We did this? I don't really know what this is.

Played Headbanz a bunch.

Played doctor.

And went up to Midway to soak in some hot pots in the rain.

This tiny chica loved it. 

 Winnie and Tukk played games all week and followed Franklin, Nana Deb's new mini long-haired Dachshund, around. Caulder and June played their ukeleles and sang all week. We ate Chinese food and pizza and laughed the entire week. We really didn't want to give them up. Now we just need to convince Kolby and Jess to go on a 2-week vacation together so we can keep all their kids! 

They Are Mortal Enemies

 Except for once a day when they snuggle together on the hot tub cover.