Nate is the kid that sort of gets left out of a lot in our family. He is a middle kid, and we missed the first four years of his existence. He also causes few problems. Most of our attention, as I may have mentioned one or more times, focuses (or must be focused, more accurately) on another. Nate doesn’t really cause problems. He survived the first four years by laying low, batting his eyes for attention, and screaming like his leg was broken for protection. But that doesn’t work here.

Since we met him, Nathan has had issues with breathing. Difficulty breathing, difficulty with runny noses. We have never known him without a runny nose. As far as we can tell, he has never really slept because of his nose issues. Anyway, yesterday Nathan got a lot of attention. He had his adenoid removed. It was a pretty good experience. The procedure was short. On the way to the hospital yesterday morning, I texted my family that “Nate is having his adenoids removed this morning. He doesn’t know yet.”  Because we knew if we told him, he would freak out and be a basket case until it was over and he realized he didn’t die. So we told him we were going to have a special doctor’s appointment. Which was entirely true.

He was his usual sweet self, and was all cute leading up to the time he got his medicine. Once that first dose of medicine was in him, he started to point at the TV like he was trying to say something, but only managing to giggle. That was fun to watch. Post procedure, he had the unfortunate experience of waking up to find an IV in his foot. We knew he was coming because we heard him yelling at the nurses all the way across the recovery area. If he knew more words, I’m pretty sure they would have been obscenities. It was, despite the circumstance, extremely entertaining. The thing is, it didn’t hurt. He didn’t hurt. It was just the fact of the matter that someone had done this thing to him when he wasn’t looking.

Leading up to the procedure, this idea of having something done to him when he wasn’t looking, was the thing Sam thought was absolutely hilarious. He kept coming to me, and he would laugh and say, “It’s so funny (hee hee) that they’re going to give Nate medicine to go to sleep (hee hee) and then while he’s asleep, they’re going to cut on his neck. (Hee hee).” I never understood the humor of it, but his humorous view of it definitely made our day.

As for Nathan, though, he is doing well. He says he doesn’t hurt today. He slept, as best we can tell, really well last night. He is talking a bit differently, though, which the doctor’s office says is normal for this procedure. On the way home, it was a bit like David After Dentist, and he said many random things. But the one thing that was most pertinent was, “I sound rearry srange.” And that “rearry srange” voice he heard got stranger and stranger as the evening wore on. Today when he speaks he sounds deaf. But we’re doing really well.