There's a First Time for Everything

There certainly are drawbacks to having a child who is non-verbal. Especially when he’s sick. That’s why it’s critical to be able to pay attention to his other ways of communicating. Like poking his ears. Zane has been sticking a finger in his right ear for the past couple of days. To us, this could mean one of two things: 1) he’s playing with his hearing aid or the place where it’s supposed to be for self-stimulation of exploration, or 2) he has an ear ache. Since Zane has not had a single ear infection in five years, we assumed the former. We were wrong. To be on the safe side, we took him to the pediatrician yesterday. Sure enough, he has a secondary infection to accompany his now 12-day-old cold. Zane can now claim an ear infection—in both ears—on his medical resume. He’s staying home from school to rest, take his antibiotics,  and load up on Pedialyte and probiotics. He should be feeling well within 48 hours.

Puppies

At school yesterday, Zane held and pet an English Bulldog puppy. He loved it, as you can tell by the photo. One of the mothers brought five pups in for her child's share day. Thank you to Zane's teachers for capturing the picture.

The Most Miserable Place on Earth

I had high hopes for the Magic Kingdom. I really did. But the reality tied to expectations is predictably unpredictable. As part of Zane’s fifth birthday celebration, I arranged for all of us to go the Orlando, mainly with the idea of visiting Disney World. More than anything, I wanted Zane to experience the Main Street Electrical Parade and the fireworks—both things I knew he would enjoy.

While Downtown Disney was fun, albeit crowded, the same cannot be said for Casa de Mickey. Because there, it was jam-packed, too. Except the jam-pack-ed-ness took away from the fun. Despite Zane having a free pass to go to the front of the line on most attractions, he only visited three of them: Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor (where, in fact, he did crack up); the Mad Tea Party (glorified, spinning tea cups), which he was both hot and cold on; and the Haunted Mansion (he wasn’t impressed).

A lot of the morning was spent doing the following things: riding the bus to the park, navigating the crowds, changing diapers, and hooking up his g-tube feed. By the time the three above-listed attractions were over, so was Zane. Jeff took him back to the hotel around 3:00, and I didn’t see him again until nearly bed time. No light parade. No fireworks. Goodbye expectations.

My dad, Justin, and I stayed in the park into the evening, but endured some pretty long lines. The Christmas lights and the fake, falling snow on Main Street were pretty impressive. But even we cut out early. Space Mountain had an 85-minute wait, and people were setting up residence on Main Street at 6:30 for the parade. Zane would have been stuck behind the big-headed man. I just know it. So…lesson learned.

To Disney’s credit, the Magic Kingdom treated Zane and our family well. The shuttle drivers were wonderful! They gave us five-star treatment. Also, there were no issues with Zane bypassing the long queues, as a long wait was something he most definitely would not have tolerated. The bottom line: It was simply too crowded during Christmastime.

So, going forward, I will keep my expectations in check. Aside from the one day, the rest of our time in Orlando and on the Disney grounds was a good experience.

Zane with Mickey ears