ER Trip #1

Well today was a milestone day for the Delp family. We had our first trip to the E.R. for Riley. He has been sick for the past few days. Nothing out of the ordinary but he certainly has not been his normal, vehicle-organizing self. Today he was worse than any of the two prior days. He would not let Missy put him down at all. Missy wisely decided to take him to the doctor.

The nurse practictioner (is that like a step in between a nurse and a doctor? - they should call them something less cumbersome like a "noctor") checked Riley out and everything looked fine. That is until she look in his mouth. She then exclaimed, "His throat is a MESS!!!" Not the comforting words you want to hear from your noctor. She immediately left the room and went to confer with a doctor. She came back and told Missy that there seemed to be an abscess on the inside of his throat and that she would need to take Riley to the E.R. (which was conveniently across the street) immediately.

Meanwhile, I am at work singing Christmas music and writing auto policies. I get a call from tearful Missy saying that they are on their way to the E.R. and that a C.H.O.P. (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) doctor was being called to examine him. She said I could stay at work if I wanted to. I was in the car in three minutes.

On the drive up to the hospital, I prayed and thought at warp speed. When I heard lump on my child's throat, I immediately thought worst case scenario. And seeing Riley curled up in Missy's lap in the same E.R. waiting room we sat in hours before he was born with a hospital ID band on his wrist didn't help.

Riley through all of this was a trooper. He was fascinated by the waiting room snack machine. I was fascinated that they could charge $1.50 for a Coke. He proudly told me that his band said "Riley Delp" on it. I prayed that it would be the last time he would have to wear one of those things.

Once we finally got in there, the doctor was wonderful. She was calm and calming (neither of which could be said for the noctor). She looked at his throat and didn't gasp. In fact, she said it looked like he just had a very bad sore throat. They took some tests and a few hours later, we were out the door. Worst case scenario is that he has strept throat and even if that is the case, once he has antibiotics, he will be fine.

For a first trip to the E.R., it could have been a lot worse. I was very relieved to be out of there after only a few hours. It made me step back and thank God that He has protected our family and given us a (relatively) healthy child. It is truly a blessing that we don't deserve and many others don't have.

We got home and Riley kept saying, "Home! Home! Home!" He was very happy to be home again.

That made three of us.

Taking a break

I will fully admit that I am a selfish parent. If I can have five minutes that doesn't involve cleaning up a carpet or a piece of furniture or keeping my child from breaking something, I savor it.

So whenever Riley would play quietly by himself (usually with a truck or a car or a motorcycle or a rocket or a helicopter or an airplane - are you getting the idea here of what he likes - or a train....), I look for a chance to watch ESPN or read the mail or anything.

However, a few weeks ago, I decided to change it up a little bit. I guess I was in a nostalgic mood or maybe had just watched Family Ties or something. The thought came to me that maybe I should actually savor RILEY during these times rather than my fleeting moments of non-child related activity. I thought, he will never be this age again. I want to see this kid in action. What does it look like for a 20 month old to play in his own world?

So instead of watching college basketball, I sat down at the kitchen table where Riley had set up shop and watched him.

Basically what he does is he takes his various toy vehicles and lines them up in some semblance of order that only makes sense to him. Then he moves them to another side of the table and does the same thing.

He is extremely businesslike when he does this. His face shows no real sign of joy or excitement but he is obviously enjoying it. He is very focused and very intentional about what he is doing. He knows exactly what he wants and where each toy should be (as I find out when one car isn't in the exact right spot and he explodes in frustration - I wonder where he got that from). Here is a shot of my boy in action.















The unexpected part for me though was that I loved watching it. I could have watched it all day. In watching him, I was convinced he was a genius. I mean, could Einstein or Edison or Gates line up a firetruck, a motorcycle, another firetruck, a rocket from a Wendy's kid's meal, an old truck that I think he found in the mud and one of my 1981 Matchbox cars in a sort of amoeba like formation? Of course not.

We sat there for 30 minutes and I just watched with a huge smile on my face. Every once in a while, Riley would acknowledge my existence by identifying what vehicle he was about to put in his alignment:

"foo foo" - train or choo choo
"kah" - car
"kruk" - truck
"peepain" - airplane

Since then, I have changed my ways. Sportscenter will always be there (five times a day). Deadliest Catch will be there. Seinfeld will definitely be there. But watching my son organize his vehicles like General McArthur in WWII will not.

So every chance I get, I stop what I am doing and simply watch my son play.

It is way better than ESPN.

Brief Follow up

In my last post a whole month ago - where does the time go?- I spoke about voting as a Christian and the whole abortion issue.

Soon after I wrote that post, I got an email from my very dear friend, Josh. He is a pastor in Boston and has put action to his stance on abortion but not in the way you would think.

I love Josh and I love his heart and the dedication he puts into his ideas. Check out his blog and the last two posts he has done. It is a very interesting perspective on a very volatile topic.


www.joshuathroneburg.blogspot.com