The Only Child

After living in my current state for too many years, I finally had a chance to leave, and let me just say this. I am SOOO over Utah! What a frozen tundra of a desert state. What am I doing here when verdant temperate California awaits me? It's dangerous, really dangerous to let me out into the real world again. I controlled myself and came home. Even more dangerous is leaving the state without 6 other people in tow. Whom I love dearly, but...

Carino wrote this paper at school last month:

Being the only child.

I wont to be the only child. But I have 4 brothers and one sister. If I was the only child I could get whatever I wont.

It is so cool being the only child.

I bet it is awsome.

I like being the only child.

This made me chuckle. Not sure who the 4th brother is, either.

After spending the weekend alone with him, I could write my own little theme:

Having Carino for an Only Child

I want to have Carino for my only child.

But I have 1 daughter and 4 sons. If Carino were the only child, I could do whatever I want, most of the time. I could control my own destiny, probably.

It would be so cool if he were the only child, because if he were, I would think I was a stellar parent. I would have time to dote on him and listen to him, to play with him. I could sign him up for lots of sports and still have time to make dinner. I would almost never have to scream.

He would tell me how much he loves me 5 times a day, and almost never ever get mad or show his obnoxious side without siblings around to provoke him. He would open doors for me and offer to carry things for me. He would say please and "Thank you for doing so many neat things for me, mom!" and act like a totally awesome little boy. He would pay more attention to me and almost always do what I say. He would go to sleep within 5 minutes of getting in bed.

I bet it is awesome to have free time every evening and still get to bed on time.

I love having Carino for the only child.

But, alas, I'd miss the other 4 hellions. To make a long story short, we made it to the conference. It was sort of like a presidential debate, actually because there are two schools of thought out there in the medical community with regards to the best ear reconstruction methods. We met lots of little kids with similar faces and their parents, meeting similar challenges. It was pretty fun. We met another Utah family. In California. Of course. There is no escaping Utah. They were nice people though so I was glad not to escape. We had a CT scan and appointments with 5 doctors. Now we have a lot of homework to do. It was good they saw Carino, because they had second and third opinions, and brought up more complications. We did get some answers. We still don't know exactly what we'll do, but at least we have lots of info and things to look into to decide. It could be a full time job. Too bad I'll need another full time job to pay for all the treatments he needs. I thought going back to Utah would be so depressing, but at the airport, we went to use the restroom and found a Family Restroom, big enough to fit the whole Duggar family in it! Some things about Utah are so fun! Then we got on a shuttle bus to go to the parking lot. It was crammed full. A lady offered us the last seat. Carino sat down next to her. When she got up to leave, she patted his hands and jumped off the bus. When I looked down at Carino again, he was holding a Ziploc bag full of coins, an amazed look on his face. Who was that masked lady? God bless her wherever she is, she made our day! Gnight, all!