Happy birthday

Birthday boy is three today. Auntie and Granny come over. After an inital tantrum he opened his presents. These included one via courier (a present from my work). Even a couple from us.

Had a welcome lie in. Didn't want to get up. Unlike the boy who had a very early start - 5.40am. He had a nice morning playing with Mummy and was cheerful despite the early start and an unexpected vomit. Got a surprise courier delivery. Not as surprised as the courier when he asked if the receipt could be signed by the addressee and I had to explain it was the boy, and not me.

Auntie and Granny came over for lunch (which auntie had brought). We had a lovely afternoon. Yesterday, the wife had slipped out for an hour as we had no presents for him. She had done him proud with presents and decorations. After lunch he opened presents. But before doing so he had a tantrum as he wanted to watch Fireman Sam. He got a good selection of cards and presents. Particular hits were a baby on a potty (as part of our efforts to potty train him) and a book called panda's pants (anything panda related is bound to be a winner - and it's about pants in the UK, not US, sense). Granny had also kindly made him a birthday cake.

After yesterday's tribulations with his secretions and excessive suctioning we were concerned about how today would go. But, never one to follow a pattern, he was relatively ok with nothing in his trachy cuff. This was great as it allowed him to try to talk for the first time since the op. We were a bit tearful when he said "Mama" and "Dada". It is also good to help him use the muscles in his face to overcome the weakness on the right side. Not an unblemished picture as he tried a sip of water which a few seconds later came shooting out of his trachy. So his swallow is still non-existent.

Back to work tomorrow. Haven't really thought about it. A bit of an unreal quality about it. It has been such a change in the last 24 hours going from hospital to home. And so much has happened that it seems an age since I was normal and went to work.