Another Day

Today, Aaron returned to the doctor.  His neurosurgeon (who is amazing---and I know that I have stated my disdain for neurologists and their abundance of knowledge and lack of common sense in prior blogs but I continue to think that Dr. Cherr is an awesome physician) and his PA, Rachel (who is also amazing...and beautiful and athletic and intelligent...but I still like her) once again were very satisfied by the miraculous progress that Aaron has made in the last 10 weeks.  At this point in the majority of their patients recoveries, most of them are just starting to wean off of pain medications and learning to deal with their pain but Aaron has been off of pain meds for about a month.  And they were ecstatic about his ability to pee and poop on his own.  He is ahead of schedule, which is great.

Next order of business, the plan for returning to work.  He may return back to work at the beginning of April, which I think will help his mental health state.  It is hard to sit at home day after day and have strict limitations on what you can and cannot do, especially when you live with an over protective, over bearing, worrisome RN.  He will start with four hours days for a while, then six, then eight.  Also, on his x-rays Rachel said she could see bone growth...which is great.  His incisions look as good as they can look.  His hard wear looks great...everything is just great. 

Aaron also graduated from walking with a cane to walking independently virtually all of the time (he still uses his cane occasionally.)  So, on this beautiful spring-like day, our lives are looking up.  Abram, who has been sick constantly since January, is starting to finally feel better.  After all of the encouragement from his doctor, Aaron is more confident and walking a little taller.  I feel wonderful because I received a ton of seeds to plant in the mail and I can finally see some mud to dig in.  And Noah...oh boy...he is definitely in a preadolescent stage.

Noah, my outspoken social butterfly, will soon have his 9th birthday.  I cannot believe time has flown by that fast.  And his heart continues to belong to the same girl...you can read about that HERE.  Lately, he has been asking me questions about girls.  He asked me if he can take Candice to prom when they are in high school...I have been trying to teach him to plan ahead, but not like that!  And that was just the tip of the ice berg for the line of questioning.  But, I have always held an open door policy with Noah.  He can ask me or tell me anything.  I am thankful that he feel comfortable enough with me to keep that door open.  I hope he does not shut it in his teenage years.

He has always been girl crazy.  It's bizarre to me because neither Aaron nor I are anything like that.  But when Noah was 2 or 3, he dreamt of a certain blond blogger riding on a skid loader.  I do not exactly remember the entire dream, but I knew then that he would be a heart-breaker when he was older.  Well, now he is older.  Not much older, but I can see that "it" is starting---whatever "it" may be.

So, a friend of mine asked me every mother's most dreaded question, "Have you had the sex talk with him yet...what you haven't...you need to..." Blah blah blah. 

The sex talk?  With my baby?  Really?  Of course he has asked me a few questions like...where do babies come from.  I responded, "Well, God gives them to us."  Complete satisfaction on his end, thus the end to our conversation.  But, talking about sex?  I do not have a clue how to approach this subject, and if it is even necessary.

It makes me think back to my one evening of sex ed...sitting in a dark classroom with a bunch of nuns.  In my head they had mustaches and were slapping rulers on the palms of their hands, shouting at us.  But they really weren't, they were all very nice ladies.  They  just mislead us with certain information.  "Blue balls happens when a man gets cold," stated one nun.  "Women only have a certain number of eggs...that is one reason why you may not have an abortion," another nun said looking right at me.  Was that a hint?  I'll never know.  Later on in life, during health class, I found out that neither one of those statements were true.  And I want my children to have accurate information.

I always envisioned giving the talk to the boys with a Power Point slide show full of STD photos and quick facts about birth control and so on.  In my vision, Abram and Noah were both in their thirties, sitting on the couch with me, a laptop placed gently on my lap.  We maybe would be sipping on some coffee talking about their new jobs and they say they are starting to think about dating.  So, I smile and think, "Well, Noah will be forty soon, time to have the sex talk.  Abram is still only thirty six.  He may be a little too young."  I plug in my flash drive and start with a well prepared lecture.  But, then my mind comes crashing back down to earth, looking in the eyes of my nine-year-old.  I cannot show that to my Noah, he would be traumatized!  I can just hear him and see him in my minds eye.  He would be red faced, giggling non-stop, and then would come the never-ending line of questioning..."You put the what, where?"  I cannot handle that!

So, I continue to answer his questions with short, concise answers that are age appropriate.  But, I am starting to wonder what is age appropriate for him.  There is so much sex in the media now-a-days, even on cartoons.  What ever happened to the coyote and the road runner... they just blew each other up.  Now, we have Sponge Bob walking around in his underwear and Mr. Crabs showing off his buns.  Is that appropriate?  And Sponge Bob is one of the better cartoons!

I think that I am going to have to save Noah's talk for another day.  First, I will surely have to consult my fellow over achieving moms, the blond and the brunette, at lunch.  Or at our "Girls Night."  I can not wait to hear what they have to say!