Noah's Surgery (and other not-as-important events)

I got a call from the Pediatric Surgeon, and we had a date in November scheduled, then got a call from the Pediatric Ophthalmologist, and they wanted it done sooner--so we've got Noah's pre-op with the Ophthalmologist on Thursday, Oct. 11 at 9:15, and then his surgery is Friday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 a.m. (he'll be the first patient, which I'm happy about). The probing of the tear duct to open it will be done first by the Ophthalmologist, and should only take 5 minutes. Then the Surgeon will come in and remove the cyst, and that should be about 30-40 minutes. Noah will be under a general anesthetic, which I'm not too thrilled about, but the Surgeon assured me that the anesthesiologists that do this are specialized in pediatrics, so we're in good hands. It still makes me nervous, though. I know that it'll feel more like 30 years to Patrick and me, though! It will be a relief to have it done--his eye just gets so gummy and we are having to explain to strangers that no, he's not crying, he's just got a blocked tear duct... And, with his increased mobility, I'm worried now that he's going to fall on the cyst and break it open before we get it removed!

Speaking of his mobility, he's really truckin' now. He toddles around pretty well, though he prefers to use his Retro Rocket--pushing it from the front, so the Rocket itself is backwards from the intended use--and run around the house. Last night, though, he made the loop from the living room to the kitchen & back around to the living room without sitting once. He still gets pretty excited when he makes it to where he's going while walking, but not nearly as much as when he first discovered his bipedality.

He's got three teeth on the top that have broken through the surface, and if he bites on your finger, you'll swear that there's about 14 more just waiting. None on the bottom yet, so he looks pretty funny when he gives his goofy wrinkled-nose-smiley face. He's talking up a storm, and we're picking out more & more words every day. Of course, it's mainly conjecture for us--we can't be absolutely sure that he's saying "flower" but we're pretty sure. Today I could have sworn that he said "Grandma" when I was putting him in his car seat. We'd just left Grandma to get into her car at the YMCA and us into ours, and I was talking to him about how we were going to go to Grandma's house, and he said something that really sounded like "Grandma." He acted excited when I repeated "Yes, we're going to Grandma's house!" so I'm hoping that's what he said.

On other news fronts, I received my first commission check from a listing that was mine! I did give a 25% referral fee to my partner, Sheila, because it was our listing to begin with, but when it expired & he relisted it, she said that I could take it & run with it, and she'd just want a referral fee--which is standard practice, and was happy to do it. It was nice to be paid! I did get a smaller check that Sheila & I split 50/50 earlier in the month, but it was on and "investment property"--which is a fancy way of saying "not a whole lot of money." I'm working with a few buyers right now, and hopefully we'll be able to find something they like and can be in their new homes by the holidays. I've been really lucky--all the buyers that I've worked with have been really nice people, and have been very easy to work with.

I think that's about all the news that's fit for print!