May 9, 2004 - Sunday
We made our first trip to the pre-season beach town yesterday and had a fine round of mini-golf. This year Jeremy seemed to try a little more to actually get the ball into the hole, although he's still using the one-handed toddler swing which rarely points the putter's blade in the right direction. Yet aside from a couple initial "not doin' it" complaints, he didn't seem to mind too much and was happy just to play. Harry was just itching to get back to mini-golf and raced around the course with aplomb, if only mildly improved execution.

The highlight of this Mother's Day morning for the boys was a special breakfast at their favorite local eatery, the Golden Rooster, and a visit to the beach with shovels and buckets. Their mother and I sat huddled and wrapped on a blanket, although it was warm enough for the boys to go without shoes. For mommy the highlight was probably Jeremy's enthusiastic and repeated wishes of "Happy Mother's Day" said with his over-the-top-cute toddler elocution, plus a card he made with sincere, if early efforts to actually write letters and Harry's gift of a tea light made at school.

That was the morning. When we got back to the cabin for lunch, mommy noticed that Jeremy's penis was oddly swollen, clearly irritated by something. I don't really know whether he had complained first or if she had noticed it during a changing and asked if it hurt, but it quickly became apparent that it made him uncomfortable. By the time we got back home, Jeremy actually was having trouble sitting, due to the pressure of his diaper on it. A call to the on-call weekend pediatrician led to a precautionary trip to the emergency room where the diagnosis was the probable irritation by some foreign substance and that it would probably go away quickly, but to visit Jeremy's regular pediatrician tomorrow if it didn't.

I suppose without a resolution to that today, the most positive aspect of that trip was how Jeremy apparently fared at the hospital with mommy. While she tried to explain things to him on the way, he was more or less freaked out, she says, when the doctor first approached him. But, after a drink or water and a little more explanation he apparently sucked it up and, while visibly wincing at times to the doctor's touch, didn't say another thing through what what was apparently a deliberate examination. It reminds me of when Jeremy got a shot, and, too, how Harry got so brave during his blood test. They can surprise.


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