Maybe things will get quieter now ...

So Nathaniel got his tubes put in his ears today. It went smoothly and quickly ... without a hitch. Now he's home and has a bunch of what looks like crusty blood in his ears. It's likely it's actually a bunch of inner ear gunk stained dark by some iodine used to clean the area, but it looks pretty gross.

Nathaniel seems pretty good. He's a little cranky, and he likely will be for another day, but he's doing pretty good, all things considered. The docs said he did indeed have yet another ear infection going on when they went in to place the tubes. That would be at least his eighth (the other 7 known cases involved antibiotics).

The tubes were not just for the infections, but also because the doctors said it looked like he constantly had some fluid in his ears, and that was making it difficult for him to hear properly, which was making his speech development a little slow.

Now, without the fluid buildup, we're thinking he can hear more clearly. And I'm hoping that means he might not smack those two giant wooden "puzzle pieces" together quite so loud. He makes quite a racket sometimes, but maybe now that he can hear it clearly, he'll tone it down.

We can hope.