you say it’s your birthday??

When Luke turned 4, he was just 7 days out from getting his tonsils removed.  I heard from a lot of people that their child’s tonsillectomy was a piece of cake.  They told me that their children were eating hamburgers and running around that same day.

Well I call bullshit!  Why do people tell me these stories?  It is almost like a competitive thing.  “Little Susie broke her leg during the relay race, but she still was able to finish the race and win the long jump afterwards.”  When I hear these stories I wonder what I’m doing wrong.

So back to Luke’s birthday.  I schedule his tonsillectomy for a week before his birthday.  Because getting tonsils out is going to be a cinch.

But poor Luke didn’t get that memo - he was still in a lot of pain on his birthday and didn’t want anything to do with it, even though we had a houseful of relatives wanting to see our happy go lucky boy turn 4.

First thing on his birthday morning, Luke informed me that he wasn’t turning 4, because his best friend Andrew was still 3.  He also didn’t want anyone singing happy birthday, so instead we sang the Johnny Appleseed prayer (at least it wasn’t “I’m Too Sexy…”).

As the relatives arrived I whispered to them not to mention anything about his birthday, unless they wanted to see a giant tantrum.

But the surest way to get a kid to meltdown is to walk on eggshells trying to prevent one from happening in the first place.

By the time cake was served, we were both in tears.  I felt like an awful mom - on display for all to see.

It took a couple weeks until Luke felt normal again.  In fact he was better than normal - with no more sleep apnea he was the easy going child we remembered.  And finally he was ready to be 4.  

It’s been 6 months since Luke turned 4 and I’m finally ready to tell this story.

“Oh the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord.  For giving me, the things I need, the sun and the rain and the apple seed.  The Lord is good to me!”

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