The well meaning bureaucracy

Okay, so this post is mainly an excuse to put up a bunch of new pics from the past week. Simon is looking and feeling great 3 weeks after his surgery. We have a few followup appointments in the next week, but everything seems to be going well. Lack of continuous sleep is an issue, more for us than for him. We're working on it.

I've been meaning for a while to mention the strange phenomenon of having been labeled a "special needs" family. At the suggestion of our cleft team, we applied for Illinois' Early Intervention program and also the Department of Specialized Care for Children when Simon was born. We're still sorting out what each agency does and whether we need to be involved with them or not. We didn't know it at the time, but the hospital where Simon was born also apparently reported his palate to the City of Chicago, and now the Department of Public Health wants to send a home care nurse to check up on us every few months. Not surprisingly, each agency has an agonizingly slow process, so basically it feels like they are all documenting our successful negotiation of obstacles 3 months after the fact, more so than actually helping us find our way. Sigh. They mean well.

I guess it feels so surreal because Simon is just Simon to us, and we are lucky to have great care and support. He is a tough little guy.

The Chicago Department of Public Health nurse wrapped up her visit by giving me a tote bag with the agency name on it, and inside was a little paper bag filled with multi-color condoms. Excuse me?