Mommy and I had a good time today at my "karate" class (there is a sign for karate so that is easier then fingerspelling). I didn't make it the full thirty minutes and we headed out a few minutes early. By chance, my friend Brighton was taking a t-ball class at the same facility so I go to see Kelly and Sophia for the first time in almost a year! Sophia wasn't feeling too well today but I was happy to see her.
Now that Mommy is back home, we are back into our normal routine. Daddy continued to have me wear my backpack while I was getting a feeding this week so Mommy picked up where Daddy left off. I don't even fight wearing it anymore and my parents feel a new sense of freedom not having to follow me around during each feeding - no more leash for them! Now they just need to get Lucille familiar with the process too. 
There hasn't been any posting this week because I have been back in Salt Lake for work meetings. Just days before leaving, though, the trip to Utah took on a whole new meaning.
Uncle Jeff made good on his promise to get up (relatively) early this morning and take me to the mall so I could ride the carousel. My parents tried to distract me with a stop at the Disney store but I had already caught sight of the carousel and was in no mood to mess around looking at Disney princesses - on to the horses!
Here I am having fun and being silly. But now you can see why it is sometimes hard to keep track of my HME's - when I am tried of wearing it I just chuck it. My parents have found them in some very strange places over the years and are sure years after my trach is removed they will continue to find them.
Peyton Nicole Smith
Get out the towel and clean up your own g-tube spills when the medication port opens.
Request a wipee to clean up after yourself when you cough up trach secretions.
Remember that whole controversy about "weapons of mass destruction"? Within our household there isn't much controversy because when you are talking about life with a 2 year old it is clear that the weapons of mass destruction are crayons! Apparently, Lucille wasn't keeping a close eye on me during the day at some point. When Mommy came out at 4 as Lucille was leaving for the day I was still asleep. Mommy noticed a crayon laying on the rug next to my bed. Lucille commented that I had fallen asleep with it in my hand and eventually it fell out. "How cute!" Mommy said. Fast forward about an hour and Mommy and I went to check on my fish. I walked over to the tank, pointed at it and said "uh-oh" very clearly. I had taken said crayon (yes, that is the very same crayon in my hand above) and at some point during the day colored all over the tank with it as well as the wooden table the tank is sitting on. A little Windex and the tank was good as new but the table is still showing some long term effects. Now I was just trying to make the tank pretty for my fish but Mommy has learned a valuable lesson - invest in washable crayons or suffer the consequences!
Just to prove to Mommy that I do pay attention, she watched me today "fill" my plastic cup with water from the sink and put in the microwave then pull it out and drink from it. (Does that remind you of when you drink tea Mommy?) It's pretty clear that even though I don't eat or drink much by mouth I am always watching!
A full 24 hours later I am still loving my Elmo balloon from the party store. He goes with me everywhere around the house and even sat at the end of the changing table during my trach change tonight. 
After much anticipation today was the start of my Taekwondo Tots class. With 20 or so 2 and 3 year olds learning basic Taekwondo movements like blocking, kicking and punching you can imagine the fun! Mommy was a little nervous there wouldn't be any girls but she was sure wrong - at least half the class was girls. In fact, I met another Peyton (see earlier posting on how common the name is now). I had a great time and hopefully next week Daddy will join us so Mommy can get some pictures for the blog.
With all the drama of the last few days what could be better than a little retail therapy? Since Grandma Mower is no longer working at a shoe store I don't have 15 pairs of cute shoes in each size (I was very spoiled!) So I had the new experience of needing to buy a pair of shoes. Mommy took me to Target and we looked through everything in my size. 
Here I am trying to look like Foofa with the flower sticker on my forehead. If you look close you can see my skinned nose. It used to be that I fell on my head all the time and it was almost a constant bruise for months as I was learning to walk. Now I seem to be leading more with my nose. Today as I was running in excitement towards my fish tank I tripped and fell right into the wooden table the fish tank sits on. Luckily it wasn't the corner - unluckily I happened to land with my nose on the exact spot where the metal latch sits. So for the moment I have a lot in common with Rudolph!
Mommy has tried hard not to bad mouth any of my nurses in my blog despite having nurses that slept on the job (three), burst my g tube (one), missed shifts (one) and didn't notice I had the wrong size trach in despite having to chart the size each shift (all four nurses during that week). My parents have been struggling with one of my night nurses for months. Despite their better judgement when the last night nurse wasn't working out they gave my respite nurse a shot. They figured how crazy could she make us if we all pretty much slept her whole shift? She has already received two verbal warnings in the last few months for hounding my parents about my feeding protocols but she has apparently not learned her lesson. It was a rare occurrence, but last night I was awake when she came on shift at 10 pm. The nurse let Daddy know that she thought the reason I was awake was that I must be hungry. Now remember, I get five g tube feedings a day. The volume and calorie content are set by my GI and dietician to make sure I continue to grow appropriately. All the feedings I take orally are just for fun and are considered extra calories and are monitored closely by my feeding therapist to ensure I don't show any signs of aspiration. When Daddy headed to bed, my nurse was getting me out of bed to read me a story - or so my parents thought. When Mommy came out the next morning the first thing out of the nurse's mouth was that she put me in my high chair last night and fed me pudding and I loved it! "Maybe she doesn't eat pudding for you because you don't make it fun! She was hungry and once she ate something she calmed right down and went to sleep." This is where that "oh no you didn't" might spring to your mind like it did Mommy's! Mommy sat down and said in as nice a voice as she could, "Peyton is not malnourished, thin or failure to thrive (all terms this nurse has used in the past). She is followed by a GI, a dietician, a pediatrician and a feeding therapist. They are all completely comfortable with her growth. Although Peyton is short stature due to her syndrome, her height to weight is in proportion and she is perfectly healthy." Despite the fact that this nurse does not go to any doctor's appointments, therapy appointments or is involved in any of my plan of care she was not ready to give in without a fight. She told Mommy that she is a nurse and she has had g tube patients in the past and she knows that I am hungry. The nights I roll around in my sleep it is clear that I am hungry. Then she asked, "Haven't you ever been hungry before Tracy?" That's about the time Mommy had to hold herself back from jumping across the table. But she kept pretty calm and told the nurse, "Peyton loves to eat but that doesn't mean she is hungry. There is no way that the miniscule amounts of food she eats by mouth could possibly satisfy her if she was truly hungry - she eats it because she likes it not because she's hungry. I don't agree with you and I want you to stop using the term "hunger" because that's not what is going on!" That last comment sure set the nurse off and she responded with "you can't control what I say" and it started to get pretty ugly. Mommy finally called a halt to the fun and told the nurse that they were clearly at an impasse and at this point she was done talking about this topic and any future questions or concerns about it would need to be directed to the agency the nurse works for - not my parents. The nurse had to get a final word in and tell Mommy that "if you continue to ignore the reality of your daughter's hunger signs it could be detrimental to her in the future." Mommy let her know that she was willing to take the risk! Once the agency opened in the morning Mommy called the director and told her what had happened (the nurse had already called her as well but the director decided to call Mommy back first). The director agreed with Mommy and from here on out the topic of feedings, weight, calories, etc. are off the table for this nurse. In addition, she is being written up for unprofessional behavior. 
A note from Mommy:
Well, I spoke to soon about my new love for Foofa. Don't get me wrong, I adore Foofa but that was before I found my long lost love - Rudolph. My parents were trying to be sneaky. When we returned from Salt Lake after Christmas they hid Rudolph my singing/talking/moving reindeer. Besides the song being annoying after 50 times in a day he is also VERY loud and all of us have jumped at one point or another when he got turned on and we weren't expecting it. But I am one smart cookie and tonight I saw him sitting at the top of my parent's closet and demanded he be returned to me. I was thrilled to see him again and didn't waste any time introducing him to my fish and all my new toys. My parents were not so thrilled and didn't waste any time trying to figure out a way to conveniently lose him again. So if Rudolph is involved in some unfortunate accident.....
My obsession with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has now been replaced by Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba. Since we haven't come up with a name sign for Foofa yet, I have started signing "flower" and then "pink" when I want to watch Yo Gabba Gabba. As soon as Foofa comes on the screen I get very excited! Of all the Yo Gabba Gabba characters maybe it isn't surprising that I picked the "girly" one. My parents better start looking now for a Foofa Halloween costume!
Six more fish joined the family today and initially all seemed well. They were getting along well with the other fish in the tank but by the end of the night one was not looking so good. Mommy let Daddy know that if in the morning he has passed on, Mommy will get him flushed before I notice him floating belly up. With 13 other fish in the tank, they figure it may take me a while to notice he's gone.
My parents say all the time I should be an actress. In the first picture you can see my distress at having to go to bed. As soon as I realized Mommy had the camera out, though, I perked right up. Gotta look your best!
Anna's Ginger Thins are my new favorite thing to eat. A few months ago I had some trouble eating them and would end up with some in my trach but over the last few weeks I am doing much better with them. They are nice and thin so they fit in my mouth with it's limited ability to open without any trouble. They are also easy to break into smaller pieces. Once they get in my mouth, they dissolve really easily so I can swallow them without choking. Anna's has about eight flavors so Mommy will soon introduce some other flavors to see what I think of those.
"Peyton" in The Game Plan
Peyton Place
"Peyton" on One Tree Hill
Peyton Manning
