Six days into a 10-day bottle of antibiotics

and the tonsil has only shrunk by half. They're clearly going to have to go. Our health insurance runs out next Monday, so we're going to wait until we can get CHIP to kick in an let the guv'mint foot the bill. (And a big THANK YOU to all my taxpaying readers!)

I'm not crazy about it, but what do you do?

Melody hurt her toe in gymnastics today. She was hysterical about it, so I asked her if she wanted me to have to doctor remove it as well. She was adamant that this was not going to be necessary.

While things aren't back to normal in the back of her throat, she is (somewhat) returning to normal. The kids take turns being my favorite, and right now, it's Melody's turn. I think it is mainly because I haven't had the real Melody in so long. It has been four months since her tonsils ballooned and she has been a miserable shadow of herself this whole time. Some of the things we've tried helped briefly, and I would see glimpses of Real Melody, but the poor thing has been unable to eat, drink and sing without pain. What is a Melody without song?

I used to tell the girls: Charlie is my favorite, because he doesn't talk to me.

This is no longer true. In the past two or three weeks, Charlie has decided it is time to step up and say something. He went from saying 3-4 words reliably to about 50. He is repeating phrases and engaging in 'conversations' like the following:

Daddy: You're a stinker!
Charlie: Yu-u!
Daddy: No, you!
Charlie: Nuh. Yu-u.

See the progress he's made?

And Dixie? Dixie is Dixie is Dixie is Dixie. I'd taken a bath and shaved my legs earlier today, so Dixie helped Daddy 'get the mommy fur out of the tub.'

Which reminds me--today was Daddy's first taste of SAHD-life. I went in for a three-hour training at Sylvan. I came home and he looked a wee bit frazzled and wasn't entirely sure where Charlie was.