Watching: The classic Thanksgiving episode of WKRP in Cincinnatti, which I taped on Nick at Nite last night. It's still one of the funniest sitcom episodes ever. For those who've never seen it, the story concerns the radio station's ill-conceived Thanksgiving promotion involving a helicopter and live turkeys. Best line: "The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement!"

Follow-Up Visit

This morning the twins and I went to the pediatricians' office for the follow-up on Matthew's ear infection. It was just two weeks ago that he was diagnosed with an infection in his left ear. A follow-up visit for ear infections was standard procedure at our former doctor's office, but this is the first time one of our new doctors called for one.

Our appointment was scheduled for 11:15, and we arrived right on time. The waiting room was crowded, a bad sign, I thought. I was right. We ended up waiting nearly an hour. Fortunately, this time I remembered to bring my "bag of tricks," a large zip lock bag with crayons, scrap paper, and stickers. The boys amused themselves by coloring and pasting stickers on the paper and on me until we were finally called to an exam room.

A nurse checked Matthew's temperature, and then we waited another fifteen minutes for the doctor. When Dr. B. arrived, he asked how Matthew was doing.

"He says his ear is better," I reported.

Dr. B. looked at both his ears, then shook his head. "I'm surprised he's not complaining. Both ears are infected this time." He went on to say that Matthew should probably see a specialist because of his frequent bouts of ear infections. In the meantime, he prescribed another round of antibiotics.

"We may need to try something stronger. How is he with bad-tasting medicines?"

"Ummm, he's not really good with them," I answered. I thought it was a strange question. I mean, are there any kids out there who actually enjoy the bad tasting stuff?

Dr. B. prescribed another course of Augmentin chewables and said to make another follow-up appointment in two weeks. He also remembered that Stephen was coughing two weeks ago when we were there for Matthew's previous ear infection. Without my asking, he checked Stephen's lungs and his ears and pronounced everything fine.

I thought that was kind of him. When we were at our former HMO, the pediatricians wouldn't look at one of the twins during the other's office visit unless I forked over the extra $10 co-pay. And it was a relief to know for sure that Stephen's ears were fine since he often likes to claim to have the same symptoms that Matthew has.

Later today, Matthew started complaining about his right ear. The poor kid. I wish I knew why he is so prone to ear infections. Daniel had a lot of them his first and second winters, but by the time he was two he'd outgrown them. Stephen has had a few in the past several years, but not nearly as many as Matthew. I'm glad we found out about these infections before they became really painful for him.

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