Wicked Cool

Last night Mike & I saw the musical Wicked. What a fun show! If you've not seen it, nor read the book, I suggest you do one or both. I had no idea this version of what happened before Dorothy came to Oz even existed. I loved it! The character Glinda (whose name was actually Galinda until she so selflessly gave up the "uh" in her name in protest of some mean things happening to the speaking animals of Oz...lol) was a hoot. Think if Elle Woods and Mary Katherine Gallagher had a baby together. ;o)




Glinda's overly blond & enthusiastic shenanigans dominated the first part of the play, but Elpheba (Wicked Witch of the West) had an amazing voice...as well as some funny lines, so the second half was owned by both of their characters.

We left the boys with a babysitter, and that was a scary thing indeed! Leaving the city, driving for an hour, going into a theater where cell phones have to be off...all whilst our offspring we hanging out with a 13-year-old. Of course everything was fine, it is just a difficult thing to do. I'm sure it will get easier and I hope that we can do things like this more often. Rent is coming to Portland in June so maybe we'll do this again.



We arrived a little early and decided to grab something to eat, just something small since we only had about 45 minutes. Across the street from the theater is a place called Morton's Steak House. We have one in West Salem, and it has a good reputation, so we decided to duck in there. Wow. Fancy. We were seated by the Maître d', if that tells you anything. We weren't going to order a big meal so it seemed fine. The waitress came up and asked if we'd been in before; we said "no" and this quick look of panic crossed her face. She said something about getting "right on the food selection" something-or-other so that we'd have time to eat before the show. Hmmm. We were like "okay." She brings over this huge tray (on a wheeled cart) that is filled with the uncooked ingredients they use in their food. Over by Mike, the tray held a beefsteak tomato, thick asparagus, and purple onions. In the middle of the tray (lined up with the middle of our table) was a sample of all their steaks, uncooked. I'm not big on beef but they sure looked yummy! And on the tray right next to me? Live lobster. Yes. Live. Wiggling, pincers bound together, just waiting for death.



The entire time she was telling us how the food was prepared, the only thing I could think was "I cannot believe there is a living lobster six inches from my arm. This is sick!!" She left us with our menus and Mike and I just looked at each other and said "I cannot believe that was a living lobster!" It just weirded us out. Mike started cracking jokes like why don't they bring in a cow, maybe a chicken...let them run around so you can see what you're getting. I suggested they could draw a diagram on the cow to show you exactly where your cut of meat would come from, maybe tell you his hobbies, where he was born...you know, since we want to know exactly what we're eating and all. ;o)



Needless to say, we both just ordered a salad. And the salads were entirely delicious. We also ordered grilled asparagus with a balsamic glaze (which I will try to replicate tonight!) and they brought onion bread to the table. Mike liked the onion bread so much that he said that is what he wants for his next birthday "cake"; I told him I think Keats would have something to say about that. Lol.

After the show we headed back to Morton's just for a quick drink since the parking garage was completely backed up with a gazillion people. Mike ordered red wine and I ordered, under the suggestion of both Mike & the bartender, a Manhattan. Hmmm. I can't say I hated it but I can say that it was about 99% alcohol. After the first sip I told Mike that I didn't think I could drink it...but then I felt the nice mellow burn and decided I could sip at it. I ended up drinking the whole thing (huge! and twelve bucks!!) so I guess the guys didn't steer me entirely the wrong way.



So that was our night. It was fun and I really do hope we try to do those things more often.



Today, however, has been an interesting day. Mike bought some almond nut butter at Costco yesterday, which is something we hadn't tried. We've had sunflower nut butter and cashew butter but this was our first almond butter. I gave the boys each a piece of toast with the almond butter on top, with a sprinkle of sugar. They both dug in like starving creatures, but Sullivan soon started coughing. He was sick as recently as last week so it wasn't too unexpected to hear him cough. After a couple of minutes I realized that the coughing wasn't stopping and I started trying to get him to take a drink to clear his throat. I assumed he had inhaled some bread and it went down the wrong pipe, so-to-speak. The coughing stopped, or at least slowed, so I went about my business. In another minute, the coughing was back, and now it sounded croupy, which means a narrow airway. I went to sit by him at the table and noticed that his face was red with welts or hives all around his chin. I immediately knew it was the almond butter because the facial rash is the same thing he gets when he eats walnuts. The breathing stuff freaked me out though since he'd never had a respiratory reaction before. I took the toast (he complained quite loudly about this..."My sandwich! My sandwich!") and wiped his face, gave him Benadryl and rubbed some steriod cream on his face. This is what I always do when he reacts to dog saliva or previously with walnuts. The coughing stopped soon after that but his breathing was loud, maybe a little wheezy, and I could hear some "gunk" in his lungs. He was acting completely normal throughout the whole incident. Playing, eating, fighting with Keats. He simply sounded like he was having a little trouble breathing. Every single time Sullivan gets a cough it turns into croup; I think he just has a narrow airway and that's the way it will be with him until he's older.



Anyway, I look online for Benadryl dosing and discover that he is right at the cut-off for the next bigger dose, according to his weight of 32 pounds. I also looked on the website (which is his pediatrician's website) for nut allergy info, or any food allergy info, and found none. So I decided to call to ask about the Benadryl dose and if I had given him the right thing. I don't deal with food allergy stuff at work so my knowledge is limited to Benadryl. I get a nurse on the phone and tell her I had those two questions. She started asking what had happened, how it all went down, and how he was right then. At the time she asked, he was sitting on the couch, sucking on his binky (bad mom!) and watching PBS. I told her his symptoms and that they were pretty much gone by that point. She told me that she could only tell me one thing: hang up and dial 911 right away. Seriously? He's totally fine, can't I just get an appointment in the office today? Nope. Dial 911. Grrrr. I hung up and went upstairs to explain the dilemma to Mike. I totally didn't think Sully needed to go in but I wanted his help to make that decision. Mike had heard all the coughing but by the time he saw Sullivan he was like "Um. Yeah. He's totally fine & normal." I know, I know...but what do we do? Follow the advice of the nurse or use our own judgement? What if the reaction did get worse...we would be the most horrible parents ever.



But Sully seemed so very fine that we decided to just watch him. And we're glad for that because he recovered completely and is napping right now. It would have been a couple thousand bucks out of our pocket (since we have such crappy insurance) for no reason. I'm going to call tomorrow to see if he can get in to see a doctor for a regular old non-emergent visit. I'm thinking we may need to get an epi pen or something like that, in case this happens again.



Anyway, that's that. I'm sure I won't sleep a wink tonight as I'll be straining my ears to listen to Sullivan breathe...but that's okay. That's what I'm here for, right?!