I am writing from our home, otherwise known as Boogerville. It's bad. Tissues are in every room, and all five of us have colds. This morning, I drugged up both Owen and Nicholas on children's ibuprofen before we left the house. Between teething, ear infections, and the general trend of the "every two weeks" virus in day care, our family is keeping Proctor and Gamble in business. I like to refer to infants' ibuprofen drops as liquid gold...
I was a little concerned that Owen's congestion might prevent him from being able to see the dentist, his second visit of the year, but he did very nicely. That's actually an understatement. He was the rock star of the pediatric dental world last week. He sat in the chair all by himself, talked with the doctor at length, and then patiently underwent his first cleaning and vitamin treatment. Then I took him to Dunkin Donuts to celebrate. Slightly incongruous, I know, but to my three year-old, a Boston Cream is more valuable than pearls.
We were faring so well that I decided to take Owen to the Toys for Tots donation site at a local police department. I have tried explaining to Owen that Christmas is not just about getting gifts. It's a time for giving, too. In the bowels of our basement closet, I managed to dig out two toys that have never been opened, both of which are total death traps, replete with choking hazards and lots of small parts. These toys can't possibly be used in our home, and I wouldn't allow my kids to play with them. Thus, it makes sense to donate them to a drive like this one. Believe it or not, this logic was totally lost on Owen. Even though he could have cared less about the toys for the past three years, not even knowing they existed, he now wanted these toys more than anything else. I escorted him in to the donation center. We put the toys on the table. "Owen," I said, "Say bye-bye to the toys." (This has worked very well with issues of closure in the past. It did NOT work presently.) Category 5 tantrum. Screaming, tears, spit, snot, even some gagging and dry heaves from excessive snot ingestion. Is it terrible that this made me laugh? All the way home, he repeated ad nauseum "I DON'T WANT TO SHARE! THOSE BOYS AND GIRLS DON'T WANT THOSE TOYS! I WANT THEM!" As usual, I think I might be just a wee bit overly ambitious about my aspirations for my son. The season of giving is going to have to wait for him until next year.
Peter had his first ear infection last week. I knew he just wasn't right for a few days, but when I picked him up on Friday afternoon and his eyes had that Deputy Dog look, I knew it was time to call the pediatrician and have his ears checked. I also knew that I had to get in there before the weekend lest Peter spike a fever in the middle of the night and land us in the ER for that antibiotic RX. Of course, when the doctor confirmed my novice diagnosis, I did feel a sense of accomplishment. Third time's a charm...
And now for Nicholas. We have slowly been eliminating certain foods from his diet to see if it will help with his digestive issues (no details to share -- use imagination). First we cut out all excess sugar. Juice is no longer an option except for very special occasions. This helped a little. Next we cut out lactose. This helped a little bit more. So now we are cutting out gluten. Torture, but thank goodness for Trader Joe's edamame chips, rice pasta mac and cheese, corn chips and rice bran bread. He's doing better, but the prospects of going G-free are not on our horizon quite yet. Another purchase we have made on behalf of Nicholas is duct tape. Last Saturday, Jason went into Nicholas' room and found him in his crib, stripped naked out of his sleeper, onesie, and (thank goodness not dirty!) diaper. Nicholas was in the process of peeing through his crib rails. Jason's scream was like something out of a horror movie. I was downstairs with the other two, and the sad thing is, I didn't need to run upstairs to imagine what Nicholas had done. Hey, at least he's all set for potty training!
We took a run out to Home Depot for some duct tape and other holiday sundries, and of course I couldn't resist taking some pics on my phone. It's weird to have a phone that weighs less than my right hand and actually takes pictures, but I held out as long as I could.
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