Week of January 22, 2003

(Croup, ear infection, what's next?)

We had a long, sleepless night this week, one where Owen was up and inconsolable from 8:45 to 1:15. We never discovered why, and true to form, he woke up bright and early the next day in spite of the sleep deprivation. To encourage him to stay asleep in his afternoon nap, we ended up driving for several hours around New Hampshire and Vermont. It was great fun, driving through towns I never ordinarily see, peering at houses and towns and thinking how people life. My father often drove around in circuitous routes for day drives in New England, it was nice to relive the experience. And lately this is the closest that Scott and I have gotten to travel. Owen was fast asleep behind us, gently snoring.

Owen has started to feel better at last from the croup, and he's back to his energetic self, running around making up for lost time. Of course, we've had a batch of incredibly cold weather so we haven't been able to get out and run around as much as we should. Our standards have gotten much looser now about what makes up "running around weather," but 5 degrees (or zero!) is just too cold to be out for more than a couple of minutes. Especially if it's windy. We've been going to Brueggers in the morning since Owen likes their eggs, and since there's no running around association (as there is with Rao's) he's able to sit and munch without going to pieces.

Another book has been added to our repertoire at night: 10 Hungry Monsters. For some reason, every time we count to 10 it makes Owen laugh. He also likes the last line, which mentions a hidden apple muffin that the monsters never got. Owen is fond of the apple muffins they have 2 days a week at Rao's, and I think he realizes that's what the story is referring to). He always points to it.

He's also started to make sound effects with his trains. It's kind of a blowing noise, which I'm unable to duplicate. Not quite a raspberry, but his lips vibrate. He also makes this noise in the tub, as he drives various things around in the water. Scott can do it too so often they'll be making silly noises at each other. I feel a bit left out, but I reassure myself that Scott can't roll his tongue.

Owen has taken to pushing Scott and I out of chairs, when he wants to climb in. He's gotten quite adept at getting himself in and out of adult chairs, and the novelty still amuses him. He likes to try out new chairs and so he tends to fixate when we're visiting relatives.

Words he's imitating: "Sit" and "Ice" and "Dinnertime".

Ah, and for the 2nd weekend in a row, we're sick. Friday at 4, we got a phone call from our daycare person. Owen had a fever and was very clingy, we might want to make a Doctor's appointment for him. We picked him up about 45 minutes early, and managed to get the last appointment for the day at our Pediatrician's office. Although Owen was warm, he managed to perk up in the waiting room and be smiley and relaxed and he played with all the germ-ridden toys he could get his hands on. And he was pretty happy even while we waited in the examining room. When he spotted his Doctor, he realized he was in for poking and prodding and managed to be his squirmiest, most unhelpful self. She was able to look in his ears though, and figure out that his 102 degree fever was from an ear infection.

Owen was not a happy guy for the next day or two, until the amoxicillin kicked in. This is only his second ear infection. He's a stoic little guy (so long as he's not being restrained), but he was out of sorts and not sure why. Getting two large droppers full of medicine into him was a tough job - we're just lucky there wasn't more pink goo everywhere. We did get much better at giving it to him, and Owen grew much more cooperative. It's dreadful having to put your child in a headlock. He's an angel about taking Tylenol, and it was a huge relief when we were able to treat the antibiotic in a more relaxed fashion. He wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but he seemed to sense that getting through it calmly speeded the whole process up.

Owen's savvy now about what we're saying, and we had to scrupulously avoid saying "we're almost all done" because as soon as he heard "all done" - he was scrambling out of our grasp. We're still adjusting to the amount of understanding he has. He can point successfully to so many things we ask him about, what else is going on in that mind of his?

 

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