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Journal Key:

Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black

10/14/10 (Thursday)

Poor Owen had a rough day. Daycare called me at work to see whether it was ok to give him Tylenol. He had been screaming uncontrollably and holding onto his ears; it was at a time when a storm was coming and the pressure was changing, which the staff could feel in their sinuses and throats. He had eventually fallen asleep. Em said that his ear tubes should not allow him to be bothered by changes in pressure, so I should take him in to see the pediatrician and get a tympanogram.

I picked him up around quarter to four. He'd been fussing a lot, and he had refused his bottles all day. He only took about three ounces while he was there. His naps had been shorter than usual. He seemed fine at the doctor's office. The doctor, not one of my favorites, seemed to think he had some sort of virus, though she didn't mention anything looking inflamed or affected. She looked in his ears and said that they were fine. I had to insist on the tympanogram.

It took a few tries, which made him very unhappy. The first couple didn't register, and after that they came out flat. Finally, the nurse got it to read. She showed the doctor, who came back in. She basically said he had a virus and there was nothing to do, but I should call if he got dehydrated. I had to ask about the tympanogram. I looked at the results. In one ear, the little line made a jump into a box on the chart. That, the doctor said, was normal. The other one was squiggly but never went into the box. She blamed that on wax. The end.

Out in the lobby, I called Em. A normal tympanogram, she said, for someone with ear tubes, is flat. The tubes equalize the pressure, and the ear drum doesn't move. (That sounds strange--then how does he hear? I must be missing something.) If his ear drums are moving, that means that the tubes are blocked up. It's definitely something that I should talk to the ENT about. It was too late to talk to them when we got home, but I'll call tomorrow and tell a nurse all about it. If there's a chance there's an issue, we want it cleared up before we take him on a plane!

He actually had a fine evening. Cara, as usual, is very funny. He loves standing up at the Leapfrog baby-stand-up-toy-console-thingie. I went back to pictures of Cara in the journal to see what it was called. Steve wasn't sure. Owen's experimenting with the toys on it, though, when Cara isn't forcefully showing them to him. He also jumped and jumped and jumped and jumped in his jumper. He had some fussy moments, but he was also mostly very happy. When I had him in his sack and gave him his bedtime bottle, he fell more soundly asleep than he has on me in a long time.

Cara, in the meantime, had a fine day and a fine evening. She wore a purple sweater she's had for years and probably never worn before. It was nice and cuddly. When we got home, she had to change her pants, whose cuffs had gotten wet in the puddles. Oddly, she selected some really cool green capris with interesting zippered pockets. I tried a dozen times to get her to wear those, back when it was warm enough for them!

Thursday's homework is always sight words, and today there were sentences to trace! In her folder there was a book, made from three or four stapled pages. It's called "I Went to the Park." It's a counting book. I underlined the words that Cara should know, and she's getting it as a special fourth book tonight. She will read her parts, and Daddy will read his.

Saturday (10/16/10)

Yesterday was family fun night. We had a quiet evening at home with some takeout dinner and a movie. Cara told us that her regular teachers were not at kindergarten that day; she had had "Substi--subs--substituh--" It was very hard for her to say substitutes. It was cute, and while she was trying it she actually made air quotes with her fingers. This is a new habit she has picked up and it continued into today. She may have picked it up from one of us...

The upshot of Evelyn's call to the ENT about Owen was: if his tubes weren't working right, there is probably a blockage of wax, which we can get rid of by using the ear drops we were given after his surgery. We have been using those and some Tylenol, plus I stuffed some blankets under one end of his mattress so that he doesn't lay down flat in his crib (several people have noted that he seems in more discomfort when lying flat). He seemed much better today. He took a whole pile of bottles and had several meals of solid food, so his eating seems pretty back to normal.

Grandmom and Grandpop visited today! We had a nice day. Cara roped the grandparents in to her latest setup in the play room, which is a salon/facepainting establishment. She was writing people's names down and the times of their appointments, the hours of the store, and she got Grandmom and I to draw up some sheets with sample facepaintings (cat, dog, pony, butterfly, and so on).

We took Owen out with us for lunch, and he was very good. After sitting in a little booster seat between his mommy and daddy and taking some solid food, I put him in his car seat and gave him a bottle. He spent some time staring at a neon sign hanging on the wall, very quietly, and then he dozed off.

Owen continues to have fun playing with toys. It's cute to watch him fiddle with a pacifier--I have no luck putting one in his mouth, but he likes to hold one and gnaw on it. He is grabbing things and banging them. Evelyn bought him a new triangular-shaped rattling gadget at the supermarket tonight. In the realm of food, we've started using this little thing that's like a mesh bag with a plastic handle on one end. You can put food in the mesh part (we've tried pieces of apple), and he can gnaw on it and get the flavor without any danger of choking. It should get him used to the idea of chewing on harder foods.

It was another dance class this morning for Cara! She was excited to go and excited on her return. Plus tomorrow she gets to visit Adrian for an "away" playdate.

Sunday (10/17/10)

The playdate with Adrian was very, very exciting. He and Cara are certainly both coconuts. Coincidentally, they both had their silly bands out. I thought about suggesting a trade, but all Cara had with her was pink ones shaped like lipstick and tiaras and things. Cara enjoyed some apple slices from a kind of apple we don't usually get, so her horizons are widening thrillingly. It's not surprising that Adrian, whose family is European, has a impressive Playmobil collection. I got to play with the two camels, who had two swarthy men to ride on them and cute little baskets that could hang at their sides. In the baskets I could put little golden weapons and vases and a magic lamp and some canopic jars. Ali Baba and the Forty Mummies?

Owen was very excellent in general at the playdate; I even managed to keep him from eating any Playmobil people by sticking my fingers into his mouth when he thought he was getting them in there. He was tired when we got home, and he and I both had a very nice afternoon nap. In the bath tonight he was awfully pleased with himself because he was using my hands to pull himself up to standing. We moved his crib mattress lower, so I think soon he'll be able to stand up in there. Right now, of course, we still have one end of the mattress higher than the other in case that helps him sleep. He's being very good about his ear drops; I hope they're helping.

Yesterday I gave Cara eight quarters as her allowance for this week and last week. I offered to put them in her bank, but she just wanted them on her nightstand. Steve and I have both noticed that she's laid them out on a little pillow and put a tissue over them. They're in bed.

Monday (10/18/10)

Poor Owen has been ending up sleeping in his bouncer for the past few nights. He also got a few doses of Tylenol today, but he's been eating and drinking just fine. If he didn't have his regular nine-month appointment on Wednesday, I'd have to make him one. He's not completely miserable, though. He had a fine evening. He's really enjoying his new fruit-eating doohickey. He does sort of need help to get the right end in his mouth; often he triumphantly gets it to his face and starts gumming the handle.

Yesterday, at the playdate, Adrian had a lunch of scrambled eggs with a side of broccoli. I think that's why, tonight, since Steve was working late and Owen was, well, a baby, Cara and I first shared some broccoli and then made ourselves a Bismarck. It was a good dinner.

Today was picture day! The exciting part was that they got a class picture taken. Cara got to stand in the back on a chair! This week they're studying the letter N. For homework, Cara had to decide which four of eight pictures were of things that began with N. Oddly, she selected what she identified as a flea. I pointed this out, and she clearly was aware that it started with F. Then she decided it was a gnat. I went through the remaining pictures with her, and she found "nose."

I was on the computer and she was looking over my shoulder while she brushed her teeth. She came back down afterwards to show me all of the sight words she'd spotted in my messages. I have the feeling that we're on the verge of a semi-revolutionary change, just as things changed when she learned to talk and we couldn't say things in front of her anymore. We'll have to enjoy the next few months, I think, because soon enough nothing will be safe!

Tuesday (10/19/10)

Cara talked me into going to the park today after Owen and I picked her up from DT. She, of course, is a champion on the swings. Owen liked the baby swings. He definitely thought it was funny, once he got used to it for a minute. He also just liked being outside and looking around. His big accomplishment, though, was the way he sat up in his stroller. He sat straight up the whole time, not resting against the back of the seat. It was funny to see him riding along, holding onto the snack tray for balance. He actually was sitting up in his car seat, too, which was a slight problem, and he did some very aggressive sitting in his bouncer the other morning. The bouncer's days are numbered. He got a little chilly at the park, and I was nervous about putting him back into the car seat for the third time in an hour. Fortunately, the trip to the park made him very chipper; he was happily chatting and laughing the whole way home.

Cara's class trip is Thursday, and the excitement is mounting. Today all of the kids got Lindeneau T-shirts, which they have to wear on the trip. Cara pulled the shirt out of her backpack at DT as soon as I got there, and she brought it out again to show Steve when he got home (early!!!!!!!). She ran around the house waving it around. She clasped it around her neck and pretended it was a vampire cape. She loves her shirt.

Wednesday (10/20/10)

I picked Owen up a quarter to two to take him to the pediatrician. We had a lovely visit! In the waiting room and then again in the examining room while we waited, he liked standing on chairs, banging on the windowsill and looking out the window. He did some bouncing and thought he was very smart. He weighs eighteen pounds, four ounces, which puts him above the tenth percentile. (I think the high-risk clinic clocked him wrong somehow.) He's 27 and a half inches, which is 25th percentile. His head is 50th percentile.

I liked the doctor very much. She says it's time to start giving him some table food, though he's liable to just spit it right back at us and maybe we should wear bibs. It's also a good idea to get him a sippy cup, just so that he can get used to it. He's also certainly allowed to try Cheerios and puffs. Once he gets the hang of those, it'll be a lot easier to get him to spend long periods of time in his high chair! She's not concerned about his not crawling or liking tummy time. Some kids just don't, after all. He was sitting up the whole time, playing with things with his hands, so he was clearly demonstrating that his motor skills are progressing. He's fine.

We examined his ears pretty thoroughly. She looked into them, removed some wax, and saw both tubes. Neither seemed plugged. She didn't see fluid behind the ear drums. The nurse did a tympanogram, and both sides came out flat, as they ought, with tubes. She did give me a prescription for a full hearing workup, which I think is somewhat standard for his age, but on it she references last week's bad tympanogram. I think that, depending on how he does for the next day or two, I will call CHOP and see whether I can get him in sooner than planned. He's still been having bad nights and using Tylenol at YBR.

I had to drop him back off at school after the appointment, because I had to go to conferences tonight. Steve came home early and got both kids. Cara was delighted because he got her first and parked in the lot and she got to see her YBR friends twice. I'm glad I saw Owen earlier, because he was down when I got home. I did get to read to Cara. One thing I read her was her latest school library book, which is about a family of farm workers in California going "home" to the parents' village in Mexico and the children's growing awareness of the sacrifices that their parents have made to give them opportunities. Cara found several of her sight words in it, including the letter I, which she counts even though sometimes was in the middle of other words.

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