Crushing

Zane and Michael and I have been fighting some crud all week. Michael got the best of it and I the worst, while Zane muddled through and ended up with some pink eye. The cold and congestion part were mild, but it ended up going for my throat and I could hardly speak at all for two days; I'm still a little creaky. The tiredness is what is so crushing, though. I think I'm better and another wave of tiredness and a flareup of an earache or sore throat or some nausea comes back. A co-worker had it and said she felt tired for a month.

While being so tired, we've watched a lot of TV. I sat with Zane and we watched his first movie, The Jungle Book. He seemed to really like it! I'm not sure that he followed the story line at all, but I think he just liked the animals and the music. I've also started showing him some dancing from So You Think You Can Dance. He's been talking about "Hippop" dancing since then, so I think he liked it! He asked to see some of the dances over and over.

Although he likes music and asks for me to sing at night, he's been a bit sensitive about it in the daytime and asks me to turn his CDs off at mealtimes. Yesterday I was singing to him while we played and he gently placed his hand on my face and said, "Mama, music off." He did it again tonight during bathtime, tonight although this time he just said, "Mama, singing off." I can't blame him, though, because I was singing John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

Zane's been pretty good this week. Today we went out to lunch for Father's Day with Michael's Dad and Stephanie and Kyrin. Zane was an absolute golden child and even ate his food. He didn't fall asleep on the way home and then went right to sleep for his nap. I was all ready for a difficult time and caught a break!

We've really been enjoying some of his funny words as he learns to talk. He still calls books "cooks"; his penis is a "pesis", a hummingbird is a "honey bird" and a washcloth is a "wafflaff." That last one is our favorite. He's pretty much got his colors nailed down so I've decided to start working on shapes.

Zane really likes the concept of CRUSHING and gets excited about garbage trucks or other machines doing it. A favorite activity at mealtimes lately is using garlic presses to crush cereal and crackers. Whatever keeps him seated and eating is fine by me! One night he was crushing something after his bath, and I said "Don't crush your nuts!" Much to our amazement, he then very animatedly did just that and said "I crush my pesis!" Agggh! I asked didn't that hurt, and he said no.

Boys are weird!

I Want That!

I worked this weekend, and then there was sickness drama Sunday evening, and no-nap drama today, thus the late post.

This morning I was trying to teach Zane how to play with Play-Doh. Here his is learning about its stickiness. Mostly I made the Play-Doh into "rocks", and Zane spent a lot of time dumping them in and out of his dump truck.

This past week Zane has slowly been getting better. He's had a number of days with champion 3-4 hour naps and then 10-11 hour nights of sleeping without once waking up! Unfortunately, Michael has gotten really sick which is bad for him, and bad for me as his snoring is monumental. Someday I'll sleep again, I keep telling myself.

Tuesday we had Zane's 18 month checkup, and it was not a fun visit. Zane was still extra-sensitive to life from being sick, and he writhed and screamed anytime anyone came near him. His weight and height seem to be the same as they were 3 months ago, so we need to go back in a couple of months for a weight check. Zane had been under the weather and not eating well for several weeks, so I'm not surprised. Earlier in the year he had no size change for three months, then had a period of sleeping really well followed by a growth spurt, so I'll bet some growing is coming soon. Other than a bit of a fungus in his frontal diaper area, Zane is doing well and didn't even need any shots! He's getting athlete's foot cream on his nuts now, and that should hopefully clear up soon. He'd been yanking on them and telling me they hurt.

Wednesday afternoon we went to the aquarium for another fish visit. Last time when we saw the octopus, it wasn't moving and I don't think Zane knew it was alive. This time it moved, and he was mesmerized. Then he declared "I want that!" I think this qualifies as his first sentence. We came home with an encyclopedia of ocean life which had nice pictures in it, and a slinky.

We were having fun with Zane, saying "I want that" to his body parts:


Zane eventually pointed to his own ear and said "I want that," and then tried to pull it off.

I'm off to try to get some cold weather yard cleanup in!

Sick and Stunned

Poor Zane has been really sick this week. The cough and mild fever of the preceding weeks came back with a vengeance on Monday. We skipped swimming on Tuesday, dance class on Wednesday, and Zane stayed home from daycare on Thursday and Friday. His cough was awful, a fever would come and go up to 104, his chest was congested, nose was running, he had diarrhea, and he was just generally miserable. He hardly ate or drank. Other times that he's been sick he's been tired or snotty but generally cheerful, but this time you could tell he felt awful. Nights he spent coughing, whimpering in his sleep, and having nightmares. Days he was tired and wheezy. One night he threw up a bunch of mucous which had been dripping down from his sinuses. After that, he just sat in my lap with his arms around my neck sobbing "Mama." I took him in to the doctor to make sure he didn't have anything too bad, but he just needed rest. We watched a lot of videos on buses, garbage trucks, dump trucks, and fish. A neighbor lent us a 30 minute road construction video which has been a favorite.

Today, Sunday, he seems to be finally on the upswing. He had enough energy that this morning we drove out to a park to walk in the trees. Zane has been very keen on saying "don't" lately, and every time a person approached us on the trail he held his arm out in a stop signal, and said "Don't!". I explained to him that it was OK, the trails were for everyone. Luckily, everyone thought he was being cute and waving, so they all waved and said hi. We also saw a dog take a really long pee on the trail right next to us, and that made Zane laugh and laugh. The outing was good for both of us as we were a bit stir crazy. When we got home Zane crashed for a three hour nap, and the photo above is of him still trying to come out of his stupor.

Here is evidence of Zane's TV stupor this week:

Poor Baby

Zane has been sick all week. In the picture above he was feeling pretty good and being silly with Mom's slippers and PJs. Last Sunday night he started coming down with a cold. Monday we went to the doctor for his 15 month checkup, and Zane got 4 shots, including a flu booster. I didn't do a good job of holding his hands, and he grabbed the needle after the first shot; he didn't hurt his hand, but he put a big scratch in his leg. By Monday night he was limp, feverish, snotty, and his legs were sore, scratched, and bruised. I took a sick day Tuesday to be home with him, and Wednesday I don't work any way. Those two days he was kind of low key, but not feverish anymore. Meanwhile, I got the cold. Thursday and Friday we managed to get off to daycare and work, but neither of us were doing well after being up all night with Zane's coughing. I left work early on Friday to try to get home and rest at a decent hour. Zane's daycare Mom mentioned he had been feverish again on Thursday.

Friday night Zane and I had really nice sleep with only two brief wake ups and a nice sleep in. I thought we'd be OK! But no, Zane has been feverish all day Saturday and Sunday, and Saturday night was crap sleep again with Zane coughing and whimpering and crying. He's also not eating well, which is pretty stressful, since he's already too skinny. Thank goodness I still nurse him, and we did lots of that this weekend.

The only ray of sunshine in all of this is that Zane has been so limp that he nestles into our laps and sits with us for quite a long time. Our little zippy boy hasn't done that since he was just months old and unable to move. Michael and I watched a lot of TV with him. Zane and I watched 3 PBS shows on dogs, crows, and elephants. He loved it and responded to the animals with barks and caws and hoots. He even repeated a few words he heard that he knows, like "hot" and "up". I figure the sin of TV with a baby is not so bad when he's sick and I make it an interactive activity.

The doctor visit revealed that in the last 2.5 months he's only gained about 13 ounces and a half an inch. His weight percentile compared to other babies went down again. Rather than go ahead with blood draws which are painful, we are first being referred to a pediatrician to see if he thinks the tests are necessary. Our doctor is a little puzzled since Zane is so clearly an otherwise very healthy active bright baby. Probably he's just built like me, eats like me (not much), fed healthy food, and is very active.

Zane got to see his first snow today. We had some beautiful fluffy flurries. Unfortunately, he was too sick to do more than a quick step out onto the porch. We have a snowsuit and boots, though, for when we go to Maine over Christmas! I'm hoping to get some good snow play time in.