One Step Forward, One Back

Limelet had two great days and nights last week after his ear infection was cleared up (apparently).  I also think I saw a new molar on the left side, where I recently  saw just a point or two poking through.  Hard to tell with one that wiggly.  Anyway, as always, we both remarked how he seems like a completely different kid when he's feeling okay: happy, outgoing, much sounder sleep, and often forgetting entirely that nursie's available. So he was like that for two days, and I had probably the best sleep I'd  had in nearly three years (despite TheLimey's coughing and my own coughing).  The time change helped somewhat, except that it would have been perfect if day care could have maintained the same absolute time for naps (of course not).

Saturday, Limelet started telling us his mouth 'urt while poking at the right side of his mouth. He started doing it several times a day, sometimes with a sudden outcry and a few running steps.  Now he can tell us when he's teething.  Well, this is true to form: the poor thing has a couple days at most of feeling okay, then right back to being miserable.  I can't wait until these dang teeth are finally all the way out!  

He was so exhausted and uncomfortable yesterday from teething, he fell asleep at 7:30 in my arms (nursing), which always means he will wake up later and be awake until midnight---which he did.  And he awoke nearly every hour thereafter, until I tried to get him up.  Then he couldn't be woken no matter what.  He's also off his food again, after beginning to eat again for just a couple of days.  I worry about his weight!  Well, when he's miserable like this he nurses constantly, so he's not completely starving.  He mostly eats yogurt, milk and soymilk, and sometimes onion buns.

I did get him outside to play in the recently fallen leaves, so that was good.  It distracted him for a little while.  He loved the leaf pile.  He also allowed Daddy to give him a bath while I made a pie Saturday night, so that was extremely helpful.  We also took him to an "Adventure Farm" that day, which he loved.  It's the kind of place with a hujambous corn maze (we didn't go in that, but we would have with no kid), petting zoo of farm animals (Limelet loved the black chickens and the ducks, while TheLimey loved the baby chicks--I liked the baby mini-goats), food booths (1.5 pounds of fudge somehow came home with us), and kid activities.  Limelet's favorite was a big wooden tractor he could "drive", although he was not that interested in jumping on the giant "jumping cushion" without his shoes.

In other aspects, Limelet's gotten pretty good at counting to five, at least the verbal part of it.  He still counts objects sort of randomly.  He does know the numbers up to ten, but doesn't always get them in the right order.  He also still does that startling thing where he puts words to something that he remembers from before he could talk about it.  He loves Ratatouille and we have now watched it about 100 times during the past month while one or the other of us was sick.  Thank goodness both of us like it as well as he does. We have tried not to watch TV with him too much (or rather have him watch TV with us), but have failed in some cases (like during sickness).  Well, not regular TV, but videos.  Mostly Ratatouille and videos of construction trucks.

I desperately hope the tooth comes through soon. I can't even peek in there to see how it's doing unless he's crying or laughing.

My current goal with him is to be more patient with him when he's crying for no apparent reason, because sometime a person just needs to cry.  (And sometimes there's another reason I don't know.)

Toddler Traumas

This morning as I was carrying draped over my shoulder a lightly snoozing Limelet down the stairs to gently wake him in the armchair, my socks slipped on the carpet and I fell.  Slid on my behind, really, which hurt in several places but not so much as what happened to poor little Limelet, who was woken by having his head bang against at least two stairs as we fell.  Horrible, horrible, horrible!  I can't tell you how awful it was to see his little shocked face, mouth wide open in a soundless cry as he tried to react to whatever the hell terrifying inexplicable thing had just happened.  I had to give him words for it, tell him that Mama and Limelet fell down and bonked his head, and his head hurt, all phrases he can understand. Without an explanation those things are more traumatizing.

Luckily the stairs are carpeted (I can't bear to  think of what it would have been like if they'd been uncarpeted wood) and I don't think there was any serious damage, but it wouldn't be out of the question for him to have a concussion or whiplash.  I think I'm getting a little whiplash from it myself.  I watched him for about an hour afterwards, and I left him at daycare with a note explaining to keep an eye on his eyes and so forth.  

He's also still on antibiotics for his ear infection (we've all been sick for over three weeks now) and he still has a very low appetite and has been pretty touchy, so he's just a wreck overall, poor little thing.  He had to go home early on Halloween since he wasn't feeling well enough to join in the snacks.  (He did, however, greatly enjoy the handful of trick-or-treaters we had at the house.)  

He's still occasionally mentioning--apparently out of the blue--how he had throwup and Daddy wiped it (it was last week.)  So it helps to have a verbal explanation when you're trying to process a trauma.  I'm so glad I get that, for his sake.