Booger

So this is a new week. A week in which so far Cooper is healthy. Tomorrow, on the 11th he will be 19 months old. Amazing. We had our wellness visit with the doctor today, and he is REALLY tall for his age, 33 inches, and normal in weight, 26lbs. His noggin on the other hand - GINORMOUS. More room for that super genius brain, as the Bob likes to say. And you can see said noggin, with his new big boy hair do in the pics. The first one, his Ricco Suave pose as I like to call it, with a slight lift to one brow as if to say, "Oh reeeeeaally" is followed by his booger shot. The finger went right up the nose. And dug around. He seemed to enjoy the sensation. Boys. I am doomed in this household - I am the only female. The husband, the son, and three male dogs. Neutered male dogs, but none the less male. I used to have two female cats, but they both passed on a few years ago at the ripe old age of 16 or so.

Speaking of boys vs. girls, how do boys learn to spit? Is there a class, some secret club that they all get a secret invitation to that girls don't? I ask, because, oh wait - TMI ALERT - this morning, in the shower, I felt the need to divest myself of some excess congestion. I am still fighting this cold. It is NOT strep throat, thank you Newton Wellesley Urgent Care Center for that diagnosis. My primary care doc manages to be away every time I have a need for his services. Anyway, I was super congested, standing in a shower that was as hot as I could stand it, wondering how to spit. Hock a loogie as it were. I seemed to have missed that lesson somewhere in my childhood. My effort was pathetic at best. But every guy I know can hock one up and shoot it right out without missing a beat. I think much like they offer those car maintenance classes for women, there should be a few classes on things like spitting, hocking loogies and drumming the drum part to "Wipe Out". No woman I have ever met can do that, but almost any guy you ask can. Try it out sometime. You are sitting at the bar, before or after dinner, and there is a lull in the conversation, pick ANY guy at random and ask them to drum the drum part from "Wipe Out". Chances are they can.

Then again, I will gladly give up that skill for one that I find much more useful, like being able to find ANYTHING in the fridge without asking someone else "where is ____". Boys.

Trying again...

So I am going to try this video this way, using MotionBox. The fabulous Susie Felber uses it for videos on her blog, so maybe it will work for me. And when I preview it, it DOES appear to work. VERY exciting.

Sigh. Someone is resisting taking a nap, which he very desperately needs. A good poop, I can't tell which because all he says to me is "mamamamamaaaaglagggaaablarrgwhaaa" or some variation of that. He is in his crib saying that very thing right now. I am going to try waiting him out. If he doesn't nap the trip to the hair salon, for mommies do and perhaps his, could be very interesting. Later.

Lights, camera, action!

I wanted to put a video on this blog but can't figure out how. I will have to work on that. I introduced Cooper to his booster seat for the first time today. He likes sitting at the table like a grown up. But his eating habits are MESSY and I need to figure out how to have him eat our only table, the dining room table, without destroying it. This house does not have an eat in kitchen. Cooper is still having some hives. The doctor's office says it can take a few days for the first antibiotic to leave his system completely. As long as it isn't the new antibiotic. If my kid is one of those people who can't use any antibiotic I don't know what we would do. Rub him down in garlic and make him eat a clove a day? Allergic reactions are such a crazy thing. You just don't know they are there until they are, and they can be deadly. I am still feeling like crap. I did go to lunch with the crazy Russian and my other friend. The Russian managed to wait until the end of our time together before she mentioned my weight, AGAIN. She did say this time though that she thinks I look like I have lost weight. Which I have. Whatever. She is the one obsessed with losing weight. She is trying to fast once a week now. That will last a month at best. She is almost 70 years old. Why bother? Enjoy life. None of us knows how long we have on this planet, I don't want to waste too much of that time being miserable worrying about food and my weight. I want to eat good food and enjoy being with family and friends. And napping. I need one. Soon.

What the heck is THAT - It's like nature man, part 2

I was home with Cooper again today. We went to the doctor, got a new antibiotic, which you only have to take once a day for 5 days, as opposed to the other one that you take twice a day for 10 days. Here is my thought - kids don't generally take medicine well to begin with. Why would we opt for the one you have to take twice as much for twice as long???

He did get hives again today, but the benadryl seems to help with that. I don't know how long it takes for the penicillin to leave his system.

In addition to this, mommy began feeling like poop this afternoon. Oh yeah, I am catching the disease. Aches, clogged throat. I was freezing too. Great. While hanging out on the couch watching endless amounts of kids TV (Cooper was awake, I don't watch that stuff on my own) we saw this GIGANTIC bird swoop by, and then land on the roof of the house across the street. I managed to get a picture of it. It was a turkey vulture. I know because we saw one the other weekend when we were at Drumlin Farm. I was paying attention! Anyway, he, or she, was easily the largest flying bird I have seen up close. With maybe the exception of turkeys themselves. But they don't fly very well. We see wild turkeys around here all the time, and once, while walking the dogs, we had one swoop by and land in a tree. But they don't fly like this guy did. He swooped away a few minutes later, into the back yard of the house behind this house. I don't want to know what it might be finding to eat.

I would like to think tomorrow I will feel better, but it is unlikely. I get Fridays off during the summer, and tomorrow is the first one. Great. I can lounge on the couch and feel like crap. I am supposed to take Buster to the vet to get blood drawn and his anal glands cleaned out. Okay, that was TMI of the first order, but can I say that I didn't even know this could be a problem for dogs? I grew up with dogs, but until I had this beagle and my schnauzers, I didn't know that anal glands existed or that they can get clogged in dogs. It is GROSS and DISGUSTING. Take my word for it.

And I am supposed to have lunch with the crazy Russian and my friend whose wedding reception was this past weekend. We shall see. More tea and early to bed.

Duuuude

Duuuuude. This milk is like, aaaaawsome.
Cooper and his ever present side kick, Kaloo.

In the ongoing saga of Cooper's ear infection, we discovered today he may be allergic to amoxicillin. Which is not a great thing. That means that all penicillin derivitives could be off limits. I stayed home with him again today, and when he woke up from his first nap, he had a few hives. I wasn't sure that was what they were, I don't get them myself. This evening, an hour or so after he had his second dose of antibiotic, he had many hives. So I called the after hours doctor line, and ended up talking to our own doctor who happened to be the on call doctor. We don't have to go to the emergency room, that is the good news. We have to see him tomorrow, and we gave Coop some Benadryl. Which was also good news, since that made him go to sleep, finally. Prior to that he was a bit wired and wouldn't go to sleep. So one half dose of Benadryl and a bath later, he is out.

But the fun part of the day was Cooper's hair. He has suddenly developed curly hair. His father had a full on afro when he was in high school. There is some seriously curly hair on that side of the family. Not so much on mine. I have bone straight hair. If I do nothing to it after washing it, it has NO curl. It is flat, fine and limp. The volume and lift I have in my hair is all courtesy of product. Major product. Volumizing foam before drying, "glue" for shaping and hair spray for the hold. This is not touchable, run your fingers through it hair. It is has it's own force field. And I am fine with that. But I am also kind of happy that Cooper may have inherited his father's hair. The Bob keeps his hair pretty short these days, but once upon a time he had the 'fro and worked it. He had the pick, and he made it work. I didn't know him then, but I have seen the pictures. Being a straight haired person, I have lived my life in awe of curly hair. I paid major dollars in the 80's for a spiral curl perm. Do they even do perms any more? So if my kid has a chance to have that naturally, YIPPEEE!

The week at hand...

Okay, so today we got a diagnosis of an ear infection in Cooper. It is early on, so we hope the medicine will make a difference quickly. These pictures are of him being somewhate miserable, sitting in his BackYardigans chair and not crying.

We thought he was better, the eye ball was looking good, he seemed in good spirits and not running a fever, so off to school he went. At 3pm they called me. He had gotten up from his nap, crying, and then coughing and then he yakked all over himself. It was the mucus of course. And possibly the pain from the ear. So we went home, called the doctor and now we have more medicine. Whoohoo. It isn't like I NEED to go to work or anything.

In other news, two friends of mine eloped a few months ago, and they had their wedding reception/party this past Sunday. It was held at the house of a mutual friend of ours. The party was lovely. I got to see people I haven't seen in years. The weather cooperated and it didn't rain until late into the party. I entertained people by going a bit retro and using my Polaroid camera to take pictures. That's right - POLAROID. Old school baby. Not totally old school - you don't have to peel the paper back and wave the print to dry it as it develops. But it is fun to take pictures you can't redo and wait to see them develop. I am going to make an album of the pictures for the new bride and groom. I also believe that people look better in these photos than they do in digital photos. There is a depth to "real" film you lose in digital. Everyone said so when they saw their pictures.

The one dark moment in this fun event was the crazy Russian. She owns the house. She is a lovely woman generally, very generous and funny. But the last few times she has seen me, she has said, in about the first 12 seconds, something along the lines of when am I going to lose weight. You heard me. Imagine Natasha from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show, coming up to you and saying "what are you going to do about losing the weight". Not that she is a petite flower herself, she could lose a few (30 or 40) lbs herself. She actually had the balls to ask me if I was having another one. Baby that is. I have actually lost 10lbs since she last saw me! Grrr. I am over 40 and I had a baby 18 months ago. This is not an easy battle. The laws of biology are against me. But I am trying. The big thing for her is SHE wants to lose weight, and is projecting that on me. Thanks. I need your baggage AND mine. What crazy person says this to another person at a fun event like this. The crazy Russian, that is who. Sigh.

Pink is the color of...

Infection. Crankiness. Complete and utter inconsolableness. Is that a word? It should be. It describes Cooper to a T. And what does that mean anyway - to describe someone to a T? I digress. Cooper has pink eye. And a cold, or perhaps bronchitis. We have to wait a bit more to see if it becomes more than a mild cold. He has green goop oozing from his eyes and nose. He is NOT pulling on his ears. That was the concern of the doctor's office when we called yesterday, on a Sunday. I never call on the weekend. Until there was green goop oozing out of my kids PINK eyeball. It has been going around at school. We never had this as kids. It seems more prevalent now. So I called because I wanted the prescription for the drops sooner rather than later. Three phone calls later we had the prescription. The doctor was concerned it might be more and suggested going to the ER. Uh, no. We went once before on his recommendation when Cooper was 3 months old or so, and he had a very odd breathing pattern. With preemies you have to watch for odd breathing. 50 or more breaths in a minute and it is odd. So he was worried there might be an infection. 5 hours and who knows how many of my hard earned dollars later (after the insurance kicked in their part) we found out he was normal. I was NOT going through that again for a MAYBE ear infection. I know the signs, and they were not in attendance. Nor are they now.

But he is inconsolable, periodically. He sits and reads, then he watches the Hoobs, or Sesame Street or has some blueberries, and is happy. But then he isn't. And he isn't in spades. He coughs, a little, harsh, fleghmy cough, and then he cries. But he isn't coughing constantly. Just occasionally. Poor little bean. And by the way, he HATES cranberry juice. It is the only juice I have in the house. HELLOOOO, it goes with vodka. We haven't been big on giving him juice, but I thought maybe it would be better than fleghm producing milk. I watered it down. With water, not vodka. He hated it. He does drink water some times, but we will stick to milk for now.

When will I get the pink eye? I don't like the idea. I have never had it. Don't want it either. Oh well. But this explains the cranky bedtime behavior. He hates the eye drops, but he has been going to bed a bit better in the last day or so since they have been employed.