Golden Pig Tales

I went to pick up Ezra at daycare on Wednesday. While I was getting him ready to go, I was overhearing the two women working with the infants talking about getting their paychecks this week. They were debating the pros and cons of the various check-cashing places. Because neither of them has a bank account. They are willing to pay at least $15 every payday to get their checks cashed. This says to me, among the many possible explanations, they most likely either a) can’t manage their money well enough to meet minimum requirements to keep a bank account open, likely because of their massive drug/drinking habits; or b) they are criminals living under false identities and don’t have the right paperwork forged that would allow them to open up a bank account. Either way, do I want them looking after my son? Maybe not, but what can I do?

Well, just this morning I found out that Ezra got in off the wait-list at another daycare facility that is more conveniently located. And also a brighter, happier, possibly cleaner, maybe more stimulating place, staffed by people who hopefully have bank accounts. I would think this is a strong possibility, as with what this new daycare will be charging us, hopefully the staff are being extra well-paid.

Hopefully a new start on Monday will be OK with Ezra!

As if -v- and I haven’t done enough to create reasons for Ezra to be embarrassed to be our child when he becomes a teenager, -v- and I are now talking of getting Golden Pig Tattoos.

The Golden Pig Tattoos will be matching only in the outline of the Golden Pig. What’s inside the Golden Pig will be different. The placement where we like.

Right now I see my Golden Pig Tattoo on my left deltoid. Inside will be ē’zē ō in thug script (also known and Celtic script). Around the symbols ē’zē ō and inside the outline of the Golden Pig will be golden and red colors.

Ezra’s new sound or series of sounds connected like a sound sentence is very similar to the sounds I have heard recorded coming from Humpback Whales.

Ever since waterboarding Ezra, he has been fussy and been crying while I have been giving him his bath. While Ezra has not said to me that the waterboarding of two weeks ago has caused him to cry when I bathe him, I suspect it is the reason his once growing love of the water has become something of obvious displeasure.

He did cry when I was washing his face, but that could have been because it was the first thing I washed and therefore he wasn’t adjusted to the water, or it could have been because he associated cleaning of the face with waterboarding. Once I cleaned and rinsed his face and began to wash his arms he became calm.

-v- did help clam, too. In fact, if -v- wasn’t there talking with Ezra while she was waiting to dry and cloth Ezra after the bath I don’t think Ezra would have been as calm. The more -v- talked the calmer Ezra became. So Ezra not crying after I cleaned his face yesterday could have been because -v-’s words began to calm him. Of course, -v- is always by my side when I bathe Ezra talking to him while she waits to cloth and dry Ezra, so her talking doesn’t help explain his past fussiness during bath time with me after I waterboarded Ezra.

Over the desert and through the sky to Grandpa’s house we flew.

Ezra’s plane trip was all snot and spit and ended with a big poo.

When we arrived at grandpa’s home calm was all we knew.

Smells of turkey and stuffing made hungry bodies and minds that of a loon.

Before we became crazed, we sat before the food boon.

While -v- and I ate, Ezra stared and began to drool.

Soon the turkey became the milk for Ezra’s first Thanksgiving food.

The days passed and our sickness grew and spread to everyone we knew.

After days of snot and leftovers with television, it was time for us to move.

Now we are home and happy we went for Ezra’s known family grew.

Ezra, -v-, and I are still sick. We are still feeling the daycare sickness. The good thing is Ezra is still smiling and doesn’t have a fever. His temperature is at 98.1 degrees. He has a cold like -v- and I. The bad thing is that having a cold makes being a parent a little more difficult.

When you are sick and a parent, you can no longer just lay on the couch with the blanket over your head and sleep and stare into oblivion. You can no longer call into work and say that you are sick and thus removing any responsibility of the day allowing you to eat chicken noodle soup and watch videos while you blow your nose and feel sorry for yourself. You can no longer sleep in or sleep early in an effort to get better.

When you are sick and a parent, you still need to feed the baby, talk with the baby, play with the baby, burp the baby, change diapers of the baby, and show the baby that life is good. And when the baby is sick, you still need to suck the snot from the baby’s nose, check the baby’s temperature, make sure the baby is comfortable even if you are sick.

It’s hard. It is another lesson of how much parents deserve respect because I wanted to do nothing but cover my head in a blanket today and sleep everything away, but I could not.

-v- and I woke up with snot filled noses and sore throats this morning. Thus begins a life time of catching colds and fevers Ezra brings home from daycare and school. I can only hope that all the sicknesses that are spread from kid to kid to kid to Ezra are as light and painless as the sickness we are experiencing now.

Ezra seems to be doing okay with having this snot nose. He has smiled just as much as he normally does. He has been awake just as much as he normal is. He has been as much fun to be with as he usually is. The only thing he still hates is having the snot and boogers sucked from nose, but until he learns to blow his nose he will have to live with the snot sucker. Unfortunately, once he does learn to blow his own nose he will likely learn that feeling like we feel sucks and won’t smile as much as he has today.

Ezra is experiencing his first cold likely from daycare. His worse and really only symptom is the fact he is experiencing his first booger and snot filled nose, which means every so often -v- or I need to suck the snot and boogers from his nose with a tool that looks like a small version of turkey baster.

At first, Ezra didn’t mind getting the boogers sucked from his nose, but as the time has passed the newness of it has become an annoyance to Ezra. Now he becomes fussy when he feels the snot sucker touch his nose. He shakes his head and becomes red. If at night, he will cry, but he is happier once the boogers are no longer in his nose and he can suck on his pacifier and breathe easy.

I am sad to see Ezra’s mullet is thinning. I fear within the coming week that the mullet will be gone. It has been rubbed away after weeks and weeks of cradling and pivoting head back and forth.

I am happy to write that the hair on all his head is growing even and strong. But as much joy as this may bring, the sadness of seeing the disappearance of the mullet lessens the joy of a baby with a full head of hair.

Ezra’s smiles are free. If you smile, too, you may get a laugh. That’s free, too. When Ezra smiles and flaps his arms with excitement, I get excited. When I see his dimples spot, I say something in a high pitched voice of joy.

These days Ezra seems to be trying to be that kid who can put the whole fist in the mouth, but that’s OK because even when Ezra smiles with his fist almost in his mouth, I smile, too.

…I waterboarded Ezra. It happened during today’s bath. He was already fussy and tired from daycare. The bath was the last thing he wanted. Well, other than getting waterboarded.

Of course, I did it by accident. I was wiping his face free of the soap. He began shaking his head back and forth while fussing red faced and tense. His entire body taut. I tried to wipe his eyes clean of soap again but this only made his cries louder, face more red, body more tense.

Wanting only to clean Ezra’s face of the soap and not wanting to upset him by wiping his face again, I thought that squeezing water from the wash cloth over his face would be a good idea. I thought, <It’s how I clean my face in the shower.> As I was squeezing the water from the wash cloth, I heard Valerie say, „He’s not going to like that.”

He didn’t. The water ran down his face and into his mouth and he choked. The crying became a rage of tears between the gagging and coughing. He screamed and began to shake. He wouldn’t calm down. He was very mad and unhappy. All he could do was cry. I then realized I simulated waterboarding with Ezra. I looked up at Valerie and said, „I just waterboarded Ezra.”

I felt bad. The rest of the bath was difficult. Every time I touched him to clean or rinse the rest of his body he cried and cried. And I felt worse.

Yesterday I was playing with Ezra while he sat in his chair. I would stand up and wave at him and say hello, then crouch down about mid-way to his eye level and say hello and wave, and then finally end up right down at his eye level. This was apparently very funny, because Ezra was laughing! His first real laugh! So I continued to do this for a solid 15 minutes, and he kept laughing. It was such a great sound! Of course, I tried it again today, and he looked at me like I was soooo out of it. Like he totally could not believe that I thought what made him laugh yesterday would work today.

Fuzzi Bunz are a brand of reusable diapers Ezra is using. A brand that I keep thinking of every time I change a diaper of Ezra with ease.

Ezra was using disposible diapers for the first couple of months of life, and still needs to use them when he is at daycare, but now we got some Fuzzi Bunz for Ezra when he is home.

Fuzzi Bunz are not inexpensive. Fuzzi Bunz do take about twice the amount the time to clean and ready as normal baby cloths. But Fuzzi Bunz are easy to apply and remove, and Fuzzi Bunz can be used over and over again. In fact, the Fuzzi Bunz we are now using for Ezra are being borrowed from a friend of -v-. We are now stocking up on Fuzzi Bunz for Ezra’s next diaper stage.

Fuzzi Bunz makes Ezra be a little more green beyond the color of his poop.

The evening began with -v- leaving me and Ezra for a night out. For the first hour and a half, Ezra was sleeping, so I to got out by focusing on writing and the sounds of the baby monitor.

More than an hour passed then Ezra’s breath became more rapid and deep. Soon he was making talkie sounds with a few beeps and whistles.

Then I remembered I needed to warm -v- milk for Ezra to eat when he was wake, so I stopped writing and rushed into the kitchen to begin to heat -v- milk.

From the monitor, loud talkie sounds distorted the small speakers of the monitor.

I went upstairs, got a fussy Ezra from the bed, checked his diaper (it was clean), and I went downstairs to give him is reflux medicine.

The reflux medicine made him cry. His fussiness became cries of hunger, cries of being tired, and cries of having minty-sirupy-refulx medicine injected into his mouth. Small bubbles formed between his lips during a gurgling cry.

We waited for -v- milk to warm. He cried louder than I have heard in many weeks all because he was hungry and I had not reacted quick enough.

By the time I got the warm bottle of -v- milk to Ezra, he was very red, very agitated, and feeling very tense that bouncing and talking did not help calm his crying state. After the bottle nipple entered his mouth, all crying stopped and the eating began.

He sucked down four ounces of -v- milk.

Normally, Ezra will bed after this feeding. Normally, his medicine is not given to him at this time. Normally, he doesn’t even leave the room and carried through many bright rooms. Normally, he is fed, quickly burped, and laid back down to fall asleep. Normally, -v- is the one feeding him at this time. I know this because it is what I have observed and what I was told when I called -v-.

When he was done feeding he was wide wake after he burped. I tried to lay him down for sleep only to see him flail his arms and legs and make talkie noises with eye lids wide open.

This was not bad but a change of plans. Instead of going back to writing I read to Ezra a book called Divine Creatures, a book about the history and process of the mummification of animals. I talked with Ezra. We did some stand practicing. We talked more. The talk that came from his mouth probably made about as much sense as what came from my mouth. After a couple of hours, he fell asleep.

What typically is a ten or fifteen minute process took about two hours. It was two hours of hanging with Ezra, so I have no regrets with how I used the time.

I just wish I hadn’t made Ezra cry.

Ezra’s daily bowel movements have been decreasing in frequency, but increasing in amount. Instead of two to four a day there is only one. That one is big. Instead of a diaper with a little soupy like poop now there is a lot of stew like poop that doesn’t easily wipe off. These poops are like the Explosion experienced before, but more frequent and not as special because they are almost a daily occurrence.

Today’s was special because I was amazed at the amount of poop there was to clean and the thickness of it. After I took the diaper off it was like he was wearing a poop diaper. I wiped and wiped and wiped and wiped and still it didn’t come off. Usually one, maybe two, wipes would clean poop from skin. But not today. It took six wipes until Ezra had his poop diaper removed and be ready to wear another real diaper. I was amazed at the amount and consistency. I was so amazing the first thing I said what I seen it was, „Holy Shit!”

Ezra is 1/4 year old today!

He is way more fun now than he was as a newborn. If I had to do it all over again, I would give birth to a 3 month old.

I’ve been thinking that it’s not fair to make people go back to work so soon in a baby’s life. It’s really not fair that moms/dads who need to go back to work end up getting to spend 8 or 10 or 12 weeks at home with the crying, fussing, eating pooping machines that are newborns. Just when the baby gets to be fun, your leave time is up and if you can’t stay home, you have to take your fun little 3 month old to daycare for someone else to care for and enjoy, only to bring him home and find him so tired because he doesn’t nap well at daycare, that he falls asleep before 6pm. That’s totally not fair. Luckily for us, I guess, we only have to do this 2 times a week.

Tomorrow and Friday I get to spend all day at home with Ezra! Yay!