Golden Pig Tales

-v- and I believe Ezra may be a virus vector of the stomach flu that allow us to see Ezra vomit for the first time. We believe this because for the past month after Ezra has visited people or had people visit they have gotten the stomach flu. In fact, today -v- got a call from a friend whose daughter was playing with Ezra on Sunday, and we found out that the friend, the daughter, and the dad all got the stomach flu. AND IT HAS BEEN A MONTH! …-v- and I are wondering what is going on. While we don’t want to believe Ezra is a virus vector, the evidence is mounting that he is a virus vector.

I bathed Ezra yesterday for the first time in months. And it is the first time I have participated in bathing Ezra in weeks.

I realized yesterday that he has more skin to wash now. The washcloth once covered his body. Now the washcloth doesn’t even cover his head.

The daycare provider provides a daily status report of Ezra’s day with them. This report details what Ezra ate, when he slept, and how when his diapers were changed. There’s also a space for some general comments. Occassionally they write in this general space, and it is usually along the lines of “Ezra had a great day today! He likes to do xxx and smiles a lot…” and it usually ends with “Thank you for sharing Ezra with us - We love Ezra and are happy to have him in our class!” And for a while I harbored a secret belief that they really just felt this way about Ezra and not all the other babies in their care. But today I was reading the comments of the other babies’ daily reports, and almost all of them said “We love so-and-so and are so happy to have him in our room” or “We love such-and-such and are so happy she gets to spend time with us”. So today my secret belief was finally openly dashed and I had to accept that they just say this to all the babies’ parents so the parents feel good about leaving their precious babies with other people for so many hours during the day, because at least those people really like their baby. It’s sort of like when you joke with your friend that the friends’ mom is paying you to be their friend, but really, it’s true.

I had to find the Golden Alarm’s snooze button which just happen to be a pacifier. I found it. Then I talked to the Golden Alarm. Then his loud whine became silence, and the Golden Alarm was off.

The solid foods and the Amoxicillin are doing things to Ezra’s poop that have me both in awe and disgust at the same time. The poop has been black spots today. I had to wipe and scrub to get the black spots off butt. After a little effort the butt was clean.

After I got him all clean during the morning diaper change, and I had his diaper on, I felt some thing on the finger. I thought it was an Ezra booger because it felt a booger. But thought, <How could it be a booger?> Then I looked at my hand and saw the booger was poop.

Like a baby bird about to be fed by mother, Ezra held mouth wide open as I dropped the bubble gum Amoxicillin into his mouth.

During the past couple of weeks, every time I try to read to Ezra I have to stop. I have to stop not because he appears to be bored and not interested in the book. I have to stop because he is too interested in the book and tries to eat the book. And if I hold the book out of reach he will reach and reach and begin to become stressed for the book until the book is in hands. While I am okay with Ezra eating some of his new children’s books that have thicker covers and clean pages, I do have to stop reading older paper back books because he may become fussy if I don’t let him nibble on the book, and I am not going to let him nibble on the old and dusty books that I some times read him.

I think Ezra likes the taste of the bubble gum flavored amoxicillin. Unlike the Zantac, he now actually opens his mouth for the bubble gum amoxicillin. And he has to take four milliliters of bubble gum amoxicillin twice a day and not one milliliter twice a day like the Zantac that he still tries to spit out. And sometimes swallows bubble gum flavored amoxicillin with a smile. No longer does he try to spit out the bubble gum flavored amoxicillin, unless we accidently gag him with too much bubble gum flavored amoxicillin.

After Ezra officially is put to bed for the night there are typically a couple of Ezra Aftershocks with him waking with a teething pain, a gas bubble, or some other discomfort that may arouse him from his sleep. -v- and I are then alerted to this discomfort through one of the two baby monitors or a crying sound that carries through the thin walls of the house.

If -v- and I are awake, we usually take turns going into Ezra’s room and try to sooth Ezra back to sleep. My technique is simple: I try to find the pacifier and put it his mouth and hope and hope and hope that he calms and returns to peaceful sleep. If he doesn’t, then usually -v- will be needed to help sooth Ezra to sleep.

If -v- and I are sleeping, then -v- usually wakes up. On the occasion I wake up, I do the same thing I do when -v- and I are awake, which usually never works, and -v- then wakes and soothes Ezra.

Ezra is near crawling. He can now stand on all four limbs and lift his head high enough to navigate. He can also balance on three limbs and not just all four. He can move his hands forward one at a time, but he is yet to figure out how to slide his knees forward one at a time. Instead of sliding knees one at a time, he will begin to sway back and forth on hands and knees then when a enough sway momentum is had he will slide both his knees forward. Sometimes the momentum of the slide crawl will cause Ezra to fall on face, but he usually recovers with a smile.

Ezra was like “no way!” on the oatmeal today, so I tried some banana. He did eat a little banana, but not much. I was hungry after trying to feed Ezra, so I made myself a turkey sandwich with cheese, which I ate while holding Ezra. He kept grabbing for my sandwich, so I held it up to him, and he took a bite of my sandwich! He really liked the crust of the bread. He got mad when I took it away, so I let him chew/suck on it, and when he finished it, he whined and grabbed at my sandwich until I gave him a little more. But he seemed to try and swallow chunks that were too big, too often, and he kind of gagged and threw up. But still wanted more bread. I am not sure what I should try and feed him tomorrow…

Ezra’s medication routine is getting more and more challenging. We’ve added amoxicillin to his daily regiment of Zantac and flouride, and top it off with a dose or two of Tylenol for his earache or tooth/gum aches. It’s like we’ve got an old person living with us what with all the prescription meds and droppers lying around the kitchen counter. If Ezra could talk, he could bond with his grandparents and great grandpa about all the medications they have to take every day and how it’s such a pain in the butt to keep track of all of them.

Ezra ate some avocado today and he was really excited about it. Combined with last night’s positive potato experience, and I am feeling better about the future of Ezra and solid foods.  But oatmeal is still not something he’s showing much excitement about.  Maybe he wants his grains as bread.

Since yesterday, Ezra was beginning to show signs of some thing that appeared to be Conjunctivitis, also know as Pink Eye, also know as that thing that causes the eyes to create boogers on the eyelids and eyes. We thought maybe that his eyes were jealous of all the boogers the nose was creating and therefor wanted to create their own. We were hoping it wouldn’t be a simple case of bacterial Conjunctivitis that would clear up in a few days. So we called the pediatrician to get an appointment, so she could look at Ezra and prescribe whatever it is he would need to clear up the Conjunctivitis only to find out that he has a nasty ear infection.

The diagnosis of the ear infection does explain the fussiness during the past couple of days when laying Ezra down, but the diagnosis doesn’t take away pain he is obviously having right now. Baby Tylenol seems to help a bit, but getting him to lay down and sleep is difficult. Along with a cough and teething, the ear infection I think has pushed him over the limit. It has -v- and I realizing sleep is something to now daydream.

Thankfully, we have been giving him bubble gum flavored amoxicillin, but that will take a few days to help. For now, we will wait.

Today -v- and I started having Ezra use his new Big Boy Car Seat. The car seat that doesn’t have a handle nor a base to install in car allowing installation or removal to be nothing more than a click of latch or pull of a handle. These two facts does make the new Big Boy Car Seat impossible to transport a sleeping Ezra from car to bed without him waking too much, but the new Big Boy Car Seat is better for Ezra.

The new Big Boy Car Seat is better for Ezra because it is bigger, and Ezra is a growing boy and needs the room. The new Big Boy Car Seat even looks more comfortable and reminds me of recliner.

After using the Big Boy Car Seat for a total of two hours today, Ezra seems to have adjusted to it just fine.

We woke early. Ezra was moody, but once he woke we had fun playing with blocks and pacifier and a paper book about the color Yellow. He got fussy for a bit, but nothing too intense. Then there was the morning nap. He napped. He woke and he ate. -v- fed him. Then I napped. He and -v- played and did stuff. Then I woke. Then we played with his box of wooden shapes. He some times stressed for the pacifier. He had a constant stream of snot coming from nose. Then -v- went to the store and to do yard work. I tried to feed him oat meal when he was either fussy from a wet diaper or because of teething. He didn’t eat the oatmeal. I am sure the fussiness didn’t help him not eat the oatmeal for -v- hadn’t much success feeding Ezra oatmeal yesterday. …He began teething lots, so I walked him around in the Baby Björn. He was strapped to chest and looking forward, and I walked around the house and around the yard. He was smiling the whole time I walked with him strapped to chest, so I walked around with him a lot. Then I had to stop walking around with Ezra strapped to chest because I needed to sit. We sat on his blanket on the floor, and he began to play with and chew on wooden blocks. Then he tipped and hit his head on the wooded container. He cried. He began to fuss for food. I then became tense. I then fed him. And with the help of -v-, Ezra napped. I napped, too. I woke grumpy, but less tense. Ezra woke fussy, but was happy soon after waking. I was not, but I am now. I did have a good day with Ezra.

Enough with all the sleepy posts.

I started Ezra on two meals of solid food today. You can hardly call them meals, as I don’t think he swallowed more than 2 baby spoonfuls total each time.

This morning I gave him some mushed banana. He liked banana the last time we tried it, but today he seemed to think banana was weird. He kind of reacted like someone who unknowingly tastes a lemon…the banana was really pretty ripe - maybe he’s like me and prefers them just barely yellow. Most of what I put in came right back out.

In the afternoon, I fed him some oatmeal. I made it a little thicker than the usual, and he seemed to like the consistency of it more….to smear all over his high chair tray.  He would eagerly accept the spoon with the oatmeal, and the oatmeal would disappear. I would look away to get another spoonful, and he would have big gobs of oatmeal stuck to his chin, with a look on his face like, “what?”

I think tomorrow we will try more cereal, and also sweet potato. mmm….?