G'parents Wisc.

G'parents Wisc. were out for a week over T-giving. Eddie was impressing and dazzling them with all sorts of feats, from stacking the tower of blocks behind Ed in the below picture in rapid sucession to knowing all the different kinds of balls--soccer balls, baseball, basketball, and football. In this picture Ed is pointing out shapes to g'ma.
I am utterly surprised. Ed loves to wear his hat, gloves and scarf. Actually I think it's the ensemble he loves, as he doesn't seem satisfied until he has all three. He'll typically keep them on for a while. Tonight Ed put all his toys away without prompting. He just came downstairs for his medicene and put them away. I'm going to remember this night, as I doubt we'll see that again---ever (well, unless he really does turn out to be like his dad--he does like to shut any open drawers and put his dishes and cups away). You think Ed knows he's got those 2 people wrapped around his finger?
Cute things Ed is saying: 'woo hoo'; 'ish' for Fish, 'hey baby', although he doesn't seem to like Gwen Stefani's version, 'up, up, up' to go up the stairs. He is pointing to my growing belly and saying 'baby', but I'm not sure that he gets any piece of there being a baby in there. I've bought a bunch of books to start reading to him on big brothers and babies, so we'll see what progress we make in the coming months. But then again, I read till I was blue in the face and still didn't fully comprehend what was coming until Eddie arrived.

25 Hours

That's the amount of time Den and I were gone. It was so relaxing, we sure are glad G'parents Wisconsin gave us the excuse to get away. We felt ridiculous paying for a hotel a mere hour away--we had intended to get slightly further, but I'd have stayed next door for the 10 hours of sleep--if you don't count all the times I woke up for a minute or two.

This was only the third time and fourth night I had been away from Eddie. This was the first true 'vacation', as in not going away for work or an event, but just for the sake of enjoying some time to realize how much we miss Ed. It was kind of funny, yet classic Eddie that he was still into his g'parents when we first returned and didn't want too much to do with us. He seems to be most attached to whomever carried for him most recently.

We did find a store in the little town we visited that wanted $160 for a baby's sweater, such that the most adorable Holiday outfit would have run us over $200 and there were several miniture tweed suits and imported Austrian and Italian wool suits and outfits for a mere $365. You are not reading typos and I have not included decimals. Who is willing to dress their kids in such finery--even if you had the money, wouldn't you feel any guilt or frustration as the cranberry sauce cascaded down the front?

Happy Thanksgiving

Also look for Ed's 21 month update below. Hope everyone had a great day, with good food and good company. Den and I are hopefully headed off on Friday for a morning of sleeping in...we just have to ensure we leave instructions on how to operate TIVO for the g'parents while they watch Eddie.

21 Month Update

These are Ed playing in the bath at 21 months. So I thought Ed only knew the shapes on those flash cards his nanny was using, but he knows some shapes in other books too. In general he won't perform on command and can alternate between too shy to talk to strangers or if the person has the right rapport, he'll just go crazy.

He's getting good at climbing things--I think from climbing at the playground, but now he likes to climb up stools, on the rungs of the dining room chairs, etc. He tried to climb Den's 6 foot ladder.

He really knows what is going on around him. We've started with more timeouts. I really hate disciplining him, but he responds to it. Sometimes even the threat of a time out will change his behavior.

Ed can buckle himself into his highchair and likes to try and buckle himself into his carseat. He's gotten a lot better with playing with other caregivers while we are around and not feeling the need to always be right with us.

He's changing so much and really interactive. He sets his place at the table, getting his own dish, we hand him the utensils and sippy cup and he puts them at his place. He likes to point to his food or drink and say 'Eddie' and then point to mine and say 'mama's'. It's pretty fun.

He regularly puts away his toys and dishes. He seems to like things in their place--the drawers closed, door closed, etc. This has Den real excited.

Ed will go both up and down the slide by himself. We're trying to teach him 'Jingle Bells' to add to his repetoire of 'Twinkle Little Star.' It's fun to watch the circuits connect as he learns new things and understands more of how his world works.

Regular old fall weekend

For the fourth time this fall, Den was out raking leaves. Ed was more of a help this time, or rather he only threw his pint sized rake down the hill once. I tried to get him to run and jump, or at least run and play in the leaves, without much sucess. We've reached the halfway point. I'm 20 weeks pregnant--this picture was taken this weekend. As I begin to notice the difficulties in bending over, I know it only gets more pronounced.
Whilst we were playing in the leaves, Ed poked his finger through this magnolia leaf and he thought it was the funniest thing in the world.
We're preparing for g'parents Wisc.'s visit later this week. They'll be here a week, and we're excited to get away for a night while they are here.

Misc. for dad

Well, I remembered to turn off the alarm this morning. This picture just killed me.
I had another picture with a more sly look, but thoughtthis one was cute. Ellen the nanny, being a former teacher is obsessed with teaching Eddie stuff. She bought some flashcards and has taught him to recognize his shapes. Today she made some up so that he would recognize the shapes beyond those which appear on these cards.

I was skeptical at first, but he really can pick out the oval, circle, diamond, triangle, square, and rectangle of these cards. Here he is matching the card she handed him with the correct shape. I'm sure he couldn't pick out just any oval or square just yet, but pretty cool that he can with these cards.

Playin' in the rain

Got to use Ed's rainsuit again. At first he didn't want to play in the puddles and wanted to hang out by the front porch. His feet were soaked when we got inside--they don't make rainboots that I've found in size 6 for toddlers.

Perceived Safety

I'm using our new security system for the first time tonight--as it's the first time Den is away since it was installed last week. I have visions of waking up in the morning and forgetting it's on until the siren wails and the security company calls. I'll trade that for the piece of mind it's offering. Statistically I know that most criminals don't want their homeowners home, and so the greatest likelihood of a break in is during the day, yet it does offer some measure of comfort to know the house is 'armed'.

I have found the achilles heel in TIVO--you can just flow from one show to the next--it records so many different shows that you never knew were of interest. One such show was not a good choice for a naturally neurotic pregnant woman whose husband just left on a business trip. Oprah had a woman who at 9 months pregnant survived an attack by someone looking to kill her and steal the baby. And the woman had been a nanny in the area. Good freakin' grief. Let me just crawl in bed and realax into a deep slumber now. Will I ever learn?

A week's worth of pictures in one day

We had the most amazing weather Friday and Saturday. I decreed that I didn't care what chores we had to/wanted to do on the weekend, we were going to spend the whole day Saturday outside--and we just about did. This was also because Sunday was forecast to be about 20 degrees colder and rainy--and it was--with lots of good fall winds. Great day for inside chores like cleaning the basement.

Den and Ed spent some quality time on the slides at this nearby park we walked to. Ed had a ball.


Ed is hot and cold when it comes to swinging, but he sure was happy to be pushed by daddy.
Ed has taken to be a little organizer/cleaner (often after he takes things out). Here he is taking all the sippy cups out of 'his' drawer and stacking them neatly on this stool. He will eventually put them back and sometimes do the same for the plates, bowls, and washclothes.
Daddy was nice enough to let Ed help rake the leaves when he worked on them last weekend. This picture really is a fluke, as Ed spent most of the time throwing the rake down the hillside. G'parents Ohio came out for a visit last weekend. It was mostly at my behest, to help watch Ed while Den was in an all day meeting on Sat. Plus it was time for their monthly trek out. They next appear for Den's xmas party in December--we can't wait.
Jump back to this Sat., here's one of the few slide trips Ed would make alone--and he survived.
Those darn sun spots--and I have a gizmo for the camera that I should have put on to prevent these from occuring. Otherwise everyone is looking at the camera and smiling.

As for the update from last week's excitement, we went to the peds office on Friday to find Ed has an ear infection. The preschool teacher told me on Friday he had been playing with his ear. Now it's Sunday night and Ed finished his last dose of prednizone on Sat. night. I was really glad too because it was stressing me out to make sure I only gave him 4ml of that and then 6ml of the amoxicillan for his ear.

We've taken to giving these meds in the bath and just like a little bird, Ed obediantly opens his mouth--esp. for the tasty amoxicillan. Now we are down to the amox. and a new, maintenance drug for the asthma called pulmicort--got his first dose tonight in front of his favorite (and ours) TV show. Boy, we got TIVO not a day too soon. We have 'Go Baby' at the top of the TIVO list, wtih instructions to NEVER delete and save 25 episodes. Course I'm not sure there are more than 25 episodes all together. Ed will patiently sit in front of this 6 minute show and take his meds--which is oh so much nicer than the battles up in his room.

On a lighter note...

Ellen the nanny took Ed to the zoo last week. He loved it. He had been to our zoo one time about 6 months ago and just wasn't into it. This time she said he just went crazy, getting to see some of the animals. Below is Ellen with Ed--normally he is all smiles with her. Just 5 more pictures of smiles...
On the other side of that thin sheet of glass is a bear, or as Ed exclaimed, "Brown Bear!" Guess reading that book paid off.



The photo below, which is all 'face' cracks me up.

Things that begin with the letter "A"

Ambulance, Asthma, Acute "fill in the medical term", Airways....

Ed is fine. Here's the summary: Ed had sudden onset of croup on Sunday night. Bad night of sleep for everyone. Monday afternoon we went to the doctor, where we stayed for 2.5 hours before being sent to the ER (where we met Den), and where we stayed for 6 hours. Back to the doctor today (Tues) where Ed got diagnosed with asthma and put on more drugs. One more follow up appointment on Friday.

The details are still fresh in my mind--and beware, there are a lot of them:

Sat. Ed seemed slightly out of sorts, so it was no surprise when he woke Sunday morning with a cough and runny nose. We put him to bed early that night, with a breathing treatment [he'd had pretty severe breathing problems with his previous 3 colds and we got a nebulizer machine from the doctor which basically vaporizes a substance called albuterol, which is what asthmatics take when they are having an asthma attack. It is supposed to open up the airways and function on a short-term basis to help breathing]. What did surprise us was the most bizarre sounding cough that started shortly before 10pm.

It sounded like what I imagined croup sounded like--barky seal-like cough. We stood outside his door, not sure if we should go in, or wait until he woke himself up. Before long Den wound up with Ed in the rocking chair while I called the Ped's after hours. We were told that everything we were doing was exactly what we should do and to see the Doctor in the morning. We slept on edge Sunday night, with Den going up about every 1.5 hours (when the coughing got bad) so Eddie could sleep sitting up on his chest for a period of time.

Fast forward to Monday at 1:30. Our appointment with the Doctor. Ellen the nanny was working and thank goodness Den suggested I bring her. We had given Ed a 3am breathing treatment and the Doctor wanted to try again. He seemed quite serious and concerned, eventually telling us that if after the fourth dosage, his breathing didn't improve, that we'd be going to the ER. Ed did not want to sit still for these--it's like getting a cloud of damp air blown in your face. We had to chase him around the room until the doctor made one of us hold him--arms, legs, everything while the other held the tube in his face. NOT fun. Additionally, I'd not brought any toys, so we sang every song we could think of, making up words to half of them.

Ellen had to leave, which left me with the doctor at 3. Ed was still breathing as badly as ever and the doctor seemed almost angry with me--completely different than any time before. Ed was also more out of sorts and fussy than I'd ever seen him before. The doctor started to give me the option of trying more treatments and waiting at the office for observation before he overruled himself and said we'd go to the ER. Said they'd call an ambulance for us.

We started another treatment (so it would look like we were doing something, the doc had said) and soon there was a fireman standing in the doorway of the exam room and then the parmedics, complete with the guerney. Turns out the office had called 911 at the direction of the doc and said Ed was breathing badly. Of course by the time they arrived, he was MUCH better, but still bad off.

In hindsight, I think the doctor realized he was having an asthma attack that was going to take a while to get under control, that the doctor's office would close before Ed would be okay and that it was just best to go to the ER. By ambulance ensured we'd get immediate attention.

We had our own personal elevator and they gave him oxygen with the breathing treatment, put a monitor on him and allowed me to carry him to the ambulance. They had us ride on the guerney for the 2 minute ride to the hospital and then I had to stay on the guerney as they wheeled us through the ER, all the while hearing people comment, oooh and ah over what a cute baby, and poor thing to be having a problem. I just looked at Ed.

Den met us at the hospital after getting my car from the doctor's office. They ran a whole range of tests from the usual diagnostics of tempature -- a little more invasively than Ed was accustomed to getting his temperature taken (he had a fever) all the way to x-rays. everything came back fine. They gave Ed another 3 doses of albuterol and 1 of ventolin (I can't remember what that one is for)-- all at once. The doctor wanted him to wear a mask so as to get more of the meds. He screamed and cried and flailed, and when the nurse tried to put the elastic behind Ed's head, he pulled it right off. Thankfully Den is better at clamping Ed down.

In 5 hours time, Ed had 8+ doses of albuterol--a lot. They also gave him a dose of a nasty, yet effective drug called prednizone (had just finished a round 3 weeks ago). They also continued to monitor his heartbeat and I think it's called blood/oxygen level--the amount of air you are able to get in. I tried not to watch the numbers flucuate, but when the alarm was going off, it kind of drew your attention.

Finally by nearly 9pm the wheezing had stopped and the breathing had better stablized. Den was able to get Ed to fall asleep in the ER. Upshot was that we had to give him breathing treatments throughout the night, every 4 hours. By the time we got home and settled it was time for the first one.

We went to the doctor this morning as directed for followup. Doc tried to paint a picture of how bad he was. That he was basically breathing at 60% capacity--when acceptable is closer to 95% and above. He threw out some other stuff that I have to ask about when we have the third visit of the week on Friday. Today doc said an ER visit combined with the past history earns him the label of asthmatic (even though previously we'd been told it's not typically diagnosed till age 2).

Ed has to continue the prednizone through the end of the week and we have to check on his breathing round the clock every 4-6 hours--meaning waking up in the middle of the night. Then begin what is called a maintenance drug--he'll take it every night via the nebulizer through the cold weather months--pulmicort. Doc said kids basically have every summer to outgrow asthma, but hopefully this regimen will keep Ed stable and breathing well until that happens.

TIVO!!!

My parents have said I can wear people down with a method similar to Chinese water torture--a drop of water at a time. I don't know how long I've been saying how nice it would be to have Tivo--espeically with how much Den travels (he's not the only one who earns milage on his trips)--but Den agreed!

Unbeknownst to me, he was actually going to get it for Christmas for me, until over the weekend, I started researching it -- I hadn't up to that point even looked into costs and options.

Den starts spouting off all this information about it, and then admitted to his now foiled plans. I think he's actually excited about it. Not that we watch that much TV--we have a total of maybe 4 shows that we really like and then an additional handful that we watch when we are able. How nice to have our favorite shows recorded and not recorded over because we had the VCR tape in the wrong position or not recorded because of a goof in timing. We're expecting our unit in the next week. Woo hoo!

Den is away for an overnight trip--he is literately close enough that Ed and I could have driven up tonight and then back tomorrow--with really early meetings for Den it makes sense for him to stay the night--but who wants to deal with Ed in a hotel room when we don't have to.

Ed has started doing this weird thing, mostly when I'm reading him books, but then he did it with a blanket that had a football on it as well. He keeps trying to grab at whatever is in the picture, I think only when it's a picture of an object or a real object from his life--as opposed to a book like 'Go Dog, Go', where he won't grasp at anything because it's not realistic enough. When we are reading, it's almost as if he expects to be able to pull whatever he is looking at out of the book and gets frustrated when he can't grasp it in his hand. I would have expected this at a younger age, but now?

Ed is also trying to bathe himself--he wanted soap and when I gave him some, he soaped up his tummy. Same thing with his lotion--he kept saying 'lotion' over and over. Which brings me to another thing, his nanny had him cracking up for a good 10 minutes just by repeating one word over and over. Den said he did the same thing recently. Toddler humor, I have a lot to learn.

The above picture is when Ed was about 5 months old. I have a whole series of pictures I took with this washcloth on his head and they are all hilarous.