Pneumonia Go Away!

Pneumonia Siege, Raleigh House, Day 89: so Fans, here we are. This morning, Julie and Joe played with the container of green Play Doh that Joe got in his goodie bag at Marco's Halloween party. Julie made a pancake and Joe quickly said, "We don't make Play Doh pancakes! We make buttermilk pancakes!" Too true. Smart boy. Things pretty much went downhill from there. Ted came back from taking Berenice to the vet for her rabies vaccination booster, and we went on a wagon ride to deliver Sara's birthday card. It went missing along the way. So Ted took Joe to find it and make a phone call for work, and Julie went home to pump. She'd no sooner arrived though, then she saw the boys hot on her heels, Joe wailing in the wagon. So Julie rushed to take Wails McGee so Ted could continue his phone call and ended up sitting on the floor just inside the door with Wails flopped on top of her crying "I want Daddy. I want to go with Daddy." Julie just held on to him. Poor thing.*

Eventually, he petered out, and then he wanted to watch for Daddy out the window and so we did. Ted came in after a time to change and head off for his afternoon of meetings. Joe didn't realize he'd left so we calmly rolled into lunch. Here was our lunchtime conversation:

Joe: "I miss Daddy. I love Daddy."

Julie: "I know, Palo. I know you do."

Joe: "When Daddy comes home, he give me hug. I hug Daddy."

Julie: "That's so nice of you Pal. I know Daddy would like a hug from you."

Repeat.

Our Hero now slumbers, no doubt dreaming of Daddy.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the card remains at large. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARA!

*Ted is now reviewing the day's posts. He reports that Wails McGee was crying in the wagon because he wanted Mommy. Go figure. Is this kid playing us, or what?

Yesterday's Cold, Today's Pneumonia

Fans, Our Hero has pneumonia. It's a localized epidemic. But we should back up to Tuesday morning. Ted was still in Tampa. You may recall that things had gone swimmingly Monday morning. Not so Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning, Joe selected his "house" [the Halloween cup; house is haunted house presumably] cup for his apple juice, burst into tears the moment it was poured, carted his juice around (but without spilling it!) while wailing for about 10 minutes before announcing (in a clear, strong voice) that he would be throwing it in the garbage and made to pour the juice into the garbage. When Julie asked him to please pour the juice in the sink instead, wails broke out afresh. Clara still needed to be nursed at this point, but Julie was killing time by changing her diaper and getting her dressed first instead. (Otherwise, Joe would have stood next to Julie and wailed, level with Clara's ear, while she nursed.) Eventually, Joe appears with his empty house cup (the juice was presumably in fact dumped in the garbage) and asks for more juice. He quite specifically wants it in the house cup. Juice is poured, is calmly taken to table, Joe clambers up, and eats his cereal. Now it is true: he is two and change, but even so, this behavior had an intense edge. Something was up. But the doctor said no, and to be fair, perhaps things just exploded then in the night. It's how these things go.

Other signs that took on significance, particularly in retrospect: Tuesday night, he had asked for Mommy to be in his bed (as the night of the stomach flu); and when we arrived at daycare yesterday, he was quite adamant that he wanted to be picked up after taking off his coat, and did not want to be let go.

So when Miss Maneesha called to say Joe had a fever of 101, Julie just cut her off and said she was hanging up, calling the pediatrician, and would be right there. Dr. Harrington is out Monday afternoons and Tuesdays so we'd not yet seen her this week. She didn't have any more appointments, but was still there and she stayed for us. We love her even more. She gave both bambini the once over. Clara is improving slowly but surely, but Doc H heard fluid on Joe's left side: pneumonia.

Now we have two bottles of Augmenten in the refrigerator. We dined at Target while waiting for the pharmacy to get it ready. Joe had macaroni and cheese, and apples with carmel dipping sauce. He was a bit of a mess upon arrival at home. He had his pants and diaper off already because he'd been "using" the potty, so Julie asked for his shirt to throw in with the load of laundry headed for the washer. Thus, he spent the evening happily padding about in the buck, save his socks. He is still Our Hero after all, and since heros have to be ready for action at a moment's notice, best to have one's business socks on at all times.

The New Verdict

Pneumonia on her left side. Double ear infection. She was given a shot of antibiotics in the office. We go back tomorrow. Depending on how she is, they may do another one. She's sleeping as best she can. More tomorrow.

And then it wasn't!

So there we were, all sailing along, and then, Miss Melissa called to say that Clara had a fever, and would have to be picked up (and so she'll be at home tomorrow as well). What?! Baby Bird had no fever all day Friday, all weekend. . .She continued to cough, but coughs linger forever! No doubt about it though, when I arrived to collect her, she just looked awful. Lethargic, and warm, and wanting to eat, but just not up to finishing the job. She left an ounce in the bottle. Kept trying, but no heart. No heart. She's in her bucket in her crib now, coughing intermittently, while l'elephanto runs full blast (steam ahead?). Our beloved Dr. Harrington is out Monday afternoon's and Tuesdays, so we will see another doctor in her practice today at 4:45pm, and report.

I'd arranged for Kendra to come at the six o'clock hour to be with Joe while I nursed Clara, so she is arriving earlier now. Phew. We can use the reinforcements until our anchor returns tomorrow!

Stay tuned for the evening news. . .

It was all going so well. . .

Fans, Ted left for Tampa yesterday evening. It may be true that I captain the ship, but there is no doubt that Ted is its anchor so we were all so sad to see him go. But we made ready the ship and forged on. The end of daylight savings time meant that darkness fell as we were leaving the airport, derailing plans for a spin around the neighborhood in the wagon. So we called Elise and Charlotte on our way home to see if they would want to meet up at Chipotle, and their mom said they were having pizza and asked us over! That was fab as it meant after Joe and Clara were bathed, nursed (Clara, obviously), pj-ed, storied (Joe), and put down, I just had to mis-en-place things for the morning and I could go to bed, too.

The end of daylight savings time meant that everyone woke up at the wrong time, but I went in at the new 6am. Clara was asleep which gave me time to get Joe settled in with his two bowls of cereal (one Brown, one Honey Nut), and his apple juice. I had lined up every single cup possibility so he could select from the entire universe. Initially, he selected the Halloween-themed cup. He pointed out the pumpkins and sparkled floating around in it. Then he said "water." Ted had warned me that multiple liquids were requested sometimes, but then I thought maybe "water" just means the pumpkins and sparkles are floating in water--????? I went with this and was rewarded with the selection of a less fraught cup: the old school monkey sippy cup. He ate his breakfast while I nursed Clara and thus, we cleared our biggest hurdle--i.e. nursing Clara while occupying Joe.

From there, it was relatively smooth sailing to the car, and I am proud to report that we were pulling away from the curb at 7:23am, which is just 8 minutes shy of Goal Time (7:15am). GO TEAM!

Here is Joe set for the day's adventures. High of 60 today so he is in the puffy vest Grandpa Tom gave him a while ago, AND--he flipped it on over his head. Together, he and I figured out how to position the coat so he could do this--answer: upside down, facing him. And I'm not the engineer, Fans.