#MicroblogMondays - It's going so fast!

Months ago, I was lamenting that Dylan was behind the curve on language. I was never extremely worried, but he was definitely on the very low side of average.

Now he's speaking in sentences all the time! It's amazing to watch him master new concepts. Right now he's working on answering questions with "Yes I ..." His default it "Yes I did."

Me: "Did you go to the park yesterday?"
D: "Yes I did."

Me: "Do you want more blueberries?"
D: "Yes I did."
Me: "Yes I do."
D: "Yes I do."

Then yesterday,
Me: "Are you excited to see Grandma?"
D: "Yes I am."

Whoa. He got it right!

He'll say things like "Mommy go get it." "There it is." "Right there."

When I ask him which book he wants to read he says, "Red Wagon" or "Ball Daisy" (A Ball for Daisy). He even remembers "Doctor Ted."

It's just all going so fast! And it's so much fun!

Maybe I won't work out 100 times this year.

I basically quit working out for the second half of last year. And it was nice. I  gave myself permission not to always feel guilty about not working out. But it's the New Year and I want to get back into it. I actually decided my goal would be to work out 150 times this year. Then I thought 100 might be more reasonable.

So far my count is 2. And I should probably just stop here!

But let me give you a laugh.

Run 1: I took the dog and Dylan to run by the bay. It was nice. I didn't push it too hard. Dylan didn't complain too much about leaving the park at the end. But then I forgot to put the stroller in the car after the dog and the baby and I backed over it. It's fine, but still. 

Then I went to dinner with the fam at Souplantation and I was feeling quite pleased with myself...until I realized I was supposed to be at my friend's birthday dinner. I ended up getting there an hour and a half late and without a shower. Fail.

Run 2: Approximately two weeks after run 1 (and after a nasty GI bug), I decided to take the kiddos out again. Again, everything goes great. People smile at me while I push Dylan and wrangle Stella (no one ever smiled at me when I ran alone!). And it is kind of super-human to run with a dog and a stroller. I will admit it. You stop for pee/poop, when Dylan drops his water, etc.

But this time, Dylan didn't want to get back in the stroller after the park. The dog knocked the stroller over as I tried to get him back in, arching his back, but not screaming. Eventually I convinced him that it would be fun to lay down in the stroller as I pushed it on two wheels. Win!

But when I went to get the keys out of the stroller, they weren't there. Fuck. Dylan is trying to run in the parking lot, the dog is barking, it's getting dark and it's dinner time. So I call my husband he starts questioning how I could lose the keys, why I didn't put them in x,y,z places. Just come pick us up while we're still alive man!

Luckily, two nice ladies noticed my agitation and asked if I had lost my keys. They saw them just a short ways back. The said they thought a runner would have heard when they dropped...yeah except a runner (well...jogger), with a stroller and a toddler. One of them even went back to retrieve them for me. She's a saint!

Anyway. Night saved. But man, it's work to work out.

This picture wasn't from our run, this was one of the days that Dylan insisted on holding the lease. You see what I'm dealing with...

We got Whooping Cough

I've been wanting to publish this post for awhile, but I couldn't quite figure out the right tone. Anger? Frustration? Acceptance? I want to go with completely pissed off, but we'll see...

We really need to start playing the lottery, because how many people have experienced as many low percentage situations as we have?

Dylan and I both got a chest cold around mid-October. I had a terrible annoying cough, the kind that is like a tickle or a reflex that you just can't stop, but it was dry. Sometimes it would make me gag and frequently I was unable to talk for a few minutes afterwards. Dylan's was less severe.

Eventually, the cough got a little more phlegmy, but I felt like I was able to get it out and so was Dylan and I was pretty sure it was almost over.

Then it got worse. 

On Sunday morning, I had two episodes where my throat closed up and I couldn't breathe. It was absolutely terrifying. I have never experienced anything like it. So I went to the ER (like I mentioned in a previous post). They gave me antibiotics, an inhaler and a chest X-Ray and diagnosed me with Atypical Pneumonia. (Side note, after awhile, I realized that I could actually breathe through my nose. But it took a lot of concentration to calm down and do so.)

So we took Dylan in to After Hour Peds the same day and he got the same diagnosis, just without an inhaler. But the pediatrician also did a whooping cough swab. She never heard Dylan cough, just talked to me about it. I really didn't think much of it.

And then I got a personal call from our pediatrician on Tuesday night...not a good sign.

Dylan tested positive for Pertussis, Whooping Cough. The implications started flying around in my head. First, I definitely had it too. Second, I'm a teacher, so I needed to inform the entire school. Third, what the fuck? We are both fully vaccinated. I had my last booster right after Dylan was born (current recommendation is 3rd tri...I just didn't have a 3rd tri). Fourth, oh my God, we've been everywhere this month. I have probably infected massive amounts of people. (Dylan's Birthday Party, Pumpkin Patch, Halloween Party, Staff Meetings, District Meetings. Hell, I even shook the Superintendent's hand when she observed my class the day before I found out.)

I know that Southern California is one of the areas with large populations of people who are opting out of vaccines. But I just don't get it. I really don't. Scientists have devoted time and money to create vaccines for diseases that are a problem. And you know who they are the biggest problem for? The people who are too fragile or young to get the vaccines in the first place. Like babies. (I was near, but did not touch, 3 young babies during the time before I was sick.) Herd immunity is a real thing and it works...if enough of the population is vaccinated. I truly think it's irresponsible and reckless not to.

Now anti-vax people will probably say, "well you still got it!" Yeah. Because you didn't vaccinate your kids and it's circulating everywhere in the general population right now.

We are unbelievably lucky about the state of Dylan's lungs. I don't even know how they are so strong, but they are and I was much sicker than he was. But if he had experienced any trouble breathing like I had, I might've had a heart attack.

Anyway. When I informed my school, I found out that I was not the first case and that they had accidentally not informed teachers. That's very frustrating, but it probably wouldn't have changed anything. I just might've gone in sooner and exposed fewer people.

In the end, Pertussis is pretty easily treatable for someone who is generally healthy. One 5 day course of a specific antibiotic will kill it. But the cough can linger for a long time.

Now we're in the midst of a measles outbreak in California. 90% of unvaccinated people get measles when exposed to it. This is scary stuff.

When will people stop thinking they are smarter than scientists, and pediatricians, and epidemiologists?

Actually, he is broken, literally : (

It's been a bit crazy around these parts.

Dylan has had 3 casts, 1 Urgent Care visit, 1 Ped visit, 1 partial ER visit, 1 Ortho Walk-in Clinic visit, and 1 Ortho appointment in the course of 10 days.

Wow. I actually didn't realize how crazy that list is until I wrote it all out. Five medical visits and 3 casts.

The Fall

It all started on December 29th. Mr. GG had just arrived home from work so I took a minute to use the restroom. I could hear Dylan saying "more Daddy, more Daddy," or something like that, while Mr. GG kept saying "just a minute" (he was trying to take a picture of the Christmas present I got him and Dylan, matching car shirts). Then I heard a loud crash and instant tears. 

I immediately knew it was a big deal and ran out from the bathroom to hold my baby. (I still take him away from Mr. GG when he's really upset. I know I shouldn't, but I do.) Mr. GG explained that he fell of the back of the couch onto the hard wood below, primarily on his head. So we both worked together to try to calm him down. But it wasn't working. So we tried walking outside and looking at Christmas lights. It worked a little, but only for moments at a time. So we tried counting trash cans. We had more success with this as he would count through tears. But as soon as we finished, the cries would be as loud as ever. So we sat in the car for a little while. He loves sitting in the car. That worked for a bit too, but it was cold and rainy, so eventually we needed to go back inside.

We sat on the couch for a bit and he calmed down. But I moved to get him a little closer to DH (I was worried DH was worried that Dylan would never love him again after the fall...he can be a bit dramatic) and that set off another bout of screaming. 

So we called the appointment line and decided to take Dylan to Urgent Care (more than 20 minutes away, in the rain). Dylan kept saying that his arm hurt and we thought maybe he had dislocated his shoulder or something. He was totally coherent, so his head seemed fine. We gave him some Tylenol and headed out.

*     *     *     *     *

Urgent Care

We waited over an hour to be called back and Dylan was wildly trying to run around the Urgent Care center the whole time, fully using both arms. When we went back, the doctor said he didn't even want to X-Ray him because he was acting normal and using both arms.

Over the next couple of days, he kept saying "hurt" and asking me to kiss it. He pointed to his forearm and usually had me kiss his hand. Then Thursday night, the 1st, he must've knocked his arm on something (no idea what...we were all standing nearby) and that started another 30 minutes of inconsolable crying, but this time in front of my entire family. Everyone was upset seeing him so upset. At one point I asked him a question and he said, "Okay mama" in the most pitiful cry voice. So sad.

So I took him in again Friday morning to the Ped and she squeezed above his wrist, he winced and she said that if it was a sprain, it wouldn't still hurt so it was pretty definitely broken.

X-Rays showed that BOTH the radius and the ulna had fractures, but luckily both were simple and not displaced so good prognosis and easy casting. We had to drive to a different facility to get his cast, but I high-tailed it over there to get there before closing so we didn't have to sit in the ER.

Cast #1

*     *     *     *     *

The Aftermath

I waited two days before attempting a bath and let's just say, it didn't go well. I felt like an idiot. I should've known better. We blow-dryed the cast for at least 40 minutes (on cool), but it was still soaked. I called the nurse's line, but they had at least an hour wait for a call back and it was already 6:00, so we headed to the ER. Finally, after we had gotten pre-screened, she called back and said we could go to a walk-in ortho clinic in the morning instead of waiting in that packed, flu-ridden ER. Yuck.

Both of the first two casts were tiny short casts, but when we finally met the actual orthopedist on the following Tuesday, he said he actually needed a full arm cast so that the bones wouldn't rotate. I was really worried Dylan wasn't going to sleep for the entire next three weeks, but he has adapted fantastically well!

He will tell you he fell off the couch, the blue couch, that one (pointing). And that he broke his arm and got a cast. Then he says hurt and all better. And also careful couch. (His language is progressing at lightening speed...so fun!)

So it was all a bit traumatic for mom and dad and I still feel a little wary of the sideways glances of other parents whose kids have two perfect, functional arms, but we're doing okay. Just no more baths!

(Dylan does drink as much juice as he wants because he's a peanut and because he rarely drinks more than 2 oz at a time, but after trying Trader Joe's juice, I'm not a fan, just FYI.)

He just decided to randomly lay down in the middle of the floor. I think because the dog was. Then he still wanted to look at the TV. (I'm sure it was something educational.)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Story to follow...

#MicroblogMondays

I have never wanted to go back to work less in my life. I spent every single day of this vacation with Dylan with few breaks (well except for his arm, different post) and never once did I want it to end. A super fun two-year old combined with a new not-so-fun job make me a sad WOHM. Wah.

Bye bye morning snuggles.