What Benedryl Does....

So, Collin had his first dose of pox-reduction medication less than thirty minutes ago. I think it's helping.....

A Pox On All Your Houses!

Okay, not really. But, it was a good title, wasn't it? We woke up this morning to this.

And this....These neck ones, within an hour of this photo grew and multiplied to take over his entire back and up his scalp. Gross.

And this....By lunchtime, his tummy ones were so plentiful that they were en masse, looking more like six or seven GIGANTIC blobs of bumps that went all the way around his sides and back. Remarkably, he only has about a dozen on each leg. Weird. His poor feet however have tons of them. Nothing worse than itchy feet.
(and, I grant you that these photos do not do justice to the weirdness that was going on here...trust me, it was gross and there were an uncountable number of these bumps on my kid)

And then, when stupid Mommy gave Collin his morning dose of his antibiotic it got worse. Way, way worse. No, I didn't take any more pictures because I was too busy freaking the heck out. I was pretty convinced that it was chicken pox. I mean look at it for heaven's sake! It's bumpy. The bumps are all filled with what looks like puss. The kid is practically ripping his skin off and he is rubbing his eyes saying "eyes...boo boo...eyes...ouch." So, I was pretty sure he'd go blind from whatever pox where forming in there as well.

So, while on hold to the pediatrician's office, I was formulating my arguments in my lawsuit to the company that manufactures the vaccination my sweet, now pox-riddled boy, received at his one-year check-up. I mean, honestly, isn't that what the vaccine is for!! Oh yeah, did I mention Bryon's gone this week?

Poor Collin has a freaking out Mommy, the pox and is scratching away and I cram his antibiotic down, which in case you haven't figured out, was the culprit, not the pox. Yep, he is allergic to amoxicilin. Apparently, although he's had it three times in his short life already, and never shown a sign of reaction, it takes just that many exposures to show signs of allergy. And, this reaction was a doozie!

By the time we got to the doctor, he looked, dare I say it, AWFUL! He was the kid that you pull your kid away from in the waiting room. Even the lady who's son was carrying around a puke bucket wasn't allowed to play near Collin, and I don't think it was for Collin's protection. Thanks barfy! I didn't want him near your puke germs anyway!

Seriously though, he had more pustules than I could count and they were virtually vibrating with itchiness. It made me scratchy just to look at him. It was terrible. He fussed if you touched any of them, even accidentally. He took one look at the nurse who, he imagined would be prodding him, and the cordial, normally mellow kid that is my son, freaked out and actually tried to run away.

Alas, since it's not the pox, we feel a lot better over here. I should say I feel a lot better. They gave him enough Benedryl to let him sleep off the next six or seven days. I feel more relaxed. I was scared to death. I don't know why, since I don't think the pox would've killed him, but I was terrified. But, at least he doesn't have to be quarantined, which is good, since the entire time we were at the doctor's office, he begged for Grace.

Oh, it's slightly possible that he's actually allergic to the nuts in a cookie we gave him the other day, but he doctor really, really doubts that. So, we're sticking with the medicine theory; both doc and Mommy for now. He says we'll do an allergy test when we get over this. But, he's had plenty of nut products all along and never had any reactions, so we're pretty sure it's the medicine. Blast that medication!

Spawn of.....

I'm forever trying to figure out who the heck my kid looks like. No one knows. Rarely, if ever, are we told that he looks like either one of us and it sort of bums me out. When we were stationed in Ohio, all the little baby boys on the street were such spitting images of their Daddies that it was almost eerie...like, children of the Buckeye-Corn-State eerie.

I was looking forward to Collin getting his grown-up, no longer baby-face kid face, so we could figure out who the heck he decided to take after. And, now that he's starting to look like a kid, it's still unclear. Bryon is no help at all. He wouldn't be able to tell if Collin looked like him if he came out with glasses on and a receding hairline.

So, I made him take my picture with him yesterday and his picture with him and we scrutinized. Well, I scrutinized and Bryon got bored. Yes, this is what we did to pass the time on a Sunday morning...what! We don't watch television.
Uhhh...Collin, do you think you could maybe lean slightly towards me and pretend that I don't smell bad or at least like you like me a little bit? Considering you are the one that poops in your pants, chances are, you are the one I should be leaning away from anyway!

That's better. Heaven forbid you should smile...even a little...even at all. Nope. Way too much to ask, right?

Oh, apparently not. Dada gets a smile. Whatever. I'm just the Mommy. Just the one who carried your sorry butt around in her body for nine stinking months and then pushed you out. Nope, didn't hurt a bit. Not at all. Oh yeah, and I don't take care of you all day, every day. Nope. Don't worry about smiling for me. That's alright.

Here's what we came up with. Collin was dropped from the sky and looks like neither one of us. We've decided that maybe that's a good thing. You know how some kids get the WORST of both of their otherwise non-offensive looking parents, but when you combine all their yucky features on one kid, the kid ends up looking like a Garbage Pail kid. Remember those cards? Anyway, maybe Collin got all of our non-offensive features in such combination that, while he looks like he could belong to anyone on the street, at least he's cute.

Mish-Mash of Family Awesomeness

Hey there folks! Did you know that my family rocks? I did. I just kind of get reminded of it every once in a while. Okay, most of the time. But, I thought I'd remind you all of how much I love everyone today. Not in a rubbing it in kind of way, but in an "awwww, doesn't she just love that kid kind of way," (in case you couldn't already tell!)

So, after our trip to the zoo, Collin has kind of been OBSESSED with any of his toys that, in any way, resemble animals. He loves his animal books, his animal toys, and his pretend zoo. He even decided to line them up in the pretend zoo yesterday. Although, he sort of doesn't get the idea that lions, tigers and zebras shouldn't live in the same pen. That would be what zookeepers would consider a baaaaaad idea. But, when you are approaching two, these kinds of things don't much matter and, in fact, Mr. Giraffe might just lean over and say "yumm-yumm" as he takes a pretend bite of Mr. Tiger on his way to take a pretend bite of the tree that Mommy set up there for him to realistically eat. Always trying to teach him. Always. Whatever, apparently, he wants carnivorous giraffes in his zoo.

And, he is also pretty into my new favorite noise: oooh-oooh-oooh. It's pretty hard to describe the lilting raise to the middle ooooh in print. But, it's sort of like a valley girl seeing a Versace dress half off. It's pretty cool. I'm not sure where he picked it up; but, he uses it for everything, exciting or not. Like at dinner last night, he said "oooh-oooh-oooh, a chip!" What? We had Mexican take out. He doesn't get chips every day, don't worry. Today, I let him play a peek-a-boo game on line and it was pretty much endless, "oooh-oooh-oooh!" Awesome. Even more awesome, he knew the shapes, circle, and moon and apple (or as he calls it applet?!) and he knew there was a bunny in there somewhere. Cool, huh? What the F is an applet?

He loves his new, Goodnight Moon game too. He is getting pretty good at taking turns and he's the champ at making his matches on the cards. He can name all the pictures too. He has extrapolated the picture names to life too. I hear him using cow, moon, mouse, etc in other parts of the world and I'm pretty sure it has to do with learning the game. I love it. And, I'm so proud of watching him try so hard to take turns, even if it means he has to walk away from the table or be told a few times to be patient. It's so fun to watch him mature that way. Such a big boy already! He likes if you clap for him, or give him five when he does a good job...kind of an ego-maniac already. I think that's getting old for him too; we may have to graduate to chest bumps. I tried the fist bump for him yesterday and he wasn't buying it. He does do "power!" with the fist pumping in the air, which is totally lame, but what can I say? He IS our kid. His secret hiding spot is my second favorite place in the world. He loves, loves loves sneaking under his crib and squealing with glee when we pretend not to be able to find him. He's got one of those outlet covers under there that he pretends is a "fower," which is Collin-speak for "pacifier," and he goes nuts. He's also taken to dragging me under there with him for "chats." He just sort of babbles and uses all his big-boy words. Sometimes, it involves labeling my face parts or just telling me that he likes animals and what sounds they make, punctuated with head-butt hugs. It's pretty awesome. So, while climbing into his crib when he is first waking up in the morning, which I probably shouldn't do because eventually I'll break it and force the big boy bed thing too soon and yeah, it's probably a little weird (but he LOVES IT and no, I don't do it all the time!), this is a pretty close second. And, Daddy doesn't fit under there so we hide together and giggle. Tee Hee!

Anyway, after Daddy having a week or so off for the holidays, I'm pretty much in mellow-I-Love-my-family mode. Talk to me next week after Daddy leaves for another week to wherever.

Freezing Family Day

We had the same idea that many other L.A. residents had today...to wish the lions, tigers and bears a happy new year. At least it seemed that half the city was at the gate this morning as we waited about twenty minutes to buy a ticket and get in. We also thought, like the rest of the crazy people there without winter coats and hats on, that the fog would burn off and the day would warm up. Alas, it didn't and it was freaking cold all day. I know, I whine. It was really not that bad.

But, my Michigan-hearty blood has all but thinned now and I can't tolerate even the slightest of breezes. So, the fifties temps we suffered today froze my little self to the bone with only a sweater and a ridiculously warm North Face fleece. Seriously, there were kids running around in shorts and flip flops. They were insane, of course. For the most part, people were doing the jiggly dance in front of the exhibits and blowing into their fists to keep warm.

Anyway, the day rocked. Collin is so in love with animals these days that he was in awe of the whole experience. And, Bryon and I are in awe of him. Did you guys know that he's always listening to us? He was naming all kind of animals that we had to rack our brains to figure out when and where he learned them...like, oh yeah, there's a yak in one of his Curious George books, so OF COURSE he'd see a yak and immediately leap from his stroller and shout YAK! YAK! YAK! I'm a little concerned for what else he may know...we do read him some questionable literature. Kidding.

He wasn't always correct in his naming of animals, of course. For example, if an animal has four legs and no horns, it's either a horse, a goat or a pony. But hey, he's trying. And, he calls pretty much any animal with horns, a yak, as we discovered after the yak (which by the way was actually an elan but who the heck knows what an elan is anyway?).

And, we couldn't keep him away from monkeys of any kind. Monkey, monkey, monkey! All day long, that's all the kid would talk about. It's a good thing there's about ten zillion types of monkey and the L.A. Zoo's got them all.

Yep, Mom I could look at this here monkey ALL DAY!


Wait! Why would you pull me away from the monkey! Why? Why? WHY?

Oh, it's for lunch? Okay, I've calmed myself. Bring on the corn dog. Mommy and Daddy let Collin have juice with lunch. It's the second time in his entire life he's had a juice box, or juice of any kind for that matter. Let's just say that he liked it. One swallow, people. One swallow.

For mommy and daddy though the highlights of the zoo day were trying to explain to Collin what the male lion and female lion were doing exactly when he mounted her. Yep. Saw that. It was even more fun explaining what an "I have a headache" roar sounds like. Tee hee! Yep. Saw that too. She just roared him right off her mid-hump. He peed on her. Sorry folks, no photos of that. Believe it or not, the exhibit was shockingly crowded for this moment of glory.

Then, we saw the giant lizards going at it too. Oh yeah, and one of the orangutans that was clearly still nursing one of her young decided that since she can, yes, reach her own nipple, she might take a bit of a sip herself. It was weird. I mean, you don't really know strange until you see something with a hand that looks too much like your own reach down, pinch and put that into her own mouth. Ech! It gives you a bit of a shiver, doesn't it? So, all in all an interesting day at the zoo, filled with wonders of all kinds.

I've always said that the best day to go to the zoo to see the animals active and milling about is when it's cold or rainy...I didn't realize that they'd be quite this active today however. In fact, you can see a hippo poop any day, rain or shine...as Collin just discovered. Daddy pointed out the poop floating in the water which caused Collin to shout "POOP! POOP! POOP!" endlessly at this exhibit and any other with water. Man, he listens to EVERYTHING, doesn't he?

Needless to say, someone was pooped after his adventure to the zoo. Seeing so many "amals" will do that to a kid, especially the "epapant." So, Collin and his new monkey pal, which he's named "red," the color he thinks everything is, took a nap.
We blow you all a big kiss from the giraffes! See you later gators! After a while crocodiles! Yep, I'm lame. But, I'm pretty sure you knew that already.

Mommy's Off

Well, you all probably knew that, didn't you? It's official now though, at least according to Collin. Collin has learned the difference between "up" and "down," and relishes driving his cars up the wall and down the wall. And, the other day, he learned the difference between turning a light on and off.

When he got up from his nap just now, he practised that on and off skill with a drum toy he has. On/off for a good ten minutes, shouting the words all along. Well, silly Mommy decided to sing him one of her trademark dumb songs while he gathered a story for her to read a few minutes later, which he normally loves and screams "more!" the minute she stops.

Instead, he strode over to her, examined her forehead closely between verses and promptly pressed his chubby little fingers between her eyes and pronounced that she is now "off." Yep, apparently her singing had gotten just that bad. My heart was admittedly, a little broken in that all to humorous moment. I'm pretty sure Bryon's still laughing at me, and he's still not out of the jokes about turning me back "on." Ha! Ha! Stupid men.

Alas, Collin's forgiven because he got cuter five minutes later playing peek-a-boo with a box. Yeah, he's that awesome.

Mommy, I'm sorry I turned you off...please forgive me. I'll earn your love back by being adorable with this box. Don't belive it can be done? Watch me!

The New Year Clean Slate

New Year's Day always make me see things with a new set of eyes; not that I go out and replace my peepers with lab donations that those kind people who check the back of their driver's licence give to science or anything of course. No, I just sort of see things with a new perspective all of the sudden.

Like, last night I was determined to capture what Collin was doing at midnight when we were all toasting and kissing (don't worry, we only kissed the appropriate spouses). I felt sad that who I consider the center of our family was snoozing away not sharing the moment of celebration with us. I felt like we were all missing out on his presence. Not in a million years would I consider trying to keep the kid up until midnight with us because I'm pretty sure that once it's an hour past his bedtime, he might actually turn into one of those dogs that guard the gates of hell. Anyhoo, I wanted to capture his midnight "celebration." This is it....

What did you expect? This morning it kind of occurred to me that he probably hated that and as much as I loved it, it was not the nicest thing to do to him because it did disturb him, A LOT. It took three pictures to get that shot because the flash lit up his crib and caused him to drop his pacifier, which made him grab all over the place looking for it like a newborn rat, or other sum such animal born with closed eyes. Poor baby. So, I think I'll try to think of him a little more when I'm dying for MY moment. I could've just peeked in and kissed his little head and said "Happy New Year," right? (no, that's not a resolution, just a sort of thought).

This is my sweet boy, before the perfect, peaceful shot above, trying to avoid the spotlight-like glare of the sole light of the flashbulb, by burying his face in the crib bars. Poor kid. Evil Mommy.

And, I also realized how important his grandparents are. I always knew this, but he reminded me this morning by melting into total tears this morning and shrieking "NO bye-bye!" as the pulled away at the end of their visit. He grew very attached during their stay. Maybe it's because of the game of "peek-a-boo-fort" they invented last night. Or, maybe it's because of the love. I don't know. Thankfully, he only has to wait two weeks until the next round of grandparent love. Granny's coming soon.

Finally, I'm beginning to accept the fact that the kid is not a baby. This does not mean he is not my baby and that I won't continue to take endless pictures of him that I will torture strangers with like this, of course. I mean look at him. In his new coat, doesn't he look like a total kid and nothing at all like a baby anymore? He looks like I could take him down to the enlistment station; okay, practically. Not that I would, of course. He's officer material, right? Besides, he's expressed an interest in the Academy, I think. Sorry, Aunt Robyn. :) Check the new shoes. They have superball soles that help him "bop" really high. Just don't tell him that "hop," starts with an "h."
It was really, really foggy today. I think that explains why we had the park to ourselves. It was like playing on the set of a horror movie. Eddie could've turned into Cujo at any moment. Right! The dog who's afraid of ceiling fans becoming evil from the creepy fog. Still, it was kind of ominous.

Big boys definitely like to beat "around" the bushes with sticks. Collin's new favorite activity at the park; well, that and taking as many sticks home as he can cary. We've got a collection going these days. Maybe it's the coat inspiring this round. Baseball/Stickball? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Happy New Year, everyone!