Friday, December 29, 2006

Tales from my baby's booty

Nate has an enormous abscess on his ass. One night his ass is free and clear, the next morning there's this enormous flat buried mass. I gave it one day to clear up and then took him to the doctor.

She walked in, took a look, and froze. Then she said "Well!" and just stared. "Okay!" and another pause. It was not encouraging.

They gave a numbing cream and had us wander for a while. Then two nurses, plus me, plus Stewart, held him down on a table while they drained it with a razor. Blargh.

Directions were: give him a lot of baths, and antibiotics, and hope it drains itself. Keep an eye out for streaking or fever.

Now he has a fever. Same doctor was on call. Her response? "Well, it's unlikely to become a systemic infection. Keep an eye out for...[medical talk here]." Is there any way to get me to worry more? Couldn't she just have told me what to keep an eye on, without saying what she's scared of? I've already crept into his room twice to check to see if he's burning up with fever. Blargh.

Now he's awake and muttering to himself. Is it "I'm awake and muttering to myself" muttering? Or is it "I have a systemtic infection and I'm dying" muttering? It's so hard to tell from OUTSIDE THE ROOM. But if it's "I'm awake and muttering to myself" muttering, and I go in to check, it will turn into "You pissed me off and I demand a bottle immediately!" screaming and that's not good for either of us.

I am now relying on my mommy-mantra: He didn't die last night, he's probably not going to die tonight. I swear I use this. It actually helps me.

Also, he learned how to ding the bell on his bike today. Actually, he learned how yesterday but was still clumsy at it. Today he's a pro. He'll be joining the "bell dinging circuit" any second.

The talking is starting to snowball. A few days ago he finally got interested in trying to repeat what we're saying, and now it's constant. Today he reached out and touched my nose and said "no".

Wawo = water
No = nose
Nah = Nate
Ma = Mama
Da Da = Da Da
Ma = Grandma
Pa = Grandpa

and so on. The earnest babbling is constant, and I expect that real words are going to start working their way in soon. Assuming that he doesn't die tonight.

Off to sleep (aka: lie in bed awake hoping to hear Nate cry but also hoping not to so that he gets some sleep)

Blargh.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Lousy update

I just cannot get over this kid of mine. He is phenomenal. Fearless, outgoing, friendly, happy, independent. He's everything I wished for in a child. We are so lucky.


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Thursday, December 7, 2006

Monthly Newsletter, Month Fifteen

Dear Nate,

When they say "They're changing right before my eyes!" they really mean it. You've gotta stop with all of this growing and maturing and changing!

Woobie is old news now. He'll do in a pinch, but your new best friend are the fleecy ties that attach your crib bumpers to your crib itself. You hold them and stroke them and love them so much. Sometimes I let you take one of the short bumpers out of the crib and you are as content as you can be. You loll around on the floor using it as a pillow, sucking your thumb and holding onto the ties. You might as well be rolling around in a pile of money, pressing it against your face and sighing with delight. When you walk around you have your thumb in your mouth, a satisfied grin on your face, and the bumper trailing feet behind you. Our floors have never been cleaner.

You give big open-mouthed kisses now, and you grin and say "mmmmmmmm" when you do it. Today you were sitting in my lap while we were having our afternoon popcorn snack ("pap" "pap") and you leaned your head back and tilted your face up to kiss me. My heart actually twisted in my chest.



You've gotten darn adept with a spoon, and you are determined to go it alone. If I try to help, you jerk the spoon away, flinging the food to the floor. Your most favorite food in the universe is grapes. Yesterday Daddy was reporting on your morning when he was handing you off to me, and he said "Eskimos have 20 words for snow, and Nate has 20 words for grapes. It's all about the grapes."

Baby, you can throw. You like to throw your shoes, your toys, balls, whatever. You really pull your arm back and throw hard and straight! Today you picked up something hard and pointy and pulled back to throw it towards me. I said "We don't throw that!" and took it away. You glared at me, picked up your Radio Flyer wagon, and aimed directly at me. Needless to say, you were very mad when I took that away, too. You have gotten quite the sense of entitlement, and get absolutely furious when I take things away from you. Yesterday you got so mad when I took something away that you were actually slapping your own head and weeping with rage. Impressive.



You spend every Wednesday with Grandma now while Mama works. You two absolutely adore each other: Grandma thinks that you walk on water, and you cry when she returns you to me at the end of the day. She loves to take you to her office to show you off, and to the playground. She said that last time you were at the park, you spent 20 minutes poking at the leaves with a stick. She also reported that you liked to poke the stick through the holes in the benches, over and over.

The easiest way to keep you quiet when we're at a restaurant is to let you poke a straw into a glass of ice over and over. At home, you love to try to plug electrical plugs into the sockets, or insert a key into a keyhole. You see a pattern? I am so very grateful that you have gotten your father's focus and intensity; when there's something you are interested in, you can really stick with it until you've mastered it.

When prompted, you can identify your feet ("fffff"), nose ("no"), and ears. You say "ffffvvvvvv" when asked what a dog says, and "fffffvvvvvv" when you want food. You know that the Mamas on the Bus say "shhhhhhhhhhh". You say "bah bah" and wave bye-bye with your whole arm; you're like a southern belle waving in a parade.



You have developed such a wonderful relationship with Daddy. Every morning Daddy gets up with you and you two spend time together alone. He makes you eggs, and you play together in the basement. When he gets home at night, you smile your most happy smile. Tonight after he put you to bed he came in and said to me "He's so beautiful it's almost heartbreaking."

You are so beautiful, and so happy, and loving, and outgoing, and adventurous, and perfect that we can hardly stand it. Every day with you is good and fun, even when it's not.

I love you.
Mama