We started October on a sour note with Caleb fighting a major ear infection and a minor eye infection. The ear drops, eye drops and oral antibiotics were quite a ritual and we were glad when they were over! Rudy ended up also getting an ear infection and is actually still fighting whatever caused it, but since he's 31 years old, he is a little better at handling those sorts of things than Caleb is. He was feeling pretty rough on the 5th, so Caleb and I went to Hot Springs by ourselves for the weekend. It was a fun, low-key visit with Mom and Mr. L. Caleb rode on the golfcart with Pops and played in the yard with LaLa for 2 days straight! He was really feeling a lot better - just because he was with them. We drove back on Sunday, ready for another week of work and daycare.
Rudy had a busy week, with responsibilities on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Since Caleb was finishing up his ear drops, I took a look in his ears on Tuesday night just to see if they were looking better. They were better, but still not healed. I told myself to just keep an eye on it and see how he did. I was trying not to panic. On Wednesday, I worked, went to the gym and came home to a child with laryngitis. There's just something pitiful about a one-year-old with such a squeaky voice! I took one look at him and knew immediately that something wasn't right. Rudy was on his way out to a brass ensemble rehearsal and I put Caleb in the car to go to urgent care...again.
We got to urgent care at 6:15. At 7:15, we finally got called back to see the doctor. At 7:30, the doctor finally came in to see us. So much for urgent. I gave the doctor a rundown on the past couple of weeks' adventures and medications. He took a look at Caleb's ears and said they were both infected and one of his tubes is on its way out. When he looked in his throat, he gasped and his eyes got big. I've never seen a doctor do that! He asked me if Caleb's tonsils are usually that big. I told him that I've never really looked at Caleb's tonsils, but that he's never had laryngitis before. He poked and prodded at Caleb's throat for a while, then put some things in his computer and his PDA. He finally told me that he was very concerned about Caleb and that if he were more lethargic, he would have sent us straight to the hospital to be admitted. I almost passed out - literally, I had to sit down. He said that he was going to put him on a strong antibiotic in addition to a steroid and that he needed to have a dose before going to bed that night. I was instructed to watch his breathing very closely for signs of respiratory distress and to take him to the ER immediately if he showed any signs of difficulty breathing. I was terrified. We left there at 8:00 and went straight to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions. On the way, I called my mom to see if there was any possible way she could come up and help us with Caleb so that Rudy and I wouldn't have to miss more days of work already. She offered to leave immediately, but that would've gotten her here in the middle of the night. We agreed that she would come up on Thursday morning and Rudy would stay home until she got here. She ended up getting to our house at 9:00 Thursday morning and stayed until this morning. She definitely earned her grandmother crown this weekend!
Rudy and I grudgingly went to work on Thursday and Friday. Mom and Caleb stayed around the house and played until they were both exhausted! They also did ALL of our laundry and straightened up our house. Mom (somehow) managed to also get some work done while Caleb napped. I was amazed! We went to dinner Friday night and walked around the Promenade to enjoy the Fall coolness. Rudy and I went to the Razorback game yesterday. (I don't even want to talk about that.) While we were gone, Mom made chili, chicken spaghetti, banana pudding and chocolate chip cookies. Good grief! We are set for the week for sure! She also took Caleb to Chick-Fil-A and to Wal-Mart to buy some toy trucks. They played and watched the ballgame on TV and were sound asleep when we got home.
This morning, Caleb woke up with color in his cheeks, a smile on his face and a brightness in his eyes that we haven't seen in quite a while. It has been a wonderful day at our house. We've played and napped and enjoyed LaLa's cooking!
Now, we're getting ready to take on another week and we're hoping for a whole week without having to go to any doctors' offices.
On a more normal note...our 17-month-old little boy is ALL BOY. He has developed a love for hitting things, people and Dewey and for throwing his toys and cups. He gets in trouble for it and cries and cries like he's been condemned forever, but then he gets up and does it again. I'm hoping this is a phase and trying to tell myself that it's partially because he doesn't have the ability to communicate well just yet. If it continues, we'll have to take another approach!
As frustrated as we are with the aggressive behavior, we're also delighted with some of the other changes that we're seeing. Caleb is using more and more words and is now "singing" along with us when we sing to him. He has hand motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider and bobs his head to the Alphabet Song. He says "ro ro" when we sing Row Row Row Your Boat. He follows some one-step directions and loves to be tickled and read to. He's also climbing and can get into his stroller and rocking chair all by himself. Most of all, he loves to watch the videos of himself that I have on my computer, play with his his Daddy and snuggle with me.
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