A mother's day present

Barf. This evening. I kid you not.

And I suppose I should add diarrhea from Friday and Saturday. Winston has been sick (see previous post). He seemed ok since yesterday, so he went to school today, while I stayed home sick. Got the call from daycare that the diarrhea was back. No sooner was he home than he barfed all over the both of us and the living room rug.

Now that we both have showered and are sitting here watching Nemo together, I realize that this whole recent sickness was really my mothers day present. For only a mom can be drenched in vomit and be soley focused on their child. I scooped Winston up and rushed into the bathroom, did an initial clean-up and made sure he was ok before I realized that I had vomit in between my toes. But it didn't matter. Now, that's the real gift. I am indeed a mom. For that I am most thankful. Vomit and all.

I am not being sarcastic. I am serious. It's the times like this when I have perfect clarity and all the stresses of work, etc slip away. My child is sick and all that matters is how I can protect him and make him well and feel better. I need to remember to thank Winston for making me a mommy (and Jay too ((wink))). It shouldn't take vomit to remind me. :-|

Our latest illness and a milestone

Winston was super clingy last night and seemed super tired. But didn't get to bed and sleep until about 9:30. Then he was up at 6:45. Seemed really sad. Even had circles under his eyes.

I took his temp (in his ear) - 99 in one ear, 100.4 in the other ear. An hour later 98.x in both. Odd, yes? He wouldn't eat or drink anything this morning, although he did request it.

Then twice he cries out "OWIE!" in a sharp, shrill voice. First time tells us that the owie is in his lower back. DH massages the spot, gives cuddles, all is fine. Until the next time abotu 15 minutes later. Again, "OWIE!" but it's his tummy (lower right side) and he sort of bent over. He climbed onto my lap and just clung to me, sort of panting. Freaked me out to say the least. Then about 5 minutes later he's fine. Happy even.

We get in the car and he goes right to sleep. Drop-off at school was fine and he seemed ok. But I am worried. A coworker says it sounds like a kidney infection or maybe urinary tract infection. All morning I am thinking, "What could be up w/Winston? "

Around noon I call daycare to check on him. They said that Winston was super quiet and didn't eat but two bites of food. Fever 100 exactly. No further tummy/back owies, but he's "just not himself."

They were going to try and get him down for a nap and then I planned to pick him eary. Unless fever spiked before that, in which case I would get him immediately. If anything seems weird we are going straight to the pedi.

But I can't wait. So I call the pedi. Pedi wants to see him asap. So off we go.

Fast forward thru the pedi appt .....

Pedi says that there's a gastro-intestinal virus going around and Winston appears to have the start of it. She was concerned that some of his "owies" are in his back, so if his fever spikes we need to take him in. It could be a kidney infection. Otherwise, we just keep him hydrated and try to get him to eat.

He was sleeping when I got to daycare and I just scooped him up and headed out. He was so hot to the touch that he burned my skin. But when we got to the pedi his fever was fine. He was also hot to the touch to the pedi. To the point that she double-checked what the nurse wrote down. Pedi says she expects the fever is on it's way up. Faaabulous.

Anyhow, we are home. He had another owie incident, even said that the owie was 'scawweee: (scary). Shortly thereafter he had some diarhea. Looks like the virus is really here. In any case, we are camped out on the couch. Winston is eating popsicles and watching Elmo.

So there's the latest. And the big milestone? This is the first illness/pain incident when Winston could actually tell us where it hurts. That's a big one!

The name game revisited. And other fun talking tells

Ok, so I posted before about how Winston knows his name. But that was just his first name. He's got the whole thing now!

He can say "Winston Judah" clear as day.

Ok, the Winston actually sounds like "Winton" most of the time, but the "Judah" is crystal! Then, when prompted he'll give us the last name.

I need to get it on video and post. It makes me all googly inside when he says it. Swoon, over my little man!

PLUS --

I think we are having another word explosion, with sentences this time. Last night in the car he said “I want bokuku” – which translated means “I want a popsicle.”

He gives me directions with things like “Momma, light please” and “Momma, this way” as he leads me around the house. And my personal favorite complete sentence “I love you Momma/Dada, up a skies.” (said at bedtime)

Ah, this is such a fun age!

Big stuff while on vacation!

Still trying to catch up with some posts about our trip, but this news deserves separate mention.

First, Winston seems to be close to mastering a regular cup. Yay!

Second, I think we are on the road to potty-training. Winston often does tell me when he wants a diaper change. But tonight after dinner he walked over to the toilet and started pulling on his diaper. We asked him if he wanted to use the toilet, did he want to go pee-pee, etc. And he said yes! So Jay stripped off the diaper and tried to get Winston to sit on the toilet, with his help of course. No go. But then Winston was standing facing the toilet and let it rip. Pee all over the floor, sure. But hey - he was close and was communicating to us what he wanted to do. Then he grabbed some toilet paper and patted his penis dry. It was adorable. I think we will be buyng a little kiddie toilet for him as soon as we get home. :=)

Winston Judah is 18 months old today!!!!

Yes, it is true. I just can't believe it. Watch this space for a retrospective in photos from the last year and a half. Or at least a little "then and now."

The early days ..









18 mos




Other news today ......

Drop-off at school was so, so, so much better. Winston wanted to walk by himself down the hall and into his room. There was still some clinginess, but it didn't last long. A tiny bit of whining. But I am happy to report that when I left the room Winston didn't seem to care a bit. He was otherwise occupied with little Miss Margaret while they looked in the mirror together while wearing construction hats.

Ah, it was so nice. A relatively peaceful drop-off. Fingers crossed these continue.

Just a quick update on drop-off this morning

Last Friday the drop-off at daycare was supah bad. SUUUPAH bad. It hurt me. Winston screeched, threw himself to the floor, almost hurting himself, to get near me. Eventually one of the teachers pretty much grabbed him up and they went with the rest of the class to the gym. I then had to sneak out covert-style past the gym which was on my way to the car. Guess what? Winston was fine. Jostling in line for his turn at the slide on the climber. I don't think he saw me leave (?).

So today I was apprehensive. And I am sure that Mr. W. picks up on that from me. We were running super late this morning (water heater took a nap so we had to wait for hot water. It's fine now (fingers crossed)). By the time W. and I got to school his class was already in the gym. So, once again, that same teacher grabbed Winston from me (a tad too harshly for me, really, but it worked). And Winston went off to play while I went to the classroom to drop-off his stuff. I hear him wailing all the way down the hall. :-(

Guess what? It all of about 5-10 minutes and Winston was fine. When I (once again) skulked by the gym windows Winston was happy and climbing all over this teeter-totter boat thingy. All good.

SO, while the screeches haven't lessened in intensity, they have shortened in duration. Progress, yes??

We are done :-(

No more nursing. I am really ok if I just don't think about it. When Winston was sick last week he had trouble latching, so we only nursed a little before bed (bedtime has been our only nursing session for the last 5 months). Then we had one good session, then a series of Winston wanting to, and trying to, but nada. He would pat the boob, then try to nurse, then sit up and make this sad face and shake his head "no." I think he felt bad b/c then he would hug me. That was last weekend and we haven't nursed since. Not even on the plane on the way out to California when he needed some comfort. We are done. Momma is sad.

Goodness, just typing that made me cry. I did not think that this would make me so sad. Ok, I knew I'd be a little sad. But I could just bawl my eyes out right now. Wow.

Winston is *officially* a monkey!

Yeah, yeah, we all knew that right?

Well, this September he will transition from the Rainbow Tot room at school to the Monkey room!

My son is (going to be) a MONKEY!!!