Still sick, but not that sick

So today I went for a follow up on my cold. Not sure what the doctor heard in there, but she said she's treating me for pneumonia. I now have a nebulizer and a new antibiotic. I think there's one more prescription in there, but I can't remember. The doctor wanted to do a chest xray, but gave me the option of doing it now or waiting till our follow-up next week to see if I feel better by then. I opted to wait.

So, still tired, still coughing, especially at night. But then again I'm doing a lot better than one of my blogger friends. Lisa isn't doing well. Her cancer is taking her away from her family much too soon, and it's so sad. I'm sad for Lisa, but even more I'm sad for her husband and two little girls. I can't imagine what they're going through, and I wish them all peace, love and the strength to make it through this together.

Update: Lisa passed away on Feb, 27th. Rest in peace, Lisa.

General rambling update with ketchup on top

Time for another update:

I returned to work today. I still feel crappy and probably looked awful, but I went anyway. Six days of my leave time down the drain was enough.

Tom's starting to feel better and just wants his voice back.

Nicky's still coughing, mostly at night, but otherwise fine and full of energy. He's been back at school, and today we were told he had his best day ever. He's starting to learn the routine and transitions are getting easier for him. That was welcome news since this morning when Tom dropped him off, Nicky was crying and clinging to him. Tom of course felt horrible, and it would have been so easy to give in and just take Nicky home. But Tom did the hard thing and left Nicky at school. And lo and behold: "best day ever!" No crying at nap time, and he even came when called to line up after playing on the playground.

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Sunday after playing outside and throwing about a million tantrums in the span of about 20 minutes (Nicky, not me), I put Nicky down for a nap. That was around 2pm and then he slept until about 7pm. He was apparently exhausted and really needed that nap! By the time he woke up though, Tom and I were tired, and not hungry since Tom's Dad and JM had brought over dinner back at 5:30. Getting Nicky to eat anything lately has been a battle, so when he spontaneously asked for burger, and then specified McDonald's, we jumped in the car and took him to McDonald's. There's one in the new Super Walmart here, and Tom needed some stuff anyway, so we made a trip out of it. It was good for us to get out of the house anyway.

Nicky actually ate his entire burger. Meat included! Normally "burger" actually means a bun with ketchup and mustard on it. But this time he ate the burger after eating the bun. And he also ate all his apple slices, along with the two bonus fries he found in his happy meal box. Quite the feast for Nicky, so we were pretty happy.

Then we walked around to the toy section and Tom found a remote control "scoop tractor." Nicky loves it. He played with it last night when we got home, and then again this morning. (That's probably one of the reasons he was upset about going to school.) I took a movie of him playing with it last night that I'll upload soon. He played with it again this evening after school too. I think it's a big hit. Although I'm not sure how long it'll survive his experimentation. He's pretty curious.

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Oh, and as a side note, when he was eating lunch on Sunday with me, he was having fries and ketchup (which he calls dip-dip) and he asked for a spoon. When I gave him one he proceeded to use it to eat. Yep he was eating his ketchup with a spoon. At least I know he's getting his lycopene.

Update on the sickies

Nicky was able to go to school today. Still has a little bit of a cough, but he's bored out of his mind being stuck at home with us for a week. I walked in with him and when we got to his room the teacher greeted him by name and told him they were getting ready for snack. He was so happy! He said "Snack!" and was just grinning ear to ear. He sat right down to the table where the other kids were sitting down. He turned smiling and waved to us as we were looking back through the doorway and then he turned right around and was talking with the other kids. It does my heart good to see him so happy and interacting with other kids. He's definitely ready for school. (Yeah, it's really just glorified day-care, but we're calling it school anyway. It costs enough to be school!)

We dropped Nicky off at school on the way to my doctor's appointment. I now have antibiotics and two new inhalers. I've got instructions to return to work Monday, so that will be a whole week missed. At least I've been checking emails and deleting the spam every day.

It seems we've been sick a lot lately. I guess me working with students and Nicky in school isn't helping. I'm considering the merits of wearing one of those surgical masks every day. Maybe in coordinating colors with each outfit. I could start a fashion trend.

House of Sick

We're all still sick. Tom's on antibiotics and 40$ cough syrup. Nicky's on Mucinex and Benadryl, and I'm on decongestents, mucinex and benadryl.

We've been eating a lot of fruit, soup and cereal. Anything that doesn't require much in the way of cooking, and preferably is served in a bowl on the sofa. I was just thinking last night that I can't remember the last time we ate at the table. I think it was probably last Wednesday. Tom even said he misses cooking.

Ok, going to sleep while I can. Nicky and Tom are both down napping. And it's only 10am.

So glad we paid a bazillion dollars for preschool. Nicky went only two days so far.

Crap. Nicky's calling. Guess no sleep for me.

Later.

What's This?

Nicky loves Bob the Builder. It started about a month or so ago when we checked out several Bob the Builder (or as Nicky says: Bob Builder) videos from the library. I'd picked out lots of kid movies for us over the Christmas break. In fact, he's taken to talking like Bob the Builder. (Not sure but I think Bob has a Canadian accent.) Nicky started saying "What's this?" just like Bob. I caught him on video doing it.



So we're pretty sure he's going to love his birthday present this year. We're taking him to see Bob the Builder Live at the Performing Arts Center. Tom's already bought the tickets. This will be Nicky's first live performance. I think he'll love it!

And I thought sharing was a good thing

We kept Nicky home on Wednesday to get over his fever. He was pretty good all day, but continuously told Tom he needed to go to school. Thursday morning Tom was playing it by ear to see how he was feeling and ended up taking Nicky to school. He talked with the teachers and they checked his temp which was normal even though he felt hot if you touched him. But he seemed fine so they said they'd keep an eye on him and call if there was any problem.

Around 1pm Tom got the call to come get him. The fever is back and it's over 100 so that means he's going to be missing his Valentine's day party. His teacher said they'd make a bag for him to have Monday though. He's going to be so sad to miss school again already. He loves it so much. But I guess it'll take some time for him to build up his immunities.

As far as sharing goes, he's got it down pat. Tom's sick and this evening I feel it hitting hard in my eyeballs and sinus. I can see what Nicky meant when he said his eyeballs hurt. Very good description.

Germ Factory

Two days at preschool and Nicky's running a fever tonight. We're alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen for him. He says his "eyeballs hurt" and asks me to kiss them. Poor little boy. He's going to be so sad to hear he can't go to school tomorrow. Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow and be able to go to school on Thursday.

I'm sure this is just one in the twenty-bazillion bugs we'll be fighting each year now that Nicky's visiting the Germ Factory each day.

His second day went well though. He went potty again in the potty although not #2. He saved that for the diapers. He didn't eat much lunch though. And he didn't nap again. We're not sending any binkies with him to school so naptime might be hard for him for a while. But if he can learn to nap there without them we just might wean him off them soon.

He has a Valentine's Day party on Friday that Tom's going to attend with him. He's got to have valentines cards and bring some kind of treat to share. What fun! Hopefully Tom will take a photo or two.

Preschool

Today we went to O2B Kids to interview them as a possible preschool for Nicky. They had an opening in the 2 year old class and Tom had taken Nicky there on Friday to play. He'd had so much fun that it seemed unfair to NOT put him into some kind of program.

So I took off the morning to go check them out. As we were getting ready this morning, Tom was putting clothes and diapers into labeled baggies and I asked him why. He pointed out that we might be dropping Nicky off today. For whatever reason, that actually hadn't occurred to me until he said that. I wasn't quite ready yet! I hadn't had a chance to talk with Nicky and prepare him (and me!) for going to school and that he'd be there with kids and teachers and that Mommy and Daddy would leave but we'd come back and he'd have so much fun, etc. Ack!

But we packed Nicky into the car with a cup of grapes to munch on and went to see what was what.

And in the end, we left him there. With three teachers. In a class of about 13 two year olds.

They were outside on the playground right out the back door of the classroom at the time. We walked out with him holding my hand. We met the teachers and then he said, "I go play Mommy?" And I said "Ok, you go play." And he did. And he didn't look back. Even when we said "Ok Nicky, Bye, we'll see you later." He just called out "Bye!" in a kind of vague, distracted yell while playing in the sand with a tractor. He didn't even look up.

We watched him from inside the classroom through the window for a minute or two. Just to see if he'd look for us and panic. But he just ran around and played. Happy as can be. So we left. I cried a little in the car. But not too much. Tom took me to lunch before I went to work.

So today our baby was cared for by strangers. He was having fun. He was safe. Kids do this all the time. Most kids do it a lot sooner than he did. So why tears?

I guess it's just that for almost 3 years I've never once worried about him while I was at work. I always knew exactly who he was with (Tom or one of his grandparents or aunts) and where he was and what he was doing. More or less. And now I was just leaving him with strangers. What if he panicked? We've never just up and left him with new people like that before. Ever.

But you know what? He was totally fine. A little nervous at one point around naptime they said, probably because he didn't have a binky, but other than that he had a blast. He ate most of his lunch. He went in the potty TWO times! (We haven't even been really trying at home and now he's doing it at school! On the first day!) He didn't really sleep, but he rested at naptime a bit- without a binky (and he usually has several with him at home).

And when Tom went to pick him up this afternoon at 4:15pm (he was dropped off at 11am) he was happy. He was happy to see daddy, and showed his daddy to everyone in the class, he was happy to head home too. But he's thrilled with the idea of going back to school too.

My baby's going to preschool! And I think I'm okay.

Knock Knock

I don't know where he gets these things, but tonight on the way home from dinner, Nicky told us a knock knock joke.

Nicky: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Nicky: Newbooboo*
Me: Newbooboo who?
Nicky: No, I not Newbooboo!

*Well that's what it sounded like. He had a binky in his mouth.