August 2, 2008

Felix was up a few times in the night, no big deal. Except that it takes at least an hour and a half with all the nursings, changings, renursings and rechangings before he finally goes to sleep. He was up at 1:15, it was almost 3 before we settled back down again and then he was up again at 5.

So I was tired before it even began.

Last night, we put Elliot in his big boy bed. He surprised us and slept well. We heard him wake up around 7 and play quietly. I came downstairs to get a bite to eat and turned on the monitor so I could hear what he was up to- but it wasn't working. So back up I went and sure enough, he was climbing on the bed rail so he could reach the buttons on the monitor on his dresser. No biggie, just not the safest place for him to be!

He was soaked, so I had to strip him and the bed (man, that thing is a bitch to change - bed, not boy) and then we came downstairs for his pre-breakfast snack like always. I reached for a knife to cut his banana and I noticed that all the knife hilts and the knife block were covered in wood dust that hadn't been there last night.

Strange.

I took a closer look and saw that the "dust" was moving. EEEW! And a closer look revealed that they were swarming over everything in that corner - my cookbooks, loaf of bread, bagels, bag of raisins, butter, sugar bowl, microwave, etc, etc.

So I start throwing what I can in the trash and the washables in the sink. It becomes a bigger task than I expected, so I called up for Jay to bring Felix downstairs and help me out. Felix of course needs to eat so Jay gets stuck cleaning the entire counter top and appliances with lysol wipes and hot water. I start washing all the dishes. (All of Elliot's bowls/plates/cups were right there, next to the infestation but seemingly not crawling, but who knows.)

Elliot needs breakfast by now so I make him some oatmeal and blueberries, generally a favourite. He downs it after a minor tantrum on his way to the highchair. Then he wants puffs, so I put a bunch on his tray. He asks for more, I tell him to eat those first. He does, then asks again for more, which I give him. He demands more, I tell him again to eat those first and he screams and starts throwing them all on the floor.

While that is happening, Jay is carefully moving all the appliances back to the counter after cleaning them. Of course, the coffee pot hits the floor and shatters. We scramble to find shoes for each other and sweep it all up. Jay gets the shopvac and vacuums the kitchen floor.

We let Elliot out of the highchair after the floor is clean and he comes over to help. He and Jay vacuum up a bunch more bug infested things - the knife block, cook books, etc. Then Elliot starts stuffing his rock and stick collection into the shopvac. They get stuck. Jay is luckily able to clear them out of all the vents and such.

Meanwhile, I'm alternating between nursing and changing Felix and googling anything I can that might tell us what the bugs are. They're microscopic and look just like beige dust. Jay thinks they are dust mites, but I'm not so sure...

By now it's Elliot's nap time, so I take him up and he goes down surprisingly well in his bed. I nurse Felix again in the hopes that he will also nap so that I can nap. It takes an hour and a half of nursing/changing/rocking but he finally goes down for more than 10 minutes and Jay and I both fall asleep.

45 minutes later, Elliot wakes up. I hear the noise machine get louder and figure he managed to get his door open. But no. I hear other noises. I make Jay get up and go check on him, as Felix is still napping and I'm beat. Jay calls me into Elliot's room, asking "Is this stuff toxic?"

Not a question anyone wants to hear!

Elliot had climbed almost on top of the dresser to reach the noise machine on the other side and had been playing with the buttons, as well as with the assortment of diaper creams we thought were out of the way. He was putting on his Weleda baby calendula facial cream, and had eaten some. While Jay cleaned him up, I called the store and they checked the ingredients and said it didn't contain anything harmful and might just give him diarrhea, but that if I had probiotics, I could give him that to help out.

We come downstairs. Those damn bugs are back, in a much smaller amount, but they are still crawling around on things that were already washed and even soaked in hot hot hot water.

Jay stays upstairs with Felix and to re-arrange Elliot's room so he can't get the dresser anymore. I fix Elliot some lunch. He wants water in a big glass, so I pour a little bit in. He asks for more, so I splash a bit more in. He gets mad because he wants a full glass and pours it out on the kitchen floor. I send him for a time out while I clean it up. We have a chat. I put him in his highchair and give him his plate and cups (but not the big cup). He freaks and pitches everything on the floor and then starts trying to bite me. We have another chat. We calm down and try again with a new lunch. I manage to catch the bowl for round 2, but the cups go flying again.

We take a breather and finally, by 3pm he's eaten some lunch.

It's now almost 6. Jay took Elliot for a walk to the grocery store and Felix is finally napping so I get a minute to sit down.

Oh my aching head!!!!!!!!

I have no clue what to do about those damn bugs. No idea what they are or where they came from. Or why they chose that spot to infest. Nothing new had been introduced to that area. No idea how to get rid of them.