November 29, 2008

We were in the hall the other night and heard Elliot say "Baby needs milk!" When we went into the livingroom, this is what we saw:



Last night, Elliot changed his baby and then said he needed to carry it around, so he dragged out the Ergo, but it was too big. So this is what Jay came up with:

Then, he nursed his baby again and wrapped it in a blanket and curled up with me and a sleeping Felix on the couch to put his baby to sleep! Too cute!

November 25, 2008

Took Elliot this morning for the clinical study. It's testing a preservative (thimerosal) free flu vaccine in kids 6-36 months old. It's a double blind study and we won't know until later which one he got.

Since he's had a flu shot before, we can do the study in 3 visits. Today was #1 - lots of paperwork, a physical, a blood draw and the vaccine.

Elliot fell asleep in the stroller on the way there, at 10am, which is not a typical nap time for him, but oh well. We woke him up after the paperwork and he played with the toys while they did the physical, then went to be weighed and measured in another room. Then they drew blood - he just stared them down. The tech and the nurse conducting the study were super impressed. Then they gave the injection. That hurt him, because it was in a saline solution. But all he did was wince and say "My arm hurts." And then he was happy again. We got more tears out of him when we had to put all his outside clothes back on!!!

We go back in a month for another physical and a blood draw. Then a third visit a month after that, I think, for another physical. And that's it.

Felix was a huge hit. He woke up happy during paperwork and was grinning ear to ear and cooing the whole time.

So who knows if/when he'll nap again today, but he's in a better mood than he's been lately, so I'm happy too!

November 18-19 2008

Elliot came up to me this morning holding the front of his pants and saying "something in there" - since we've been gradually potty training, I thought maybe he had finally realized he peed. So up we went to the bathroom and sat on his new potty seat on the toilet. Nothing. When we went to put on a new diaper, his the tip of his penis was red and he grabbed it, saying that it hurt. He was crying.

I cleaned it and looked for obvious signs of dirt, infection, etc, but didn't see anything but redness. There was a bit of odor I haven't noticed before. I put some cream on it.

I changed him this morning and gave him his bath last night - nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't see him fall on himself this morning.

I called his dr and she's booked solid today, but the receptionist said if I *could* collect a sample then I should bring him to a walk in clinic somewhere asap (as the sample has to be fresh) or to their office tonight, as it's a walk-in after 5pm.

Right now, I'm tanking him up on fluids to see what happens next time he pees. Poor boy, I hope it's not a UTI.

~~

Changed a very wet diaper not that long ago. He didn't cry or seem to notice when he peed in it, but when I washed off his penis, he said it hurt again. I put more cream on it...

And YAY it's snowing here... gonna be a fun walk/bus ride if i do need to take him in...


~~

After his nap, he grabbed the front of his pants again and said "What's my bum doing?" He must have been peeing. I changed him and again he said it hurt when I wiped him down, he actually grabbed my hand to move it away and then changed his tune - "It not hurt. It not hurt!" I haven't tried to retract the skin, the urinary opening doesn't look to be impaired at all.

Looking at his penis, it looks weird. It's curving and puffy in a few places. I don't normally spend time looking at his bits, so this could be normal, but overall, it looks bigger than I remember. Then there's that red tip. Of course, I also change Felix's diapers, so my perspective is a bit off. And, being concerned, I'm probably reading/seeing more into this than usual.

I just stepped outside to get the mail - damn, it's cold! it's mostly snow now, with rain mixed in. It was the other way around this morning. This will make travel, by any route, fun. It's the first snowfall - not that it's amounting to anything, but with the temp below freezing now, the roads will be dangerous. Everyone knows winter is here, but no one prepares until well after the first snow and it's always a disaster.

~~

The tip is visibly swollen now. So maybe it's retraction based.

Still going with a wait and see attitude. With the exception of diaper changes, he's only complained about it twice - presumably while peeing - but he's peed lots of other times, as those were some wet dipes.

I've been giving him lots of very diluted apple juice laced with probiotics, and we'll go heavy on yogurt at supper. Jay will be home within the hour and he'll take a look at it, since he's the penis expert.


~~~
By the time Jay got home last night, E's penis was visibly swollen, at the tip and down the length. We decided to wait overnight... this morning it was still a bit red but the swelling was almost all gone. He didn't complain about it before we went to daycare and the staff didn't mention him saying it hurt during diaper changes today. So, I guess it was a natural retraction thing.

November 3, 2008

With as active and clumsy as Elliot is (and with all the toddlers I know who have damaged their mouths/teeth) I'm very surprised that Elliot hasn't hurt himself more.

On the way to daycare this morning, Elliot stopped to pick up a stick but he kept on going and smashed down on his face on the sidewalk. This is a regular occurrence with him, but he hurt himself more today than usual. Typically, his hands break his fall and he just comes to rest on his face. Today, his nose was scraped and when he looked up at me, his mouth was full of blood. I didn't have any tissue in my pockets (dumb - his nose has been running like a faucet!) so I wiped some of the blood with my glove so I could see where it was coming from. he wasn't shrieking like it was major, but he was crying and I could see blood around his teeth, so I scooped him up and carried him back home - luckily we were only a few houses away. (But I was also wearing Felix, so it was an awkward return trip.)

His lip was super-puffed by time we got home and blood was running down his face. He kept spraying it on me as he talked and cried, too, so my face was a bit scary. When we got him cleaned up, we saw a nasty gash in the lip, but thankfully his teeth are fine. I honestly don't know how we keep dodging that bullet, but I hope our luck holds.

He's at daycare now, poor muffin. It looks dreadful, but he was in a good mood when I left. (He did say he wanted to come home again, but he's been saying that every time I drop him off now since his molars started cutting through.)

~~
Ugh. We got a better look at his lip tonight. That little piece of skin that attaches under the lip to the gum is severed. He's got a big scab on the top of his lip now - looks like one half of a perfect set of model lips! He's in good spirits about it, though. But when I asked him to see his lip, he backed up fast, saying "It's CLEAN! IT'S CLEAN!!!!" (Jay had to check it and clean it out because it looked like there was a bit of grit in there.)