the worst of times

it looks like i have may have spoken too soon. it started on tuesday night when he threw up his dinner all over the place and then went on to have a 39 degree fever. it didn't compute with me at first, we were thinking flu maybe? it was on wednesday morning when the fever was still there and his eyes were as droopy as his limbs that i realized, it was the MMR shot. the statistics are there, a certain percentage of kids (around 20%) will see a fever reaction 7-10 days after the shot. marko stayed home with him for the day and they relaxed, we hoped that would be enough.

thursday morning he still wasn't himself though and so i elected to stay home. i am glad i did, his temperature was up and down all day, he wasn't really interested in food, slept 3.5 hours for his morning nap and then had two bouts of diarrhea. he was a grouchy melting down mess all day, but by the evening he seemed to have come back around and was acting himself. we thought we were in the clear.

this morning we woke up once again to a fever only this time it was accompanied by the rash you can see here. it is another side effect, this time prevalent in around 5% of kids who get immunized. they show signs of the illness itself. so cohen has little red measles like bumps all over his face, chest, and back and only this evening have they spread to his legs. there is a patch on his forehead where he keeps scratching and so it is raw. i feel so bad for the little pooper, he just isn't acting himself, so many fits and tears and so much frustration (from both of us).

i hope it passes soon and that all is ok in the end. i'm sure it will be. right?

a spoon full of sugar helps

so today was the first day of school. i mention this because as many of you know i work at a university, in fact i work in the enrollment office of a university, which means this time of the yeah is a bit chaotic. the buses are overcrowded, the line ups for lunch are long and loud, everywhere you turn there are students. it was a busy day for me on the phone, call after call, question after question, it should have been enough to keep me distracted, but it wasn't. all day my mind kept thinking about how today was immunization day for cohen. we were late with his one year shots due to some scheduling mixups and so tonight was the night he was going in for his dreaded mmr shot. i say dreaded because once, many months ago, i did an internet search about immunizations, and the stories that the mmr shot brought out in people were terrifying to say the least. i quickly turned off the computer back then and vowed to never think of it again. it was always there though, in the back of my mind. so today there was a lump in my throat, not just because he was going to have to get it, the terrifying shot, but also because i wouldn't be there with him, i would be still be at work finishing my 10.5 hour day.

i pestered marko online all day confirming that he had all the details, which shots we were getting, which we were declining (chicken pox), what to do if there was a reaction, how he could contact me. i was a paranoid mess. eventually i took some deep breaths, talked myself off the ledge, and made the end of day trek home.

when i got here i found the two of them laughing away at something on the floor without a care in the world. marko could tell i was still worried and shook his head, what was i so worried about anyway? turns out he only cried for a moment and he was completely fine the minute it was done. there was no reaction, no sense of abandonment that his mom wasn't there, no fever or fatigue. he didn't even flinch when i touched his prick point, but instead swatted my hand away and carried on his merry way as if to say, geez mom, you need to relax. i think he's right, now that it's over maybe i will.

what a way to make a living

summer is winding down and the kids are heading back to school so it seems only apt that i head back here to the blog. so many things have happened in the space between then and now. cohen had his first (but i am certain not last) run in with a sharp edge. this time it was the space smack between his eyes that took the brunt of the wooden train impact. thankfully there weren't any stitches and word has it very little crying even, (he was with his nanny) but you can still see it almost a month later so we will see if there is a scar. Since then there have been dozens of bruises and scrapes on legs and arms and chins. not one to be knocked down by pain he is always on the go.

we went to the pne a couple of weekends ago and much to my surprise cohen was completely overwhelmed by the experience. he is constantly surprising me in that way. it was not unlike that time he was terrified of grass, only this time grass was petting zoo animals and large crowds clapping in unison. it is the strangest things that trigger fear in him. for instance, there is this scene in an episode of caillou we sometimes let him watch where a real elephant (as opposed to a cartoon) is shown eating an apple. it completely terrifies him, he covers his eyes and turns away in tears. is it because the apple is red? the trunk is so long? the elephant drools too much? who knows, but apparently he does not like superdogs, petting zoos or elephants eating apples. jumping off the bed without holding on though? no problem.