Day 769 - "You've Got a Friend in Me"

If people decide to sit down and rank the best animated films of all time, I firmly believe that there is one film that deserves to be at or near the top of everyone's list. That film is Toy Story. 

It's a little crazy to think about but even today, almost 25 years after its release, the themes contained within Toy Story still echo regardless of generation. The relationship between Woody and Buzz Lightyear is definitely easy to relate to. Someone new enters our lives and for a time, it seems like they are better than us in each and every way. It's like our role has been usurped. With time though, we find the new normal and may even build a strong relationship. 

Of course, one thing that everyone remembers about Toy Story is the theme song, "You've Got a Friend in Me." That catchy little number by Randy Newman continues to stand the test of time and has even found a place in each new Toy Story film released through the years. In fact, it's that exact song that inspires this blog post, specifically relating to the awesome friendship I see developing between Ellie and Ethan.

My children's relationship hasn't always been one of perfect friendship. As in any sibling relationship, there's been times that it has been wrought with jealously. For example, as I look back, it's easy to remember times that one or the other has been angered that they aren't receiving enough attention from Mommy during her limited time at home. That jealously is definitely acted on in different ways. For Ethan, it mostly results in epic screaming and a downpour of tears. For Ellie, she does her fair share of screaming and crying but she also is apt to lash out at Ethan physically by shoving him down or taking things from him. As one  can guess, that just results in more screaming and crying from both parties once Ellie is adequately punished for her actions.

As Ethan has gotten older, I've noticed more of an understanding develop between the two siblings. For one thing, Ellie has become intensely protective of her little brother. Any time he gets into mischief or potential danger, she is right there to let Bethany and I know what's happening. That's not all, though. When he's sad, she loves to retrieve a pacifier to help soothe him. When he's happy, she loves to play with him. It's that last one that brings me to today as per Ellie's morning request, once lunch was finished, we loaded up the car and headed to The Grove at Zona Rosa for some play time.

This trip to The Grove was a little different than past ones. For one thing, we were literally the only people there for the entire hour-plus we spent playing. For another, Ethan's continued growth and development has made him big enough to finally tackle the slide. For most of his life, the tree-themed slide contained within The Grove has been a bit too big for Ethan's little body. While he could travel down it with my assistance, he definitely couldn't tackle it alone. Today, it was time for that to change.

While he's still too small to climb up to the top of the slide, he could send himself down it once I sat him at the top. While the trip down was nothing to be afraid of, the landing could be a little rough for the little guy at times. That left me to hurry to the bottom to catch him every time I sat him at the top. While I was content to keep this up, Ellie took it upon herself to find a better way.

After a few times of watching me attempt to keep Ethan from crash-landing at the bottom, Ellie strategically positioned herself at the bottom of the slide as I placed Ethan at the top. Then, as I let go of Ethan, I watched as he quickly pushed himself down the slide into the waiting arms of his big sister. As she caught him, Ellie happily laughed and said, "Was that fun, buddy? Are you ready to go again?" Ethan, for his part, smiled and squealed in delight. With that, I placed him back at the top of the slide time and time again and watched as he propelled himself down into the waiting arms of his big sister.

While there's definitely been hard times with the two at times, I absolutely love watching the amazing relationship continuing to blossom between these two siblings. To paraphrase Randy Newman, they really do Have a Friend in Each Other! At least that should be the case until their teenage years. Who knows what will happen then. #DaddyWrite

Day 767 - Chicken Pox? Really?

It's official. This kid is never going to be healthy again. 

This 'Curious George' gif goes out to Ellie.

That's probably a bit of an overreaction but it's been one thing after another for poor Ethan over the past month. It all began with him having the flu back around the start of February. Then, he found himself suffering from an ear infection. Now, Ethan finds himself fighting perhaps the most unlikely illness imaginable: the chicken pox.

I realize that it's slightly overreactionary for  me to describe chicken pox as an unlikely illness. After all, children have fallen ill to the chicken pox for hundreds of years. I myself remember my own bout with the chicken pox like it was yesterday. I was in second grade and had the misfortune of contracting the illness over my birthday. For the record, the O.J. Simpson trial was also going on at that time if anyone cares.

In today's world though, the chicken pox is becoming more and more rare. That's normally the case when a vaccine has been found to assist in the prevention of an illness. A vaccine that Ethan received just two weeks ago. Unfortunately for Ethan, he falls within the 2% of people who end up contracting chicken pox after receiving the vaccine. Of course he would, right?

I can't help but feel horrible for the little guy. Bethany and I first noticed a few signs of redness and rashes on his chest on Tuesday night but didn't give it much though. As the day went along on Wednesday though, it became more and more evident that something was wrong. For one thing, the rash continued to spread from his chest to his back to his arms to his face. It even invaded poor Ethan's diaper. Honestly, just looking at my son makes me want to cry.

There are some positives to be found in this weird situation. For one thing, he doesn't seem to be super uncomfortable. While he obviously doesn't feel like himself, Ethan's not obsessively scratching all over like most chicken pox patients would. Also, according to the doctor, Ethan is in no way contagious. It's just a random occurrence that will likely run its course within three days. 

On another positive note, Bethany and I actually came to the conclusion that Ethan is likely nearing the end of the virus being in his system. His rash has already started subsiding in areas where it was present on Wednesday. Ones that showed up today are still as red and raised as ever though. We have hope though that those will fade tomorrow as well.

There is one more thing that we can be thankful for. That being the simple fact that Ellie didn't contract chicken pox back when she received the vaccine and as a result of receiving said vaccine, she can't contract the virus now. For the record, she is still very susceptible to the "Chicken Dance". Seriously, all one has to do is play the song and she is overcome by a desire to dance along. Unfortunately, there is still no known cure for that. #DaddyWrite 

Day 764 - "Little Boy's Been Sick, I Know..."

I'm going to sing a little song in the tune of "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths. Yes, it's straight out of the eighties but it's on my mind since I just finished watching Bumblebee last night which all takes place in that decade.

Little boy's been sick, I know

I know, it's really not serious

Little boy's been sick, I know

I know, it's really not serious.

Great song. A modern-day work of art if I do say so myself. It's no shocker to find out that last statement is brimming with sarcasm. The point remains that, for the very first time, Ethan has gotten sick. As the song said though, it's nothing serious; just an ear infection. However, that's not much consolation to poor Ethan.

 

Allow me to flashback to last Wednesday. In a huge change of pace, Ethan's normal easy-going and affable nature had been replaced by one marked by screaming fits and continual tears. It wasn't just the screaming and crying that vexed us though. Ethan had also become plagued by a total inability to sleep. The previous night was marked by me never sleeping for more than 40 minutes at a time before having to get up to soothe him.

"Don't mind me, Dad and sister. I'm just dying."

As the day went along, Bethany and I were in constant communication over how to help the little guy. Finally, after lunch, with Ethan refusing food and relentlessly tugging on his ear, I decided the time had come for us to go to the doctor.

While I generally love the kids' doctor and have very few complaints, chief among them would be the difficulty in getting a timely appointment during a situation such as this. Instead, we're forced to settle for the walk-in clinic. While not the end of the world, that does generally mean a lengthy wait is at hand. As many could guess, there's no lengthy wait like the one where a parent is desperately trying to keep a sick one-year-old happy while also entertaining a very energetic three-year-old. 

On second thought, desperately trying to keep a sick one-year-old happy isn't as difficult as it sounds. The difficult part is keeping him still while waiting for the appointment. It might have been something to do with the change in surroundings or maybe just a little fresh air, but Ethan was not going to be content sitting on my lap until his appointment. Instead, he wanted to walk. He wanted to explore. He wanted to make new friends.  He wanted to try to eat random little scraps of paper those same new friends had tracked in on the bottom of their shoes. By comparison, Ellie was super easy to keep happy as all she required was the occasional sojourn to the bubble wall or aquarium to take in the sights.

"Oooh, a scrap of paper. I want to eat that!"

Mercifully, after a little over an hour, Ethan's name was called and we were on our way back to the exam room. Once there, I was told to strip him down to his diaper for a weigh-in. Once done with that, I slipped his shoes back on and let him continue parading around the room as we awaited the doctor's appearance. Finally, the door to the exam room opened and in came our doctor. 

As I scooped up Ethan in my arms, I was slightly dismayed to see him respond to the doctor with a big smile and wave, leaving me to explain the exact reason this overly happy child was in an exam room. According to Dr. Avery, the "Ethan phenomenon" isn't unheard of. As the appointment went on though, even Dr. Avery became astonished at how Ethan reacted to his exam. 

It started simply enough with her using her stethoscope to listen to Ethan's heart. Unlike most children of his age, Ethan had no adverse reaction to her using the stethoscope on his bare skin. His only reaction was to gaze at it in curiosity and smile at Dr. Avery as she spoke to him. Then, she continued the exam, touching his stomach, checking his throat, nose, and finally his ears with Ethan smiling affably all the while.

Finally, the diagnosis came. Confirming my initial suspicions, Ethan was suffering from an ear infection. With a prescription for Amoxocillin in hand, I dressed my son and we were on our way. Now, five days later, Ethan is back to his usual happy self. Not only is he laughing, smiling, and babbling nonstop, but he is sleeping through the night again! 

The one weird thing to add to this whole saga is that Ethan has apparently developed an intense like for Amoxocillin. The moment we take it out of the refrigerator to give him his dose, he immediately starts smiling, clapping, and grabbing for the bottle. It all kind of makes me wonder a few things.

  

Can a baby develop an addiction to Amoxocillin? 

Is there going to be a vicious detox period for Ethan in the near future?

Does this point to Ethan's future career as a doctor or pharmacist?

All are good questions to which we will find out the answer in time. In the meantime, I guess I should think about giving the baby another dosage of Amoxocillin. It's about that time after all. Actually, it's not but I felt that little blurb made for a nice ending. #DaddyWrite

Day 760 - A Case Study For/Against Anger

I feel like it would be an interesting case study for people to share the time they were angriest at their children. What did those kids do to make their parents angry? How did the parents respond to said anger? Was it in a positive or negative manner? Also, do the parents and/or child learn anything from the situation? It's that last question that I'm especially interested in today.

It goes without saying that Mondays are always difficult. Ellie and Ethan have both gotten used to Bethany being around for the weekend and don't really enjoy having just me around after two fun-filled days with their mommy. It just so happened that today ended up being a bit more difficult than the typical Monday. The main reason for that being that everyone (not just Ethan) was more than a little tired. 

Ellie was tired because she got the pleasure of staying up later than normal last night. Since we knew in advance the college life group we lead would have smaller attendance than normal, we decided to give the kids a night off meaning I would go solo. Bethany, taking an idea from me, decided the time was perfect to do something really fun for Ellie. The two of them huddled under a blanket on the couch and whiled away the evening watch 'Ratatouille' together. The lone problem was that Ellie was definitely exhausted by the time it ended.

"I'm sorry."

As for me, my tiredness was due to a bunch of weird spasms that I began suffering overnight. After waking up over the 2:00 hour, I became completely unable to get comfortable as my chest and upper back was continually spasming. By the time I finally was able to go back to sleep around 4:30, I had already spent thirty-plus minutes in a bathtub of piping hot water followed by an hour of using a heating pad on my aching muscles. Of course, morning came way too soon for my liking after the night I had.

For the first several hours of the day, things went largely according to plan. In other words, Ellie began flipping out not long after Bethany left for work. It really didn't matter what I did or said, she was going to be unhappy. Therefore, when the time came for Ethan to take his morning nap, I decided that Ellie needed to follow suit. Fortunately for me, she really didn't require much convincing which left me with the opportunity to take a short nap of my own.

Fast forward to after lunch and Ellie deciding that it was time for her to go poop. Since Ethan and I were playing in our living room, I just told her to let me know when she was done so I could help/monitor clean-up. Ethan, to his credit, decided that Ellie needed help right away rather than waiting for her to finish. With that, the little man took off up the stairs and opened the bathroom door to peer in at Ellie. 

Ellie, as one might expect, didn't appreciate the intrusion. With me still downstairs, she leaped off the toilet, bounded across the room and proceeded to slam the door. Unfortunately for all parties involved, Ethan wasn't completely clear of the door. Two of his fingers had ended  up slammed in between the door and the frame. Almost immediately, the tears began welling up in Ethan's eyes and the screams rang out as his hand both swelled and bled. I bounded up the stairs and picked up my little man, holding him tightly as I tried to calm him.

Unfortunately for Ellie, Ethan wasn't the only one that needed calming. My anger burned bright and deep within. You see, Ellie has actually slammed Ethan's hand in a door on a previous occasion. Foolishly, I believed Ethan getting his hand stuck in a door would be a one-time thing. It was not to be though. As soon as Ethan was calmed, I turned my attention to Ellie and began berating her for her foolish decision. In fact, I was so harsh with her that she burst into tears. As she cried, I let her know that she would be receiving a spanking for hurting her brother and it would come as soon as she calmed down. 

Poor little hand.

Sure enough, once the crying ceased, the spanking came. I honestly feel bad as I made the mistake of spanking her while still angry resulting in the punishment hurting more than I had planned. Ellie's immediate response was to begin crying all over again while sprinting to the sanctity of her room. As I heard her screaming on the other side of the door, I knew I had done wrong.

Once I finally worked up the courage to open her bedroom door, I walked in and sat down in Ellie's rocking chair, motioning for her to join me. She wandered over and hopped up on my lap, burying her face in my chest. As we sat there rocking, I proceeded to apologize to her for not only the way I spoke to her but also for spanking her in anger. Lucky for me, my daughter is the forgiving type and immediately wrapped me in a big hug as she continued to snuggle away. 

Honestly, I feel like a good 45% of parenting is me apologizing to my daughter for the way I handled a situation followed by me promising I will try and learn from it. The irony being that generally I want Ellie to learn from the way she handled the situation that got her into trouble in the first place. Time will tell which one of us learns first. If I was a betting man, I'd put money on Ellie figuring it out long before me though. #DaddyWrite