'Tis the Season...

.....of life with Toddlers.

Our season of merry & bright has begun with a series (a weeks worth) of unpleasant & gloomy.

It all began on:

Sunday of last week:
Getting ready for a birthday brunch for one of our best friends. I'm decked in heels, showered & even put on some lipstick.  Papa was busy getting Bebe Bird ready when I hear Bebe cry out.  When Papa lifted Bebe Bird up by the hand he accidentally pulled his elbow of the socket. It is referred to as a "Nurse Maid Elbow"and pretty common in toddlers, we've learned.  My niece had one, her cousin had one...BEBE BIRD now had one.  So, we call his doctor and rush to the office in Manhattan.  We pile in the car, me still in heels, carrying a wounded Bebe Bird wrapped in a big blanket, as we were afraid to put his coat on over his out of the socket elbow.

We arrive at the doctors and no sooner then it happened with a little trick of the arm by the miracle worker doctor Bebe Bird is as good as new and playing while we, his shaken up parents, look on grateful.

Monday of last week;
I have a CAT Scan while Bebe Bird is in school to check my sinuses. I'm diagnosed with chronic sinusitis and after a slew of allergy tests I am informed I am allergic to my 13 year old cat....wait what?!?!.....

Tuesday of last week:
The local beer garden in our neighborhood is hosting a Thanksgiving Crafts day filled with noodle necklaces, hand painted turkeys & pipe cleaner feathers. There were tables filled with warm cookies, fresh popcorn and pretzels. The mood was festive.  The event  fun & wonderfully unplanned. Bebe Bird sat busily painting a "rainbow" necklace" declaring "Oh my god!"as he painted the string on the necklace to make it look colorful.

While packing up to leave, Bebe Bird stood by the tall heavy glass doors waiting for me.  A gentleman opens the grand doors. They don't open all the way.  The man pushes the doors even harder...only to discover Bebe Birds teeny tiny fingers caught in the doors.  OH MY....People surround us...Bebe Bird begins to cry (he has been known for his delayed reaction to pain).  A woman grabs him a cookie, another grabs ice, I grab Bebe.  We drive to our pediatrician just down the road.  "NOT BROKEN" the DR. diagnoses "but go get X-Rays'" just in case..... 

Across the street we go for X-Rays: 

"NOT BROKEN!" the new doctor declares...."but make an appointment for an orthopedic surgeon to be safe."  You can go in on Friday or Monday...(it's Thanksgiving Day weekend-remember friends)

The new doctor puts a splint on the brave boys right arm before wishing us a happy holiday.

Brave boy is proud he has an arm like Eva from Wall-E!

Wednesday of last week :

We venture forth, splinted up right arm and all, to the Upper West Side to check out the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Balloon blow up. One of my favorite yearly traditions.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Balloon Blow Up

It's awesome! It is rainy, yet the energy still exciting.

We have dinner.  The sun has set.  We drive down to New Jersey to celebrate the holiday with family. Bebe Bird begins breathing heavily.  He's stuffy...is it a cold or is it allergies or is a reaction to his not broken splinted up right hand.  I worry.  Like a parent to to an only I panic a little.  "I hope he's ok.  Why is he breathing like that?  Let's pull over.  I'll look at him. Buddy, you OK?" the gist of our conversation the whole 2.5 hour drive down south.  No sooner that I pull into the driveway I receive a text message from Z Birds mama.  It reads 'Z has a fever...No Thanksgiving Balloons tomorrow.' 

Thursday (Turkey Day) 

Bebe Bird wakes up with a fever in the middle of the night.  I wake and begin looking all over my moms house for the ib-profen I packed for his splinted up arm.  I can't find it.  My mama awakes, then my brother.  Bebe Bird begins crying in the background.  Papa's busy trying to sooth him.  We're all exhausted.

We let the little boy rest for the weekend at his grandmas house.  

Sick Brave Boy with Splinted Up Arm

Friday & Saturday

A weekend full of text messages between Mama Friends & I :  Z birds getting sicker.  Fevery.  He's only eating ice-pops.  Then O Birds mama writes "O's fevery.  Sinus infection that turns into an ear infection."  What's happening to our boys we all wonder wearily?!? Bebe Birds fever subsides.

Sunday: 

Our day of rest.  We're back home & head to the movies for some fun & relaxation.

Monday of THIS week

Bebe Bird goes back to his nursery school with splinted arm and non-stop cough. Z's there and seems better too.  When picking Bebe Bird up his teacher mentions that he hadn't stopped coughing...maybe sounded asthmatic she mentions.  But reminds me that she isn't a doctor.  I panic to myself.  Z's mama waves her arms behind me to signal to the teacher "don't say that to her. We're fragile right now..." The teacher doesn't notice.

I worry he may have allergies like me.  Is he allergic to the cat too?!?! It can't be.  I hope not.

An appointment is made after naps to head back to the pediatricians office to see if he is in fact asthmatic.  

I'm greeted at the door by Z & family who needed a follow up appointment from Z's illness too.  "This is where it all began" commented Z's dad as we watched our un-sick looking kids playing together in the waiting room of the doctors office.

It was CONFIRMED: I AM one of those parents that takes their healthy kid to the doctor, splint and all.  His cough is just a cough carried over from his cold a few days before.  Ya don't say?!?  "It's OK," the kind doctor says, "it's what we're here for." 

We leave the pediatricians office and pay a visit to my ENT doctor who again discusses my allergy to the cat and informs me that "Yes, yes indeed" I will need surgery for chronic sinusitis.  Oh.

Tuesday (today)

Bebe Bird & I make a trip to the orthopedic.  After a few new x-ray's, two doctors and one lollipop later it was confirmed again that Bebe Bird's hand is"NOT BROKEN! But, I'd like to see you back in two weeks..."

And, so continues life with a toddler.  "I'm overwhelmed with life right now" I write Z's mama recently.  As parents we encounter almost broken bones, coughs & colds, joints out of the socket &  witness such fierce resilience.  Through it all we remain forever thankful knowing how lucky we are. In the midst of such minor chaos, our kids, are more or less healthy.  Once again, I'm reminded to keep things in perspective and to remain present in here & the nows.