thanksgiving crafts

As part of our Thanksgiving festivities, we created pine cone birdfeeders. The idea was to "share the bounty" with the birds. Pop-Pop and Nana kindly collected pine cones from North Carolina and shipped them out to us in advance of their visit. Mama and Luke bought the birdseed, and then we all sat at the "kid's" table to mash shortening into the pine cones, roll the pine cones in birdseed, and tie on a loop of twine. We had a lot of fun mashing, smashing and rolling, and then hanging the bird feeders outside. Fun, that is, until I started feeling itchy. It turned out that the birdseed had peanuts in it! Who knew?! I had to dash inside, take a full shower, put my clothes in the wash, while Pop-Pop and Nana got all of the peanut-birdseed out of the house, vacuumed the rug in the garage (so as not to spread peanut dust) and basically disinfect everything. It was quite the drama!

sick boo-boo

Luke has been sick this week with a fever, sore throat, aches, and general malaise. After a couple of days of Dada's careful attention and then a couple of days of Mama's attention, he's on the mend. Jean-Max took him to the doctor earlier this week, where the doctor pronounced Luke [yes] sick, but generally healthy and successfully fighting the virus. They also gave Luke this really cool mask.

a visit I hoped would never happen

We spent last night in the emergency room with Luke because he was having an allergic reaction. He's OK, and as far as allergic reactions go, this was not severe. But, it feels like the world has gone topsy turvy, because I know very well what a severe reaction feels like, and I was fervently hoping that Luke was not allergic to anything and that we would never, ever, have to see him having an allergic reaction. The offending substance? Pineapple.

the april report

The past few months have been a blur of travel, illness, and (as always) lots of joy and napping. Some of the highlights from April, which now seems so long ago:

Two work trips for Mama -- San Luis Obispo and Imperial Valley/San Diego. This second trip shows how my work takes me to *all* the hot spots in California. Er, not so much.

One work trip for Dada -- four days in Cary, which makes it official that Jean-Max sees my Dad more than I do.

One major illness for Luke -- five days (count 'em FIVE) of a 104 degree fever. Some other numbers that might interest you.

• 1: number of consecutive hours that Luke slept at night (i.e., he woke up every hour all night long for nearly five days).
• 1: number of parents in the house when Luke was sick (of course, this all happened when Jean-Max was traveling!).
• 2: number of doctor visits in a four day period.
• 2: number of hours it would take for the Children's Motrin to start working (i.e., I would give my cranky feverish boy a dose of medicine, and it would take two bleeping hours for it to help him feel better).
• 2: number of pounds Luke lost that week, while he was so sick and not eating.
• 3: number of times each day that I called Dada to report on how Luke and I were doing.
• 102: the lowest that Luke's fever was during this five day stretch.

The doc never got a great look at Luke's throat, but we're pretty sure he had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. Sounds horrible, and it was. Poor Luke was sooo sick. But then, on Day 6, he woke up like nothing had ever happened, and was back to his normal, happy, active self. It was cah-razy.

Pretend play -- One morning in April, Luke woke up and all of a sudden, he started telling stories. Long, elaborate, complex stories. And, he started "pretending." Like, let's pretend this is an apple and eat it. Let's pretend this is a cookie and have a tea party. Let's pretend this train is Little Puffer! With a sudden leap in cognitive ability, Luke jumped feet first into being a preschooler.

what happened?

We've been very neglectful of the blog, of late. Sorry -- Luke has mainly been sick. From a few days after his birthday until a few days ago, he had a nasty cold. Fever for a few days, one night of vomiting (sorry, too much info) and lots of boogies and snotties. We kicked the nebulizer into high gear and have been able to avoid nearly all wheezing. Luke's better now and had his 2 year check up on Friday. The stats are 36 inches and 26 pounds. He's consistently at the 75th percentile for height (which he must have inherited from Pop-Pop) and the 25th percentile for weight, taking after his parents who were both (and wish they still were) skinny-minnies as kids. I'll close with a vomiting anecdote (lovely, I know). After poor Luke threw up all over me, he looked at me plaintively and asked, "What happened?!" Poor boo-boo. So much of life is a mystery when you're 2.

back on the vicks

As things seem to go in the Vally household, I got Luke's cold. My lungs are congested, I have no energy, and I had to call Jackie for some extra help chasing the toddler, who clearly isn't as sick as I am. I am going back on the Vicks.

In other news, Le Chat, who is 70 in cat years, killed a mouse and brought it into the dining room at dinnertime last night. Ewwwww! I was secretly impressed by our old man Chat, and simultaneously grossed out that we had (and hopefully don't have anymore) a mouse in our house.

damn storytime

I'm fed up with the Glen Park Library. Over the past two months, every single time Luke has gone to storytime, he's gotten sick. I am traveling today, sitting at the Burbank airport waiting for my (delayed) flight home, and I just got word that Luke woke up from his nap completely congested and with a runny nose. Now we need to get the nebulizer in action, per the pediatrician's orders, because Luke's had progressively worse wheezing and bronchiolitis with nearly every cold he's had.

Sitting up all night, holding an exhausted, wheezing, sad, and clingy little man is not cool. Do you hear that Glen Park Library? That is just not cool.