Hanging in there

My MIL has been here Saturday. I've managed not to be snotty, I think. Robbie isn't eating any better than he ever has, of course. Honestly, most days he's eaten a little bit less. The first day she pushed him all day long and by the end of the night, if you so much as showed him a spoon or a cup, he'd cover his face with his hands.

I made it very clear that she needed to back off. I said it nicely, but had she continued at that pace, I would have gotten ugly. She seemed to accept that and has only made a few comments here or there that have gotten to me. I did get another lecture about how we need to "be persistent" and "just keep offering." I guess she really does think we just don't give him food. Even David is bewildered.

The best parts of the week were when she forgot to feed him solids both Monday & Tuesday afternoon, despite having a written schedule on the table. All of this insinuation about not feeding him, and then she really does it. I think I should get a cookie for refraining from being my usual passive-aggressive bitch self.

Of course, having another person living in your house for a week is always strange anyway. It doesn't matter who that person is. It means having to put a robe on instead of being naked, not necessarily farting right when the urge hits. So I'm certainly ready for the week to be over.

But it certainly hasn't been all bad. She really does adore Robbie and he reciprocates. She is immensely patient when it comes to entertaining him. She'll hold his hands and walk him through the house (his favorite activity)all day long. She has done some chores around the house (laundry, dishes.) She is fun to have around as long as she's not commenting on our parenting, which really is the majority of the time. And of course, it's a week when Robbie isn't in daycare, which means we don't have to pay and he's not exposed to germs.

Of course, even though he's not at daycare that hasn't kept us from what has become our weekly visit to the pediatrician. He's had ingrown toenails for about a year now. I try to keep them properly trimmed and goop them up with neosporin when they get red, but this week, they won. Both big toes started looking really ugly on Monday. I was hoping to win the war, but last night one of them started oozing some grossness, so we headed in to the doctor this morning.

She confirmed they are infected and said he needed antibiotics. I was caring for the toes themselves properly, but he needed oral antibiotics as well. She added that she doesn't see ingrown toenails in babies very often, but she has seen it before. She said it's definitely genetic and we discussed all the members of my family who have had issues. I apologized to Robbie for the bad genes.

Then I asked her to check his ears because he's been rubbing at them again. She checked them, and sure enough- another double ear infection.

Now, I know you're thinking "wait, didn't he get tubes last week?"
Well, the answer is no. He should have gotten them on Wednesday, but early Tuesday morning I checked on him and found that he was burning hot- About 102. His doctor swabbed him for strep and the flu. Fortunately both were negative. His throat was pretty irritated, but it was declared "just a virus" and he'd just have to wait it out. It only lasted about 36 hours, but that was enough to keep him from having the surgery. It's rescheduled for November 4th.

Even Dr. P seemed exasperated today. "When does he get the tubes again?" It's certainly abundantly clear that he does need them. Hopefully this round of antibiotics will take care of both his toes and his ears and then the tubes will offer us a longer term solution. We're all sick of antibiotics.

That's the state of things at our house. Overall, it's been a tiring week, but not all bad.

--Trish