Uncle. No Really, This Time I Mean It. Also: We Don't Call Him Hair Man For Nothing and Other Observations

Why yes, I do have my hands full. Have I mentioned lately that it's a good thing they're cute?

There's nothing more boring (to me) than posts about sickness, so I will spare you the details of the weekend. I'll just say there was a lot of whining and not enough sleeping (is there ever enough sleeping?) You'd never know it by the above picture but Miss Louie was not her usual chipper self. Teething? Another ear infection? (not as of Friday when we last visited the pediatrician, but only time will tell). I'm at the point where I'm googling "natural ear infection remedies" and "garlic olive oil and infants" (garlic olive oil is reported to help cure ear infection which, something like ninety percent of the time aren't even helped by antibiotics). I'd really like to avoid tubes for Lucy if at all possible.

In other big news, Hair-Man got his first hair cut. Here's the before:

And, after:

And would you get a load of those teeth? Four whole teeth before eleven months! Such an overachiever, that one.

In big kid news, Ellie seems to be enjoying soccer. She runs her little tush off, chasing the ball back and forth--this week she even kicked the ball during the game (it's thirty minutes of practice followed by a thirty minute game). There were also several tissue breaks and one request for the bathroom and by the end of it all she slumps down in her little car seat, head to the side, eyes half closed. She doesn't even have the strength to bark her usual "Mommy can you skip this song" requests (she's quite the backseat d.j.). She's never run this much in her life.

And I have to say I am really enjoying the age of almost five. In the last week or so I've seen an interesting arc of maturity. Oh sure, she's still apt to ask me to open her apple sauce squeezer at the precise moment I'm holding two infant car seats, my purse, two infant lunch boxes and a coat, but she's also offering to help me when I need it. She's opening her eyes more to the world around her. Last night during Lucy's post-dinner, pre-bed meltdown, Ellie asked me if I needed help, without being asked. I told her what I needed and she did exactly what I asked, without protest or whining. I ask the kids for help a lot but I try not to abuse the privalige too much. They're not my little slaves and it's not their fault we have two babies, but we're a big family now and we need to help each other out whenever possible. I don't think that's such a bad lesson to learn.

Ellie has also started trying to translate what the babies are "saying."

"I think Lucy's saying she wants to get up and crawl," Ellie informed me this morning, during a particularly wiggly diaper changing session. "Harry saying he wants you to pick him up," Ellie announced, a few minutes later.

I expected a backlash from Ellie when I went back to work and she went back to full-time "school" but instead she seems to be thriving. Friday morning when we got a late start (the babies were home sick, sigh) she walked around the house aimlessly, fidgety and announced that she "wanted to go to school so she could see her friends."

On the Leo front, we started him back on fish oil. I gave it to him before and can't recall why I stopped--maybe it was when I, oh I don't know, got pregnant with twins or something. It's said to boost mood, improve behavior and cognition and I do remember him benefitting from it. We're giving him a half teaspoon every morning and after a week I am seriously seeing a difference. His energy level is higher (which we did not need--last night he literally ran circles around the minivan)--aside from that little spectacle, it's not a bad kind of energy. He's just boisterous and happy but best of all, generally agreeable. I mean, not all the time (have you met a kid that is?) but I feel like there's been some kind of shift. Less grumbling. Or something.

Maybe I should start taking fish oil?

Ear Fluid and Progress Notes

After last week, with Leo’s school calling me not once, but twice, to come pick Mr. Sickly up, I was a little worried about the weekend. He seemed fine though, in spite of the fact that one of his ear tubes is AWOL (there’s another probable surgery looming there). I live in constant fear of ear infections with both kids since, according to the doctor; they have both inherited my freakishly narrow ear canals and therefore are even more predisposed to infection. And poor Leo with the DS and the small canal thing—geesh, the poor guy. I am watching Ellie like a hawk since last week she had fluid that the doctor said could turn infected. OK, enough with the ear fluid! OMG isn’t this riveting?

So, the zoo. It was great to see Leo just able to run around and do his thing. He bounded up the netted ladder like a teenager at boot camp. I was impressed. And each time he went down the slide he went faster and tried more daring poses. Belly First! Belly First with hands forward! It’s great to see him so fearless and independent and keeping up with even some of the big kids. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it was great to see the changes in him in just a few months. I have still not gotten the nerve up to take him to the zoo by myself (with Ellie), but I can see that it’s not far from being a possibility. He listens better, doesn’t wander so much. However transitions are still a struggle. He could have stayed at that playground All Day. And then he could have stayed at the petting zoo the Rest Of The Day. Sometimes distracting him can be an almost two person job. But we’ll get there. And when I get frustrated with him I try to also focus on the positive when I can.