Ear Infections, Fevers, Naked Baby...Oh My!

Soooo, Mr. Cooper's had an eventful past two weeks. Well, okay, we've had an eventful past two weeks...Cooper's just had a very integral part of it. Let's start at the beginning.

Back on the 5th of March, I got sick. It was like the flu and bronchitis and a fever all rolled into one. I attempted work on Monday morning, but came home after a couple of hours and went to bed. That eve, my fever got really high and I was totally shivering (Abbie loves to tell this story how she got home from work, and I was shivering and sobbing saying, "soooo coooold." Yeah, ha-ha, very funny.) Anyways, amongst the fever and chills and headache and body aches, I couldn't breathe (Abbie likes to laugh about this one too b/c I said one day, "I think I might have lung cancer." She's not very nice when it comes to these things). I wasn't able to take a full breath.

Anyways, on Wednesday, the fever and chills and headache and body aches were gone...just needed to beat the lung problem, clogged head and throat tickle. Well, that night, Cooper gets a fever. Over 103. So he didn't go to day care on Thursday. Instead, Abbie stayed home to be with Cooper that day while I went to a morning job interview (not very easy to do when you can't hear anything and your chest is tight and you've got a throat tickle). I get home and stay the rest of the day with Cooper so Abbie can do some work from hom. His temperature stays over 103, bordering on 104. He slept the entire day away (like a limp noodle), but had a very difficult time sleeping that night.

Friday, I stay home with Cooper. His temperature hovers between 101.5 and 102 all day long. Friday's different in the regard that, while he's still a limp noodle, when he's not asleep or lifeless, he's crying and crying and crying. It was loud! We discovered the day before that the only thing that would distract him and keep him from crying was PBS Sprouts. If you don't know what PBS Sprouts are, its a PBS station on digital cable that plays nothing but kid shows, including Barney, Noddy, Thomas the Train, Teletubbies, and Dragon Tales. When he didn't get to watch Sprouts, he was fussy. Put on the boob tube, and the boy began to drool all over himself.

We went through the weekend like this. Very sluggish during the day, unable to sleep during the night. Lots of screaming and crying. We were coming to wit's end.

Finally, on Monday, we noticed Cooper pawing at his ear. Well, eureka, we got it figured out. He has an earache, if not an ear infection. So we pull out the ear drops, and wouldn't you know it? It helps with the constant crying. His pain has subsided, if only briefly. We give him some Children's Tylenol for his fever, and wham-o, he's now feeling 100% better. So we keep him on the drops. Monday night, he sleeps much better, with one exception...he gets up at 4:30...a habit that he has yet to break. He stays home on Tuesday as usual with me and stays home with me on Wednesday. His temperature these three days was still over 100.

Thursday, he goes to day care, but he was still lethargic. When he got home, he was still fussy and Abbie began to question whether or not he was now crying just to get picked up. It is, after all, that time of his life where he's pushing and pulling, wanting to be with us, yet wanting to expore all at the same time. Friday, he wakes up at 4:30 again, but manages to go back to sleep until about 5:30-ish, so we were able to get some extra sleep. Amazingly, Friday, he's a whole different child. We have our fun-loving Cooper back.

Since he was sick, he's been a bit more assertive when he wants us to pick him up, and he's throwing tantrums now. I mean, bona fide, stomp the ground, fling himself backwards tantrums. Mounds of fun, let me tell you.

Saturday, we visited Cooper's GiGi and Papi in the morning, then went to get him some top of stairs gates. Abbie, Cooper, and GiGi had a good time jamming on the drums and Cooper had a great time chasing Wolfie around the house. I spent a good portion of that afternoon after we got home putting up the first of the two stairwell gates. Y'see, he now has a tendency to go to the top of the steps and peer down. That's not the scary part...its when he turns around and attempts to take a step and then loses his balance and instinctively sits back on his butt that's scary...particularly since he's at the top of the stairs.

I spent some time today struggling to get the second gate done at the top of the main stairs. Cooper tried to come up to me once while I was doing it, and, with Abbie behind him, he turned to look at her, then to me, and voila, he fell down the stairs. Thankfully, Abbie caught him before he fell more than 1/2 step. Just went to show us how important it is that we're there with him when he's on the stairs. Oh, and I didn't mention it, but he's also figured out how to go down the stairs as well as up them. Today, he came down the entire staircase. Yay, Cooper!

He also got a visit from his friend Emily Milton. They had a good time playing, although, at first, they seemed very shy. Amazing the differences in children from just a month prior.

And finally, his last "adventure" today. I was changing Cooper's diaper, and gave him some "naked baby" time. Needless to say, that didn't work out well. I always have a fear that he'll pee everywhere whenever we give him "naked baby" time. He has yet to do that...until today. The little booger squatted down to pick up some toys, and Abbie looks down and asks, "did he pee?" Well, he sure as heck did. Imagine that. But, it gets better. In addition to that, she picks him up, and I look down to find a turd on the floor...then another, and another. Turns out, he's dropping turds like a C-130 dropping paratroopers. So we clean him and the floor up. Then he disappears in the kitchen to play...still "naked baby". He's quiet. Then comes sauntering into the living room where we are. Hmmm. Then Abbie drops the hammer..."Is that poo on his hand?" Well, s**t, it is. He crapped in a jar in the kitchen, and stepped in some and grabbed some. Needless to say, we were laughing so hard that it took some time to clean it up.

How fun, huh? And we're going to do it again really soon with our next baby. :-) Life don't get any better than this.