Vinaignette

In no particular order:

1. Caroline and Patrick and I all caught the virus that made Edward's recovery from surgery much more annoying than it might otherwise have been. Caroline spent some time dabbing at a stuffy nose and hiding a delicate, ladylike cough behind her hand. My throat hurt for a weekend and then I sounded like Phyllis Diller. Patrick had a little congestion and a bit of a cough but it wasn't too bad and I thought he would rally like a Kappa. Three weeks later, however, it became obvious to even the worst observer (me) that far from rallying he has developed a sinus infection. Or perhaps I should say he has developed another sinus infection in the hope that italics will better convey my concern and frustration and DIDN'T HE JUST HAVE HIS FACE EXCAVATED TO AVOID THIS?

I called the ENT and she said she'd see him for his second follow-up (as scheduled) in two weeks and in the meantime we should take him into his pediatrician as soon as possible. So I did and the on-call doctor clucked and pressed on his face and read his chart and clucked some more and said, "Wow he really has been on everything hasn't he?" and I said yep.

She asked him if he had really taken the clindamycin - twice! - and he said he had. She told him that he was the first kid she had ever met who had managed to get that stuff down and Patrick looked gratified.

"I did it for the sweettarts," he said, giving credit where credit was due and she said whatever his motivation she was still impressed. Then she wrote him a prescription for omnicef which tastes about 4500% less like rancid ass and which has been effective for him in the past. He's on day three of that and I think he seems much better but it is really really really hard to tell with Patrick. He has had a bacterial infection more or less constantly for three or four or five years and thus doesn't have a great sense of what normal feels like - like, doesn't everyone feel as if their head is a bowling ball filled with glue and pudding?

My poor baby. I am beginning to feel like one of the those Washington Post articles in which they recount the story of some family who spends years going from doctor to doctor until someone finally diagnoses Hedgehog fever or whatever. Obviously we are seeing physicians and obviously you are just casual bystanders but if you have any ideas on what we might be missing with him - what could be causing his seemingly nonstop bacterial sinus swampitude - I'd love to hear them.

2. Despite the infection Patrick has been in high spirits. He loves the new school and I am trying to ignore the fact that I think he likes it so much because they seem to have recess five times a day, he gets to take art, his first book report was a diorama, they have already had a fossil hunting field trip and this week the entire fourth grade was pulled out of their classes all week to stage a play.

He was cast as a bird. No lines but he got to dance. Dance. Patrick. On stage. HA! I loved it.

Best of all he has two new friends he seems to really enjoy, one of whom he talks about more than I have ever heard him talk about anyone, um, ever. I asked him to describe her to me so I could pick her out during the play and he said, "She has long blonde hair and she thinks I'm really funny."

Ohhh! THAT one.

I figured out which one she was despite the rather, may I say male, description he gave and when I saw her pose for a group photo I knew exactly why she and Patrick like each other. Clearly they have similar senses of humor (click here for her picture.) We're having her over to play soon and I look forward to meeting her.

It's funny. Once upon a time Patrick was the kid at preschool who sat in the song circle with his back to the group. He would still sing and climb his itsy-bitsy spider, he just did it facing the opposite direction from everyone else. Slowly over the years he has gotten a lot more... overtly silly? Or maybe just less self concious? These are from a few weeks ago and he abandoned his usual glower. Caroline never needs any encouragement to get funky. Edward is obviously wondering how long he is supposed to hold the damned smile.

3. Edward. Edward has been driving me bananas. I knew the transition from invalid to preschooler #24601 was going to be difficult but I had no idea it was going to be so. very. difficult. For the past two weeks any mention of school (or swimming. or errands. or my taking a shower - pretty much anything that doesn't involve him sitting on my lap, preferably curled up with a piping hot bowl of TV) has resulted in atomic tantrums. He has screeeeeeeaaamed the entire way to school. He has fought me as I carried him into the classroom. And then he has wept and shouted and all but rent his garments when I left.

I tried to encourage him to use his words and he said, "I don't yike cool. I don't yike my teachers. I don't yike the toys or the payground. There is no fun for me there. I want to stay with you."

Which, ok, good. Got it. I understand. However, um, how to say? I understand that you prefer to eat popsicles and watch Disney Junior while I rub your back (who wouldn't?) but I need you to go to school so that I can balance the checkbook, pick up my library books and organize the shoe cubby for winter. It's not that I don't understand, Edward, it's just that I don't care all that much.

Since it is impossible to explain this to anyone (I love you, my darling, but I shall continue to place my needs above your own) let alone a three year old without having them sharply draw in their breath we have continued to exist at a screamy impasse. I mentioned to my mother that I was beginning to dread interacting with Edward and she tsk'd and thought for a bit and finally suggested a sticker chart.

"Sticker chart?" I thought but I am a dutiful child (unlike Edward) and this morning I used a marker and some of Patrick's card stock and put together Edward's Smile Chart. I thought "smile" was a nice, positive euphemism for "no more tantrums you little horror" and I told Edward that if he managed to make it all the way to school without screaming etc he would get a sticker on his chart and after ten stickers he'll get something special (TBD.) Imagine my surprise when it actually worked. He was a little teary when I walked out the door but all told it was pretty amazing.

Caroline, of course, played her twin card and got in on the Smile Chart action as well although the idea of rewarding Caroline for cheerfully going to preschool is ludicrous.

She started tumbling a few weeks ago and she loves it. She takes her practice very seriously and god knows we want to encourage her but I would like to point out that these pictures were taken as I was trying to park the car. In the garage. Right there. As in: she asked me to stop the car and let her out so I did and she raced in front of me and started stretching in the exact space I was about to put the car. Then she looked indignant when I tried to evict her from her studio space. It was kinda like the beginning of Rent.

4.

Three pictures of me and Edward playing with the self-timer just like an olde photo boothe.

One

Two

Three

5.

I have started running again and I need new music. Mumford & Sons and the Decemberists are just not cutting it. What do you listen to when you exercise?  

Comments

[discopitbull]

Prodigy is awesome; the Distillers, the Hellacopters, Monster Magnet, QOTSA, Clutch are all good to run to. I'd run to the Decemberists too. :)

[Becky]

I adored the Kiss My Black Ass couch to 5 k Once you can run the whole thing, you can listed to whichever week you want and then just keep an eye on your time. It was a nice change from suburban mom music.

Also, I don't think it's so much that you're putting *your* needs above Edwards, it sounds like it's the *family's* needs above his alone. You're balancing accounts and sorting through shoes, not flitting off to Rio. And, I think learning that occasionally the world can't revolve around you is a valuable life lesson for the preschool crowd.

[Karishma]

Hmmm. Has Patrick been checked for underlying immune stuff? One random thing that comes to mind - IgA deficiency. It's relatively common, although it would usually manifest as a whole bunch of different infections, and he only seems to be stuck with the respiratory crud, but I'm just thinking along the lines of stuff like that. Might be worth checking out, esp if he continues to get sinus infections after all that surgery! Poor kid.

[Sheila]

Huh. That's what I run to: The Decemberists. I must not be doing this right, for I thought that running 15-minute miles inspired by dirge-like folk songs was pretty good. Mumford & Sons, though? That's just crazy talk. Those guys sing FAST.

[amanda]

I want to be like you when I grow up.

Music: Cotton Jones, Fleet Foxes, Adele, Yarn, Lucinda Williams, The Gaslight Anthem, The David Rawlings Machine for exercisey activities.

Gillian Welch, Over the Rhine, Chris Pureka, Jakob Dylan for other life stuff.

(Gillian Welch is my idol, I confess. It's the only thing that makes me feel better when Life Sucks. She sang with the Decemberists on the newest album.)

[Kirsten]

OMG, you referred to both Les Mis and Rent in the same blog post? I love it. :)

[Jennifer]

I am so sorry he has a sinus infection again. I had that same surgery as a child and I haven't had another infection in... going on 23 years now. I hoped the surgery would solve everything for you. Weird.

[Leandra]

The Ting Tings (Specifically That's Not My Name) is my favorite running song because it helps me get into a rhythm. I also like LCD Soundsystem and I'm planning to download some Lykke Li.

Can I just say that your posts never fail to delight me.

[ASH]

My current playlist has The Decemberists and Mumford & Sons. Also that Florence & the Machines song "The Dog Days Are Over," since it has a nice "run for your life" component. But my fallbacks are always Led Zeppelin, The Pixies, and The White Stripes. Respectively, long and driving (Zepp) and short/fast.

[Lisa]

You would think that the smarty-farty people who MADE clindimycin would've stopped and said, "Hey, this stuff smells like a dirty diaper left in the Arizona sun for three days, then wrapped in rotten food and stuffed into a bottle. Maybe we should WORK ON THAT."

Damn, that stuff is nasty.

Have we checked Patrick for allergies?

[Jennifer]

I was going to say allergies also.

[Andrea]

Along the sames lines as Karishma, I would think about an evaluation for CVID, common variable immune deficiency, which can make people susceptible to different common viral and bacterial infections. This talks about different types of primary immunodeficiences:

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/primary_immuno.cfm

[Ellie]

I exercise (recumbent stationary bike and my daily PT) to my son's Suzuki piano CDs. The music is beautiful, I'm his teacher, and it doesn't hurt my brain (I had a brain tumor: sorting sensory input is supremely difficult now). So I suppose I am suggesting classical music :-) It's quite energetic actually.

I am so sorry about Patrick, and will join (reiterate?) those wondering about allergies and underlying immune issues.

I think tumbling for Caroline is fabulous -- I sense an Olympic gymnast in bud: she's fearless, determined, physically adept, and has charm to spare.

Hang in there with Edward. I have his nine year old temper-twin. Sticker charts are good, so is the flat out removal of privileges, though I feel that that works better on older kids. Three year olds are just sort of insane in general.

[Melissa K.]

I can't bring myself to work out to anything but the music of the Muppets, so I'm no help there - but I did want to comment on how veryadorable your self-timed photos with Edward are. My goodness, he certainly is your child, isn't he? (They all are.) Veryadorable in the extreme.

[MJ]

Seeing those pictures of you and Edward together I can understand why he'd rather stay at home with you than go to preschool. Smart kid.

[Helen B]

Firecracker by Katy Perry for workout music. Edward is adorable. It's funny to see how his smile is there but goes down a bit with each progressive snapshot. Hard to see if his grip on that pumpkin is getting incrementally stronger as well.

[Sarah]

Watch our for maroon poo with the omnicef! I guess more- do not be alarmed- than watch out. :)

[Cybele]

sticker chart. Genius. Now to keep that in my leaky brain for another year when my temper tantrum child will actually understand.

yet another hilarious post but, I gotta say I was totally had when you were posting the picture of Patrick's new friend. I was thinking "dear god, posting pictures of other peoples children is going to get you shot" and then...

Well played.

on the boys suffering terrible respiratory things... might you have any toxic mold in your household? When we moved into a new house no less than 4 people were sitting normally in my living room all thorough a christmas break while I could not enter the room without coughing/ wheezing. Prolonged exposure had my nose running, eyes swelling, throat burning etc. I had bronchitis twice in the next 6 months while we were fixing the mess. What I learned is not everyone reacts to mold, and for the love of god, make sure the window installer is using caulk...

[Fanny Price]

1) I laughed so hard at 'I just don't care all that much'--thank you for that. 2) The first Strokes album ('Is This It') is perfect running music.

[liz]

Annie Lennox's Diva album. Esp. Walking on Broken Glass.

Squeeze Singles.

And how beautiful all your kids are!

[Carmen]

I run faster and with better form to Eminem. Which is totally laughable, as I'm the FARTHEST thing from his target audience ever - suburban mom of 6 kids who go to Catholic school??

As a mom of 5 asthmatics who have horrific allergies - find a good kids allergist. I bet that is your answer to the recurrent sinus infections.

[Kristina]

I download episodes of This American Life and run to them. If I'm hooked on a story, the time flies. Downside: It can be tough to run when I'm all choked up by a story.

[Angela]

Oddly my post did not show up...but the gist was a suggestion to see an Infectious Disease specialist who will look at the story from both bacterial and host perspectives. Immune disorders fall into their jurisdiction, and several I know work as allergists as well.

[lacey]

I know that it's the Hot New Thing and so you've probably heard the suggestion a thousand times, but still: celiac disease / gluten allergy? I mention it because it seems to be the answer to a LOT of those Washington Post Hedgehog Fever Mysterious Sinus Crap articles.

[Janet]

Preschooler #24601? Hahahahahaha!

[Hawk]

Poor Edward. I actually had a hard transition from summer to school my third grade year. My mother had a new baby, and I'm very eldest-child-stereotype and did NOT want to leave after helping with the baby all summer.

I also had a sticker chart (and daily meetings with the school counselor). I think at age 7, it was mostly just horrifying to get singled out, and I eventually stopped acting out, but it took my mother a long time to disentangle me in the morning from her leg.

Good luck with the running - I badly need to get into it again. I always love running to Fergie. I need something to jazz me up.

Love the pictures, sorry for all the sickness, hope you all figure out what is up with Patrick!

[Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)]

"It's not that I don't understand, Edward, it's just that I don't care all that much."

Yes, except insert Kiel or Noah in place of Edward.

Love you!

[Liz]

I second the suggestion to have autoimmune stuff looked at. I know a symptom of something awry in that area is frequent infections (ear, sinus). Something like that came up recently for a coworker's young daughter and they told her it was genetic.

[shauna]

I may have missed something somewhere ...but I'm assuming that Patrick has been tested for immune deficiency (IGG levels, etc). Any of my patients with more than 3 infections (sinus, ear, throat, etc.) in a year are tested. It's more common than you would think, and treatable.

[Lisele]

Try googling sinus infections and gluten. There seem to be quite a few people who claim a connection between gluten allergies and chronic sinus infections. Good Luck.

[Allison]

I love love love Caroline's haircut.

[Christine]

I love "piping hot bowl of TV". That's my kid.

Also just like my kid is Caroline. I need to get her into a tumbling class, but I'm a little afraid I'll end up parenting an Olympic gymnast, so I'm putting it off.

[Libby]

I exercise to "hard" music. Rage Against the Machine (first album), Nirvana (Bleach), Beastie Boys (Check Your Head), and my new favorite band, The Staxx Brothers. (Warning, they are rather vulgar. But super fun. They call themselves "hard-ass soul.")

[jen]

My running playlist is all over the board: Adele, Florence + The Machine, Eminem, Bon Iver, Glee, Jay-Z, and some classical. I like variety.

I was thinking allergies or mold for Patrick too.

Sticker charts worked for us for potty training. I tried using them for "please stop kicking, hitting, and scratching us" but it was hard to set a time frame for the behavior. I'm glad it worked for Edward.

[AmandaL]

Daft Punk "Alive". Has "Run Robot Run" on it.

[Karen]

Pink, Tracy Chapman, Boz Scaggs, Dido, The Fray, John Mayer,Rent soundtrack....

[sharon]

Poor Patrick. I'm going with allergies too. Once this latest infection has cleared up, can you try him on an antihistamine for a few weeks and see how he goes. My younger son had reactive rather than chronic asthma as a child and was very resistant to using his inhaler. We found that a daily dose of an antihistamine liquid worked even better - without the twitchy-ness that accompanied the salbutamol inhaler and a return to 10 hours solid sleep at night to boot. Win, win. My own 'hay fever' response is felt in my sinuses which is why I think this course of action might work for Patrick.

The twins . . . ? They are just so gorgeous I could eat them ;-)

[Trants]

I'm with the Daft Punk. There's nothing I like working out to better than Daft Punk. But I'm a schoolteacher, and my high school kids have turned me on to Dubstep. Something about that dirty, grimy London punk makes me want to turn the Stairmaster up to ELEVEN. If you're game, try Flux Pavilion (Bass Cannon) or Bassnectar. I also like Passion Pit.

[kathy]

I pick some nice mid tempo song and then listen to it over and over and over. It seems to trick my brain into thinking time isn't passing. Today it was Iron and Wine's Lovesong of the Buzzard.

You resemble Annette Bening!

I'm angry Patrick is sick again! His coloring looks pretty good, though.

[Jan]

I know you're going the medical rounds and doing all you can think of, but... maybe consider again the Mayo Clinic, as has been suggested once or twice, since you're so close? It does sound as if Patrick's got something going on with his immune system or allergies.

[Virginia]

Its the Dairy!!!! Please try this. Don't replace with soy. Try rice or almond milk. But no cheese, ice cream, milk or yogurt.

[Denie Heppner]

check for mold- try tea tree oil (the melaleuca kind) and go off dairy. this is for patrick of course. :) possibly edward too.

[Erika]

Oh god, music. Most successful for me seems to be ca. 1990. As in En Vogue and U2 (Achtung Baby). Also occasionally Eddie Vedder's solo stuff, just to mix things up a bit...

[Melissa]

I'm with the immune deficiency commentors - I had a few years like that when I was 7-9, with a few, ever-smaller gaps of being well in between sinusitis, bronchitis, ear infections, and for fun, pneumonia. Finally a blood test showed very low immunoglobulin - a weekly course of gamma globulin for 8 weeks broke the cycle. Haven't had a problem since. I can't recall whether Patrick has already been tested though, so might no be relevant.

[Kristen]

Michael Franti. I love running to his music.

[FishyGirl]

I had sinus infections 3-4 times/year every stinking year until I got allergy shots, then they stopped. Because I'm apparently allergic to .... everything. So maybe that? You've probably tested him already but maybe it's worth a shot.

I like really heavy stuff to work out to - Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, older less poppy Metallica, and right now I'm liking Mastodon. Check them out if you're into that sort of thing.

[Alexicographer]

OMG, thank you. I have these days when I wonder why my son -- well, fill in the blank, he doesn't actually tumble in the garage perhaps because we don't have one, but he might as well. And then I read your posts as in, e.g., tonight and find I am not alone. Though my son is a year older than Caroline and Edward, so perhaps I should not feel so soothed. And yet.

So sorry to hear everyone's been ill and I do hope Patrick's able to regain his hard-won uncolonized-by-bacteria status, by whatever means. I'm afraid I'm no help, though.

Vis-a-vis Edward, though, I have had some success with the "Happiest Toddler" approach (which, for the briefest and funniest interpretation/alternative application, see here: http://smarshyboy.blogspot.com/2006/09/happiest-infertile-on-block.html), i.e., "I know, it's so frustrating that you have to go back to school ... blah blah blah." Just in case star charts fall short. Good luck.

[Bekki]

Foster the People and Grand National (their first album) are AWESOME workout tunes.

Thank you for making me laugh every single post!

[Kim]

Of course Edward wants to stay home - who wouldn't? Especially with the fun photos! =)

When I was little I was PERPETUALLY sick, even after having my tonsils and adenoids out. My mom had a friend who sold Shakley(?) products and started me on alfalfa tablets and Vitamin C tablets 2x/day. I swear, after that, I was never sick. Just one of those weird things maybe, but couldn't hurt to try. I'd go to GNC and see what dosage they'd recommend...I hope he feels much better very soon!

[Hetty Fauxvert]

*snort*! "I just don't care all that much." Um, thank you for putting my own (frequent, not constant) reaction to our 4 y.o. twins' nonstop demands into such eloquent form! ;o)

As for Patrick ... I think I've said this about half a dozen times here, but have you had him checked for allergies? (I know that's hard to do the classic skin test with kids, since their skins tend to react to *everything.*) I had allergies from the time I was a tot, and from ages 14 - 24 basically could never get a breath through my nose. From 20 to 23 I took allergy shots for my allergies to all things pollen-oriented (especially Western cedar) ... and at age 25, my allergies got the hint (allergy shots do take a while to work) and went away. AWAY. Life. Changing. Experience! I could breathe!!!! My constant headaches went away! Constant sinus infections went away! Glorious! (Did I already say life-changing experience?) Anyway. I vote, check poor dear Patrick for allergies.

(I will add that since he had the surgery so very recently, perhaps he's simply not healed all the way and so, susceptible to viral crap? Let's hope that's all it is!)