In My Copious Free Time

snippets from the day

I asked Alex what he was doing as he played Lego Star Wars (Wii) and he said, "Oh, I'm just adventuring right now."

This morning Alex came and got in our bed and we stayed there talking and snuggling together until almost noon. We had so much fun, giggling and playing. There was much talk about Alex's belief that he owns the middle, including speculation about where any future sibling would be allowed in the mix. Alex insisted he would remain in between Joe and me and any future baby could sleep on my other side (the outside). Trying to explain how Alex could share the middle, Joe held up four fingers of one hand, saying that the index finger was him, the middle finger was Alex, the ring finger was the baby and the pinkie was me. Alex protested, "But why does Mommy have to be so short???" Way to sidetrack the discussion, kiddo.

(No, I am not pregnant and not trying to get pregnant.)

After we finally got up I cleaned up and went out to meet some friends for makeovers at the MAC counter. Chris did terrific work as usual, doing my eyes up in a fabulous combination of Shroom, Aquadisiac and Plumage. I wouldn't have chosen these colors normally, but wow, were they ever gorgeous on.

Swatches from Temptalia, one of the most awesome of awesome beauty sites - her collection of product color images (swatches) is staggering, her reviews are always very informative and her makeup artistry is phenomenal. Plumage looks more dark navy/teal than purple in real life. I would swatch the actual colors on my hand, but it turned out that both Aquadisiac and Plumage were out of stock:

I noticed Eddie, one of the national makeup artists for Chanel, walk through the store and realized the Chanel counter was having an event, so I went over to say hi. Eddie has done my makeup a number of times and always does something really cool and inventive. Eddie loved what Chris had put on me, asking "Is there any color you can't wear?" Lately I'm realizing that I used to think I could only wear a few colors, but that is so wrong. I'm cool-to-neutral toned, so I can get away with a lot of warmer shades in addition to cools, and there isn't a color that I don't own and wear. It's all about finding the right shade and texture. I ought to post something girly and picture-laden about some of my recent makeup finds, but not tonight. :)

When I came home, Alex was playing Wii and we were all talking. Joe said something about Alex looking handsome and Alex agreed, saying he and Joe were both handsome. And I was the beautiful one. :)

A very grainy picture taken with my laptop camera - I love how he's reaching back to touch my face -- he is just the sweetest boy:

Why I love homework

I get such a kick out of Alex's homework at times. Tonight's included writing out a sentence for each of his ten spelling words for the week. Here they are:

Two means both!
Eat your cheese pizza.
There is too much snow.
If you're mad you will live.
Let's find Tomy trains.
Turn off the fan.
After playing we will go to bed.
We are under water.
Would you get me trains?
I like being around mommy.

(For posterity I should note that I typed everything as he wrote it - no spelling corrected here.)

update on Alex

Alex is doing fairly well today - we was able to walk around a bit this evening.  We just talked to the orthopedist again about the blood work they've done today and how he's responding and the issue is that there are two possible diagnoses: septic arthritis (bacterial) or toxic synovitis (viral). His white cell count is elevated, but not as high as they'd expect with septic arthritis. Other counts are elevated, but only nominally, and with septic arthritis he should be in a lot more pain, unable to move his hip. But his pain level yesterday seemed greater than would be expected with toxic synovitis. Finally, the ultrasound, which showed some fluid but not much, doesn't do anything to clear up the other inconclusive observations or results.

So that leaves us with two ways to be rule out septic arthritis: one is to continue the aggressive approach with antibiotics, put him under general anesthesia and aspirate his hip to test the fluid. This would give us a clear-cut answer, but it would also be more traumatic for Alex, and perhaps for no good reason other than giving us an easier diagnosis.

The other option is be less aggressive, take him off the antibiotic and closely observe him. IF his fever spikes and his pain and range of movement worsens, then it's more likely to be septic arthritis and the aggressive approach of aspirating his hip (and putting him under) is called for. But if he continues to get better (which would be exactly what would happen with toxic synovitis), he'll go home on Monday afternoon and we'll just watch him for fever over the next few days.

I've already done a good bit of reading on both these conditions and what the doctor said was exactly what I expected. We agree that it's in Alex's best interest to go with the less aggressive and less invasive approach. So we'll hang out here tomorrow with lots of observation and they'll give him ibuprofen for pain (he hasn't wanted/need any pain medication since last night, though). If he continues to improve, they'll do another run of blood work on Monday morning to confirm his counts are still moving in the right direction and we'll go home with instructions to take his temp every few hours and call the doc and return to the ER if his fever returns.

Not fun and not comfortable but we think it's the best option.

Alex hospitalized

Alex started complaining intermittently Thursday night of pain in one leg, which we chalked up to growing pains. His activity that day and night was fairly normal, including a trip to Target and a few rounds of Wii tennis. On Friday morning, he was still complaining of pain and didn't want to go with me to my office, so we let him stay in bed and Joe stayed home.

At about 2:30 I checked in to learn that he hadn't gotten up all day and said he couldn't, so we went into motion. His doctor referred us immediately to the ER and we got there about 4pm. He was seen fairly quickly (we might have waited 10 minutes) and then they put us in a private exam room. This was a Good Thing since it seemed to be a busy night in the ER - all the examining bays were full and there were plenty of people on gurneys in the halls.

Over the next few hours he saw three different doctors, had x-rays (he got to see the film, which was the highlight of the stay for him), had blood drawn and an IV line inserted and had an ultrasound. He was up and down in terms of comfort, but miserable anytime any doctor wanted to examine his left leg or move it or him in any way. :(

At about 8:00pm, they administered an IV antibiotic which I don't remember, but he will will have it again at 8pm tomorrow night assuming we are still here (and I am assuming that). At about 9:45pm, they administered vancomycin, a particularly powerful antibiotic. He'll receive it again in another hour or so, and I'll be asking them to administer it more slowly as the first drip produced a reaction known as red man syndrome, a histamine release reaction that causes redness of the neck and torso and associated itching.

I made a list and Joe went to fetch food for us all (which Alex ate little of) and then some comfortable clothes, Alex's laptop and his favorite stuffed toy (Beaker from The Muppets, BTW) so that we could be a bit more comfortable.

He was finally admitted and they put us in a room at 11pm. He was immediately taken by being able to raise and lower his bed and having a remote for the TV. (Last I checked, we had the latter at home, but this is apparently Different.) He finally fell asleep at about midnight and has been resting comfortably since.

Since the room is tiny and with his bed and the cot they gave us, there isn't even room for a chair big enough to sleep in, so we decided that Joe should go home and sleep there. Internet connection hasn't been good here -- this is the first time in 3 tries that I've been able to connect using my mobile broadband. (No public wireless access.)

The orthopedist will be here to see him in the morning, so we'll see what that brings. I would be shocked if he is released before Sunday, but we'll see what the day brings.

BTW, his care here has been excellent - I feel it has been appropriately thorough and it has definitely been "care" in the truest sense of the word. He has been a total trooper and I've been amazed at how he's maintained his sweet demeanor even though he's been in some significant pain. (He said several times it's the "worst thing of my whole life." :( )

Christmas: the lights, the music, the foul language

One of Alex's favorite holiday songs is Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." He sings it all the time, often interjecting his own words. (Like, "Rockin' around NewYork Ci-ty...")

Today we were listening and he was singing along so happily. When it was over, I commented that he really loves the song and sings it well. He agreed with me and was silent for a moment. Then he piped up, "But Mommy, it has a bad word in it."

"Bad word? What bad word?" I asked.

His response? "You know, 'Later we'll have some fuckin' pie and we'll do some caroling.'"

I almost drove off the road with that one, my friends.

It's official - he's too smart for me

I was just reading something about Expedition Everest and turned to Alex to tell him what I'd just learned.

Me: Hey, you know the big hill you go down on Expedition Everest?
Me: You know, the one after they take your picture?
Alex: Yeah.
Me: Did you know it's...
Alex: 80 feet.
Me: [taken aback]
Me: How did you know that?
Alex: I read the Wikipedia.

There you have it, folks.

Missing: One tooth

Alex's two bottom teeth have been loose for a few weeks, and last night I finally remembered to take some pictures of his grin while it was still intact. Good thing I did. We immediately left for the mall and while we were there (in the Hallmark store, to be precise), he turned to me and said "Look Mommy, my tooth came out, and it didn't hurt at all!"

For posterity (after pic taken with phone camera in the mall, hence the poor quality):

Growing up digital

I believe I've posted before about buying disposable cameras for Alex to use and watching him snap a picture and then immediately look at the camera back and wonder where the picture was. "No, honey," I'd explain, "It isn't a digital camera. You have to wait for the pictures." He was doing this two years ago at least, maybe more - digital is all he's ever really known.

This past weekend toward the end of "Enchanted" he leaned over to me and whispered:

Mommy, what chapter is this movie on now?

After a bit of industrious Googling on his father's laptop, Alex turned to me and said in the most forthright, sincere voice one can possibly imagine:

Mommy, I have a good idea!

(long thoughtful pause)

This morning, we can fly to New York City and go to this McDonald's for breakfast!

Tales of a Jet-Set First Grader

Alex is quite the seasoned traveler. He's only been to two other countries, but for a six-year-old, that isn't too bad. Heck, most of the kids in his class have never even been on an airplane. He loves to travel and often asks "Where are we flying to this weekend, Mommy? I want to go somewhere." Most days when I  pick him up, he asks if we can go straight to NYC. You know, like it's on the way home. (Joe, you'd have to confirm if this is your experience when picking him up.)

Here is a short list of the places he talks about going on a regular basis:

1. The aforementioned NYC
2. Disney World ("but they don't have any tall buildings")
3. Chicago
4. Singapore
5. Kuala Lumpur
6. Japan (he doesn't specify a city here, either)
7. Dubai

He's especially insistent about Singapore since it's possible I'm going there for work next year and he thinks he should be able to go. He is determined to go with me. Dubai is also another biggie thanks to the Burj Dubai currently under construction.

He's also such a frequent flier that he has deep understanding of the air travel process and lingo. He knows our home airport inside and out. He knows exactly what to do at security. Once when we were visiting friends in South Carolina (over a year ago), we walked into the Columbia airport and I looked at the departures screen, then sighed loudly. Alex noticed and said, "What's wrong? Is our flight delayed?" In October, he and I flew to Alabama and when we taxied to the end of the runway but didn't immediately make the turn and begin to take off, Alex looked around and said, "Are we on a ground hold?"

I'll pause a moment while that sinks in. Ground hold.

He also knows a lot about airplanes to the point that we rarely fly anywhere without other passengers commenting on his (good) behavior or his airplane knowledge, especially now that he's really learned the importance of watching his feet and their contact with the seat back in front of him. ;)