St Patty's Day 2011

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making peace with food

My little Batu has slowly evolved from a terrible eater, to a picky eater, to a good eater. For those of you with kids that eat well, count your blessings. We've struggled with Batu's bad eating habits for the last 2 1/2 years. Imagine trying to hunt down chicken nuggets in Turkey! I've done it. Though I still long for the day when I can make one family meal, at least now I have options. Let me review some of the staples, and a few recent "new additions" to Batu's discerning palate:

Old Favorites:
grilled cheese
pancakes
scrambled eggs
oatmeal
fish sticks
mac and cheese
pasta with butter
grilled carrots
cinnamon raisin bread
cream cheese
pizza
pears
apples
watermelon
muffins
ice cream
chocolate
grapes

New Likes:
peanut butter (hurrah!)
strawberry jam
ketchup
hot dogs
mandarin oranges
sweet potato fries
cereal with milk
Dora chicken soup
bananas
veggie sticks
cheese ravioli
corn

Still Working On:
Chicken
Red Meat
salmon
Mixing different foods together (like pasta with veggies, stir fry)
rice (he likes to pick the orzo out of the rice pilaf)
cold cut sandwich
mashed potatoes
tomatoes
peppers
broccoli (I know, who eats this?)
roasted potatoes

Ok, so maybe that doner kebab is a few years away, but I am one happy momma to have reached this pinnacle in Batu's short, but ever growing food repertoire

juggling act

I am constantly rushing around, and I am really, really tired. The work week goes something like this:

Monday:

5:30 Batu calls out for "Mommy." I'm usually awake about 5 minutes before the "call" and every morning I hope and pray that it will be quiet, for the next hour.

5:45 I climb into Batu's bed for the possibility of more sleep.

6:30 We get up, go downstairs and watch a little t.v.(very bad, I know, but it's only for 20 minutes). While Batu watches Dora, I get the nebulizer ready and make coffee. We do the neb for 10 minutes, change into clothes, and start to make breakfast.

And if you are wondering what my wonderful husband is doing during this time, the answer is SLEEPING. That's right. Ozan snoozes until Ayla wakes up, usually around 7am. More on this later. Grrr.

7:00 Batu eats breakfast, sometimes with a few bouts of whining about wanting only milk, or his latest rant about wanting to play with money (real money! dirty. gross.)

In the meantime, Ayla is awake and Ozan gets her bottle ready and feeds her. I say good morning.

7:30 Clean up, try to get Batu tp use the potty.I get ready for work in about 10 minutes.

Ayla sits in the little co-sleeper in our bedroom while Ozan does his morning rituals.

7:45 I put Batu in the car and head off to daycare.

Say goodmorning to daycare teachers, and kiss Batu goodbye.

8:00 Wait for express bus to go to work

Sometime between now and 9:00 Ozan takes Ayla to daycare and drives to work

8:30-4:30 Work

4:45 Wait for express bus (which drops me off in front of the daycare)

5:20 Pick up Batu and Ayla

5:45 Get home. Unload car, get mail. Change clothes. Feed Ayla. Feed Batu. Manage occasional temper tantrums and other bad, end of the day behavior. Convince Batu that vegetables are really, really good for him. Dream about collapsing into bed for the next 10 hours. Sometimes dream about sneaking off to a deserted island for a week.

6:30 Ozan gets home. Play with kids for 15 minutes

6:45 Start the nighttime routines.

7:00 Ayla Bath

7:15 Batu Bath, Ayla Bottle

7:30 Ayla is in bed

8:00 Batu is in bed

8:30 I dream about going to the gym. Instead, I clean kitchen, get Ozan's dinner ready, check work email, and maybe watch some t.v., or blog.

10:00 I am in bed

Repeat above for the next 4 days.

finger licker

While dropping Batu off at daycare this morning, I observed the strangest thing. Little "Justin" (not his real name) was sitting alone on the bench near the cubbies licking his fingers and hands. At first I thought, "Maybe he just ate something and was trying to nip off a crumb." After a few more minutes, he continued to lick his fingers and hands all at the same time, cupping them in a ball, while drooling all over himself. I looked up at the teacher and said, "What's going on here?" She apologetically acknowledged that "it's strange behavior" and they will clean him up once it's over. I was like, "Clean him now and stop this nonsense, or send him home!"

After I left, I couldn't get the vision of this kid's finger licking out of my head. I thought about it as I drove up to NH for work. I mentioned it to a co-worker to see her reaction. Her response, "probably some sort of compulsive disorder." I later googled "toddler finger licking" but didn't find much information. It's episodes like this that make me want to take my kids out of daycare.

just when I thought things were normal. . .

. . .I found myself diving for the phone to call 9-1-1. Yup, that's right. Last Tuesday seemed like a typical night. I picked up Batu and Ayla from daycare. On the way home, Batu started to get a little whiny and mopey in the car. I brushed it off as typical baby sister jealousy. When we got home, he was really clingy. Ayla fell asleep in the car seat so I transferred her to her room and changed into sweats. Batu continued to moan and groan so I picked him up, still thinking he was in a regression state. After a few minutes of holding him, his body started to twitch and jerk for about 30 seconds. Then he went limp in my arms. My mind started racing. I put him on a chair and he was completely despondent, eye lids half closed, and lips turning blue. I dove for the phone and called 911. The operator kept me on the line until the ambulance arrived. He kept asking me if Batu was breathing, and he was, thank god. I laid him on the floor, on his side as instructed. The next thing I knew I was grabbing Ayla, my bag and heading for the ambulance. I explained the episode about 10 times to the EMTs. I had noticed that Batu felt warm when I was holding him, and they suspected he had a febrile seizure. After we got to the ER, they took Batu's temp which was 103.7. Thankfully at the hospital he perked up a bit (after the kind nurses supplied him with a box of Thomas the Trains, and the motrin kicked in). The final diagnosis was febrile seizure, as the EMT suspected. We were discharged after about 1 hour. Since I didn't have my car, I had to call my cousin who lives close by for a ride. The taxi would not take us without a booster seat for Batu (who knew?). My parents came up to help out since Ozan was flying back to Boston from Denver that night and planned to arrive around 1am.

Batu is doing a little better now, but still having sporadic fevers which our pediatrician said was a "virus.

thank you parents

It's been so long since I wrote, so I felt inspired tonight (thanks to George). Today was Ayla's baptism at St.John's church in Cambridge. My parents came up this morning to help out and will stay over tonight and watch the kids all day tomorrow while I work. How nice! It's so great to have a set of helping hands with the kids. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to have great parents who live close by to help us out.

2010 - not a fan yet

here's an account of what has not gone right so far this year (with a little snapshot of more wrongness from the close of 2009):

Dec 19th: Batu started vomiting at 4pm, just two hours before Ozan and I were planning to go to a neighborhood "adult" party (and drink a lot)

Dec 20th: Batu continues to vomit and I learn that water makes you vomit even more

Dec 21: Batu does not vomit and munches on teddy grahams all day. Ozan vomits at approximately 10:18 pm. I think, "Am I next?"

Dec 22: I vomit at 6:22 am. Ozan decides he feels better and goes to work, leaving me stranded on the couch with an infant and a dehydrated toddler. My mom comes by to help (save me) at 10 am. Batu vomits again at 6:30 pm

Dec 23: My mom calls to tell me, yes, you guessed it, she vomited.

Dec 24: Recovery for all

Dec 25: Merry Frikin' Christmas

Dec 30: Batu has 102 fever

Dec 31: Batu has 104.5 fever

Jan 1: Batu's gums are inflamed and bleeding and complains of hurting mouth. I call the doctor who advises to go to the walk-in clinic the next day. Genius! Happy Frikin New Year

Jan 2: Go to doctor. Batu is diagnosed with herpes gingivostomatitis - translation - fever blisters of the mouth and gums. Get prescription for Zovirax and rush to pharmacy.

Jan 3-8: Recovery and Batu gets addicted to banana flavored oral Zovirax as he continually reminds me, "Mom, it's time for my medicine."