The CRAZY Virus/Potty update

This is the name I have to given to the virus that my children are finally starting to recover from. In my last post (a week ago!) I mentioned that Andrea was sick. Well, she didn't even start to get better until about Sunday. Kevin got the virus too--he started on Wednesday, and is only starting to get better today.

Basically, this has felt like a week and a half of hell-on-earth for me. I know there's a lot of worse things out there, but having two really sick babies on your hands is not fun; especially when the virus seems to make them act CRAZY!

Really, it was just an awful cold/ear infection/throat infection combo. But it made both Andrea and Kevin act totally bizarre! They would seem okay for 15 minutes or so--playing, even smiling a bit--then one or both of them would go into a screaming fit for over an hour. I am not exaggerating! And nothing could console either of them. I tried everything--pain meds, cold mist, warm mist, Vapo-Rub, cuddling, rocking, singing, cold treats, and finally, just leaving them alone! Nothing would calm either of them down. Andrea also started waking up in the middle of the night--after she was starting to feel better!--and having two-hour-long screaming fits, during which neither Rod or I could do anything to console her. We finally took her into our bed, until she cried herself back to sleep. Last night was the first time she's slept through the night in about a week.

I think Kevin got the virus worse than Andrea, though. On Sunday evening I took him into the ER, because he was crying so constantly, and his breathing was really wheezy. Thankfully, it was not too busy, so we were only there about two hours. The doctor wasn't too concerned about his breathing (though she was surprised by how full of mucous he is--yuck!). She said he has an ear infection in both ears, and a throat infection, besides all that icky mucous. So, he's on antibiotics now, which he does not like to take. The medicine smells good (banana) but he spits half of it out every time, despite my best efforts, and it stains his clothes. Grr.

Both kids lost their appetite during the virus. Andrea ate almost nothing for about 4 days in a row, and Kevin was eating only about half what he normally eats. Andrea's appetite is back now, and Kevin's up to about 75%.

***

What worries me most about Kevin is how each time he's really sick like this, it's a bit of a set-back in terms of his development. He's basically lost a week, because he hasn't been playing/eating normally. In fact, I was introducing him to fruits and veggies before he got sick, and now I'm just trying to get him to eat his usual formula again. Then we'll have to work our way back into cereal and other stuff. In terms of motor skills, he was really rolling around a lot, and pushing himself up on his arms, and we were working on sitting up and putting weight on his legs. Right now he's so worn out that he can barely spend 10 minutes in the exersaucer without needing an hour-long nap after!

***

However, we have had an encouraging development in Andrea's potty training. She still hasn't actually done anything on the potty, but she seems more interested in it and comfortable with it now. I think that's because of a few major changes I've made over the past few days.

First, I got her a potty seat and stool so she can use the grown-up potty. Also, I got her a Dora book about how Dora learns to use the potty. Actually, the book came first, although I ordered the two things at the same time. It worked out well, because she fell in love with the book at once. And in the book, Dora's parents present her with a big-girl potty seat! So, a few days after she got the book, I was able to give Andrea her big-girl potty seat. The book is "Andrea's special potty book"--she can only read it when she's on the potty. So, now she often asks to sit on the potty, because she wants to read her book! That's fine with me; it gets her on the toilet by her own choice, right? :)) So, like I said, she hasn't actually "tinkled" yet, but at least she wants and asks to sit on the big potty now.

Of course, nothing's perfect. Andrea has discovered how much fun it is to spin the toilet paper roll, and watch the paper stream down to the floor! I have told her countless times that she can't use the toilet paper until she pees or poops in the toilet, but I guess it's just too tempting!

caught in the act!