 | Diary Navigation:
|
October 27, 2002
My mommy told me not to put beans in my ears…
Well, that’s the song that popped into my head when Eric came home and announced the diagnostic: ear infection, sinusitis. In my last entry, I already mentioned that Victor had got himself a nice case of ear infection and sinusitis. This time, only one nostril was runny and that was odd enough for the doctor to be mildly concerned: “I think it’s sinusitis but if it’s not unplugged after 24 hours of antibiotics, you’ll have to go see the ENT specialist because that means he’s stuffed something up there.” When Eric shared the doctor’s wisdom with me I shrugged and it basically went in one ear and out the other. Victor never really went through the oral phase (typical with DS) nor has he had the impulse of stuffing stuff in body orifices so why bother worrying?
The very next morning, at 4:00 a.m., I was jolted awake by a sudden flash and blurted out: “Eric! A couple of weeks ago Victor was stuffing a straw up his nostril and thought it was quite funny. What else could he have stuffed up there?” Eric didn’t budge. I felt kind of silly so I calmed down and fell asleep.
The next morning, while sitting at the table colouring, Victor let out a mighty sneeze and two long streams of mucous jetted out of his nostrils. Whew! One less worry.
Around lunchtime, Eric left for football. Did I ever mention he has season tickets? This is one point of contention between the two of us, but I’ll get to this later! I sat both kids at the table, Victor with a memory game and Olivia with her crayons and a colouring book. I suddenly had to go so I made a mad dash to the toilet. It couldn’t have taken me more than 2 minutes but when I came back, I caught Victor with both feet on the table and Olivia playing with Victor’s game. Seeing that it contains tokens the size of quarters and that Olivia is still in her oral phase, I pulled the game away from her in a jiffy. I counted all the tokens and assessed that one piece was missing. Just as I made this discovery, Olivia started to cough. I froze and looked at her thinking a thousand thoughts: “Did she eat it? If so, is it too large to come out the other end? Would it hurt if it did? Could the stomach acids disintegrate this piece of plastic? Should I make her throw up? If so, how long do I have before it reaches the intestine? Do we really need to spend 9 hours in the ER waiting room?” That’s when I snapped out of it. I figured I had at least 10 minutes to try and find the piece before freaking out. So I looked around: on the floor, under her bum. Nothing. What if Victor lost the piece this morning? In that case, it would be in the living room. I turned the living room upside down. I had to in order to look under the rug. By the time this was done, the 10 minutes were long gone. I was about to give up in despair when all of a sudden I actually thought of looking on the shelf where the game is stored in the first place. Sure enough, there it laid, all chewed up from the last time I guess. Aaaargh! Why does he always have to go to these friggin’ games!!!
Football
A year before Victor came along, we had to witness the rebirth of the Alouettes. Father and son quickly became enthralled. I wasn’t too fond of their bi-weekly excursion but hey, what reason could I use to stop them? Unfortunately the Alouettes did well and the pair has been buying season tickets ever since. I our present situation, I think it’s irresponsible of him to buy these tickets and I’ve given him a few earfuls but to no avail. He thinks I’m domineering and simply trying to control every aspect of his life. My argument is that we have a limited number of leisure hours per week that can be split into three categories: personal time, couple time, family time. It’s pretty obvious that attending these games cuts right into his personal time at the expense of exercise. I can’t believe he goes out to watch others exercise when he himself would benefit from a little sweat inducer. I talked about this with a childless good friend of mine. She thought it made sense for him to do this and that I should take the same initiative. I don’t know how I could manage to do this when I have trouble washing my hair twice a week. Every weekend I have to make a scene to weasel my way into getting a few minutes for my shower! The very next week , Patricia called me up and asked me out but I declined: “I can’t, Eric’s going to a ball game.” I think she’s reconsidering her opinion. I just wish he’d put off the whole thing until they can go as a threesome: grandfather, father and son.
Control and friendship
“Danielle! Comment vas-tu? How about lunch?” And off I went to lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen since July. I came back feeling like a million bucks and wondered why I hadn’t called her sooner. That’s when I got the revelation. I realized that with a career, a family and a home to maintain, a best friend would be ideal but the reality of it all is that my life and I are too complicated to be fulfilled by just one friend. I can find a little bit of what I need in multiple friendships but the root of my problem is that I have not been assiduous in the friendship maintenance department. That’s when the element of control kicks in. I need to manage my life better in order to have more time for my friends. Easier said than done. To manage my life better, I must focus on my values and what I have been seeing I do not like. My generation seems to be totally engulfed in materialism and consumerism and I’ve fallen right into the trap. It doesn’t help that the markets are tanking and all of North America is focusing on real estate but I guess that’s still not a good excuse! At lunch, my friend told me about her supper with a rich famous businessman. When she found out she would be meeting him, she was ecstatic because she always thought he looked interesting. Was she in for a disappointment, all he talked about all evening was his boat. Many of us define ourselves by what we own. Whatever happened to character? What a disgrace. It doesn’t end there. This exaggeration also extends to our children. Olivia’s babysitter has been in the home daycare business for years and she says that the children aren’t the same as they were 10-15 years ago. She finds that many children don’t know how to play, many lack initiative and more are troubled than ever before. She can’t put her finger on the exact problem but she thinks that it’s because parents are pushing and expecting too much and not spending enough quality time with their children since they’re always running around. I thought that was food for thought.
Victor and the Olivinator.
When Olivia is an angel, Eric calls her Sweet Pea; when a trouble maker: The Olivinator.
It took her 15 months but The Olivinator is finally walking and up to no good!!! The average age for walking is supposedly 13 months and most of my friends’ babies started to walk at 11 months, so I guess she’s the yin to their yang! I’m relieved because we can finally go outside and play. Winters are cold here and when babies don’t walk you can’t stay out very long.
Victor went to visit a pumpkin patch with his daycare group. They hopped on the bus and off they went to the closest farm. Too bad he still has no words to express his experience. His educator said he loved it; he even helped clean out the pumpkin they brought back to class. She also told me that they are catching nearly all his pees (his initiative). He goes to the toilet and puts the potty on the toilet bowl. That;s his way of communicating. Sometimes I just wish I was a fly on the wall.
I bought him a Tigger costume for Halloween. It’s made of a stuffed Tigger head (Victor’s face comes out at the neck) attached to a bodice (only word that came to mind). He loves to watch Winnie-the-Pooh but grunts at his outfit. He hates all sizeable stuffed toys with anthropomorphic characteristics. To think he’s going to wear one!!! I’m actually thinking of painting his nose black and drawing whiskers. Eric calls me a dreamer. We’ll see…
Til next week,
Danielle
 |  |
|
want to keep a diary on iParenting?
Authoring a diary on the iParenting network allows you to chronicle your family's story, preserving it for years to come. It's also a great way to get the most out of the iParenting community. Click here to start...
|
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families. 
