Rock Chalk...

The brain-washing continues.

Pneumonia: An Update

As I sit in the house I have not left in 91 hours, 30 minutes, and 12 seconds, I realize that I sort of left you all hanging with the "Maddie Has Pneumonia" poem. (Spend that much time in the house by yourself, and you get a little slap-happy. I'm beginning to see why all grade-school teachers talk in high, sing-song voices and look so creepily happy all the time. It's not the kids; it's the crazy.) So, anyway, for a quick update:

As of yesterday, she's doing a lot better. Her fever seems to be gone, or mostly gone, her breathing is better, her appetite is somewhat larger, and her energy level is up. Unfortunately, for me, her energy level is up, did I mention that? See, she's better, but she's still feeling pretty awful, I would imagine. Her throat still hurts, she still has coughing fits, and now, because all she'll drink is juice, she's got diarrhea to top it all off. So, mostly this new energy burst has been used to fuel a new level of crankiness. This level includes crying whenever you don't get what you want (even though what you wanted was "dat" pointed in a random direction at a shelf full of "dats"), crying when you spill your milk and it (gasp!) touches you, and crying for no reason whatsoever, simply because it pleases you to do so. It also includes throwing food when you don't want to eat it and hitting and pinching Mommy when she tries to change your diaper, wipe your nose, or any other undignified thing that awful woman might think of. Oh, and there's definitely guilt-inducing crying after being reprimanded for either of the latter. Yeah, because nothing makes you feel good like raising your voice to a sick kid...

To top if all off, the inevitable has occurred. I'm sick. I have some kind of nasty sinus infection/cold that means I'm dead to the world on the couch by 8 p.m. most nights. (Jon may be sort of loving this since it means he can play his PS3 in peace, without feeling guilty that we're not spending time together.) I knew it would happen. It always does when I stay home with her for more than a couple days. Plus, this week, I've been working from home with her home, and while it's been a light week, between that, taking care of Grumpypants McFussyshorts, and trying to keep on top of the household stuff, I've been attempting super-human feats, and not being a super-hero myself, the germs have gotten the upper hand, and I've been foiled by those dastardly villains again. (Editor's Note: Even through my exhausted haze, I'm pretty excited that I just managed to use the word dastardly. It's okay to be jealous.)

My whining aside, Maddie's doctor said it would be about three full days on the antibiotic before we'd notice a change, and he was right. We're hoping that the weekend will be the recovery time she needs, and she'll be back to her normal, cheerful self come Monday. And now, I hear her on the monitor, which means, she's up for the day, and me time is over. Keep your fingers crossed for another fever-free day and some blessed relief for me when Jon gets home this afternoon.

P is for Pneumonia

A is for apple juice, it's all I want to drink.
B is for breathing, not as easy as you'd think.
C is for coughing, over and over again.
D is for daycare, which I cannot attend.
E is for everything, about which I will whine.
F is for fountain and describes that nose of mine.
G is for gasping: I need some air, air, air!
H is for hopeless, how this makes my parents fare.
I is for irritated, which I am constantly.
J is for jittery, which my daddy now must be. (Because he's had breathing problems of his own, you see.)
K is for kind, what everyone has been.
L is for lonely because I miss my friends.
M is for Motrin, upon which I depend.
N is for nighttime, when my coughing will not end.
O is for orders: My doctor's I will follow.
P is for pneumonia, which makes my breathing shallow.
Q is for queen: I'm Queen of Crankypants.
R is for raspy, which I get when I dance.
S is for sleep, we're all light on that one.
T is for Tylenol that I take between the Motrin.
U is for under, the weather that is.
W is for work: Mommy's missing this.
X is for Xonpenex, that airway opening elixir.
Z is for zero, the amount of peace we'll get here.

Now I've sung the ABCs of pneumonia for you. Stay far away and wash your hands or you will sing them, too.

iMom

If you spend enough time with the Madster, you will quickly realize that the girl loves her some music. In fact, this week, she finally learned the word, music--mu-uk--and she does use it in context, asking for the musical lamb figurine on her dresser during diaper changes and rushing over to the CD player to have some of her mu-uk played. (Oh, and don't even think about pushing the buttons yourself. It will only end in a meltdown...)

In general, we're all for a love of the musical. We're more than happy to play her CDs, sing her songs, and we've enrolled her in a second Kindermusik course this Winter/Spring. However, lately, she's taken it a little too far. Miss Thing has decided that Mommy is an iPod. Not only does she almost constantly request her favorite songs (and loudly refuse to hear anything else you might feel like singing), she also requests them in "inconvenient" places. For instance, the last two times I've picked her up from daycare, she's greeted me with a hug and a request for Ernie. This also happens almost every time we go somewhere in the car, in restaurants, and this evening, in the grocery store. I've tried explaining that everyone in Aisle 3 does not want to hear Elmo, but she's pretty insistent. (I didn't sing in the grocery store. That's just not a place I'm prepared to go.)

So, in honor of Maddie and her mobile musical tastes, here's a sample playlist:

1. Ah-bo (Elmo's Song)

2. Ehw-nee (Rubber Ducky)

3. Up uh buh buh (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

4. Bussss (Wheels on the Bus) (Complete with some phrases and actions. Adorable!)

5. Wo Wo (Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

6. Koo Koo (Little Bunny Foo Foo)

7. Yawk (Rock-a-Bye Baby)

8. Gawk Gawk (the Rock Chalk chant)

If you start to sing something she doesn't want you to sing, she'll yell "No, noooo" at you, and don't be surprised if she changes her mind mid-song, especially if she's asked you to sing "Ehw-nee" (Five bucks says she'll ask you to sing Ah-bo instead).

And finally, not because they're related but because someone asked, here are a couple of pictures from our trip back to Washington this weekend: