Sunday

Sunday before dawn appears to be the perfect time to churn out a couple of those blog posts that I've been meaning to write but haven't had the time or drive to do so. Sunday, before dawn, while listening to the monsoon outside that I didn't realize we were going to get while I watched coverage on our Eastern neighbors' friendly hurricane.

Hurricanes don't mean much to me. I know I should be better prepared. We always have water on hand, and there's a bunch of propane in the garage and camping supplies in the attic if we were to need alternative cooking sources, and a ridiculous amount of food in the deep freezer. There hasn't been a major threat to the Tampa Bay area since we bought our house, so there's been no need for plywood or duct taped windows or any of that nonsense. The last major threat was the year of Charley, when Frances and Ivan rolled through in 2004. My apartment was without power for a couple days, but that was really the extent. The last hurricane I remember being affect by was Elena in '85. My mom and I lived in a mobile home so we had to evacuate, and I remember sitting in this old woman's condo (I think it belonged to a friend of my Gram) staring out her sliding glass doors watching the rain. I don't think it actually hit the area; I was five, so it was memorable to me.

But anyhow. I hope that my friends up north are all safe. I've been watching facebook statuses, so as of midnight or so everyone was good.

Here. S has been weirdly sick for the last several days. Have I mentioned his insomnia? He has been waking up all night, wandering around the house and not sleeping since Wednesday night. The lack of sleep has made him generally crabby, but there was a culmination Friday when he quite literally didn't stop crying all day. As one who is passed the toddler stage into the kid stage, all-day crying is not exactly the norm. He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't play, he just napped a little and cried and ASKED ME TO TAKE HIM TO THE DOCTOR. This child has been petrified of the doctor since he was two. Wanting to see the doctor is not normal. Crying all day is not normal.

So Henry was already due for his one-year appointment so we got Spencer in at the same time. They ran all the tests and even pricked his finger to run the viral tests with no luck. We couldn't figure out what was wrong. He had a bellyache, light and sound sensitivity, difficulty sleeping for longer than an hour, malaise, no appetite and extreme restlessness. On the way home from the doctor I got him to drink an orange freeze from Steak n Shake, and things seemed a little better ... and then they weren't. Friday night he slept with me in my bed and he was so restless that Hubby slept on the couch. Saturday morning was a lot of the same. By this time I he hadn't eaten or drank anything since that milkshake, and not much prior to it. We forced him to eat breakfast because I was worried about a) dehydration and b) that some of his tummyache was related to hunger.

I was seriously worried about this sickness. S has NEVER been slowed down by being sick, even a couple double ear infections as a child, and he's never had a major sickness. He was complaining so much about his stomach I was worried it was his gall bladder or appendix or something down there that he needed to see the hospital about. But eating seemed to help a little, and I forced him to take a shower because that always helped me when I wasn't feeling good. I had to dump a crying child into the water and leave him there because he refused, but it really did turn around his mood, and he even played in the bath with Henry for a little bit afterward.

He said he was feeling well enough and wanted to go to the pool party we planned on attending, so I thought he was getting better and we went ahead and went. About 1.5 hours in, he was feeling the same again so we toughed it out for a little bit and then headed home. I picked up some children's Pepto and chewable laxatives, and we tried that out.

Success with the laxative! (I know, gross, but yay!) He napped a bit the rest of Saturday, but by dinnertime he was feeling well enough to ask for pepperoni pizza (I had no idea he liked pepperoni) so we had a small one delivered and he ate half a piece. Indulgences you will cave to for the health of your child. He played a little with H, fell asleep like normal, and I think he only woke up 4 times and was fairly easy to get back to sleep in his own bed, so I'm (crossing my fingers) hopeful that we are on an upturn.

I'm making french toast this morning with the hopes that drowning something in syrup will get him excited to eat again. Otherwise I'm going to need more wine for adult cherry milkshakes.