sick boy

As Jonathan mentioned in yesterday's blog, our fabulous day of bike riding ended with Riley crying on the way home. Now, for those of you who don't know my son, this is very unusual. He can go weeks with no crying. He'll fuss when he doesn't get his way, but it lasts about 5 seconds. He doesn't wail unless he's in pain of some sort.

When we got home, I took him upstairs to see if he would nap. He fell asleep but woke up crying about 15 min later. I tried rocking him (which helped), but he continued to cry quietly in my arms. I took his temperature (98.7), hoping that it also might help him if he was constipated (he was unusually poo-free that day), offered him a drink (wouldn't take it), and gave him gas medicine. Nothing seemed to calm him. After a couple of hours I tried a pain reliever and sat down at the computer. I remembered that he enjoyed a YouTube video that my friend Rose Polenzani made, so I put it on. He instantly calmed down. It was amazing to watch the effect that the music had on him. We watched videos for another hour or so and then he was back to his old self, playing cars with daddy.

This is the video that Riley loves to watch... I thought I'd share it with our readers since it's such a good cover of "The Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel:



Later that night, Riley's eyes were watery and we began to see some drainage, leading us to suspect conjunctivitis. I think he might have had some ear pain as J checked them with his oto-opthalmoscope and they were a little red. Time to start up another round of adjustments. Riley's had one other ear infection and J's adjustments cleared them up in about a week.**

Our suspicious were pretty much confirmed on Sunday morning when Riley woke up looking like a drag queen from all the mucus on his eyelashes:



















He was happy, except when I tried to clean the crap from his eyes. He hates anything on his face being wiped. I called the Doc and he wrote a prescription for antibiotic eye gel that we get to put in his eyes 3x a day. Happy times for us all -- Riley kicking and crying, me holding his arms down and J squeezing the gel in between the lids of Riley's eyes. The eyes are looking much better today and I am told that he should be able to return to day care in the morning.

And here I was about to brag that my day-care kid hadn't been sick in over two months...ha.

Anyway, since I was home today, we took advantage of the warm weather and Riley got out in the pool again. My not-quite-walking boy is getting a little more bold in his balancing moves. He repeatedly stood up, put his hands up in the air and then sat back down. We're seeing more of this letting go and standing for a second or two before he grabs for support or sits down. I wish I could get a picture of him doing the "happy flappy" while letting go, but alas, he keeps eluding
me.
















Shelby


**Many parents aren't aware that chiropractic can help with ear infections. In J's 15 years of experience, they clear up in 7-10 days with regular adjustments (no surgery needed). Chiropractic cures a whole host of ailments besides neck and back pain such as acid reflux, migraines, asthma and menstrual problems to name a few. It's worth checking out...