this will be rant-y. my apologies in advance if it sort of jumps around and seems discombobulated.
j crew's most recent catalog apparently features a mother (someone prominent at the magazine as the reports say) with her son (truly is her son), who is 5, painting his toenails neon pink.
fox news picked the story up with outrage, claiming that j crew was promoting transgendered youth and a liberal agenda. they suggested the parents begin putting away money for the child's therapy.
this infuriates me. first of all, because this is hat is wrong with our media and our government. the most "influential" news teams and politicians have become so engrossed in platforms that they jump on extremely inconsequential things like j crew ads in order to make a point or in an attempt to nullify the opposition. this is pitiful.
fox "news", a NEWS STATION, spent time critiquing a j crew ad. A FLYER! FOR A CLOTHING STORE!! correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't we still sending troops to afghanistan and iraq? did we not just up our forces in libya? is the story in congress simply too boring now that our troops are being paid? there is no news worth covering aside from a j crew advertisement?
right now, my 16 month old son's toes are painted bright red. not because i'm hoping he'll eventually grow up to be confused about his gender and not because i feel it's worth the risk because have a fund set aside for his therapy.
because we were learning about colors.
he came into my bathroom while i was painting my own toenails, a luxury i have developed a love for in the past few months because i'm in a house full of testosterone and it's nice to be able to remind myself that i'm still the pretty mommy with fun girly toes.
he was curious. he watched me paint. to him this is no different than the large brushes i use on canvases or the finger paints that he often paints on himself with.
how would a 5 year old know that paint can go in a female or male space? that's all nail polish is. it's paint. and you paint it on a specific place. a 5 year cannot apply a masculine or feminine designation to paint application. so how could he be confused about his gender role unless you specifically told him "this is only for girls"? and if you do that, how will you differentiate to him that other paints are fair for male use?
in fact, you could legitimately teach him that he could paint murals with nail polish and it would still be acceptable. but his fingers and toes are off limits?
so fingernails and toenails belong to women only? wait, then why do boys have them?
and when he sees photos of tribal cultures, will this child tell his classmates that everyone in that culture must be female because they all have colorful adornments painted on them?
are Native American warriors sissies because they paint themselves in preparation for battle?
i could go on about this forever.
but let's get back to my son, because that's one subject i can speak on as an expert.
after jp watched me do the first coat of my toe nails, i decided this could be a useful tool. i had been telling him that mommy was painting her toes red, emphasizing toes and red. body part and color. so i took his big toe and painted it red and told him "now you have a red toe, just like mommy". he wiggled his toes around and then held out his foot for me to do the rest.
who am i to kill this learning experience? for a few minutes i have his FULL attention. he is totally captivated by what is happening and i can embed the notion of red and toes into his brain.
guess what? it worked. over the next few days he became keenly aware of his feet. he would put his toes next to other people's toes and point to them. he would point to his own feet and stare at them. when you asked him where his red toes were, he could tell you.
because his toes became something very special that day, something worth noting. something worth remembering.
my child learned something because i wasn't afraid of an assumed gender role, because i was open to an opportunity to teach him. he also has a doll because we wanted him to learn about babies before his brother comes this summer.
and guess what? he knows to be gentle with real babies, to rub them nicely and give them kisses. he brings them bottles and pacifiers. i don't think that makes him confused about his gender. you know what i think that makes him?
less dangerous to a newborn, because he knows to act appropriately.
and let me just focus on this for a moment. fox news is a conservative, right winged network. what do conservatives preach? family values.
the j crew ad, as far as i'm concerned, showed just that. a mother spending quality time with her son. laughing with him, showing him that he is worth spending time with, that he brings her joy. communicating with him, allowing him to make choices, which teaches him independence and decision making skills. she is down on his level as an equal, playing with him.
how rare has this become in the public eye? think about a trip to the grocery store. do you more often hear a parent narrating the trip to their child, teaching them about different foods and colors and shapes? or do you more often hear angry and impatient snaps at seemingly unruly children? do we see more displays of annoyance toward children or appreciation, in public?
perhaps instead of lashing out at the possible gender confusion that a little bit of toe nail polish could cause, why don't we focus on the positive message those images send: spend time with your child. be open to making them smile and laugh. have fun together. these years are precious. enjoy them. stop thinking so hard.
and for the mother in those photos, bravo. keep up your pampering sessions with your son. maybe it will set a precedent that will help your son acclimate to wearing deodorant once he hits puberty. ;)
13 April, 2011
12 April, 2011
WHERE'S MY STUFF!?!
this sounds horrible, but trust me, it isn't. i've packed most of jp's toys. now, if you understand the volume of toys he owns, "most" is a pretty subjective term. he still has an entire bucket of toys in the living room.
but those toys are boring.
you know what's NOT boring?
packing paper.
i guess desperate times call for desperate measures!!
but those toys are boring.
you know what's NOT boring?
packing paper.
i guess desperate times call for desperate measures!!
10 April, 2011
Will Move For Plants!
we made it through the great shutdown! :) a lot of people wrote to their congressmen and women and i think that is absolutely wonderful! it's so easy to blame problems that we have on solely the president while forgetting that the very people we vote in to represent our districts personally are failing us miserably as well. accountability for all, hm? while i can't say that i'm pleased that congressional workers are getting a days worth of extension per month that they've drawn this whole thing out, i am elated that other government workers will receive their paychecks and that our military is set through september.
on to survival! it's been a busy few days for us-- LOTS of packing, doctor's appointments for me and baby calvin (who is doing beautifully! growing perfectly!), a trip to the beach, getting some things in order for alabama, and some gardening!!!!!!!
these are about 2/3 of my tomatoes, a fig tree, watermelon, okra, some beans and a few pots that look like they've just had a small layer of dirt dumped in them for show. those will hopefully be perennial flowers that i can use to decorate our yard! i only need a few to make it! :)
my greenhouse that has served me very well the last few weeks. it holds my growing herbs (dill, rosemary, thyme, sage, chamomile, basil and parsley), some more tomatoes and beans, grapefruit trees (THAT I GREW FROM SEEDS!!!! HOLY SMOKES!!! i didn't think they would actually sprout!), corn, more flowers, more peppers, strawberries, and cantaloupe.
with less than 3 weeks until we hit the ground in the new house, i must say, gardening is the act retaining all of my sanity during this move. it certainly hasn't been a difficult move thus far, and i attribute most of that to these 40+ pots. they contain a beautiful vision of what i have to look forward to in may and through the entire summer as things bloom and produce fruit, as colors pop up sporadically around our yard.
and then i think about next year, when the delphiniums will grow 2 foot shoots of blue flowers around our flag pole as the american flag waves around in the non existent wind (haha!) and the black eyed susans give a cheerful welcome to our backyard with their hidden message from home (black eyed susans are the state flower of maryland) and how jp might be able to adventure around the house with me picking blackberries and strawberries with his tiny 2 year old hands.
how could anyone be annoyed or frustrated with packing when they're packing to go to a place like that!?!? SEND ME SOME MORE BOXES!!!
on to survival! it's been a busy few days for us-- LOTS of packing, doctor's appointments for me and baby calvin (who is doing beautifully! growing perfectly!), a trip to the beach, getting some things in order for alabama, and some gardening!!!!!!!
these are about 2/3 of my tomatoes, a fig tree, watermelon, okra, some beans and a few pots that look like they've just had a small layer of dirt dumped in them for show. those will hopefully be perennial flowers that i can use to decorate our yard! i only need a few to make it! :)
pepper plants, blackberry bushes (that have REAL blackberries on them!!) and the ever resilient pea plant
with less than 3 weeks until we hit the ground in the new house, i must say, gardening is the act retaining all of my sanity during this move. it certainly hasn't been a difficult move thus far, and i attribute most of that to these 40+ pots. they contain a beautiful vision of what i have to look forward to in may and through the entire summer as things bloom and produce fruit, as colors pop up sporadically around our yard.
and then i think about next year, when the delphiniums will grow 2 foot shoots of blue flowers around our flag pole as the american flag waves around in the non existent wind (haha!) and the black eyed susans give a cheerful welcome to our backyard with their hidden message from home (black eyed susans are the state flower of maryland) and how jp might be able to adventure around the house with me picking blackberries and strawberries with his tiny 2 year old hands.
how could anyone be annoyed or frustrated with packing when they're packing to go to a place like that!?!? SEND ME SOME MORE BOXES!!!
07 April, 2011
An Open Letter to Our Country's "Leaders"
Dear Sir or Madam,
As the wife of an active duty soldier in the Army, and as a woman who has been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to personally meet a handful of our nation's politicians, I am appalled. Not because our pay may temporarily be halted; we will receive back pay and money that comes late is certainly better than money that never comes at all.
I do not doubt that your job is difficult. I believe my husband's is much harder.
Both my family and yours are paid from the same "account" for the same category of employment: service to our country. Explain some things to me then:
We receive BAH to pay for a home. Your home is paid for by tax payers. So are your travel expenses and any homes in D.C. The logic, I assume, is that this job requires displacement and subsequently that displacement should be covered by the job. My husband is literally putting his very life on the line for this country and because he chose to do that, just as you chose to run for office, we have been displaced from every single member of our extended family. My closest relative is currently 5 hours away from us. His closest is much, much farther. And yet we have never seen a single allotment for that displacement. If we aren't being given that privilege, despite my husband risking his beating heart, why are Americans paying out of pocket for you to have that privilege? Please don't misunderstand, I don't think that we should be given an allotment simply because it the government places us somewhere that requires us to spend money on travel expenses. We knew that would be a part of our lives when my husband chose this career. You knew travel would be a part of your life as well, and yet you expect someone else to pay for it.
Perhaps we should amend our laws to state that Congressional representatives must cover a large percentage of their own travel expenses, just as our military must cover all of them. The money tax payers were giving to your plane flights, limousines, gasoline, car payments, taxis, wining and dining, that could all be applied to our national debt and budget crisis. If you cannot afford those travel expenses without being subsidized, perhaps this isn't the job for you.
Let me also ask about some of our Congress men and women's numerous homes. I again assume the reason for these is to ease the transition for families and to allow them the chance to be with you as much as possible with all of your traveling, to offer you some comfort while you're away from home.
Three words: Twelve month deployment. I don't recall my husband or myself getting a second home in a war zone while my husband was deployed for 14 months. I also don't recall his "home" over seas having a single amenity that you've grown accustomed to. No running water at times, no internet, no electricity, no kitchen, no living room, no comfy bed, no air conditioning. The horror of having to stay in a place whose thermostat could not be adjusted to a comfortable 72 degrees.
Again, I am not petitioning for a home in the hills of Afghanistan. Instead of a house in D.C., why not make a barracks of sorts that you may all stay in while attending to business in the Capitol? The government will give you a bed, a small kitchen, a bathroom, a closet and a desk. The rest is up to you. If you need help trying to arrange such a meager home, ask for help from a single soldier who's been living in the barracks since the beginning of his or her career in the military. They are shockingly resourceful.
If you truly entered this career because you cared about this country, you would be willing to make sacrifices. Our troops make them every day on a much larger and horribly painful scale than you can imagine. You may argue that no Congressman could afford what's required of the lifestyle without subsidy. Perhaps what you should say is "no Congressman could afford this lifestyle for more than a few years without careful and deliberate planning and saving before they began their run for office".
And that is my point. Once this budget crisis gets sorted out, perhaps the next line of business should be a re-writing of the laws applied to our Senators, Representatives, Governors, Cabinet members, etc. Perhaps we should limit your terms and force your positions to be ones of public service instead of careers. Perhaps your travel expenses should be only partly aided by tax money. Let's be generous and suggest 30%. Remember, that's still more than you're giving to your fighting troops to see their families. Perhaps you should keep one residence like we are forced to and live in barracks in Washington, D.C. when you're forced to stay there for great lengths of time. Perhaps your families could learn to live without seeing you for 12 months. Perhaps you should be alloted a salary that is equivalent to the average income of your represented area instead of the outrageous amounts you are paid now.
And perhaps, if you were willing to take cuts like these, we could work our way out of financial meltdown. Explain to me how it is possible that the hundreds of people who are supposedly making our country run are maintaining multiple residences, flying on private planes, purchasing air time for campaign ads, going on vacations, and being allowed to slack on their jobs for 6 months with pay, while conversely millions of the patriots you're supposed to be working for cannot even afford one home, or one car, their grocery bills or gasoline? If you are working for us, then why are your "employers" the ones with no money, no homes, no jobs, raised taxes, salary cuts, and no health insurance?
If we are all expected to make sacrifices to right this country's path, perhaps you should all be legally bound to do the same.
Regards,
A Mere Army Wife
As the wife of an active duty soldier in the Army, and as a woman who has been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to personally meet a handful of our nation's politicians, I am appalled. Not because our pay may temporarily be halted; we will receive back pay and money that comes late is certainly better than money that never comes at all.
I do not doubt that your job is difficult. I believe my husband's is much harder.
Both my family and yours are paid from the same "account" for the same category of employment: service to our country. Explain some things to me then:
We receive BAH to pay for a home. Your home is paid for by tax payers. So are your travel expenses and any homes in D.C. The logic, I assume, is that this job requires displacement and subsequently that displacement should be covered by the job. My husband is literally putting his very life on the line for this country and because he chose to do that, just as you chose to run for office, we have been displaced from every single member of our extended family. My closest relative is currently 5 hours away from us. His closest is much, much farther. And yet we have never seen a single allotment for that displacement. If we aren't being given that privilege, despite my husband risking his beating heart, why are Americans paying out of pocket for you to have that privilege? Please don't misunderstand, I don't think that we should be given an allotment simply because it the government places us somewhere that requires us to spend money on travel expenses. We knew that would be a part of our lives when my husband chose this career. You knew travel would be a part of your life as well, and yet you expect someone else to pay for it.
Perhaps we should amend our laws to state that Congressional representatives must cover a large percentage of their own travel expenses, just as our military must cover all of them. The money tax payers were giving to your plane flights, limousines, gasoline, car payments, taxis, wining and dining, that could all be applied to our national debt and budget crisis. If you cannot afford those travel expenses without being subsidized, perhaps this isn't the job for you.
Let me also ask about some of our Congress men and women's numerous homes. I again assume the reason for these is to ease the transition for families and to allow them the chance to be with you as much as possible with all of your traveling, to offer you some comfort while you're away from home.
Three words: Twelve month deployment. I don't recall my husband or myself getting a second home in a war zone while my husband was deployed for 14 months. I also don't recall his "home" over seas having a single amenity that you've grown accustomed to. No running water at times, no internet, no electricity, no kitchen, no living room, no comfy bed, no air conditioning. The horror of having to stay in a place whose thermostat could not be adjusted to a comfortable 72 degrees.
Again, I am not petitioning for a home in the hills of Afghanistan. Instead of a house in D.C., why not make a barracks of sorts that you may all stay in while attending to business in the Capitol? The government will give you a bed, a small kitchen, a bathroom, a closet and a desk. The rest is up to you. If you need help trying to arrange such a meager home, ask for help from a single soldier who's been living in the barracks since the beginning of his or her career in the military. They are shockingly resourceful.
If you truly entered this career because you cared about this country, you would be willing to make sacrifices. Our troops make them every day on a much larger and horribly painful scale than you can imagine. You may argue that no Congressman could afford what's required of the lifestyle without subsidy. Perhaps what you should say is "no Congressman could afford this lifestyle for more than a few years without careful and deliberate planning and saving before they began their run for office".
And that is my point. Once this budget crisis gets sorted out, perhaps the next line of business should be a re-writing of the laws applied to our Senators, Representatives, Governors, Cabinet members, etc. Perhaps we should limit your terms and force your positions to be ones of public service instead of careers. Perhaps your travel expenses should be only partly aided by tax money. Let's be generous and suggest 30%. Remember, that's still more than you're giving to your fighting troops to see their families. Perhaps you should keep one residence like we are forced to and live in barracks in Washington, D.C. when you're forced to stay there for great lengths of time. Perhaps your families could learn to live without seeing you for 12 months. Perhaps you should be alloted a salary that is equivalent to the average income of your represented area instead of the outrageous amounts you are paid now.
And perhaps, if you were willing to take cuts like these, we could work our way out of financial meltdown. Explain to me how it is possible that the hundreds of people who are supposedly making our country run are maintaining multiple residences, flying on private planes, purchasing air time for campaign ads, going on vacations, and being allowed to slack on their jobs for 6 months with pay, while conversely millions of the patriots you're supposed to be working for cannot even afford one home, or one car, their grocery bills or gasoline? If you are working for us, then why are your "employers" the ones with no money, no homes, no jobs, raised taxes, salary cuts, and no health insurance?
If we are all expected to make sacrifices to right this country's path, perhaps you should all be legally bound to do the same.
Regards,
A Mere Army Wife
04 April, 2011
Mmmm Mac'N'Cheese
a food post!
we have a bag full of meatballs in our deep freeze. i made them when a friend who was moving gave us 4lbs of ground beef and i really wasn't in the mood for tacos and tons of meatloaf. unfortunately, we've barely touched them.
and now we're about to move. so i want to empty out our fridge and freezer as best i can over the next 3 weeks.
tonight i made mac'n'cheese and i knew we needed some more protein for round out our daily nutrition. thus, this lil' diddy was born:
hamburger mac'n'cheese
1 box macaroni and cheese, prepared as directed
4 meatballs per adult, cooked and chopped up (or 1 hamburger patty per adult)
1 can of corn, drained and cooked a little to make it softer (if you like soft corn)
ketchup
mix everything together. squirt ketchup in to taste. eat.
i'm not kidding. that simple. dinner in 20 minutes. protein, carb, veggie, dairy. drain a can of sliced peaches to put on the side. enjoy a night off. blog about it maybe?
jp was a fan.
we have a bag full of meatballs in our deep freeze. i made them when a friend who was moving gave us 4lbs of ground beef and i really wasn't in the mood for tacos and tons of meatloaf. unfortunately, we've barely touched them.
and now we're about to move. so i want to empty out our fridge and freezer as best i can over the next 3 weeks.
tonight i made mac'n'cheese and i knew we needed some more protein for round out our daily nutrition. thus, this lil' diddy was born:
hamburger mac'n'cheese
1 box macaroni and cheese, prepared as directed
4 meatballs per adult, cooked and chopped up (or 1 hamburger patty per adult)
1 can of corn, drained and cooked a little to make it softer (if you like soft corn)
ketchup
mix everything together. squirt ketchup in to taste. eat.
i'm not kidding. that simple. dinner in 20 minutes. protein, carb, veggie, dairy. drain a can of sliced peaches to put on the side. enjoy a night off. blog about it maybe?
jp was a fan.
03 April, 2011
With Two Cats in the Yard
we've spent the weekend taking a semi-impromptu trip to the area around our new base on a house hunting mission! we aren't buying just yet, but this is the first rental home we've picked out before we actually had to live in it! until this point we've put a deposit down "blind" and just hoped for the best.
let me give you a sort of timeline of our lives the past few weeks. at the beginning of march we knew we were moving but we had no idea when or where to. e's graduation date is may 6. we have other friends who had orders that gave them report dates 1-2 months after their graduation time--this gives you a chance to have your husband home to help pack since he works 14+ hour days until graduation.
we were waiting, waiting, waiting.... finally, e emailed the guy in charge or assignments. we got an email back the following monday. ft. ____, report may 10.
hold on.
may 10? but e graduates on may 6.... may 6 is a friday... you mean to tell me that we literally have 2 days to get all of our things packed, one day to get in to the new house and then ev goes to work the next day?
WHAT!?!!!?!!??!
THAT'S 7 WEEKS FROM RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!! WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!?!!!!?!!!?
after panic semi-subsided, a game plan was formed. i will go to whatever house we want to live in on may 1. well, april 30 which is a saturday. i will stay in the new house for that week and unpack while e clears post and gets ready to graduate. the plan makes a lot of sense if you're willing to live alone with a toddler for a week in a house that is full of boxes.
in other words, it's a great plan if you're crazy.
lucky us, i AM crazy!!!
that took us a week closer to move in. so, 6 weeks to move. i start packing, we start scanning sites looking for rentals.
i set up viewings 2 days before our trip with 3 different companies. i kid you not, we were unable to see a SINGLE home that we set up a viewing for. "oh, that house is now under maintenance" "that house requires an appointment" (isn't that what i called about on thursday?) "we don't have that home on our rental list any longer" "the current tenants aren't available for a showing". both my husband and i were getting incredibly disheartened.
but we rolled with the punches and looked through 2 companies available rental homes and went to see them. we had to peer in the windows of some. traffic prevented us from making it to one of the homes. we could see cockroaches without even going into one home. one living room was mirrored, floor to ceiling. we started at 10am. by 2 pm, 4 houses later, we had one house that was a possibility, but we would be unable to see inside until april 6. we will not be coming back here between today and the move in date.
we spent money on 2 nights in a hotel, food, gas, and all of the other trip-associated costs, to end up just buying blind again.
one last house. a house my husband had seen pop up as available the morning we went out.
we drove out to the country. we slowed down as we passed a pasture of cows. we pulled into the driveway of this house:
and suddenly my heart began to hope again.
it has a cozy country kitchen
a fireplace
and an amazing covered porch with firepit
it comes with rose bushes, fruit trees, a strawberry patch, the beginnings of what will be wonderful landscaping, front loading washer and dryer, and the peace and quiet of a quaint country farmhouse.
i nearly cried. e plugged in some addresses to figure out how much gas we'd be spending on commutes to work and grocery stores. jp wandered around the massive yard carefully picking out stones and flowers as though they were the greatest treasures he'd ever seen.
i prayed there would be a relatively inexpensive way to lock this house down.
our realtor was a gift from God. she let us sign the lease on good faith that we will give her the full deposit and first month's rent in 2 weeks when our moving money comes in.
after nearly 5 hours of what seemed like hopeless searching, we found the very house i've been dreaming about for years now. we found a real home.
i've been busy planning out some gardening and landscaping ideas that we can execute over the next few years. that's right, years. because we should be there for quite some time.
maybe forever.
who knows.
all i can say is that my life just keeps getting better.
"life used to be so hard. now everything is easy 'cause of you..."
01 April, 2011
My Cup Overfloweth
there are so many cute lil' stories i could tell you about the past 24ish hours. things like our son watching the twin conversation video with total intrigue, laughing along at the private toddler jokes, or that he tried to feed me a cheerio mama-bird style, mushing it down in his mouth for me first. i could tell you about going to the grocery store and how he seemed to actually think the steering wheel on the kid cart was driving the whole thing. how he lifted his hands to strangers, pleading with them to remove him from the horrible restraints of a grocery cart. that we let him out during checkout and he ran to the medicine aisle where he promptly grabbed rubbing alcohol and rolaids (i sincerely hope he wasn't planning on using them together).
but my favorite story of the past 24 hours is just a tad more adorable, though it starts off kind of gross.
jp has had rotavirus for nearly 3 weeks now (it would have been nice to know what it was in the beginning so i could have known that putting him in a restraint jacket would be the only real way to prevent re-infection). that means we've had 3 weeks of newborn-esque pooping, from a toddler.
what does that mean, you ask?
it means that he's having 6-8 bm's a day (that's bowel movements, for those of you who aren't quite familiar with poop lingo yet). but 15 month old size bm's, not the cute newborn size ones. i could go into detail, but i'll let this sum it up: our pediatrician said the easiest way to diagnose rotavirus is to ask the parents how bad the smell has been. if it's the worst they've ever encountered, rotavirus is the likely culprit.
so, 3 weeks of that.
it's finally starting to clear up some, but all of that rear action is bound to have some ill effect on sensitive skin, and i would be willing to call a kid's booty sensitive. he's getting red and raw and i know it can't feel good.
last night he had a bm in his sleep. this has happened a few times now. they're usually pretty bad. this wasn't terrible, but it took a few hours between the actual event and him waking up to realize it. needless to say, his poor little bum was red and splotchy and sad looking (if butts can look sad, which they apparently can). he just kept crying and screaming and i knew my little boy didn't feel so hot. so i brought him to our room for cuddles.
he ditched me. no lie. the mommy who has been cleaning this mess for 3 weeks, who has carefully and diligently watched his food and liquid intake and let him run around naked so he could air out. the mommy who has slaved over his health. the mommy who brought him to this bed to begin with!
he wiggled out of my arms, crawled over to daddy and sprawled out on top of his back. i wish i could have taken a picture (to my knowledge my husband isn't a fan of flashes going off in his face at 2am). he doesn't really fit on e's back because of how big he is now, so their heads were sharing e's pillow and his feet were dangling off daddy from the knees down.
and he just laid there. as though daddy radiated some kind of magical healing power through his skin, a medicine that only daddy's with butts could give. mommy's couldn't know this kind of pain.
but daddy, oh, daddy knows.
but my favorite story of the past 24 hours is just a tad more adorable, though it starts off kind of gross.
jp has had rotavirus for nearly 3 weeks now (it would have been nice to know what it was in the beginning so i could have known that putting him in a restraint jacket would be the only real way to prevent re-infection). that means we've had 3 weeks of newborn-esque pooping, from a toddler.
what does that mean, you ask?
it means that he's having 6-8 bm's a day (that's bowel movements, for those of you who aren't quite familiar with poop lingo yet). but 15 month old size bm's, not the cute newborn size ones. i could go into detail, but i'll let this sum it up: our pediatrician said the easiest way to diagnose rotavirus is to ask the parents how bad the smell has been. if it's the worst they've ever encountered, rotavirus is the likely culprit.
so, 3 weeks of that.
it's finally starting to clear up some, but all of that rear action is bound to have some ill effect on sensitive skin, and i would be willing to call a kid's booty sensitive. he's getting red and raw and i know it can't feel good.
last night he had a bm in his sleep. this has happened a few times now. they're usually pretty bad. this wasn't terrible, but it took a few hours between the actual event and him waking up to realize it. needless to say, his poor little bum was red and splotchy and sad looking (if butts can look sad, which they apparently can). he just kept crying and screaming and i knew my little boy didn't feel so hot. so i brought him to our room for cuddles.
he ditched me. no lie. the mommy who has been cleaning this mess for 3 weeks, who has carefully and diligently watched his food and liquid intake and let him run around naked so he could air out. the mommy who has slaved over his health. the mommy who brought him to this bed to begin with!
he wiggled out of my arms, crawled over to daddy and sprawled out on top of his back. i wish i could have taken a picture (to my knowledge my husband isn't a fan of flashes going off in his face at 2am). he doesn't really fit on e's back because of how big he is now, so their heads were sharing e's pillow and his feet were dangling off daddy from the knees down.
and he just laid there. as though daddy radiated some kind of magical healing power through his skin, a medicine that only daddy's with butts could give. mommy's couldn't know this kind of pain.
but daddy, oh, daddy knows.
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