The streak has been broken

Question: What is 813?

Answer: The number of days Alexander had gone without an illness/injury that warranted a visit to the doctor (wellness checks do not count). Not bad for a kid with a peanut allergy, eh?

At 3AM this morning, Alexander woke us up crying and whimpering. Since our two year old does not have the words to say what was wrong, we had to guess. We thought it was teething and gave him Motrin which settled him down and allowed everyone to sleep a few more hours. However, once the Motrin wore off (I had left for work by this time), the crying and whining ensued. Eric began to suspect something was really wrong and decided a trip to the doctor was first thing on the morning agenda. As it turns out, doctor's offices don't take walk ins but when the patient is screaming and crying, they quickly change their tune.

Well, we certainly aren't going to be nominated for the Parents-Of-The-Year award because it turns out, we completely misdiagnosed our son. Alexander has a double ear infection. Wow. Didn't see that coming. In all fairness, he seems to have inherited the high pain tolerance that runs on his dad's side of the family because he showed none of the classic ear infection symptoms. No tugging on the ears. No fever. No change in behavior whatsoever. In fact, we thought he was actually getting over his cold. He is on antibiotics for 12 days and has ear drops to numb the pain. By the way, if anyone has a trick on how to convince a toddler to lay his head down so we can put the drops in his ear and avoid a screaming/crying/throwing up scene, we'd love the advice. Alexander is feeling better tonight, after a visit and dinner with his Grandma and Papa...and a few cuddles with Mama.

Eric was a superstar today. Way to go, Best Dad. And thanks to my two advice giving sistas (K & M) who convinced me to let go of the guilt and stay at work to make the money that allows us to have insurance to take Alexander to the doctor. While that isn't exactly what I wanted to hear this morning, it was exactly what I needed to hear.

p.s. Eric is feeling much better and the hope is that all of us will be healthy by April! May the same be true for your families as well!