Still too sick to play :(

Well, our little guy is still pretty way-laid by this latest virus. He has been too zonked to want to play much but even sleeping is hard work when you don't feel good. He wakes up crying and even whimpers in his sleep, which is hard on his mommy and daddy to see. He started off his nap on a pile of pillows and blankets in the living room Friday, but it didn't last long...he ended up cuddling on me for the remainder of his nap. He's getting what appears to be 4 new teeth on top of his throat blisters and sore ear (or whatever is making him walk off-balance) so overall he just wants to stop hurting so he can get back to playtime and being his happy self again. Yesterday we thought he was on the upswing (we gave in and gave him children's Advil which doesn't have corn syrup either and it seemed to help for a while) but today he seems a little worse again. Hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel will be visible soon. Thanks for your prayers for Little Biscuit...we hope to have some more playful news to report in the next couple days!

Top Toddler Secrets: REVEALED!

Little Biscuit's Biggest Fears:

1. Hearing someone cough
2. Elevators (but he's getting over this one)
3. Going to bed with (or following) a cold
4. Anything new (a change to his room or routine, a new bowl or plate, etc.)
5. The bulb syringe or toothbrush

Health Hints:

• won't eat, won't sleep through the night, won't play for long, more dirties, more chewing, more fussy, more clingy=more TEETH

• slightly elevated temp, runny or stuffy nose, croupy cough, rough nights, more clingy=another VIRUS

• all of the above=more teeth AND another virus

• head-banging, tantrums, eczema=possible environmental allergy and/or result of eating a problem food (milk or corn?); the eczema seems to get worse with any immune system response (even just a cold, but also shots, etc)
  

• ear-holding, slight fever, inconsolable at night=probable EAR infection
  

Hush-Hush Sleep Tricks: (what works right now when nothing else will)
1. A back rub (or behind-the-ears massage)
2. Rocking and a lullaby (hummed not sung)
3. DVD or Newsboys "Go" CD (but these are losing their effect)
4. warm milk (I know, I know)
5. prayer and divine intervention ;)

Baby Talk Translator:
tea: EAT!
ba-ba-ba: bounce, bounce, bounce!
dee: drink
wuff: dog
diddy: DVD
puh: puffs
deh: yes
bah: ball
dih, dih: kick, kick
t-t-t-t: light!
buh: book
wa-wa-wah: WALK!
ra-ra-rah: rock, rock, rock (as in, a rocking chair)
mmm: this tastes good
woo, ooov: fire truck siren
ooua, oooooooua (grunty noises): uh-oh, a dirty diaper
nana, nana: wipe my nose or no, no, no! or banana, or help me!

No-sew sleepytime sack

UPDATE: the new-sew sack worked fine for Biscuit but not for his mom and dad - too big of a pain to get over his head. So when I get my sewing machine back up and running I'll probably just try to make one for him the old-fashioned way out of the same blanket. In the meantime, since we don't want to pay for another defective new one, I just cut leg holes into one of his old sleepsacks (it's zipper works fine, it was just too small). Hopefully that'll help for now.

Biscuit has always slept in a Halo SleepSack since he grew out of his SwaddleMes. Now that he's too tall even for those, he graduated to the
Big Kids SleepSacks. Problem is, the zipper on it is messed up so half the time he wakes up at night all unzipped and it takes forever to get it fixed. I wasn't too thrilled about the $25 it would cost to get another one, which would probably have the same problem. So I (very nervously) attempted to make one for him that didn't require sewing (all my sewing machine needles are broken at the moment and I haven't had time to get anymore or put them on). I got the basic technique for the knots here and then sort of improvised the rest. It didn't turn out terrible but it's not exactly a work of art either. It does fit Biscuit and seems like it'll work just fine, especially when it's cooler outside, without posing any kind of suffocation hazard. Instead of a zipper I just pull it over his head like a big nightshirt. I made it with the bottom open so his feet could breathe if he wanted, from one of his favorite blankets (and mine too) with a fun jungle print. He was rolling around on it all afternoon while I was trying to make it :)

Silly Biscuit! :D