Farm Time

We took Noah out to Frying Pan Farm this afternoon. (It's named from the street close to it, and, I assume, not because they make tasty treats out of the chickens and pigs!)

We've been watching videos from Bedlam Farm and he seems to like them. Today, he got to see chickens up close and personal, and some pigs, but no donkeys. His favorite thing was watching a cat run by!



Actually, more than anything, he loved having lots of room to walk around! We wish we could put a pedometer on him and just let him go. Just like sleep - strollers are for wimps.



He doesn't even want to hold our hand, he just walks around like he's got it all going on. He loves to take everything in, so we pretty much give him space and let him go. We walked around for about two, two and a half hours, and he could have walked around another hour or so.

Indefatigable

We took Noah to the local mall last night and he walked and walked and walked. It's kinda fun to follow a 16 month old around, thankfully he wasn't just walking in circles! He does, however, love to walk up and down ramps, over and over. So Nerdstar stood at one end of one, and I stood at the other, and he'd walk back and forth laughing when he saw each of us. Then, because that wasn't enough, he got Nerdstar to help him hop down stairs and then walk back up them. It was at least an hour of a good workout for a little guy!

Of course, silly us thought that mean he'd go to bed a little earlier. Nope. He was up until 11 p.m. And then he had the nerve to wake up at 5:30 ready to play some more.

We joke about him being an army/navy baby - but this is crazy! We're debating when to put a jungle gym in his play area!

New Phase

I think we've hit the frustrated with not being able to communicate clearly phase. It's a big side effect of our boy not talking yet. (I think most toddlers hit this phase a little earlier.) With any luck, this will motivate him to finally start speaking English! He mostly likes to moan and grunt at us, but he talks in a lot more diverse syllables when talking to himself. We're giving him until the end of the year to bust out some words, if not then we'll have him evaluated.

Anyway... one fun thing was his first little fit the other day. It was minor enough to be kinda comical. We sat him on his little rocking chair for a brief time out and he got mad at us. He wanted to hit Nerdstar and when she wouldn't let him, he started hitting the floor, then the desk chair, then the desk. He's done a lot of baby "protesting" this was a step towards bigger and better things. Heh.

Mostly, that little fit made us realize just how good a kid he's been so far!! It kind of leaves us ill-equipped to deal with him when he's not so good.

At his 15 month check up the doc asked if he had walked backwards, and we thought that was a weird milestone. Then last week he took a few steps backwards and it's honestly just the cutest thing! No idea why.

Just a few more thoughts and reflections about Noah's ER trip

Needless to say, it was quite an adventure that we've had in the last day or so with Noah's ER trip! I am very thankful that the ER staff took care of Noah in a prompt and somewhat organized manner! I am also very glad that Noah is doing a lot better!

However, it was quite a scare for all of us, this marks the third trip to the ER in less than 2 years. It started with my broken ankle (see entry from Sept.-Oct. of 2010), Beth had an GI issue, and now Noah's peanut allergy. Not counting the trips with the pets to the pet clinic, I really hope that we will not have to be at the ER for a long time!

Some observations:

1. With Noah's peanut allergy, that rules out us dining at the "Five Guys" fine dining establishment. I mean, not only are all of their products cooked in peanut oil, but just look at the buckets upon buckets of peanuts at the joint, it's a death trap!

2. Mr. Peanut, instead of being some kind of a friendly, food product related mascot, will instead be the image of the angel of death to Noah, maybe one day Noah will use a cutout of him as a target for target shooting practice.

3. The ER staff at our local hospital were really professional and nice, even though none of then looked like Dr. Cater or Nurse Hathaway....I guess that's ok.

That is all for now.

An Update

Noah seems none the worse for wear today. He woke up about 8 a.m. and was his usual cheerful self. He did end up napping from about 10 a.m. to just after 1 p.m., which is a little early for his nap. He's eaten normally and played normally.

We think his mouth and eye still had a little swelling, but the meds they prescribed seem to have already helped with that.

I must say the people at the ER were really great. They took his case seriously as soon as we walked in, they were friendly and efficient, they did what was necessary but didn't try to do more than that. We got there at 7:30 p.m. and left at 11:30 p.m.

We were able to hear some of what was going on in the next one or two rooms next to us. It was sad to hear about a 41 y/o woman brought in unresponsive. She was more stable later, but we have no idea what happened or why. Other than that it was a fairly quiet ER for a Saturday night.

I think Nerdstar and I are both pretty tired today, physically and emotionally. In some ways it's not a huge deal, in other ways it's a lot to process.

It's weird to know that there's at least one food out there that could potentially kill him.

We know there's been a lot of progress in schools and other environments regarding food allergies - and it's several years before that's even an issue for us. Our prayer is that he'll outgrow this over time.

We're going to follow up with his pediatrician's office tomorrow and see if we need to take him in and when we should see a pediatric allergist. We're really not sure at what age what kinds of allergy tests are accurate.

We're not really that worried about him, it's just an adjustment in going about life.

A Trip To The ER

We're always trying to think of new foods for Noah to try and of ways to expand his food horizons. He still eats about the same 12 or 13 things he's been eating since he started solids.

I was hoping peanut butter was something he would like and might would lead to eating sandwiches and such. So, I got a little peanut butter on my finger and put it in his mouth.

Within minutes he started having an allergic reaction. When his eyelid started to swell, I knew it was time to head to the ER.

On the way there I thought about how I'd heard it's best to call 911 than to try to drive to the ER yourself, but he was breathing ok and the reaction wasn't getting worse and it was about 10 more minutes to the ER.

Once we got there, they were great and got him back and started treating him right away. They started an IV, gave him two or three different things, one of which was benedryl, then after a couple of minutes gave him an epi shot.

It didn't really take that long for the swelling to start to go down, they were obviously concerned with his airway, but he never did have trouble breathing.

They observed him for a couple of hours, we were there for less than four, and he slept about the last hour.

Sigh. That really sucked. But, now we know he's allergic to peanuts. At least we were both home and were able to get him to the ER quickly and safely.

He's sleeping now.

We have to find a way to have an epi pen handy all the time. Of course, we'll have one in the house, but neither of us carries a purse - and we don't have a diaper bag, we just carry a lunch container for his snacks with a diaper and wipes in the top compartment when we go eat. So we're going to have to find a way to keep one close when we're out and about.

I'm sure it hasn't sunk in for either of us the longer term little (or big) changes this means. Our prayer is he outgrows it over time.

The Tough Questions

Having been disappointed with The Walking Dead, I checked out World War Z from the library.

Wow. After it scares you, and then fills you with dread, it makes you think.

We've all seen so many post-apocalypse, post-alien invasion, etc, movies. I think while we're watching them we all envision ourselves as not only the survivors, but the over-comers. That's probably not very realistic. (hahaha, yes I know I said realistic in talking about post-alien invasion scenarios!)

Of course, having Noah changes everything. That's where the tough questions come in.

Do I even want to survive one of those scenarios? Life is going to be hell for a long time to come. Does it matter if the threat - alien or sickness or zombie - is over and it's just a matter of rebuilding from nothing, or if the threat has no end in sight?

Do I kill all of us and end the chance of suffering with the faith that there is a heaven and afterlife? Do I hand Noah off to people better able to survive and take care of him in safety? (Hell, just think of all the kids from WWII separated from their parents for any number of reasons.) I sure as hell don't hand him over to the aliens to start over on some distant planet like the asinine scene in Knowing.

Anyway. This is how my brain works. World War Z is a hell of a book that won't leave you feeling at all optimistic about any world catastrophe.