Toddler problems

After our weekend of highs we hit a new low.  Jayden woke up Monday morning and was burning up.  He had a fever of somewhere around 102 or 103 (my thermometer broke of course so I couldn't take his thermometer until 9:30 or 10:00 am).  He definitely was tired, so I decided to keep him home for the day. I had one meeting, which I took him to, and then we spent the rest of the day resting at home.  I gave him medicine throughout the day and the fever would go down but it would just spike back up again a little later.  We put him to bed and he still was burning up.  He had woken up two or three times Sunday night and Monday night was no different.  I spent a lot of time sleeping on the floor outside his room and eventually just took him into the guest room and slept with him on the guest bed.  I wasn't feeling good either, so the lack of sleep wasn't particularly helpful, but that's motherhood I guess.  On a side note, he fell asleep with his fingers in my eyes.  Tuesday he woke up and wasn't much better, so he came to work with me in the morning and were home by lunchtime.  He took a short nap but spent most of the day complaining about a stomachache and generally not feeling well.

Walking from my office to the car.  It was "bwight" so we needed to wear our sunglasses.

Sad on Mommy's lap later in the afternoon.

At some point during the day, I suddenly had a thought: he'd had an accident at daycare on Friday (poo-poo) and hadn't had a bowel movement since then.  I did some quick google research and google diagnosed him with constipation.  Apparently a lot of kids have these issues during potty training because of the pressure and stress put on them.  So Carmen and I realized we were constantly bugging him, especially about poo-poo, so we vowed to lay off a little bit.  He clearly was in a lot of pain and very uncomfortable, and he woke up twice (including once at 10 pm, before I'd even gone to bed!) and after the second time I moved into the guest room again.  It just wasn't worth it.  He didn't sleep well, which meant I didn't sleep well.  By the morning he was sleeping with his feet in my hair.

Wednesday I took him to Juju's, because I decided he could actually use the interaction with other kids and she somehow has a way of getting him to do things that I can't seem to figure out.  It worked; he felt a whole lot better by the end of the day.  BUT he was still warm.  Carmen went to dinner with a friend on Wednesday, so I did the best I could on my own.

We played with glitter stickers that Gramma sent.  Those stickers are fun - there is glitter everywhere on the couch.

He was definitely better; his temperature didn't get about 100 or 101, but it wasn't gone.  I got him to bed as soon as I could, but he woke up at 10 pm again.  He was drenched.  His hair was damp, his clothes were damp, but his body felt like a normal temperature, finally!  He wanted me to lay down outside his bedroom, so I told him I had to go downstairs to clean up my work (I'd been finishing up a few things for work since I've already missed so much work this week) and turn off the television, etc. but that I'd be right back.  By the time I got back upstairs he'd fallen asleep.  He slept the rest of the night, thank goodness.  This morning it took us about 15 minutes to wake him up at 7:20 am and he was not happy with us when we finally did get him up.

I had scheduled him for swim lessons this morning, thinking his fever was going to be a typical 24-hour fever.  By the time I figured he wasn't going to be better it was too late to cancel.  It turned out to not be so bad.  He got to swim in the big pool, and the other kid he swam with was a little more advanced than him.  It actually was better for Jayden, in a way.  He swam across the pool by himself with flippers, goggles and a noodle.  He swam down to touch the lines on the bottom of the pool (with assistance), he practiced pushing the water with his arms ("making a pizza" according to the teacher), and he held onto a rubber rope thingy and got pulled across the pool as if he were boogie boarding.  I thought he was going to freak out a little with that because the water was all in his face, but when the waves died down he had a smile on his face.

Not the best picture, but that's the back of his head, swimming across the pool by himself with his flippers, goggles and noodle.  

After swim lessons he was in a great mood and we talked about all the cool things he did in swim lessons.  I was feeling so much better.

When I picked him up from Juju's she told me he'd felt warm again after his nap.  He did feel warm, and when I took his temperature at home it was a little over 100.  So not really a fever, but not normal either.  We gave him some more medicine before bedtime and we're now hoping for the best.

A funny story or two:
On the rides home we have the funniest conversations.  He gives me all kinds of reasons about why things can or cannot be done.  Today we saw someone riding a scooter.  He's seen the kids across the street riding scooters and has said things about wanting one for himself but that he has to wait until he's "bigger."  So we saw this kid riding a scooter and we talked about maybe him getting one for his birthday, like the kids across the street.  He said "NO!  We can't get a scooter yet!  We have to wait 'til the bicycle tells us i's ok."  I asked him "um, what?  the bicycle will tell you when it's okay for you to get a scooter?"  And he said "yes.  the bicycle can tell us when it's okay.  And sooo.  When the bicycle says yes, then we can buy the scooter."  I told him to let me know.  I have no idea where he came up with this idea, but it's fine with me.  I'm trying to cut back on the "big" gifts that he gets because he is definitely starting to expect things, and I think I need to throw a little more appreciation in there.

I unfortunately can't think of the other conversations we've had.  I really might get a recording device to keep in the car so that I can record the conversations and either play them or at least transcribe them onto the blog.  It's just too funny.

I'm nervous about the weekend: tomorrow we have a work party for my office, then Saturday we drive to San Diego for a birthday party and a wedding and we won't be back until Monday.  Jayden never sleeps as well in a hotel as he does at home so I'm worried about bringing an already exhausted kid to a place where he's likely to get more exhausted.  I guess the good news is that the two following weeks Carmen and I will be home with him more often than not so hopefully he'll get some good rest during those two weeks.  We'll see.

For now I'm just grateful tomorrow is Friday.