Don't drink the pool water

Scarlett spent Friday with Daddy. Friday night, we went to Rustico to meet a friend of mine but it was so crowded that we couldn't find him and they said it would take 90 minutes to get a table. We decided to head out and we went to Hard Times Cafe. Scarlett was really good until she got too tired and wanted to run around the restaurant but we wouldn't let her. Then, it was a massive hissy fit. We couldn't get out of there fast enough! It isn't so bad being out with a baby late night if they're behaving, but as soon as they start fussing, you look like a horrible parent! Anyway, by the time we got home she was in great spirits again and was not happy to hear that it was bedtime.

On Saturday we played in the morning until nap time. Scarlett (and mommy!) slept for a few hours and then got up to run errands. We hit Pottery Barn Kids, the dry cleaners, Target, and Chicken Out. We previously mentioned Scarlett's tendency to go limp while we trying to hold her hand in stores. Well, it was a repeat performance, with her trying to get in a 45 degree angle and have us drag her around or completely flopping on the ground. Most patrons laugh at her, but it is sort of embarrassing. You can't always tell that she is doing it to be funny, so I worry that it looks like we are just dragging her by her arm around a store. I just don't want CPS coming after us! She has also picked up the habit of grabbing anything she can get her hands on at stores. At Target she insisted on being put down in the snack aisle. Next thing I know she has a box of granola bars in each hand and is running away from me down the other aisle. The main problem is that she hasn't quite learned to look for shopping carts before crossing the road. We ended up getting out relatively unscathed, although we did end up buying an airplane candy thing that she found somewhere in a candy aisle.

Sunday we got up and decided to have a nice Sunday. We went to Lyon Hall, a little French place in Clarendon. We have been having a harder time with Scarlett at Restaurants these days. She is really just too high energy to be taken anywhere where she can't run around. She was doing pretty well (except for throwing a tantrum over not being allowed to drink any of my cappuccino) and was great as long as she was eating, but once she was full and we again wouldn't let her run around at the feet of the servers or join our neighbors for brunch, the tantrum started again. We're thinking that between Friday night and Sunday morning, our eating out might be on hold until she understands the concept of time out.

After brunch, we headed home and after running around for a half hour or so, we put her down for a nap. For the second time in 3 days, she slept 40-50 minutes instead of her usual 2-3 hours. She was a bit moody when she woke up, but generally in good spirits despite the lack of sleep. We fed her and then decided to try to video phone my parents while she was a bit more lively than she was earlier in the week (when it was long past her bedtime). She was running around for almost the entire call in typical Scarlett fashion. We then took her to the pool (we are trying to make it a regular Sunday occurrence and have now hit two consecutive weeks!). She again had a great time and was doing a great job "swimming," but after we got back, I was changing her diaper when I noticed something was wrong. She normally fights it in the beginning of a diaper change if it's going to be an issue, but this time, she was perfect until I tried to put the new diaper on. Then she started crying. Not like the defiant cry, but the I'm in pain cry. She was holding her stomach, so I took a closer look and saw a bright red belly, almost like a sunburn. She wailed when I tried to attach the velcro pieces of her diaper. I picked her up and she just cried and cried, holding onto me as tightly as she could. I took her into see Paul and we decided something was definitely wrong. We figured we should put her in the bath ASAP in case it was the chlorine, even though she has never had a reaction to it previously. She normally LOVES bath time and we can't rip her out of there. This time, she played for 5 minutes, maybe less, and then started trying to climb me to get out of the tub and was crying when I didn't pull her out until after we got the soap out of her hair. When I wrapped her up in the towel, she snuggled into my shoulder and just seemed to be in pain. At that point, the rash wrapped around her back, was down her legs, and she had bright red cheeks and the rash extended above her lip too. Paul had put in a call to the pediatrician before heading out to CVS to get some benadryl. I put the softest clothes I could find on her, slathered on some lotion to try to cool the skin, and stuffed a kleenex between her diaper and her body in hopes that it would be less irritating. She seemed to be doing better, but the rash still looked just as bad. The triage nurse called and said it was likely just irritation from the chlorine. She said to give her Benadryl and check her in the morning. If her rash is still there, we're supposed to take her into be seen. She said that if she wasn't breathing well or was scratching or in a lot of pain, it was an allergic reaction. Otherwise, she might just have sensitive skin and we can handle it by washing the chlorine off ASAP when we get her out of the pool and putting a special lotion on. Listening to the nurse say she would be okay actually made me tear up. I think I was sort of in survival mode when she was in pain and just ready for it to be something bad, but when it sounded like the crisis was over, I just felt drained. Having her look at me and cry, clinging onto me in pain and wanting me to make it better was the worst. I also can't wait until she can talk (although I'm sure I'll soon wish for the days when she couldn't) because it would really help if she could tell me how she was feeling. She does a good job of pointing and "talking" to tell me something is wrong (e.g., pointing to her back when there is a tag still in her shirt), but the whole rash thing was different. I couldn't tell if it burned or was itchy or just bothered her when something rubbed it or if it was something else all together. It all makes me thankful that we've made it 14 months with almost no problems and makes my heart go out to parents who aren't as lucky.

On a brighter note, she officially has nine teeth now. Four molars, four front teeth, and one tooth next to her two big front teeth. She also seems to get better with language every day (emphatically repeating "I love you" and "please" but also saying things that sound a whole lot like "Uh oh, I dropped it."). She seems to understand about everything we say. If I say she needs a new diaper, she tries to climb up her diaper changing station. She is really into cars, balls, and blocks right now. She seems to understand that a big kiss will get her out of trouble and is trying to feed the dogs anything she gets her hands on, including a wine cork. She doesn't understand why they don't want to eat it.

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That was scary, but luckily we do have the luxury of a 24 hour on-call triage nurse and a 24 hr CVS with a consultant on duty at all times. The consultant is (and without a doubt HAS to be) more conservative than our pediatric staff. I reached them first and they were hesitant to recommend anything for a 14 month old (2 years seems to be the minimum age for the good stuff). Finally an Italian Pharmacist walked over and told me to use a little anti-itch cream, handed me a tube and I headed to the cashier (I read the label and sure enough it was for children 2 and up). At that moment, Shonna called and told me what the triage nurse said, I picked up the medication, and headed home. I handed the meds to Shonna, and she gave Scarlett the 1/2 teaspoon prescribed. It seemed like such a tiny amount so we had to double check. According to the label, a 6 year old is supposed to have a teaspoon, so we were pretty confident we shouldn't give her more... We could see it working fairly quickly, and less than 90 minutes it was much better. It still didnt help my night's sleep. When we woke up in the morning (Scarlett slept through the night), she was back to normal. Barely a reminance of rash, no buffiness, and her cheeks were her usual pale rouge. Phew.

That's not the only scare she gave us this week. I'm not sure if we've mentioned this before, but she thinks she can step off of any table, bed, high chair, as if she was on our couch. Sure its easy enough for her to turn on her belly and slide down the couch, and land safely on her feet, but try explaining to her that she can't use the same technique on a changing table 4 ft off the ground! She is constantly trying this on the bed as well. Not as dangerous, but would be painfull none the less. She might stop trying if she knows how much it will hurt, but we really couldn't g0 that far now could we? :) Sorry, although she does learn very well by example, like Shonna mentioned earlier, we are trying to stay away from CPS...

Speaking of learning or progressing, she is taking a step back when it comes to food. Our goto foods are now hit or miss. Chicken, mac and cheese, peas, carrotts, and bread were always someting we could turn to if she didn't like what she was eating. Guess which 3 of these are the "hit or miss"? You guessed it. Chicken, mac and cheese, and bread. Funny thing is she never gets tired of peas and carrots (knock on wood). When we ate at Lyon Hall, she tried brioche french toast, whipped cream, and assorted fruits consisting of white and red grapes, honeydew, orange, apple, and pineapple. While whipped cream was her quick fix, her consistant favorite had to be the grapes. She should have loved the french toast, but for some reason she didn't go for it. I think she actually likes my version better, which is much less sweet. I was surprised. 4 meals earlier we had dinner at Hard Times Cafe (we had a $25 gift card). Scarlett had fried chicken tenders (options there were limited). She didn't really care for them, but I thought they were fantastic! I rarely eat tenders these days, but Hard Times breads there own and use real chicken breast. I left thinking they should start offering fried chicken. They would give KFC and Popeye's a run for their money. The last bit of food I'll mention came from our pierogi dinner (Thursday maybe?) I sauteed some onions and the pierogis in olive oil and a little butter. Scarlett didn't touch the peirogis, but sucked on and ate the onions... oh our odd little baby's palate.

Scarlett