Current mood:

relieved

Tornado aka Ben

   I was informed yesterday afternoon at daycare than Ben had been violently pulling his ears, and crying to the point where he was inconsolible :(  He also refused to eat because he was in pain. Oy.  I took him home, gave him some tylenol, and he calmed down for a while, but he then started crying like I have haven't heard since he had a spinal tap when he was 2 weeks old. He could not be comforted, and was super kvetchy.  Finally, after drugs, orajel (that made it in his mouth. He spit it at me), and a cold teething toy, he was able to de-escalate.
   I brought Ben to the doctor's today.  We got there early for the walk-in hours, and were waiting in the hall for the office to open. He decided to give a lecture about something extremely important, as he was talking up a storm, having a lot of inflection in his babbles, and looked very serious. They opened the door to the office and commented that they thought htere were 5 babies out her due to all the noise :)  As soon as we got into the waiting room, Ben started babbling, singing, and making his usual racket. The office manger walked by, and Ben looked  at her, raised his arms up, and wanted to be held by her. Wha? He's never met her, but okay......  She played for a minute or two with her and then went back to me.  A little girl, about 1.5 years old came toddling in.  Ben immediately leaned towards her, gave her the biggest smile I have ever seen, was giggling, cooing, being Mr. Charming.  Her dad smiled at me and I asked him if they were long lost relatives, because he was acting like she was his bashert. It almost killed me with cuteness.  Kid's a damn flirt!!!!
He was seen by Ellen, (the NP who he LOVES, and she kinda adores him as well).  As soon as he went on the exam table, he somehow managed to wrap himself up in the big roll of exam paper. Then he started rolling on the table, taking a LOT paper with him.  Then down came the blood pressure cuff because the kid's got a tight grip and is lightning quick.  He destroyed the office in less than a minute. That's my boy!!   She was able to subdue him long enough to look in his ears, and there is no sign of an infection.  She believes his ears are hurting him due to teething. Ben's gums are super swollen and he has been teething something fierce this past week.  In addition, he sounds like a 3 pacjk per day smoker, which is largely due to allergies. he coughs so hard sometimes that he vomits. He can't take anything but benadryl for the congestion, and she confirmed that this is "normal," given his history of colds this year.  When the exam was done, she played with him for a few minutes, and then we left.  But the exam room looked like a tornado hit it, and I realized that Ben now leaves a path of destruction wherever he goes.
We have been to the doctor's so many times this year, that I think they need to create some type of rewards program.  "Come 9 times, the 10th visit's free!"  or something to that effect. Either that, or put in a wet bar.