Singing, playing, giving the crusty eyeball

Well, the amoxicillin did the trick. He's better today. Stayed home from daycare one more day just to get that extra rest before our trip. Here's a little video of Wilder playing today while we listened to music. If you notice, after the big yawn, he gives me a very intense, very sustained "go to hell" look. A sign of things to come? I'll say one thing: He might not look a thing like me, but I'm pretty sure he got that look from me.

Sick sick blah blah

It's almost getting old, blogging about Wilder being sick again. I just doublechecked the calendar and we're going on six straight weeks of various illnesses. So anyway, I'll keep this short.

More chest and throat congestion. Both ears infected. Doc orders blood tests. Tests come back inconclusive. So to cover our bases we're on another 10 days of amoxicillin. Kid's miserable -- can't sleep unless mom sits on bed cradling him and mimics the motion of an airplane (quite a technique actually, and works pretty fast ... I can get him into a deep sleep this way in about 10 minutes). The good news is, if it's bacterial, there ought to be enough antiobotics in his system for the next couple of weeks that him getting sick again while we're in Tennessee are virtually nil.

The ONLY upside to this is that Wilder has shown that he actually craves the comfort of his mama, which in a way is really, really nice. I'd much rather him feel better, but there are times lately when the only thing that will make him happy and calm is sitting quietly in my arms. Every so often he'll look up into my eyes and give me this look that says, "You're still here with me, right? Oh good." Wow, what a feeling.

Old Man Wilder

Wilder impersonates Santa during his bath (and sorry about the end -- I thought I'd turned the camera off).

AGH!! Help me escape the Mama Monster!!! (As an aside, check out how much hair this boy is growing ...) 

Sick Baby, Part 3

Does this look like a sick baby to you? No? Us neither, but we'd all be wrong.

The Crud Fairy has struck again at Casa de la Scott. Hand, foot and mouth disease this time. Luckily, it's a very mild case of it. He only has blisters on his throat -- a lot of kids get them inside their mouth, on their hands, etc. A bad case is supposed to be one of the most painful illnesses babies can get, so we're just happy this one's mellow. He's got some bad congestion resulting in a nasty-sounding cough, but other than that he seems relatively normal. Sleeping a little more. Of course, this means he has to be kept out of daycare until all signs clear up, because HF&M disease is highly contagious, so Jerry and I are playing the "whose work is more important today?" game. Jer took today off. I'm taking tomorrow. Wednesday could be a straw-draw. Maybe we'll thumb wrestle. : )

Must. Keep. Sense. Of humor.

But I will say this ... all those horror stories about the first six months of daycare, the ones I thought other parents either exaggerated or thought they just had really sickly kids. Err, I was wrong. Note to self: Stop being a judgmental ass or suffer the karmic consequences.

I have to go wake Jerry up and lead him to his pillow. He's fallen asleep in the recliner. Poor guy.

The Crawler

He's clearly still perfecting his technique, but here's a little video of the kiddo scooting around at the sprayground today.

Waterbaby Wilder

We went to the sprayground again today -- with temps once again in the 100s, it's about the only place outdoors that's tolerable. Anyway, here's a little clip of Wilder playing in the water.

Our First Video!!!

Wilder pulled himself up for the first time today in his crib. Here's the footage:

Big Week for Wilder

Well, let's start with the biggest news. Wilder started crawling yesterday. Now he's not fast or very graceful yet, but we do have actual forward momentum when on hands and knees. It's pretty cool, and we're hoping to start posting actual video here soon (thanks to Jynnette for helping me figure it out), so keep an eye out. He also is trying to pull himself up -- almost did that the same day he started crawling, which was yesterday. And he has "mama" and "dada" down very well now. It's also been one of those weeks when he just looks like he's grown a TON.

He might also have his TV debut tonight. We went to the sprayground today (see pics below), this awesome new place near our house that is exactly what it sounds like. There are jets and buckets and streams of watering coming out everywhere. It just opened about a month ago, and give Wilder's love of water, we thought we'd take our first trip out there today with my friend Judy, her grand-daughter Dylan and another friend's son, Spencer. Well, Wilder had a ball. At first he wasn't sure about it all -- he's used to pools of water and this stuff was squirting him -- but he quickly grew to love it and enthusiastically sprayed himself and me and anyone in the vicinity by sticking his hands into any jet he could find.

Near the end of our visit, a TV news cameraman showed up. He asked Judy if she'd be filmed, and she said "no way." I've been asked before to be interviewed for TV news, and I've always said no. I'm using to conducting interviews for my work, but put me on the other side of it and put a camera on me, and I act like I just fell off the turnip truck. But I REALLY wanter Wilder to be on TV. So, for the sake of my sweet adorable boy's small-screen debut, I submitted myself to an interview. I was about as inartiulate and dumb-sounding as I thought I'd be (not even sure what I babbled on about). So we'll find out tonight at 6 p.m. if we made the cut. Part of me is hoping no, because I'm sure I'll cringe to see myself on TV -- make-upless, showerless and looking like a drowned rat. But I'd LOVE to see Wilder on there. So we'll see ...

I have to run. We're having a poker party tonight and I've still got tons to do to get ready for it. Enjoy the new pics. And keep an eye out for video!!!

xoxo, k,j&w

Chillin' in the shade for a bit. 

The sprayground -- water water everywhere! 

When is this thing gonna come back on again? 

Weeeee water! 

Dylan also loves the spray park 

Sun and spray sure do wear a boy out. 

Yay Mama! That was FUN!! 

All Pictures, No Rhymes With "Duke"

Well, after a week of stomach flu stories, I figured our blog guests deserved some cute pictures.

Enjoy!!
Love, Kris, Jer & the Wildchild

All right ... I'm gonna "mom" out for a minute here ... how friggin' cute is that face??? Kid melts my heart.  

We call this hair style "The Trump." 

Booty shot!!!! 

Wilder learns what happens when you nosedive after Rubberducky.  

We're ready to roll!! 

Pre-hike family portrait. (Wilder's thinking: "Mama, the back of your hair looks like POOP!!") 

H2O break!! (Unless Wilder snuck vodka into that bottle ...) 

Mom and kiddo on the trail 

Glad to be out of his sweaty backpack 

What better way to end a hike?  

So if you click on this photo and look very closely on Wilder's bottom left, you'll see a bit of tooth coming up. Yay! Chompers!!! Well, err, chomper. Singular. For now. But soon, Wilder's biters will be TAKING OVER THE WORLD!!! MWAAAHAHAHAHA! (ok, sorry, got carried away.) 

The colorful noise-making thing ... it pleases me.  

I am over your incessant picture-taking, woman. 

I see you mama! 

I'm coming to get you!! 

Pickmeup! Pickmeup! 

Something wicked in this house lives

... and it's called the interminable stomach flu. Wilder had been blech-free for days -- if not quite well; he's not been eating regularly, is quite tired and such --and then this morning yakked in his crib again after his morning bottle. He seems fine otherwise; is playing and such, but we're keeping a close eye on him.

And if my liveblog from the other night gave anyone the impression that I handled it well and got over it easy, well ... that would be a misinterpretation of what ended up being one hour in a 24-hour-plus ordeal. I ended the liveblog, whether I knew it or not (the details are hazy to me now) just in time to dive headfirst into a full night and day of misery. Man, that sucked. Unlike the other night, I'll spare the details. I've had nothing but Gatorade, chocolate pudding and coffee (girl's gotta keep on top of that massive caffeine addiction if she's not going to add smack-like withdrawal symptoms to a fever and crushing stomach cramps) for more than a day now. On the plus side, I've read a ton of my book, Wonder Boys, which I'd recommend if you want to feel better about your own shitty circumstances : )

Anyway, Jerry remains sick-free, though at this point he's doing so much of the drudgery around here he might be wishing for the virus. Poor guy. Think I'll go shuffle around the house and try to look busy ...