28 January 2010

Oi oi oi

I have a bit of a sore throat & can't decide if I should mope or rage about it. Not happy in any case & hoping it's just going to go away as quietly as it came. Marcel & Ben both had the tiniest touch of a cold that disappeared almost instantly ... but not before a little drama in Ben's case. But I'll save that story for the end of this entry just for a little suspense.

Mr. Buttersticks (the King family's official nickname for Ben) has his third tooth. So now he's got his bottom middle two and one upper canine. Are they called canine? It's not one of the middle front teeth like are supposed to come in after the bottom two, it's the next one over on his left. It's like he's aware that vampires are hot right now so he decided to go with the fangs next instead of the predictable front teeth. Good boy, he's going to be a little pop culture schmuck like his mother.

We had the most beautiful Australia Day on Tuesday. We now have to officially celebrate because Ben is 100% Australian, which reminds me yet again that we haven't filled out his US certificate of birth abroad so he may never be an American citizen at this rate. Anyhoo, we went to the gorgeous home of some gorgeous friends & their absolutely gorgeous family! It's the best way to spend a holiday - good food, great friends & a baby just Ben's age (8 days apart). He was so excited he couldn't hold it in, exploring, babbling & of course harassing everyone who would give him an ounce of attention. Little Evie has dark curls and Ben became enraptured and attempted to pull them any chance he got. He also poked her in the eye a few times so she became a bit wary of our little unintentional bully.

Also there were Charlotte, 5 & Will, 3. They had the energy and imagination to keep Ben on his toes - playing peekaboo and dangling one of those pool noodles just out of his reach, which led to one of my favorite Benny pictures of all time:

I could eat that boy up with a side of cornbread!! He's always been a people person but he really put himself out there for Australia Day. I always joke that I'd like him to be like Zac Efron when he gets older but seeing him in cases like this, I can see a bit of Chris Farley or Zach Galinafakisokiswhoosywhatsyhisname - I just hope he keeps it clean & safe. Most importantly, do you see how adorable little Evie is? Such a feminine little angel!! While Benny the Bull was rampaging, it was so nice to sit with her calm energy and sweet smiles. 

So after such a great day, we got home & relaxed & slept. A bit after midnight, Ben woke up SCREAMING bloody murder. This boy doesn't scream no matter how unhappy he gets - cry, whine, yes, but no screaming. My save the day reaction of putting him immediately to the boob for a feed just made it worse so I assumed severe teething (those front two will show up any day I'm afraid) but he couldn't breathe out of his nose. We assumed all was okay and he was just being dramatic but when your child isn't acting normally you have to check it out. And he did just poop some cardboard the other day so I was slightly scared of him having a whole box stuck in his colon or something.

Sooooo ... off to the Gosford Hospital emergency room we went ... after midnight on Australia Day. It was full of morons bandaged, bloody & delirious from either drinking or drugs or whatever it is that moron kids do these days. And we're in the midst of it with Sniffly Pete. Ah well. He was fine, of course, we were in & out & I'm afraid the official diagnosis was "runny nose." Not even a cold or sinus issues, just "runny nose." We tucked our embarrassed tails between our legs & went home with the boy and he was basically fine the next day.

There was one thing that bothered me at the ER. While we were having Ben's temperature taken, etc. before they actually called us back for the official checkup, we overheard one of the receptionists telling a triage nurse that a woman on the phone was the sister of a girl waiting for treatment with a broken arm. The sister was warning that she had a tendency for violence and the triage nurse wanted to talk to her about some other bigger concerns. When we went back out to the waiting room, this gal ended up sitting next to us. She was very polite, even after we had moved her stuff and she didn't kick our asses so I can't vouch for her violence but she was obviously very high & possibly drunk with a broken arm from who knows what and dried blood down her leg and arms. Maybe I should have been scared with my baby near her but all I could think was what the hell is this young thing (early 20's was my guess) doing by herself in an emergency room in this condition? Trips to the hospital usually turn into large family affairs where I come from. Why was her sister on the phone and not rushing to be with her? Where are her parents? Her friends? Anyone? What the hell happened to her to lead her to be bloodied, broken & high by herself? If I didn't have Ben with me, I would have turned on my Gwen Moore conversation skills and tried to chat with her but I chickened out. I did make a silent vow that no matter what terrible things Ben stumbles into in life, I will always be there for him even if it's just to sit by his side in the waiting room and clean the blood off of him.

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