Saturday, June 26, 2010

Summer Fun

Life seems to be getting the better of me these days. Thus, the blogging silence. Silas is decidedly not an easy infant. He was fairly mellow as a newborn, but now he has strong opinions about what he wants to do and when he wants to do it. He will only be carried in the baby bjorn (he is nearly twenty pounds, and I have a lot of other more comfortable carriers and strollers). He doesn't go to sleep easily, and never for Craig. And yet he still needs three naps a day. Um, I'm tired.


Here is a great example of Silas's strong will: He was crawling over to me, the army crawl that he does, holding a plastic base for stacking bristle blocks. He was scrambling really quickly, but the plastic thing was causing him to slip around. I took it from him and placed it to the side, hoping to help him reach his goal more quickly. He stopped, turned around, scrambled over to the toy, grabbed it, and then started back toward me. Is it just me, or does that seem like a pretty distinct idea for a six month old? And you know, if Silas doesn't get what he wants, he screams. Loudly.

And I haven't even mentioned the eczema. I cry regularly about his eczema. He has it all. over. his. face. It looks HORRIBLE. He scratches at it constantly. It oozes and gets infected. When it started, I tried an elimination diet, which didn't help. We experimented with different lotions and bath regimens. We tried getting rid of all detergent in our house--not easy, let me tell you. And so finally, last week, I took him to the dermatologist, who put him on steroid cream, antibiotic ointment for the current infection, and an oral antihistimine to help with the itching. I can't get him to take the antihistimine (screaming! gagging! violent wrenching away from the doser!) and the other two medications don't seem to be working at all. It cleared a bit for a few days, but we are currently back to exactly where we started. Actually, scratch that (no pun intended). It is worse than when we started.

Add to all this the fact that it is summer break for the boys, and that Henry has gone from my people pleaser to a . . . challenging child (this is mommy code for something else that is not G-rated) and we've got ourselves in a rather exhausting place. I know this will pass. And I do try to enjoy the lovely times, because they do pop up. I'll write about one soon. But for now: I'm tired. I'm struggling. I'm feeling a bit on the verge, if you know what I mean.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry to hear about Silas. And about Henry finding out that being the people-pleasing, middle child can mean disappearing.

I hate to say it, but keep using the creams - even when things look clear.

Hopefully an allergist can help. But I just googled home remedies for eczema and they are saying it's strictly a genetic thing but that some allergens act as triggers. I don't know about Silas, but sometimes carpet can launch an itch attack on my skin.

Good luck. sy

Robin said...

I don't know what it is about the way you wrote that entry, Ser, but it took me right back to _that place_!

It was in the post-2nd grade that my sweet, darling oldest child suddenly sprouted horns - at about the same time my baby (2 at the time) became incurably clingy. I was sure I was on the brink.

I've got no cure for any of that but I'm telling you - the very best moisturizer and eczema soother (but definitely not a cure) is Crisco.

Hang in there (because you have to) get Tracy over there ASAP to crack you up (because you need to)!

Ser said...

Thanks for the understanding/sympathy, Robin. It really helps! I do need a Tracy fix, you are right. I'll get on that!

S. Lovich said...

My daughter had severe eczema and we tried many things but the pediatrician finally gave us acid mantle in a lotion suspension and it worked! We had to continue to use it even when the eczema cleared. It seemed she finally grew out of it by the time she was three.

I'd watch your son for a possible food allergy. My same daughter ended up with peanut allergies. From the reading I've done on peanut allergies children with allergies will have eczema (not every child with eczema will have a food allergy). Good luck.

slovich said...

Oops I mean to say

"From the reading I've done on peanut allergies children with allergies OFTEN have eczema..."