It’s all here. Adventures in extreme knitting, the house of poop, and suburban permaculture. You may also find rants about politics, ecology, humanitarianism, responsible living, toe floss, and other topics not covered here. Expect profanity and irreverence. You have been warned.
More panadol, more screaming, and an hour later he was back down under 38 degrees, He was eventually able to sleep after a breastfeed. But I wasn’t able to sleep due to a really sore throat. I’ve been really lucky this winter, only having one mild cold, but this feels like something that might knock me around a bit.
Inigo is having his morning nap now, hopefully he’ll be stable and happy today so that I can crawl through my tasks and then into bed.
Through Liz from playgroup, I found out about a parenting course that has government funding through the schools as communities project. I enrolled yesterday, and started the first of three sessions today. Childcare is provided on site, so Inigo had his first taste of childcare today.
I was right next door (in an old building), so I could hear if he screamed. And after yesterday, I was understandably nervous about leaving him with strangers.
The training is on a system called 1-2-3 Magic, and I really can’t tell you much about it because you can’t cover much in 2.5 hours. Especially when you have a sick kid in the room next door.
Yup, the raised temp is back. During the break I went in to check on him and he felt a little warm, but I decided not to panic as he was still acting pretty happy, and the class would be over in less than an hour.
After class we went to the cheap chemist and I blew the better part of $100 on a high accuracy ear thermometer and some nurofen (which the doc at the hospital recommended if we need to re-dose before we can give more panadol). At 4pm his temp was 38.5, so I dosed him up and put him to bed.
Usually he has trouble going to sleep for his afternoon nap, but this afternoon he slept for more than 2 hours and had to be woken for dinner. He was drenched in sweat, but his temperature was back to normal.
And yesterday I weighed him on the new scales I bought last week. He was 9.1kg – up 300gms from last week, and squarely above the 50th percentile line on the WHO growth chart for the first time.
I could cry.
This morning we went to a new playgroup at Granville Library. There seemed to be kids everywhere, it was chaotic, and Inigo loved it. There was singing, dancing, and storytime. The kid was enthralled, and he was ready to go back to bed after lunch.
After his nap we went into the city for some socialising. He was in fine form, and charmed everyone, until at 5pm at Miriam’s in Summer Hill he started screaming, went bright red, and his temperature was 38.7c.
Instead of freaking out, I gave him some baby panadol and decided to wait half an hour.
At 5.40pm, his temp was 38.9c, and the panicking began. I called Mark, who agreed that it was better to get him to a hospital soon, rather than taking the chance that his temp would rise further. Of course, this was smack in the middle of peak hour, so we went to RPA instead of Westmead, where I hear the emergency paediatricians are excellent 😉
Traffic was horrible, and by the time we were half way there he was fast asleep. And when we got there his temp seemed (to my untrained hand), close to normal. There was some uncharacteristic full throated and high pitched screaming in the waiting room, but apart from that he seemed normal.
I pressed on regardless, and three hours later we are home. Apparently it’s completely normal for a kid to go from normal temp to a high fever at the drop of a teacup, and then for it to come right down after a dose of panadol.
We did a urine sample, which looks clean, and he was checked all over for lumps, bumps, spots and swellings. Apart from a possibly swollen gland on the right side of his jaw, it was all clear.
He had a long breastfeed and then ate all his solids while we waited for the urine test, and was the very picture of health.
Apparently he has a “virus”. I’m to keep his fluids up, make sure he gets plenty of rest, and give him more panadol if he needs it.
And the “days since we’ve been in hospital” counter is reset 😉
The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Lara
2. What is your favorite food? Tetsuyas
3. What high school did you go to? Australian International Independent School
4. What is your favorite color? Pink and Orange
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Oprah
6. Favorite drink? Gimlet
7. Dream vacation? Whale Island, Nha Trang, Vietnam
8. Favorite dessert? Caramel Dumplings
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Peaceful
10. What do you love most in life? Family
11. One Word to describe you? Fun
12. Your flickr name? discoknitter
1. New Canon EOS 30D – First shots …thank U Lara!, 2. Tetsuyas – Petit Fours, 3. Designer CONTACT +491789803472 – Phone Germany Cultural Jamming Interface Design, 4. ready for the party……???, 5. Mr. Winfrey, 6. You Lookin at My Gimlet?, 7. Whale Island, 8. Dumpling au caramel.jpg, 9. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 10. Prayer, 11. breathless, 12. Baby Jacket for Inigo
I’ve seen Cat Bordhi‘s new book. New Pathways for Sock Knitters has taken the sock knitting world by storm – but since I no longer knit socks, I flicked through it without really paying attention.
Today I had the DIY Network on while I was expressing, and Cat was on Knitty Gritty, demonstrating the Coriolis Sock. So I did a quick search, and found the pattern here. I might even have a go at these, as they are knitted with a double strand of sock yarn, on much larger needles than normal socks.
You smile, you giggle like I’m the funniest thing on the planet, you eat like a body builder, and you can shout the house down. The levitation is a new thing. I’m hoping we can patent that and pay all your medical bills.
You’ve got a bigger head than is properly decent for a kid your age, and eyes to match. And the eyes still don’t match.
You can say mama and dada, but either will do. You can crawl, or rather slide, quite effectively, but you only go backwards. Reverse motion is only arrested by furniture, often a chair between your legs.
You love toys, noisy, garish, mirrored, furry, smooth, plastic and wood. Usually the tag is the first thing you will go for, but anything will do, and it is always given a taste test before any play will commence.
Bathtime brings lots of joy for all of us.
We have little conversations, you make an exclamation (or a pronouncement), and I try to repeat what you say. Often I fail to reproduce (you have an extraordinary range), but you have the good manners to continue talking to me even though I don’t make sense.
You are always watching, always paying attention to what is going on around you. Although you love to sleep, you don’t like going to sleep because you know you’ll be missing out on something while you’re out.
You love people, you love hearing stories, and you love being on stage. I think your favourite thing (after food) is playing peek-a-boo with an audience of adoring fans. The more the merrier.
You adore your dad, and your grandparents. There’s nothing better than hanging out with people who don’t believe in over stimulation!
And I think we’re starting to get an insight into your personality. You adore Cocky, Daisy fascinates you, and you can’t wait to make friends with Custard. You stop and look when you hear a bird, and I believe you are becoming quite the animal lover.
You are gentle with other kids, never snatch or poke, and when others do it to you, you bear it stoically.
For weeks, you’ve been putting your hands in my hands so that I can pull you up to sit, then to stand, then I usually throw you up in the air. You love it, and it’s great exercise for the triceps. Yesterday, you grabbed my hands, but didn’t wait to be pulled up – you used my hands to pull yourself up.
And today, while visiting Fiona, you saw a picture on her wall of our wedding. Your face lit up, and the word “Dada” came out of your mouth.
I love hanging out with you Inigo, and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
A test shoot for a calendar competition I am considering entering. Not happy with any of the shots, but this one shows the singlet beautifully. Thanks Bex!
For the last three weeks, Inigo’s weight gains have been only 40-60grams. It’s on the low side of normal for his age, but it takes him further away from the 50th percentile – that he had been sneaking closer and closer to.
Today, he weighed 8.80kg, up 250gm from last week (8.55kg). That is a pretty massive gain from last week, and fantastic in the light of the past three weeks mediocre gains.
This number takes him closer to the magic 50th – of course in real terms it means nothing, but the number is significant to the paed, as it ‘s in line with his length. And, of course, it means that I can stop worrying that the minimal gains of the past weeks mean that I have to worry about another infection.
My neck feels bruised after a visit to the chiro on tuesday, but my range of movement is much improved. And Inigo had his first unsupervised play date with Charlie, a kid from our playgroup. Charlie’s mum, Liz is great, I liked her as soon as I met her, and she volunteered to take Inigo while I was a the chiro. He also stayed at Adam & Sarah’s for a few hours last Friday while I took Josephine and Owen to the hospital.
My Mr Greenjeans is coming along – after a false start and a trip to the frog pond. I’m now past the armholes and heading for the ribbing, which starts just under the boobs. I might be knitting for some time!
When I was a little kid, I wasn’t very popular. I had only one friend at school when I was eight.
And then S arrived at my school, and I had two friends.
Not so very long after she arrived, her family moved again, and I lost her.
And then last year, I got a message from my brother that someone was looking for me on facebook – she found me!
So I joined facebook, and she sent me a message that left me in floods of tears. She had remembered me for all those years, and thought so much of me that she still wanted to know me after all those years.
I think she’s pretty cool, and I wish she lived closer so that I could tell her in person.
Happy Birthday. I’m amazed that I was such a good judge of character in primary school 😉
Disco Knitter 