germs...

I hate winter. The season where germs seem to thrive and all you can do is stay home. Our household has been hostage to a host of germs over the last few weeks. Somehow Zander picked up a bug and it has gone through the family like wildfire. He started out with a fever on Sunday and by the next day we were running him to the clinic for a prescription to fight pink eye. I couldn't figure out how he would have gotten it until the doc told Stephen that he likely wiped his nose with his hand and then rubbed his eye. EW! By Monday night, I was down with a fever and then a nasty headache and sore throat, which has lasted for a week or so. Stephen came down with it on Wednesday and so far Grace has been OK, except that she now has pink eye too. So, my plan of attack is to bomb those nasty germs with come chemical warfare. Look out nasties, the Lysol wipes are being brought out of retirement for one appearance only. Now I know that Lysol wipes are not the best product to use with little ones around, but vinegar won't quite cut it this time! It's going to be a challenge for Stephen to not worry about it, but I am sure that in time, he will appreciate the annihilation of the bacteria that causes pink eye. The alternative is just to live with it and the kids will pass it back and forth indefinitely.

In other news, we have a speech update for Zander. He had his follow up with the pathologist on Tuesday and they have determined that he needs another two months of therapy. Apparently he is still behind in his speech. This is news to me! I thought he was doing so well but I guess not. It's funny to me that a kid who can say so much, can be so far behind. But, what do I know? I was talking with my "mommy" friends and we were laughing about how we don't realize how much we say something until our kids start saying it. Case in point, Zander's latest favourite thing to say if I do something he doesn't want me to is "Don't doooo daaat" which is something I find myself saying at least a hundred times a day it seems. I am sure any mom of a boy can relate to this. Whether it's taking all the diapers out of the bag and stretching them out, sneaking into the washroom to flush lots of paper, colouring on the floor instead of on his colouring book, pushing his sister in ther swing (enthusiasticly) or just throwing things in general, I feel like I am constantly after this little guy to "Don't do that!" He's also mastered "don't touch" and "No" which he says just about as much as he says "Don't do that".

Grace is growing and changing so fast it is unreal. She's able to sit up by herself for extended periods of time and has been eating all kinds of new food. I've yet to find anything that she doesn't like. She's also changed he sleep patterns again! For a few days there, I would get in a six hour stretch at night but now she is back to three or four hour stretches. Is it just habit? could be. One of these nights she'll just get some warm water and see if that holds her over a bit longer. According to the pediatrician, she should be sleeping at least six hours straight through the night and doesn't really need a middle of the night feed. Ideally I should be able to feed her at 10pm and not have to feed her again until at least 4am. That's not happening. Oh well, at least we don't have to sleep train her the way we did with Zander. We can put her in the crib awake and she'll go to sleep on her own, without screaming, which Zander never did. Oh, and she seems to be weaning herself off the soother too. It used to be that she would take it, if we were in the car or she was in her swing but lately it seems like she spits it out more often than not. I am sure not complaining about that! I've heard of parents struggling to get their kids to give them up so if Grace wants to do that on her own, I have no problem with that!