Ups and downs

Well, that last entry was a bit of a downer. We definitely have good days and bad days, and Friday wasn't such a great day, as you can probably tell! Saturday, on the other hand, was great. Scott and Zach went on their traditional outing to McDonalds for pancakes while I slept in, and then when Scott and his friends headed to Wisconsin for Rosie's 5th annual bachelor party, Zach and I had a very fun day. We went to out in the afternoon for a little treat, and I was surprised when Zach yelled "there's Dairy Queen" as we rounded the corner; he'd only been there once! I guess you remember the good stuff, even when you're two! Sunday I got to take some "me" time, when Scott got back. I took myself out for lunch and to a movie... a nice break. So we had a pretty good weekend, all things considered.

Oh, and I forgot to mention - Zach kept things interesting for us by spiking a relatively high fever on Saturday. After phone calls to the children's hospital and our normal doctor, and an even more thorough search for pressure sores (he has none), we were told to just give him some Tylenol and keep an eye on him. He didn't have any other symptoms, so that was it. And Sunday it was gone. Mysterious...

Let's see, what else have we been up to? I forgot to mention that last Thursday Zach and I went to our first ECFE class for this school year. I didn't know what to expect, I was concerned Zach would get frustrated that he couldn't play like all the other kids. But I wanted to give it a try anyway - a change of scenery, new toys, etc. I'm so glad we went - Zach was so excited when we walked in the door. It's the same room we were in last year, and he clearly remembered it. I got to flex my newly developing muscles as I heaved and hoisted Zach around, finding ways to sit him on my lap or on the floor so he could reach the toys and play-doh, and of course, his snack. Typically our class separates - the parents leave the kids with the teachers after a little while, to go talk parenting. But I stayed behind, since they aren't exactly staffed to provide the one-on-one attention Zach needs. It was fun, and we made it almost the entire two hours, which really surprised me!

We also had an exciting development in the area of transportation. We had been using various wagons to take Zach out and about, which was not ideal. We could never get him comfortable, and he'd end up laying back looking so very pathetic. And he really, really did not like it. Our friend Cindy to the rescue - she had a stroller that is both shallow and wide enough that Zach actually fits! So now he can sit upright when we go on our outings, and we can also use it to play outside - he can knock beach balls around, throw frisbees, etc. A much better solution for everybody.

The biggest challenge these days is sleep (we finally mastered the diapering challenges). Zach actually slept better the first few days than he is now; for some reason he seems to be plagued by nightmares a lot more now. He had nightmares before this happened, but either they're a lot more frequent now, or he just has a harder time settling himself down and going back to sleep - or both. I had assumed his nightmares were about the pain when he first broke his leg, or some of the scarier experiences in the hospital, or just random weird things we all dream about. So I did have to laugh at about 3 AM this morning when I heard Zach yell "I don't want to watch that movie! Get it out!!!" He sounded so upset about it! But I guess a nightmare is a nightmare, and besides the fact that they are hampering all of our sleep, they're frustrating because there isn't anything we can really do to help him. But that seems true of so many things these days, that's for sure.