Eczmea And Allergies

Last spring, shortly after weaning, Hailey started getting patches on her skin. At first, I thought maybe she had a slight milk allergy but the doctor assured me that that couldn't be it because I continued to drink milk myself while nursing. My next thought was environmental allergies but again the doctor told me that it was highly unlikely as most kids need 3-4 summers for those type of allergies to show up. She thought it was the pool drying Hailey's skin out and it was a brutally hot summer, meaning we spent a lot of time at the pool. We switched to dye free and fragrance free everything: wipes, body wash, detergent, fabric softener, lotion, etc. Honestly, I was just grateful when the eczema disappeared over the winter. This spring, at the first sign of pollen, the eczema came back in full force. Now I was convinced that it was environmental allergies, as most eczema is worse during the winter. I demanded an allergy appointment and they did the prick test on her, which was horrible. However, it did tell us what I suspected: she definitely has allergies. She is allergic to cats, dogs, dust, ragweed, pollen, some trees, and some grasses. I mentioned that we had a cat that passed in Jan and that I was surprised that her allergies didn't bother her while we had the cat, since she was supposedly most allergic to cats. The allergist hypothesized that her immune system could handle the cat but once all the other stuff came out, it just clobbers her system. It sure does. We have spent all summer battling back horrible eczema. People even stop us in the store and ask what is wrong with her legs or hands. We have tried pretty much everything they recommend for eczema: bleach baths, wet wraps, ointments (prescription and non), lotions (prescription and non), oral medicine - none of it is really working. The Zyrtec stops her from itching her eyes but does nothing for her skin. The medicine they gave us that did help clear her skin gave her huge blisters on her bottom. The one ointment that works can only be used for a week max once every few months. As soon as we stop it, the eczema comes back. The allergist wants to use some type of medicine on her that, when in oral form, is a cancer medication. She told me that I would just have to make sure that Hailey didn't put touch the medicine and put her hands in her mouth. She's 2! I made it clear in no uncertain terms that I would not be trying experimental drugs on my 2 year old. Yes she is probably the only kid who had "itchy mama" as one of her first two word sentences, but honestly she most likely will outgrow this before she is old enough to remember it. It breaks my heart to see her itching all the time but I can't justify the strong medicines they want to use, particularly when 1) it doesn't cure anything 2) this problem usually goes away on its own as the immune system matures and 3) most of these medicines have very little research on long-term effects. I plan to talk to her pediatrician about a dermatologist at her 2.5 year appointment in a few weeks here, as I figure the allergist and pediatrician have pretty much reached the end of their knowledge on the subject. Until then, we'll just continue to pray that it heals on its own this winter and doesn't come back. Come on first freeze!

Friday Funny

Sight Words: Round One

Hannah's teacher sent home a packet in her folder last week, informing us that she was in one of the higher reading groups and that she will be receiving extra sight words to complete at her own pace. The teacher stressed that this is merely a supplement so that the child can read at their own pace and a child will not be made to feel bad if they do not pass the list one week (although that was Hannah's first question to me - uh-oh, she may have picked up my worrying personality). Once the child passes a list, s/he will get the next list. Hannah's first list was:

I
go
like
we
am
at
a
can
see
the

She came home and already knew most of them. We worked on them all this week and today she passed the first set. Way to go Hannah! She was mostly excited because she likes to make sentences out of the flash cards I made with these words on it. I told her the more words we have, the better sentences she came make.

On to List #2!

Animal House

Hailey has a new love: cats. I would actually say this is the first time she is really starting to show a preference for things. She's always been pretty laid back about stuff (beyond her favorite bear, blanket, shoes, and occasionally a dress), but she absolutely loves cats. When we go to a house with cats, she shrieks with delight and claps. She smiles and laughs if the cat lets her pet him. She has a few toys that are cats, and she loves pictures/books about cats. Her favorite thing though is the Aristocats movie. She asks for "cat movie" anytime she is given a choice. She sings along with the song "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat." It is so cute!

Hannah has a new love as well: horses. They had Pet Day at school a couple of weeks ago. I was concerned that it would make her sad - after all, she still talks often about Lacey and includes her in all family pictures - but instead she took the opportunity to discuss with her class how much she wants a horse. She wanted to name it "Fru-Fru" (because she said it would like fruit and she would give it fruit on occasion). She even has a plan of how we could own a horse. She says the horse can live in the backyard and stay in her room, or maybe the garage, when it's cold. She would feed it grass from the yard (as if our yard can afford to give up any grass!) and take it on walks around the neighborhood. She was so intent that I not say "no" without giving it real thought, so I told her "we'll see" instead. Maybe a stuffed horse for Christmas could help ease the pain of not getting a real horse. LOL

Favorite Phrases

Hailey's favorite things to say:

I did it!

Watch me, ma!

Okay, my turn!

Whoa, cool!

Moon (or insert anything tall) so high!

Daddy at work?

Knock, knock (if you answer "who is there?" she makes up a word, you repeat the word and say "who?" and she laughs hysterically)

Why?

What's that, ma?

Mine!

Bear do it too!

No!

Daddy (or anyone she finds amusing) so funny!

Do it self!

Look, ma!

I fall down!

(And yes, every one of these has an exclamation point because she really does say all her phrases with such emphasis!)

Twenty Days Of School

Hannah has had 20 days of school now and the reason I know this is that she came running off the bus yesterday, eager to show me her prize from the Best Behavior Box. Once a child earns 20 green or blue notes, s/he gets to pick a gift from the Best Behavior Box. As I suspected, the Best Behavior Box has small things like McDonald's toys in it. Hannah picked a My Little Pony (still in it's McDonald packaging, ha!) that had a star for it to stand on, which broke apart into two combs. You've never seen a kid so excited by a little toy. She even told me that today she earned a blue note, which she got for pointing to each word while reading it, as her teacher told her to do. She announced "today must be my lucky day!" and I laughed and told her that although I think it was obviously a lucky day, she also works hard at school to listen and always do the right thing. As she often says to me, it's not always easy to be good. It wasn't luck; hard work earned her that toy, and I'm proud of her!

Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago, the world changed forever. With the September 11th 10 year memorial today, it amazes me how different life has been even though it feels like it passed so quickly. Today I played with my kids and went to church and the store. I honked and waved at the firemen, policemen, and veterans who stand on the overpasses on I-69, waving flags and draping banners that say "Never forgotten" and "All gave some. Some gave all." I cried while watching the tribute and watched in reverence as they showed the memorials.

Ten years ago, it was a typical Tuesday morning. I was 21 years old and living with Becca and her brother Michael in an off-campus house for my senior year of college. Sarah was living with us at that time because her student teaching was up by Butler. I didn't have Tuesday morning classes, so I woke up late as mom called to remind me that Matthew's class was touring Butler today and I was meeting him for lunch. As we got ready to hang up, she told me to flip on the news because a plane had hit the World Trade Center. The way she said it, I thought it was an accident and that she was only telling me because Amy, Krysten, Kristen, and I had gone to NYC in Oct 2000 and sat between the towers, eating hot dogs and watching them sway in the wind. I flipped on the TV for a second as they were reporting a second plane had hit. I thought it was strange but flipped off the TV and went to take a shower. I flipped it on for one more minute before heading out the door to walk to campus. By that time, both towers had already fallen and the newcasters had come to the conclusion that we were under attack. Matthew and I ate in C-Club in the Union building and then watched the big TV they have for more news. I went to my Physical Chemsitry lab where me and my 2 classmates (yes there were only 3 of us in that lab) talked about it on and off while doing our experiment. I came home and sat down with my roommates, Sarah, and Rob to watch what had happened. I remember Sarah being concerned because Paul worked in a tall building (Target headquarters) in Minneapolis. Luckily he was okay. The images on TV were horrifying. They showed everything over and over again, from the plane hitting, people jumping, towers collapsing - everything. I felt scared, sad, and helpless. When they finally started allowing planes to fly again, they had them flying in at lower trajectories at first and it was scary to hear the sounds of planes. I have never told anyone this, but I still hate getting on planes to this day because I can't ride without thinking of those innocent people.

September 11th has shaped all our lives. Our friends, neighbors, and loved ones went to war. Our economy crumbled. Our safety and security has come at a price, with longer waits and more security everywhere. Jen and I crossed the Canadian border in the summer of 2000 with barely a glance from the border patrol; now you can't go through without a passport, which costs at least double what it used to cost and takes significantly longer to get as they do background checks. We saw kids being patted down as we went through the airport security this last January and I had to throw out Hailey's special lotion for her eczema because I accidently packed it in the carry-on. I didn't know a single person who died that day but I went to graduate school because of September 11th. I had wanted to graduate and get a job but after September 11th, there were no jobs to be had. Everyone said the same thing: call back in a few years. I had been prompted by professors to apply to graduate school, and I had, so I made the decision to go onto graduate school. We met Dustyn & Emily and Nick & Ashley at grad school, who are still good friends to this day. I went to work for IDEM after grad school in a position that I would not have gotten without a MS degree and met Amy and Kristen, again who I am still good friends with. I now teach online college classes from home in environmental science because of that job and degree. September 11th put me on a path I didn't originally intend but it worked out well. God bless those whose lives were changed for the worse that day.

Hannah asked for the first time today what was going on as I watched and cried during the Good Morning America tribute. I told her that 10 years ago, way before she was born, and even before Mommy and Daddy were married, some bad people hurt a lot of good people. She asked why the good people let them in and I told her that, just like we talk about with strangers, you can't always tell who is bad; the good people didn't know. She asked if the police caught the bad people and I told her that the bad people died along with the good. She asked how many people died and I told her that about 3000 people died. She said that was a lot and I agreed. She wanted to know if what she saw on TV as she walked in was real. It was the Pentagon on fire. I told her it was real; it wasn't like her monster shows that we talk about as being fake. She asked how the fire started and I told her that the bad people did it. I told her that there was nothing to worry about and that the people who protect us are extra careful today to make sure that the bad people can't do this again. I hope that is true.

I am currently reading a book called "One Day." It takes two people and revisits them on the same day every year for 20 years. It was a typical July 15th day for them that first year, not knowing 17 years later that that would be the day of the death of one of the characters. It wasn't on purpose, but it was a fitting book to be reading. Wasn't September 11th just a typical day for most of us prior to 2001? That day the world watched in horror and fear and helplessness as so many innocent people lost their lives. September 11th will never again feel like a "typical Tuesday" to me.

God bless America.

What To Do While Hannah Is At School?

Hailey and I try to do playdates quite a bit while Hannah is at school. It's nice to have one-on-one time with her but I know she gets bored of just playing with Mommy. Today though, we had nothing planned. I had played with her this morning but had some work I needed to catch up on from teaching my classes. I sat down to work and gave Hailey her pink toy laptop to play with. She had other ideas. I noticed she had stopped playing with the laptop and was running around a bit but I was engrossed in the paper I was grading. I look up from my computer and see this:

Bear was hungry. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that it was lunchtime and I hadn't made Hailey anything yet. Bear needed to eat. So he did. Then he had a sip of water, because he was thirsty of course:

Then Hailey started laying on top of bear, yelling "squish!":

And giving me sweet, 2 year old smiles:

And insisting bear needed to be in the picture with her:


Who could resist such a face? Mommy set aside her work and had lunch with Hailey and bear, until Hailey insisted bear was sleepy and she and bear went down for a nap. So sweet!

Labor Day Fun

Over Labor Day Weekend, we were invited over to our friends Nick & Ashley. We hadn't seen them in a while (some previous plans in the spring fell through) and we were very excited to visit and meet their new adorable son, Henry!

The kids had a blast playing outside:

And inside:

And just hanging out together:

We braved a park, even though it was forecasted to (and did begin to) rain while we were there. Not before we got some fun in though:

Sweet Hailey and Lexie!

Playing in the sand:

And on the playground:

The adults had time to sit and talk (there's cute baby Henry!):

Drew showing us his castle:

And Hannah showing us hers:

She was also very proud of the footprints she made from squishing her castle:

The kids got in a movie (How To Train Your Dragon):

But the best part was getting adult time. We sat up and played games and talked the night away. It was so much fun and we are so excited to see them at the end of October!

Colors, Creative Sentences, And Craziness

Hailey has learned a few new things recently. First of all, she recently discovered that things have color. At first everything was blue and now everything is blue and yellow. Personally I think she just might already be a Michigan fan! She does throw in a purple every great once in a while, maybe just as a change up? Either way, whenever you ask her what color she wants, she usually picks pink while proudly (and loudly) announcing "blue!" Ha!

Another interesting one is her sentence structure. She never says "I" unless she is just repeating a full sentence she knows, such as "I did it!" Otherwise, she always refers to herself as "me." The other day, I was stacking blocks and she thought it was funny and wanted to do it herself. So she said "Funny block, build it, ME!" Okay, well Mommy understood what she wanted. A lot of her sentences have strangers scratching their heads. She does yell "Whoa, cool!" a lot, which I find incredibly funny. She also attempts to count and sing the alphabet with us, although it is hard to tell how much she is saying becauase Hannah tends to sing her little heart out, making it hard to hear.

Last but not least: the craziness. This I just find hilarious. She LOVES to pretend like she is a cat. I have no idea where her cat obsession came from, but she finds nothing funnier than crawling around, meowing. Of course, what is a cat that doesn't lick? She doesn't lick herself though; no, she loves to lick Mommy's arm and face. The funniest though was when we were at the store and while I was waiting for them to cut the lunch meat at the deli, she suddenly dropped down, starting crawling and meowing, and began licking my leg. Not weird at all...