Hang Loose, Dude!

OK, I'm going to start with the cute moment and tell you that I've taught Jake to make the shaka sign and say "Hang Loose, Dude!" which is so very cute that it almost hurts. My dad would be proud (once he stopped laughing) if he were here.

Now for the not-so-cute stuff: Jake had a trip to the doctor on Monday because his cough and breathing were getting pretty bad. School sent him home because he was coughing so badly and kept falling asleep. They said he had a temp, but he never did that we could see. Anyway, the doctor heard some "crackling" in his lungs and started him on antibiotics for pneumonia. Not bad enough to require a chest x-ray, but the "p" word scares me something awful. So there's that this week. Although, he's really good about taking the antibiotic.

Then there's the QVAR. It's like Pulmicourt, which he'd had before, and intended to stabalize the asthma over the longer term. He has to use it twice a day for at least 2 weeks. I also told Dr. Budd that I hate using the albuterol because it makes him so shakey and so I don't use it as often as I probably should. I also wasn't using it very often because using the nebulizer FREAKED him out. I mean crying, screaming, thrashing, the whole 9 yards. So the doc prescribed a new albu substitute called xopamax (sp?) that doesn't make him shakey and a "spacer" to give adminster the QVAR and the xopa. The spacer is like a junior inhaler. It's silent and takes just a few seconds (3-4 breaths) to administer. The problem? Jake now fears anything over his face (that's my boy!) and screams and fights the spacer too. Fortunately it's now 20 seconds of fight instead of 2 minutes, but still not fun for anyone. But he's MUCH better and I got to spend a day with him yesterday because he couldn't go back to school for 24 hours after having been pronounced to have a fever. I swear sometimes they send a few kids home "sick" because they've lost teachers and don't have the coverage. Fortunately, it's not often Jake because he is normally pretty healthy (knock wood).

On our day home I did finally find a protein that he would eat: Chick-Fil-A nuggets! It was rainy and he was climbing the walls, and me, so we went to the play area at the Chick-Fil-A because 1) I like the food better than McD's and 2) we hadn't been there and it looked more toddler-friendly. Well, I don't love the play area because it stinks and the climbing thing makes weird noises, which upset Jake. However, the kid ate 5 nuggets! This from a child who normally had to have meat hidden in things! Woo hoo! And it's not even that bad for you! Yay! Eat More Chikin!

I know, I need to post a new picture. We got a beanbag at Target yesterday and I have a picture of Jake, Bink, and Meow sitting in it that's pretty cute (if you ignore the bed head). I will try to take a few more tonight and do an all-photo post in the near future! Bad Mommy! Four posts with only a picture of the monkey to placate the masses of devoted IBO followers! How DARE I?! Oh, well. Hang loose, Dude.