When the puke hits the fan...

and I mean than almost literally. Lately Brantley doesn't want to go to school. Every day it's something - my stomach hurts, head hurts, back hurts, you name it. Yesterday Brantley was complaining about everything. He wasn't running a fever so I made him go to school telling him I can't tell anymore when he truly is sick because he says he's sick all the time because he doesn't want to go to school. I told his teacher we've been having issues and she didn't understand it. She says he always seems very happy at school. He has lots of friends and he's fine academically so it's a mystery why he doesn't want to go so much. I think part of it may be that he's starting to hit puberty and the moodiness is setting in. When I picked him up yesterday he still was saying he didn't feel good. He went to bed at 8:00 (on his own accord) which is really unheard of for him. And then, shortly after 10 he got out of bed and came to get us and proceeded to puke all over the house. Why can't he learn - bathroom first then call for mom and dad? Needless to say we were up to close to midnight cleaning up the mess and keeping him up until we felt like he was done. And, we are home today. I feel guilty about making him go to school yesterday but as a mom you make the best decisions you can at the time. Oh well.

Fitness Challenge

I challenged Brantley a couple weeks ago but we really didn't get started yet until today. The challenge is to see how many sit-ups and push-ups can be done, with correct form, without stopping. We are building up until the end of February. Brantley plays a lot of sports, but he's not really doing anything to be "fit". We are using some helpers with this challenge. We have the perfect push-up which actually makes the push-ups harder although I do think it helps Brantley's form. And, we have the Ab Rocket. It's really nice because it takes the strain off your neck while still letting you abs work hard. We've been sporadic the last couple weeks, but today I wrote down how many we each did. I did a whopping 10 push-ups and 50 sit-ups. Brantley did 20 push-ups (with not quite so perfect form) and he pushed through to do 100 sit-ups. We''ll see if we can keep it up.

No more cross bite

Brantley had his checkup at the dentist yesterday. He saw my dentist for the first time instead of the pediatric dentist we had been going to. They made me mad the last time he had a checkup so I decided to move him. I didn't force him. I gave him the choice and he wanted to change. He never liked going to the dentist. I had told my dentist that Brantley hated going to the dentist and that he gagged really easily. The hygienist made the visit really fun for him and they used a little trick to keep him from gagging while doing his x-rays. She put a little bit of salt on the tip of his tongue and on the the x-ray things that they put in your mouth. He didn't gag even once. I don't know if there is something scientific about it or if it's all mental, but it worked. He felt like he was eating french fries. The hygienist was so fun and Brantley was having a great time. He even liked the dentist when he came to take a look at his teeth. When Brantley was about 4 his dentist told me he had a cross bite and would need to have braces if his permanent teeth didn't come in better. The other dentist hasn't mentioned it since. So, I asked my dentist about it and he said Brantley's permanent teeth have come in very well and his cross bite has corrected itself. He does have a lot of crowding, but nothing too serious. He will eventually need braces, but probably not for a couple more years at least. As we left Brantley said, "Mom, I want to come back here!" He had a big smile on his face when he said it.

Hygiene

What is it with boys and hygiene? Is it a boy thing, or just a kid thing in general. I have a hard time thinking that there are little girls like this out there, but maybe there are. Brantley doesn't care if he's dirty. His fingernails can be absolutely nasty and it doesn't bother him. What should I expect from a boy who used to eat the mulch on the preschool playground? It's not really hard to get him in the shower, but getting him to actually clean himself is a chore. "Oh, you mean you wanted me to wash my hair?" Brushing teeth is absolutely the worst part of Brantley's day. Why does he hate it so much? For a long time he gagged really easily and would gag every time he brushed his teeth. That doesn't seem to happen as easily now, but he still hates brushing his teeth. I keep telling him he has to take care of his permanent teeth because those are the only one's he's going to get. Do you think it helps? NO! I used to brush his teeth for him every morning but that was torture for both of us. Now, I feel like I have to at least one a week or so or his teeth are going to rot out. I have a feeling this doesn't get better.

Brantley Speaks (with a lisp)

Well today I pulled my tooth out.In the tub.It was exciting.Then I played a joke on my dad.The joke was a cool joke.Dad lets pull my tooth out.

by brant

Snowballs are good from something

Yesterday, before the snow melted, we played in the snow. We tried to make a snowman but the snow would not stick together when you rolled it. But, it did make an excellent snowball. We had a little snowball fight. Lawson accidentally hit Brantley in the mouth with a hard snow ball. He was upset about it but we didn't think to much about it. Later that day we were dropping him off at Grandma and Pops (they watched him so we could go to Dewayne's 40th birthday gathering---thanks Grandma and Pop!) and Brantley was complaining his tooth was bothering him. I looked and the tooth had been pushed up and back. I could see why it was bothering him, but he wouldn't let me pull it. I thought it might come out while he was eating. So, when we got back to pick him up later that evening, he came over running to me with a ziplock bag. He had pulled it all by himself. I was so proud of him. Now, I just have to get him to pull the one that really needs to come out.

I do not like the Tooth Fairy

3:40 AM "Mommy, I think I lost my tooth."
Half asleep, "I'm sure you didn't lose it. It probably fell off the bed."

This was the beginning of over an hour his dramatics. It was after 5 when I fell back to sleep. Good thing I didn't have to work today or I would have been more mad than I already was. He slept until about 9:30 this morning. He comes down the hall and has a sad look on his face. He hopped up in my lap and said the tooth fairy didn't leave him anything. So, here we go to search his bed. We ended up pulling out his bed and the golden dollar left by the tooth fairy was there on the floor. We are going to have to talk to that fairy about leaving it on the shelf instead of under his pillow. ;) Oh well, his sheets needed to be changed anyways. By the way, if you click on the picture and look at the big version, you can kinda see his black eye from the boo-boo from Sunday. I ended up taking him to the doctor today to have him look at it. It had started bleeding again and I was a little bit concerned. It's all fine though. He's never had a band-aid on that long and he was actually having a little bit of reaction to that and the neosporin. The bleeding was more than likely from him not being able to sit still for 5 seconds and being too rambunctious. Note to others with sensitive skin, gauze and paper tape are better for your skin than band-aids.

A little accident

One of the hardest things about being a parent is when your child is sick or injured and deciding at what point do you go to the ER. Almost 2 years ago we went to the ER for fear of a broken finger. Today, Brantley either slipped or tripped, we still are not sure, and busted his head. I know he hit a ceramic planter that was not broken so I was shocked when he got up with blood gushing out of his head. The only thing we could figure out is that he hit the planter and on the way down to the floor, hit the stand that it was sitting on. It had a sort of sharp point but not one that I would have thought would have made the gash he had. It really wasn't that big. We put pressure on it and then when the bleeding subsided we put a cold compress on it. He was so freaked out though and couldn't stand the thought of going to the hospital for stitches. Then, he was complaining his stomach was hurting which worried me. I think it was just from his just eating and then getting so upset. All he wanted to do was go home. So, I sat in the back seat to keep him awake until we got home. Then, as I was cleaning it I noticed how deep it was. I swear I could see the bone under there! It was so small though, I thought they would just laugh at me if we took him in. The wound actually closed up pretty well when I pushed it together so I cleaned it with peroxide, put on some neosporin and closed it with a band-aid.

Strep Throat

I am so irritated right now. We took Brantley to the doctor Thursday and he was negative for strep and the flu. His fever broke Thursday night and he was doing better Friday. He went to his baseball game on Saturday and then spent Easter with his cousins and went to school today. After lunch today I received a phone call from the doctor's office saying Brantley's throat culture came back positive for strep. They couldn't give a straight answer as to whether or not Brantley was still contagious over the weekend. Too late anyway because he had already been around everyone. He has to take a round of antibiotics to make sure the strep is gone. We kept him home from baseball tonight because we just were not sure if he was contagious or not Brantley was extremely upset that he didn't get to go to baseball. Now, I get an email from the coach saying they are going to drop the jerseys off tomorrow to have their names put on them and I can either meet up with his wife or drop it off myself. This was supposed to have been done prior to the season starting. The place that does it is only open from 9 to 4 and would take me at least 30 minutes to get there from work so it's not like I can do it on my lunch break. It's not my fault they didn't do it before the season started. But, now it's my problem because my son has strep. I am just so irritated!!!

Poor Brantley!

Brantley isn't feeling well. Isn't he just pitiful...

Check out the gap!

The Loose Tooth

Okay, those of you who knew me growing up know I have issues with pulling teeth. I'm not sure what is holding Brantley's tooth in. It's so loose and it is sticking forward. I flossed around it some thinking it might pop out if I got it just right. I just can't stand the thought of pulling it out. I read an article (on parent center I think) that said you should let you child pull it out and encourage them to keep wiggling it because only they know if it hurts or not. Now, if it were left to me as a child, I'd still have all my baby teeth. Brantley has really been wiggling the tooth and seems to be getting looser. Maybe it will come out soon.

Teeth

Brantley is growing up so fast. He has his first loose tooth. I almost cried this morning. And, I talked to Ben's mom, and he has a loose tooth too. Brantley said that he hoped the Tooth Fairy brings him a dollar for his tooth. Ben, on the other hand, has higher aspirations. He thinks the Tooth Fairy is going to bring him one hundred dollars for his tooth. Well, the teeth have to come out first - wonder how long that will take?

Dentist

Brantley had his 6 month check up today. He went back all by himself. They took xrays and cleaned his teeth. He didn't look like he enjoyed it all that much, but the dentist gave him an A+. He said we still need to keep an eye on the cross bite situation which led to the thumbsucking at night discussion. Brantley doesn't want to suck his thumb, but he does it in his sleep. We have to get him to stop before his permanent teeth start coming in. The dentist said he should start losing teeth in the next year. He recomended Mavala Stop. I told him the stuff we tried didn't work - Brantley just woke up with a bad taste in his mouth. The dentist said this stuff tastes really bad. I hate to do this, but Brantley has to stop and he can't do it on his own because he doesn't know he does it. The other problem is knowing if he has stopped or not.

Thumbsucking

Brantley broke himself of sucking his thumb at least a year and a half ago. However, he still sucks him thumb in his sleep with out knowing about it. I've been trying to think of ways to get him to stop because he already has a bad cross bite because of the thumbsucking. We have to get him to stop before his permanent teeth come in so that, hopefully, his permanent teeth will come in properly. I tried the stuff that you paint on nails to stop biting. He woke up with a horrible taste in his mouth. A girl in my bunco group gave me the idea to put band aids on his thumbs. I thought this was a good idea until the next morning when we could not find one of them. I was so afraid that he had swallowed it. Wouldn't that be an interesting call to the pediatrician? We ended up finding it, but then I was afraid that he might choke on it if he were to actually suck on the band aid. So, I'm back to the stuff that you paint on the nails. He didn't wake up this morning with a bad taste in his mouth so that means he must not have sucked his thumb last night. Now, I just have to figure out how long I should keep putting that stuff on.

Learning to Slurp!

When you were young, wasn't it the most fun thing to slurp spaghetti. Brantley is just now trying to slurp and he makes the funniest face when he does it. And yes, his plate does have a hamburger on it. I gave him some of my spaghetti to eat.

The Dentist

Ahh...the dreaded word...dentist. I personally do not like going to the dentist. I can't stand having their rubber hands in my mouth. But, no matter how much we dislike the dentist, we have to go. So, today Brantley had his third dentist appointment. The first time he went was a year and a half ago because I was afraid he had a cavity. He didn't have a cavity, and he also didn't let them clean his teeth. They were able to clean the spot that I thought might be a cavity and the dentist was able to look at his teeth. The second visit he actually got his teeth cleaned. He was very polite and said "No thank you" when they tried to clean his teeth. He kept trying to get out of the chair. But, the hygienist was able to clean his teeth and put on the fluoride treatment. Both times, I was with him the whole time. So, today we were waiting in the waiting room and they called for Brantley. We get up and I follow behind Brantley and the hygienist says "He goes by himself now." Yeah I said thinking she was talking about how he went willingly with me following behind instead of dragging him in. I kept walking with them and she looked and me and said again "He goes by himself now." Huh....what did you just say. She repeated herself again and I of course say I don't think he will do well. The hygienist assured me she would come get me if he didn't do well and sent me back to the waiting room. I was upset. I sat there the whole time thinking I'm finding him a new dentist. The receptionist could tell I was upset. Another child started crying and I knew it wasn't Brantley because I know his cry but the receptionist made sure to tell me it wasn't Brantley. So, they call me back when the cleaning was done and the dentist was going to see him. Brantley was laying in the chair looking at the flat screen tv mounted on the wall. He said to me "Mommy...they have American Idol" and he smiled real big. One of the morning shows was showing clips from AI and he got to watch while she cleaned his teeth. She said he did great and he was covered in stickers. The dentist checked him out and then asked what it was about one of his teeth the hygienist had mentioned. They noticed that one of his front teeth was a little discolored and asked if he had fallen. He did fall 2 years ago. It was on the playground at school and his mouth was bleeding and got blood all over his jacket. We had taken him to the doctor and the doctor just looked at it and said it would heal nicely. Well, apparently it damaged his tooth a bit. They took an x-ray just to check it and the root of the tooth has already started to be absorbed. The dentist said as long as the tooth doesn't bother Brantley, it will probably just fall out sooner that normal which is about age 7. The x-ray was pretty cool because you could see all of his permanent teeth behind the baby teeth. After that, we left and I think Brantley enjoyed it. I realized how silly I was. He probably is much easier to work with without me being there. I just wasn't ready for that. He's only 4!

Mystery solved...sort of...

Remember the patch of red bumps. We saw a dermatologist today and he's pretty sure that it's a molluscum. Right now it's almost gone. He said if the bumps return again, they can freeze them like they do with warts to remove them. It will make it clear up faster, but since it is a virus, there's not really much else they can do except let it run its course. At least the spot is tiny and hasn't spread anywhere else. It looks like it can get pretty nasty. Since it's been almost 2 months since it first showed up, hopefully it will be gone for good this time.

Mommy...give me those poinky things

Huh? I learned a new word today. Brantley is still sick so we are trying to find indoor activities. I really don't know how stay-at-home moms do it. I've been playing this game called Polar Bowler. Brantley thinks it's funny and wants to play. I kept telling him that I would show him how when he gets older - thinking the concept of how to play the game would be over his head. So, I decided to let him try. In the second game he got a cold turkey and scored 175! Granted, the computer game is a lot easier that the game in real life, but I was impressed. Now he is playing with play doh and he has various kitchen things playing with it. I was straightening up his coloring books when he says "Mommy, give me those poinky things you gave me before." Okay. What the heck is he talking about. "I'll show you. Come in here mommy." Can anyone guess what poinky things are? I'll post the answer later. :)

The rash is back...

Well, the small red bumps that Brantley had came back for the fourth time. We noticed it last night. I decided this time not to treat it and to take him back to the doctor. Brantley's pediatrician's office has a walk-in clinic open on Saturdays which is nice. Brantley also started running a fever last night. He said his head hurt and his tummy hurt. Classic strep symptoms. The last time he had strep he had those exact symptoms. We went to the doctor and his rapid strep and the test they sent off were both negative. Not even a week later we were back in the doctor's office and it was strep. So, this morning we went to the doctor. We saw a physicians assistant. I guess they are like nurse practitioners. I like them because they are so thorough. She looked at the rash and said it wasn't a bug or spider bite like the doctor thought a month ago. It can't be because it keeps coming back. She is referring us to a dermatologist to find out what it is. She also did a strep test since he had the classic symptoms. It of course was negative. Brantley hasn't eaten hardly anything today. I'm betting we'll be back at the doctor by Friday. Oh, we also had to miss t-ball pictures and his game. And, we were going to go to Cookeville but decided against it in case he does end up with strep. I'd hate for him to pass it to his cousins.