Sunday, November 1, 2009

Flu shot / Leaf piles

Two things on the agenda today were flu shots and Halloween. I feel like I spent the morning feeding these kids 1st and 2nd breakfasts, then changing diapers one after the other. Nikko and Audrey's flu shot was at 2:50 so I was trying to work backwards in my head when I should get the kids changed, socks & shoes, then loaded into the car. I think it's cutting things close if I leave 15 minutes for diaper changes for three kids; 20 minutes might work out better. 10 to put on socks, shoes, coats and final diaper/food bag checks, then 10 to lift and load up three kids. That's 40 minutes before my departure time. That's realistic. 2pm rolled around before I knew it so I felt like I was rushing to change the kids and throw them in the car. Denis was going to meet me @ the ped's office, and luckily Ronin fell asleep in the car. Denis sat with Ronin while I took Audrey and Nikko into the office. Audrey was not crazy about getting her temp taken, but she wasn't the problem. Nikko has not had a successful attempt at taking his temperature orally, so we had to do it rectally. Nikko was yelling and squirming on the table while I tried to hold him down and grip a leg while the nurse had the thermometer. The first attempt wasn't good, so another nurse came to hold the crying Audrey and give Nikko a lollipop as a distraction. He gripped it tightly but didn't stop squirming, crying or yelling. The dude is strong and I couldn't find an ideal position to pin him down except to crush his upper body with my weight and hold that leg in so he wouldn't kick the nurse. There was finally success when that thermometer beeped. I guess I'll have to work on getting Nikko used to taking his temperature. Sure wish he had some ABA to learn this! When the flu shot was administered, I had him sitting facing outward in my lap and I gripped his left arm pulling it across his body while gripping the right arm in the same way. The shot was fast, thank God. He managed to hang onto this red lollipop for the rest of the day and well until dinnertime. I'll be watching Nikko to see if he reacts to the flu shot.

When we got home, Ronin had woken up from a nap and seemed in a good mood. I thought this was a good opportunity to play outside since the weather was mildly cold, too cold for Audrey to sit out and play because she has a little temperature to match her hacking cough. Ronin's cough wasn't as bad, so I hope I didn't push his envelope by letting him play outside. Audrey was indoors with Denis, taking a nap. I pulled out the rake and started making a pile of leaves on the front lawn. Nikko was thrilled and started tromping through the pile. Ronin followed suit. Each boy was carrying a lollipop, and either brushed off leaf debris as it fell on it or somehow managed to lick off any leaf scrapings. EEEEWWWW. It was still daylight and many people were out trick-or-treating. I thought about putting the boys in costumes, but decided that it was just easier this year to make leaf piles and have the boys run around the front yard, laughing and jumping and plowing through the leaves. Ronin can't eat any of the candy he would have collected, and we don't want Nikko to start eating straight-up chocolate by the handful. There will be many other opportunities like that coming in his lifetime, and we have almost-daily challenges regarding him eating things like cookies and other sweets that he really doesn't need. Audrey was sick, too, so it was for the best that we were closer to home. I had a really nice time just having some laughs with the boys, making them giggle when I showered them with leaves from the rake, and just being around them in a normal outdoor setting. When it was time to go inside they didn't fight me about it very much. Nikko didn't want to relinquish his lollipop so I ran it under water to clean it off. Ronin seemed content from the leaf outing, but I hope I didn't tax his breathing. I'll find out in the morning.

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