The Adventures of Baby Arthur: Holiday Status Report

by Lincoln

Happy New Year Everyone!

I'd like to report that Arthur has crossed another level of cuteness. For the past week he's been charming everyone in sight, saying more words, interacting with anyone around him, laughing at everything and eating like a bottom-less pit. He even charmed the unflappable Dr. Frenchy today. While Dr. Frenchy was applying the stethoscope, Arthur was fascinated with instrument, grabbing at it the entire time. When the exam was done and the stethoscope was hanging from Dr. Frenchy's neck, he continued to grab for it, placing it back on his chest. Lollipop? No thanks.. Stethoscope please! Dr. Frenchy was so enchanted he said, "Wow! Isn't that amazing?", followed by a kiss on the head. Then he quickly applied his shots and looked at the ceiling as if nothing was going on. Not a single sob was wailed from Arthur's mouth. Two amazing events in the span of 2 minutes! I'm just glad Arthur is braver than me when it comes to needles!

Arthur has been in quite an unusually good mood lately. It's almost as if he's extra happy.. like the kind of happiness you feel when you've been given perspective. Maybe it is, because the last three weeks has not been rosy.

The week before Christmas Day, Arthur came down with something.. and it was no normal cold. The first night, he vomited unexpectedly several times. We checked his temperature and sure enough, there was a slight fever. For the next two days, Arthur seemed a bit uncomfortable, but he was still acting normally for the most part. The fever on the other hand, seemed to go up and down with nap-time. We kept up with Motrin and he seemed to get passed whatever had.

But the vomiting returned and Arthur's mood worsened. He had trouble keeping his food down and whatever he did manage to eat seemed to irritate his tongue and throat. To make matters worse, a strange milky-like patch appeared on his gums. We never did figure out what it was, but I suspect it may have been thrush. (Though this could not be confirmed at Dr. Frenchy's office) Our visit to Dr. Frenchy's office (We didn't get to see him personally) was not too comforting either. Their advice was to keep a look out in case the fever returned. Otherwise, Arthur would have to just ride it out. The onset of a second fever they said, may indicate an escalation of the sickness. (Like pneumonia)

We all tried to do whatever we could to help Arthur eat. I tried making him some Banana Yogurt shakes (recommended treatment if he did have thrush), but he only ate it once. A steady diet of Congee was not too appetizing to him either. None of his favorite foods would do the trick. He barely drank any water, though he did accept milk. We thought he may have been dehydrated and he developed diarrhea as well. We tried giving him a mixture of ginger ale and water or Gatorade as recommended to restore his minerals, but he didn't seem to enjoy that much either.

The sniffles, cough and phlegm inevitably followed and our poor boy was just miserable. He just couldn't be put down and essentially had to be carried at all times. We limited his bath time to every other day to try to keep him comfortable (he did NOT want to be in the bath at all), but when we did bathe him, he had visibly lost weight. He was always pale and he wasn't sleeping well through the night either (and neither were we). This all went on for a week, it was just a terrible.

Christmas Day came along and Arthur still was not feeling very well, but we decided to attend my family function anyway. Arthur never left Liz's side and he wasn't sociable like he normally is. Clearly, he was not 100%. But the worst part was the endless stream of judgemental, huffy advice that poor Liz had to endure from my family. Like a pack of wolves, they pounced. How could we not be giving Arthur medicine? We MUST change doctors! Dr. Frenchy is no good! Blah blah blah.

I was spared the wrath of the wolf pack but Liz's confidence was shaken. Nevertheless, we agreed that we would stay the course and that we both believe in Dr. Frenchy. I just told Liz to ignore those animals! I'm no doctor and I don't know if one has to do with another, but the children of one of those mothers (my cousins) suffer from terrible allergies. Did too much medicine at a young age make a difference? Maybe they were shielded from germs too much? I don't know.. but I am 100% in agreement with Dr. Frenchy's methods and as far as I'm concerned, Arthur's present health is his vindication!

The next day at Liz's family gathering was a bit better. Arthur was not recovered, but his spirits were slightly improved. From then on, he showed improvement everyday moving forward and by the time the New Year's Day came, Arthur was back!

Everyone was relieved and his recovery brought upon a voracious appetite the likes of which no one has ever seen! Arthur was grabbing his bowl, shovelling his macaroni down, and asking for seconds. He's been consuming whole buns of bread, raisins, cherrios, bowls of rice and coming back 5 minutes later to ask for more! He's making up for 2 weeks of not eating!

As for Liz, with relief came the crash.. on the Saturday morning following New Year's Day:

Liz (trying to take a nap with Arthur): shh-shh
Arthur: aaahhhhh
Liz: shhhhhhhhh
Arthur: aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!
Liz: Go to daddy.

(silence)

aahhhhh!!!

(silence)

aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!

After the second aaaaahhh, I went to investigate. Liz had locked Arthur out of the bedroom! I guess she needed some well-deserved sleep!