good behavior and one big boy...

I think all the girls needed was to get back to school. Maybe it was a bit of cabin fever... maybe they were just tired of Doug and I... maybe they were tired of one another... maybe the improvement in the weather helped because they've been able to play outside... who knows, but starting Tuesday last week, the girls were much happier.

After Meron's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Monday, she came to me and apologized. She said it was "mean" of her to misbehave at school and that she would try harder to listen to the teacher. I thanked her for it, but wasn't sure what to expect. She's apologized for her behavior before, but it has never really meant a change. Meron's behavior goes through cycles (Doug and I liken it to a roller coaster). There is usually a long climb (a week or two) when Meron will be well behaved, pleasant, and loving... and then, with a little warning, she will begin a spiralling descent into a week or two of not so great behavior that has Doug and I ready to pull our hair out. During the not so great behavior she is either super-hyper with little to no self control, or sulky and mean. During her week or so of good behavior she is an amazingly fun and interesting kid. It's hard for me to mesh the two Meron's in my mind, because sometimes I really feel like I am dealing with two different kids.

Leigh's behavior has also been better. She is such a social kid, that it really gets her down when she is away from school too long in the winter (other seasons, she is able to play outside with other kids in the neighborhood more because of the weather). She gets cranky which then causes her to be less tolerant of Meron (and in some ways, Doug & I), which causes even more arguments between the two. Since last Tuesday, Leigh has actually invited Meron in to her room several times to play and asked if they could could bathe together... I'm not sure if this is due to HER mood improvement, or the swap to the "Other Meron" but it's been a really nice change. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed this lasts a while...

Ben had a doctor's appointment on Friday for a checkup and more vaccinations; he is almost 12lbs now. I have to ask, because it is something that bothers me... Does anyone else have an issue taking their kid in for checkups? I despise it... Why in the world should I want to take my well kid, whom I've been trying to protect from sickness, into a place where everyone brings their sick kids? The kids pediatrician has two waiting rooms, one for sick kids and one for well kids, but there is no real separation between the two. There is definitely no separation of the air and that is what concerns me... besides that, some of the parents don't make their sick kids stay on the sick side, so they bring all of their illness causing germs over to the well side... Oh, and the same examination rooms are used, as well. We were escorted into a exam room where a kid had just been that sounded as if she were coughing up a lung every few minutes. Is it too much to ask for a pediatrician that has real separation between the well and the sick? Am I too sensitive to this? Am I the only one who thinks that it would be better to put the sick kids (to be specific, those with potential air-born illnesses) and well kids in separate offices with totally separate ventilations systems?

I digress...

We went over some concerns we have about Ben with the doctor... Ben has been sleeping with his head only to one side for the past couple of weeks. We have been trying to get him to turn more to the other side, but he always turns it back. Just before his appointment, we noticed that his head was slightly misshapen because of this. The doc checked out his head, and gave a few recommendations for getting him to sleep more to the other side, and it is helping. We had also noticed that his left eye doesn't quite track as well as his right. She checked out his eye and said that structurally it is fine, but is a little lazy. It should clear up in a few months, but we'll continue watching it. Should it not improve by his next appointment in March, we will be taking him to an optometrist.

The other issue we discussed was Ben's colic. There has been some improvement ovet the past week. He has been sleeping longer, and has fewer times where he is inconsolable which has meant more big happy smiles, but we wanted to make sure to bring it up anyway. The doctor has recommended that he be on lactose-free formula. We switched him on Saturday, but have yet to see any further improvement... keeping my fingers crossed on this one.


Today I get my new crowns. I am not looking forward to the large needles filled with Novocaine, or the headache that will follow, but I'll be glad to get rid of these temps. I've been debating over whether or not to take a picture of the nubs of teeth that are left when they take the crowns off. The dentist was shocked that I wanted to see mt little nubs at my last appointment; she almost refused to bring me a mirror because she has had too many patients cry in that situation. I finally convinced her and I thought it was hilarious. Seriously, imagine yourself with tiny little nubs for front teeth... It was very reminiscent of when I lost my front teeth as a child.