"Poor Keef"

Not to sound like a broken record here, but man, we just survived yet another round of colds.  This last one was nasty.  Just when you thought you finally kicked the bloody thing, it returned with a vengeance.   We all have remnants of coughs and runny noses, although Edward has a fresh cold to contend with, and it doesn't help that we are in the midst of another cold snap.

And then there was last night.  Keith has a cough.  It sounded tight in his chest, and Sunday morning, he stopped wanting to eat and developed a fever.  Yesterday morning, when he was outside with Nana - one of his favourite activities - he lay down in a snowbank and sobbed for me.  Then, he refused his dessert last night after eating no dinner.  When we put him to bed, his fever was all but gone, but his respiration rate was fast and shallow.  As a lifelong asthmatic, I am painfully aware of the signs of respiratory distress.  He wasn't wheezing, but he was "breath talking", which is my unscientific term for talking only while exhaling.  Healthy people breath and talk independently.  After 2 hours of rest last night, he was no better.  So Edward and I made the discouraging decision to take him out of his warm bed and into the frigid cold to sit in a germ infested hospital where he would be guaranteed to get no sleep.  We know the drill, and it's always hard to weigh your child's best interest in those situations.  However, we also you don't mess around with breathing problems.  And after Keith's hospitalization in 2012 when he was laid low by an unknown virus, I am particularly reluctant to take a "wait and see" approach to his breathing problems.  So, he and Edward headed off at around 10:30pm.

They went to the closest hospital and they were seen relatively quickly after the ER doctor, herself a mother of four, took pity on them.  However, she referred them to the Children's Hospital, and after a 4 hour wait, they x-rayed Keith's chest and confirmed he had pneumonia.  They got home at 7:30 this morning, after not having slept a wink.  This hasn't helped Edward's cold, but we are soldiering on.  We have a course of antibiotics in case the pneumonia is bacterial.  I'm desperately hoping it is, and that it isn't viral.  I would hate for Malcolm to fall prey to it.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Keith is resting and remains quite miserable.  He didn't want his "Old McDonald's" for lunch, so we know he's still feeling pretty rotten.  As Evelyn has said, "poor Keef".  Here's hoping he's on the mend soon.

Overheard

All of us are in the car, coming home from Nana and Opa's place on Sunday night:

Colin:  Mummy and Daddy, I have a good idea!
Me:  What's that, Colin?
Colin:  We can drive on the road, and if there is ice, we can skate!
Me and Edward:  Wow, that is a great idea, Colin!
Colin: (loooong pause) Um, you're welcome for my idea.

**************

Evelyn, this afternoon, running around upstairs talking on her pretend cellphone:

Evelyn:  Hi Opa, how are you?  Oh! (laughs) That's not a good idea!

A few minutes later...

Evelyn:  Opa!  (in a very annoyed tone) WHY do you keep calling me?  Silly Opa.

*************

Keith, after his bath tonight:

Keith:  Mummy, can you sing "Doctor Harold" with me?
Me:  "Doctor Harold"?  I don't know that song.  How does it go?
Keith:  You know... "Doctor Harold... holly.... falalalala lalalala...."

Diva

So.... someone was begging me for a walk.  Even brought me his leash.  Edward was out with The Ducklings and the sun was shining, so Malcolm, me and someone headed out.  However, someone started lifting his paws and looking quite miserable.  As I eyed the hill in front of me, I realized I couldn't carry someone and push the stroller.  Happily, the stroller came with a built-in diva puppy carrying device; aka, storage basket.  This was the result:

Is it possible for a dog to look sheepish?

Peekaboo!

Sharing Rooms

For our first few months with Malcolm, he snoozed in his little nook in our bedroom.  Well, to be honest, he spent most of his nights cuddled beside me, and his naps in Edward's arms.  However, he gradually spent more time in his bassinet - at least enough time for us to discover that he was rapidly outgrowing it.  Also, he started waking up every time I would sneak into the bedroom to get ready for bed.  He wasn't hungry, he was just a really light sleeper.  Yeah.  In our crazy loud and busy house.  Not the best combination.  So, I decided that it was time he got used to his more permanent digs.

That went well, and has continued to go reasonably well.  That being said, there are challenges inherent in room sharing, particularly when you have different ages and genders in the mix.  We do have three available bedrooms upstairs, but opted to continue using one of them as a playroom until Malcolm is a little older and they'll play more in their rooms.  Right now, their bedrooms are basically for sleeping. 

Colin and Malcolm

Initially, Evelyn was my choice to share with Malcolm.  I figured she'd be the most amenable to late night howling, and given her nurturing personality, she might actually enjoy her little brother's company.  However, at the last minute, I reconsidered and picked Colin.  Firstly, Colin is the deepest sleeper.  Secondly, certain combinations of Ducklings lead to loud and rambunctious results.  Specifically:  Keith + Colin = lots and lots of fun.  Not just "fun".  But, FUN!!!!!  Put them in the bath together, and expect a tsunami.  Put them beside each other at the table, and expect food to fly.  Put them alone in the same room, and expect.....  well, I'd rather not find out.  So, Colin got relocated.

I took the opportunity of the Ducklings being in New Brunswick for three weeks in August to rearrange the rooms.  I was a little sad moving Colin's bed out of the configuration he had shared with his siblings since birth.  I started preparing him for the change while at the cottage.  I explained that he was going to be sleeping alone for few months and then with Malcolm.  In the middle of my rather verbose pep talk, he interrupted with: "Okay, Mummy.  I get my own room!!  I SO excited!!"  and that was that.  Done.

It was all quite bucolic for Colin until Malcolm moved in.  Yes, Colin is a deep sleeper.  But nobody can sleep through Malcolm.  The situation improved as Malcolm's sleep improved; however for a long time, Colin was perpetually sleep deprived.  Evelyn can soldier through without a ton of sleep, and Keith is pretty amiable regardless.  But Colin NEEDS day and night sleep to function.  So for a long time, Colin was on (read: way over) the edge of miserable.   It doesn't help that Malcolm still has to be resettled partway through his afternoon nap, waking Colin up.  When Colin looks darkly at Malcolm and announces "I don't like Malcolm.  His screaming hurts my ears", he very much has our sympathy.  

We have tried to come up with different solutions, including the possibility of Colin napping in our bed (which he is afraid of), or getting another play pen for Colin to put in our room.  The last play pen I tried to buy on-line fell through, but I'll probably try again.  Evelyn is using the one we borrowed from my parents to nap in the basement.  Apart from the occasional "scary noise", that's working well.  She is extremely adverse to Quiet Time, much preferring Very Loud Time, and thus we need as much geographical distance between her and her siblings as possible for anyone else to get any sleep.

In any case, in the past week or so, the table have turned and now it's Colin waking Malcolm up from his nap.  Colin insists he isn't tired as he practically falls asleep in his lunch,  but will read or play with his toys as soon as he has a chance to be alone (ie. in his bed).  I guess he needs the alone time more than he needs sleep - no matter how much I try to convince him otherwise. 

As frustrating as it is for all of us, I do think these issues come with the territory when you have children with differing and changing sleep habits sharing the same room.  At the moment, we're going to push through, because it won't be long until Colin is at school full days (gulp) and Malcolm will be sleeping through the night.  Right?

Malcolm's side

Colin's side.  It's quite a small room*

Evelyn and Keith

I wasn't sure about mixing genders in a shared room.  I know this will be temporary, because I am sure that I don't want them together for more than another year or two.  And I suspect they'll agree with me.  But for now, it's a great combination.  Keith and Evelyn will carry on a few minutes of conversation after the lights go out, but nothing like the two hour nightly song and dance routine that transpired when all three of them were together.  No manner of cajoling or coercion would stop that party, which lead to some rather tired mornings.  As I mentioned above, Evelyn doesn't nap in her bedroom, and Keith loves to have time in his room for napping; but more importantly, he loves to have me set it up just the way he likes it: blind partially open, music on low and the fan running.

Keith and Evelyn's room*

I have learned that with most adult-engineered situations, your kids have to buy in to your schemes to some extent in order for them to be successful.  The older they get, the more opinions they have - and being three is all about asserting them.  The decisions are mine and Edward's to make, but consultation and compromise is an ever increasing part of the equation.  They have to nap and they have to sleep - it isn't open for debate.  But how and where they sleep is becoming more of a matter of preference.  At the moment, the Colin/Malcolm combination might need some tweaking on the nap front, but otherwise, we're going with the status quo.  I think those two will grow into it.  I can certainly hope they will!

*PS:  Yep, everyone is still in cribs.  They still like them for the personal space they provide, which is a rare thing in our house, and we love them for the containment!  Unless they start climbing out, or objecting loudly, I'm planning to keep them in their cribs until they come back from New Brunswick this summer.