Bubby diarrhoea and the cost of medical care

We took Em to the walk in clinic today to get her diarrhoea/pooing problem sorted out. It's come to a head as she's developed a rash on her lower back where the wet effluence just sits there until we change her.

I was hoping the doctor at the clinic would have a magic bullet she could prescribe, or at least give us the assurance that they could sort it out. Alas, they just said to give her the equivalent of baby Lucozade to keep her salts topped up and let the virus run it's course.

Cost for this marvellous advice? $130 Canadian. To my credit, before we went in, I told Sue they'd probably just recommend something keep her salts topped up. I don't see anyone paying ME $130!! On top of this advice, she also prescribed a mixed cream for the rash.

When we went to the chemist and explained it cost $130 to get to this point, they told us to buy the two products over the counter and mix them ourselves, as there's a $7 charge for the chemist to dispense. We got away paying a bargain $24!

Having applied the cream and given Em the bubby-Lucozade concoction, she seems to be in better spirits, but the proof - as they say - will be in the nappies.

Eating with a utensil

This is another one of those baby book moments, up there with sitting up unaided, crawling, first teeth, etc.

Emily fed herself tonight WITH a fork! We jammed some brocolli onto the end of the tines and left the fork in plain view, and Em picked the fork up and jammed it in her mouth. This only happened a half-dozen or so times before she got bored and started grabbing carrots from the bowl with her hand, but it's a definite stepping stone to her feeding herself completely.

I long for the time when she can feed herself cereal and leave me to do other important things during breakfast time... like having my OWN breakfast, shaving, etc.

Something's going on, something's not quite right

Erasure may have some those words, but they apply quite aptly to Em.

Lately she's become quite the fidget, wanting to crawl and move about during waking hours. Today and a little bit of yesterday, she's been quite docile, quite content to lay around and not move. This lack of energy has been punctuated by the wettest, greenest nappies this side of her first month or so.

I imagine she's caught a bug, and we'll have to let it go through her system. Obviously, I'm a bit worried about the implications as we're flying out on Saturday, but most of these things are 24 hours, and children are quite resilient... aren't they?

Gurning toddler

Emily seems to be growing up almost daily on this trip. She seems bigger, older, wiser, more astute and aware of her surrounding. It's quite odd watching a child go through these "growth spurts".

Her latest initiative is to gurn at people. She has a mild underbite, so scrunching her nose up just completes the face. I can't help shake the mental images of those old gurning toothless drunks whenever she does it. Of course, I don't know exactly WHY she's doing it, but I imagine it's all part of her mental and physical growth.

Be interesting to see if this is a phase or if Sue and I will have to traipse around the country in a few years as Emily competes in gurning competitions.

Emily on the plane = pain

She's been on a plane many times before, but our journey to Vancouver has been - hands down - the worst flight we've had with Emily so far. She was agitated, tired, hungry and ever so slightly dehydrated.

Ten long hours of Sue and I losing our patience repeatedly with her did not make for a fun trip over.

I really, really, really, am not looking forward to our forthcoming trips to Toronto or back to the UK.

UPDATE: Em slept the whole trip back from Toronto. I think we'll have to fly during the night from now on.

BBC iPlayer for Cbeebies

Image via Wikipedia

Just in time for Emily, who's actually becoming more aware of her surroundings - including TV - is the announcement that the Beeb has launched a CBeebies-specific version of iPlayer.

It's pretty much the same CBeebies content you can get on the adult player, but "kiddied up" with big images and bright colours.

All the shows I'm sure I'll learn to hate really quickly are all readily available and when the cries of "more more more" come, you can always watch another episode right away. If anything will erode my child's sense of patience and waiting it will be the quick fix that this iPlayer will provide.

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Vocal toddler (aka found her voice)

Over the last week or so, Emily's really become quite vocal. She'd cry or shout at random times when there's no real discernible reason for her to do so. All Sue and I can do is offer her comfort - drink, food, nappy change, time for bed?

It's all a guessing game as to why she's being more distressingly vocal, and the more she chatters and yells, the more I wish that baby translator that Unky Herb in The Simpsons was developing was actually real.

On a happy note for Sue, Em has begun to say "mum mum mum mum" over and over again. I also swear I heard her say "bubby" or at least "bub bub" on at least one occasion!

Our little Emmers is growing up!

See Emily play

Image via Wikipedia

When we've collected Emily from Katherine's place, Sue and I feel at quite a loss as to what to do with Emily, stimulation and entertainment-wise. Do we continue play time? Do we let her play by herself? Do we read to her? If we leave her to her own devices, are we being neglectful.

It's a worry, as neither of us want her to grow up thick, but there has to be a limit to teaching children. I'd like to think that Em playing happily with her blocks or turning my Xbox on and off with the remote is stimulating enough.

I guess we'll have to read up some more to make sure our little toddler isn't being mentally stumped.

Some... er (summer) fun.

With the summer on it's way, it's interesting to note the differences from last summer. Even though Em was here and a few months old last year, she really was just a blob or babbling baby. This year, she's a chattering, crawling, walking (with help) little pseudo toddler.

Thinking back to all the things we did last year - the Wallington Proms, Ben & Jerry's, the NCT Teddy Bear's Picnic... Em was really just the passive little baby. I'm really looking forward to her being more interactive with the things we do this year.

The crawling has begun

She's threatened for the last week or so, but today Emily really took off with the crawling. She was able to leave the living room on her own and go and find her mummy.