Mystery Solved

When I was changing Oliver yesterday, I noticed a bruise on his leg, right above his knee. It was rather large and round. It looked pretty much like a bite mark. But no...how could that happen? Who would bite Oliver? I have to admit that my first thought went to Mackensie, not the dog. But I keep a very close eye on them when they are together. Certainly I would notice her chomping down on his leg, certainly I would have heard him cry after something like that. Did the dog do it? Doubtful. The skin wasn't punctured, and the imprints looked flat, not sharp. 

I began my investigation by asking Mac directly if she bit Oliver. The answer was no. Later in the day, I brought Nanny in on the investigation. When she asked Mac if she bit Oliver, Mac told her no, that I had done it. Since I knew that I hadn't bitten Oliver, I knew that Mac was being less than truthful. But I still had some doubts. Usually, if she does something wrong, Mac tells on herself.  She was denying, and I was halfway buying.

Later that night, when I was helping her to get dressed, Mac leaned in and gave me what started out as a hug. But before I knew it, I felt little teeth digging into my shoulder! Mac was, in fact, the culprit. My little princess has been having some aggression issues lately, but this is the worst of them. Oddly enough, she wasn't angry or anything when she did it. She just leaned in and took a bite. So, of course, we reprimanded her and added biting to the list of things she shouldn't do.

Hopefully, we "nipped" this in the bud.

Mac's Big Weekend

First (and most importantly) we are pacifier free. We have ditched the "ninny." I was dreading this so much. Although I have wanted her to give it up forever, Mac was so attached to her pacifiers. She used them as an emotional crutch -- if she was upset, she would ask for one even if she already had one in her mouth. And she has screamed so much in the car when we've forgotten one at home that we actually have turned around to get one. But she is not allowed to have them in school, and has gone all day without one there, so I decided that it was time to get rid of it. I have tried many approaches in the past (offering a doll or stuffed animal, telling her that she was too old for one) but none worked. However, I just hadn't hit upon the right word. Mac loves to race and has to win,  so I told her she could trade her ninny for a prize. Bing! That was it. She thought about it for two days, and then agreed. So we took her to the mall, let her pick out any princess prize she wanted, and paid for the prize with her pacifiers. That way, when she asked for them later, we could remind her that she saw us hand them in. The first night she was a little sad, and actually slept with her prize. After that, she hardly brought them up. First potty training, now this...my little girl is growing up!

On Sunday, we went out for dinner and Mac did a face plant into the ash tray outside. She was running around pretending to be a bull and tripped over Tim's feet. Her eye immediately started to swell, and before long, she had a black eye. Looking at it makes me sick, but she doesn't seem to mind. Now she looks as tough as she is...

Finally, I'm celebrating a different type of Mac. I traded in my partially defunct PC for a Mac Book After losing my dissertation, I decided to move up the timeline for getting a new computer. So after some research, Tim and I decided to go the Mac route. My standards are pretty low -- as long as I don't lose any important documents, I'm happy.

With Honors

Does anyone remember that movie? It came out in 1994 and had Brendan Fraser and Moira Kelly (also of Cutting Edge fame). Brendan Fraser played a Harvard student who lost his dissertation when his computer crashed. He only had one copy, which he dropped down a grate in his haste to make a photocopy. Even though the movie wasn't that great, the thought of losing a dissertation has always stuck with me. Now I know how he feels. Okay, I'm not as bad off as he was -- I e-mailed myself a copy on Sunday. But everything I did between Sunday and today -- gone. I'm currently searching my hard drive for temporary files, but so far, no luck. This sucks sucks sucks. I'm not sure if the problem is my computer or my USB drive, but now I'm afraid to even try and work on my computer. And of course I owe my advisor a draft by the end of the weekend. One good thing about my procrastination this week...I didn't get as much done as I normally would have. Less done, less lost.

Home Again!

That's right -- we're home! Oliver was discharged earlier today. The doctor's assistant said that none of the episodes that I noted were seizures. I still think that they look abnormal -- more than average "baby stuff" -- but I'm guessing if it was anything alarming, it would have shown up on the EEG. I'm still a little nervous that maybe we didn't capture the right thing, but I think that overall he did everything at the hospital that I've seen him do at home. I just have to hope and pray that this is right -- I have faith God is steering us in the right direction.

So, that's it. I was on my way home from teaching when Tim called me to let me know that they were being discharged. So I got some wine and headed home. We all played outside a little bit, I got to put Mac to bed, and now we're relaxing and watching some Magnum PI. Seriously, this is the life. Poor Oliver has blisters from where the electrodes were on his head, but he seems happy anyway. Really, there is no place like home.

Update

We're still here, hanging out in the hospital. We made it through the first night. A little bedtime, Oliver did some of his twitching. I was actually relieved, since that means it will be on tape. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but every time I see him have an "episode" I'm supposed to press a button that marks it on the tape. And then I also write down what I saw so that they know what to look for. As I do this, I check the time on the EEG machine and note it, also. Each time I check the screen to see what the EEG output looks like, as if I can note normal v. abnormal brain patterns. Even though I have no idea what it means, it does create a nice little mini-obsession/distraction for me. And apparently, the doctor can check the feed and/or video right in his office. He is supposed to contact us later to let us know what he has seen so far. Hopefully, we will get good news and an early release. We'll see.



Mac came to visit last night. We had a good visit until it was time to go. She wanted daddy to stay with Oliver and me to go home with her. She cried when she was leaving. I felt so bad. So far, we have been able to marginalize Oliver's illness for her, since most of his doctor appointments have been on a Wednesdays, when she is at school. I usually don't even tell her that is where we are going, in case I am late picking her up. I usually just tell her I am at work. Let her resent that, instead. And even though we have PT, she gets to help out when she is home. But sometimes, like now, we have to tell her what is going on. I just hope that this isn't the beginning of resentment, abandonment issues, or jealousy. I am acutely aware of the fact that Oliver's condition can adversely affect her, and am not entirely sure how to deal with it.

And of course, there are the old-fashioned sibling issues of sharing and kindness to deal with. Here is Mackensie "sharing" her new dolls with Oliver last night. In my rush to get everything together, I forgot to bring many toys for Oliver. So when Mac came with dolls, we tried to get her to share. She did for a while, but she never let him forget whose dolls they really were (in keeping with her belief that everything really belongs to Mackensie).


And I'd like to give special thanks to Da_Bitchez, who continue to support my sporadic internet access during this hospital stay.