ferrousland.com - daily news archives
Monday, March 13, 2006
a molar, i think - 12:51 PM
(filed under 'smiley')
smiley's got a molar coming through, i think. the last half a week or so he's been really cranky, mostly at night, & going off at the slightest thing, not knowing what he wants or doesn't want.
a huge whinge/vent follows, so if you're not up for it, stop here.
i took him out to the shops with me last night & he was throwing the biggest tantrum. he was screaming & crying when he couldn't get more 'circles' (the coloured plastic numbers to keep tabs on how many items i was taking into the change room) or couldn't keep the ones i let him hold while i was in there. he was carrying on about it for ages & then threw himself on the floor of marks & spencer at the seef mall, screaming some more.
the man at the counter showed him a little battery driven personal fan (the ones with the soft blades) & it did the trick to distract him. i was at my wit's end by that stage & i knew that if we had to give the fan back he'd be screaming blue murder again, so i bought it for him for BD2.500 (AUD$9.25 or about USD$6.65). believe me, i would have paid $100 to settle him down by that stage.
even before we'd gone into the shops he was getting all worked up about not wanting to put on his shoes. most times i can reason with him & say that if he doesn't put on his shoes, then we can't go into the shops & do what he wants to do in there, but there was no reasoning this time. i spent about twenty minutes in the car with him alternately playing with the buttons & knobs & having boobie.
i don't know why i didn't figure it out before, but i only really realised that perhaps he was in pain after a lady at the same counter as the man with the fan said that perhaps he had some back teeth coming through. once she said that i thought to myself, "of course!! that's why he's been so unhappy lately!"
after we left that shop i went into another shop or two, but realised it was fruitless trying to get anything done because he was still so unhappy, with only short bursts of distraction from his new toy, the little fan. i saw a pharmacy & even though i had some children's panadol at home, i simply couldn't wait that long to get him feeling better. i was just about to throw him over the railing at the shops .. i would never really have done that, of course, but i'm sure other mothers understand how you can just reach the point where you don't know what to do anymore & you feel that you're about to implode or explode or something.
so i got him some panadol & i gave him a dose immediately. then of course, we had arguments about him keeping the measuring spoon. he broke the last one when he bit it. i let him hold it in the end, just to keep the peace.
we got some of the lollies which i promised him, & he was shovelling them down like there was no tomorrow. i've never seen him eat anything so fast. it made me wonder if the chewing was making his mouth feel a bit better.
finally we started to head back to the car with much complaining & crying & wanting this & that & then the same this & that again & again. at first he wanted "boobie in bed?" which meant going home, of course. then he wanted the "big white horse?" which is a ride in the shops where we'd just walked out. he knows that boobie in bed is at home & that he can't have that if he rides on the big white horse, but he kept swapping between wanting either of them.
almost all the way home (about a twenty minute drive), literally every ten seconds, he asked for "shops? want go shops?" finally he stopped & i heard him breathing steadily & quietly & i looked back quickly thinking he'd fallen asleep. he hadn't, but about two minutes later, he finally did go to sleep about five minutes from home.
this was at about 8:30pm. smiley is a night owl, through & through. even if he has only a one hour sleep in the day (which he still does need) he'll not be ready for sleep until about 11pm or later. falling asleep at 10pm for him is an early night. i thought that since he was seemingly in such pain, he might sleep through, but no such luck. after i got him from the car & into bed still asleep, he woke up at 11:30pm, bright as a daisy, & stayed awake, even in bed & in darkness, until 3:15am. i'm so damn tired.
i'm ashamed to admit that the only reason he finally quietened down & stayed still long enough to actually fall asleep is because i gave him a big spanking on the bum after telling him many, many times to please lie down, close his eyes & stay still. i rarely spank him (he rarely gets to that stage) & i actually prefer never to do it, but of all the evils, this was by far the lesser.
even last night as i was lying there with him at one stage crying my eyes out because i was just so tired (you do know that sleep deprivation is used as a torture, don't you?) & totally worn out from trying to keep him happy all evening, i was thinking to myself that when kalyani arrived the next day i was going to send him off with her for the whole day & bugger the housework. i've asked her to bring him back at 7pm, which is an hour or two later than normal when she takes him when i go to the gym.
i so need the break today. in about fifteen minutes i'm going to go to sleep, with the whole bed to myself, no one banging around doing housework, no one breathing beside me to cause my 'mummy radar' to wake me as soon as the breathing pattern changes. i reckon i'll sleep for about two blessed hours, then i'll get up & head off to the gym.
i know i only have one kid & many other people have it far worse than i do with more than one child at a time, but many of those kids also go to sleep at a reasonable time, leaving them with some 'me time' in the evening. even if smiley slept in a little longer in the mornings, it'd be better, but with the way he sleeps (& has always slept) & the extremely high maintenance age he's at now, i'm lucky to get two consecutive minutes to myself every day.
yes, i do get an hour or so to myself when i go to the gym, but it's not the same as just relaxing or doing something just because i want to. today will be the first almost whole day i've had totally to myself in about two years. i think it's long overdue.
i'm so glad that we have kalyani to help. i know of others who have two kids & go through the same lack of sleep & worse, so i'm absolutely & totally thankful for the help.
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