Two Days Later

Still a very angry butt. Between the last post and when we went to the doc the next day, the part at the top got more brown and scabby, rather than bumpy and red.

The doctor was, um, confused, as to what was going on. He called it "interesting." He put Carter on a trifecta of steroid cream (just for a day or so to get the anger away), then antibiotic and Lotrimin. He said between the three, one of them should work. Helpful, right?

And, per NG's suggestion, I also put him in an Epsom bath for a little bit today. It seemed to work on it pretty quickly. The scabby part started turning whitish, which I supposed is a good sign.

Below are some updated pics if you can stomach them. Kinda grody, unless you're into that sort of thing. Which I am. Parts of it look better, but other parts look worse. Damn thing is mystifying.

Rash

Carter's got a helluva rash on his butt. He had a few days of diarrhea the week before last and got a bad butt rash from it. I had a lot of trouble getting it to clear up. It would start to get better but then have another flare-up. Today, it got worse than it's been. And it's migrated from his cheeks to the top of his crack. It has a horrible texture to it and the top part seems a bit yellowish. We're headed to the doc in the morning to get him some help. We've tried all the usual treatments: prescription butt cream, hydrocortisone, etc.

The End of an Era

Carter has nursed for 90 seconds in the past three days. I started weaning him when he turned 18 months. I stopped offering it in the morning and throughout the day, but if he asked for it, I would oblige. I was still nursing him before bed though. That was my favorite time, cuddling with him in the glider. We spent this past long weekend in Baltimore and Pennsylvania and he was so exhausted by bedtime that he had no interest in nursing and when I offered, would say, "No meemees, no meemees" (which is how he pronounces "milkies"). I think this weekend was the boost we both needed to take the plunge and just stop altogether.

It makes me sad but I think we were both ready.

New Hat

He wore it all day.

I've created a monster

I had no idea how many school buses there were until Carter started saying "bus." Good lord, it's all I hear now!

Oh, and we got a childproof lightswitch cover last night and moved his room back to how it was. He went to bed perfectly and slept until I had to wake him up to leave this morning. Heavenly.

So proud of himself

I've been trying to teach Carter the differences between a car, bus, and truck for a few days now. Maybe a week. Anyway, he gets car. Everything is a car, even motorcycles. We see a lot of school buses on our way to daycare and he always notices them and yells out "Car car car car" repeatedly until I acknowledge him. I correct him that it's a bus and ask him to say "bus" and he does (except he puts the "sh" sound at the end which is so cute I could die). Yet, he still continued to call them cars.

This morning, though, we pulled up next to another big yellow bus and he yells out, "Bus! Hooray! Clap clap!" and clapped his hands. He knew he got it right and was so proud of himself. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm laughing now remembering it.

He No Likey the Change

Last night we rearranged Carter's room to move him away from the light switch. And the curtains. His crib was on a wall where the top part was accessible to the light switch, and the bottom side was at the curtains. Yes, it's a very small room. I tried moving him closer to the window but he liked pulling at the curtains to see outside.

So we moved him to the opposite wall. I hate how his room looks now but we really had no choice. He would constantly turn the light on and then whine and cry and not sleep until someone came in to turn it off. Forget the fact that he could reach it to turn it off also. He just didn't realize he could do that.

Anyway, last night? Didn't go so well. He was very, very upset at the change. He can't see out the door anymore, which is probably a little scary. He could see the light from our bedroom before and now he has a view of the big chair in our living room. I think he likes the reassurance that we're right there, and the way his crib is now doesn't give him that. We let him cry for about 5 minutes and then he fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion (it was 9:00 and he hadn't had a good afternoon nap). This morning he woke up crying. Typically he wakes up and plays and talks and says "Hi Mommy" over and over until I come get him.

I hope he gets used to it soon. I don't know what else to do to keep him away from the light switch. They don't make a childproof cover for them, do they?

His Father's Son

I'm the messy one in our relationship. I just can't help myself. I'll get motivated and clean clean clean and tell myself that I'm not going to bed until the house is straight, but then after three days, I'm tired and over it.

Don't get me wrong, Carter makes a mess like any toddler. But last night he proved he takes after his neat father. Carter had two pairs of shoes in the living room and I asked him to put one pair away in his closet. He asked for help and I followed him in his room and showed him his closet and he put the shoes neatly down. I asked him to put the other shoes away and he grabbed them and ran into his room and yelled "Help?" I went in and he couldn't find a clear floor space to put them down and didn't want to pile them on top of the other shoes. I moved the first pair somewhere else (more like, I threw them toward the back of the closet, typical me) and he neatly placed the second pair in the now empty space.

Body Parts

The body parts Carter knows and can point to:

• Hair*
• Head
• Eyes*
• Ears*
• Nose*
• Teeth*
• Mouth
• Tongue
• Shoulders
• Belly Button*
  
• Fingers
• Elbow*
• Penis**
• Knees*
• Toes*
• Feet*

* He can say all the words with a "*"
** I believe in using the correct words for body parts. Therefore, he has a penis, not a willy, a peepee, or other made-up name. No judgment for those that do, just not my choice.

Pretend Play

Carter has started pretending! You know that thing parents do when they pretend to eat something, or pretend to drink something, in order to get their kid to do it? Carter does that. He'll take his cup and pretend to drink from it and then say "Mmmm!" It's hilarious.