Croup Cloths, Regurgitated Carrots, and Lessons from the Cat

That about sums up this week so far, and I'm happy to say that it's passing quickly. I really need a weekend so I can rest my little head.

Ella turned 9 months old yesterday and we celebrated at the doctor's office where we found out she has croup. Her watery eyes and runny nose started turning into a yucky cough on Tuesday, and then she barked like a seal all night. The doctor sent us home with a prescription for 5 days worth of steroids to reduce the inflammation in her trachea and instructions to use all the "old home remedies." To Dave's delight, this meant that she actually needed a croup cloth. (Whenever she is snotty from teething, he tells me to give her a croup cloth because that's what Nana did when he was a kid.) After her bath last night I rubbed her chest with vapor rub and put her t-shirt on her. When we came out of the bedroom, he asked where the croup cloth was. I told him that her shirt was the cloth; I had smeared Vick's on her chest. That was unacceptable. She needed a cloth. He asked me what the doctor said about a croup cloth, and I told him he said she could have a little bit of vapor rub on her chest and he didn't say anything about an actual cloth. He said, "We are changing doctors." Silly man. I've explained to him that I'm certain Nana used a cloth to keep vapor rub from getting all over the sheets, but he insists that since Nana did it that way, it must be important.

Croup is a virus that will take 5 - 7 days to go away, so now we wait. She does seem to be feeling much better today after a better night's sleep (with a tiny bit of doctor instructed cough medicine that made me a little nervous) and two doses of steroids in her system. I told her last night that she might start growing muscles and facial hair, but she doesn't care. She has been really pitiful, but when she talks in her hoarse, little froggy voice, I have to laugh. It's really funny.

Because she's been coughing so hard that she sometimes gags, it's no surprise that she threw up water and undigested bits of carrot while eating supper the other night. The coughing fits scare her a bit, so I grabbed her out of the highchair, and held her over the tray, patting her back while she caught her breath. Sincse she wasn't actually finished eating supper, she just reached down and grabbed a bite of carrot and put it in her mouth. I'm pretty sure it was a piece that had just come out of her, but she's quick and it was too late to stop her. Though it was a bit disgusting, Dave and I both couldn't help but laugh at her resourcefulness.

While it could be, eating vomit is not the lesson she learned from the cat. (At least I don't think she learned it from the cat.) My back was hurting the other night, so I was lying in the floor with my feet propped on the couch to straighten out the kinks. Ella was playing in her baskets behind me and Georgia was sitting on the ottoman with her tail hanging down beside me. Ella crawled over and touched her forehead to mine. I thought it was really cute and sweet, then she crawled over to Georgia and rubbed her head on Georgia's tail. Then she came back and touched her head to mine again. At that point, I realized that she was loving on us the way the cat loves on her. Whenever Jewel E. comes into a room where Ella is crawling around, she walks right up and rubs heads and touches noses with her.

The child is a sponge, soaking up everything around her and then imitating it later. After having her hands and face wiped, she will now take the rag and wipe your hands or face, or her toys. Reports from Grandma's house tell me she grabbed the long (safety-locked) lighter and held it to the (unlit) heater on the porch because that's how Grandpop does it. She has been seen crawling around, holding things in her mouth like the dogs. She doesn't miss a thing, and you should not assume that just because she isn't verbally communicating she doesn't understand what you are are saying or doing. I assure you that she understands way more than we think, and when she's ready, she makes herself crystal clear - even without words.