Daycare, Boogers, and Farts

Bobby has been in daycare for six days now and things are going well - much better than I even hoped.

The staff has been very willing to learn how to do his feeds. The g-tube itself is pretty straightforward, the hard part with Bobby is dealing with the wretching. When he has air in his tummy or sour stomach, he can't burp or vomit much. So the g-tube has to be opened and allowed to empty itself of the offending air or gastric juice. And this all has to be done while he's screaming and thrashing.

But, the teachers have taken it on and taken it in stride. Plus, they really like Bubs. He is a little sugar bear. When he likes you, he throws his arms out to the side as far as he can and then exuberantly throws them around your neck. If you're lucky, you might get a little smoochie (open mouth) on the chin. And when he cuddles, well the boy knows how to lean in and give some love. It's unbeatable.

The other children are a bit overwhelming for him at times, but for the most part he is content, watching them crawl and play (although there was one little incident of hair pulling) This, of course, is just what we want - Bubs seeing the possibility of mobility. Today he started sitting with the children at the lunch table, not to eat, but to see how much fun eating is.

So far he's sitting up most of his time on the floor. We need to give him more tummy time to work on the crawling, but I'm really impressed that he can sit up as long as he can. Its only been since August that he could sit at all and now he can sit up for an hour.

All this time sitting has had a wonderful, unexpected side effect - the wretching is getting better. First of all, with his new abs of steel, developed from long bouts of sitting, he can control his inner workings better and coughs that used to lead to wretching are now just coughs. No horrible pain, no meltdowns. Just coughs.

Second, as a bonus to his new physique, he has learned that when he has air in his tummy, he can draw his knees to his chest, bare down, and rip a manly little fart. He has never been able to fart pain free - the straining always led to wretching and screaming and then venting through a tube. Pooping? That was a horrible process where he'd strain and wretch, we'd let the air out of his tummy and then he'd lose the pressue he needed to pass the poo, so we'd have to start the process all over again. Now, things are getting better every day. Plus, and maybe this something only a mama can love, but he is so cute when he draws up his little legs and pumps out the little boy poots.

So, I give daycare credit for the improved tummy issues. I also credit our new and improved feeding schedule where he gets more time off between feeds. We need to pay a little extra attention to his weight gain, but for now, I'll assume that the fact that I had to box up a pile of outgrown clothing is a good sign that we're on the right track.

But, daycare is not without its down notes. Within seconds of entering the daycare room, Bobby's nose snotted up and has stayed that way since. I'm not sure if its allergies or a cold - Mama V is allergic to nearly everything so I'm guessing it might be the former. Except Mamas V and A have both had colds, so maybe its the latter. Valerie explained to me that I could tell the difference by the translucency of his boogers, but I didn't absorb the information.

Why didn't I absorb it? Because the boogers drive me to distraction. Trying to wipe snot off his nose makes him angry and leaving the snot there grosses me out worse than changing a big blow out. And when he comes in for a kiss - its all I can do to raspberry his neck with full gusto. Sometimes I think I'll just leave it alone, but then I can't stand it when it disappears from his face - did he eat it? Is it on me? On his bed? I expected a lot of things about this parenting gig - but I never thought about the amount of snot I'd have to wrangle. But, I guess if Bobby can develop a baby six pack and teach himself to fart, I can stomach the snot. Its all about facing life's little challenges.