Life's Ups & Downs

Squatting in the driveway

With Grandma Sue in Medford on our recent trip.

 

On his way to shooting spit wads in a restaurant.

On our way to "walk the dog."

Daily walk of "the dog" down Hurst Street.

Do you ever see those people that walk around with a little permanent grin on their face? I don't mean the over-caffeinated Starbucks employee or the Stepford Wife on your block. I mean the ones that have the genuine smile on their face as they walk down the street, order lunch or drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Those people always amaze me. How do they cope with stress? How do they keep all of life's curve balls in check? 

Adler has been so sick off and on (mainly on) and the latest trip to a specialist thinks he has asthma. Those close to us know we have traveled down a long, windy road of exams, bloodwork, xrays, dietary restrictions...but we might just finally be coming to the conclusion that he is a sickly kid. That the petri-dish otherwise known as daycare just reeks havoc on his little body. His chronic coughing hit an all-time high a couple weeks ago and left us so weary and sleep-deprived that we voluntarily left the pediatric asthma-allergy office with an inhaler and heavy duty meds that he was to take daily. I have felt like we are on one wild goose chase after another with no decision ever feeling like it's the right one. Not one time have I left an office feeling like "yes! this is it!" No permanent smiles for me in a long time.

Adler began reacting to the meds and after just 3 days, we stopped. We are trying an antibiotic now to knock out this residual stuff and just hoping that his health and spirits will hold—because for now, they are great. I could have never in my wildest dreams planned on all the illness, all the sleeplessness, all the worrying...vowing you would do ANYTHING for a clear diagnosis or to take away the pain and discomfort in this little being. I could never imagine that I could love something so whole, so unconditionally...no matter how exhausted and brow-beaten I feel from all the Internet research and "doctor's orders." 

I have three good friends that are pregnant right now and I cannot express to them what a wild ride this will be, how rewarding it is, how exhausting it is, how it is the best thing you could ever do with your life. I look at how Adler is growing and turning into such a character and know it hits me daily: we are parents. He is beginning to make that quintessential shift from baby to toddler and we are beginning to have to actually parent, not just provide. It's an eery switch, one you just have to go into blindly. (Refer back to my previous post about obsession with "Super Nanny.") How do we left him know he can't cry and throw a tantrum to get what he wants (today it was my toast, despite having toast on his plate. What will it be tomorrow...or even tonight!?)

So the woman in her late-50s I saw crossing the street in front of my car with the calming, non-wavering smile on her face must be doing something right. That and I am sure all her kids are grown and she is getting 8+ hours of sleep!