The Dark Side of Mama

Just one week ago, I posted about Sera finally calling me mama. Little did I know that word could cause me as much pain as it did joy. Hearing Sera call mama mama over and over while she was in pain this weekend and knowing there was nothing I could do to help her, but hold her and rock just about broke my heart. She actually seemed worse Sunday afternoon and evening than she had all weekend. We were giving her all the medication we could, but she got to the point that swallowing caused her such pain. She would sign for food or a drink and take one bite or sip and scream before rejecting the item. It was as if she thought the juice or the grapes or the scrambled eggs were causing the pain. We got her to drink one glass of juice, 1 1/2 slices of American cheese, and several small bowls of orange sherbet. That was it...all day.

I made arrangements for a sub and went in to school at 5:30 this morning. I made my copies and my lesson plan for the day and was home in time for Jim to get to school on time. Sera had actually slept through the night. It was the first time since Thursday night that she slept for more than a few hours at a time. When 8 am finally arrived, I called our pediatrician and made an appointment for 11:50 am. Sera finally woke up around 9 am. She still let out a few screams but she drank an entire yogurt drink and ate two French toast sticks. Then she played the rest of the morning. She was wound up and playful at the doctor's. She was herself again. I went ahead with the appointment to make sure, but the doctor confirmed. Her ears are almost completely better and her throat is only slightly red.

To celebrate, we stopped at Target. We loaded up on more YoBaby yogurt drinks, a few things I needed, plus a treat or two for Sera. She is now the proud owner of a coloring book with pages as tall as she is and the cutest Halloween t-shirt. I was torn between the orange ghouls just wanna have fun and the black peek-a-boo kittie until I saw the orange one with spiders hanging from their webs. Sera's into spiders right now. Her favorite song is Itsy-bitsy Spider, including hand movements and she loves her LeapFrog Alphabet Spider. She saw that t-shirt and yelled, "pie dah." SOLD!

On the way home, I went through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru for lunch. I decided that we'd share a milk shake. Don't milk shakes make your throat feel better? Let me tell you. She's now a big fan of the cookies 'n cream milk shake.