Our first family meeting

Alex called a family meeting at midnight last night. 

Well, actually, he called for me (the acting chair-woman) at 11:30. 

I went in to get him since he was screaming and obviously having issues.  And, after all, the only appropriate thing to do is to rouse the family to discuss the situation.  I’m glad he’s figured this out so early.

I held him in the glider for about 20 minutes.  I saw a lamb waving about in Erin’s crib.  Alex had settled a bit, so I put him down and looked into Erin’s crib.  Yep.  She was up.  Happy, but wide awake.  She had, apparently, been asked to attend the meeting as secretary or something.

I went back to bed, hoping that both of them would settle on their own.  No such luck.  I let Alex cry for 10 minutes to see if he’d settle.  Nope.  Back to the meeting I went. 

I moved our meeting to the loft, hoping that a change of scenery might help.  It didn’t.  Alex would scream continuously (ie, in an unbroken stream) when laid down.  But only continually (ie, with breaks) when I was holding him (every 5 or 10 minutes, he’d start again).  And then he thrash around trying to find a comfortable, and new, position in my arms.  (clue #1)

It was like a weird game of Greco-Roman wrestling.  With an angry, miniature competitor.  Who refused to be pinned.

Finally, I carried him back to the nursery and sat with him for a while longer.  And then I gave up.  I asked Eric to please come help me.  Apparently, I was not a good enough acting-chairwoman.  Alex wanted the chairman himself.  And at 12:30, that’s what he got.

So, I picked up Erin, tried to settle her, laid her back down and went to lay down myself, trying for all I was worth to figure out what else I could do.

• Vaporizer is on (check)
• Baby Motrin (check…just passed the 4 hour mark, so no more for 2 hours)
• Vicks BabyRub (check)
• Comforting Parental Presence (check)

Finally, as a last resort, I got a sippy cup of water and the numbing ear drops the doctor prescribed for Erin’s double infections.  Think Orajel for the ears, I guess.  Anyway, I put a couple drops in each of his ears, which sent him back to screaming (clue #2) for a bit.  But then he settled.  And went to sleep.  I took Erin into our room to get her back to sleep (didn’t take long).  And I climbed back into bed a bit after 1:00 am.

Eric joined me about 1:30 a.m.  And thus ended our first family meeting.

(Oh, and my clues led me to the correct conclusion: Alex has an ear infection in the right ear. We went to the pediatrician this morning, thus my late post.  Hopefully, a day or two of amoxicillian will have him back to normal (and sleeping) again!)

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