Can we get someone from the CDC in here?
Ok, since the last update on Saturday, Holden has been out 3 more days from school. Today, he’s finally back for his second day of school this week.

Sunday, he developed some type of stomach virus, leaving he and I to spend Monday at home, recovering.

Tuesday, seemed to be a better day for everyone involved and everyone went to work/school. I went to a meetup writer’s group meeting in the evening and it looks like I’ll be attending future meetings too.

Tuesday night was a bad night. By the time I got home from the meeting at 9:30, both Holden and Julie were in bed. I sat in front of the TV with the ReplayTV remote and a notepad. I was going to watch the episode of The Amazing Race that I recorded earlier in the evening and take some notes on the writing project I’m working on for Aegis Studios.

Holden started fussing (read: screaming).

By 12:30 AM, I completely abandoned any hope of watching the rest of The Amazing Race that night, as it took me that long just to make it through the first 25 minutes (including commercials that were fast forwarded through). After about 1:30, the rest of the night is a blur… I know that sometime around 3:00 AM I finally got to sleep and wasn’t awakened again.

Wednesday, Julie took a turn staying home with him and made an appointment to see the doctor.

The diagnosis was a middle ear infection that had broken through and had developed an outer ear infection.

He finally got some relief in the form of Tylenol, Motrin and a once-a-day antibiotic and had a 4 ½ hour nap.

He stayed home again on Thursday, but that was more to catch up on sleep and recover more fully before entering the germ zone at school. (On Wednesday, only 6 of the 15 kids registered in Holden’s class attended.)

And now here we are on Friday, Julie wasn’t feeling well this morning and a sore throat and stuffy nose kept her up all night. I’m tired because I was playing around the DVD burner half the night, and Holden seems to be doing pretty well. We are all at work/school today and, knock on wood, will be able to stay for the rest of the day without incident…


- posted by Tony @ 11:41 AM 0 comments

 
The Monkey finds new places to climb
This afternoon, Holden and I had Boy's Day Part II.

For Boy's Day part I, Holden and I were home sick yesterday after he came home from daycare Thursday afternoon with a 99.9 degree fever.

Today, Julie was invited to go wedding dress shopping with her cousin, Michelle. We were a little surprised at this early shopping trip because at last report Michelle and Jason weren't getting married until after they both graduated college. We were very reassured that the wedding isn't going to be until September.... 2006!

Far be it from me to try to figure out women's "wedding logic" so I told Julie to go while Holden and I stayed home and watched Roadrunner cartoons. (I've created a new fan with the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 that I got for Christmas.)

The morning and afternoon passed as one would expect. Eventually, Holden let me be fooled into believing that I convinced him it was time for a nap.

At about the two hour mark, I thought I heard a thump from his room. Hearing no crying or cries of "Daddy!!!" I decided to just let him play for a while in his room, giving him some time to explore.

About 15 or 20 minutes later, he started calling for me so I climbed the stairs and made my way to his room.

I opened the door slowly, as Holden has a habit of standing RIGHT BEHIND the closed door. I saw him back pedalling slowly to avoid the door. As he did he smiled and presented me with two bowling pins, one in each hand. "F'you, Daddy!"

That he would have found some toy or treasure in his explorations of his room wasn't surprising, and that he was presenting his prize to me as I walked in the room, again, was not surprising. What is surprising is that those bowling pins were on a shelf...about 4 1/2 to 5 feet off the ground!!

Daddy: "Um, what do you have, buddy?"

Holden: "Candy Cane!"

Daddy: "And where did you get the bowl- candy canes from?"

Holden: "Up there!" pointing to the shelf.

Daddy: "And how did you get up there, buddy?"

Holden: "I climbed. I climb on the blue couch and get it."

Daddy: "Why don't you show me how you climbed up there?"

Holden then walked over to the blue dresser which is under the shelf in question. At the base of the dresser was a toy parking garage playset. He stepped up onto the playset, then took another step onto the raised elevator shaft of the playset. He turned and looked at me, his waist level with the top of the dresser, leaning over the dresser, reaching his little hand toward the shelf, and announced, "I get them like this."

Daddy: "Of course, you did."

Holden: "Course you did"

So, needless to say the playset was moved across the room, and here is hoping that he doesn't feel the need to climb up onto his dresser again. But somehow we just know that the feeling will definitely come upon him again!

- posted by Tony @ 5:44 PM 0 comments

 
The Population of Mastville keeps growing.
Welcome to the World, Tiera Renee Mast!
- posted by Tony @ 8:37 PM 0 comments

 
Happy Martin Luther King Day
Holden had a fun day today spending MLK day with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Paul. While Julie and I were at work, Grandma, Grandpa and Holden got to watch a series of movies together… well, not the whole movies, just about five to ten minutes of each.

We all met back up at Grandma and Grandpa’s house after dinner to celebrate Austin’s birthday (Monday) and Ron Gallucci’s birthday (Tuesday). Between us, Mom and Dad, Doug’s family, Big Gram, Butch and Geri, and the Gallucci’s, there were 17 of us for Austin’s Birthday.

It was a big crowd and Austin got all kinds of neat presents including Laser Tag, The Indiana Jones Trilogy on DVD, some Playstation games and a number of other movies and toys.

We did have one near catastrophe though, the blaze of candles on Ron’s cake nearly had us scrambling to call 911. I still think we need to check the batteries in the smoke detectors, because the cloud of smoke after the candles were blown out should have set off the alarm. ; )

We also celebrated Christmas with Doug and Shawn and the kids. I think the hit of the Christmas gifts was a tie between Holden’s bike/scooter, Austin's K'nex Roller Coaster and Abby’s Barbie Princess and the Pauper DVD.

- posted by Tony @ 11:16 PM 0 comments

 
Something else for her to obsess about
We finally got Holden to bed last night (at 10pm – that’s past Mommy’s bed time!). Later, I thought he heard some kind of knocking going on in the upstairs hallway but thought if Holden had really climbed out again, he would start yelling, “I can’t hear you!” or “I climbed out of bed.” I never heard any talking so just assumed the noise was the cat or the dogs playing at the base of the stairs. Around, maybe a bit after, midnight, I went to check Holden…and couldn’t get his bedroom door open. Holden had climbed out of bed and had fallen asleep in front of the door! When he woke up this morning, I asked him if he climbed out of his bed last night, and he said “Nooo...” So, then I asked him if he fell asleep on the floor by the door, and Holden answered, “I not see Daddy under the door.” He must have fallen asleep while trying to peek under the door for me.

- posted by Tony @ 1:21 PM 0 comments