Goats, chickens, and fevers. February 28, 2008

What a week it was.

Mom went to New York City on a week-long holiday to ‘do’ Manhattan with her mother. Dad and Madeline got to stay in Dakar.

Normally this would have been a great thing, for dad and Maddie to spend so much time together. But on the day before mom left, the kid was running a 41C fever and sick as a dog. We took her to Dr. Moreira at 15:00 Friday and didn’t get home until almost 20:00.

Why? Well, first of all, Dr. Moriera was typically late seeing us (but we couldn’t complain about it this time, since we were the sudden appointment that helped throw his whole afternoon schedule off). He spent a long time examining her and sent us immediately downtown afterwards at the height of rush hour. Once at Bio 24 (our local 24-hour medical testing laboratory), Madeline needed 3 different tests; 2 were blood tests and the other a urine test. It took her about 2 1/2 hours to pee… and every 15 minutes or so we have to put a new plastic ‘pee-catcher’ bag that ripped her gentitals every time it was taken off. Hilarious.

The only upside to the pee-situation was that this was the most content she’d been all day. It was a kind of game, I think, to see how long she could go without peeing, running around the laboratory. And Bio 24 is a great place to people-watch, let me tell you. They even have a flat-screen TV that shows high-quality Senegalese reality shows. And so on.

When enough pee was properly produced and we got out of downtown, it was after 21:00. Maddie had had no dinner (nor had mom and dad), though she hadn’t eaten since the day before and probably wouldn’t have eaten anyway. Two pharmacies later to find just the right antibiotic and we were finally home.

But this was only the start! To complicate matters immensely, last weekend was the big West African Invitational Softball Tournament (WAIST). Our team had 2 games each on Saturday and Sunday. We arranged for Penda and Laye to babysit on both days – and thankfully, our team did not make it to the playoffs on Monday. It was a real drag playing softball, gone most of the day in a state of intoxication, knowing that there was such a sick girl at home. Especially for mom, who left that night for the USA.

The immediate good news was that Madeline’s high fever went down to normal levels right away upon taking the antibiotics (which tasted yummy!) Though she was still miserable on Saturday, she was better.

And the Bio 24 results? No malaria, but a bacterial infection AND a urinary tract infection. Double whammy! Actually a triple whammy because she also had a deep sinus cold that wouldn’t come out for days. Then when you factor in the fact that she was being weaned at this time… this was the icing on the cake. Quaduruple whammy! Did I mention it was hilarious?

Needless to say, dad’s priority last week was to nurse this kid back to health, and he did so. But it was a long slog for all of us. She really didn’t approach 100% until Thursday, almost a full week after falling ill. This is a record length of time for this kid who rarely gets sick, this being only the second fevers she’s ever had during her 17 month life.

Besides Monday (which was a holiday), dad spent all of Tuesday and the first half of Wednesday at home with the girl. She was needy and clingy to the hilt but he was glad to oblige. Dad and Maddie hadn’t had such one-on-one time since Colorado in later December 2007. Dad’s really happy not to be a single parent.

Mom had such a great time sans daddy and baby; her adventures in New York City could fill volumes.

Now that Madeline has made a full recovery, she’s back to her old self and much more. She’s plump and healthy-looking again (not eating for 4 days is hell on a toddler’s physique) and amazingly adept at using words now. Clearly this is her big word accumulation stage. She runs around chattering almost constantly, though much of it unintelligible, and is an excellent mimic of words. More importantly, this kid remembers the names of everything and later amazes everyone with her smarts. This is truly a wonderful age for a kid – so expressive and interesting and it just keeps getting better each week… as long as she’s not sick.

Climbing and other hazardous activities. February 12, 2008

I have never really worried much in my life about many things… until this kid came along. As parents, it is our lot in life now to worry incessantly about our offspring. I am by no means a seasoned parent, having only been one for about 17 months. But every change that comes about in Madeline, whether physical or developmental, seems to bring its own new set of parental worries.

The latest thing? Madeline has an absolute amazing ability to climb just about anything, no matter how high or sheer. And she seems to have very little fear of heights or falling – perhaps because she’s never had a big fall. Her favorite climbing activity is to push her wooden African carved stools up to the coffee table and climb aboard, gleefully dancing around the edges of this platform almost half a meter off the floor. Even when we move the stools to a different room in the house, she always manages to eventually position them back in place for her successful summit attempt.

The other day she climbed to the top of the coffee table without the stools. And she regularly climbs all the way up into her high chair when she grows impatient for dinner (which is ironic, considering that she still eats like a bird over long, drawn out meals). Recently she figured out how to climb the dresser in stages by pulling out the lowest drawer and using it to get to the next pulled out drawer, etc. Unbelievable.

Of course, I have high hopes that these skills will parlay themselves into something useful like a career as a world-class alpine mountaineer or rock climber.

Recently we’ve introduced Madeline to some other less dangerous activities which she seems to enjoy very much: sculpting with play-doh, drawing, and finger-painting. But really what she wants to do is get into trouble, to do all the things that are either mildly dangerous or shockingly so.

I am happy to report that she remains in her nighttime sleeping groove. Each evening, like clockwork, we put her into her crib at 20:00 where she bids us ‘bye bye’ and falls asleep on her own. And each morning, like clockwork, she’s awake at about 6:00 to be brought into our bed, eventually to fall asleep again with mom and dad before they have to get up and go to work.

The difference in our lives is indescribable. To have our sleeping hours given back to us is truly a special gift. The irony is that after nights during which we have slept 8 to 9 hours uninterrupted, we are just as tired as we were before. The human body has an amazing capacity to operate on as little sleep as it is given, to make the most of what it can eke out – everything seems to always turn out fine. I think if this were not the case, the new-parent mortality rate would be very high.

Winter in West Africa. February 5, 2008

The best time of year in Senegal – warm sunny days and cool starry nights. Occasionally there are dusty washed out skies but generally it’s perfectly comfortable. The weather in Dakar is definitely something we will miss.

It’s a good time for Madeline here because it’s not too hot and she doesn’t sweat like a stuck pig. She’s never been good at hydrating herself so when it’s hot, it’s always worrisome that she won’t get enough liquids.

I practically shudder to report this… and the only times I ever have done so, it came back to bite me…. but Madeline appears to finally be sleeping through the night consistently on her own. Every night. As in, going to sleep at 8:00 and not making a peep until 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning. Unbelievable. When we arrived in Senegal after two plus weeks in the United States, the nights were terrible. She was up multiple times each night, very fussy and loud, and tired all day long. Then for some reason, she simply settled in and started sleeping well. I cannot explain it – it’s a mystery. However, we will take all we can get!

Not only is she sleeping through the night, but she seems to actually like being put into her crib in the evenings, sometimes begging to be put there and to be tucked in there with her blanket. Is this the same girl we’ve been raising all of this time? We almost didn’t recognize her when she started exhibiting this strange behavior. It is now very rare that she will fall asleep on one of us – rather, after she’s been placed in the crib, she waves and says “bye” over and over. It’s cute enough to make you want to grab her and bring her out again. I already miss her falling asleep on my shoulder at night!

Her eating habits continue to be all over the place but we have learned to live with this, and we are not especially worried. I am convinced that she eats exactly what she needs to eat, no more and no less. She’s slimmed down a bit over the past few months but is still quite healthy, and I think slimming down at this point in a toddler’s life is normal. And most importantly, she’s almost always in a good mood. The times when she is cranky are directly related to her refusing to take a nap during the day. She has yet to learn that “sleep always wins”. She continues to be a more or less constant nibbler – instead of eating full meals three times a day, Maddie tends to eat little bits and pieces all day long while she is doing other things. At the end of the day I think she eats as much as most toddlers.

She also eats and naps better during the workdays when mom and dad are not around. I do not know why this is, other than possibly the fact that when we are around she doesn’t want to miss a thing. Eating and sleeping are a waste of time when you are a little kid discovering the world and you are treated to both of your parents being around to play with!

Speaking of the workdays, our beloved nanny Laye is now back at work. Remember she had a baby in November and took three months’ maternity leave? We scrambled to find a replacement nanny and ended up having Laye’s best friend Penda fill in. Well, Penda turned out to be more than just a good replacement – she’s now part of the family. Maddie absolutely adores her and so do we. She’s so reliable and pleasant although her style is quite different from Laye’s. So when it came

time to get Laye back to work, we faced a terrible dilemma. Finally we decided to employ both of them. This might be a bit it “nanny overkill”, but it’s now working out great. Laye came back last week (and is bringing her little baby with her to work) and the situation is ideal. We’ve reduced both of their wages slightly on the grounds that there’s that much less work for each of them to do. But really it’s a gesture on our part to keep them both here. We are only going to be in Senegal until the middle of June and we figured for the last 4 months we could “splurge” a bit. We’ve kept them both busy by sending one of the them shopping almost every day and cooking dinner each night. But best of all, the household has a great homey feel to it which is great for Madeline. Both nannies plus a newborn, always something going on, something to see, and someone to play with. Maddie is in heaven!