This past week has been rather challenging. There have been work challenges resulting in mid-day trips to the candy store, and I’ve been uncharacteristically tired the whole week. On top of all that that, Simon has had a challenging go of it.
Camp started Monday. “Camp”, as Simon discovered this week, is not the same as “school”, even if it takes place in the same building. He does not have all the same teachers, he does not have all the same classmates, and he does not have the same routine. And even though some of these changes are good—water play! Veronica! Leah!—change comes hard for Simon.
From what I can tell, he cried a fair bit the first day when his routine was interrupted, much less so the second day, and by the end of the week he was having a grand old time. But he’s still a little uneasy, and we’re still hearing about teachers (Fira, Lottie) and classmates (Sophia, Gabrielle, Lola, Aniyeh) that aren’t with him any more. Midweek during our vacation, Simon went to bed telling us that he wanted to go to school the next day. Yesterday he explained very clearly that, and this is verbatim, “I no want to go to camp. I want to go to school.”
In case that wasn’t enough, he’s also been struggling with a nasty bout of diaper rash, and last night he took a hard fall in a parking lot and busted his lip. He sobbed long and hard after his fall, and he bled quite a bit. Chris, our café friend, offered up ice, water, a treat, and condolences, and we were grateful that he didn’t chip any more teeth or do more damage to the already damaged tooth. He seems fine today, but he keeps telling us that he “broke his nose” and his lip is noticeably puffy.
As for the diaper rash, I have come to the regrettable conclusion that Simon can no longer eat strawberries. Or at the very least, he can’t eat many. Matt and I have noticed that every recent outbreak has coincided with strawberry consumption, and that no matter how fast we are to change a diaper, we have been unable to stop burns from breaking the skin. A quick online search confirmed that some kids can’t handle strawberries or tomatoes, so we are going to have to abstain until he’s potty trained. With the local season underway, it’s a hard thing to give up. But, really, it’s not worth the risk. Also, thank God for silver sulfadiazine, an amazing medication that does wonders to promote healing.
On the bright side? Soon blueberry season will kick into high gear, and I’ve seen the boy eat a QUART of those suckers and suffer no ill effects.
Love that you are looking on the bright side!