I had the worst cramps today that I can remember since adolescence, so every spare moment I had I spent out of commission. However, in the not-so-spare moments, I fed children, read to children, chauffeured children, took children to the library, cooked dinner, and cleaned the same rooms over and over again.
In the late afternoon, Lydia threw two tantrums and then said her ear hurt. Since I’ve known her ears have been chock full of wax for almost a year (I have tried ear drops and other stuff to no avail), I immediately suspected there was an ear infection behind the wax. I decided to let Abe take her to the doctor because a) we don’t have a pediatrician yet and had to go to Instacare b) I called Instacare and they were really busy c) Mary was napping and I couldn’t see myself taking a sleep-deprived two year old and a sick three year old to a busy Instacare together.
Abe dutifully took Lydia to Instacare where they stayed for the next two hours. Lydia’s ears were so full of wax they had to flush them to diagnose her, and flushing took a long time. Both ears are now squeaky clean, and to our utter shock, Lydia was perfect the whole time. When I try to clean her ears at home, she screams and throws hysterical fits. At the Instacare, she was a perfect angel and did everything the nurse instructed without any resistance at all. I am so proud of her…although I suspect, since she did so well with the nurse, that I must be the problem at home.
That’s disheartening. On the other hand, I was very heartened to see the wax specimens. I begged Abe to bring them home so I could see them because I have a weird fascination with ear wax, and it was soooooo satisfying to see that all of that gunk is now really and truly out of her poor ears.
Anyway, everyone finally ate dinner at 9 pm, and the girls finally made it to bed by 11 pm. I hope and pray they sleep in to 11 am tomorrow.
Here are the pictures:
