Home Sick (Home Remedies)

I know some of you are eye-rolling whenever I post something about natural crap. If this is you, just skip this post and wait for the next one with Jude in it. (Tyler. Dad. Etc.)

Does anyone remember some controversy over cough syrup use with babies? I forget what it was about because I think it was during the pre-baby era, meaning I paid no attention to such things.

Anyway, this past week we were all hacking up a lung and feeling like death. Jude had a double ear infection and was cutting four teeth at once. His tiny baby hack was lingering and giving him trouble, and in an effort to avoid a late-night run to the drug store I turned to the interweb. A few easy natural remedies came up using stuff I already had in my house.

Interweb + typical household products = a lazy lady's dream.

If you have a kiddo, I recommend a few of the following. Especially if your babe is already on antibiotics for an ear infection and infant Tylenol for a fever and you're looking for a way to tone down the major drug use occurring in your home :) All except the tea are highly un-controversial and safe, so don't worry, and let me know how it turns out if you try them.

For a baby cough and congestion:

1) Turn the shower on nice and hot and steam up the bathroom. Then the two of you should hang out in there for awhile.

2) Bundle the bambino up and take him outside for some fresh air.

3) Put him in a warm bath with a couple of drops of eucalyptus essential oil. (You can get a small bottle of this at a health store for under $10, and it lasts forever).

4) Make a vapor rub with 3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil and 2 drops of eucalyptus essential oil. Rub it on his chubby chest and back. I tried this last night and it seemed to calm his cough.

5) Get a humidifier and keep it going in your child's room every night through the Winter.

6) If your child is old enough for certain herbal teas, you could make him a warm cup of licorice tea with a doctor's guidance. (The health benefits can be great, but some herbs you need to be careful with, especially with children.) No, this is not tea with Red Vines in it - licorice is actually an herb, which I wasn't aware of until recently. This one I haven't tried yet, but a large number of sources recommended it, so I'll take some liberties and post it here. You can also safely give your child chamomile tea for a calming effect, which used to be a common practice in pre-soda days.

If you're interested in avoiding co-pays at the doctor's office for things that can be dealt with at home, a good book to add to your collection is "make your place (affordable, sustainable nesting skills)" by raleigh briggs. I found it on a few other mama blogs and noticed it was only $5. It soon became mine. There are a lot of herbal remedies in it, some were helpful and others overkill in my opinion, but it also has composting and gardening tips and is handwritten with funny doodles.

I'll be using it more often this summer. To make things like manure tea. Water with poop in it. For your plants, not your kids.

Duuuuude.

He thinks it's the coolest thing in the universe to wear Jono's cap backwards and crawl around like he's the shiz-nit. Which he is.

Wait... was that "Jude in Hat"?
You're welcome.

Rumpus

It's February in Michigan. Time to bury our noses in books and forget about it.

Since Jude was born we've tried to make sure he gets a daily dose of literature. He will sit for five to eight books in a row before bedtime, and he makes it obvious which ones he approves of and which ones we need to put back on the shelf for awhile.

I'll pull out "Alligator Pie" and by the middle of the first page he has already given me his grunt of disapproval. Sometimes he'll even try to slap it out of my hand. If it's "Nicky's Walk", on the other hand, he smiles behind his pacifier as soon as he sees the cover. When I open it to the first page and read the first two words - "red shoes" - he giggles every time. And then lies in a quiet, enraptured state until I finish it and slowly close the back cover.

Lately I've been letting him choose by laying three options out in front of him. He ponders for a moment, then gestures toward the one he wants. If I even glance at a book other than the one he's chosen, I will hear about it.

Last night the whole family was on our bed while I read "Where the Wild Things Are". There's something about this book that is captivating, and it isn't just the pictures. I think it's the appeal of escape, especially in February, but anyway. After the part where it says, "Let the wild rumpus start...." there is a three-page sequence of wordless illustrations showing the wild things busting moves in the forest. We make up dance beats and do some beat-boxing as a soundtrack for these pages.

Apparently Jude has taken this to heart. When I was about to get to the rumpus part Jono stopped me and said, "Listen to what he does after you say 'rumpus'." So I read up to the move-busting section, finished with "rumpus" and stopped.

We waited for a second and then Jude goes... "bum bum-bum bum".

He was totally imitating a dance beat. I almost passed out. Yet another reminder that children are not dogs. They pick up on things, faster than you can keep up. I guess it's already time to make sure what's coming out of our mouths is age-appropriate :)

fourteen.five

Jude is 14.5 months old.

He continues to be intrigued by most things and notices ridiculously small details. A few times he has found a Mona hair in the carpet, picked it up delicately with two fingers and given it to me. Today he discovered that an empty toilet-paper roll spins on the dispenser. Once he had unrolled the whole thing, he peeled off the tiny pieces of leftover residue from the roll and placed each one carefully on the toilet seat.

Lately he's been into trying out his verbal skills. He says "woof" now when he sees a dog. It started as "ffff" and then he eventually added the "woo". He says "moo" and "rawr" for a lion or bear. He disdains both "meow" and "oink" though, and won't even attempt them - giving us this look that says "Are you serious?". "Uh-oh" and "boom" are still favorites, and he's also added "wow", "whoa" and "ball". He's been saying "ma ma" and "da da" for awhile, but didn't really direct them at us until recently. Jono walks into the room and gets a big "da da" and smile. I walk in and get a slightly whinier version with "ma ma", or a heartbreaking-ly cute one as I leave for work in the morning.

Physically he is climbing stairs, pulling up on things and cruising, turning on the television (we keep it set to "video" so he gets a blank screen), trying to get inside of the dishwasher when it's being emptied and "walking" rapidly with the assistance of our fingers or a kiddie chair he slides across our wood floors. With the stairs we have to be careful because he'll crawl off quickly, diaper-bum wagging back and forth, with the intention of getting to the stairs and beginning his ascent before we can catch him.

He still doesn't feel comfortable walking on his own. Apparently he would rather have a contest with himself on how many blocks he can stack on top of each other, or if a bread crumb will balance on the nozzle of his sippy cup. He enjoys figuring out how things work; he isn't in any big hurry to run across the room. Oh well. Seasoned parents tell me I shouldn't be too hasty in looking forward to his future ability to get into everything.

Last week was the debut of mini-tantrums, something I had heard about toddlers doing but hadn't yet seen. He lets out a mad yell, arches his back and twists his torso from side to side until whatever is offending him stops happening.

One of the more amusing things we've experienced lately: Jude moving into a regular toddler car seat. He is now facing forward where he sits regally in the middle of the backseat gazing out the windows and at us. He looks very "mini" in that seat, and let me tell you, it is TOO MUCH. I can actually see his little head bobbing back there from outside of the car. When I'm in the front seat I constantly look back at him, where I usually get a Scrunchy Face Smile if I peek through the hole in the headrest in a sneaky way. TOO MUCH.

So there's a rather lengthy update for you (and by "you" I mean relatives). A tad belated. The blog has been hibernating. I hope this makes up for the dry spell.