sick?

Eddie has been out of sorts for the past two days. It could just be from teething, since it is certain that he has more teeth coming in as we can feel and see them and he is drooling a lot. But he is more crabby than usual. Yesterday he practically threw a fit at the Verizon store. And has been doing his cranky moan which we recall from his days of colic. He has less focus when playing with his toys, going from object to object in disdain, as if to say that nothing feels good. There are still spurts of good moods, smiles, laughter and bouncing about but in general he is out of sorts. Yesterday I woke up with a tad of a sore throat so maybe he has it too. He coughs occasionally, but that could be from the excessive drool going down the back of the throat - the books actually refer to it as a teething cough. And a couple days ago after our walk he had a runny nose, but my nose always runs after we come in from being out in the cold too. He has been sleeping a lot also. Last night he went to bed at 5:30 p.m. and didn't wake up until 1 a.m. for his first feeding - he usually wakes up sometime between 9 - 10 p.m. so that was strange. Maybe it is the addition of solid foods making him sleep more. It really frazzled me though since I cannot sleep well until after his first nighttime feeding and so I was half-awake until 1 a.m. when he finally woke up.

I am also now suspecting allergies, although some research shows that true allergies don't develop until kids are 2 years or older. But his eyes have been puffy with reddish, purple bags under his eyes. He has gotten them in the past, but usually only when really tired, and yesterday he woke up from a 2 hour nap with the bad bags...weird. Maybe he is allergic to Marty...I have had various periods in my life when I have been allergic to the dogs, having to take Claritin to stop the symptoms of itchy eyes, congestion, etc. And I still get a minor rash when Marty licks me. Today I noticed that after Marty licked Eddie's ear and side of face he had this same spotty rash too. Eddie's skin is very sensitive though. The doctor said there's a medical term for it: Dermatographism. It means literally that you can write on the skin. When pressure is applied to the skin, it leaves a red mark for a few minutes or several hours. I have it too. It takes days sometimes for the rings around my ankles left by socks to go away.

And then there is the additional variable of new foods. The past two days Eddie has been eating pears - I steamed them and then pureed them. Most food allergies manifest themselves with a digestive symptom, I think. And he hasn't had any weird poops. So I dunno. We will just have to continue to observe and soothe him. I tend to just use my instincts when he seems of sorts and think about what I would want if I was not well: lots of affection and sleep. So we hold him more, give him massages and put him down in his crib every two hours or so. Today he woke up at 6 a.m., went back to sleep from 7 - 8:30 a.m. and went down again at 10:30 a.m. is now still asleep over an hour later. Time for me to drink some tea and eat some chicken soup.