A.B. Kagledom

So we had this idea to take the kids on a (relatively) last minute secret trip to Disneyland. I took the afternoon off, we picked up Simon from school, and we drove... Two hours into the trip Simon finally asked where we were going. When we revealed the destination he said "I LOVE THIS!"

Here is the moment captured on video (unfortunately, I cut off right between "I" and "love this!").

And so you will understand that, when Adlai came down with a seriously high fever after more than seven hours in the car and Simon was thrilled at his mini-vacation prospects, we didn't turn around and go home. No, we decided to medicate and comfort and hope. Unfortunately, after a morning in the park with temperatures reaching near ninety outside, neither boy was feeling festive. We took them back to the hotel. Simon wanted nothing more than to swim. Neither would nap. We turned on Sesame Street. Adlai played with the doornob and it fell off in his hands. We were trapped in the hotel room across the street from the happiest place on earth with two sick kids.

Once the sun started to go down (and the temperature dropped) Simon recovered completely. Matthew took him on the flume ride at California Adventure and they went over and over and over again. I wrapped Adlai in all the warm things I could find, put the stroller in recline, and walked around and around the park looking for a dark and quiet place. Adlai drifted in and out of sleep and discomfort until morning when we were awakened early by a car alarm outside our hotel room. Fun! After more Tylenol, we took the boys back to the park. Having not eaten since lunch the day before, Adlai was famished by lunch on Sunday. And every person within one hundred feet from 10 am to 11 am knew something was wrong. You'll have to trust me on that. Luckily, the words "hot dog" brought him back to his senses. "Hot dog?" he asked, cheerily. We filled him with food and he perked up enough to enjoy It's a Small World. Soon after, he passed out in the stroller despite the light and noise and snoozed for an hour while Simon and Matthew finished up their day.

We left the park at 3 pm on Sunday and Adlai, still feverish, wasn't happy until the sun went down and he was able to fall asleep. Monday thru Thursday Adlai did very little but sleep and scream. We took him to the doctor and it turned out he had something related to Hand, Foot, and Mouth - a common toddler virus (which is why none of us caught it). He was apparently in a good deal of pain (hence the screaming) - probably from a headache in addition to a stomach ache.

By Friday Adlai's rash, fever, and screams were (mostly) gone. Over the weekend we got the fun and loving Adlai back. Wow, did we ever miss him.

I'm uploading some photos to Flickr now. We were a little stressed out about the whole situation so not many were taken.

Posted by kagledom at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adlai is silly but, compared to what we're use to, we might as well just label him reserved. This is why catching him letting loose even a little is pretty great. Here he is dancing to Lady Gaga. Check out the head bobbing!

Posted by kagledom at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I took the following photo with my phone this evening. Adlai wouldn't stop moving so it isn't a great shot...

I'm sharing this photo because it pretty much sums up Adlai's personality at 21.5 months. He's clever, fashionable, opinionated, opinionated about his fashion choices, and always "in" everything. For those of you who are already thinking about birthday and/or holiday shopping, what Adlai needs, more than anything else, are clothes (size 3) of any type featuring choo choo trains, airplanes, firetrucks, or Elmo. Getting him dressed in the morning without these selections is becoming quite the challenge.

Besides being a little tyrant about fashion, Adlai spends his time being very affectionate to his stuffed Elmo (and select other stuffed animals). He likes to feed them and wrap them in blakets, give them binkies, and hug them to sleep. He has been teething all weekend which has caused much suffering in the way of his face rash and our sleep. He started a library class a couple of weeks ago which he enjoys and today he played the drums at a local festival in the park.

Be sure to check out the new photos over at Flickr. The boys and I have spent a good deal of time at a local pumpkin patch using their bouncy house. We've also been having fun at the car wash, the park, the airplane museum, NASA, and in our own back yard.

Posted by kagledom at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)