Vanquished

Praise the Lord! LP's ear infection has been vanquished. It only took four weeks, three antibiotics, seven doctors visits, and one hellish nightmare of a Tuesday afternoon to get to this point.

The weather is cruddy here in Connecticut. It started yesterday afternoon. I already knew I would have to leave work early to get LP to her 4:45 doctor's appointment. The doctor is near home and day care - I work 25 miles (40 minutes on most days) away. Add snow and ice into the mix and despite the fact that I leave at 3:30, I don't get to LP until a little after 5. Fortunately the Hoos alerts the doctor to the fact that I will be late and when I am 5 minutes out from day care I call Mr. Otis and tell him to have my little munchkin ready to go.

I run in, grab LP and hurry back out into the icy parking lot, walking as quickly as possible while trying to avoid ending up on my backside. We get into the car and, at the breakneck speed of 20 miles an hour, race to the doctors office. Suddenly I spot some wild turkeys on the lefthand side of the road, "Look LP, turkeys!" I cry out (she loves animals, "cardinal" is her new favorite word and she actually identifies them, but I digress). "Chicken! Chicken! Chicken!" she yells, pointing, as five more wild turkeys cross the icy road directly in front of my car. She doesn't know how close we came to having turkey for dinner as she continues to scream "Chicken!" the two or so miles to the doc's office.

We finally get to the doctor. Whew! We run in, sign in, and pray that LP's pediatrician hasn't left for the night. I am relieved when the nurse comes to get us, saying "I need to take her temperature." No problem, I am a pro and lay her down and prepare to remove her diaper. Looking down I comment, "Hey, this isn't your diaper" we use Pampers Cruisers and this is some other type, sometimes that happens at day care, I have no idea why. "No problem I say, as long as it is clean." I open it and realize that I just jinxed myself. Even better, in all of the craziness, I don't have the diaper bag. No wipes, no clean diapers...just a toddler with a diaper full of poop. The nurse finds us something she and the cotnainer says are wipes, but they are more like useless moistened tissues. I clean LP off enough for her temperature to be taken and the nurse leaves. Uh...what am I supposed to do now? Let her run around bare ass? Fortunately the nurse left the cabinet under the sink open and I notice generic diapers in who knows what size. I manage to squeeze one onto LP just as the doctor walks in.

Man, am I glad that the ear infection is gone, because otherwise I might have just broken into tears.