Family Bytes

My wife and I were having a chatter one day when out of nowhere our Ryle blurted what seemed like “Latin” words to us.

We listened to him for a moment as we persuade him to repeat what he just said. And our faces contorted, stumped as we cannot make out a coherent understanding to what he is saying.

So we asked him what’s he talking about. And he said they are the moons of Saturn. “Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Rhea, Iapetus and Titan”, he repeated.

I let him repeat for the nth time while I opened mister dependable google and voila! I was laughing my heart out as I listen to him while browsing through the listings of Saturn’s moons!

It’s the day we found out our baby’s gender. We were 100% expecting to be a girl but the OB said she’s 1000 and 1 percent sure it’s a boy! Well, Ryle will have a playmate after all while mommy and daddy needs to re-think baby names again. Be it a boy or a girl, he’s a wonderful blessing which we are truly thankful. The more important thing is that he is a healthy baby.

Our big boy on his way to school.

Ryle busy at work. He sometimes refer to his school as his office. Because that’s where mommy and daddy go every weekday so he must also has his own.

Summer vacation is over. Today is Ryle’s first day in his new school, Child’s SPACE. It’s a progressive type preschool. He call it the solar system school because that was their theme way back when we had a seat-in class. I hope he won’t be disappointed if the school changed to a new theme this school year. He is coming in Kinder I.

He’s quite cranky this morning but we have to wake him up because his class starts at 8:00. I do hope he’ll enjoy the first day, with his new classmates and new teacher.

Another worry-week for us. Ryle had fever last week. It had us worried because the fever reached as high as 40 degrees C (104 degrees F). It was a week of restlessness and sleepless nights. We took turns giving him sponge bath every time the fever surges.

Scary Moment

The scariest moment was when he threw-up the Advil that I gave and I wasn’t sure if he ingested it or not. When his fever wasn’t subsiding, I followed it up with paracetamol as per his pediatrician’s advice. It came to a point where he muttered, “Please help me.” And it crushed our hearts because we can only do so much to help him. But thank God, he responded well to the medicines.

Please let it not be Dengue!

The next thing to worry about was the underlying cause of the fever. The doctor’s initial diagnosis is viral-caused. We were deeply worried that he contracted Dengue fever. Living in this part of the world where dengue is prevalent, we really need to be certain. There were reports that dengue cases have risen up even though it seldom rains. On his third-day the pediatrician recommended CBC platelet and urinalysis. Both were negative.

Fourth Day

On his fourth day, his fever subsided and was completely gone in the afternoon. Then we noticed that some rashes started to appear on his face. The pediatrician ruled out dengue because he didn’t appear sick and is playful. We decided to go to the hospital anyway just to be sure. He had another CBC test and again it was negative. The rashes continue to appear on his face, his back and tummy, but then faded two days later. 

Thank God it was really viral.

Ryle has been clamoring to go to the beach all day. He says, “Remember we rode the mini van. Remember we rode the boat and then we swim like this,” (then flexing his arms and hands like a butterfly swimmer). “And then I build castle in the sand". Of course, he was talking about our summer getaway last year in Grande Island, Subic. We would persist that we can always go and swim in a swimming pool. But he answered back, “No! Not in the square swimming pool.” With his very young mind, everything is fresh. Now he has left the burden to us to find  where  the nearest and the cheapest beach getaway, because, financially, this is not in our schedule. (sigh)

Happy Mother’s Day to my lovely wife, to our mommy and nanay who are always there every time we need motherly care. We had a simple celebration at Shakey’s (a pizza restaurant that has seized to exist in some parts of the world but still popular here) and availed of their Monster meal promo. The meal was deliciously superb and had plenty of leftovers after.