man in the sea

We followed another morning at the beach with a seafood lunch at Mike's (kind of a family tradition) and a visit to the Man in the Sea Museum. Dennis made some friends at the beach that helped him excavate more of the big hole he's been working on. He also borrowed a boogie board and turned a strip of seawater stranded on the beach into a Slip 'N Slide. He was a wet sandy mess by the time we decided to head back inside. We hosed him down before going into Gigi's place.

After frantically searching for somewhere that David and I could have seafood reasonably and Dennis could get a hot dog, we had reached Mike's Cafe/Diner, and we had a delicious lunch there. Then we explored the museum. Much to Dennis' delight, there were a number of old sea labs and vessels for him to climb into. He loved the small submersible sub that was inside the museum, loved crawling in and pretending he was on a mission. We learned about deep diving technology back to its origins. Dennis was traumatized at having to leave.the place, and we were all glad when he took a nap! We had a nice long sunset walk on the beach and watched the dancing fountain show from Gigi's balcony before an early bedtime for all of us. What a fun vacation this has been!

a pirate's life for us!

Gigi told us she had a big surprise planned for today, so we finished up our beach play in time to shower and snack before loading up. The surprise? She'd booked us a Pirate Cruise on the Sea Dragon! This would be exciting to anyone, but when we found out that the pirates had two full hours of kids' activities planned and all parents had to do was sit back and enjoy rum punch and ocean breezes, well WOW! It started out with meeting Fearless Phil, our captain, and going over some rules, and then, before we knew it, all the kids were gathered in a circle on the main deck, handed water guns, and turned loose on each other! We watched happily from the upper deck as Dennis engaged a number of children in battle. The captain directed them to return the guns and then sent the girls inside for face painting while the boys were handed mops and instructed to swab the deck. Then the boys went inside for pirate hats and face painting, and when they came out, each kid was handed a plastic sword and told to practice their swordfighting. Dennis LOVED this, and again, we watched from afar. No one was hurt or crying--much fun was had by all. Soon we were sighting dolphins and watching them swim around us, and then the kids were all allowed to shoot the bean bag cannon. They went down to the "dungeon" to read the treasure map and then came back up to see if they could spot the buoy with the "X" on it. Dennis went to get his spyglass and took it to the captain. Together they spied the buoy and one of the pirates hauled it in and attached a line to the line it was marking. The kids formed a line and chanted "Heave, Ho" as they pulled the line hand over hand, pulling up a treasure chest as they did so. Each kid got to choose 3 treasures from the chest (Dennis got a finger puppet, a dolphin, and a piece of pirate gold), and soon, they were all handed tambourines for a conga line. They put kids with March birthdays in the center of a circle and serenaded them (he has had the best birthday month EVER) and then led all the kids in the chicken dance. Dennis smiled the whole time. He would occasionally come up to the upper (shaded!) deck to say hi to us before returning to his pirate duties. At the end of the ride, the kids swore a pirate oath and were given pirate beads (skulls and bones). We heard pirate talk for the rest of the day, of course. Dennis named himself Captain Wherebeard (as in "where's my beard?") and deputized me as "Dive-It". He ordered me around for a bit as we were driving back to Gigi's place. He had SO much fun that he didn't really balk at napping afterward (after all, he'd been very busy as a pirate). Tonight we grilled burgers on the balcony, watched the dancing fountain show as we ate, and then took Dennis for his first ever night beach walk. He was very chatty and happy, and tonight he fell asleep quickly and easily. In fact, I am the only person in the condo that's still awake! What a magical day!

sand fun at the beach

Dennis could not wait to get out and play in the sand today! Gigi had a tub full of new sand toys for him, and we loaded up a big tub and walked down to the beach. The first thing he did when we hit the sand was to make several "sand angels". Much digging ensued. Sam Trap the Rescue Hero accompanied us to the beach so that Dennis could make a dune for his dune buggy. David and Dennis built a big sand fort and David buried Dennis' legs in the sand. Dennis crawled, dug, and frolicked for an hour before we decided to take him in out of the sun. His SPF 50 worked--he's not burned a bit!

Later in the day, David settled in for a lovely vacation nap while Gigi, Dennis, and I explored the five resort pools. Dennis swam in each one. He loved the kiddie pool with its giant butterfly slide and big fountains. He also loved observing the college spring breakers dancing and clowning at the main pool. But I think we all loved the family pool the best--it was the warmest, at any rate, and so much quieter than the main pool with its loud booty music and partying college kids.

Dennis LOVES vacation, and he loves Gigi's new beach condo. He was telling her "I think I'm falling in love with your house--you're the BEST Gigi!". He's still feeling really good, and that's such a relief after all his illness.

happier times

Dennis had a host of tests yesterday, a full workup, and his X-rays and blood work revealed a severe sinus infection, both viral and bacterial. Apparently his little facial sinuses are FULL of infection, especially on one side. His ears? PERFECT! Good things, those ear tubes. He started antibiotics yesterday, was fever free by last night, and was almost annoyingly perky this morning. The doctor cleared him for a spring break trip, so I'm happy to be writing this post from Panama City Beach! He napped some in the car and has a rather impressive snore going on (rafter shaking), but he's so happy to be at the beach that he doesn't mind it a bit. He hasn't even seen the beach yet, but he knows it's right outside. He went to sleep with a great big smile on his face. He wanted to hug Gigi again and again (she has shared her lovely accommodations with us). He is very excited about tomorrow, because, he says, "tomorrow there WILL be sand play!".

still so sick

I had hope that when Dennis brought me breakfast in bed this morning that maybe he was on the mend. He brought me my cereal in a generous helping of milk ("I gave you lots of milk because it's good for your body."). He'd also fed the dogs. But soon enough, he huddled under covers shivering with a body temp of 103.9. We called the pediatrician, and he will have tomorrow morning's first appointment. He has had periods of feeling decent today when his temp went below 100, but mostly he's been running hot and doing lots of sleeping. He asks for nasal spray (he calls it "nozzle spray") and Gatorade, and we are doing our best to make him comfortable. We are getting so anxious about his high fever lasting this long, and I hope we'll get some answers in the morning. More importantly, I hope he'll get some relief!

superman in the ER

I took a sick little guy to the emergency room again this morning. He had fever all night and isn't eating. He dressed in his Superman shirt and red sweatpants, and as I was putting my shoes on, he appeared in my doorway wearing Buzz Lightyear underwear on top of his sweatpants ("just like Superman!"). Today he took a toy to the hospital, his new Sam Trap and his dune buggy, and I'm glad because then I had something to play with while Dennis was busy on my iPhone. The doc decided he has a virus, so we have no medicine to give except for fever reducers and saline nasal spray. When it came time to do the saline nasal spray, David and I laughed because we KNEW it would be an ordeal. It was. Dennis first went and hid in his closet, but by the later dose, he was sniffing it like a pro. He did insist on a long pause between the two puffs, and when we asked him what he was waiting for, he replied "Christmas." He doesn't love inasal spray. Who does, really? We are very glad he tested negative for strep, but I sure don't want him to spend his spring break sick. He spent most of his day being pitiful on the couch, watching his favorite shows. Every 10 minutes or so, I'd get called in to fast forward through the commercials. Nope, he's not a bit spoiled.

don't heal thyself that way!!

The day started off pretty well, with sleeping in a bit before heading to the preschool to see the Birmingham Children's Theater perform The Little Engine That Could. Dennis seemed tired afterward and asked to come home instead of going to get lunch (a bit shocking). When we got home, he claimed the couch and snuggled under blankets, shivering with fever. He said his stomach hurt. I hated to start our spring break this way, for sure, but this all faded in significance soon. After the ibuprofen got to work, he danced around and played and appeared much better. I was working on the laundry in his room, and he stepped out to get some toys from the living room. He came back in screaming and holding out his bleeding finger, telling me it was "the worst boo-boo ever." I ran him to the bathroom and ran the faucet over his wound while asking him what happened. He claimed that he didn't know, so I carried him to the living room to look for what poked him. After a couple minutes, he said "I think we should go check your bedroom." So I followed him to David's side of the bed where I saw David's Epi-pen dismantled and lying on the pillow. So we made a quick drive to the emergency room where they monitored his heart rate for a couple of hours and kept watch on his finger (which turned white for hours). They sent us home with instructions to watch him and bring him back if his finger didn't continue to pink up or he started acting odd. Scary! I didn't know what his little system would do with a full adult dose of epinephrine on board! He was shaky but otherwise okay. He told the doctor and nurses "it's okay--Jesus is taking care of me!". And He certainly did!

As if that wasn't enough, he spent the rest of his evening on the couch burning up (well, shivering) with fever. And he vomited a couple of times. The consensus was that this was unrelated to his injection. We're to alternate Tylenol and Motrin until it goes down (and it's over 102), and I'm preparing for a long night! I'm just glad he didn't harm himself too badly with the Epi-pen! I have no idea what he was doing with it, and he was so afraid we'd be mad (and we would have been if we weren't so panicked at the time). I hope he has learned something. I've learned that maybe I can't let him out of my sight after all!