The Verdict Is Out

Helen might have gotten her first ear infection - or she might be putting on the best performance a 2 year old has ever given. Last night, at about 11:00, she was whimpering a little bit in bed, so I went upstairs to check on her. In response to the question "does something hurt?" she responded "my ear" and she tugged at it a little bit. She then nursed for a while but didn't seem to want to get back in her bed (bad dream, maybe?), so I told her I would take her downstairs for some Tylenol and she could sleep in my bed. The sleeping in my bed part excited her. The taking Tylenol part did not. Strangely, after Helen took quite a lot of medicine fairly willingly through the reflux days, she hates taking medicine now. Ed and I gave her the Tylenol, and she slept on Ed's chest.

I finished taking care of a few things and went to bed myself at 11:30. Helen woke up when I came to bed and she sat up and happily exclaimed "My ear doesn't hurt" and then she dropped onto my pillow, glared at me and said "this MY pillow". I wasn't about to get in an argument about the fact that she was in my bed so it was most certainly not her pillow, though I did reach to the floor to pick up another pillow I could use. Perhaps sensing she might be treading on thin ice, she patted the pillow telling me "but we can share". She slept the entire night with barely a wiggle.

This morning, she volunteered that her ear did not hurt and noted that she did NOT need medicine. I then told her that we could go see Dr. Barakat if her ear hurt and he could give her different medicine. At this, she perked up a little and then said "I need to go see Dr. Bear-Cat and get a bouncy ball. My ear hurts again." Dr. Barakat's office contains a bouncy ball dispenser that Helen and Connor both adore.

So now I'm left wondering - does the ear hurt or not? Is she telling the truth when she says it doesn't hurt, or is she merely trying to avoid medicine? Or, is she telling the truth when she says it does hurt and she needs to get a bouncy ball?

If someone has the Helen instruction manual, please send it my way.

Elaine