Oh aiaiaiaiai

Poor Landon - he has been in bed, so sleepy, since 7 pm. But he can't fall asleep because he has that annoying, dry, hacking cough. Poor kid! We gave him Triaminic at 7 to clear his stuffiness which I hoped would help alleviate the cough, but obviously it didn't :-( So I thought I'd try my kids Buckley's...here's where my rant begins:

I don't want to give my kids two different meds unless I KNOW that they don't contain the same medicinal ingredients. Only sensible, right? Well, the names of the ingredients weren't the same, but I wanted to speak to someone to be sure. Here's my 1st mistake. So I call Health Link (otherwise known as "we will only repeat what you can easily read on your product label; we provide no additional knowledge or help"). And I made my second mistake - I told them Landon's true age. They won't even speak about the products (or ingredients) because Health Canada recommends against giving kids under 6 cough and cold meds. So she reviews the non-med things I can do (which I've already done, this isn't his first cold with a cough), and gives me another number to call.
So I call it, and being a slow learner, I again provide Landon's real age. This dude goes off on me, making me feel like a drug-addicted slut of a mother -- how could I possibly even consider giving my 'under-6' kid cough meds? Well, because he's not going to fall asleep otherwise, he's been hacking for well over 3 hours already (which gets me to thinking that if I can repeat the Triaminic dose in 4 hours, then I can give him the Buckley's at 4 hours without worry about double-dosing ... blah blah blah). BUT I stay on the line with this dude, who asks me what non-drug stuff I've done, which I tell him. He proceeds to question it ("Where in the room did you place the humidifier?" "On the floor" ... it deteriorates...).
The real kicker -- this dude recommends against the cough meds (which I anticipated), and suggests LOZENGES!! Well, seriously. Landon has a very tough time not chomping down his candy canes in 2 seconds flat, when he's fully awake, seated upright, and I'm watching him. It's doubtful he's going to suck on a lozenge. BUT ... let's say he does, he figures it out. Now, he's laying down, hacking and coughing, half-asleep. I'm WAY more worried about choking than about giving him 'kids' Buckleys. Like seriously.

So I'm not impressed with this whole system. I'm doing my due diligence to ensure that I'm NOT double-dosing my kid (which is what got the cough and cold meds on the hot seat in the first place), and I get treated like I'm some sort of abusive parent? Then get told to give him a f#*%&@#*$g choking hazard instead????? *shaking head* Gimme a bloody break is about all I can say about that!

[END RANT]

Onto good stuff: it's warmer here, so we got to play outside today. Landon loves pulling Arlan in the sled, so we went down to the park for awhile. I can't believe Landon sticks with it that long, it's gotta be tough to pull that sled through some of that snow! The snow is only up just past my ankles or maybe mid-shin in some places, but that's knee-deep for Landon! Arlan was "meh" about the sled, but quickly recognized the benefits over trying to walk (or more like waddle) all geared up for winter. lol

Other than that, Landon's loving preschool. He always says he doesn't want to go in the mornings, but then once I start asking him which toys he's going to play with, he's gung-ho! It's helping us out too as he's less reluctant to help clean up toys (which has become part of our pre-bedtime routine), and he's much more self-sufficient in dressing and undressing his winter clothes (he's been well practised in undressing his inside clothes for months and months!!). He's definitely gaining more independence, and we hear "I don't want your help" much more often than we were even 2 months ago. I really noticed it at the mall yesterday: we had lunch and when we got to the table Landon got his burger and fries out and all set up all by himself while I was corralling Arlan. I looked up and he's happily munching away ... my big boy!

Arlan is adorable. He's getting more words, but still isn't nearly as vocal as Landon was (if I remember correctly). But he'll tell you a cow says "Meeeeoooooo", and a puppy dog says "ooof", and a chicken says "baak baak". He also says "Bauble" for bottle, and "cackers" for crackers, and "jus" for juice. He's getting better at asking for what he wants -- came up to me yesterday and said "bauble" so I knew to give him one. Now, I'd like him to get off the bottle, but he's loving that thing! He loves his milk in a bottle (will take juice in a sippy cup), and it must be warm (none of that COLD stuff, thank you very much). Hopefully I won't be sending him to preschool with the bloody thing!

Anyway, I should get to bed. Just thought I'd better post. I have about 4,000 pics on the camera I'll upload soon, promise. Oh yeah, and I have Santa pic to scan too. Can't believe neither of them cried! Neither look particularly happy in the pic, but no one cried. And Landon was actually SO excited (but by the 3rd pic it was harder to see on his face) -- he gave Santa a long list of toys he wants, and got a candy cane, and coughed in Santa's face (Santa assured me he's taking his cold F/X, good thing!). Arlan was like "whatever". too cute :-)

G'nite