More diseases

Max and his friend Sean in Halloween.  I doff my cap to Sean, who has a really cool cowboy costume that his parents got from K-Mart.

Max and Sean, Halloween.

Max trying on fleece jackets at REI.

Max, Lulu and Shia (sp?) at Thanksgiving dinner, hosted by the Schwarms in Sacramento.

 Max at Chipotle.

Max shopping for fleece jackets at REI.

We were not happy with Southwest Airlines charging an extra seat for Max when he turned two.  Here we're exploring money-saving alternatives.

"I'm sick....ohhhh....ohhhhh....."
I'm trying to get sympathy from Delia.  I'm lying down and she's doing something on the web at a desk next to me.  She doesn't respond.
"Doesn't anyone care about me?"  I ask.  I'm a bit of a wimp when I'm sick.
No response.
"I'm probably gonna DIE, but it doesn't matter, because no one cares.  Anyway, enough about me.  What are you doing?"
She replies, "Moving all your money out."

I'm recovering, but our house has been a rotating bacteria culture.  Someone gets sick, Max gets it from someone, Max gives it to his parents, his parents get a secondary infection, that infection goes back to Max, and on it goes.  His most recent illness was another case of the croup, which for the uninitiated is an infection that causes the throat to swell.  Adults get it all the time and barely notice.  Babies get it and...their throats are much smaller so they have trouble breathing.  It's really frightening to hear Max wheezing, and after a bad spell we drove him to the emergency room.   What makes it worse is the timing:  Our tickets to Colorado, where we were going to spend Christmas vacation, were in only 3 days.

Max in the hospital after some Motrin.

 The doctors gave him Motrin for his fever, antibiotics for his ear infection, steroids for his throat, and Max, while not too happy about all the needles puncturing him, altogether handled the event very well.  And, two days later, a pediatritian said there's no sign of Max's ear infection and he's probably fine for air travel.  Later in the afternoon we saw a different baby.  He was smiling again, his curiosity returned with a vengeance, and he started jumping up and down on the bed again.  He was still coughing, but it was much more normal-sounding; not the seal-bark that comes with Croup.

Max and mom in Grass Valley, 2 days after the hospital visit.

So, as Max slept in the next day, Delia and I loaded our bags in the car and....as you can probably guess, we never went.   Max woke up with a barking cough, started crying continuously and for good measure was grabbing his ear.  As Delia's dad told me later, babies don't recover from illnesses like adults - their immune system is flakier and they can go from well to sick again. The silver lining to this is that we booked our airline with Southwest.  We purchased the cheapest, least-flexible tickets we could find (which around Christmas time were not very cheap), and with an hour and a half left until takeoff, we cancelled.  We didn't get our money back but all of our money can be used for travel within a year.  Southwest, you have my allegiance.  

So we readjusted our plans and, as Max truly got better, we went to San Jose to see Delia's parents.   We had some grand plans to go to Santa Cruz, San Francisco, etc. but so far have made it only as far as the Happy Hollow children's zoo in south San Jose before I got my latest disease.  

Max and a sheep at Happy Hollow.

The Happy Hollow Zoo, I realized, is very much like the Louvre.  Its treasures must be slowly savored in days, weeks, or even months (Editor's note:  Delia and I ran through the Louvre in a couple hours, pausing only to take photos biathalon-style.)  In any case, in about 3 hours at Happy Hollow, we were able to see the horse/goat/sheep/cow barn, the drinking fountain, and the turtle below.  We also for good measure found some redwood needles.

Max and turtle at the Happy Hollow Zoo.

We're currently in mid-vacation, I'm recovering in time to get back to work, and that's really about it.  Happy New Year to everyone reading this blog.