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Week 219: TV, Gunk, and Eyeballs April 7, 2008
It has become apparent that one of the big differences between Sam and Mandy is their predilection for television. When Sam was Mandy's age, we had already started her down that tube-lined road, and now she would watch a LOT more than we does if we'd let her. Watching two episodes of Curious George (or, occasionally, Dora or Diego) immediately after breakfast is a sacred part of her daily routine, and she has developed an odd fascination with Sandra Lee's cooking shows to the point where she gleefully (and a bit randomly) informs us that "It's cocktail time! Look at this BEAUTIFUL tablescape!"
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Mandy, on the other hand, seems completely uninterested in the television, even when it's spazzing out with brightly lit cereal commercials and boot-wearing monkeys. We're not trying to change her behavior on this point, but it is odd. She'll occasionally glance at the tube and repeat something that catches her ear, but otherwise she'll mill around the joint and play by herself while Sam stares slack jawed at the set. Perhaps she does this because she knows it's the only chance she'll get without her big sister tackling her or belting out detailed playtime instructions like she's auditioning for the Sergeant in Full Metal Jacket.
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Speaking of injuries to Mandy's person, she had a rough time of it yesterday. In the morning she woke up with some kind of infection in her right eye. There were thick yellow cakes of what I believe is technically called "gunk" in her eyelashes, and the whole ocular area was swollen halfway shut. We cleaned it out, but you could still see yellow islands of the gunk floating across her eyeball like continents on a glassy globe. It was quite disconcerting, but besides doing a constant Popeye imitation, she seemed normal and unconcerned. Well, until she did a face plant into the base of a floor lamp and got a big bruise right under her other eye. That seemed to piss her off, and as this picture can attest made her look like she had gone 10 rounds in the ring with some kind of low-tech baby punching machine.
The nurse that we called on her pediatrician's hotline seemed similarly unconcerned as long as Mandy's eye wasn't, say, spewing a constant stream of vile black ichor across the room. Though she did give one cryptic warning in the form of "But just... assume it's wildly contagious." Great.
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Now, for all of you who are leaning in towards your computer monitor and shouting "Pink eye! It's pink eye!" you can stop. Because yes, it's probably pink eye. That's what the doctor told Geralyn to assume this morning when she called him back, and I've got to the pharmacy and pick up some eye drops that we're somehow supposed to figure out how to squirt directly into a squirming toddler's eyeball --THREE TIMES A DAY. My plan is to actually try to squirt the drops somewhere else, like say up her nose, based on the axiom that you can never get these things to go where you want them to. With any luck, it'll miss and go right in her eye.
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File under:
Parenting
Tags: Amanda, Illness, Samantha, Television
Comments
Posted by sue madigan on April 7, 2008 6:40 PM:
sorry to see that one of my girls having trouble with her eye.
give her a big kiss from her nana.
Posted by bethany actually on April 7, 2008 7:26 PM:
Aw, pinkeye is no fun for anyone. I hope no one else gets it, "wildly contagious" or no!
My brother and I had similarly differing (ha!) attitudes about television from an early age. I liked watching certain shows, but mostly TV annoyed me. My brother would have sat in front of the TV for hours on end if my mom didn't make us go outside occasionally.
Posted by Jamie on April 8, 2008 5:15 AM:
Yeah, but you never know if things will stick. I used to watch a ton of TV as a kid but I don't watch much now. Of course, I've just replaced it with other media, like books, video games, and the Internet.
Mom, Mandy is already getting better. I think it should clear up in a day or two.
Posted by jjohnsen on April 8, 2008 8:53 AM:
Ugh, pink eye is horrible. I remember my daughter waking up screaming in terror because she couldn't open her eye, it was totally glued shut from gunk.
Posted by David Morris on April 8, 2008 8:09 PM:
Gabe just got over pink eye too. I would hold his body down with my right forearm and then his forehead with my left palm. After the first couple of times he didn't mind because he realized it was helping. Although, he's 3.
Regarding how he caught pink eye in the first place. I had assumed he caught it while he was in Vegas with his buddy at Cheetahs.