Ambulance Scare + Asian Cabbage Salad
Monday
Arthur’s Monday began first at 6:30, at which point his dad let him cry for a few minutes and he fell back asleep. The second beginning to the day was at 7:00. He was in a pretty sweet mood for much of the morning, spending most of it on his favorite activity of pointing to everything in sight and asking “Dat?”
Once again, Arthur took a solid 50-minute nap on me during the mid-morning. Gosh, it makes life so much easier to have that down time to get things done. Granted, I can only do those things on my laptop, but still - it’s huge!
Arthur’s good mood continued through the afternoon, where he cheerfully munched on all the lunch foods I gave him, let me work on my laptop while he played quietly upstairs and occasionally came up to me to smile in my face. He’s a sweetie, and I was honestly amazed by how long he happily entertained himself with my water bottle, without needing any interaction from me! It was a big change after last week’s clinginess.
Arthur didn’t end up taking a nap during his afternoon walk with his dadada, but he was still in an excellent mood throughout the afternoon and evening. He wanted to play the diaper pail game again and again, so we had quite a bit of fun with that, getting him really worked up before handing him off to Miklós while I had my Monday evening Zoom lesson with Amanda.
By the time dinner time rolled around, Arthur was starting to fade and get fussy. Bedtime was more dramatic than the most recent bedtimes; Miklós put him to bed pretty quickly, but a couple of minutes later, he began crying and screaming. This time, it lasted for a full minute or two before he quieted down, and, hopefully, fell into a deep sleep.
Tuesday
Arthur woke up a bit before 7:00 on Tuesday. Once again, he was in a remarkably good mood throughout the morning, happily entertaining himself upstairs and eating whatever I put in front of him at breakfast. He’s been doing this new thing where he makes these terrible choking noises on purpose, which makes mealtimes a bit stressful. I think my expression of panic when he did it once encouraged him, and now he thinks it’s funny. So that’s something.
Arthur also tried a new food: prickly pear! They were on sale, and so I figured it was a fun new delicacy. And it was well-received by the little bugger, which was nice. The boy definitely likes his fruit!
Arthur did not want to nap when I nursed him at 11:00; he was pretty worked up and fussed quite a bit instead. It was disappointing after having so much success with morning naps the past couple of days, but hopefully this was just a fluke. Luckily, when Miklós took him for a walk at noon, he fell asleep almost instantly, and slept for a good 45 minutes, or a full sleep cycle.
Arthur was pretty easygoing for the early afternoon, though he didn’t nap when his pops took him for a walk at 4:00. Afterwards, he was a bit of a fussnugget and got somewhat worked up when he had solids at 5:00, but eventually calmed down for a while, before acting up again at dinner. I think he was very ready to crash by the time bedtime rolled around, and crash he did!
Wednesday
Arthur woke up at 6:40 on Wednesday. Or at least that's when his screams woke me up - I'm guessing he was awake for a few minutes before that. It was Miklós's office day, so the two of us were on our own. Needless to say, I was not terribly pleased he chose to make this day an early one.
Unfortunately, Miklós's absence for the day seemed to affect Arthur in the same way it did during his longer trip. The little guy was especially clingy in the morning, and got upset whenever I tried to leave his room, even for half a minute to use the toilet. And of course, despite heavy eyelids and yawns, he fought hard against napping on me in the mid-morning. Ugh.
Still, he was reasonably cheerful throughout the morning. When I brushed his hair, he decided he wanted to use the hairbrush himself, and spent quite a while playing with it, at times bringing it up to his scalp to mirror my actions! He also has recently started bouncing up and down (without my assistance) on my lap, playing cowboy or something.
Other new skills and talents? Arthur knows "nose!" When I ask him where my nose is, he points to it. He's also really trying to nod his head when I ask him if he wants certain foods, though he hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of it.
Anyhoo, when I took Arthur for a walk at noon, it took him all of ten minutes to crash. He slept for maybe 40-45 minutes or so. When he woke up, I popped him on my boob and he began to drift off again.
However, this time, I didn't let him sleep. I'd been having some chest and back pain over the last couple of days, and when my left arm started feeling a little funny, I began to spiral, thinking I was having a heart attack. It basically escalated into a panic attack, and the accompanying lightheadedness didn't help my self-inflicted diagnosis. I ended up calling 112, and requesting an ambulance.
When the ambulance was on its way, I brought Arthur downstairs and stuck him in the playpen. The EMTs were very nice, and after doing a couple of readings, reassured me that I was not having a heart attack. Instead, they told me I was hyperventilating, so they had to lie me down on the couch and give me oxygen. At this point, Arthur began crying in his playpen, so they sat him on my belly. The EMTs set up an appointment at the doctor for me an hour later, then left, gifting Arthur a little EMT dog puppet.
Miklós sped home from work when I called him, and he and Arthur accompanied me to the doctor's office. The doctor took my blood and said it was probably due to low hemoglobin or my low blood pressure, so hopefully nothing serious. Then, Miklós took Arthur on a walk in the hopes he would get a clearly needed nap. He didn't, but he was still somewhat reasonable for the remainder of the evening, trying out all sorts of new games and activities with his pops upstairs while I cooked dinner.
On that topic, over the past three days, the adults' dinners consisted of ready-made meals, high-protein marry me butter beans, and something new: a salad! We had a rare hot day on Tuesday, so I figured a cooler dinner would be good. Cabbage was on sale, so I figured I'd try out this recipe. I kind of simplified it, using a full head of cabbage instead of the vegetable combination listed, because that's what I had. I also roasted the cabbage, because it's a bit hard on the system raw, and I think it tastes a lot better roasted. And it was quite nice! I think it would have been even better with a bigger variety of veggies, but this was a refreshing dinner, and full of fiber, healthy fats, and protein! Here's how I made it:
Asian Cabbage Salad (serves 2 hungry parents)
Ingredients
1 head cabbage, shredded and roasted until slightly brown and crispy at the edges (I used red)
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
A handful of cilantro/mint/parsley, chopped (optional, I used mint and it was lovely here!)
1 cup shelled edamame
2 tbsp crushed peanuts/other nuts (I used a mix of peanuts and slivered almonds)
Dressing:
¼ cup peanut butter
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp honey/other sweetener (I used manuka honey)
1 small garlic clove, minced
½ tsp ginger (I used powdered)
1-4 tbsp water to thin (I used 2 tbsp)
Instructions
Add all the vegetables to a large bowl and mix well.
Soften the peanut butter (if it’s not already soft) by microwaving it in a small bowl or mug for about 30 seconds.
Add in the rest of the dressing ingredients except for the water, and whisk to combine.
Slowly add in water until the dressing is a pourable consistency.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
Top with the crushed nuts and enjoy!
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