Remedies/ cure for tonsilitis/ mouth ulcers

Tonsilitis going around in circles now. Sonny Boy's got it from me I suppose :-( Ugh ugh ugh.
So it's three nights of fever in a row for Sonny Boy. And three sleepless, restless nights for him and me. Coming tired and with a persistent headache to work from lack of sleep isn't exactly exciting.

What do you give kids when they have a persistent low-grade fever? It's not high enough to even give the gunky Calpol. And I sometimes belive the fever should not be suppressed. But it tires him out.... Ugh.

Raising a kid, specially a toddler is SUCH a tiring thing. How did our grandmas have four and five kids? Did they never tire? Did they never scream "Enough!!!"?

My attack of tonsilitis/ulcers/sores in the mouth has finally come down. But Sunday and Monday were hell. I couldn't speak or eat -- two things I LOVE.

Here's my list fo things to do to reduce the discomfort of tonsilitis/ulcers/sores in mouth:
1. Coconut oil: Use a sterilised cotton swab. Dip it in coconut oil and paint the insides of your mouth with it. IT REALLY HELPS. BIG TIME. Just don't eat or drink anything for a few minutes after that.
2. Gargle, rinse, swish your mouth with warm (not hot) water, salted with rock salt. About half a tea-spoon to a full glass. Do this at least twice.
3. A germicide gargle will help. But if teh ulcers are too severe, it HURTS. Ouch!
4. I've read it several times on the Internet. Tried it for the first time -- make a decoction of fenugreek seeds (methi seeds/mentya) by boiling it in water and rinse your mouth/gargle in throat with it.
5. Milk!!! Milk --- warm or room temperature helps, when sipped slowly. Some soothing effect. In India it's believed ulcers are caused by "heat". So any food that's cooling, without essentially being cold (refridgerated) -- a ganjee(conjee) of moong dal (hesaru bele) and milk, or rava (semolina) and milk. If you DON'T have tonsilitis along with ulcers, for ulcers alone the usual recco is tender coconut water/ buttermilk.
6. Over-the-counter analgesic mouth gels. But there's one danger. They temporarily numb the pain, but are so strong, can sometimes burn the tender skin lining your mouth. But they can NUMB the hell out of your tongue, and allow you to eat a few bites sometimes.
7. Don't talk. Not moving the tongue helps!
8. Brush, brush, brush your teeth, prefereably after evrey single meal.
9. Try nibbling on a few pods of cardomom (elaichi/yelakki). Take the black seeds inside the pod and pop them in your mouth, suck on the juice. I think it's a natural analgesic and numbs the pain. It also helps counter bad breath that comes with mouth infections. And it doesn't burn.

Sleep deprived. Mr. Wiggly Toes makes co-sleeping hell

I can't sleep.
Because Sonny Boy is busy sleeping.

I can explain that. I bet ALL mums who co-sleep can explain that.

Sonny has entered that phase where he not just rolls around in his sleep, but in addition to that he also rotates. He's growing tall, and even though it's just the two of us in bed (daddy got thrown out long ago!), there's no space.

Even if I start the night putting him to sleep at the farthest end of the bed, he snuggles close and says "Amma, huggie". So we hug and cuddle up to sleep. Then he slowly turns over, pushing himself against me and throwing his weight onto me. So I move towards the edge of the bed, so that he can sleep flat on his back. Sometimes I slowly push him back toward the other end of the bed. But by the time I've finished this tedious move, he just rolls back on to my pillow before i can return to it!! Bah ghastly!

Deeper into his sleep, he'll start sleep talking. And he can't talk without action. I'm so tired of having his fingers poking into my eye dreaming of elephants, trains, zebras and his grandfather (four words that always figure in his sleep!), and waking up with a shock with him  slapping my ear or cheek with the back of his hand as he keep wringing his hands in air.

Then deeper still into his sleep, he starts being the hands of a clock -- going round in circles real fast. Peeping through my heavy eyelids I sometimes see his toes under my nose and sometimes find his head tucked into the cusp of my tummy. And then he has to lift his legs in the air and slam them on me. Ouch that hurts, specially when you're sleeping.

Towards early morning, he starts nudging my waist with his toes! The gumption of the little brat...So I move away so his toes can't reach me. And this is where he gets mean. He wiggles down in the bed, stretches his toes, seeking some part of me to poke. Rascal.

I've been thinking i need to slowly phase him out to his own bed, placed next to ours in our room. And then go on to get him to sleep on his "own". I know know. Every one's told me it's gonna be hell. He won't. A cousin has bought her son a car-shaped lovely bed paying a bomb of a price. And the kid snuggled into their bed anyway after a few minutes of "sleeping alone". I don't have the luxury of space or money for a new specialised bed that may not even be used. (I still keep patting myself on the back for my decision to rent a baby cot in his early days and not buy one. He barely slept in it!).

In India co-sleeping is not a choice we make. It's just the way to go...natural way, the expected way. I remember my mom being so scandalised when I suggested we look for a bigger home so Sonny can have his own room to sleep in! I can't really figure out what to do.

Moms who've co-slept with their kids and have managed to move them out to their own bed -- when did you do it? At what age I mean? AND HOW??? Tips and tricks, suggestions welcome.

POST-SCRIPT: My dear mommy friend and fellow blogger from Bangalore, Aparna, has given a blow-by-blow account of how she transitioned her kid into sleeping alone. Practical lesson learnt! Here's the link: Aparna's blog "Life as a Mom"

Weekend wake up call: rewired bio-clock

I know kids do the wierdest of things. But Sonny Boy stumps me. Or may be I'm just an impossible, hopeless optimist.

Today being a Saturday morning, I thought I would take it a little easy. Hubby doesn't work, Sonny doesn't have playschool and I can get into work late. A little OT on the sleep front would have been good.

But Sonny just KNOWS he has no playschool. His body alarm was set last night when he realised it's a weekend, i guess. (How did he know? Maybe I should cheat next Friday and tell him he has to go to playschool tomotrrow). Anyway, today, he was up a good 40 minutes before the usual wakey time! Waah. And immediately wanted to do potty.

If there's anything I hate more, it's to open my eyes and go fetch his potty. And surprisingly, nothing is more delightful than to have him done with his pooping first thing in the morning, specially before playschool. I think it's a good habit. "Going" first thing in the morning.

Just that it's frustrating because it doesn't happen regularly. Very often he's ready to "go" only after he's all dressed and ready to step out for playschool, shoes, socks n all. AND frustrating because he's the kind of toddler that poops several times a day.

I had been warned that boys are very different with their poop routines and frequencies than girls, but I had brushed it all aside as gender-biased talk. But damn! The grandmothers are always right. Boys do poop very often -- at least Sonny is out to prove that theory.

Or it was the other extreme for a few months where he would not go for many days.

Both situations can be equally frustrating. And to beat it all, I have my grandmother constantly admonishing me for cribbing so much about Sonny's Poop Policy. "He's just a kid. Kids do a lot of kakka, it's good," she'll shake her head and say.

And so it was that Saturday morning shone bright and early. On pre-school going days, I've to shake him up and wake him, cuddle him, mollify him, listen to him answer bleary eyed that "sleep's not over yet". Ya he says that!

Soon after poop time, it was puzzle time! Yay yay yipeee! He wouldn't let me sleep after cleaning up. His logic: "I'm done with sleep!" Hah!

Oh to be a child again, and on the other side of the fence.

Strategies to avoid sleep: A two-year-old's tactics

1. Pull out a set of puzzles and scatter them quickly on the floor. Then look distraught that all the pieces are...oh-my-god mixed up! Whaaaaa "Mummy let's seperate them!"
2. Oh my God it's time for bed? Lemme think...ummm "Mummy, kakka!" Mummy runs, gets potty. Sonny Boy spends at least 20 minutes saying "It's coming it's still coming..." and while we wait for the poop to arrive, we sing rhymes. In teh bathroom, it's the perfect time to play with water. Get clothes wet. It take mummy more minutes to change clothes then.
3. "Mummy keep the milk coupon." Then run away to the kitchen and run into the apartment foyer as soon as door is opened to keep milk bag with coupon.
4. "Daddy let's play dash-dash". Daddy is of course pleased son's asking him to play with him. He will play.
5. "I want to listen to music...."
6. "Let's read a story book...now"
7. If the room lights are switched off, "We'll go out...daddy's watching TV!"
8. Once we get past all this and the lights are finally out, and he's in bed, "Mummy I want water." Better still, "Mummy I want warm water...I'll come with you to the kitchen."
Wha?????

Sound of Music

I love M.S. Subbulakshmi. I love her solid voice, her devotion-laden singing. I can even sing along to many songs I've been listening to from my childhood days.

But as much as I love her, I don't relish listening to her at 6.30 a.m, when I'm catching up on my last leg of sleep, and more so when it's someone in a neighbouring apartment playing it.

A new family has moved in. Not in our apartment block. But in the one that faces it's back to ours... on the next road. But hell! He plays his "Suprabhatam" and "Vishnu Sahasranama" and "Bhaja Govindam" LOUD. And since I know most by rote, I automaticaaly start chanting/singing along. You can't help it.

But honestly, all I want to do then is sleep.
Living all my life in an independent house, this experience is irritating.
I'm sure the same people will object if I played a Hindi film song every morning THAT LOUD as my suprabhatam