Bowles Blog

The Dog Ate My Ear Drops

Actually, Will's ear drops. 

About 2 weeks ago, Will started complaining that his ear hurt.  Because it's summer and because we've been swimming in both the ocean and pools, I immediately diagnosed him with swimmer's ear.  I gave him Motrin for several days.  When another mom told me about a swimmer's ear home remedy, I decided to give it a try.  Equal parts white vinegar and rubbing alcohol.  Easy enough.  Except when you don't have rubbing alcohol.  Witch hazel, hydrogen peroxide, yes.  Rubbing alcohol, no.  So I put it on the shopping list and actually remembered to buy it a couple of days later.  That night I mixed up the concoction and dropped it in Will's sore ear.

The next day was really hot.  Our neighbor's have a pool and we have an open invitation to swim in their pool.  So we went over.  I told Will he could go in but maybe not get his head wet....I'm sure you can imagine how that went.  4 kids and one plastic bottle cap meant an hour long game of Find the Bottle Cap--which gets hidden by being thrown into the water and found by diving in the water after it.  Will loves that game.

That was a week ago Saturday.  I gave him Motrin and the ear drops a few more times and he stopped complaining about his ear.  On Tuesday, we went to the doctor for the boys' 9yr old physical.  The doctor looked in Will's ear and go figure, swimmer's ear.  She wrote us a prescription for ear drops to be given 4 times a day for a week.  Ugh.

I picked up the prescription that night (after a discussion and a call to our insurance company) and as soon as the first drop went in, there was drama.  As in tears, clutching of the ear and a whole lot of general discomfort.  For the next couple of days, I gave him the ear drops along with Motrin and a warm rice pillow at bedtime.  He told me it hurt worse since I started giving him the medicine.  He couldn't get to sleep at night, he couldn't stay asleep either.  The only thing that eased his pain at 3:30 am was watching Avatar on Nickelodeon.

   Thursday night Will fell asleep on his bedroom floor at 6:30 and woke up at 10.  10 o'clock at night.  But he swore that it was 10 o'clock in the morning.  Even with Cuyler pointing out that it was dark out.  Will was so befuddled he just sat down on the stairs and starting crying.  And his ear hurt. So I stopped giving him those ear drops.

Finally, on Friday I called the doctor's office. I read the CVS print out about the ear drops and decided Will was either allergic or hyper sensitive to the medicine.  Before meds, he was fine.  After meds, crying in pain and not sleeping.  Hmmm.  The nurse said she'd gotten another call with a similar concern earlier in the day.  Our doctor wasn't in, but another doctor was to send over a prescription to the pharmacy.

Friday afternoon I escaped went out to pick up the new ear drops.  I had them call it into CVS in Scituate.  It was a nice afternoon, so before heading into CVS, I decided to stroll down Front Street and browse in a few of the boutiques.  After an hour or so, I made it to CVS.  Surprise, they were out of the medicine I needed!  Apparently everyone has swimmer's ear at the end of the summer and no one likes the other medicine that burns your ear drums off.  After another extended discussion with the pharmacist and a call to our doctor, the ear drops were found at another CVS.  In MarshVegas, of course.

So I gave Will the new drops on Friday night.  They told me it would take a couple of days for him to feel better.  Sure enough, he didn't sleep well Friday night.  Or Saturday night.  But the new ear drops were much better than the old ones.  And they only need to be given twice a day instead of four times a day.  Early last night, before the 2nd dose of the day, BGD saw something suspicious on the living room rug.  Any guesses?  It was the tiny (plastic) bottle of Will's ear drops.  And a wet spot the size of a quarter.  Upon closer examination of the bottle, teeth marks.

Oh.  Maisy.  $*&%(*&#!.

So, no ear drops last night.  Of course Will slept through the night for the first time since last week. 

This morning at 8am I called the pharmacy.  The pharmacist confirmed what I suspected:  once your dog punctures your prescription ear drops, they're no good.

At 9:10 am, I called the pediatrician's office.  The nurse laughed when I told her what happened.  "The dog ate your ear drops! {hee hee ha ha ha!}".

The doctor that wrote this second presciption won't be in until lunch time.  Which means the prescription won't be called in until this afternoon.  Which means Will is only going to get one dose of medicine today.  Of course tomorrow is the first day of school.  And Will needs his sleep tonight.  Maybe I won't give him any drops until tomorrow.

The prescription won't go to waste though.

This morning Cuyler came downstairs at 6:30, tears in his eyes.

His ear hurt.

Dr. Pepper Boys

Their favorite soda is Dr. Pepper.

Here they are at the beach earlier this week, hanging out and knocking back a couple of cans.

And, that's right, they're manly enough to drink diet.

Which could be part of the reason Cuyler was on the light side of 60 lbs this week at his 9 yr old check up.

That and the fact that he often sleeps in and only has time for 2 meals a day.

Brunch is his favorite word of the summer.

Ebby & the lip balm

If the whole college thing doesn't pan out, Ebby may be able to establish herself as a hand model.  Or one of the Price is Right girls.

Beach Days

Some people (cough*BGD*cough) might think that all we do is go to the beach.

Not true.

It just seems that lately the only place I take pictures is at the beach...

For instance, Humarock last Friday.  We went with our neighbors and met their friends at the beach.  We had a total of 9 kids, including 3 sets of twins (boy-boy identical, boy-girl, and girl-girl fraternal).  Pretty cool, right? 

Most of the day the girls (5 of them, ages 9-13) played in the waves--until they decided to make a campfire with the leftover charred wood they found on the beach.  The used rocks to make a nice fire circle and then stacked up the wood and dried seaweed.  And then came over to adults looking for matches with which to start their inferno.  Um, sorry, NO.  They did rub sticks together for a good long time with no luck--and thankfully no one was able to fulfill Ebby's request for some eyeglasses.  Very Lord of the Flies of her, no? 

Meanwhile, the boys (4 of them, 8&9) were skimboarding and playing in the sand.  Will & Cuyler did pretty well for their first time on skimboards, although maybe not quite as well as the pictures may indicate...Maybe I'll get them their own one of these days and they can practice and really hone their shallow water skillz. 

Toward the end of our beach visit, Will & Cuyler decided to build a rock wall.  Very amusing to watch them throw their 60lb selves in front of the waves in hopes of holding back the oncoming tide.         

    Although they met with incomplete success in their mission, they were fun to watch.  And at the beach, it's all about the fun.

{Along with sunscreen, sand, whining, and snacks of course. Wait, I don't think there was any whining--on this day anyhow.}

Beach Break

One of the cool things about living close to the beach is that you can use it as your personal playground.

As in, you don't have to make a full day commitment to fun in the sun, you can just go for an hour or two as the mood strikes.

Today we took a little beach trip.  Although there was no sun, there was fun.  And funny faces.  We even took along an extra set of twins to add to the amusement. 

That's Cuyler with his Florida Gators football.  Football season is just around the corner...

Look who else was able to join us, Mr. BGD himself.  He was really the driving force behind our trip to the beach in the clouds and (slight) drizzle.  Yesterday, he was in Los Angeles for work.  He had some time before his flight home and he went to the beach, Manhattan Beach to be precise.  He wanted to be able to say he was at the Pacific Ocean yesterday and the Atlantic Ocean today.  Mission accomplished.  BTW, I don't think he brought his bathing trunks to the West Coast.

Oh look, there's a flying child in that picture.  I had my portrait lens, not my telephoto lens, so you may have to click on the photo and make it larger to see.  Just a note, the flying child is not even one of our children.

Before we packed up to leave, I took a bunch of funny faces photos.  Please excuse any photos where you can actually see the pretzel goldfish Will is chewing...

Who knows, maybe the sun will be shining on our next visit to the beach.  No matter, the pictures turn out better when it's overcast anyway ;-)

Better Together

Will & Cuyler, playing together.

Happy Birthday BGD!

Today is BGD's birthday.  He celebrated by packing 2 suitcases, driving to the airport and boarding a "completely full" Jet Blue flight to LAX.  There he'll be driving a rental hybrid Nissan Altima and working to get ready for a big Left Coast client meeting.
I guess that's what you do sometimes for your birthday when you turn an age that rhymes with doorty-door.
However, yesterday there was a full slate of pre-birthday activities including:  a bike ride with Ebby (17 miles), ice cream cake,  & a date late-afternoon/night with yours truly.  We went to see Bill Cosby at the South Shore Music Circus (still funny) and then took a special trip in to Bob's office, aka TinyTown at the Prudential Center.  After picking up a box of meeting materials, we had dinner at Legal Sea Foods then took a walking tour around the Pru--which as it turns out is a lively place on a summer Saturday night.  We checked out the new Mandarin Oriental hotel, including the viewing window into the kitchen at Sel de la Terre (a hotel restaurant).  I even took a picture of the people who paid extra money for the premo table in the kitchen.  Believe it or not, that wasn't even the most exciting part of the night.
As we entered the dimly lit (mood lighting...) hotel lobby, I noticed a dog sitting by one of the couches.  I said to BGD, "Look, a dog."  To which he replied, "Look, there's Adam Sandler holding that dog's leash.  And he's talking to David Spade."  {They're in town filming a movie, Grown Ups} Before I knew it, BGD sauntered over to Mr. Sandler and his peeps and started chatting. 
BGD:  Is the dog friendly?
Adam:  Sure, go ahead
BGD:  {pats Adam Sandler's pet bulldog}
BGD: {smiles at Adam Sandler}  Nice dog.  Have a good night.
Adam:  Thanks man,  you too.
Meanwhile I'm twirling around, trying to look casual while making eye contact with David Spade and vaguely saying 'Hi' into the air and getting a 'Hey' back in my general direction.  I'm not even a fan of David Spade.  Oh well.
The cool part about the whole thing was that they were just hanging out in the lobby.  Looked like Sandler had just taken the dog for a walk or something and Spade was getting ready to head out with another guy and a couple of women.  Other than the front desk people, we were pretty much the only other people in the lobby.
Then we casually went outside, stood on Boylston Street and giggled.
And then David Spade came out with the dude and the 2 women, got into a cab with them (he sat in the front seat) and zoomed away.
After twittering about our encounter, we crossed the street and went into Anthropologie.
Phew.
And now I want to go into the Prudential Center every Saturday night.
Sooner or later, we're bound to see Tom & Gisele.
Or Ben & Jen.
Maybe even Matt & Luciana....

Anyway, Happy Birthday BGD and thanks for all you do for us!

Makeover Monday

Ebby went over to her friend Julia's house for a little while this afternoon.
When last I saw her, she looked like her usual, fresh-faced self.
However, when she came home from Julia's, she was feeling a little...blue.

I wonder why.  
She stayed all fancied-up for about 10 minutes.
Then she went up to the bathroom and washed off all her makeover makeup.

Next time, they're doing blindfolded makeovers.

Oh my.