Owliness, Dinner, and Ears

Maelie was a bit out of sorts yesterday. Not sure what was going on...I am thinking that she hasn't been feeling the best. Nothing serious, just a cough here and there and a few sneezes, but man, she just didn't know WHAT she wanted yesterday!!!! She was tired, didn't want to sleep. She wanted to be picked up, didn't want to be held. She wanted her bottle, but didn't want to drink it. Oy. It was a trying day. I thought, okay, let's try napping with mommy in the big bed. If you can see by this photo, it looked like a good idea, right??? (although you can see the owliness on her little face...)

Yeah....she looks comfy, but that lasted 5 minutes. Then, the screaming started again and lasted a good half hour. I put her in her jumperoo, and she enjoyed that, and fell asleep. As soon as I tried to move her....WATCH OUT!!! I did give her some benedryl after that, for the coughing and sneezing, and that seemed to do the trick. She calmed right down and then finally took a nap. SIGH.

But tonite now, Mike and I were able to enjoy a fairly calm dinner out at a Vietnamese restaurant...our first!!! It went well, right up until the end when it was time to leave anyway. But, as soon as we got home, she was tired again, and wouldn't go to sleep. We were starting to have a replay of yesterday, but we gave her some benedryl again. So, I think the child is fighting off a little cold or allergy. She doesn't act really sick, but she is coughing, pulling on her throat a little, and sneezing. So, that would explain the fussiness. We keep thinking teething time, too, but there's nothing there yet. At least we got to have a nice, and yummy!, dinner together tonite. Yay!!!!

Tomorrow we meet with our Social Worker for our post-placement report. She is a very nice lady and I'm really looking forward to seeing her again. We haven't since our first homestudy in 2006. It's stupid of me, I know, but I honestly feel a little apprehensive about it! It just must be that 'social worker' name phobia, just like people have when they hear the word 'dentist.' :)

We've been having a ton of problems with Maelie's ear, too. I was so hoping it would heal before we saw the social worker, but, I have to keep remembering that she doesn't expect us to have the 'perfect' child. This ear issue is going to drive us all batty, though. When we got her at the orphanage, her nanny told us that she scratches her ear when she gets tired. I had noticed a little scab on her ear at the time and was relieved that it wasn't scabies. But, every time Maelie goes to fall asleep, she scratches her ear. BADLY. She has scratched it raw. The poor little ear has cracks in it, scabs, and it bleeds. All over. A few weekends ago, she woke up from her nap screaming. I went in to check on her, since she hadn't been asleep that long, and her little face was completely smeared with blood. Her bed was full, her clothes, her bottle, EVERYTHING. Luckily, Mike was home, since it was the weekend, and was there with me. I knew what it was from, but just seeing her like that was awful. We gave her a bath and I held her afterward and just cried. Adrenaline letdown, I think. She's done that a few more times since then, but not quite as bad. But, this is why I really get concerned when she gets overtired and won't go to sleep...she starts the scratching.

I just am at a loss as to how to stop this behavior. We keep her nails cut short, she now wears TWO socks on the hand she scratches with...but she can still pull them off. We can direct her little hand away from her ear when we put her to bed, but if she wakes up in the middle of the night or from her nap, she will start scratching again. It's not only outside her ear, but inside, too. I've worried about her actually rupturing her eardrum, although I've been assured that this is highly improbable...the ear drum is not easy to reach!! We have been putting medicine and ointment on her ear to help the healing, but as soon as it heals, she's scratching it up again. One thing I have found that is healing it FAST is Badger Balm Healing. WOW. Talk about healing the large cracks in a hurry!!!

But, as much as I can try to heal it, I don't know how to stop it!!! If anyone has any tips out there, or has dealt with this before, please let me know. I feel like such a bad mom when people look at her little ear. I get asked all the time, 'Does she have an ear infection??' NO!!! It's been checked a few times now, and it's fine. She just scratches. But, how lousy do I feel when people see this beautiful little girl and this scratched up ear??? One day, after a bad night of scratching, the poor little ear looked burned.

Anyway, my point was, I was hoping her little ear would be healed before we met with our social worker tomorrow, but no, she's scratched it to bleeding again tonite. I'm sure the social worker will understand, but I still feel like a bad mommy!!!!!!!!!