Of growing pains

For the past week Kenji has been, off & on, complaining about pain in his knees. The first time he complained about it was on our way downstairs for breakfast. He said he had "ouchy" in his knee and asked me to carry him. I thought he was just using it as a means to get me to carry him down the stairs, but his complaining has become more frequent as well as apparent when doing other activities as well. So I'm assuming that he is going through a growth spurt, thus experiencing growing pains.

He is nearly 3 feet tall (1/2" or so shy) and just barely 2 years old! But this is the first time experiencing growing pains. :( Poor little guy! Pray that the discomfort and pain he feels will be bearable and that this growing spurt passes by quickly. Also for his behavioral side, as of late he's been very cranky and fussy. Probably not only because of his growing spurt, but it looks like he's going to be getting 2 more molars! :D

On the bright side of this due to him not wanting to have any more "ochies" in his knees I've been able to convince him that such-and-such food; veggie, protien, fruit etc., will help take away the pain in his knees. So far it's worked well :D, pray it stays that way. But at the same time he may not be wanting to eat due to his molars coming in, grrr ... what to do!? But thank the Lord he's only about 1 kg. under weight!

I've actually never had a problem with him not wanting to eat his veggies/food TTL, but he has his moments when he simply refuses to eat his food. In such cases it's usually more a matter of just trying to do the contrary of what I ask him rather then not liking his food. But he's making progress in this area - as slow as it might seem to me. :D And believe it or not he has his days when he will ask me for food every hour or so! My goodness, where does all that food go?!

Now, on news of sad happenings (and pretty gross as well). About 2 weeks ago I caught Kenji putting little balls of tissue up his nose and on one occasion a bean as well! I immediately took them out and gave him a pretty frightening spiel of what could happen if he got a bean or tissue stuck in his nose. My spiel worked it's charm for a several days after which one day Kenji came up to me and said he had an "ouchie" in his nose.

I did my best to search for tissue or a bean up his nose, but I could not see anything so I told him to blow his nose really hard which seemed to give him temporary comfort. I wasn't sure if he did or didn't have something up his nose, so I just prayed that it would feel better. About 4 days later, while lying with him for several minutes during bedtime, I got a whiff of some nasty smell. My first thought was that it was his breath, but then I remembered that I had just brushed them and he had even rinsed his mouth with a little bit of mouth wash. And I also reasoned with myself that that fowl smell could never come from his mouth.

I was now all the more curious to find out where this fowl smell (it stunck like rotten, sweage water, or something) was coming from. I sniffed his clothes, his hands, his hair, under his neck, but I new it had to be somewhere on his upper body/face as when I laid my head beside his little head I got that fowl whiff. Finally I sniffed his nose and ... my goodness! I asked him why his nose stunck so bad, and asked him if he had stuck something up his nose. He, of course, said no. I did my best to blow out anything inside his right nostril, but it didn't help much.

Seeing as he could still breathe/blow air out through that nostril, I figured it wasn't a bean as if it were it would completley obstruct his nostril. So my only other guess was tissue paper. LFM, I should have asked Him what to do, or even what Kenji had up his nose, but I didn't and simply relied on my own knowledge. I thought that if indeed it was tissue it would soon enough get moist with some camomille tea drops and then dissolve and come out on it's own.

I told mom about it, but she didn't smell a thing, nor did Ez, or anyone else, so I was begining to think that maybe there really wasn't anything up his nose and perhaps he might just have a little infection in his nostril due to sticking dirty fingers in his nose. About 5 days passed and still that smelled continued, and yet no one else smelled it, but by this time Kenji had begun to complain about his nose if I were to touch it or if he would blow his nose.

So, finally, 10 days later from the first time I detected that nasty smell from his nose, we took him to an 'otorinologo' -- a nose doctor -- and just by looking at his nose from the outside the doctor could tell that he did have something stuck in his nostril. He procceded to tell us that because the thing in his nose was stuck way up the nostril his nose could bleed a bit throughout the proccees of taking it out. It took both mom and Ez (I didn't go) to hold him very, very still.
Seconds later ... out came a papaya seed!!! Yuck! It was beginning to expand in size (swell up) and it looked as if little things were growing on it. Double yuck!!

He of course cried a bit, but it was more because he was scared, as later he told me it didn't hurt. TTL! I'm so happy his little nostril is object-free :D and that it wasn't more serious, like been further up then what it was. And I'm sure Kenji learned his lesson about putting things in his nose. As now if I ask him "are you going to put things in your nose again?" He answers "No! Doctor again, no way!" The whole while relating what not to do, what the doctor will do, etc., with his cute little hand motions and gestures.

Here are some of his current favorite things to do; play with water, chase the cat around in a not so loving way :D, (something were working on) "type/work" on the computer, and lasty run around ... naked! Enjoy these pix of Kenji's recent happenings/cuteness :).