Tip for a Tuesday....

Keeping a Record

Before my children were born, I vowed I would not be one of "those mothers" who found herself filling in the pages of a book about their child's first seven years of life when they were in high school.  I can honestly say that I'm actually not one of those mother's.  I'm one of the ones who bought the books and NEVER wrote in them!  I know, how awful!  There is probably a special room in heaven for me and my fellow mother memory failures, equipped with a writing table and multiple pens.

But I did do one thing right.  Daughter #1 started getting sick not long after she started preschool. (I began to think I saw more of the pediatrician than I did my husband!)  Each time I would call, I would write down the time of the appointment on the calendar.  Then when we got home, I would write the diagnosis and the name of the prescribed medication under that entry.

By the spring of daughter #1's first year of school, she had had bronchitis twice and now had developed pneumonia!  That was it - I withdrew her from school for the remainder of the school year.

Over the next couple of years, as the number of children increased, so did the doctor visits.  The doctor said I should expect to be in his office on average every two weeks with each child who was in school.  He said part of the reason was parents who sent their children to school even when they were sick, thereby exposing my girls to added germs.

Then a perusal of the calendar from the previous two years caused me to notice a pattern emerging.  I pointed this out to the doctor on our next visit. He said there was a possibility that my eldest had allergies and if her lungs weren't prepared properly for colds and infections, she would either continue to develop bronchitis or pneumonia.

Long story short, we went to an allergist and several allergic triggers were found.  Medication, restrictions and routines kept some of the illnesses under control over the next several years.  But it was only by discovering the pattern laid out on the calendar that we were sent in that direction.

So if you are as harried a mother as I was, or just a busy woman in general, a calendar can be an excellent place to jot down quick notes of what could be vital information or even an amusing anecdote.  

Oh, and I did sometimes write down certain "milestones" of first steps, first tooth, etc.  Since I've actually saved all the calendars starting from the year I met the Englishman, I should someday take the time to fill in those childhood books.

Or maybe I'll just give them to the girls and let them do it. :)