Scott's Hall of Fame: Now take your medicine...or maybe just wear it instead

Scott hit, as my friend called it, a "yucky" milestone this week: his first ear infection.
I took him to the doctor after he spiked a fever Wednesday morning, shortly after suffering through another long, largely sleepless night.

His pediatrician took one look in his right ear and pronounced it "half-full of puss."

Um. Eww.

But truthfully, I was a bit relieved to get the diagnosis. Two and a half weeks is just too long for the little guy to have to put up with all the coughing and nasal congestion.
And an ear infection can be cleared up with antibiotics, which means he might actually-- FINALLY -- start feeling better soon.

So when I left the pediatrician's office on Wednesday, I eagerly took the prescription to Fry's pharmacy. Scott was given amoxicillin, a drug I took with great regularity when I was a kid, having endured about 400 ear infections during my own childhood.

I felt like such a grown-up picking up that pink bottle of bubble-gum flavored goodness...thinking that it was kind of cool that I now get to give it to my own kid so HE can feel better. Then it occurred to me...how, exactly, does one give a five-month-old one and a quarter teaspoons of amoxicillin?

There's no course on this in the "So you think you want to be a parent? Well, here's some stuff you should know" manual.

I asked the pharmacy for a syringe. They didn't have one, and instead handed me an enormous-spoon-like funnel. I looked at them like they were nuts. Really? You want me to shove this thing in my infant's mouth? They smiled at me dismissively and bid me good-bye.

That night, I gave Scott amoxicillin for the first time using a syringe I found with an as-yet unused bottle of baby Motrin. It didn't go too badly. He let a little of it dribble out the side of his mouth and made a face, but took his medicine like a good boy. I figured we were home free.

The next morning, though, he was on to me. I approached him with the pink bottle and syringe and the kid went nuts, writhing and kicking and tossing in my arms. And I should mention, he's stronger than any five-month old has the right to be. The only way I could get him to take the stuff was by forcibly pinning his arms down with the weight of my entire left side, while shoving the medicine into his mouth with my right hand. This time, about half of it came back out.

And Scott, stubborn little devil that he is, has gotten smarter with each subsequent dose. This morning, he twisted and turned, I shoved the medicine in his mouth, and he sat there for a second like he was swallowing it. And then he promptly spit EVERY LAST DROP of it back out at me, letting it paint his pajamas a nice purplish-pink.

Scott, wearing his amoxicillin.

So now, we've moved on to a new approach. I measure out the amoxicillin in a dropper, and then pour a tiny bit of it at a time into a baby spoon that also has a bit of applesauce on it. I then insert spoon in his mouth and hold it there until I can see that he has swallowed it. The entire process takes about five minutes.

Our medicine-taking "tools."

It appears to be working. Scott isn't coughing as much and his congestion is starting to ease a bit. I just hope they put a little extra pink goodness in that bottle, because there's as much medicine on his clothes as there is in his tummy after each "dose" is administered.

P.S. On a completely un-related note, I have to show off Scott's first daycare project. With no offense to his daddy, this may be the best Valentine's Day card I've ever received!