Mommy intuition FAIL

Friday night it took Zoodle awhile to really get into a deep sleep. I was laying with him, frustrated. He kept batting at his head and ear. The same thing happened later that night when he woke up and came into bed with The Engineer and me.

When I got up early Saturday, I posted on Facebook and Twitter that I thought Zoodle had another ear infection, what with all the ear-grabbing he'd done. This was not good news. He's never been prone to EIs, but he got two back-to-back recently, and I was afraid this was #3.

I got lots of advice from my online friends, such as...

• Ear tubes helped my child.
• Chiropractors can really help with ear infections.
• If he's getting repeated EIs, he may be sensitive to dairy.
• Garlic oil drops will help heal and soothe a sore ear.
• He may just be teething.
• He could just have allergies.

I considered all the advice, and thought about putting some of it to practice, but all day, Zoodle seemed fine. Sure, he had some meltdowns, but nothing beyond normal two-year-old stuff. He certainly wasn't acting like a kid with an ear infection.

The Engineer got him to sleep at naptime easily. Bedtime was my job. I lay with him, and he didn't seem to be in pain. (Laying down makes ear infections a lot more uncomfortable.)

Then he patted his head/ear. Hmm. And he spoke through his binky something like,

"Put your hand on my head."

And a lightbulb went on in my brain. Sometimes when I'm helping Zoodle go to sleep, I'll rest my hand on his head, often stroking it. Lately he'd been asking me to do that. So when he was "batting his ear" last night he was actually just sleepily asking me to put my hand on his head.

I'll take affection over infection any day.