The Princess Turns 5

The Princess, our youngest, turned 5 on New Years Day.

Yes, a New Year's baby. Which really isn't as cool as it might sound (at least, not for mom and dad). She is always up early on her birthday, which means no sleeping in. And if we have a gift that needs to be assembled, doing so on New Years Eve, with bubbly in hand is not a good idea.
So, as tribute to the Princess, I wanted to blog about all the things she has taught me, lessons learned, the joy she brings to our family, the love she spreads.
Then last week happened and the real world slapped me in the face. Amanda had to go to the doctor and she was prescribed some cough medicine with a decongestant in it. My sweet, loving child turned into a monster. Little did we know, at the time, that it was the medicine causing the Jekyll/Hyde transformation.

We just knew we were going through our own little version of hell. The Princess suddenly had a very short fuse, argued constantly with everyone, and was incredibly rude and disrespectful to all.

At first I blamed the holidays: too much stimulation, too little structure, too much time with her sister.

I panicked. I went to WebMD and searched kids and bipolar issues, kids and ADHD. My searches showed me that she did not have any of the symptoms, as I knew, deep down.

I cried, I prayed, I asked my best friend to pray.

I wracked my brain to figure out what had changed in our family in the past week to cause her to behave so erratically. And it hit me: her meds.

I grabbed the prescription bottle and went back to WebMD and looked up her decongestant. Sure enough, "causes anxiety and agitation in young children". Whoa.

We stopped giving her the meds, kept her at home, and kept her quiet and calm for the next day. HUGE improvement!!

We have our sweet little princess back!

What an ordeal. So glad this past week is over!

Onward with 2010!