Think twice- make that multifold …

March 1st, we joined hubby’s friends and their wives for dinner at Rain Forest, Adyar (not to be confused with Rain Tree that is an Ecotel in Alwarpet. Now before I get to that, a little background.
We used to eat out at the drop of a hat, but after the kids, if it is a serious dinner, we usually leave them home with Mom/MIL. Or at least we have minimum 2 people per kid for taking care while the rest of us manage to eat in turns. Sometimes it really does not feel worth the trouble with 2 people forever entertaining and monitoring Ojas & Tejas and the remaining people gobbling down their food. And now since they are walking around, the labour is multifold. And then there is always this danger of them knocking down our food or drink. Or some one else feeding them out of their plate.
Given the above and the fact that both of us are supposedly on the road to good health. The gym is the only place where you pay money to lose weight. So having paid a lot of money, sacrificing beauty sleep, refusing all the yummy, could have eaten desserts and other food, eating at the right time so that it does not show up on the scales next morning, slogging away at the machines and losing a few meager calories after more than an hour’s workout, watching the scales tease you with the yo-yoing weight, I was pretty skeptical about going to eat and undo the good work. That too with the kids as hubby dear felt it right to let the kids also participate in our social life.

But since I have complained enough about lack of social life, I agreed like a wife who is “bilkul gau” (as docile as a cow).

The place is located at Adyar signal and is in the basement. The staircase is designed like a cave and as you enter you reach a setting like a forest. There are dummy trees, creepers and thatched tops over the tables. There is a water body in the front section with a few soft toy animals like monkeys, birds with their nest, tiger, lion sitting around it or hanging from the ceiling. There is a coiled snake in a corner and various random cousins of monkeys hanging from the ceiling. The funny parts are that the tiger is huge – life size almost and the lion is of a very small size. The waiters are dressed up in leopard skin print clothes and they play sounds of animals roaring in the background. I am told that the waiters even wear animal masks and generally scare the kids with ferocious looks and acts.

The food was pretty good and Ojas & Tejas had a great time picking noodles from my plate and hugging and kissing the huge tiger. Ojas sincerely believed that the roaring in the background was the tigers and he was amused. Tejas was delighted with the snake and disgusted with the monkey.

We were 4 couples + 2. Despite the numbers, I did not get to socialize as I was busy entertaining my kids in the animal world.

The next morning the diarrhea and vomiting started for Ojas & Tejas. It continued till 8th for Tejas and till 4th for Ojas (including a relapse). We had never restricted them from picking from our plates in restaurants and this had happened for the first time. Everything that went in came out immediately either as thin, watery poop or as puke. Our regular doc was not in town and we had to change 3 doctors as the condition was not showing signs of improving and we were worried because their ailments have a tendency to get chronic.

During this period Tejas lost a lot of weight. He was not playing and not doing any naughtiness. Because of which Ojas was really bored. We could see him trying hard to play by himself and then challenging and teasing Tejas so that he reciprocates.

After our doctor returned on Monday, he prescribed Metrogyl along with the Oflomac we were giving/. That reduced the output and completely worked after more than 2 days. Along with that we were giving them Electrol so that they do not dehydrate, Glucon D to maintain Energy and pro-biotic pills to overpower the disease causing bacteria by sheer numbers. And then there was another medicine starting with the letter O for preventing the puke. Tejas’ bum was red and sore and the doc prescribed a cream to heal.

I normally do not use diapers unless we are going out. It is air conditioned, loose cotton shorts for them full day and a nappy pad stuck on a cloth nappy and covered with a washable plastic & foam diaper. The benefits of not using a diaper are preventing skin infection/ rashes (Tejas is quite prone to it), airing, and non irritant – how would we feel if we were to wear sanitary napkins all day and night, for the entire month? Apart from the discomfort, it costs money and is a total drain on the Eco system. Utility point of view, I am all for diapers. Comfort for me, yes it scores. I can afford it, so money is not a problem. But comfort for the baby and my general concern for the ecology takes me to a guilt trip every time I take the diaper. In fact we feel so guilty about discomforting our babies that hubby and I discuss and mutually agree before using the diaper to bed on rare days. Each wanting the other to suggest that diaper should be allowed for that one night. During the diarrhea, we used a whole large bag of diapers. My maid kept Tejas on her lap on a rubber cloth with a cloth nappy wrapped around him through the day as he was so full of rashes. This was the first time I saw the severity of a diarrhea. The only food they were eating was arrowroot (saboodana powder), rice, idly, curd. They had also developed lactose intolerance.

I noticed Ojas developed a white patch near his eyes. Also saw him rubbing his nose during sleep. 2 days ago he put his finger up his bum during a chaddi change. To digress, the lazy me quickly tried to sniff at his fingers. If it stinks, he gets a hand wash. In a flash Ojas pushes the finger on his other hand up his bum and took it to his nose.
I suspected worms and gave him the homeopathic medicine CINA that same evening. I used 1M potency which can be given at a frequency of once a month. Mid night he passed motion with worms. Till the next day he was passing worms into his shorts. I have de-wormed the entire family and the maids with the same medicine.

After all this we went through, we have decided no restaurant food for the kids. Forget building resistance. Forget making them hardy and tough. It is not worth it.
In perspective, we paid money, for the food we hardly ate and bought back diarrhea and hospital bills in return. We also missed out the Holi celebrations in the building. For the first time we did not wear new clothes on Holi . We work hard on making the kids gain weight and become healthier and the last 10 days have made them lag behind. A lot to make up now.