Nose Detective

Today was possibly the onset of ... something. Massively runny nose (wipe it every 5 minutes type of huge runny nose), drooly, slight fever (99.1). The best 3 cluprits I can see:

1. Teething
2. Reaction to some food
3. Illness of sorts

Now, I don't think it's an illness because neither John nor I show any signs of anything, and we really haven't been out much at all. We've just been to the grocery store and out and about maybe twice this week.

Those are good teething symptoms, but not usual ones for him, and there are swollen tooth areas next to the new teeth. When we asked that all of his teeth come in at once and get it over with, this is not what we had in mind. Here's a chart, btw, of primary teeth, so you can see. 



He got the lower central incisors around Christmas time. The upper central incisors a little over a week ago. We're noticing the upper and lower lateral incisors looking different, and the canine upper and lower are definitely there under the gums, but don't seem to be currently progressing. 

I think it may be a reaction to some food. We had curry rice the other day (he had a few grains, but he did eat some). This was made without the shrimp and basil, but with finely chopped beet greens, and a fraction of the onion that was in the recipe. We like this recipe, it's the 2nd time we've made it, and the first time Ian had some. But it was several days ago, I think. At least 3 days ago, maybe 4. Last night it was spaghetti, and he had that, with the sauce. He's had spaghetti sauce in smaller amounts before with no ill effect. I can't think of anything else that he hasn't had before, with the exception of peas. He's definitely eating more food lately though.

I'm sure tomorrow will tell the culprit. Or the next day. For tonight, we gave him teething tabs. That didn't help for too long, but he was tired, as well. We did the 1-2 knockout punch bedtime. Ibuprofen, warm bath, nice jammies, nurse down and he's out. We did elevate the crib mattress, so he doesn't get too stuffed up, and we'll see how tonight is. Poor little fella. We'll keep you 'posted'!

Catching up a bit

So, a list of what Ian has accomplished so far, to catch up for the last several months. A snapshot of where he is at, at least.

Gross Motor Skills:

He's just figured out:

• Getting his feet under him. (so, walking with us holding his hands and kind of pulling him along)
• Rocking on all fours.
• How to sit from all fours.

He's pretty good at:

• Rolling both tum to back and back to tum.
• Sitting (but he'll fall over sometimes. Not often enough for me to put a pillow around him at all times, though).
• Jumping (in arms, and jumper, and while standing, holding onto something). Oh, standing holding onto something he's getting better at as well, but his core muscles are still pretty wobbly.
• Pulling up, although whatever he's pulling up on has to be juuust right in order for him to get it.

Or if he's sitting in front of me on the floor or bed, he cannot ever resist grabbing my shirt with both hands and pulling up to standing (without help, but I do spot!). Unless of course he's dive-bombing my shirt, which is another topic altogether.

• Clapping. He's been clapping for over a month!

Fine Motor Skills:

• Working on pincer grasp (first finger and thumb).
• He's a pro at palmar grasp (grabbing with the fist. As in a handful of dog, cat, or mommy hair. Or large toys).

Picking up cheerios when you don't have that pincer grasp down: lick your hand until it's good and sticky. then slap the tray containing said cheerios in hopes of getting a few stuck to your hand. Shove hand in mouth. Repeat. Licking becomes decreasingly necessary, as hand stickiness increases with each cheerio.

• He's been alternating hands and passing objects from hand to hand for a while as well. He loves to manipulate objects between his hands over and over. It's his favorite playtime activity.

Language:

• Mama and Dada are said in context (and not in context) as well as jaja (think ZsaZsa) and haha. He gets a really high pitched jaja when he's amused. Either that sound or quiet - better see what he's doing.
• He's signed "milk" once or twice in context, and we responded, but he's yet to get the sign language thing. I do tell him "more" frequently, but don't have the free hands to do the sign, but I'm hoping once he catches on, he'll get more signs quickly. I do sign "potty" to him, in hopes that it's one of the very first signs he gets.

Food:
He won't eat purees or cereal with any great success. I don't think this is unusual, however.
He does like to eat what we're eating, and likes:

• Spinach
• Celery
• Carrots (cooked or raw)
• Avocado
• Pancakes
• Pizza Crust
• Tater tots
• Pasta (with sauce a little better than without) (except that it promptly makes it into his hair. Is there a bib for that?)
• Beets! (wow, the mess though)
• Broccoli (gives him gas if I eat broccoli, but not if he does)

Sleep:
He used to sleep well (5-6 hour stretches), but that was unlearned at 4 months. I hear that's pretty normal. He now sleeps all night long, waking every 2-3 hours to eat. It'd be spiffy if we could get up maybe one less time in the night, but we're ok with where it's at for now. He's consolidated naps, though, and takes a 2 hour nap during the day. And it's nice to get either a nap or some work (or non-work) done.

Bathroom:
I think he's starting to wait for us to give him a "pottytunity" (we hold him over the toilet) for poops. We rarely find them in the diaper anymore, and he fusses more when he needs to go. The big toilet continues to be a good cue to go (both #1 and #2), but the small plastic toilet is not really much of a help anymore. Even our regular verbal cues don't help much in that small toilet. He's gone on almost every normal toilet we've tried. So happy about that!

Latest stats: (taken last week)
21.8 lb
29" tall.

Sanity in the office

We went from this:

with Ian nicely distributing my recycle box paper throughout the office,


to this:

with Ian AND his toys nicely contained in the playpen. Less dog hair on the boy, he has a happy box of toys that doesn't land somewhere he shouldn't be, he doesn't land somewhere he shouldn't be, and when he falls, there's something cushy nearby. Or a pointy toy.


For the time being, he really enjoys being in there. And that's fabulous because it makes everyone happy.

Random thoughts

Ian would like to say hi. He's not riding this little toy yet, but he'd like to. He can scoot backwards on it, but Mom and dad don't let him out of arms reach - he could fall off!







Here, he's sporting what we call the "full body bib" that has sleeves and goes halfway down his legs. Works great for days when he's trying to feed himself!









The budding engineer would like to show you the latest book he's been digesting, all about Simple Shear Connections in steel.










He's tired. Being a little boy takes a lot of energy. Do you like the fancy new carrier? We were on a walk, and he needed a nap. It's more comfortable than it looks!

This is all brought to you because this silly thing ate what I was really going to write, and now I'm mad at it. It can sit there in timeout for a while, but you shouldn't be punished. Here you are.