Poor baby - so sick

Poor JJ. Sunday night, he woke up whimpering and felt so hot! I took his temp and it was 102. Yikes! So I stripped him down to his diaper, gave him some Tylenol, and nursed him back to sleep. All Monday his fever was been up and down, peaking at 104 in the afternoon. We gave him a luke warm bath to get him cooled down (that lasted all of 3 screaming minutes, but it worked). Poor little guy was just not himself all day. You could tell when the fever was going up because all he'd want to do it snuggle.

Took him to the doctor's today and everything is fine - he's got a throat infection, but nothing that medicine can do anything about. His fever is gone and he should be back to his regular self by tomorrow. Oh - and he's cutting 8 teeth right now which explains all the whimpering. I can't even imagine.

Baby or belly?

Strangest thing. Since I've been pregnant, but before I knew, JJ has been pointing at my belly and putting his ear on it like he's listening for something. At first I thought "oh gosh, I've gotten fat enough he's looking at it like another breast", but that's not it. He keeps pointing at it and then smiling and putting his ear to it. Then three of days ago, he does this same thing and says "Baby." Could've knocked me over with a feather! Now, we've talked about the pregnancy in front of him and told him he's going to be a big brother, but I don't really think he understands or has any means of comprehension for such an abstract concept at this point. But here he is saying "baby." Then I thought, maybe he is trying to say "Belly" instead. That would make a lot more sense. Two days ago he did it again, except with John in the room. John's jaw dropped - "Did he just say 'baby'?" So, maybe he did. How would he know?

Quacking in his sleep

Night before last, JJ is in bed with us when suddenly he belts out in a very loud clear voice "QUACK QUACK QUACK DUCK!" then starts snoring softly. Never woke up the whole time. You have to wonder....what was THAT dream all about?

Reading with me

JJ loves books. One of his first words and signs was "book" :) And one of his favorite books is Sandra Boynton's Moo Baa La La La. So, yesterday, he brings me the book and hops up in my lap for me to read to him. I start off "The Cow say" and he interrupts me to say "Moo!" and then proceeded to fill in all the animal noises at all the right places (except the rhinos)! It was really cool - he's never done anything like that before. I was thrilled. Oh, and of course we get to the end and I read the last line "It's quiet now, what do YOU say?" and he says "Woof." LOL

Another ultrasound

So here we are at 7.5 weeks with another ultrasound at the doctor's check up. Everything looks good, strong heartbeat of 167! Go go go little jelly bean!

It's interesting to compare with my last pregnancy at 7 weeks - so many similarities and yet differences too. I've had much worse morning sickness (should be called all day sickness!) this time. I'm nauseated most of the day, especially if I forget to eat enough. I've got nutty cravings for potstickers all the time! And while coffee and tea smell divine, one sip and I'm running for the bathroom.

They had to do a mandatory STD test at the dr's yesterday and ugh - I ended up with some viscious cramps afterwards. Poor John had all kinds of doctor appointments for his arm (since he detached a bicep), but I ended up stealing his exam table so I could get my feet up. Blech. All better now.

No more coffee or tea...

Even the decaf stuff is making me want to hurl :( Blech. What a weird food aversion.

Eating disorders and young children

Monday, I read this thoughtful story on how many of the "health" messages we are currently bombarding our children with are actually causing more problems than they are solving: http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2009/05/innocence-lost-health-messages-are-not.html

It makes sense.  Children don't have the capacity for discernment that we do - if you say something is "bad if you eat too much" then in their mind it's just "bad."  I found it disturbing to think that the media's over-the-top treatment of "the obesity epidemic" is perhaps encouraging children to starve themselves.  Food as fear.  And yet, am I surprised?  I guess not.  Certainly, I know enough adults who have succumbed to the "good food bad food" characterization - smart, clever people, that, if they thought about it just a little bit, would say that was a silly thing to do.  I can't count how often I've done it myself - having a piece of chocolate even though it's "bad" for me and will "make" me fat.  Silliness, that we let ourselves be drawn into because it's easy.  

So, now I wonder how John and I can make sure that JJ gets a much more emotionally healthy message about food, body image, etc.  Step one is obviously ensuring our own attitudes are well-balanced and sensible.  But after that, it will be teaching him how to examine information that he has been given and evaluate it for himself, to realize you can entertain an idea without accepting it, and to know that just because someone is louder/older/bigger than you, it doesn't mean they know what they're talking about.

Here's to critical thinking!

15 month appointment

Time continues to fly by as our little man just gets bigger and bigger.

Stats for the 15 month appt.

Height: 31 inches

Weight: 22lbs

Head: 18 inches (and a bit)

Teeth: 13 and still working on more (yikes)

He can say lots of words (milk, book, more, read, dog, woof, cat, meow, baa, neigh, water, mama, dada, this, that, toes, door, out, help, go....and that's just ones I remember at the moment!) and he's getting very good with his signing (milk, more, help, please, read/book, up, down, potty, bath, all done).  He puts together phrases with the words he knows too, like "read book" or "more book" or "more milk" or "out door".  What an amazing kid!

The doctor said he was right on track and "remarkably mature for 15 months." Apparently, the fact that he listens to us and can be reasoned with (for example, he was upset about getting weighed and we told him that it would be over shortly and then he could get a big hug from Daddy - and he settled down right away.)  is unusual for this age.  Who knew? He's growing up fast, that's for sure.