Daycare Pick-up

I love being the one to pick Derek up from daycare.  As soon as he sees me, he gets a huge grin on his face and comes over to give me a hug.  We have been working a lot on going "Up the stairs" and "Down the Slide".  We were  showing daycare how he's doing a great job on their slide and Lorri turns to me and says, "You don't have to walk around with your arms out [to be ready to catch him]- he can do it by himself."    Maybe I'm just a protective mama, but he looks for my fingers to help him get from a standing position to sitting on that teeny, tiny platform and I'm going to help him (for a while, at least) and keep him safe.  

Plus, it's nice to know that he needs me.  I'm sure in a few years, that will change all too soon.

"uh-oh"

Saturday Derek dropped a piece of his breakfast on the floor and I said, "uh-oh" and picked it up.  He immediately repeated "uh-oh" and I laughed.  I said it again and he did too.  The rest of the weekend, he has been walking around saying "uh-oh".  I can help but smile at how cute it is.  :-)

Easter Weekend

I wasn't sure what to expect from Easter this year.  I knew it would be more interactive than last year when Derek was a few months old, but would he be excited to find Easter eggs?

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend time with both sides of our families on Easter weekend.  The Nistler celebration was Saturday around lunch time.  We timed it perfectly so we left right around the time of this morning nap, fully expecting him to sleep the entire car ride and we wide awake and ready for fun.  He surprised us and only took about a 20 minute nap...uh-oh!

Surprisingly, he did really well playing with Grandma & Grandpa Nistler and wasn't too shy around all of the other people as long as someone he knew was within sight.  After lunch, we laid him down for his afternoon nap.  He was happy as can be talking & playing in his pack-n-play.  After an hour of not sleeping, we got him up and let him play with the group.

Around 3:30 he started to get really crabby so we left and headed back to the Nistlers.  The second we were in the car, he feel asleep.  Again, another 20 minute nap and then was happy  playing.  I was in awe, this is not my little boy - he needs his sleep.  He proved me wrong and we had a nice dinner but he did go down to bed about an hour earlier than normal.  Once in his pack-n-play in a familiar place, he was quickly sound asleep.  :)

Sunday we had an Easter egg hunt with the Nistlers in the morning.  Derek cousin is 1 1/2 years older so Easter was a lot more fun for her this year.  She was so excited about the Easter bunny coming and looking for eggs.  We weren't sure if Derek would understand Easter this year.  Even if he didn't, it would still be more fun than last year when he just laid on the floor and we surrounded him with eggs and gave him a stuffed bunny to feel. We headed out in the yard after the "Easter bunny" hid the eggs and Derek was so excited to go outside.  I was cautiously optimistic.  We went down the stairs from the yard to the deck and he turned around to go right back up the stairs.  We proceeded to crawled up and down the stairs for quite a while.  At one point we even took an Easter egg and put it directly in his path and he just went right around it!  He clearly wasn't interested in the eggs, he much preferred playing on the stairs.

We took him away from the stairs and helped him find an egg in the yard.  I opened it and found animal crackers inside.  I gave him one to try to help him understand what was in the eggs and why we should look for them.  He ate his cracker and headed right back for the stairs.  We did manage to get a few posed shots for the Easter egg hunt and a few candid ones as he headed back toward the steps.

On the way home, we stopped by my parents house.  We tried again with the Easter eggs and he was slightly more interested because it was snack time, but he preferred pushing the buttons on the tv to turn it off and on.  He would pick up an egg and bring it to me to open, grab a handful of goldfish, and go back to playing.  A few eggs even had the covered animal crackers with sprinkles, which to my surprise, he didn't like.  He enjoyed the ones with crackers and one even and a few quarters for his piggy bank.

My extra "appendage"

On Wednesday, I was paged at work - Derek was running a temp of 102.3 and he had to go home.  Except for his temp, he was doing okay (no changes to his mood or appetite).  Reducing the amount of clothes he had on or a cool bath didn't help bring down his temp so we gave him some medicine before bed.  Because his temp was over 100, he couldn't go to daycare on Thursday so I stayed home with him.  I was fully expecting to work during his naps and have a wonderful day alone together - I couldn't have been more wrong.

Thursday morning he woke up happy and our morning went along smoothly until he woke up from his morning nap around 9 am.  He woke up unhappy.  He didn't want his morning milk or snack.  So we tried playing for a bit.  When that didn't work, I thought, let's take a bath (he loves baths) and he cried through the whole thing.  So surely a walk would make him happy.  He has never cried during more than 2 minutes of a walk...until now. He cried the whole time.  Our walk was cut considerably short and we went home to cuddle together.  It was quickly clear that it was all he wanted to do.  While I enjoyed the time, something was wrong and I called to get a dr appt with him crying in the background because I wasn't holding him.

Our doctor was booked all day.  After talking to the nurse, she said she would try to get me an appt and made a back up appt with a different doctor at 3:30 pm at a different clinic.  We spent the day cuddling and Derek laying on my chest.  After considerable trial and error (and some very long hours until I figured this out), he had to be laying on my chest, in an upright position.  There was no putting him down or even laying down with him.  As soon as he was comfortable, he was instantly asleep.  There were many naps but they were all very short  (I imagine it's difficult to get comfortable laying on another person.)  I gave him medicine around Noon, but it didn't seem to easy his discomfort at all.

Around 3 pm, the nurse called back with good news, we got an appt with our dr at 4 pm.  About 3:30, my mom showed up (she was watching Derek on Friday since daycare was closed but came down early to spend the night) as we were heading out the door.  She came to the dr office with me.  The doctor came into the examine room and found Derek again sleeping on my chest and it was an easy conversation about symptoms.  She took a look in his ears and found that is left ear was slightly pink but his right ear was very infected, near rupturing!  Had we not come in today, his ear drum would have ruptured!!!  In fact, there was a chance it still would depending on how long it would take for the medicine to kick in.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I felt terrible.  Here my little man is in pain and I didn't do anything sooner - we should have gone to urgent care.

We left with a prescription for his ear infection, a back-up prescription in case his ear drum did rupture, and some Children's Motrin inside Derek.  We headed straight to pick up the prescription.  Thankfully, my mom was there and she offered to stay in the car with Derek since he was comfortable in his car seat while I ran it to get it filled.  It took about 20 minutes for them to fill the prescription.  When I got back to the car, I found Derek out of his car seat playing in the back seat with my mom smiling & talking away.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  She said a bit ago he seemed like he had to poop so she took him out and he was so happy and playing.  The Motrin must have kicked in quickly.  I was so shocked at the results that I almost turned right around and headed back in the store to pick some up for us at home.

We walked in the door at home to greet Mike with a very happy and playful little boy.  He looked at me and jokingly said, "He looks fine to me.  Why did you have a rough day?"   I know he was joking but if looks could kill.....

Daddy's Little Helper

Derek's latest favorite activity to help us around the house.  He is really learning our routine.  For example, when I take him out of the car seat, he helps me shut the car door, then pushes the button to shut the garage door, and finally helps me push open the door into the house.  Derek also loves helping us around the house.  As soon as he hears the fridge or dishwasher open, he comes running into the kitchen.  We can without fail, count on him shutting the fridge door behind us or helping us close up the dishwasher.  Mike even lets Derek help out emptying the dishwasher.  He LOVES it.  Mike pulls out the silverware basket and sets it on top of the dishwasher.  Derek takes each utensil out and hands it to Mike to put away.  Then they stack the plates on top of each other.  It takes a little longer (and is a very loud process) and our dishes have been able to hold up to the extra abuse, but I like that Derek gets to help with adult activities.....and here's hoping he'll continue to like it, even when he's old enough to do it by himself.

A Weekend of "Ouch!"

We keep hearing stories of all of the bumps & bruises kids get as they are learning to walk and I've been pretty proud that we were able to keep Derek injury free, up until this weekend.  And unfortunately, the saying "when it rains, it pours" holds true.

It all started Saturday.  Derek just woke up from a 3 hour afternoon nap, we had a snack, and headed out to go shopping.  He did great walking around pushing the cart.  Then he tripped as he was approaching the cart and smacked his face on the bottom of the cart causing a bloody lip in the middle of Sam's Club.  Once we got that all cleaned up, I gave him some ice cubes to chew/suck on in hopes that the swelling would go down.  Within 10 min or so, he was just fine and acting as though his little lip wasn't slightly swollen and bruising.

Then on Sunday, we went outside to work in the yard (but it was still pretty chilly so we dressed Derek in his warm winter clothes).  When he took off down the driveway, he had to much momentum and because of his big snowsuit, couldn't get his hands out to brace himself for the fall.  His head took the brunt of it and he came back in the house shortly after going outside with a growing welt on his head and crying away.  We put ice on it, gave him some ibuprofen, and cuddled a bunch.  Within a half hour, we ventured back outside and he was happy walking up and down the steps with Grandma.

Monday after work/daycare, we again went outside to play.  Derek was playing in the cul-de-sac with some of the other neighborhood kids.  Mike came down and joined us when he got home.  Derek was having lots of fun  walking back and forth between us.  He must have been getting tired because he tripped and fell - again hitting his head in the same spot!

Arrgg.....he's now been demoted to only walking on grass and carpeting until his little head finally heals!

Little Cruiser

This week Derek learned how to push himself up to a standing position.  He no longer needs to hold onto something to get up and take off walking.  It's quite fun to watch how quickly he has mastered walking and to see the joy he has, when he sees that we notice he's walking.  He's walking everywhere now, very little (if any) crawling.  I'm so grateful his reached this milestone when we were around.  I anticipate that being gone for 8 days will be hard, but it would have been even more difficult to come home and realize we had missed seeing such an important moment.

Our little man is on the move!

15 Month Check-Up

Today Derek had his 15 month check-up.  He is doing really well and dare I say it .... we don't have to go back immediately for a follow-up appointment!!  :-)

Weight:  24 lbs, 11 oz   (53%)
Length:  31 1/2 in  (63%)
Head:  18 3/4 in  (63%)
Teeth:  6 total  (3 bottom, 3 top)

We didn't have a lot of questions for the doctor because we've been in to see her so often the last two months. She did mention that within the next 2 months we should look to get rid of his pacifier completely.  We've reduced his pacifier use to nap or bed time only (we cut out the car rides) but we'll probably tackle that when we get back from our upcoming trip.  There's no reason to rush and make his time with Grandma & Grandpa Nistler no fun.

Soon he should soon be transitioning to 1 nap a day and should start to develop more in the language area.  His doctor wasn't concerned about his lack of language at this time because he just started waving hi and bye within the last two weeks and started walking.  All of this great progress since he's finally feeling better.  Since he's been so focused on his gross motor skills, she's not surprised where is at and it's perfectly normal.  We are going to start to offer him choices to help him increase his vocabulary instead of just expecting him to come up with the words.

His ear infections are finally gone.  He does have some remaining fluid in his right ear (and it's not from his bath this morning) but we are going to wait to see if it drains on it's own.  She's not overly concerned because it doesn't seem to be affecting his hearing but we are suppose to just watch to make sure we don't start to notice any difference.  Overall, it was a great appointment.  :-)

Officially Walking

Today Derek turns 15 months old, and to celebrate he started walking yesterday.  He started walking between my dad and Mike.  Then he apparently would get close to Mike and veer off another direction down the hall.  Mike called me into the room just as he sat down.  I missed it!

After his afternoon nap, I had another opportunity as he was again having fun walking.  This time he was walking between Mike and I, but he sometimes passed right by me and kept going down the hall.  Then when he decided he had gone far enough, he sat down and clapped.  :-)  He had an audience (my family was over celebrating Mike's birthday), and he totally knew it.  A few times he was walking, stopped, clapped his hands (so we'd all clap with him), flash the biggest smile, and then he'd keep going.  So.Darn.Cute!!  I think it's official, my little man is officially walking.

Developmental leaps

Since Derek has been sick for so long, I have been feeling like he has been following behind developmentally.  He really hasn't wanted to do much of anything for the last two months, with the exception of a few bright spots (which I've already highlighted).  Since this last round of medicine started kicking in (about 10 days ago), he has clearly been feeling better and playing catch up developmentally.  He can now:

• consistently say "mama" and "yaya" (for dada) to the correct person.  
• he's talking all the time now (most of which we can't understand, but he was really quiet the last 2 months)
• pointing at objects, especially the lights and microwave
• stacks 3-4 blocks on top of each other
• is helping us get him dressed
• is able to do a few shapes in his puzzle
• walking one handed
• takes a few steps without holding on
• using a cup (occasionally) with water - after the first sip, most of it ends up in his lap while he explores the cup
• using a spoon

I was reviewing our 15 month check list and that was on the list and as of earlier this week he had never even tried it.  So we purchased some "toddler" spoons and started giving it to him.  Then Wed we got daycare on board with our plan and have had reports like this for the last two days "Derek ate his entire lunch using a spoon!"

Now that takes a little assistance from us to put the food on his spoon.  He brings it to the bowl but has figured out how to scoop yet so we put food on it and he bring it to his mouth.  Sometimes if he's really hungry he reverts back to using his hands but we are having pretty good success so far.  So last night I tried pureed mango and yogurt (something that should easily go onto the spoon when he sets it into the bowl).   

It was successful the first few bites until he started using his hands because he could eat faster that way.  He still held the spoon up next to his mouth and ate with the other hand.  I kept reminding him to use the spoon but in the end, he looked like this:

Back to the Dr....Again!

As soon as Derek went off the Augmentin and we started on this last round of meds, he just wasn't happy.  We'd have bouts of happiness but nothing like his old self.  So when we went off this medicine on Saturday and we had yet another difficult Sat/Sun, we didn't wait Thurs to bring him back in.  We made an appt for Monday morning.  The doctor confirmed that his ear infection still wasn't cleared up and put us back on augmentin.  We also brought up the RSV & cough questions.  She listed and heard some slight wheezing in his chest.  We stayed in the clinic and used the nebulizer there.  Then the doctor came back and listened again - all clear.  So we also went home with a nebulizer of our own and another prescription.  Within the day, we started to see the effects of him feeling better.  We have to kick this infection soon - I don't know how much longer we can take of a sick/unhappy baby.  I keep seeing glimpses of my happy, healthy child but I want him around all the time (and I hope he's still in there after he's finally healthy).

Using our own nebulizer at home.

Walking One Handed

Derek's last thing is to walk one handed with us.  We often walk around the house as though we are crossing the street.  He loves it and is starting to get pretty steady as his balance is improving.  I'm constantly thinking that he just can't get any closer to walking than he already is and he continues to surprise me.  He's in no hurry to get to this milestone but is progressing, so I'm okay with that.  Soon enough, I'm sure, I'll be wishing for these days back so I'm actively trying to enjoy this moment and be less concerned about what he's not doing or where I think he should be.

RSV

And the sickness continues.  Derek is still on medication from his last ear infection when I got the news today that all of the kids at day care have RSV.  RSV is a respiratory virus that can be very serious in little kids.  Not even a month ago, I read that one of Derek's former ECFE (baby class) classmates was hospitalized for RSV. So when I heard that he had been surrounded by kids all day with this illness, I was more than a little concerned (and honestly, even a little frustrated.)  Why were those kids even at daycare?  Why weren't we notified? 

We immediately called the nurse line and asked a lot of questions since RSV is contagious.  Like most other viruses, it's most contagious before it's diagnosed.  So he has already been exposed to it.  The nurse asked us a lot of questions and it came down to that he's not wheezing so while he may have it, there is nothing they would be doing differently to treat it than we are currently doing for his ear infection.  Whew!

We were supposed to go to baby class tonight but I just didn't feel comfortable going and potentially exposing other children, even though the nurse told us he was probably past the contagious period.  I also notified the parents of the kids he was around this past weekend (again, against the advice of the nurse) because I know that I'd want to be informed if the situations were reversed.  It also turns out it was for the best that we skipped class because Derek was absolutely exhausted tonight and was in bed about 20 minutes after class started.  We are trying so hard to get him healthy and this feels like another huge set back.  Ugh!

Tada!

This weekend has been a great weekend.  It was one of those weekends that everything seems to go right and you start the week feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Sunday, Tae came over and helped me organize the basement.  In preparation of the event, I purchased some shelving earlier in the week and Mike put it together.  Working together and chatting, it took us just under 4 hours to turn my basement from cluttered mess (that there were literally little paths to navigate your way through) to this:

So Clean!

Huge success!!!  Next steps are to put shelves over the laundry area, install a clothes line, and then move on to organizing the formal dining room (which we use as an office/changing area for Derek).  The basement organization was the first step in this process so I have a place to put the extra desk from upstairs and really convert that room into a playroom for Derek.

Our great weekend continued into Monday evening.  We were all sitting down eating supper together.  Derek really wasn't eating very much, but his food options were ones we knew he liked.  We've learned not to push food on toddlers and to let them eat as they are hungry.  (Plus, I always check in with daycare to make sure that he is eating at least one good meal a day and that it's not a systemic issue). We asked him if he wanted more (using sign language to indicate more) or all done (which he lifts his hands in the air, palms out).  He looked at us and held out his right hand and signed milk perfectly.  Mike and I both stared at each other and asked, "Did you see what I just saw?  Did he just sign milk?"  We both saw the same thing so we gave him some milk to drink.  He sucked it down and asked for more.  He drank two glasses of milk and was happy as could be.  Milk was the very first sign we started doing with him back when he was about 7 months old.  Finally, after 4 months, he got it.    :-)

Library Visit

Today we took Derek to the library for the first time.  He absolutely loves reading books at home and will often sit for 20 minutes at a time just looking through his stories, so this seemed like the perfect outing for him.  This really was the first time I'd really spent any time in the children's section of the library and I was impressed.  There was a large selection of board books (in no particular order), activities & games - bead mazes, puzzles, etc, kid tables & chairs, and even a "reading room".  Since we arrived not more than 5 minutes after the library opened, it was pretty quiet but I had fun selecting a few books I thought Mike and I would enjoy reading to him.

He was interested in the books for a little while, then was off to push chairs down the aisle of the library, follow the cart (it had wheels on it), and crawl up and down the rows of books filling the quiet void with his voice.  We didn't stay too long but I am looking forward to going back.

Head Check

Thursday was Derek's 6 week check-up for his head.  I was fairly certain that his head size was okay and hadn't grown a lot since the last visit but what I was concerned about his mood, runny nose, cough, and slight ear tugging that had been going on since last weekend.  All of those symptoms (except the cough) could be attributed to teething so I didn't think much of it since he got new teeth on Monday (he's up to 5 now) but we were going in and I had to pay the copay regardless, I called to see if our appointment could also include a quick check of his ears, nose, throat, & chest.    The scheduler said the doctor didn't have any extra time to give us and referred me to a nurse.  After speaking with the nurse, she said the same thing but agreed to contact to the doctor to see if she could squeeze that in.  I found out our appointment was the first one of the day so I told both the nurse & scheduler that we would be there early, just in case she could see us.  I got a call back from the nurse that said our doctor said she would check Derek out during our appointment.  Yay!!!

As expected, his head still wasn't growing and actually measured exactly the same size as his 1 year check-up 6 weeks ago.  That's just fine and it means that our last appointment was right after a growth spurt and he is okay.

His doctor thanked me for calling ahead to schedule extra time to be checked out.  She said is lungs were clear (no need to worry about the cough), clear throat (no strep or blisters), left ear was red with puss (ear infection), and.....his right ear had the same = double ear infection!!  I didn't see that one coming at all.  All of the signs for an ear infection also match teething and he's been getting in teeth non-stop.  Ahhhh.... we probably should have taken him in earlier in the week.  (I'd have to say to the two biggest questions I routinely struggle with as a parent are "Should we give him medicine?" and "Should we bring him to the doctor?")

He's on augmentin for the next 10 days and then we'll be back in 2 weeks to recheck his ears and cough.  Thankfully, augmentin should clear up the ears and also take care of anything with the cough at the same time.

Peek & Struggles

Checking on Derek before we went to bed at night has become part of our nightly bedtime routine.  There is something very calming about seeing him sleeping (often with his little butt up in the air) - it always seems to make me smile.  I enjoy that the last moments of every day include kisses & I love you's to my boys.

With the flash (Mike shinning a dim light from his ipod on Derek)

What we really see when we "peek"

As great as Friday was, we really struggled this weekend.  It was a weekend where many conversations started out "I think it's your turn to take him for a while."  We struggled mostly with getting him to nap.  Both days he skipped his morning nap and was content to just play in the pack n play quietly.  Afternoon naps then came much earlier in the day and only last 1 1/2 hours.  (A typical afternoon nap is around 2 hours +  1-1 1/2 morning nap).  This lack of sleep really threw off his schedule, which we were okay with but he wasn't.  Each routine ultimately got moved up in the day and we had a very moody little boy.  One minute he was as happy as could be and just when we started thinking things might finally be getting better, his mood flipped and it was suddenly the end of the world that the tower of blocks fell down before he got a chance to knock them down.  He cried when we put him down, he squirmed like crazy if you were holding him....there was just no deciphering what he wanted.  

Sunday was much of the same with the added bonus of a runny nose.  Great, another cold.  Monday morning lead to a difficult conversation with daycare about him being sick, whether he should be there, and his the frequency of illness.  We opted to bring him to daycare because he only had a clear, runny nose.  No temp, no cough, no other cold symptoms.  This afternoon I got a text from daycare which finally gave us the answers to this difficult weekend - another tooth has just broken through, this time on the top.  It's just barely through, but we can feel it and hear it grinding against the bottom ones.

The light bulb went off - his teething symptoms are always a clear runny nose.  He has four new teeth in the last month, which would explain our feeling like he's always sick but yet the doctor's keep saying that he's just fine.  Now that we know, we feel more comfortable about giving him medicine.  (After our first scare with the overdose of medicine that resulted in a call to poison control and the fact that we are just not big medicine people, I struggle with when to give him medicine for discomfort vs over medicating him.)  We're only four teeth in and I'm ready for it to be done.  I'm not looking forward to the rest, especially the molars.  I hear those are particularly bad.