Head-banger

Andy has not had a good week as far as head-injuries go...a few days ago he fell into the corner or edge of a kitchen chair and got a little bruise under his right eye, which you can still see. Last night he fell down a step onto the wood floor and hit the left side of his face: his forehead above the eye and his cheek just below the eye; it was pretty red last night and he did NOT like me icing it, so we gave him some Tylenol before bed. You can see some bruising from that today, but not as bad as I'd have expected based on how it looked last night. Today we were at a friend's house and he was reaching down to get a toy from the floor when he slipped and fell into the edge of their kitchen island, resulting in a nice red mark straight down the middle of his forehead. Then shortly after we got home he and Kaylee were playing with a ball and somehow she ended up sort of landing on him and shoving his face into the floor (carpet, at least, and that fall/smush doesn't appear to have left any marks - and he didn't cry that time). The poor kid is going to be one huge bruise if he keeps this up!

Pre-Op Appointment

Andy has a hydrocele, a fluid-filled sack in the scrotum - a quick search led me to this description, and inguinal hernia - quick search results for that, and will be having surgery to correct them next week. His pediatrician noticed it at an early well visit (maybe his 4 month one?) and we took him to a urologist when he was around 5 months old. The urologist confirmed it and said they often correct themselves by the child's first birthday. We took Andy in again at 1 year old and it had decreased in size, but was definitely still there, so surgery was recommended.

Late yesterday afternoon I started feeling run down and cold - I had a slight fever and just had zero energy. I took some Tylenol and went to bed at 6:30! Tossed and turned some, got up for a couple potty breaks, but mostly slept until after 7 this morning. Andy's pre-op appointment was this morning, but I was just not up to doing anything, so Jamie took him. It was an uneventful appointment, so I didn't miss much, but he brought home some paperwork that we have to take to the hospital with us next week. I looked over it a little while ago and found it funny that they gave us the discharge paperwork to bring, as well...already completed! So Andy's surgery, that is a week from now, went well and he was in good condition upon discharge. Nice. They did make it sound like a pretty easy/minor/routine surgery as far as things go, but still...

Andy has 11 teeth!

On Saturday I noticed that Andy had another molar broken through - then this morning I felt another on the other side! Today's is barely through yet, and I had thought it felt like Saturday's tooth came through sometime that day, but now I'm thinking it had been a few days. In any case, he's now up to 11 teeth broken through and one more that I can feel under his gums, so likely soon. The two recent ones are the top left then top right 1st molars. I'm just happy that he's having such an easy time with teething! Somehow we lucked out with both Kaylee and Andy on this front!!

My Little Brusher

Andy must pay attention when Kaylee brushes her teeth, as he knew just what to do the other day when I got his toothbrush out for the first time. After 3 days of it, he's already an old pro.

Soaring temps

Poor little Andy came down with a fever early Thursday afternoon - highest I saw on our ear thermometer was 102.9. I gave him some Tylenol and after 1/2 hour he was acting pretty fussy so I put him down for an early nap. He slept nearly 3 1/2 hours!! (I did hear him moan a couple times, then I checked on him once at about 3 hours in to make sure he was okay - he was.) When he finally woke and I got him his shirt and sleep sack were soaked in sweat. I was hoping his fever had broken, but within an hour his temperature was back up to nearly 101. So we gave him more Tylenol before bed and hoped he'd sleep well.

He didn't wake up overnight, so that was good, but in the morning he was burning up again - fever back up to 102.6 - more Tylenol. I was already scheduled to go to Kaylee's school at 9 to be a Mystery Reader again, so Baba came to stay with Andy while I did that. She put him down for nap while I was gone and he woke around 10:30. The Tylenol was still helping, but he was still warm and not his usual happy self, so I called the pediatrician's office and left a message for a nurse to call back. She told us that since he had no other symptoms, it was likely a reaction to the MMR vaccine he had gotten the week before. I was not even thinking about that, since his appointment was a week before on Tuesday, but she said reactions often don't present until 7-10 days after vaccination - Thursday when his fever started was 9 days later. Seems so weird!! She said unless other symptoms did show up we should just keep giving him Tylenol as the fever persisted, and even if his temperature got up to 104-105 to just switch to ibuprofen and give him lukewarm baths to help cool him down.

Luckily his fever never got very high again - I think after we talked with the nurse, the highest it got was about 101.5. So he took Tylenol before bed last night and again this morning (temp was right around 100), but after his morning nap and then the rest of today (Saturday), his temperature was back to normal and he was acting pretty happy again and has seemed fine. I'm thankful it didn't last longer! It's definitely no fun seeing your baby miserable and not being able to fix it.

More words & signs for Andy

In the past week or so (since I posted the last updates about his talking and signing), Andy has added some new words. He now signs (his version of the signs) sleep and I love you.

A couple new favorite words have formed, too. One is drop; mostly used when he's in his high chair and is done eating or drinking - he holds a fist full of food over the edge of the tray, says, "drop!" (sort of sounds like wop or ooh-wop) then either watches it fall or looks at me with a mischievous grin before dropping it (or if I'm lucky I get it before he can drop it). He also says "up" when he wants to be picked up. This is usually followed by him grunting and pointing at something that he wants you to take him over to. This "up" is not to be confused with the "up" or "hup" that means help, so you have to pay attention. :) When I push him in the little ride-in car we have, I say go, stop, fast and slow as I do those things. I think he also tries to say "fast" now - that seems to be his favorite part of the car rides!

On a non-communication note, he likes to ride in his car with one or both feet kicked way up by the steering wheel, which is funny to see - basically his hands and feet are all at the same level.

Little Walking Andy!

Since a little before his birthday, Andy's been taking a few steps here and there. On 2/17 and 2/18 he would take 4-5 or so steps before falling forward into someone's arms or plopping down onto the floor. A few days later he walked 8-10 steps at a time, and once that day did about 20, but still was mostly just walking a few steps at a time here and there. Yesterday I took Andy, Kaylee and Erin to Catch Air and I guess Andy decided it was time to walk - maybe it's boring at home and he liked all the new things and bright colors at Catch Air? Who knows? Anyway, he walked for over 30 seconds (I know because the video I took is just over 30 seconds :) ) and did so again at home later that day. Something finally clicked! Though he still mostly crawls - it is still much faster!!