I had my first official true medical scare with AJ two weeks ago. I picked him up from daycare and noticed he had some bumps on his cheeks and neck. I asked his provider if it seemed to bother him, and she said she hadn't even noticed it, so it must have just started. He has such sensitive skin, bumps every once and again isn't a rarity. I took him home and lifted up his shirt just to peek, and to my horror, he had at least one bump on every square inch of his skin. I panicked and stripped him down to see if it was all over his body, and lo and behold, it was. I immediately called the dr. on call and got the one doctor at the clinic who I don't care for. He told me that it was not an allergic reaction, rather a rash, and that unless AJ started to get itchy or a fever he will be fine and the rash should go away on its own (he was referring to a reaction from the amoxocillan for an almost-ear infection just that he was on the 9th out of 10th day taking). So, I laid him down at night thinking all was good. When he woke up in the morning the rash was way worse. I sent him to daycare, but called the clinic as soon as they opened at 8:30. I got a better doctor, and she said to ride it out, but to bring him in that afternoon if it didn't get better. She also wanted Jenny (his daycare provider) to give him benadryl and see if the rash would get any better. Jenny did right after his nap, and the rash didn't get better, so I brought him in at the end of the day, and as soon as the doctor looked at him she said it was an allergic reaction, and that he is officially allergic to penecillin. She said we needed to sleep with him at night to monitor his breathing and to keep a close watch on him. This would have been good to know the night before! It took about a week for all of the hives to go away, but the whole time he seemed like such a good trooper and didn't seemed bothered by it at all. Here are a few pictures of AJ the afternoon I took him in to the dr.
I have officially stopped counting the number of words AJ is saying. I think he has hit the point where he learns several words every day. He is labeling everything, and when he doesn't know what the word is, he will say, "what's this?". I have been so proud of how patient he is as I try to figure out what he is saying. We were in the backyard this morning cleaning some of his summer toys when AJ walked into his toy house and said something, but I didn't know what he said. I tried three different times guessing what he was saying, and he patiently repeated his words every time. The fourth time he pointed into the house, and I realized he was saying, "Come on". He was so excited when I realized what he was asking, and more excited to see his huge 7 month pregnant mama trying to squeeze through the door of his house to play with him. I give lots of credit to Jenny for the preschool lessons she has been providing him daily. He can identify most of his colors, can almost sing the whole ABC's, and the other night we were reading books and cuddling and he said, "A says ah. Letters. Alphabet." I couldn't believe it! I asked her the next morning if they have been practicing phonics, and she said they do sing a few phonics songs as part of their preschool lesson. She said they did, and when she started singing the song, he started singing with her. Apparently he knows the sounds for A and B, and sometimes gets C right too.
Now that the weather is nice, we have been spending LOTS of time outside. We go to the park almost every day on the way home from daycare. A little snack and some juice holds off dinner a little later, and we can usually play for a good solid hour. The slide and swing are his two favorite activities, altough AJ also loves to look at the flag, play in the dirt and rocks, and watch the other kids. Here are a few pictures of AJ over the past month.
A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to celebrate Adam's grandmother's 85th birthday. AJ had so much fun singing happy birthday when the cake was brought out, he ended up singing the song the entire way home! At the end of the song (every single time) he clapped and said "yeah" and then pretended to blow out a candle by blowing really hard. We made cupcakes the next day, and now almost every night we put a candle on a cupcake and we sing happy birthday to AJ (and the dogs, the chair, his teddy, etc.) about ten times. We went to toys r us yesterday and he helped pick out his party plates and invitations with thomas on it. He was SO excited when he saw he gets to have a thomas candle for his cake. He kept asking for me to open it, but I was able to distract him when we got to the thomas aisle. Unfortunately it resulted in a mini-tantrum when it was time to leave the train table after about thirty minutes of playing with the mega set they had. I am so excited for him to get the train table and tracks that my parents bought him for his birthday. :) Here is a picture of AJ with Adam and AJ's great-grandma:
