HFM

For his fifteen month birthday, Cale got a fever. He woke me up at 4 am to tell me he didn't feel well. Luckily, infant Motrin took care of that fever, but I took him to see the doctor this morning (Cale weighs 21 pounds, 14.3 ounces, and has a normal temperature after the Motrin). She says he probably has Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease (with pictures) because that's going around; sometimes the only sign is 2 or 3 days of high fever of 101 to 103 °F. In a nutshell, it's caused by several virii including several types of the coxsackievirus (an enterovirus) and symptoms include a rash on the hands and on the feet and in the mouth, fever, sore throat, decreased appetite, or irritability. It's more common in children, especially under the age of 10, because adults have an immunity to any of those virii if they've been exposed. Other than that, it's highly contagious, so I expect we'll all get something (unless we've had that particular virus before).

One fish, two fish ...

After dinner, I said I would tackle the mountain of dirty dishes if Daddy took the kids out to run off some energy (he loved that idea!). So I'm a little sorry that I missed this one, but at least our kitchen is much cleaner now.

Daddy, Karston, and Cale put on their life preservers and went in the pedal boat on our lake because Karston wanted to fish. Karston and Daddy brought their fishing poles. Cale sat between them in the boat, and he kept climbing over to grab Daddy's fishing pole. So Daddy let Cale hold the fishing pole. Twenty seconds after Cale started holding his fishing pole, it started to wiggle! Cale caught a fish! The routine here is that the fish-catcher (almost always Karston) and Karston get to touch the fish before we release it. So everyone touches the fish before he swims off, and then Cale gets to hold the fishing pole again. But whoa, whoa, what's this? Another fish on Cale's pole!

Cale held the fishing pole with a line in the water four times, and he caught three fish! I didn't know he was going for the title of world's youngest fisherman or I would have sent him out fishing before he was 14 months old, but it seems as though catching three fish at his age should be some sort of record. I'm sure he's the youngest person to catch fish from our lake. He's a talented child, and I think he loves fishing as much as Karston!

Whooping Cough

We took the kids to the doctor (yet again, for the third or fourth time in a week or two), and Karston has whooping cough. If you listen to the "Sound of a child with whooping cough WITHOUT whooping" link, that's exactly what Karston sounded like last night just before he threw up. Karston's symptoms match a pertussis diagnosis quite well, so Dr. Goldbach made a savvy call.

What I learned from some online research is that you can get whooping cough even if you're vaccinated, but you get a milder case (so even if it doesn't prevent all pertussis, the vaccine is still a good idea); the vaccine also wears off over time if you don't get a booster. Adults are a "reservoir" of pertussis since we get milder cases, and the transmission rate within a household is 75 to 80%. Most pertussis is mild, and goes largely undiagnosed and unreported. Most people with whooping cough don't make the whooping sound; only about half of the infected children do. Whooping cough has also been called the hundred day cough (ick!).

So that means this week, both kids are on an antibiotic that tastes vile. Poor kids! However, it's the only way to keep Cale from catching whooping cough, and I don't want him on this ride.

Cale Walks!

Cale decided not to take a nap this afternoon. About 3pm, Cale was still hesitant about walking. Around 4pm when we encouraged him to walk, he took off! Two Fridays ago, he took his first two steps for Amy, fell down, and wouldn't try it again. But three days later, on Monday, he was enjoying going down the slide and taking two to four steps to Mommy before jumping in my arms and asking to slide again. He did that four times, so it wasn't a fluke! We've had two weeks of Cale taking a few steps unassisted before reaching for one of us and falling into our arms. Later this afternoon, he walked six feet unassisted with a huge proud grin. I can't believe a young child who spiked a fever Friday afternoon that didn't break until last night (and I'm sure he still feels awful although he's been remarkably agreeable considering) is mastering a complex new skill less than a day after his fever dropped.

Poor little guy just woke up to tell us he feels awful. His cry is between a cry and a groan. Yet he was determined to learn to walk instead of taking an afternoon nap!

So one month after his first assisted steps, Cale is well on his way to unassisted walking!

Stairs

About three weeks ago, Cale told me that his favorite activity was to climb up and down our carpeted stairs. He did this for 45 minutes, with me right behind him to prevent falls, while Karston napped until I was bored. This evening Karston and Cale were playing very happily downstairs, so we rushed upstairs to wash up before the bedtime routine. I finished first, and as I was headed down the hall to go back downstairs to the boys when who did I see crawling down the hall towards me but Cale! He had a very proud look on his face too! He went up the stairs all by himself, and then had to find someone to see his boast in action! Independent little fellow.

Fearless

For Mother's Day, I learned that Karston is fearless. In fact, I almost wish he weren't so brave because if he had a sense of self-preservation then I wouldn't have to worry about him every second. Daddy has been reading some Scholastic books to Karston, and one was about being afraid. Not only was Karston not afraid of the examples, he said I want to go on a roller coaster! when he saw that one.

When Daddy asked me what I wanted to do in the evening for my Mother's Day, Karston said I wanted to go swimming. So of course that was what I wanted to do, and we all suited up for the hot tub. Both kids were in their floats bobbing around when Karston said he wanted to swim. I thought he meant Jeni's game where he leaps from her arms to my arms and back again, so I showed Daddy how to play. That was a good start, but he really meant that he wanted to learn to swim. The hot tub is shallower and smaller than most pools, we were both there, and Cale was happy in his float. So we showed him how to float on his back, but he said he wanted to learn dog paddle. (I don't know where he picked that up, but he remembers everything interesting.) Cale didn't like the splashing (when he wasn't the one splashing), so we hopped out and I hovered after Cale and I were dry. Karston learned that bobbing up really high also causes him to sink low, and that came with a big gulp of water. Ick! He coughed that out, and threw up ... and insisted to swim some more. Many times he went under for a second before Daddy lifted him up, but he kept going. He even threw up again, but didn't want to stop. Finally when he was clearly worn out, I scooped him out with his favorite towel. Karston was sure he should keep going, but he could barely stand. He's not afraid of the water, not discouraged by swallowing water or by throwing up, and not willing to slow down when he's exhausted. I could wish for more caution, but Karston is one brave child!

Sand Bar

Late last week, Daddy's cousin Mike and three of his friends came to visit us. Friday, everyone (except me and Cale) went to Wilmington to ride to Swansboro on Joe's boat. Karston loves riding on Joe's boat, and talks about it for months afterwards. (They did this same trip last year too.) Since this low tide was exceptionally low, Joe's boat got stuck on a sand bar, and they had to wait (and wait) for a tow.

Daddy and Karston came home last night. Karston had a great time playing in the bath, and when we checked on him, he was bunching up the washcloth, stranding his boat on it, and calling Help! I'm stuck on a sand bar! I need a tow! Karston thought this was the greatest bath-time game ever! I'm sure we'll hear many more variations on this theme. Guess what event stuck in his mind?