An Eager Little Eater

Brady had a fantastic week at daycare. His teachers seemed very happy to have him back at school. They also report that his spitting is starting to taper off! Unfortunately, he's still coming home with his outfits in little plastic baggies. Apparently, there's just something about little boys and their ability to render diapers ineffective.

Although he's tinkered with it here and there, he's never fully committed to feeding himself with his bottle...until this week. He not only held his bottle for its duration, he repeatedly pulled it away from and put it back into his own mouth. It's funny how such seemingly small things can be such big deals!


















Now that the kiddo is feeling better, we introduced him to his first solid food - rice cereal. He took to it immediately! He figured out the spoon on the second try.













Emma appears to have taken to the rice cereal as well. She's more than eager to clean up the resulting mess.

Sickypoo

February 16-20, 2009: We were looking forward to enjoying the national holiday by hanging out in our p.j.s longer than we ought to and watching Hoda and Kathie Lee on the fluffy hour of the Today show. But instead, we abandoned Grammy on the last day of her visit and headed to the pediatrician's office. Brady had decided that he wasn't all that hungry and his cough was getting deeper and sounded worse. He was still a happy guy, though. No fever. The doc listened to his wheezy chest and looked in his eyes, ears and throat. She had to scrape a honkin' chunk of ear wax out of his right ear, too. BW did *not* like that! Diagnosis: bronchiolitis.

We picked up Grammy and headed to Walgreens for an aerochamber and some Ventolin. The doc also recommended Pedialite to keep the boy hydrated while he refused to eat. Too bad he refused to drink it, even though it was flavorless and mixed with his milk.

Unfortunately, Brady started in with a fever that night and was irritable for days. We learned quickly that we are two parents spoiled by a child that never cries...except when he doesn't feel good! Tylenol helped dramatically. But the lingering fever brought us back to the pediatrician where we learned he'd contracted his first ear infection. Yeah! Pink-medicine (amoxicillin) time! Surprisingly, Brady wasn't as excited about the pink medicine as I was. So we had the poor kid on a regimin of butt-temperature-taking with each diaper change, Tylenol every four hours, Ventolin four times per day and amoxicillin twice per day. What a good, tolerant patient he is. And we had to prep a batch of four-paste for the firey diaper rash that started up right after his first dose of antibiotics.

And let me tell you, it is imperative that all new parents find some device for propping up their sick kid. We use this contraption. Congested heads and ear infections are mighty painful. We even moved the positioner to the changing pad each time we changed his diaper. We also got our money's worth of of our glider/recliner. If you have to sleep all night while holding your baby upright, you might as well be comfortable!

He Keeps Growin' and Growin' and Growin'

Brady went to see the doctor on January 28. He was 15 lbs 3 oz (45th percentile), 25.5 inches (60th percentile) and his head measured 43 inches (60th percentile). He was a happy little man at his appointment, kicking around on the table and staying warm beneath mom's jacket. I'd forgotten a blankie but luckily remembered Paci. As it turns out, my little trooper didn't need Paci! He took his four shots in the leg like a pro. Sure, he wasn't happy to be stuck in the leg with those sharp, sticky needles, but Brady didn't shed a single tear. He was back to smiling and kicking around 40 seconds later. Unfortunately, the week of antibiotics left the boy with a raging inferno of a diaper rash. The doc recommended "four paste" which is a mixture of equal weight old-fashioned Desitin, cortisone 1%, polysporin and lotrimin. We took it easy with the lotrimin (cause I hate lotrimin) and that butt was back to a healthy pink in 2-3 days!


The doc also advised that we can begin our first "solid" food between now and his next appointment. We bought the rice cereal and some cute new infant spoons. But Brady is not feeling well so we're going to give him a day or two to kick this cold before introducing new stuff.


These days, Brady spends a lot more time staying busy at "the office" and chattering up a storm on his changing table. He has started saying "di-da" and "da-da." "Ahh-ooo" continues to be part of his repertoire. I think he's working on his G's, too, as he appears to be shaping his gurgles a bit.


Brady has also graduated from bath time in the kitchen sink to the big-boy tub! He loves to kick and splash! And now he has room to play with toys!


Brady is doing wonderful at daycare. His teachers, Miss Jen, Miss Janice, Miss Donna and Miss Laura all love him. Miss Jen reports that Brady is 100% happy 99.9% of the time. The only time he fusses is when you don't get his bottle to him fast enough. He also continues to be a cat-napper. A good day includes two 20 minute naps. Although there have been a few days when we've taken him home in the same outfit we brought him in with, he continues to be the "bib-kid" and his teachers remain on guard for a sneak-spit-attack. Plus, since graduating to size 2 diapers, Brady creates far less clothing for Mom to soak in Oxiclean at the end of the day.