103.7

The first fever little bear ever had (well, minus when he was born) was this past week.  At it's peak it was 103.7!

Fever Face :(      (this was after two 1.5hr naps that day)

Poor guy.  I thought it was only teething at first (he has three molars coming in at once!), because it was lingering around the 100's-101's, but when it hit 103.7 I ran to the store for some baby Advil.  Also another first - his first medicine.  That took his fever down and it never came back over 101, and eventually puttered out the 4th day.  Not sure what it was but other than tired, fussy and lack of appetite, he didn't have any other symptoms.  Glad it's over now though and he's back to his normal self!
Speaking of firsts, there are so many things I need to record, that I've been keeping a running list on a sticky note so I don't forget!
Sounds
I want to remember how, at this age and for the past several months actually, that he uses sounds to mean words about 50% of the time.  For example, if he sees or hears a bird, he doesn't say bird, he says 'TWEET TWEET" in his loudest, highest-pitch voice possible.  Then I usually say, "You're right, birdies!" and he replies, "Muah- Muah" (kissing them), and I say, "Aw, that's nice, you like birdies?" and he says "mmHMM" in a very high-pitched voice.  Also, if he sees a car (or truck) go by he'll say "vroooooommmm" instead of what it is.  Dog's he barks at, cats he meows at.  Vacuums he "vrmmmvrmms" for and guitars he strums his belly saying 'guit-guit-guit' with every strum.

His vocabulary is increasing though - by leaps and bounds.  He hears a school bus (there are about 328,719,487,983 that go through our neighborhood every day) and says "buh!"  In fact, he says that for anything with a diesel engine or air brakes..  :)  it's cute.  He just recently connected his little tonka toy bus (that we used to call a truck because it looks like a truck more than a bus) to what he was seeing out the window and went and got it and showed it to me, excitedly proclaiming 'buh!' like he just put two and two together - it was so sweet!  He's finally saying "down" to mean down, whereas he would use up to mean either up or down.  He hears/sees and airplane and says "ah-pan" and says "Up, up up!"
He's getting better every day at repeating things too, he can almost say trampoline, we're working on please and thank you, and he knows how to say a few of our closest friends' names too. He's really good at saying "Ardra" (Andrew, our roommate), Addie (a 3yr old friend he LOVES), "Maimee" (Amy, our close friend), "Nina" (Christina, we call her nina, close friend of ours), "Siah" (which he whispers for some reason, for Josiah, his 2yr old friend), "Cayee" (Callie, a 4yr old friend) and "Matt" (the guy I went to Africa with the first time). I could spend all day listing all his words - he's such a good little communicator when he wants to be - which is most of the time.
We've also been working on counting, he can signal 1 and almost 2 with his fingers while I count aloud for him.
He's also recently started putting his finger to his lips and saying 'shhhh'.  I think one day when we walked in the room and the cat was sleeping I did it being a little silly - he picked up on it right away and whenever he sees someone or something sleeping he does it.
Actions
Compassion - he is such a sweet boy, seriously.  He loves to give hugs and snuggles and not just to momma and papa, but to Oliver, to his friends, to his stuffed animals, and he makes 'muah-muah' sounds toward most animals he sees too.  It's so sweet.

He is very into cooking lately - real or pretend!  He's always been allowed to play with the pots and pans, and usually they ended up as drums, but lately he's been asking for big spoons and he'll 'stir it' and give me a 'taste' and pretends and everything.  I'm thinking there's a play kitchen in his future because he never goes a day without pretending to 'make something' using the pots and pans.  He even gives 'tastes' to the cat and says "mmm yumm" for him after he's pretended to eat it (sniffed the spoon in most cases).  He loves to help in the kitchen for real too, and I try to let him whenever it's safe.  He loves helping me make cookies or granola by dumping the ingredients in the bowl after I've measured them, or stirring it for me.  He loves helping me push the toaster down in the morning for his toast or pancakes and he'll push the buttons on the microwave sometimes too.

If there's a way for him to help - he will do it.  He. Loves. to help.  Such a little servant's heart and I love it.  Whenever we're outside he asks if he can sweep with the broom because he saw me sweeping the grass clippings one day.  And then he saw me sweeping the kitchen and asked to help with that broom.  He has a real thing for brooms lately.  I need to find one his size because he's had a ton of close calls winging that thing around unintentionally - think:  3 Stooges.
He also loves to help with laundry - gets kind of upset if he can't help actually.  He saw the basket in our closet today with a couple dirty towels in it and brought them to me asking me to fold them.  Didn't like it very much when I said it wasn't time for laundry yet, and that they were dirty so leave them be.  He even asks our roommate if he can help with his laundry.

Climbing - he loves climbing.  On the furniture, on the baskets, and on his hand-me-down trampoline (we have the best friends, ever!).

He was excitedly jumping up and down as fast as he could and screeching :)

He's getting very good at feeding himself with a spoon these days too.  He can successfully shovel oatmeal, greek yogurt and applesauce into his mouth, and only get a little bit on his face/chin.  And he's all about being independent about it too! He'll point to where he wants the bowl of food put on his tray and will gently remove my hand if I attempt to hold onto it after setting it down.

He's very into exploring new things and textures, so I've been trying to oblige him as much as possible - pipe cleaners, rice crispies, cotton balls, magnets, bathtub paints/crayons, he has a lot of fun with it! He has also been paying more attention to textures outside - like mulch, sticks, dirt and grass.

 

 Discovering the magnets wouldn't just fall off :)

Whew, I think that catches me up for a bit - time to erase the list and start a new one!  This little boy never ceases to amaze me and I thank God every day for giving him to us and for letting me be a stay at home momma to this sweet, precious boy!