16 Months

Wow... it's been busy around here. Let's see, around Jan 21st Jake came down with a little cold, nothing major, just a fever and a slight runny nose. He got better and Mommy came down with a stomach bug the week of the 31st. (Luckily this was the week that we received snow and G was home from work. That worked in my favor!) I finally recovered by Fri and we all went out on Sat Feb. 5th when Jake started to have a little cough. We didn't think much of it until his fever spiked to 102 Sat. night. By Sunday morning he was in pretty yucky shape. He wouldn't eat or drink ANYTHING (which if you know him is VERY rare), the cough was getting worse and his fever wasn't going down. We caved and took him to a clinic Sun afternoon (much to our disliking) but we were worried that it was either a clinic in the afternoon or the ER that night b/c he was getting worse. They tested him for the flu and RSV, both came back negative. They told us it was just a bug he was going to have to work through. He kind of went up and down the following days. He would have moments when he seemed to feel better and then he would crumble. The nights were AWFUL to say the least. Finally Tues night was our breaking point. He still had a high fever, was restless and with every breath he moaned. It was horrible!! We ALMOST took him to the ER that night, but decided if we could get him to sleep we would hold out until our appointment with our pediatrician the next morning. Thank God we did get a little sleep that night and headed to the Dr. Wed. morning. Well, at first glance she could see he was in pretty bad shape. His temp was back up to 102.3 and he was coughing, moaning and his sweet little eyes had lost their sparkle. We got another RSV test, blood work and a chest X-Ray. PRAISE GOD the blood work up and X-Ray came back fine, but the RSV test was now positive. So the next few days were in hover mode. Doing whatever we could to push the liquids to avoid dehydration from the fever, round the clock Tylenol and Motrin, breathing treatments and as much rest as he could get. By Friday, though still coughing, we saw sparks of our fun energetic boy. Today he has FINALLY been fever free for 24 hours and is mostly back to his old self. Of course the cough still sounds awful, he's still doing breathing treatments, and still not eating like he usually does, but he is FINALLY drinking again!! We are definitely out of the woods as far as pneumonia and dehydration scares go!!


So other than germs running crazy through our house (our house that now smells of Lysol) Jake is also running crazy through our house. The boy is in CONSTANT MOTION!! He doesn't walk much anymore, he runs, he jumps, he walks on his toes, he climbs, he dances, he spins, you name it, he's doing it. He still LOVES to be outside and go on walks and he still collects rocks along the way.
These weeks of him and Mommy being sick (unfortunately) has also sparked an interest in DVD's and movies. He has become a huge fan of Mickey Mouse club house... the same 4 episodes b/c they are on DVD and we don't have cable, and his baby Einstein movies. He usually gets to watch one a day in the afternoon while Mommy is getting dinner ready. When he's not sick he is still our big eater. There hasn't been much that he's turned down.
He still loves his books and now has a puzzle that he enjoys doing several times a day. He also loves to play with balls. He has learned to throw pretty well. Unfortunately that is leading to the lesson of what we throw and what we don't throw. He'll get it, he learns quick. I'm sure I'm partial, but our boy is smart ;o) He already does "chores" around the house. He loves to feed Joey in the morning and night and he puts his clothes in the dirty cloths hamper at night. He is sooo good at following directions. He even surprises me at times. When I was sick and G wasn't home I told Jake it was time to clean up his toys and by golly, he did. He put all his toys away, put the balls in the ball basket in his room, the cars in the car basket in his room, books on the shelves, and he even went and put his cloths in the dirty clothes hamper, along with his shoes... but we'll work on that. He puts away his bath toys when bath time is over, he knows that his sippy cup doesn't belong on the floor and will go put it on the table when asked where it goes. When we say it's nap time he willingly goes to his room to get his bear, blankie and paci. He still grows a little impatient when waiting for a meal to be made, but he's getting better at that. He is all about feeding himself and gets a little better everyday. He will even "fly" the food into his mouth at times, it's pretty cute though sometimes messy.
He's still not talking (which is driving Mommy crazy) but everyone says 1. he's a boy! 2. he's VERY active and really doesn't care to concentrate on talking 3. he's only 16 months, 4. He's a boy... I'm trying to be patient and not push him. He can say Dada, BaBa (that's Mama),Ball and his most recent and favorite, Uh-Oh!! Sooooo cute when he says that. I need to get it on video. Now when he's playing he has a few more words, I hear Mama and some other individual consonant sounds. He is VERY good at communicating his needs. He still does the sign language, so that is helpful as well.
He is still taking 2 naps a day, but I'm sure we'll be working on that transition down to 1 pretty soon. We tried it once and he WAS NOT ready. He starts his day each morning between 7:15/7:30, he takes a short nap from about 10-11, another nap from 1:30/2:00-3:30-4:00, then bedtime at 7:30. He's still our great sleeper, though we are having to do a little re-training after he's been sick.
Jake really is a great boy! He is so much fun and keeps me laughing throughout the day. He has a great smile and an even better laugh.
So since everyone was sick this month we don't have enough pictures for a slide show... I know... you're sad. But I put together a few collages because I couldn't let his 16 month post go without sharing his cuteness with everyone!!