Badger Family Fun Day!

On Sunday, Felix wasn't feeling like napping, so we decided to check out the Family Fun Day at Camp Randall.  It was pretty warm, but we parked close and had water and the stroller handy.  It's always a thrill to go down on the field (only my second or third time) and look around.  There were lots of players signing autographs and displays of equipment, plus free team posters and trading cards.  We had just entered and saw... Paul Bunyan's Axe!  Right there!  With no line!  Naturally, we had to get a picture.  The significance of the moment obviously hasn't struck Felix yet.

The next (and last because it was too darn hot out) thing we did was stand in line for Coach Bielema's autograph.  We finally got there, had him autograph the team poster, and took a picture of Felix with him (again, unimpressed).  It'll be fun to whip out if Bielema (or his successors) come a' recruitin'.  :o)

Felix: 13 mos

Bad to Worse to Better

Oh, the end of last week was bad. Bad, bad, bad. Felix developed a 102°F fever on Wednesday morning, so I had to go get him from daycare. The fever persisted into Thursday, so I stayed home with him again and took him to the doctor. His pediatrician looked him over top to bottom, checked out his ears, eyes, nose and throat, and pronounced him fine… except for the fever. So we went home to cool him down and wait it out. Because it was so warm at night in our bedrooms, we slept in the basement on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday night, Felix woke at 2:15 am fussing. We found his temperature had risen to 105.4°. That immediately put us into high gear. Instead of taking him straight to the ER, I called the nurse-on-call line through our health insurance. The nice nurse we talked to said that because he had just been to the doctor that day, the doctors in the ER were unlikely to find anything else wrong with him. She suggested we do everything we could to cool him down (difficult, since we were already in the coolest part of our house and Felix was only wearing a diaper) and keep him comfortable. Our sleep for the rest of the night was shot, since Felix fussed unless he was on/near me on the couch, and that wasn’t comfortable for either of us. He managed to fall back asleep a while later. The next morning, he had cooled down considerably, to the point we felt comfortable taking him to daycare. I had a field visit planned for that day, so I wasn’t around in case he really wasn’t ready to go back to daycare. Sure enough, just an hour after Nick dropped him off, we got a call saying we needed to come pick Felix up, since his temperature was back up to 102.7°. Argh! Nick picked him back up and stayed home with him. I was lucky enough to get back early to help out.

By Saturday morning, Felix’s fever had broken and he was doing much better. Then… teething struck. He started cutting what we assume are his top front teeth. Irritable, cranky, just plain unhappy. That was our Saturday and Sunday. Felix was back to his old pre-fever self on Monday (thankfully!), but he still hasn’t cut those teeth. I caved and went a bit granola yesterday, ordering a Baltic amber teething necklace from an Etsy seller in Latvia. Soon, Felix will be rocking his first piece of jewelry! I’ve heard a lot of anecdotal evidence that they work, and with a whole mouthful of teeth yet to cut, we’re willing to try it. Heck, it might even work!

Another new development yesterday - we have an official first word! Ball or “ba!” hasn’t been spoken again, leading us to wonder if it was just a babbling coincidence (he does know what a ball is, just not how to say it every time). Yesterday evening, Felix and I were crawling up the stairs. I pointed to the top and said “up!”. Felix took over the task, pronouncing “uh-puh” over and over (funny little “p” sound at the end). He still got it and said it today. Woo-hoo! First word! We can see the wheels turning as he figures out more about the world. It’s such a joy to watch him figure out something new - his face just lights up with a smile.

Felix: 13 mos

First word?

Forget Mama or Dada.  He's been saying those a lot, since he was 8 or 9 months old, but not specifically to either of us.  Mama is said mostly when he wants food or is eating.  Twice he has come to me saying mama, but he could have just been hungry, as usual.

What we've been waiting for is his first real word, and I think we got it this morning!  I held a little baseball up to Felix and he said "ba!"  Granted, I haven't heard an L-sound out of him yet, so it may have actually been ball that he tried to say.  What to you think - first word?

Felix is officially in the 1-year-old room, as of yesterday!  He seems to enjoy it.  This morning when I dropped off his bag in there, he went over to the toys, started playing, and gave me a huge smile.  I'm happy he's happy.

Felix: 12 mos

Moving Up a Room

Felix has started transitioning to the one-year-old room, and he's loving it. He spent a few days there last week, and apparently didn't like having to go back into the baby room. That's a good sign.

Felix's walking is improving, and he's also cutting his second tooth. The teeth are coming a little slower than I expected, but it's making it a little more manageable.

Nick had his left knee scoped on the 30th. He tore cartilage two years ago playing basketball and finally got around to fixing it. He's recovering well, though he's still pretty immobile.

We had visits recently from Nate and Laura with their son Jack (getting so big!), my family, and Nick's family. It's always nice to have company for a short period.

Felix: 12 mos