Each time I have doubts that there is something I do not know because I am a parent to my first child, Jonathan teaches me what it is I need to know! (Like what is the difference between normal baby burping up milk and throwing up - milk flying a meter away in a curve is an indication that something is wrong!...a lesson I learned when he was two months old.) This time he showed me what a really sick boy looks like!
In the last month he has been suffering a rather stubborn cold with coughing and a running nose, but all the time he has been still his happy self! Even when he has fever, he still is in a good mood and he always eats well. The last week he has had fever and in the evenings he began to me more whiny, and I was getting worried. Still taking him to the doctor to be told its just a virus seems wasting everyones time. A good friend who is a nurse also told me there was indeed a fever virus about... But this last Saturday he got a nasty virus that caused him to throw up and he was poorly all day! My usually active and happy boy became passive and simply wanted to lean on mummy and sleep all day!
This sudden change in his behavior got me really scared and we went to an emergency clinic to have him checked. His blood count was taken to check for reaction to viruses or rather to make sure his body was coping – and urine was checked to make sure he was not dehydrating. Both tests were good and so we were sent home!
We kept shoving a bottle into his mouth and coaxed him to drink baby milk and tea (there was no thinking about solid food in his condition), but he threw up three times! Still we managed to get him to drink and thus to prevent dehydration and the need to return to the clinic. He got a bath three times and we had three washing machines...but it was all we could do!
As he laid against me, I held him with divided feelings. On the one hand it was just great having him so close to me all day! Cuddly! He slept so soundly on my breast (you gotta give it to the boy, he knows from the start where the good things in life are...) and it was a comfort to know that my presence soothes him. My husband said the sight of Jonathan sleeping leaning on my chest was one of the beautifulest things he had ever seen!On the other hand, it was is clear that he was so unwell and so it broke my heart! There was however nothing to do but wait it out!
The most amazing part is how resilient kids are! In the evening he was already showing signs of improvement by a willingness to toss the toys I offered to him away in anger (still some reaction is better than the child lying passively on my chest all day!). On Sunday morning, after a good night's sleep the boy was as good as new! Active, playing and eating as if the “Saturday of scaring mom” had never happened!
It is Tuesday now and the boy is right as rain! However, I think he remembers Saturday and that I had allowed him to cuddle, because in the evenings when he is tired and hence cranky, he has taken to climbing all over me in the last days. Oh, he has climbed on me before, but the intensity seems to be stronger now! He is more clingy, especially when he is tired! Today he showed me that he wanted to drink his bottle of milk held in my arms! (Normally he likes his space...) He whines when I leave the room he is in, or even when I walk away from him in the same room, and today he followed me and twice when doing so he mumbled “Imme”. It is almost as if he knows that the Hebrew word for mommy is IMMA. I cannot be sure that “Imme” was meant for me, but he did it twice this evening and in a situation in which he was following me and obviously asking for my attention (I.e. a hug- he wants to be taken up in my arms and be carried about). It really looked like he meant it! Yohoo! It makes my heart melt! Just thinking of it! My little boy calling out to me! Wonderful!
He has also been saying “Abba” on occasion (the Hebrew word for daddy) but in this case I still do not think he really is referring to his father just yet...amazing though, his sound arsenal is growing every day!
He is pushing chairs and walking after them, leaning on them as he goes, and he “surfs” around our living room table (walking and leaning on it, sometimes pushing it forward to walk! So strong!). He is everywhere! Up and about! turning out the house and especially plastic bags is is newest hobby! And he is practicing drinking out of a cup when he is in the bath! He takes his bath in the big tub now, sitting in it! He also can put bowls into each other (he got this toy made of ten bowls of different colors and sizes that fit into each other like a babushka, a gift from his god mother – one of them... he has three god mothers and a godfather, not to mention parents, twp pairs of grandparents and 4 uncles and aunts...) He even can return magnets to their place on our magnetic fridge door!
The boy is almost 10 months old and is growing and making new achievements every day – so it is easy to believe that he really is calling out for his mommy, and if not today, then soon enough! Soon he will talk for real! And then, so the good old souls say, we will wish that he shut up! Ha ha. Until then, my biggest wish is that he stay healthy! With the summer coming to a close and winter in the kindergarten approaching, this is really a big wish!
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