Well, lots really, and that’s probably why I haven’t had much time to write much on here about it all.
Jack is getting on really well – he’s not yet walking, talking or voting or anything like that, but he’s getting there.
Walking – he’s now at that stage whereby he wants to push his baby walker around the house, rather than sit in it. In fact, I’ve tried to put him in it several times over the last week or two and he just gets annoyed/frustrated, as that wasn’t what he wanted! He just wants to stand behind it, and push it until he runs out of house to push it to, then turns around and does the same thing again.
He’s getting more and more confident with his walking too – he’s now in ‘cruising’ mode, which means that he can stand up-right using against the sofa and use it help him along it to where he wants to go, but as far as proper steps are going, not yet.
Talking – he’s starting to say words like ‘mama’, ‘dada’, ‘kaaah’ (for ‘car’ as they go by the front of the house) but these words are currently all interchangeable, and it makes for a change to be called a car and the dustbin be called ‘dada’. Claire’s dad is trying to get him to say ‘Thermostatic Radiator Valves’, but I think this might be a few more days off yet, Grand-dad.
Voting – Well, not in the sense that you’re thinking, nor that I probably implied, but in a way, he is trying to get his point across by waiving his hand/finger in the area as if to say ‘take me that way, peasant!’, but mostly it’s towards the Sky box, which he desperately needs to hit with his fist, and then push right to the back of the TV stand, whilst holding onto the Playstation.
Illness - He’s had his first proper virus – Hand Foot and Mouth disease. No, it’s not the Foot and Mouth disease that sheep and cows get, but more the baby variety that extends to the mouth also. And I don’t get why it’s called a disease, as when I think ‘disease’, I think like serious, proper diseases, not infections like this.
So, Jack had it first and then soon passed it onto his ma and pa for good measure. Basically, it’s an infectious virus transferred through the saliva and poo, and results in a majorly sore throat and spots/blisters on the hands/arms, feet/legs and face around the mouth area.
Jack had it for a few days, and prior to the spots appearing, we honestly thought he was off his food because of another tooth coming through (he currently has the four front teeth), until Claire took him to the Quack’s to find out it’s HF&M.
He was up crying a lot of the nights, but didn’t seem to take long before he was back to normal. The spots are very nearly gone, and the only ones left are the ones that blistered really badly and was sore. The ones on his face have almost gone entirely with very little or no marking left behind.
As I said, Claire and I have both had it too, as well as my mum catching it too. Claire had the spots and a bit of a sore throat for a few days – I had loads of spots and probably the worst sore throat I have ever had. It got to the point whereby I could only really eat ice-cream and Angel Delight, drinking only pints of Nesquik banana milkshake, as everything else felt like it was burning a hole in the back of my throat, and then came the pain of actually trying to swallow something.
It honestly felt I had a ball of nails wedged at the rear of my throat for days. I’m in day six of recover now and it’s the first day I haven’t need to rush for the pain killers. The pain is still there and definitely on it’s way out, but I really hope I don’t come across that one again. ‘Thanks’ Jack.
My mum came over one afternoon, picked up ‘the lurgie’ and also had time off work because of it!
“More Room!” - In other news, Jack has taken over another room in the house – we’ve ejected the spare bed and made way for his playroom. It’s much better, as it means that all of his toys are based up there now, and we can have the downstairs back to semi-normal again.
Booby-Juice is no longer on the menu for Jack. Claire was hoping to slow this down just before she started back at work, but it turns out the well started to go dry by itself naturally. He’s now on powered-milk, also known as ‘plastic-milk’, which is ok, but it smells really bad/different to anything else. He doesn’t seem to notice the difference.
Food – Jack has eating things from the real world too. If we’re eating something that we think he might try, he has a bit of that.
The meals that Claire is making for him are probably better than the stuff we’re eating, as it’s all cooked fresh for him and contains absolutely no rubbish in there at all; all of the menus up until recently have come from the Annabel Karmel recipe books, but she’s also been scouring the internet for new recipes for him.
Actually, the meals that he has isn’t just baby-mush – they’re all using things like rib-eye steak, salmon, and fresh fruit, etc. If they weren’t all blended to a pulp before being frozen, you’d probably eat it and probably like it too. I do (occasionally), and I do.
