Fighting the Flu

It's been a busy April. Luke has been developing at an astounding rate. Unfortunately, for the past weekend, he's been sick. He's got all the symptoms of the flu. He's had a really high fever for several days, and if it persists we'll have to take him to the doctor. He's started having a slightly runny nose and it sounds like he's very congested, especially when he first wakes up. He is also very unhappy when he wakes up, but usually after a bottle he calms down pretty well.

Luke is ridiculously fast at crawling. It's quite easy to get distracted for a couple seconds and find him clear across the room. He's fascinated with cords in particular, so it's quite often you find him rocketing toward one. He also likes remote controls and computers.

He has only just discovered the television. At first he liked seeing reflections in it when it was off. Then he started associating the background noises he heard with the TV when it was on. We try to keep him from watching too much, but it is very helpful at times, especially when he's sick and can't seem to calm down. For example, over the weekend he wouldn't let me put him down due to his illness. He was quickly getting bored of his other toys, but I put a movie on and he calmed enough to fall asleep.

We've started taking him outdoors now that it's warmer. He loves it. He heads for the sliding door when he's indoors and starts banging on it. We let him play a bit in the yard, but he wants to eat everything he sees, so we have to keep a close eye on him.

He's eating a variety of foods now. He doesn't really refuse to eat anything for me, but Melissa has had him deny her a few times. He's got about half a tooth in, so we've had to start taking care when feeding him by hand.

He's still growing like a weed. We're at the point that we're starting to have to buy him clothes; up to this point we had plenty of hand-me-downs to keep him going.

He still isn't talking, but he's definitely started trying. He is now jumbling his different sounds together. It's not just "dadadada" anymore; it's more like "dabemosadada" and similar.

We've worked on his permanence memory. He loves peekaboo type games. He hasn't had too many issues with us leaving the room. He does cry if we put him in a standing toy and then try to work on things in a nearby room.

He crawls and pulls himself up on everything. He also very cautiously puts himself down. He definitely understands that pain will come if he falls, so he tries diligently to avoid it. This is also why he's started immediately sitting when we try to walk him around. He'll have to muster up some bravery to try walking.

One habit we're trying to kick is the "pbbbbbb" while eating. When Luke eats, often he'll stick his tongue out and happily shower his parents with his meal. We haven't really taught him the concept of "No", but I'm hoping we can soon. Chicken with banana / apple baby food gravy really isn't that good.

Luke Playing Basketball - 8 Months