The Richie Show: Sick....Very Sick!

As the name implies, Richie is VERY under the weather. He sounds like a 60 year old man with a two-pack-per-day smoking history. It started last Saturday with a little cough than blossomed into massive amounts of snot and coughing of sputum to the point where he made himself vomit five times yesterday and last night. We decided it was worthy of a trip to the doctor to see what they thought. I was thinking it was a viral URI since the highest fever we'd measured was 100.6F. But, the doctor found an ear infection, too and that is still treated presumptively with antibiotics until age 2. So, even though that was not my intent, we started them tonight. I was worried that he was going to get worse over the weekend and I wanted to have had him seen before Sunday rolled around and we were spiraling down hill. Hopefully the antibiotics will help and, if not, a tincture of time will certain do the trick.

He lost his voice for the first time, but when he's covered with Ibuprofen or Tylenol, his throat must not hurt badly because he's babbling up a storm. I think he likes the way it sounds. Also, when he's treated well, he is bouncing off of the walls but when the medications wear off, he is miserable....utterly miserable. But, that's all a good sign. He's drinking plenty of water even without us having to remind him, but he's not all that interested in food. Again, not too surprising. ML stayed up with him most of the night last night and did a pretty good job napping with him. When you clear him out with a suction bulb, he can sleep for about an hour. Although, with this cold, he has learn to blow his nose! So, we may not need the bulb too much longer. Although, I will say that it still is able to get a lot of junk that he is unable to force out of his nose. If we could just keep him from puking. He covered ML at least 3 times yesterday. Actually, today has not been as pukeolicious, fortunately.

In other Richie News: We were listening to NPR weekend before last (actually we listen all the time because we don't have a TV) and there was a competition going on for a temporary replacement for the announcer for the Michael Feldman (on Whad'Ya Know) and Richie walks towards me in the kitchen and says, quite clearly, "Michael!" He doesn't as clearly enunciate it when you ask him to say it, but he was looking right at me and right next to me when he did say it! If I could get him to repeat it consistently, I'd call in!

Richie has also started saying "bagel" and "beagle," and he knows the difference, too! Actually he started with bagel and we taught him beagle. Then we taught him the difference...for a few hours, they were the same thing. He's also saying "me" and "baby." Although baby usually comes out with a French accent, "Ba'Be'" I guess French is really Bebe, but his sounds more cute. He's flying upstairs these days and doing very well going down stairs. He's doing a good job holding our hand while he walks places. And, amazingly, he's still letting us keep him rear-facing in the car without having a fit about it!

Bed-time is rapidly approaching for me, so here are some pictures from last December that I have not had the chance to post...

This is the infant/toddler section of the science center. The age limit is 2y, so his days are numbered. Fortunately, he is starting to take advantage of rest of the childrens' room.

Strike a pose!

I think we'll miss this place as much or even more than Richie. The water bed area is a really fun place to relax. And express your frustrations with your partner!