My, what a month we've had! First things first, you are now a full fledged walker! You're most stable on bare feet and hardwood floors, but you're getting better on grass and sand (even though you look like a drunken sailor). To add to this effect, you haven't quite realized the importance of looking where you're going and often trip over things (like KG). You were chasing a bird at the park one day and walked right off the edge of the sidewalk and fell into the sand. After this happened twice, you learned your lesson. Since then, there have been less falls and you're also getting faster. You're so confident with your skills that you now like to up the difficulty by putting on my glasses or placing a bucket on your head (have I mentioned that you're a little comedian).
After going through all of your pictures for last month's blog post, I decided that we couldn't wait any longer to get your haircut. Daddy called and made an appointment with Frank (the barber who cut his hair for the first time). He was also a good friend of your grandpa Hacker. On the morning of May 12 we drove out to Woodbury for this momentous occasion.
You sat really still at first...
but after a few minutes your curiosity got the best of you and you kept trying to look at what Frank was doing. I fed you a pouch, which bought us about another 30 seconds...
Then, daddy sat in the chair and held you so Frank could finish up.
I was really impressed by what a great job he did with a wiggly little toddler. If I had tried, I'm pretty sure you would have lost an ear! Best of all, you didn't lose your cute little curls in the back (they've just been reigned in a little)!
The rest of the day was spent running errands and getting the house cleaned up for our Mother's Day brunch the next morning. You had a runny nose and a little cough, but were your normal busy little self. Grandma White was going to babysit that evening because we had dinner plans with your great-grandma Hacker. I was changing your diaper before we left when I noticed that your belly and neck were pulling in and out with each breath that you took. You were also wheezing and breathing faster than normal. I immediately called the nurse line and they told us to take you to the emergency room. Daddy and I were so scared! We decided to go to Children's Hospital, even though there are several hospitals closer, and I'm so glad that we did. We were there for over three hours and worked with several wonderful nurses and doctors. Everyone was so nice and did such a great job helping you and making sure that you weren't scared. In fact, the only time you cried through all of it was when daddy and I had to stop you from playing with something that you shouldn't. You were such a brave little guy! All of the doctors and nurses were impressed and thought you were so cute. They called you a "happy wheezer" and said that if any of us had the symptoms that you had, we would be curled up in bed miserable. It hardly slowed you down at all!
Playing in the waiting room.
Long story short, they diagnosed you with an upper respiratory infection and reactive airway disease. It's very similar to asthma, but they don't call it that unless you have several episodes (we're hoping that doesn't happen). They gave you a nebulizer treatment, which helped immediately. Since your breathing and wheezing improved so much they decided that they didn't have to do an x-ray and (best of all) that you wouldn't have to stay overnight. They sent us on our way with our very own nebulizer, albuterol, and antibiotics (for a little ear infection that was starting in one of your ears). It was the most wild Saturday night we've had in a while!
For the next several days we had to do three nebulizer treatments per day, which required you to sit still for 15 minutes, while wearing a mask, and breathing in the medicine. It was a nightmare since you do not like to sit still!! We even tried distracting you with cartoons, but not even that worked... Luckily, at your follow-up, we were told to do it only as needed. Whew!
You got over your sickness pretty quickly, but I thought we were going to have to take another trip to the ER earlier this week. I was taking a shower while you were napping when I heard you start to stir. I quickly finished my shower and, about 5 minutes later, went in to get you. Much to my shock, there was blood all over you, your bed, and even on the floor! You were standing in your crib, perfectly calm, which almost made me more freaked out... I picked you up and tried to figure out where the blood was coming from. At first it kind-of looked like you had a bloody nose, but then I realized the blood was coming from your mouth. When I finally got you to open your mouth for me I saw that the little piece of tissue that attaches your upper lip to your gum was torn! Oddly enough, I did the same thing when I was a toddler (again you have inherited clumsy genes) so I figured it must be a somewhat common thing. It stopped bleeding pretty quickly and, after a little internet research, I learned that there's nothing they can do to fix it and that it's no big deal. Again, whew! Besides those incidences, we've had nothing but fun this month...
Because you were so sick our annual Mother's Day brunch was postponed one week. It was so nice to celebrate with everyone. You have some amazing grandmas and great-grandmas!
Later that afternoon, we went to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. You enjoyed walking around and climbing on the sculptures...
...and chasing your shadow down the arbor path.
We had such a warm spring that lots of the flowers in our garden have already bloomed. You find them very fascinating and want to pull them all out of the ground.
I've been trying to teach you to be gentle with them and to smell them. At least you're catching on to the sniffing concept...
We took another trip to the Minnesota Zoo a couple weeks ago. We hadn't been there when it was warm yet, so we were able to see a lot more animals. The only down side was that it was over 90 degrees and you wanted to be carried a lot of the time. Daddy and I were very sweaty! Your favorites that day were the brown bear and leopard (who you tried to wake up by pounding in the glass).
You also loved the fossil find.
On Memorial Day, we went to grandma and grandpa White's for a barbeque. You ate lots of blueberries and watermelon and played with grandpa's cymbal. He's encouraging you to be a drummer. You seem like a natural!
Other than that, we've been enjoying lots of time outside. You LOVE playing at parks, however these outings have become a little stressful for me. You're no longer content swinging or letting me hold you down the slide. Instead, you want to dive headfirst down the big slides and climb way too high on structures that are not safe for a mere one year old. The park has become a bit of a battle- I'm constantly chasing you around and taking you away from unsafe situations (while you're kicking and screaming)... As a result, we've spent more time playing in our own backyard with age appropriate toys and activities. You seem to like it almost as much as the park and have started pounding on the backdoor several times throughout the day to let me know you want to go outside.
I'm blown away by how much you're learning. You try to do pretty much everything you see see Daddy and I doing (which is not always a good thing). You even "help" me around the house by loading the dishwasher, wiping up spills, and watering the flowers. (Not really, but you try).
You've also been laughing more, but usually at your own antics. You continue to amaze us each and every day. I'll leave you with a little demonstration of a few of your tricks (try to ignore the weird noises coming from the crazy lady who's attempting to make you laugh)...
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