Update on Dan

Dan's fever broke last night around 2 a.m. Yet I felt compelled to take him to the doctor's this morning when he started banging his head intentionally. He hasn't done that in quite a while and when he does, it usually means he's hurt and can't tell me where. Nowadays when he's frustrated he just stands there and registers his discontent with the complaint department (that would be mommy and daddy) by crying loudly for at least 30 seconds straight. We'd prefer words, but at least he's not banging his head as often. Last night, after we'd dosed him up with Tylenol he went in search of something hard to bang his head on. He approached a seat from the van that's hanging out in our living room (yeah, we're such rednecks). Perfect, he must have thought. But he screamed all the louder when he realized that the seat was rather soft and the hard part he wanted to use was just out of his reach. Hard not laugh at the poor kid sometimes. Our doctor asked last week at his 18 month appointment whether Dan had starting throwing tantrums. I said, "Oh yes. We just leave the room and tell him 'We'll be in here when you're done.'" Apparently, that's exactly what you're suppose to do, according to our doctor.

And another funny thing he's doing now ... When we're out, Jim usually carries Dan in a backpack that tripods (yes, I just made up a verb) into seat. Well, now that he's getting taller (31 1/4 inches), his feet touch the ground. Last week, he figured out that he can move himself when the backpack is perched on the ground. So far, he's only figured out how to go backward. We were at the mall Monday night (I desperately needed an ice cream cone) when I saw this little stunt for the first time. One day, he's just going to go walking down the mall sitting in his little backpack.

Oh, duh, back to the reason I started typing this post ... Dan's fine. The infection is in his throat. He had been coughing a little bit, but nothing really noticeable and it didn't seem like a productive cough. It's not strep. The doctor seemed genuinely shocked when I mentioned that Dan had never run a fever. I'm not shocked. I nursed him up until two months ago and his father and I rarely get sick. I think it's the nursing and just plain good genetics.