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And the time has long since passed when one can just sit back and watch you grow. It is now 100% necessary to chase you, follow you, wrestle with you, teach you, sing to you, play with you and just try to keep up as you grow.
As we blasted past Christmas, your 10 month birthday and New Year's you've been growing up so quickly. It seems like ever since Thanksgiving, you keep meeting new milestones and blowing on past them to the next one.
It seems just like yesterday we were marveling that you had begun to crawl. And pulling to standing was a Thanksgiving miracle. But now you are 10 months old!
You can feed yourself and chew!
(well, you're working on it...but you're also getting good at feeding Preston and Toby)
You can lead a game of Peak A Boo all by yourself!
And you an play the spoons... (these spoons have been some of your favorite toys for a long time now, actually...but that day you played DOUBLE spoons!)
And you crawl super fast, pull yourself to standing like a pro, mimic us, converse, blow bubbles, laugh, cry, make your opinions known, stick your tongue out and all that good stuff. We are catching our breath just to keep up with you. And every minute of it is a pure joy.
Your Mother and I don't know what we would do without you.
You even gave us a little scare to that effect.
A few days ago, one day before my birthday, you managed to pull a samovar down onto your face and give yourself a little black eye. That was very scary indeed.
Don't worry, the samovar is now banished to a place where no human can reach it and all shelves previous thought to be out of your quick little reach have now been cleared.So, you had a nice little shiner and two worried parents. You didn't seem to mind at all, after the initial shock wore off. But, being as we're first timers, we were a lot phased by this incident, so we were on edge a little.
So, later that night when you woke up with a fever of 101.7, we were a little more concerned indeed. You have run fevers that high before...and even a little bit higher. Those temperatures aren't bad, and aren't a cause for concern unless they last for a few days. So we were both there treating your fever, trying to cool and calm you down ... and take your temperature (with a thermometer sticking out of your armpit) and all of a sudden, you shook...a single large shake as if you were scared out of your mind or a current ran through your body. You started screaming and crying like crazy.
We held you close, sang to you and calmed you back down. We thought maybe I pinched your armpit with the thermometer. Our hearts were racing, we were both scared, but we tried to stay calm.
We calmed you down, got you back to being a happy camper. And then you shook again. And screamed again. We feared the worst: some kind of neurological damage was caused by getting clunked in the head with a silver teapot. It was 11:45 pm and we needed answers immediately.
So your Mom and I got dressed, loaded up and drove to the Children's Emergency Room at Medical City. This was a totally well-reasoned, calmly-made decision...we weren't panicking. But you've never seen me get dressed so fast. Don't worry, I still drove within the speed limit..mostly.
By the time we checked in at the emergency room, you were still running a fever, but seemed to be feeling much better. You were flirting with the check-in nurse and playing with Mommy and Daddy.
Things took a turn for the worse for you when they checked your temperature through the back door. You didn't seem to like that one bit.
But a few hours, one triage nurse, one PA, one radiologist and one ER doc later we knew you were okay. They explained that the fever was a beneficial one (which we knew) and that the shakes were an acceptable way for baby's bodies to deal with a high temperature. Even small seizures are okay. Or, they said, you could have been hallucinating (a result of a high temperature) and actually been as scared of something as you appeared to be. Near the end of our ER visit you finally fell asleep on your mother's shoulder.
By this point it was 2:30, and my 29th birthday. Your mom wished me a 'happy birthday.' And it really was...we knew you were safe and healthy (except for a little bit of tonsillitis that caused the temperature in the first place), we were together and we were ready to go home. There was no place else I'd rather have been.
I was reminded of the last time your mom and I rushed to the hospital late at night. That emergency visit wound up being your birthday. The morning of this most recent ER trip was the anniversary of my birth, but I relived the feelings of the day of yours: fear and adrenaline eventually overcome by happiness and joy. You were safe, you were happy and you were healthy.
The next morning I was able to go to work late, and since you and your mother had a rough night (we got home at 3, you slept til 4, then woke up at 6 and then 8), I took you at 8 and you slept on my chest until 10:45. You slept so hard that your ear left an imprint on my shoulder...it's almost as symbolic as you leaving an imprint on my heart, but a little sillier (and very silly looking).
It was a scary evening/morning, but it turned out great. By the end of the morning you were no longer running a fever, you shook no more and you were back to being your happy go lucky self (albeit a little tired). Scary indeed, we both thought the worst and didn't like what we saw.
So we are still holding you a little tighter and kissing you a little longer after that ER visit. But we can't stop you from growing, and can't shield you from all danger...so, we're not gonna try: you're going to continue growing in leaps and bounds, and keep amazing us with the new milestones you reach every day. And we'll just try to catch up. And catch you when you fall. And remove all Samovars from the house.
