I was on my way to pick up Jaden from school (daycare) when they called to say he had fallen and was hurt (why didn’t I leave 10 minutes sooner!?). This is the second time in two weeks, and both times he fell flat on his face, albeit for a different reason and in a different location each time.

This time he was running with the velcro on his shoes not completely done and somehow tripped over the hanging strap. The problem is that he didn’t try to put his hands down to break his fall, so he fell flat on his face. They said his bloody nose was so bad it even scared the teachers. The lump on his head this time is twice the size it was two weeks ago – and two weeks ago it was the size of a golf ball.

I was so worried about him when I picked him up that I headed over to the doctors’ office but they had already closed. I called Neville to see if he thought I should take Jaden to the ER, but he said the closest ER is not equipped well for children and I should call the pediatrician’s on-call doctor first. When the on-call doctor called me back, it was actually the nurse. She said as long as he doesn’t start staring into space, and doesn’t get a high fever, he should be fine— it’s the back of the head that causes great concern. The front of the head is pretty stable. He’s in the bath right now getting ready for bed—- I’m not going to sleep tonight, I just know it.

I’ll have to talk with the early intervention people to see if the falling without putting hands out is something to worry about. We had this problem when Jaden started walking, which they said was because he didn’t crawl for long before he started walking. Without the practice on the floor, his reflex to use his arms when he fell wasn’t great. At the time they had us practice ‘wheel barrow’ walking with him, which fixed the problem in almost no time at all, but I feel like it’s happening all over again. I know it was only two falls but you should see him. He looks like he’s been beaten up. Ugh. Parenthood. Couldn’t one of you have warned me??

We went to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Easter. We had a nice weekend and it was great for Jaden to spend some time with his aunts and uncles he hadn’t seen in a while. He also got to meet his cousins (my cousin’s kids) which was really great. 

Jaden has been doing better with sleeping, except now he has trouble when we’re not at home. My theory is that he’s so used to his own bed right now that any change is disconcerting to him. So this time we only spent one night at Grandma and Grandpa’s, and not being overtired two days in a row helped a lot. For the time being we’ll probably do the one night only when we go  - at least until Jaden is a little older.  

On Sunday evening Aunt Tina came home with us to spend a few days. She was here until Wednesday morning. Jaden had an amazing time with her. You can tell Aunt Tina is an excellent teacher. She was able to encourage Jaden to communicate using sign language, which Neville and I have been trying to teach him since he came home in October- but we never had much luck. I know I”ve mentioned before that we thought he was using signs every once in a while, but he was never really consistent about it. Aunt Tina somehow had him signing in the two days she spent here. She somehow made a very complicated task look so simple! Jaden now signs ‘more’, ‘cracker’, and  ”all done.” I’m hoping that if we’re consistent about picking up on what he is signing that he’ll be encouraged to learn more signs. I noticed he pays rapt attention to his Baby Signing Time DVD now, so that is a good sign (no pun intended). Part of the difficulty with baby signing is that you have to be able to pick up on the gestures that to you look nothing like the sign that is intended, while the baby is wondering why you just don’t get what he’s trying to communicate. The more this happens, the less likely he’ll try to sign. Unfortunately Jaden doesn’t yet realize that eye contact is necessary for me to understand him, so he’ll do things while I’m walking away. Aunt Tina was able to pick up on this and now I”m being more cognizant of what he’s doing at all times (although walking backwards is getting tiring – LOL). 

We had Jaden’s 15 month pediatrician visit on Tuesday. It was — difficult. Ever since we had the bad experience with the three RN’s at the outpatient center trying to take blood from Jaden’s arms about 6 times, he is petrified of anyone in a lab coat. Even Neville has to take his lab coat off when Jaden and I visit him at work, or Jaden starts to get wiggy. It makes doctor’s appointments really horrific. Thankfully Aunt Tina was with us and was able to help calm Jaden down periodically, but it was really heart-wrenching to have to watch him get so upset, even though nothing ‘bad’ was happening. It seemed to drag on — just when we thought the doctor would be finished, she’d say “Okay just one more thing…”

When the pediatrician was finally done with her examination and questioning, she started to talk about shots he needed, and I was thinking ‘Are you nuts? Haven’t we traumatized him enough today?’ He cried for nearly an hour in the examination room – in my opinion, that was plenty for one morning. Besides, I don’t know if Aunt Tina and I could have taken any more gut wrenching. So we made another appointment to get the 4 vaccines he is due for. I booked it for a morning Neville can go with us. My plan: Let Neville be the ‘bad’ parent (and hold Jaden down for his shots) for once. LOL

The original point of the major tangent I just jumped out of is that Jaden has grown like mad these past few months. He’s now 33 inches and 26 lbs 10 oz. So his weight has stabilized but he’s growing taller – and fast!! It has been interesting to watch the changes in his face and his body as he grows. He goes through periods where he eats and eats and eats, seemingly never getting enough – he’ll fill out – his cheeks get pudgier, his belly gets bigger – and then all of a sudden he’ll thin out, almost overnight — now I know what is meant by “growth spurts.” 

An update on the teething -last I saw (yesterday?) one of Jaden’s eye teeth was right at the surface – it looked like it would pop through at any moment. We had a couple of good nights and last night was okay except for a few wakings…. so for now I guess the major pain is over with. The other three canines are swollen, so they’re getting ready to make a break for it as well. Soon we’ll have a break from teething pain (right Grandma? ) 

Our music class ended a week or so ago – so right now we’re in the middle of things – waiting for his museum class and his swimming lessons to start. It’s probably a good thing there’s not much going on for Jaden – I’ve had a lot to do for work these past couple of weeks. I spent more time on paperwork for work than anything else. There’s nothing like being on an unpaid leave of absence!