07.17.2011 Evan standing solo

For several weeks now, Evan could stand solo for a split second.  He could do this even as he just started to learn to crawl (he doesn't like crawling) a month ago.  In the last few days, however, he has started to stand by himself really well.  We have to distract him from realizing that we're teaching him to stand by giving him a toy to hold.  By the act of holding a toy, he has to let go of either the tables or my hands.  The very first few times that he stood alone for a few seconds, he was as excited as I was, and clapped his hands.  In just 48 hours or so, he has learned to stand solo and not be afraid, and is now able to stand just about everytime I help him to do so.  Most of the time, of course, he's still too easily distracted by toys/books/noises/etc to pay attention.  Here are some clips of him standing tall!

07.16.2011 Evan's passport photos attempts

As any parent knows, the only time an infant is still is when he/she is sleeping, and that's if you're lucky!  Asking a baby to sit still so we can take a portrait photo (that satisfies all the passport requirements criteria) is like asking ... well, a baby to sit still.  It ain't gonna happen.  What happens is the following almost and not-so-almost good attempts:

07.04.2011 Evan's first July 4th Parade

Evan was sleeping by the time the fireworks went off last night (7/4), so he didn't get to see any fireworks.  But he did get to see his first July 4th parade, which occurs in many towns all over the bay area and throughout the country.  We went to the Rose White Blue (http://www.rosewhiteblueparade.com/) parade in San Jose, near the Rose Garden district.  We watched at the end of the parade route.  The parade started at 10am about a mile and a half away, so it was probably about 10:40 by the time we saw the first cars/people.  Evan was excited about the parade, there were tons and tons of kids there.  He even clapped his hands in delight as others clapped at the first paraders.  Here are some pictures from the parade:

 

 

07.03.2011 Evan's first fever

On thursday (6/30), after Evan's afternoon nap, he woke up with elevated temperature, possibly 101-102.  After giving him a partial dose (0.8 ml) of Acetaminophen, we called the pediatrician office and was told to not worry about the fever, that the high temperature wont hurt him, it's whatever causing the fever we need to figure out.  But at that time, other than irritability, there were no symptoms of infections or colds.  So the adviser told us to make sure he gets the full dose (1.2ml) of Acetaminophen and see the temperature drops in a few hours.  Then if the fever sticks around for 48+ hours, or if he gets hotter (103-104+), then we should bring him in.  An hour after we gave him the additional 0.4ml, and cooled him off a bit by riding around the stroller, Evan's temperature had returned to normal and he was playful and smiling again.  He didn't drink as much milk as usual, but went to sleep just fine and woke up the next morning normal.

After his Friday (7/1) afternoon nap, though, he again woke up with a fever.  I gave him another dose of Acetaminophen and again within about 2 hours, he was back to normal.  We should've realized that this was normal and that Evan was fighting off the cause of the fever gradually.  We didn't call the pediatrician this time.  Before he went to bed this time, I gave him one more dose of Acetaminophen.

He woke up the next morning just fine.  But then after his afternoon nap (7/2), he was again burning up and irritable.  We called the advice line and they asked for symptoms which was as before - just loss of appetite and irritability.  The doctor said to give him Acetaminophen again and see if continues longer, but that it's normal for fevers to take 72 hours or more to subside.  But since there are no clear symptoms that indicate the cause of the symptom, she suggested that we bring Evan in for a checkup that day.  We made an appointment for 7pm.  By the time we took Evan to the hospital, he was already back to normal temperature wise.  A doctor Whitney examined Evan.  He looked at Evan's ears for infection, throat, eyes, stomach, and said Evan seemed fine.  His conclusion was that the fever was probably viral in nature - possibly Roseola.  And what'll happen is that once the fever subsides, Evan will develop a rash, which wont bother him at all, all over his body which will last about a week. Evan was fine that night and the next day, after his nap, no fever.  Looked like he had pretty much fully recovered.  His appetite was getting better too.  Now he's back to his happy self!