Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Another visit to the doctor, Courderoy, and the emergence of counting.

His eyes are bloodshot, his face is covered with mosquito bites.  The spray just doesn't keep the tiny army of menace away from my little one. 

Last night, on an evening walk, he was bitten in the ear by a mosquito.  This morning, his ear was swollen, puffy, red, and inflamed.  Another visit to the doctor.  She prescribed antibiotics because it could be the beginnings of an infection.

His eyes are red from allergy.  Poor Gabriel is allergic to early trees and late trees, pollen, dust, mold.  And it appears he does not fare well with mosquitoes. 

The doctor said the best thing might be just to keep him inside mostly until the mosquitoes go away.  They've been so bad in our area this summer.  Even in the daytime, they are flickering and biting about.

This summer has been particularly bad for being out of doors.  July was insanely hot.  August brought the mosquitoes thick through the neighborhood.   It doesn't help that we live just blocks from the river,  our neighborhood and yard are full of trees.  Still, I wish there could be a little more acorns than storybooks while our weather is so mild.  But, I am counting the days till fall when we can be outside without worry of bug bites and the havoc they cause my son.

Tonight, his dad is putting him to bed.  For stories tonight, we re-read Courderoy.  He listens so patiently to the story and seems to be very interested in the missing button on the bear's overalls.   We also read through the ABC Bunny but he doesn't seem as interested in that one. 

I went through his book collection recently and discovered we had some BFIAR books, about five total.  That's five less I need to purchase.  Even though I don't have the manual yet, hopefully soon!, I figure I can introduce the stories we do have to him very gently.

As I was reading to him tonight, he grabbed my hand and started counting my fingers one by one.  "One finger, two finger, three finger, three.  One, two, three, four, five."  He may not have the exact sequence down yet, but I was amazed to see the beginnings of understanding of the purpose of counting in my twenty eight month old. 

2 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear that the little one is having such a rough time with summer! You should see what I posted yesterday- in my house, it is me that has a rough time with summer. I detest the heat, so I am looking for jacket weather to come around, too! Isn't is amazing watching these kids bloom, though?

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  2. Yeah, I'm not too big on the heat myself. I'm dreaming of the changing leaves, crisp air, cider mills, and cardigan sweaters.

    It is amazing to think that just two years ago my little boy was an infant who was essentially helpless. And today, he feeds himself yogurt and speaks in sentences. The growth of the first years is just phenomenal.

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