14 Months, 3 Weeks

Well, following on from Callum being ill the other week (starting on a Tuesday, kind of clearing up by the Thursday but still not himself until the end of the following week!!!!!), on the Friday after he got ill, I caught the same bug. Horrid, horrid, horrid. I think I'm in danger of repeating myself from an earlier post but it is bloody hard work looking after a sick child but looking after one when you are sick yourself is beyond words! Luckily (I say luckily but didn't feel in any way lucky!!), whereas Callum had it spread out over a few days, I had it more aggressive but concentrated to 1 day.

I never thought I would say this but thank god for CBeebies. Thankfully, Callum was happy to sit and watch it all day, every day and often fell asleep on the sofa watching it. He couldn't sleep in his cot much as it was always in the wash.

That was the other difficult thing, trying to keep up with all the washing. I was doing several washes a day every day and still couldn't catch up. Even when Callum was over the sickness bug, a tickly cough remained which kept making him sick. It was never ending!

But phew! Thankfully, it is over and fingers crossed we wont get it again for quite some time!

Neither of us are still 100% as we both have a chesty cough (again!!!) but we are happy with it so not too bad.

However, all this had led me on to thinking about giving Callum vitamin drops. We take vitamins ourselves so it seems silly not to give them to Callum. He is probably offered a healthier and more varied diet than us but if he finds a vegetable, he rejects it and after being sick, his appetite went right down so it was difficult to get him to eat anything substantial for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, he has his appetite back now but I would just feel more comfortable to know he is getting a regular supply of vitamins. I read up on it and it is apparently recommended that parents give their children (from the age of 6 months to 5 years) vitamins so I might ask my HV about them.

Speaking of which, I need to rearrange Callum's MMR. I rang up to cancel it when he first got ill (about a month ago) and they told me it was the day before - oops! I keep forgetting to ring up to rebook it but, to be honest, I wouldn't have wanted him to have it if he wasn't feeling 100% so probably just as well I haven't remembered as I probably would have just had to cancel it again!

Last week was a hard week for me with Callum. With him not being back to his usual happy self, I found him very hard work. I was in desperate need of a Toddler Translator. He would cry and scream for something but I had no idea what he wanted. He would constantly direct me out to the kitchen by pointing and then point at random things or things he wasn't allowed. Especially when he was recovering from being ill - he kept pointing to things that were likely to make him sick again. I knew he was hungry but he would refuse anything plain I offered him throwing a huge tantrum. Occasionally, I would give in to a demand just to keep him happy but then he would throw it up. He suddenly hated his baths and would throw big tantrums and continually try to get out. Even since he has got better his confidence seems to have been knocked. Although he might go off to play at social situations, he would soon come back to me and just want to sit on my lap. Very, very unlike him. He was so happy and confident to just go and play and never looking for me before. He is slowly getting his confidence back and was such an angel toddler over the weekend so I'm hoping he'll be back to his usual self by the next social thing I take him too.

The last couple of days he seems to want to say more words but I keep saying that on here and he doesn't actually end up saying anything. He does seem to choose a word in his own language and continue say it for a day or so but I have no idea what it actually means. We have had recently 'bidet', 'baboo' (which we thought was 'no poo' but he says it at other times too) and today it is 'di doo'. As I said, a translator would be useful right now!

I took Callum swimming again on Sunday and he was so excited. He loves it. He was sitting on the side and jumping into my arms. He kept reaching for something leaning out of my arms and getting a face and mouthful of water but didn't seem to mind. I really want to get something that will help him float and give him independence from me in the water but need to research what will be the best thing. As I have said before, I must take him more as I would have him to lose his confidence in the water too.