Sick Days

J was pretty sick last week with a cold. Mid-week while still symptomless, I proclaimed smugly on Wednesday evening "wow, looks like we dodged that bullet" (see pictured smugness). Then BAM! Sore throat and stuffy nose followed by a fever last night that had me in bed sleeping approximately three seconds after Little went down for the night. Luckily, he only woke up once to eat and when he was bright-eyed at 6am, I was ready to face the day as well. The fever has run its course, but we're both still stuffy. Little is handling it very well, actually he's running (crawling) circles around me with all of his energy. It's kind of driving me nuts. He's also learned that mom's shirt and pants make lovely tissues. My wardrobe has turned into a collection of installation art pieces with a tiny master painter at the helm. 

Despite his cold, little developed a new trick yesterday: nearly cramming his entire pacifier, handle, nipple and plastic piece, in his mouth. If given a little more time, a quick twist would have securely wedged it between is palate and lower jaw. He was very proud of his (near) accomplishment and giggled when I gasped in horror at the thought of it getting stuck in there. I immediately removed the lot from his reach and, despite my cold, hopped in the car in search of a new brand that would be too big to fit in his mouth. For those of you who are wondering, bedtime without the pacifier would be a hellish nightmare that I'm not ready to approach at this time.

Sir Little is very particular about the shape -- the likes the angled orthodontic variety -- so my search wasn't easy. Soothies have been a joke for a while, MAMs make him gag, and I haven't bothered with any other of the shapes, because it seems that he's stuck on Nuk. I was pretty shocked to find that many companies, Nuk especially, make pacifiers in sizes with larger nipple to fit the mouth, but do not scale up the outside piece accordingly. Haven't they hung out with tenacious six-month-old babies who are determined to cram as many things in their mouths as possible? And with our son, as soon as he learns a trick, he masterfully practices his skills until perfected. I don't think I'm overreacting when I say that it's a serious industry oversight that shouldn't be taken lightly. 

Anyway, my friend Serena suggested a brand that her son likes and it seemed a little bigger than the ones that Little has been using. Little is still warming up to his new pacifiers, not that he has a choice in the matter, and I'm secretly hoping that he just decides he doesn't want them. Then, we won't have to worry about weaning later. Ha! Wishful thinking!