16 months

I can not say enough about Bryce's teachers! They have taught him so much! I am constantly amazed at what all he is learning everyday. 

1) I am fully convinced Bryce understands 99% of what I say. From "stop jumping in the couch or ill put you down in the floor" to "I'm sorry you can't drink dr pepper you have to drink milk"  

2) he can point to his belly button, toes, hair, tongue, eyes, and ears on command.

3) he can identify people in our family by pointing 

4) he can identify most all farm animals, some jungle animals, and some food by pointing to pictures in books.

5) he wants to help do everything! Including helping mommy get dressed! He will bring me my shoes and socks and bra and then start bringing me dirty clothes from the hamper. He wants to help fold laundry and sweep. He loves to sweep! 

6) he is starting to communicate much better for his wants and needs. If he is hungry he will walk over to his high chair and motion to be put in it. If he is sleepy he will lay his head down and say "Night night". He is even starting to tell me when his diaper needs to be changed. He will grab his diaper an say "this?" 

7) he can say:

Ball=bah

Night night= nah nah

Milk= ck

Juice= oosth 

Hot= dop

No=no (he's got that one down!)

Yes= sssssthbra ( his s sound always results in raspberry blowing sounds)

Up= dup 

This= dis 

Dog= dah

8) he would rather read books than play with toys! He can sit for a long time in a heap of books in the middle of the floor and examine in each page and babble to himself in his Bryce language. I can only assume he his reading to himself. It melts my heart when he brings me a book and says "dup" and points to my lap. He loves to be read too! 

9) he loves being outside. He will go to the door and scream until someone will come take him out. He would stay out all day if he could. Doing what? All things boy ofcourse!  Eating rocks, digging in dirt, chasing bugs, climbing up a hill covered in pine needles, barking at dogs, chasing cats, and running away from me.  

10) by far, his new favorite thing is running away. If I say "Bryce lets go change your diaper" or "Bryce lets go get in the car" he takes off running in the opposite direction! He looks over his shoulder as he is running and laughs hysterically. When he sees I'm gaining on him he will find a corner and back himself into it. As if his back is hidden so I can't possibly grab him and pick him up! This is not a fun stage for mommy! It makes going anywhere nearly impossible.

A lazy girls guide to chalk boarding

So we've all seen the endless possibilities  of using a chalk board in our home on Pinterest. From  pregnancy trackers to quotes to weekly menus; they are insanely cute and versatile. Who wouldn't want one? 

Making the chalkboard was easy as pie. Bought a mirror at an antique store for $30. Of course it wasn't the color I wanted so I taped down a layer of newspaper over the glass and spray painted the frame red. Then I painted chalkboard paint over the glass. Easy. 

Next I bought a pack of chalk at target for quarters. Now all I had to do was write in some cutesy font. 

I watched several tutorials and read several blogs on how to do this. And my thoughts where "ain't NOBODY got time for that." Except maybe childless women who work part time. 

Most of these guides included using rulers and grids and making "guidelines" very lightly with the chalk so you would keep the text straight and even. Then afterwards you would go back and erase. One woman went as far as printing her text in the font she wanted off the computer on tracing paper. Wow. We average middle class working mothers who's husband is still in school and works nights and weekends most def don't have time for such foolishness. 

I decided I wanted mine to say "home sweet home". Pretty easy to just stack one word on top of the other. Now I just need to pick 3 fonts. I didn't have time that night to try to look up cute fonts online so I just went with the 3 fonts I already knew. 1) skinny all caps 2) modified cursive 3) block letters. 

I remember reading somewhere (Pinterest I'm sure) that picking alternating fonts makes it more visually appealing. For example a bold block font paired with a skinny handwriting. So I kinda kept that in mind when I was writing my text.

Since I picked an oval shaped mirror instead of square or rectangle I think it leaves room for error. It's not as noticeable if your text starts slanting or is off center. 

I decided to start with my middle, which was the word "sweet". I just put the S on the far left middle and went from there. I did the "home" on the bottom next. Last Idid  the "home" on top. As an afterthought I added the door and chimney. At most, it took me 15 mins.

No rulers. No grids. It's not perfect but I think that's what makes it yours. I'm excited to try some new fonts next time and we will see how it goes! 

Erythema Multiforme: what every mother should know

If something doesn't seem right , then it probably isn't. 

We are not newbies to rashes. Bryce has had an amoxicillin rash and a fever rash (Roseola) just within the past few months.  He used to get a rash from the carpet when he used to army crawl on his belly. I knew this rash was different. 

Dr:I think your son has erythema multiforme but I'm not completely sure.

Me: what? 

Dr: erythema multiforme. 

What I heard "I think your son has polywollydoodlealltheday" 

Me: what is that? 

Dr: well we don't really know a lot about it. It can be triggered by several different things. It's probably going to get worse before it gets better. It may blister and seep. He may also bruise around his diaper.  It is also a precursor to Steven Johnson's Syndrome...

What im thinking: What the hell is that? It sounds bad. It is a "syndrome" for goodness sake. Wait the dr is still talking...

Dr:... If he gets any in his mouth, on his lips, around it in his eyes do not call here or bother coming up here. You take him to the ER at Children's Hospital immediately. Has he taken any medicine recently? 

Me: yes he is currently on amoxicillin 

Dr: discontinue that immediately and never give it to ever again. He might be having an allergic reaction to it. 

Me: what did you say it was called again?

Dr: supercalifragilisticexpialidosis

What I'm thinking: Right. Dont be an idiot and ask her again

Me: what did you say caused it again? 

Dr: it could be the amoxicillin or it could be viral. The herpes simplex virus is know to cause it. If HSV caused it, he might get this again multiple times throughout life in times of illness. 

What I'm thinking: wait, what? He can get it again! Herpes? What is she talking about????

Dr: it will probably last up to 2 weeks before it goes away and all we can is give him Benadryl for the itchiness. Again, if any come up anywhere in or around his mouth or eyes take him to the hospital immediately. 

What I'm thinking: this is not what I wanted to hear. I wanted you to tell me it was a heat rash so I could sleep with ease tonight. And your not even sure it is "polymitoitisdosis" or whatever the hell you called it. 

We leave and head to Walgreens for Benadryl. My mind is going in circles. What did she call it again? You can't really google "pollywollydoodlealltheday" so I googled the one thing I did remember her saying. Steven Johnson's.

I do not advise anyone doing a google image search for Steven Johnson's because I almost threwup. Basically your skin blisters and falls off, including your lips and eyelids. It has a very high fatality rate. Survivors are left blind and their skin forever deformed. 

I freaked out. She didn't say SJs was what he had but i did remember her specifically saying what she thought he had was linked. 

Just moments before I had wished it wasnt chicken pox. How ignorant of me. Now my head was filled with visions of Bryce's skin falling off. 

I spent the next 48 hours walking around thinking "But there aren't any in his mouth. There aren't any in his mouth. There aren't any in his mouth. Maybe I should go check his mouth."

Meanwhile his spots were getting more red and bigger and spreading further all over his body. 

I was trying my best to keep my cool. If only I could remember what the dr called it! But then again she didn't seem so convinced herself. So I spent some time online looking at pictures I all sorts of rashes. I was so perplexed. None of them looked anything like his. I even found a multitude of slideshows of "common childhood rashes" that included everything from scarlet fever to heat rash. Still, none of them looked like his.  

I was frustrated. So I put the pics of his rash on Facebook and waited to see what people thought. It was actually one of Scott's friends who is in med school that started asking all sorts of questions and finally told me his educated guess was Erythema Multiforme. 

When I googled Erythema Multiforme I immediately felt some relief. His rash, while much much milder, looked identical  to the pictures online. Everything I read about EM matched what the pediatrician had said. All of his symptoms fit. 

It was clear that Bryce had EM minor and would probably not need any treatment and it would clear up on its own. Apparently the minor form is much more common than the major form which leads to hospitalization and sometimes Steven Johnson's. 

By Friday morning the redness had faded and his spots were more flat than raised! It was a huge sigh if relief!  

So my message is this- 

If something doesn't seem right it probably isn't. 

If your child ever gets a rash and blisters pop up in his/her mouth,eyes, or other mucus membranes take them to get seen immediately. It could be harmless Hand Foot Mouth but it could be much more serious.