Hand, Foot and Mouth!

Back on January 16th, MLK Day, Carson seemed to be a bit under the weather. He was very clingy and sensitive, and didn't eat much for lunch. I took his temp, and he had a mild fever, around 100. He had been teething for quite a while, so chalked it up to the pain of teeth coming in. After all, we had a scheduled playdate with 4 of his best friends since it was a holiday, and we didn't want to have to miss it if we were sick...

 I asked Carson if he wanted to go play with Zoey and Dean, and he perked up, so we went. BIG MISTAKE ON MY PART!

The next day, Carson broke out in spots all over and inside his mouth, wrists and shins and was absolutely miserable! We took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with "Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease". Little did I know this was one of the most contagious illnesses that a toddler can be exposed to. I immediately called our play date host and alerted them of the news.

In a few short days, all of the children at the play date were covered in spots as well, most of them far worse off than Carson ever was. There were also 15 reported cases of HFM at Carson's daycare AFTER Carson was diagnosed...Lord knows where he got it from, but he certainly spread it far!

To our knowledge, 5 of our friends (parents of the kiddos) including Ryan also ended up with a fever, spots and soars. It even briefly shut down a dental practice, as one of our friends is a dentist and it spread to his staff!

Weeks after the symptoms had come and gone, and we were assured by our doctors that we were no longer contagious, Carson and his friends had another play date, and two more kiddos ended up breaking out in spots within a few days...its the never ending epidemic!

Luckily, as with Chicken Pox, once you have it from this specific virus strain, you never get it again...so I guess its one thing to check off our lists!

Here is a picture of dear Zoey's legs...she suffered by far the most!

Boy did I learn my "parental judgment call" lesson!

A Visit From Grampa Moose!

My dad came to work with one of his NH clients the week before last, and spend the rest of the weekend visiting with his favorite (and only) grandson! Carson has always been a Grampa Moose fan....

Carson and Grampa had fun singing Wiggles songs together, and my Dad even got him to say "A...B....C"! On Saturday night, Ryan and I enjoyed a night out to dinner with some of his old MBA friends, while Grampa held down the fort back home. Carson is looking forward to a visit from Grammy in March!

Toy of the Week... (pre-passy retirement!)

Bye Bye Passy!

We gave Carson his first passy the day he came home from the hospital, and he has been using it 24/7 ever since. However...at the end of January, Carson transitioned from the "Infant Room" to the "Pre-Toddler Room" at daycare, and we totally forgot to give them a pacifier for him to use in the classroom and at nap time!

Around Wednesday of that week, I realized our error and determined that Carson had gone 3 days without his passy except for at bedtime! I decided to put him down that night without one, and he hasn't had one since. We are going on three weeks now!

Chomper Love!

We are so lucky to have such a good girl for our little boy...

 

TALKING!

Ryan and I have agreed that beyond Mama and Dada, Carson's first word right at around 12 months was "HI!" It was adorable, as he was able to turn it into a two syllable word that sounded more like "Hi-yee"! He also said it about 100 times a day to anyone he passed...

Carson's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds, here are some of the other word he now says on a regular basis:

up
down
hot
hat
all done (said like one word)
car
truck
baby
jacket
medicine (pronounced med-cine) thanks to recent double ear infection...
"Hi Dean" (his best buddy, also said like one word)
cheese (to anyone with a camera, regardless of his picture being taken)
milk
yes
no
that
me (while pointing to daddy's oatmeal every morning)
 A, B, C! (Grampa Moose taught him that one!)

The list grows on a daily basis...and I am sure he is saying many more that we have not caught on to yet!

Other sounds he likes to make:

vroom vroom (while playing with trucks)
ooo ooo ah ah (monkey)
roar! with a clawing motion (tiger)
ruff ruff (dog)
ho ho ho (Santa)
eye yah yah (words to a Wiggles Song)
chooo chooooo! (train)
shhhhhh! (with finger to his lips!)

WALKING!

We finally reached a huge developmental milestone! Carson initially took his first steps in October at 12 months...but as Carson tends to be a tentative cautious child...it took him two whole months to finally start using walking as his "primary mode of transportation".

Here are two videos exhibiting his progress, the first is at 12 months and the second is at 15 months:

I started walking at a year and a half, so Carson has me beat by 4 whole months! Needless to say we are chasing him around everywhere!

Christmas 2011

I am long over due for a Christmas post as it is now February...so I will just give you some fun pics to make you smile!

 At a holiday party...one of my favorite family pics to date!

 Love this sweater...

 Ready for Santa to come to Mom Mom's house!

 But why do we open Santa's present so early?

 Carson with his Curtis Cousins and Grandparents!

 Some serious unwrapping...

 Someone was jealous of one of Cousin Nick's presents...

Curtis Boys!

 Carson on the set of NCIS....j/k! 

 Admiral Mullen let Carson borrow his chair for snack...

 We were very excited to meet up with one of Ryan's best friends, John, whom we had not seen in a long time, as he has been out on deployment with the Navy. Crazy to have all of the kids together! I wonder if John and Ryan dreamed about this in middle school...

 Mullen and Curtis Families Reunite!

 Uncle Ally!

 Grammy is so funny!

 Great Gram thought I was so handsome!

We were also able to spend time with Grampa Moose, Aunt Deedle, Aunt Kristen and Uncle Sam, as well as lots of other loved friends! It was a wonderful holiday!