Mo-NO!

We'll start with good things. Jeff and Jack decorated the Christmas tree this year and surprisingly, Jack has been REALLY good with it. It only has ornaments on the top half but he has been very "soft" with it (I was REALLY worried and was even thinking about not putting it up, but I am glad I did). I have made a goal to listen to Christmas music everyday until Christmas (I have a "rule" that I don't start listening until Thanksgiving Day and turn it off for another year on Christmas Night-that way, I REALLY enjoy it for a month and look forward to it the next year).

On to the not so good stuff... A month ago, Jack had his 18 month appt. and things were good except his weight, but over the last few weeks I have noticed a BIG change in him. He was sleeping about 12 hours at night with one-one hour nap during the day. All of the sudden he started sleeping 14 hours at night and then was so fussy two hours after being awake that he would sleep another 2-3 hours and then take ANOTHER afternoon nap. In all he was sleeping over 17-18 hours in a 24 hour period. Now, I'm not complaining (it was actually a little nice & I got so much done) but while he was awake he was sooo irritable. I stared doing some "online research" and decided it was time to take him in. I had blamed his 3 molars (one still swollen, but not out yet), a growth spurt, and a little cold he had had, but I started to wonder if it was more. Yesterday, I took him in and asked if they would check his iron and yep, he is slightly anemic. Then our doctor looked him over and said he had a very mild ear infection, so now he is on antibiotics (FIRST TIME EVER) and then the doctor talked to me about doing some other blood work at the hospital to check for other infections and to get a better picture of the anemia. Well, Jack has Mono. No wonder the poor kid is so fussy. The doctor said, "I was a good mom. Jack didn't have the "normal" symptoms of it." He says by Christmas he should be feeling LOTS better. I am glad he checked it, too. It is a little hard to find what is wrong when all you say is, "He is REALLY tired, cranky, won't eat and something just isn't right." I am glad I followed my "mother's instinct" to take him in. We will be taking things even slower in the next couple weeks. Oh, and each time they took blood (from his toe and hand) he just watched, didn't scream, didn't flinch, NOTHING. He thought it was "COOL" to watch the red blood come out. Shesh! I had Linus all ready, a drink, and a favorite book to distract him but he just wanted to watch. The nurses said they had NEVER seen a kid do that at such a young age (and let's just say he was richly rewarded). What a brave boy!