Newsreel vol.9

As he has been around so many children in the last month, attending playgroups and family literacy centres, Ivan contracted a cold which manifested into a full-blown bacterial infection: ear infection, swollen glands, weepy eye, crusty nose. We took him to the clinic and they prescribed antibiotics and eye drops. This is worth noting in the newsreel, seeing as he hasn’t had to use his health card for anything but the routine immunizations and check-ups, until now. He is beginning to feel much better but I was disappointed in myself for not noticing how unwell he was until a week had gone by and he was waking every hour after midnight to get our attention. For some time he was sleeping through the night after he turned eleven months of age (FINALLY) and we couldn’t place the reason for the regression. There it was: his ear was extremely infected.
Exactly to the day, Ivan took his first steps consciously at thirteen months of age. He is cautious on his feet and will carefully put one foot after the next towards me then almost run, failing to grab a hold of my outstretched arms. I’m so happy that I was at home for his initial attempts at walking, my hopes were to witness this firsthand.
On socializing with other children, Ivan is very quick to mimic the way others play. John and I were surprised to see him roll his little dirt digger on the floor and make the sound of a motor with his mouth. Someone at his new daycare must have shown him how a motorized vehicle can run. Let’s hope that he learns more good than bad from others. It’s still very cute to see how he greets other children the way Castro does him: head down like a little rhino, he’ll bunt the other babies in their sides. Always I’m explaining Ivan’s intentions to other parents: “He’s just trying to say hello like his cat, not knock your daughter over.”